AH3 MA Terrain Guidelines
For game play and frame rate reasons Aces High
Main Arena (MA) terrains are subject to these specific rules and guidelines. I suggest reading the manual for the Aces High
Terrain Editor (TE) first to help make sense of this document.
Map layoutStart by laying out your map idea on paper with the fields, coastlines and mountain ranges drawn in and then showing this to HTC and other terrain builders in the Terrain Editor forum. Point out anything unusual, especially if you have not seen done on any other MA terrain, as this may be because it is not allowed. Its better to find out any problems before you do work in the terrain editor than have to redo it later. Bear in mind the following when laying out a map:-
An MA map's three countries should have equal numbers of fields of each type, so the same numbers of each size of airbase and vehicle base, as well as ports and task groups. Each country should also have a full working strategic system; HQ, city, ammo, fuel, training and radar strats.
Up to 255 bases can be supported on an MA map but the small 256 mile MA maps currently being accepted by HTC are only big enough for around 150 bases. You can have fewer of course, but bear in mind the map will be won when a country has gained 20% of the other two countries' bases. So the more bases your map has, the longer it will be up before it is reset.
The three bases nearest to a country's HQ must be made uncapturable and the base closest to the HQ is the only one allowed to spawn the Me 163.
More than three task groups in a small area of ocean can cause a frame rate issue for some players. So if you intend to have more than nine of these in total I'd suggest spreading their ports out across the map or even splitting the ocean area into three or more enclosed seas.
It is not a rule but I suggest limiting a player's choice of spawns to enemy bases or choice of nearby enemy airbases to between 2 and 4 per front line in order to concentrate the action.
The map should be fair to each country. Not necessarily a symmetrical layout but it should not favour one country over another. Examples of unfairness would be one country's strats or ports being much nearer to the front lines than the other countries' or one pair of countries having a really long front line and another pair a really short one. Also an airfield with a much greater altitude than similarly placed fields in the other countries or vehicle bases with more or better spawns than the other countries. You don't want players saying “Oh no, we've got the south country again!”
All land should be at 20 feet altitude or higher, apart from coastlines where it transitions down to the sea at 0 feet. This is because some STOs like towns or vehicle bases will show as water if placed on land that is too low.
MA terrain ObjectsAbove is a list of objects that can be put into an MA terrain and what properties should be assigned to each in the Object Properties box of the terrain editor. No other objects in the TE or any custom-made objects can be put into an MA terrain.
Many of these are
square tile objects (STOs) which are actually collections of many smaller objects like buildings, guns, roads and vegetation designed to fit exactly into one or more of the mile-wide squares shown in the terrain editor. STOs may be rotated exactly 90, 180 or 270 degrees from default (set snap to on) but not to any other angle.
The non-STO objects like shore batteries can be rotated to any angle and positioned more freely on the map, although with the specific limitations listed above.
The
small, medium and large airbases are all actually all the same size, 1 mile square. Which to use is really just a question of how easy you want the field to be closed down or taken. The larger fields have more AA, hangars and resources than the smaller. In general having smaller fields at the front gets the strategic war going and larger in the rear areas stops it becoming a walkover. Each of these will need either a town placed nearby and linked to it or a map room object placed on the field itself for enemy troops to run to.
The
super-large airbase is 4 miles square and has its own built-in town and map room. It is impressive to look at but is a frame rate hog for players with marginal PCs. So use it sparingly in rear areas not likely to see any fighting or preferably not at all.
Airbases should be placed no higher than 6,000 feet altitude because a fully loaded Lancaster will struggle to get off the ground any higher than this. Ensure there are no steep hills or trees blocking the ends of runways that would make take offs and landings hazardous.
The
small and large vehicle bases are respectively 1 and 2 mile square STOs and have their own map rooms. As with the various sizes of airbase use the larger base if you want it to be harder to take.
The
tiny vehicle base is only 1/8th of a mile across, which lets it just fit between four of the closest altitude vertex points on the map when unrotated. With only a couple of AA guns, a map room and one hangar this base is easy to take but its small size lets it fit into narrow canyons, or atop narrow ridges or land bridges. It can be rotated to any angle but it must lie entirely on terrain that is completely flat. I find it best to use the wire frame mode of the TE to see where the altitude vertexes are when positioning these.
Carrier and battleship task groups (TGs) must each have an assigned port and map room. You can link more than one TG to a single port. Each TG must have a looped default path assigned to it in the task group tab in the TE which is the path a TG sails every time it respawns at its port until a player changes it. When placing ports bear in mind how long it will take the TG to get back into the action after it is sunk. Linked port and TG numbers should be concurrent (i.e. P34 with C35) so players can easily associate them.
