Challenge Maps Needed

Browser_ICE · June 2003

<div class="IPBDescription">(not fun or dumb maps, real challenges)</div> From a post I did in a different thread, I thought it would be a good idea to start one of it's own as I had this idea for awhile and want to know your opinions.

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>You create a scenario for a fight that's up to a certain point it time when the map loads up. Then this becomes a challenge for the Commander or the Gorgs (or what ever specific units the Challenge is based on).

So you could have a map where the base is almost dead from start and both teams start with a pre-define status and inventory to start that Challenge scenario.

These kind of maps would be an advanced training for semi no-win situations to find out if things can be turned around and who's the best in these situations.
</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>

Now I know that the NS engine isn't built for inserting into a map equipements and players with a specific status (damage, ammo, inventory, ...). But in the mean time that this may be possible one day, how about geting something close to the idea with what the current NS engine can do.

I'm not interested into things like a map called Ninja fall or other similar fun maps. I want <b>real Challenge maps</b> that rely on strategy, skills, team work, commanding,... Maybe some maps that are <b>semi no-win scenarios</b> ? Don't make them impossible to win (unless if they are going to be part of some kind of contest), don't make them dumb maps or fun maps.

Fun maps to me are maps that you either have fun making or they are fun to play. They aren't any real Challenge in them to play. Challenge maps should maps where at the end you say :
- "I can do it better better next time"
- "Maybe that strategy should work better"
- "It was the best game I ever played"
- "I feel I won the world's biggest contest"
- "This is the ideal map for a Clan match or a tournament"
- "This MOD is the best teamplay game I ever played"

Any how, you get the idea.

Please reply here only with :

- your idea of Challenge maps

or

- you are going to do one and what is it

or

- this will be implemented and when

Lt_Gravity · June 2003

I only say one thing:
ns_bast, marines all upgrades, aliens 2 hives (engine, refinery), marines attack refinery with lots of ha. this battle lasts 30 minutes. after that my heard stood still and my hands were shacking. best match ever.

what some people call "funmaps" are dumpmaps for me. and they arent fun to play after the first round. funmap is an expression that results out of some games like cs, that only suck so you have to build alternate maps that give the game a sense. the officials of ns are their sense. I never felt to play boxmaps when having a cool match. and this siege inspired maps are allways marine advantage.
working on a map that is little bit like the hated "funmaps" but the scenary is somewhat different. I used up the WHOLE y-space in worldcraft up to the unit! largest map ever <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'> the three hives are seperated and ahve their own theme. distances are short between the hives, a giant hot-action point in the middle. but there are many ways to success. look out...

Kuroneko · June 2003

there are a few well made funmaps that balance the play well

Castlewars is *NOT* one of those well made fun maps....

NerdIII · June 2003

It might sound ironical, but I find Castle Wars extremly challenging as alien. At least I won it once as gorge and still love to play it as alien. My favorite strategy: Build 6 resource towers, second hive, some defence chambers under the hives, offense chambers in strategical positions - preferably on high locations, web the three passes through the middle and build movement chambers and more res towers.
(To get around the bug where you cant build an resource tower close to another you will have to move away from the nozzle, so there is only the empty nozzle in a certain radius from you.)
As a Lerk I often sit down on hives with four dcs under it. Upgraded with Adrenaline and Carapace. As long as no Jetpacker with Grenade launcher comes along this is the perfect hive defense, hehe. Of course it does't work so well when the hive isn't fully build.

Cloth_of_Letters · June 2003

I was working on something like this for awhile: the appropriately titled ns_march. The marines start with big armor and guns and have to make their way over treadmills, through vents, up disgustingly slow elevators, and just annoyingly long halls in general. I gave up on it thinking trying to munch heavy armor as skulks isn’t too fun. Maybe if it was a 3 hiver though…

GRRHunter · June 2003

I don't play Funmaps too often ,because they don't bring a little piece of the ns atmosphere to you.
There are no hallways where you think " im better heading into the other way".
Half Lífe(NS) isn't the best engine to map different maps ,but if the right spirit is there and some good mappers try to trick the engine to create something new it's surely possibly to create such a map.
We just can wait what will happen with NS and the HL2 engine <img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'>

I am currently working on a serious map <img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'>

Browser_ICE · June 2003

Guys, don't post about funny maps. Posting non relevant subjects will only attract even more non relevant subjects.

Please stick with the subject of my thread !

Fieari · June 2003

I've been having this idea for a while. I can't map, but for you who are looking to make a "Challenge Map" I think this would be a good idea. It requires no scripting, no prebuilt bases, no already included tech. The challenge is in the map alone.

The map is basically wheel shaped, with three spokes. The marine start is in the "hub", and the hives are in the wheel. Each spoke leads to one hive, and two resource nodes. Please see the attached image for reference while reading the rest of the description.

Each spoke consists of three passages. The main passage, Onos and Marine friendly, is sealed by a blast door. This blast door is only opened when the hive it leads to is built. I understand that the "OnHiveBuild" or whatever it's called trigger is sometimes bugged, and if this is the case, I have an alternate plan I'll detail later in this post.

The second passage on each spoke is a vent reachable only by jetpacks, skulks, and lerks.

The third passage on each spoke goes underwater for most of the way. The underwater section should be just long enough that if a marine tries swimming from one end to the other, he'll only just make it to the other side with very little health left. This underwater passage leads to a room that is within seige range of one of the two resource nodes each hive possesses, and possibly the hive itself, although if you choose to make it within hive seige range, also include a vent to this room from the hive.

Now, in addition to the main passageway doors opening when the hive is built, another door opens as well in the marine start. This door leads to a tiny room containing one resource node. Thus, for each hive the aliens aquire, the marines gain an additional node that is right there inside their own base. Of course, the aliens have immediate access to two nodes per hive as well...

In order to go from one hive to another, the aliens must actually run through the marine base. This may make things very difficult for the aliens. Of course, the marines are limited in terms of resources (one garunteed node per hive) unless they take hives.

There should be an alternate method of getting from hive to hive. I suggest a vent leading along the wheel part, but make the vent very difficult for skulks to climb into. See "ns_nancy" for inspiration. Have the mouth of the vent have an exaggerated "lip" on both sides, such that entering them is a challenge. Alternatively, or additionally, you could place trigger_hurts along the wall that leads to the vent. Entering the vent should require either extreme skill, a lerk, or two hives so that the skulk can leap from another wall into the vent. Gorge elevatoring should be impossible through this method.

One of the alien resource nodes in each hive should be seigable from the next hive over.

Each hive, each spoke, each section of the map, while being phyisically identical to the others, should have a very distinctive look, so as to not get lost. Although not shown on my ms paint map, there should also be lots of cover, and maybe the hallways should zig zag a bunch in order to give skulks a chance, and also to lower the rspeeds.

Now, I mentioned earlier that should the hive build trigger not work, I had an alternate idea. The first alternate idea would be to try using a trigger presence, instead of a hive build trigger. The second would be to remove the vents leading from the marine start to each hive, and then place three switches in each hive. Each switch could only be thrown once, and would permanantly open the door to one of the hives as well as the door to the corresponding resource node in the marine start. The problem with that solution, of course, is that this fact would have to be made very clear to the players, other wise they might just give resources and hives to the marines, who are in a very prime position.

Thoughts? Anyone wish to attempt it?

Challenge Maps Needed

Comments