Critisising The Dam

[poesel]

I wrote a while ago that I would like to have a 'standard' set of maps to play on. Maps that are good and fun to play on.

I know its a lot of work to make a scenario and its very hard to get it right. Even more so in the first run because, obviously, noone played it before the first release.

So my intention is to make this already very good scenario BETTER.

Let me first say that this is the visually most beautiful scenario so far! I like the setting, the lake and the winding roads. And I like that there are an uneven number of bases to conquer - that makes things interesting.

What I don't like (finally! ) is that if you own both bases at the dam their laser zones overlap and its very hard for the attacker to get a shot through. What I propose would be to replace the AA with cobra missiles.

Opposite thing on the two lower bases: they don't have any AA. They should have at least some 'natural' defense.

The third base is very far to the NE. That leaves the NW a place nobody will ever go to (which would be a shame). I would propose to put the third base right to the north of the lake on an island or peninsula where it can be seen (=shelled) from all the mountains around. That would make it very tough for anyone to get and hold it.

I hope I didn't annoy Toby too much.

[Toby Haynes]

Actually, I'm delighted to get constructive feedback. It's difficult to gauge how human players will attack a particular map - the bots are fairly predictable and don't really stretch the possibilities for attacks. Only once a map has been played against human opponents do I get a good feel for better layouts.

The original thinking for this level goes as follows:

The dam is the best defended part. It's the key strategic objective in the scenario and it is worth the most points for holding it. The dual laser zones were deliberately chosen - because capturing either end of the dam captures all of it, the defending team needs a bit more help.

To balance that, I opted to make the sum of all the other facilities greater than the Dam itself. So a team which takes everything except the Dam will win by 200 points or so. That sounds easy - except that team must now defend THREE separate facilities from incursion. So - no picnic there either.

I chose not to put defenses on the Eastern and Western bases to encourage players to set up their own defence rather than relying on the pre-existing ones.

Okay - so that deals with the original theory. Now the "in-practice" part.

The Dam is hard to hold onto as it stands, at least against a well coordinated opponent who uses SAM paladins to restrict the arrival of reinforcements. My main worry with making the Dam defences into Cobra missile towers is that it will make a very tough for the opponent to recapture the Dam. I'd almost be tempted to give the Eastern and Western bases SAM coverage and the Dam nothing automatic.

Adding a new base to the peninsular at the northern end of the lake is an interesting idea. That can certainly be done - I might experiment a little.

[Toby Haynes]

One thing I should add is that we can easily run an experimental scenario alongside the original one. I can just create TheDamExperiment.scenario, everyone downloads this small file and we play around with the possibilities and see how they work out. Once we hit on something that everyone likes, it can become TheDam version 1.2. Creature Zoo is a perfect location for such testing

[poesel]

I expected the map to be split east/west instead of dam/rest so that the northern base would be the deciding factor.

The western dam is a bit easier to reach because of the flat 'backyard'. Makes it easier to attack.

You could use cobra missiles with a limited range or limit the range of the laser. OTOH giving them nothing would surly mean carnage - not a bad idea

CZ is waiting for 1.2

[__Yossarian0815[jby]]

In light of then other critisizing thread: how about the dam: ultimate carnage . CTF with the flag points on either side of the dam.