[M](2v2) Processing Plant

Expand/attack ways



Walloff

I'm a casual player, and I play pretty much only 2v2 (random diamond). I figured I'd make a map with features that I miss in the current map pool (with the lovely exception of molten crater and, to a lesser extend, magma core).
Basically I like having 2 things in 2v2 maps: a lot of bases, and being forced to commit to a certain attack path making it possible to set up a decent defense if scouted (high orbit or magma core come into mind).
But what I dislike about maps like Lunar colony V is that its hard for a zerg player to have proper mapcontrol, and it's pretty much impossible for the other 2 races (yes I'm exaggerating to make a point), making it hard to see where attacks are coming form.

So first of, it's a huge map, as the analyzer shows it takes 194 (seconds?) from base to base (playable bounds 199x187), I've checked other (mostly 1v1) maps and I believe that its rather big, especially for a 2v2 map, without being overboard. I could be wrong about that though, so please enlighten me.

I've chosen to make "semi-shared" main bases with rather wide ramps, by that it should be possible to assist an attacked teammate, without going through the opponents army. The way is longer for the defender as for the attacker, requiring good management for how much you want to send. This way it's hard to defend an early attack, I did this in order to compensate a bit for the large rush distance. Though I believe that the good ol' 4rax or 7 roach rush are much less viable on such a large map. The potential of 4 gates being too strong because it's easy to hide a pylon is a bit reduced by the XWT placement (I'll go a bit into depth about them below)

Also, I decided to give one "free" base for greedy openers, on the other hand, you need to push out quite a bit in order to secure a 2nd or third base, making you more vulnerable to air based harass (medivacs/mutas/warprisms and so on), I did this to make it easier to punish turtling based strats.

XWT are placed in a way that it's possible to observe all possible attack paths without revealing potential drop routes. Also if you're taking control of the towers early on you can spot sneaky probes trying to place a “ruin your day” pylon. Personally I think things like that are essential for a 2v2 map, as team games are more volatile than 1v1s, so this should be compensated by easy to achieve mapcontrol. This again makes mobile armies stronger which contributes to my no-turtle-style argument, I think...

Enough talk! I guess the rest explains itself. I'd love to hear critics/tips/discussion and if possible replays of your matches as I sadly have no ability to test myself except against an AI.