Map Testing Program General Discussion - Games

[QUOTE=An Eyewitness;45426859]I'm pretty sure they say "Error: path not found".[/QUOTE] Sounded like "pass" to me, but path does sound more logical. I think that the core-stealing gimmick is bullshit. The 10 point team shouldn't be allowed to win by stealing a 290 point reactor. It'd be a lot nicer if you could steal up to half of the points of the other team.

[QUOTE=xNickston;45426884]I think that the core-stealing gimmick is bullshit. The 10 point team shouldn't be allowed to win by stealing a 290 point reactor. It'd be a lot nicer if you could steal up to half of the points of the other team.[/QUOTE] If the 290 point team didn't have even one single Pyro at base to blast people into death lasers, they had it coming. Plus if you have someone trying to steal all 290 points, you can kill yourself and respawn in base before they've even finished looting.

They squished the asteroid and removed the teleporter. Horrible horrible decision. So much good design in that map, a bit confusing at first but very smooth once you get into it. Now it's about the same quality as orange maps or 2fort. They should have just put the teleporter behind the players rather than directly in their face. I'm not saying that'd miraculously solve all problems of people going for the tele just as they spawn, but really what I mean to say here is that it would maybe actually miraculously solve all problems of people going for the tele just as they spawn. There needs to be a way to access the battlements directly, it just needs to be a longer walk than to the nearest door. [editline]18th July 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=xNickston;45426884]Sounded like "pass" to me, but path does sound more logical. I think that the core-stealing gimmick is bullshit. The 10 point team shouldn't be allowed to win by stealing a 290 point reactor. It'd be a lot nicer if you could steal up to half of the points of the other team.[/QUOTE] It takes three intel captures to win CTF, considering RD is not all about intel captures it makes sense that a single well-executed capture can win you the game.

[QUOTE=xNickston;45426884]Sounded like "pass" to me, but path does sound more logical.[/QUOTE] I always thought it said "Error: Ass not found.". :v:

They still need to work on the screen overlay for Asteroid. The same graphic is used from when the enemy team have the core and then when they drop it. A simple arrow above the core graphic would indicate they have dropped it. It would also be nice to know where the core is when the enemy team have it, and where it is when they drop it as I don't think they have addressed this issue yet? Since the overhaul of the map it would appear the map is more likely to go to stalemate now. Where as before you could pick up 10 points at a time from eliminating A, you now have to pass through an area which is usually full of sentry guns. Not surprising as this is the only area the enemy team need to defend now whereas before they had more options - perhaps this makes their minds up for them?

Ok, I will say this, stage 2 of Cactus has been improved, quite a bit. From just wandering around. Last 3 games I ATTEMPTED to play of it, different servers mind you.... All red team did was conga in spawn. But with the backways that allow someone to get past the clusterfuck of a choke point and able to throw pipes/rockets/ANYTHING on that inevitable clusterfuck of sentries and demotards that just bounced pipes off that wall. First stage is still shit in my opinion, and the removal of that one pit actually made it worst. Just cause morons were to stupid to wander in it and fall down it doesn't mean it didn't have uses. *Add On* Now that I've played stage 2 with a team, they need to take that ramp out that red can take to camp that upstairs area that gives blue any sort of chance of taking out the choke point. That just adds insult to injury cause it just has a bunch of demo's and soldiers spamming out of that little hallway and makes it completely inaccessible. If anything, taking out that ramp forces soldiers/demo's to damage themselves to get up there, making it easier to push them back. That little stairway next to the giant ammo pack is the one small benefit that blue has but it's completely negated if a bunch of explosive classes can just sit up there and spam down it, easily.

My issue is, while it isnt massively difficult to destroy a sentry by shooting rockets around a corner or something, the map is so compact that you cant actually do it without a pyro medic combo and 3 demos finding you and killing you. Everything is so close quarters Also, that crouching part of the vent completely nullifies heavy. You cant shoot because youll stop moving, making it easy for enemies to corner strafe. If you use shotgun you're still too far to kill them before they group up on you. Also, 5 second respawn is WAAY too short. No matter how far you are in their base, they will immediately find and kill you within the 10 seconds you killed them. You can never steal the cores because of this shutdown. Pyro makes this map so unfun for everyone. Close quarters makes reserve shooter an instakiller, the outside deathpits lets them completely take the middle of map

How to [del]win [/del]not lose rd_asteroid [t]http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/44225619862643350/534E4085CB0E9278A82E8DCB347F090FEC27D5AC/[/t] With a single sentry you can cover all 3 entrances, you can get 2 other sentries as bonus just to make the stalemate endless.

