Ns_foray
WarpZone
Join Date: 2002-11-03 Member: 6264Members
Join Date: 2002-11-03 Member: 6264Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Curvy walls! yay!</div> <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/uploads/post-4-1117850479.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
I love this screenshot. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> TUBES!
<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/uploads/post-4-1118178016.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<b>Note: That awesome texture on the round platforms? It's one of <a href='http://evillair.net/' target='_blank'>EvilLair's</a> Quake3 textures.</b> These are the four little alcoves in the MS. They were originally meant as extra real estate to build in, but they turned out kind of far from the CC. In any case, they're easy to shoot into, and I think they add character to each corner of the Marine Start area.
<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/uploads/post-4-1118352115.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
Shots detailing the hole in the ceiling of the MS. The idea here is that the TSA, in a typical display of cowboy engineering, bored a hole right through the hull to get in. What you see past all the dangling wires and debris is the dropship's exterior airlock. (Note: I have since LOWERED the ceiling, to prevent fades from jetpacking all over the place in the MS.)
<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/uploads/post-4-1118352735.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
This is just a quick screenie of the MS, with machines built to show scale. Some people thought the MS was too small, others too big. What do you think? Would YOU like to build a base here?
Okay, I started this map mostly trying to make it pretty. Don't get me wrong, I *want* the map to have fun, balanced gameplay, I just don't know the best way to go about balancing it. Any suggestions?
Marine Start: This room is a large L-shaped room with a circular alcove in the corner of the L. The CC starts out in the very center of this circular part, and as you can see from the green patch in the Commander view screenshot above, the build radius around the default CC exactly fills the immediate marine start area. The extended marine start area is actually pretty huge, and although there is very little cover for rushing skulks, there are four routes for hungry Kharra to enter through. The current ceiling height in the Marine Spawn is 256 from the floor. (slightly higher in the small ring where the marines sawed through the hull and attached an airlock. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> ) As you can see, two of the entrances are fairly close to the CC, though they lead to the same room.
Does this sound like a MS you would enjoy playing? It seems easy to defend, and even the most noobish commander's first instinct will probabaly be to place IPs against a wall because that is the maximum extent of the green build zone around the CC. If a TF is placed adjacent to the CC, two turrets can cover both structures from every angle, as well as covering the two main branches of the L. I'm pretty sure the ceiling is low enough to prevent Superfades from tearing the place apart too easily. Onoses will have their choice of routes from one side of the MS to the other, and defending marines should have no trouble hosing the room with gunfire if the need arises.
I hope to counter the defensibility of the MS by making the hives distant and twisty, with tons of nooks and crannies, thus hopefully making it a bit easier for the aliens to raid, and tougher for marines to cover.
I absolutely encourage any and all feedback. Thank you. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
I love this screenshot. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> TUBES!
<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/uploads/post-4-1118178016.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<b>Note: That awesome texture on the round platforms? It's one of <a href='http://evillair.net/' target='_blank'>EvilLair's</a> Quake3 textures.</b> These are the four little alcoves in the MS. They were originally meant as extra real estate to build in, but they turned out kind of far from the CC. In any case, they're easy to shoot into, and I think they add character to each corner of the Marine Start area.
<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/uploads/post-4-1118352115.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
Shots detailing the hole in the ceiling of the MS. The idea here is that the TSA, in a typical display of cowboy engineering, bored a hole right through the hull to get in. What you see past all the dangling wires and debris is the dropship's exterior airlock. (Note: I have since LOWERED the ceiling, to prevent fades from jetpacking all over the place in the MS.)
<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/uploads/post-4-1118352735.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
This is just a quick screenie of the MS, with machines built to show scale. Some people thought the MS was too small, others too big. What do you think? Would YOU like to build a base here?
Okay, I started this map mostly trying to make it pretty. Don't get me wrong, I *want* the map to have fun, balanced gameplay, I just don't know the best way to go about balancing it. Any suggestions?
Marine Start: This room is a large L-shaped room with a circular alcove in the corner of the L. The CC starts out in the very center of this circular part, and as you can see from the green patch in the Commander view screenshot above, the build radius around the default CC exactly fills the immediate marine start area. The extended marine start area is actually pretty huge, and although there is very little cover for rushing skulks, there are four routes for hungry Kharra to enter through. The current ceiling height in the Marine Spawn is 256 from the floor. (slightly higher in the small ring where the marines sawed through the hull and attached an airlock. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> ) As you can see, two of the entrances are fairly close to the CC, though they lead to the same room.
Does this sound like a MS you would enjoy playing? It seems easy to defend, and even the most noobish commander's first instinct will probabaly be to place IPs against a wall because that is the maximum extent of the green build zone around the CC. If a TF is placed adjacent to the CC, two turrets can cover both structures from every angle, as well as covering the two main branches of the L. I'm pretty sure the ceiling is low enough to prevent Superfades from tearing the place apart too easily. Onoses will have their choice of routes from one side of the MS to the other, and defending marines should have no trouble hosing the room with gunfire if the need arises.
