Name DF Kurald Emurlahn Version 2.0 Bounds 150x150 Bases 16 Published To Be Updated on SEA, NA, and EU Rush Distances Close 42 in-game seconds Rush Distances Cross 54 in-game seconds
For this map I wanted an emphasis on a high ground middle and thirds that can be chosen in different match-ups and spawning positions, thus providing dynamic and varied gameplay. Controlling all the towers provides a lot of vision of the various attack paths but are also difficult to hold them all. No rocks, whaaaaat.
Overall map size reduced from 158x158 to 150x150. Small amount of air space around the edges. Back-door to main removed. Small area behind natural for building space (tech hiding etc). Choke to natural widened by 1 square. Area outside natural and thirds completely reworked. High ground outside of natural removed. Counter clockwise third reoriented. Singular tower removed. Four separate towers created. Tightened the high-ground in the very centre slightly.
v2.0 Aesthetics Changes Very slight fog and lighting changes. Man-made textures cleaned up. Decals added to ramps for shiny purposes.
v2.0 Bug Changes Fixed some pathing issues. Fixed a spawning issue. Cleaned up some doodad footprints.
On November 24 2012 05:55 TibblesEvilCat wrote: has same issues as blistering sands but, the map is also large
On this map, the distance from nat entrance to backdoor is about the same for the attacker and defender, unlike Blistering Sands where the distances massively favored the attacker. Also this map's backdoor has the high ground pod to help with defense.
On November 24 2012 09:26 Fatam wrote: and iirc, the blistering sands backdoor had no LOS blockers on the outside so you could warp/blink over it :-P
I don't think it was intended since it was on a ramp, but there was a little corner of the rock where you could move a unit to get vision (combined with the fact that this was pre-ramp vision nerf)
Had some grandmaster friends play quite a few test games on the map and they said the middle high ground was strong enough without the tower and that I'd be better off removing it but adding some surrounding ones, to make traversing the middle of the map easier.
After some games of my own I had to agree that it was quite daunting trying to cross the map with all the high ground there, so I came up with some of these ideas. Would like some other mapmaker's points of view.
I like the last one the most. Even though tower vision can cover all attack routes, they encourage mid highground play. Also the tower which is counter-clock wise to a base is harder to defend for that player than it is to attack.
I think I like the last one the best too. It's important to have a watchtower between adjacent spawns on a map this size. What's nice about the last setup is that it leaves the very middle unrevealed so that holding the center is still a partial mystery for the player without map control.
I'd prefer no tower. A tower in the middle is kind of pointless as you say, because it is already powerful. Having four towers around the outside makes the whole map covered by towers and makes controlling the highground areas nearly pointless.
I'm not sure, im between the first and last one, in the last one you can't protect yourself by taking only one xel'naga and that's an excelent thing, but in case of lateral spawns if your opponent takes the xel'naga that's between the players your oponent can gain the control of almost all the map in the blink of an eye, since that xelnaga gives the edge to take the other ones. In this case this xel'naga would behave just like a xel'naga placed in the center of a two players map, so if aren't you the one with the xel'naga you are also the one that's behind in the game. In the other case (the first pic) one xel'naga is enough to protect you from almost any ground harass which is bad, but at the same time it doesn't behave like the xel'nagas in the last pic, this is more like a xel'naga that you know it belongs to you, and while idk if that's a good thing i can say that is a stable thing and i will not give you and edge over the other player or allow you to control the entire map in just a step, but it could lead to deathballing since when you want to attack your opponent will know from which side you are coming and will reposition itself with ease.
i really don't know, i would say that it's to you to decide since both of them have bad and good things (from my point of view), so if i had to choose one i think would have to throw a dice or something :S
Quite a big update, based on feedback from team, Skype, and some Grandmaster folk on SEA. Would love some further feedback.
Overview on OP, along with new screenshots.
Change Log
v2.0 Balance Changes Overall map size reduced from 158x158 to 150x150. Small amount of air space around the edges. Back-door to main removed. Small area behind natural for building space (tech hiding etc). Choke to natural widened by 1 square. Area outside natural and thirds completely reworked. High ground outside of natural removed. Counter clockwise third reoriented. Singular tower removed. Four separate towers created. Tightened the high-ground in the very centre slightly.
v2.0 Aesthetics Changes Very slight fog and lighting changes. Man-made textures cleaned up. Decals added to ramps for shiny purposes.
v2.0 Bug Changes Fixed some pathing issues. Fixed a spawning issue. Cleaned up some doodad footprints.
The green spray is a wall of LoSB, this I feel will do a few things which I think will make the map better. First off it'll make pathing out to grab your 3rd a little more dangerous since there could be anything behind the LoSB. It means you have to be more active with your scouting units because they could easily hide right behind that wall. But, the biggest thing by doing that is now you have two choices when you are moving your army. Do you move your army through the LOSB, which is more dangerous or do you loop around the other side of that hole in the ground and take the chance of being spotted by the XWT. Do you take the more dangerous route or the safer route that could get you spotted easier?
Second are the red squares I added to the middle of the map. I think you should add a low group that is pathable. This will do a few things like make moving through the middle not as dangerous for terran and protoss because you could pick up troops/tanks/whatever and drop them on these low ground areas, which means only ranged units would be able to hit them. Think like shakuras with all the droppable cliffs in the middle and how much that helped terran and protoss out when moving around the middle of the map. Thing is, the middle here is much bigger and therefore more dangerous to move through.
These are the only things I can really think of off the top of my head that I'd like to see you change. They are tiny changes that I think add a little more depth to the strategy that can be used for this map.
Great work overall, definitely one of the better maps I've see recently.