[QUOTE=Annoyed Grunt;45428072]How to [del]win [/del]not lose rd_asteroid [t]http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/44225619862643350/534E4085CB0E9278A82E8DCB347F090FEC27D5AC/[/t] With a single sentry you can cover all 3 entrances, you can get 2 other sentries as bonus just to make the stalemate endless.[/QUOTE] The only fucking chance you'll have enough fucking time to build a level 3 sentry before the round starts is with that ready up mode. I have tried hauling ass to the front door with a soldier whipping me in the ass and I had barely dropped down a sentry and a dispenser (this is multiple matches in a row) before either a soldier/demo with a shitfix medic comes up top and just completely destroys my shit with no worries whatsoever.

[QUOTE=Dat Lobo;45428455]The only fucking chance you'll have enough fucking time to build a level 3 sentry before the round starts is with that ready up mode. I have tried hauling ass to the front door with a soldier whipping me in the ass and I had barely dropped down a sentry and a dispenser (this is multiple matches in a row) before either a soldier/demo with a shitfix medic comes up top and just completely destroys my shit with no worries whatsoever.[/QUOTE] The idea is that you get a [I]good[/I] team. In a match between two good teams, that area's going to get locked down before anyone can get into your base.

if that makes you guys feel better, valve always makes backups of whatever they alter, be it in code or maps.

[QUOTE=Mort Stroodle;45428542]The idea is that you get a [I]good[/I] team. In a match between two good teams, that area's going to get locked down before anyone can get into your base.[/QUOTE] Have you ever tried playing on a server that wasn't an elusive community server that no one other than you and a select few have heard of?

[QUOTE=Dat Lobo;45428455]The only fucking chance you'll have enough fucking time to build a level 3 sentry before the round starts is with that ready up mode. I have tried hauling ass to the front door with a soldier whipping me in the ass and I had barely dropped down a sentry and a dispenser (this is multiple matches in a row) before either a soldier/demo with a shitfix medic comes up top and just completely destroys my shit with no worries whatsoever.[/QUOTE] Get a buddygineer, you'll get the sentry to level 3 in less than 30 seconds. But, really, you don't even need a level 3 sentry. Even a level 1 or a mini (or, right from hell, TWO minies...or even three, because people are a bunch of bastards) can make a lot of area denial. [editline]18th July 2014[/editline] [t]http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/44225619867053208/CDC4FB11BFEEAF300520888ABE654B24601EA386/[/t] I always assumed this was normal, but I saw a couple of screens with the skybox being actual SPAAAACE with stars. So, why do I see fluffy clouds?

[QUOTE=Annoyed Grunt;45428072]How to [del]win [/del]not lose rd_asteroid [t]http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/44225619862643350/534E4085CB0E9278A82E8DCB347F090FEC27D5AC/[/t] With a single sentry you can cover all 3 entrances, you can get 2 other sentries as bonus just to make the stalemate endless.[/QUOTE] Sadly this is something I see all too often in TF2 map design, where three "alternate" paths just funnel into one, very easily defendable one.

[QUOTE=Annoyed Grunt;45429075]I always assumed this was normal, but I saw a couple of screens with the skybox being actual SPAAAACE with stars. So, why do I see fluffy clouds?[/QUOTE] Do you have 3D skyboxes turned off? Asteroid has one, it's the inside of an opaque black cube filled with star and nebula particle effects. I guess it still has the generic TF2 sky hidden behind that? :v:

Is halloween mode enabled on the new moonbase map by default or did I just get on two servers in a row that someone had used an eternaween tool? All of the halloween space loadouts work pretty well on it.

[QUOTE=Annoyed Grunt;45429075]Get a buddygineer, you'll get the sentry to level 3 in less than 30 seconds. But, really, you don't even need a level 3 sentry. Even a level 1 or a mini (or, right from hell, TWO minies...or even three, because people are a bunch of bastards) can make a lot of area denial. [/QUOTE] Or they could put the fucking setup time back to 90 seconds instead of fucking 30.

[QUOTE=Hell-met;45428569]if that makes you guys feel better, valve always makes backups of whatever they alter, be it in code or maps.[/QUOTE] didnt they like lose all of the original alpha files [editline]18th July 2014[/editline] they also lost the "meet the team" poster map after MTP

I was wondering why some of the stars twinkle when we're supposedly in deep space. There's a rather serene skybox just filled with stars hanging in space. And there's a couple of pointed ones that spin very rapidly, changing direction every few seconds. [t]http://i.imgur.com/rrorg7G.jpg[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/sQpDZr3.jpg[/t]