I hope to counter the defensibility of the MS by making the hives distant and twisty, with tons of nooks and crannies, thus hopefully making it a bit easier for the aliens to raid, and tougher for marines to cover.
I absolutely encourage any and all feedback. Thank you. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Comments
How are the r_speeds going in the ms?
but I love shot 3. VERY nice use of textures!!! rocks!
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Map Vote:<ol type='1'>
</li><li>ns_orbital
</li><li>ns_source
</li><li>ns_shiva
</li><li>ns_eclipse
</li><li>ns_stormsiege
</li><li>ns_origin
</li><li>ns_foray
</li></ol>NSPlayer: I don't think I've played ns_foray
NSPlayer(1): Yeah you have dude
NSPlayer(1): its the one where Marines have broken through the roof of the ship
NSPlayer: Ooh yeah
NSPlayer: OMG VOTE 7!!!111
NSPlayer: I MEANT 7 VOTE SEVEEEN!!!<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--> ...or something.
The MS looks like it has a similar 2D layout to Tanith, but it looks a bit smaller. The entances are closer together so it should be quite easy to cover the long corridors, but the addition of the other two will probably balance it out nicely.
I'm wondering more about placing a tfact furthest out into the corridor as possible -or where the armoury is in that pic- and what sort of coverage you would have of the corridors (so extending defences to have more buildable space). I'd also be interested to see any sort of rough layout you may have in mind.
Cool texturing by the way.
I'm a little worried about this, actually. If a skulk even looks down one of the hallways heading to the MS, they're sure to get shot at by this single turret farm. Maybe this is juat a LITTLE too easy to defend. I dunno. What do you think, Crispy?
I like the textures and the map so far to me that has the just right amount of "Darkness" feel to it to make a marine feel uneasy,worried that an onos is cloaked behind one of those corners and that it's too far from the observatory to be seen hehe until OOOOPSSS devoured! <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->.
Great job Warp I hope ya finish this map asap unless rli's come about lol.
Walking around the MS, r_speeds tend to fluctuate between 200 and 400 most of the time.
If 600 is unacceptable, I guess I could scale up some of the textures to 2x. I always hate doing that, though. <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
This technique is deceptively simple, but it could have a very significant effect on the mood and ambiance of my map. If I give each room a light side and a dark side, and I'm consistant about it, players will start to instinctively get a feel for where they are in a map. They'll know to go towards the light to find the marine start, and to go into the shadows to find a hive. Even if they don't know the map, they'll know which of the two doors any given hallway leads towards or away from the enemy. Also, it means if I need to move a particular hive or hallway, and it ends up closer to the marine start or a hive than it was before, I can tweak the entire mood simply by adjusting the brightness of the ambience light entities.
A dark ceiling makes for a huge difference in mood, even if it doesn't affect gameplay all that much. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
keep in mind that one turret fac also means a complete loss of defense when destroyed <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> so it should be ok
you sould work on your lightling. the ceiling ans the round parts in your map look cool but the monotone lightstyle doesnt add to it.
As for the turret farm, it all depends on distance I suppose. If you think a celerity skulk can move past it, or a hive2 skulk leap in for a bite and still have health to retreat then it's probably OK. When you come to test it use 3/4 turrets.
I like the light/dark idea, just as long as it's not too dark. I can't tell much from the shots because this internet café monitor sucks.
P.S. My advice is not gold. Listen to everyone and come up with your own, informed opinion.
<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I... <i>think</i> they're 128 units apart. When they say "at least 128 units apart" in the NS mapping guidelines, do they mean 128 units from the *position* of one info_marine_start to the next? Or 128 units of empty space between the boundaries of the green boxes in WorldCraft?
In any case, at the moment they're all clustered around the CC. I plan to have the map start with all doors to the bridge area sealed with emergency bulkheads (from the depressurization of the marines' arrival) so it should be readily apparent to the noobs that they're sealed in an L-shaped room with a CC in the corner. Spawning them all over the general bridge instead of just the round part shouldn't cause problems finding the CC, if it turns out I have to move them.
Compared to some of the original NS maps, this MS is actually pretty generous to the marines. Plenty of room for IPs and whatever else, plus if a skulk is munching on the CC and you enter the MRS through one of the doors, you can see him and probabaly get a shot off fairly easily without getting too close.
If that openness is actually a <b>problem,</b> and NS maps are supposed to be <i>designed</i> with the CC in a tucked-away alcove so skulks can chow down on an IP or a CC for a good 3-4 seconds before a marine can get to them, then I guess my map is built wrong.
Personally, though, I'm hoping that this way the MS won't need a million turrets and three layered electrified TFs to keep it relatively secure. Or at least this place if the commander DOES build all that crap, it can be placed around the edges of the room and not blocking the walkways. I hate spawning and then having to jump over several turrets just to make it out of the MS.
I really oughtta seek the opinions of people who don't play on pubs. <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->