The Planetary Workshop

(2) Ousters by Samro



playerstarts: 2
bases: 12
playable size: 132x130

Background:
I wanted to create a map that was a bit bigger than my last one with many options for harass and need for scouting.

Thoughts:
Unsure about using LoSBs in centre.

Problems:
I think the concept is fine the way it is.

Things I like:
The area next to the high yield behind the small cliff, all LoSBs except the ones in centre, the double expansion (four + fifth regular) and the red vs blue texture theme.

Status: basic layout and visual concept done; most things open to change.

first the korhal cliffs or any other cliffs that are not normaly on spacesets dont work. u always have some fucking shit on them at the edge.

i think the layout is okish...u should change the gold expand with the other possible third because as a player i would always expand away from my opponent and thats bottom right or top left. and gold as third is not balanced.

also i dont like the inbase expand, but thats a personal thing. the mid is interessting, something unique.

i like the aesthetic feel of this map. altho i could imagine the texturing might look a little bit monotone in closeup ingame camera. could probably add a few more details to the large areas.
about the cliffs. i think the korhal cliffs fit the theme pretty well, would be sad if you had tor emove them. so what you could try is to intersect the bottem end of the cliffs with asterooid doodads to hide the edges. see how that looks

@mereel
Layout - only okish? what is not to like about it? is it because of the expansions, the expansion pattern or any problems with the actual layout?

Gold - my reasoning for the gold ist that if expanding counterclockwise you have access to two bases that can both be contolled from the same position. hat means when going clockwise while opponents is not on gold yet but goes counter-clockwise then you are on main+nat+third+gold and can push from there. is is a more agressice apporach I would say. I tried to make the gold neither really forward oriented nor a base that is oriented away. so how is it unbalanced? please explain.

InbaseNat - I think I like the possibility for drops a lot. but probably it really is too defensive and I should put it to the front (but then without the cliff I guess). would like to hear more opinions on in base nats

@lefix
Textures - I use three different textures for concrete and one dirt for some details. will post screenshots later.
Cliffs - I will try this possible workaround, thx!

another thing: i don't like how close the 2 xel naga towers are. I think it would be better to have only 1 in the center, or move them a little further away from each other

Agree with lefix, and they also defeat the purpose of LoS blockers, as they are made to block sight, but here the XWTs give sight for both sides over that area without problems for any of the players. Would be ok with one tower, as then you have to make an effort to take control over the tower.

i already got rid of one tower as one already serves the purpose of lookin up the ramp.
the LOS stuff was jus playin around a bit with graphical forms

i just think that if u use a inbase expand the map wont unfold as u might wish. its gonna be 2 base vs 2 base most of the time. if u remove it, the naturals infront of the bases are pretty close.

can u upload a analyzer pic with distance?
and i always look at a layout as a whole, so i cant give u the exact thing that bother me. maybe its just the natural-natural distance

I discussed the layout with Nullcurrent yesterday. He brought forward the argument that the in front natural or third respectivly is too close (under 100) and I should add a big DR on the front ramp and change the other two corners one then has to run around (left and right path).

I think this absolutly makes sense, but I do not think it is elegant, because I could also just get rid of the inbase nat and put it to the front to achieve a rush distance of 110-120 (n2n)

next thing is that the (then) third is ridiculous close distance and there will be a lot of double expansion games with armies trying to close the front main and probably wall of the backdoor. then one would have to shift to air...

somehow not what I wanted to achieve here. I will try around with getting another base into this with regular nat at front and then two alternating thirds to the left and right.

this map is dead!