(Open-Beta) 6p_Vistula

Open Beta - Download Link V1.0

http://www.mediafire.com/?afxxstt0zdms8h6

Second time lucky! After my Malgobek map developed a crashing problem I just couldn't fix I moved away from the idea of mapping, but a recent spate of great EF games inspired me once again. So this is my new project, a 6p map (I've been playing a lot of co-op with my dad and brother.)

History
The map is based around the Vistula river in Poland:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vistula#World_War_II
In June-August 1944 the Red Army fought their way across the Vistula river in Operation Bagration:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Bagration
And eventually established a beachhead for the Vistula-Oder Offensive:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vistula%E2%80%93Oder_Offensive
That should tick the historically accurate box.

Layout

Layout - 14/8/2011

Layout - 24/3/2013


Going from west to east there is one of the starting areas and then a steep downslope covered with thick pine forest with a couple of plateaus, then an open moor and a small village, to the north there's a tight urban area with a large open park at the top. Along the southern edge of the map there's an infantry only area, with some fields, isolated houses and a small village. On the eastern side of the map (which is the main WIP part) there's a rocky tor (it's an English word, look it up :)) with a defensive area at the top, to the north of that there's another small village. Further east there's a monastery in the middle of a large lake, with open fields and farm buildings to the south. That was a bit long winded but its a big map :)

Pictures











Pictures - 14/8/2011



















Pictures - 23/03/2013

Last edited March 25, 2013 at 2:13 AM by Raelity

A good map should have about +40 fuel and +60-90 munitions on the map in total. Aim for that.

Hello Raelity.

The basic look of your map is nice, but I recommend the usage of Splats, please consider that when you take a look at it again. I know, Splats take a lot of work to be placed everywhere, but it surely pays off. The map looks far too clean (those grass areas).

Second point is that you really should take a look at your grass placement. It doesn't look really neat if you just fill one big area with the same grass type, try adding more grass types (if you know how to do that) and vary the grass, use a brush size of one and allocate the grass more careful.

Third point are the starting positions left to the valley with the forest. AI and also human players will have a hard time navigating their units through that forest, I recommend that you place at least one road through that forest to make it more balanced. Especially PE units will have an unfair disadvantage.

Fourth point, the general map layout. It seems very chokepointy to me what provokes campy gameplay. Is the River crossable everywhere or do only the bridges make it possible to cross it?

That map looks, layout wise, like a mix of Lyon and Bernieres-sûr-mere


Short conclusion:

• Please take a look at your Splat, grass and Tile placement, vary a little more if possible.


• Create free paths/roads through the pine forest


• Add more passages though the river

Don't take this personal, it's just constructive criticism. Hope you consider using it.
Greetings,

Maxi

Thanks for the advice Maxi, addressing the first point; I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do but I was going to add splats last as they would need to be fitted around the buildings and roads.

Second point, yeah I should take a look at that tutorial for more grass types as its limiting only having plain meadow and wheat. Looking now there are a lot of textures that have moved in that overhead map, some areas that are textured in the game show as plain grass on there.

The third point, yeah I see that I was a bit shortsighted not only would a road or two help balance but it would also look more realistic.

The fourth point, I was planning on swapping the central bridge for an large open ford or swamp, would that help to make it less campy? Also maybe adding separate infantry bridges onto the town island. I want to maintain the southern strip as an infantry only section really, but I'm not sure if that causes balance issues. Balance may be the reason the bernieres-sur-mere separate area has one place vehicles can get across. The two ways onto the town island are wider than you'd think, but still coverable by a single MG nest (just).

The reason the map has chokepoints is because I started it primarily for co-op with my family (I thought I might as well share it aswell) and they prefer maps with a few chokepoints because they aren't big gamers and its less micro intensive. I suppose though that making it more open will force them to learn faster :)

Raelity wrote:
The fourth point, I was planning on swapping the central bridge for an large open ford or swamp, would that help to make it less campy?

Definately, you should try that. I also recommend removing the central river as whole, if that doesn't destroy your map as you like it.
When that is done, I think some vehicles bridges/fords would be appropriate to connect the southern island with the main part.

Raelity wrote:
The reason the map has chokepoints is because I started it primarily for co-op with my family (I thought I might as well share it aswell) and they prefer maps with a few chokepoints because they aren't big gamers and its less micro intensive. I suppose though that making it more open will force them to learn faster :)

Yeah, just make them learn faster. Make them being COH pros and join the EF community as well. :P
You could still save the chokepoint map as a seperate version and make this kind of a balanced and well playable branch of the first version, that would be fine.

By central river do you mean the one that connects the other two rivers? That bit is all swamp and ford now, only British/Soviet MG nests can come close to covering the whole area. Is there no way I can make that southern area infantry centric and still be balanced? Perhaps only one vehicle crossing in the center, an extension of the swamp.

I've also added two additional infantry bridges onto the town island, between the main bridges and the swamp.

Raelity wrote:
By central river do you mean the one that connects the other two rivers? That bit is all swamp and ford now, only British/Soviet MG nests can come close to covering the whole area. Is there no way I can make that southern area infantry centric and still be balanced? Perhaps only one vehicle crossing in the center, an extension of the swamp.

Fine. Keep it as it is and please update the tactical map so that we can see what's actually been done :)

I've updated the OP with the new tacmap (its smaller because saving an overhead map moves the textures around, so its taken straight from the editor) and a few new pictures to show the sort of thing I've been doing on the east side. I've done the extra grasses tutorial now so I've been able to vary them a lot and I've been adding splats, I want to get the east side done first.

Great improvement! Looks better.

Well it's been almost 2 years but finally some space has opened up for me to get this finished. I've added a latest layout picture to the first post, I've got some screenshots to post but I just realised they are of a game played with the Ostheer, so I'm not sure if that falls under the NDA. I've cleared some space in the town, added lots more detail, (splats, grasses etc), widened the swamp and made it a vehicle access point to the long south road, kept the resources to the advised numbers. What I haven't done is added easy cutoffs at the bases, but this is a long thin 3v3 map, and normally by the time one team is able to take a point outside the enemy base they have already: 1. taken all the points on the way 2. pretty much finished off the enemy.

I'll be putting this up for testing soon, as soon as I've sorted a minimap for the selection screen and a loading screen picture.

Last edited March 24, 2013 at 3:49 AM by Raelity

I've added a link for a download so you guys can test it now, it's probably not very balanced. Also can I have some confirmation on whether or not it's OK to use screenshots with Ostheer units in?

i really like this map. We play it as axis against 3 expert cpu (1 ami, 1brit 1 sovjet) and it is a hard job! Good map! :D

cyhyryiys wrote:
i really like this map. We play it as axis against 3 expert cpu (1 ami, 1brit 1 sovjet) and it is a hard job! Good map! :D

Thanks! Do you prefer starting from the woods end or the farms end?

only played axis for now. There i prefere start position 4 (middle).