As you slowly start to regain your vision your hand reaches up and rubs your forehead, the sharp pain that shoots through you causes your body to wince. Blood drops down the side of your face, dripping to the ground below as you slowly muster up enough strength to push yourself onto your feet.
That's when you remember...Moopy's have captured you!
You recall hearing stories about these primal animals on this planet. The way they pit races against each other for their own entertainment. Rumor has it, the only way to escape is to be victorious in their games.
A horn echos through the air, breaking you from your trance. The Moopy's start to cheer, stomp their feet and smash their weapons into the ground.
The Blood Trials have begun...
Map Bounds: 160x132
Airblockers are around the outside edges of the map + Show Spoiler +
Bases: Sixteen 8m 2g bases
Watchtowers: 0
Rush Distance: Main Ramp to Main Ramp: 38 seconds Nat Choke to Nat Choke: 30 seconds
Thors, Siege Tanks, Ultralisks & Archons need to kill rocks in the middle to get through, every other unit can pass.
Isn't this amount of airblockers excessive? Even ignoring the fact that airblockers and especially convex airblockers are buggy as fuck and trap units all the time, this leaves no room at all for dropping which has really severe balance consequences.
I feel with how easy it can be to expand as well as the amount of tight ramps and chokes through out the map that limited drops shouldn't be too bad. Considering Terran are the biggest culprit with drops yet with all the tight chokes they should do a lot better overall on the map in head on engagements.
There are limited drops in the main and the third/fourth that are good. Plus there are a handful of high ground pods or places ranged units can't hit through out the map where overlords/liberators should do okay in.
For instance, if Terran expand vertically, they can defend 4 bases on a 2x2 ramp and then a 3x3 ramp with like a 3 warp gate choke. If they expand triangular it's about the same. Protoss should be able to defend well enough with the ramps for defense and zerg can mass expand or try to engage on the non-ramps to help their cause.
Either way, I can limit the air blockers if needed...I just think it works out better. But again, any advice/thoughts/feedback I do appreciate and may use to restructure the map. =)
Trading off harass strength with chokes for defense reduces diversity though even if it successfully preserves balance. In TvZ for example you would basically have to go mech (or go for some sort of marine/hellbat timing), since bio would just get steamrolled due to its reduced ability to do economic damage.
Moved the airblockers around a bit to give more drop space into the natural & mains.
Added rocks on one of the ramps by the vertical thirds to make that base a little easier to hold.
Got rid of the rock wall in the middle and instead placed a 6x6 rock there. Small units can get through, Thors, Siege Tanks, Ultralisks & Archons need to kill rocks in the middle to get through. (I may just get rid of these rocks entirely, still debating.)
OP is updated. (Airblocker photo is a little off...just a little!)