Spawn points (SPs) must be placed in such a way that they cannot come under fire from a field, strat or a train's 37 mm AA guns as soon as a player spawns in. These guns have a range of 1.5 miles so the nearest edge of your spawn should be further than this from the nearest AA guns. The normal distance used for incoming MA SPs is 3 to 3.5 miles from the the centre of the spawn to the centre of the base. Only an SP that is from the nearby base can be closer than this as in this case spawning players will not come under fire from their own base's guns.
A
shore battery (SB) should be placed close enough to its base that it shows up in the base's manned gun selection screen and so that enemy players can easily associate it with that base. It should also have a good field of fire, not be blocked by trees and not be able to fire on its own base's map room. It is best to place them on flat terrain as this prevents gaps around its hill base that vehicles can fall through.
The
bridges are a mixture of flat topped and arched stone bridges of differing lengths. It is difficult to use even the longest of these to bridge a narrow stretch of ocean as coastlines placed that close together tend to merge. Instead these are normally used to bridge the narrow rivers that are part of the strat supply system.
When positioning these bridges it is important to make sure the ends of the land sections attached to either end of the bridge sit below and not above the terrain itself otherwise it leaves a gap vehicles may not be able to climb over. This is quite tough to spot in the TE so check it in-game too.
The
revetment shape can be positioned on any completely flat land to give a protected place for vehicles to fire from. You should avoid placing them on top of an STO though.
Square Tile Object separation rulesThere are a number of rules and guidelines regarding how STOs can be placed in relation to one another:-
Any two STOs must have at least a 1 mile gap from each other (i.e no corners or sides touching).
Any 2 or 4 mile square STO should be placed entirely within one of the 4 mile red squares shown in the TE.
All airfields, the large and small vehicle bases and ports should be placed between 19 and 31 miles apart from each other. The tiny vehicle base can be placed as close as 3 miles from another tiny vehicle base but 19 to 31 miles from any other air or vehicle base.
Because of their long range puffy AA guns strats should be placed 8 miles or more from an airfield. Also at least 3 miles from a vehicle base or port. A strat can theoretically be placed as close as a 1 mile gap from another strat so long as both are of the same country. Too many strats too close together may cause frame rate issues though so make sure to check this in-game.
Flak bases should also be placed 8 miles or more from an airfield and 3 miles or more from another flak base, vehicle base or port. However up to two flak bases may be placed as close as a 1 mile gap to a strat so long as the flak bases are of the same country as the strat and are set to be uncapturable. Apart from the three nearest bases to the HQ, flak bases are the only type of base that may be set to be uncapturable.
A town should be placed close enough to an airfield that enemy players can easily associate the two and can be as close as a 1 mile gap if you want to help the defence of the field.
The 2 mile square tank town STO is just some interesting terrain for tanks to fight over, has no AA of its own and so can be placed as close as a 1 mile gap to any other STO.
Strat and field supply systemMA terrains must have a working rail, road and barge supply network added after all the strat and field STOs have been placed. The TE's default setup simply runs dead straight 10 mile long railways and roads N, S, E or W from the strats and fields. When editing these routes to run them around mountains or water etc. avoid running any part of a route across an STO. Also avoid crossing any spawn points as a vehicle could spawn either into a river or onto a road and get immediately hit by a passing truck convoy.
You can alter the length of the routes from 10 miles but try to keep the other countries' similar routes the same length for fairness reasons. The game spawns convoys at regular times so a longer route has more convoys to hit. Also don't make your supply routes a lot longer as too many convoys in play at once could exceed the game's maximum object count.
Keep all railway lines at least 3 miles apart from each other at any point on their length.
It is permitted to have extra “vis only” routes in an MA terrain for visual or game play reasons. You might for instance place a “vis only” river across enemy vehicles' likely path and then place a bridge across this river to create a defensible choke point.
Apart from where they transition down to the ocean I suggest you run any supply rivers over flat terrain, as on sloping water reflections of nearby objects like trees can become misplaced.
WeatherIf you build a cloud system for your terrain going too heavy on cloud cover can cause frame rate issues for players with marginal PCs. Cloud types 1-7 in the cloud editor are less taxing than the heavier types 8-11. Maintain a gap of 40 miles between each block of clouds at all times and do not stack one block above another. Mountain peaks can touch the clouds but in general allow at least 3,000 ft between the clouds and the land below it. Overcast layers should be set to over 35,000 ft.
