Staredit Network

First off, I read the sticky about posting conventions, but I don't know if this is going to come out right. I tried.

I know that balance is important in a map, but I get tired of symmetrical maps.. they look the same on both sides. So I used structure tiles on the left and dirt tiles on the right, and called it a siege on the structure.

I didn't really know what to do with upper right and lower left sections, the places where I ended up putting structures. If you have a better idea for those locations, please tell me. I put the structures there to be defense platforms, for the defense of the corner expansions.

I put a lot of trees in a couple of places just for fun, but I'd be glad to remove them if need be. I don't know if you can see them in jpg, but yeah.

I don't really know what else to say.. just tell me what's wrong with my map, eh?

[attachmentid=12011]


Edit:
I'm adding the .scm file, in case anyone is really bored.. or wants a better look at the trees, or something.

Well, I think that this is pretty balanced around terran even with the two chokes which usually don't benefit them. I also think that you should get rid of that water area to the right of blue's main so that it is open to get to just like reds.

The chokes are horrible. Zerg cant fast expo properly and vult raids are gonna be a . Its a cool looking map with the structure/high dirt, but you need to fix the minerals ( too spread out and random looking imo) and do something with the chokes. I'm not sure about the high ground so close to the main too, i'm not sure how that will work out and you can build on the high dirt one, but not the structure.

Ouch, you can't build on that structure? If that's the case then it is definately going to be a problem.

I had to think a while about the two chokes, but after a playtest I decided to keep them. They're difficult to make a full-out attack on, so they'll just make things more interesting if Dark Templars or other assasin-type units are in the mix.

I thought about the water, too, and kept it because it matched the huge forest in front of the red base. But the water is larger than the forest, and the two obstacles are quite different anyway, so I guess some balancing could be in order there.

Thanks for the feedback!

ADDITION:



Are you saying I should make the chokes bigger?
Yeah, I know I have bad mineral placement.. I'm working on that. Dyslexic, or something, I guess.

Edit: Do you mean randomly placed around the map, or randomly placed around the start location? I kind of like the random look, but I'll change it so that it's better to play.

I don't think you can build on any of the high dirt around the red base.. there are trees up there. If there is room to build -- I'll go test, I haven't done that yet -- I'll definately change that. My goal was purely to put units there.

Edit: I checked, and every race can fit static defense up there. I'm trying to put doodads to block buildings, but I'm having trouble. I'll fix it, though.

Thanks for the feedback!

Blue's vespene gas might be a problem too, be sure that you can get max efficiency with three workers, you probably also want to make doodads that can be walked through so it doesn't get in the units way, like with the structure.

Don't make the chokes bigger. Get rid of that small gay one that goes around the back to your mineral line. And about the minerals i meant the ones near the start location.
And i think you should just make the high ground into high rocky ground(if thats possible) or some other unbuildable terrain.

I'm having trouble keeping that high ground from being buildable. I'm just using StarEdit, maybe another editor could help? I was going to try some out anyway.

I've been redoing the mineral placements. I checked the main bases, and those vespenes are fully efficient with three workers now.


[attachmentid=12029]

ADDITION:



Unfortunately, high rocky ground is not available. At least not in StarEdit.

I like the back doors; they're not to difficult to defend, but attacks on workers is one more thing to worry about. I'll get some more opinions before changing that.
I've also removed the water in front of the blue base, and replaced it with rocky ground.

The huge ass choke is one thing, but adding a second choke in the back makes fast expo completely unviable.

Okay, I don't play on Battle.net. I've never heard of or used the fast expo strategy. I did some research on it, though, and I don't see how it's ruined by a more open base.

A commonly used Zerg build is 12 hatch at expo, then using sunkens to prevent from being run over. This is virtually impossible with the weird choke and second entrance.

Well, I guess this map will force Zerg players to branch out in thier strategies.

Okay, though, I'll think about changing it.

ADDITION:
Alright, here's my most recent version. The "back doors" are still there, but you don't have to worry about defending them until transports come into play.
My plan with the walls was to make it impossible to attack through the back of the base with an early rush, but still make vulture raids on the peon line something to worry about, unless you've expanded your base through that choke.

I couldn't find a way to stop building on high ground, so I replaced the high ground with structure. Units can go there, but no buildings. I'm not to worried about static defense on the high ground to the south of the base; it's too out of the way to be a worry. (Hm.. could be used to defend against attacks from the south.. I'll have to look into that again)

So what do you think of these updates?



By the way, there are very few people making melee maps. Maybe when I get this map to everybody's satisfaction, I'll pump out a bunch of standard, formulaic, boring maps just to get production going again.

[attachmentid=12092]

Put gas at the natural.
and about the maps, i did that for a little bit

Balance doesnt come with Symmetry

You dont need symmetry to make a map balanced. Look at gaia or paranoid andriod for example. They are well balanced yet they look so real while somewhat keeping the shape.

The map dimensions are not highly used, I guess its a plus if you use that on a good map.
This map is unbalanced. Terrain isnt buildable for the whole left side. Minerals placed badly. Take away a choke point and make it blockable.

What do you mean the blue side's not buildable? Only on top of structures, and the equivilent high ground for the reds is either structure or not buildable.

And I ask again, are you referring to mineral field placements in specific expansions, or to the locations of the expansions?

There are easy ways to make that structure buildable in normal staredit. Its only to use a particoular doodad from the structures palette. Look up (2)DetonationF in broodwarmaps.net's 'classic' section to see wich one.