[QUOTE=Upgrade;45431441]I was wondering why some of the stars twinkle when we're supposedly in deep space. There's a rather serene skybox just filled with stars hanging in space. And there's a couple of pointed ones that spin very rapidly, changing direction every few seconds. [t]http://i.imgur.com/rrorg7G.jpg[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/sQpDZr3.jpg[/t][/QUOTE] I was having a look at the map's VMF earlier and it's actual skybox is literally the Goldrush sky, all they did was cover the 3D skybox with a tools/toolsblack (plain black texture) hollow cube.

snippity

I absolutely despise the new revision of rd_asteroid. While I like some of the stuff like the increased health/ammo packs in some areas, and the new little side area to where the B-Robots used to be, the map somehow went from being a bit big to waaaay too fucking cramped. Why are almost all of the robots literally right outside spawn? I've tried to play games on it multiple times and every single time it just devolves into who can spawncamp the hardest, it's completely unfun to play on right now. I really hope Valve are paying attention and can find a good middle ground for the size and layout of the map, I really liked the old version once I learned the layout. I think it could have worked as a map of that size if it was just a bit more intuitive where all the various hallways lead. As it stands now, most alternate paths feel pretty useless most of the time, and the robots are all so close together now it completely defeats the purpose of having multiple tiers of robots at all.

My opinion of cactus canyon, explained with images: [img]http://i.imgur.com/XrdXgCR.png[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/HSn1cNH.png[/img]

[QUOTE=Upgrade;45431441]I was wondering why some of the stars twinkle when we're supposedly in deep space. There's a rather serene skybox just filled with stars hanging in space. And there's a couple of pointed ones that spin very rapidly, changing direction every few seconds. [t]http://i.imgur.com/rrorg7G.jpg[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/sQpDZr3.jpg[/t][/QUOTE] Its Hellstar Remina

Can I just say the on Cactus stage two, in that long stretch at the end before the cart turns off to the right, snipers are fucking ridiculous? It's a huge expanse with no cover at all for anyone except the sniper. Even the flank route, which doesn't really help you flank the sniper, it just helps you get closer, requires you to get directly in view of the sniper for a substantial amount of time.

I figured I'd do a similar thing to the image above, but my idea for expanding the middle of Asteroid. I used the image provided by Spydurr. Possibly not my best idea ever, I'm just trying to wrap my head around how to make a map less like 2fort. [t]http://i.imgur.com/4JUPX0R.png[/t]

[QUOTE=Snowshoe;45432542][img]http://i.imgur.com/XrdXgCR.png[/img][/QUOTE] Strongly disagree on that flank, I use it all the time on both teams. It's heavily used in every match I've played so far by other people as well, there's almost always a heavymedic there trying to strike the other team from behind. They're not always successful, but I run Spy through there every goddamn life and it works so damn well. Very easy access to all the defender's backs+their sentries. [editline]19th July 2014[/editline] That elevated building roughly in the middle of the picture is a bit strange, it's not too useful for RED or BLU, it can only be easily accessed by RED for majority of the match but they only get that tiny platform to shoot from which is absolutely horrible, and if BLU manages to push past it's entrance it is quite useful to them with the windows, but then again if they've made it that far they don't really need it.

I posted this on TF2maps in the rd_asteroid thread, but I thought I'd dupe it here. These are my suggestions on how to alleviate the current bad choke at mid. Now with cheesy paintovers! Suggestion on how to handle the return of the tunnel: [img]http://i.imgur.com/EF1Pxgg.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/wTc4vQ8.jpg[/img] If the above suggestions don't help with the choke/sentry nesting in lobby, then this might be an option. I think this would be too many entrances into the base, though, and would be getting silly -- I really think the simple re-addition of the tunnel will solve 75% of the choke problem and this won't be necessary. [img]http://i.imgur.com/TfMQjMC.jpg[/img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/W7MROcI.jpg[/img]

The problem is, with time, more people would be aware of that hole and decide to camp it.

I'm reposting this here from the update thread, since this seems like a more relevant place to put it: [QUOTE=TwoYearLurker;45491787]Found a few minor bugs in the new version of Asteroid. I shot one of the B bots, and it jumped over the edge into the water. [t]http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/45352302409945118/7CA12161AA8DAFF41E941A0FDD8978A224C44FAC/[/t] I couldn't get the bots to do it again, so it's possible this was around since the first version of the map, but it never happened often enough for us to catch it? The core alarm lights only turn off when your core is reset. If the enemy team actually captures the core, the lights stay on. [t]http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/45352302410043826/C505DB62445FE878845736883C705C379C96E6BC/[/t] Also, the soundscapes in the caves aren't set up yet. If you go into the caves from the base, it'll keep using the 'indoor' ambiance until you're outside on the bridge, but if you go into the caves from the bridge, it'll keep using the 'outdoor' ambiance until you're in the main room of the base.[/QUOTE]