Balancing and Gameplay questionnaire

[cephalos]

Hey guys! 

After a successful Kalach experiment, I decided to ask community what exactly they want in maps.

As some of you noticed, EF lacks good, interesting and competitive 1v1 maps. Exisitng ones are claimed to be "boring". Most of replays are recorded on Langres or Angoville. It looks like those two maps ( and extra Sylver's maps: Kotelnikovo and Karachev) are most used 1v1 maps in EF. My question is:

what makes them special? what makes people to choose those maps?

I'd be grateful if the answer wouldn't be like "oh, it's balanced, sector layout is cool and they are cool anyways" - answers like this aren't really helpful  Try to describe details, add picture maybe, and give some tips to mappers, so we can put those best map parts together. Maybe show us your favourite part of any map, a part which makes the gameplay fun.

[Dzierzan]

For me:
 - Easy opportunity cut off the enemy from the resources.
 - Buildings in strategic positions, one or two.
 - Roads that players should avoid them (red cover).
 - Very open map, i mean easy to flank MG.
 - Not too small and not too big map.
 - Interesting arrangement of the points like ammo or fuel.
 - Open space with no or green/yellow cover

Maybe later i will write more.

[Killar]

• Balanced map layout (few choice points, some open space seperated by impassable areas like wood or hedges; The most balanced map is one where you can draw a middle line and both sides are a mirror like on red balls but that looks ugly. Semois did it very good actally. There is no mirroring but its somehow balanced)
• balanced sector layout (very important; meaning fuel/mun 2/3; if its 1/2 its allied biased; look carefully if a high fuel point is really necessary. It can be a gg for axis id a map has only 1 high fuel and no medium fuel points in the corners.)
• Every starting position should have the same way to the mirroring sector point.
• I like if your basic fuel and mun near your base are directly at the sectors base but 2 sector points are around them. This way you can be cut off like on Duclair. A Medium fuel point next to a medium mun point is boring
• Whats most importan: Every map needs something special. Look at alsace moselle, kotelnikovo or karachev. These maps are well balanced but somehow boring. They look very similar.
  If you would add something special on it, like the big church ruin on Kholm (i love it ) or a giant building where the VP or a sector point is within the ruins (sevastopol) that would be amazing. Fighting in a destroyed factory hall (no roof because otherwise you cant see ) that would be something special.
  Other ideas:
  Soccer field, a complete industry facility (no random buidlings but when you look at it you can clearly see what it should represent), shipyard, U boat bunker, your basic HQ is the Farmhouse and around it you have complete farmbuildings (no random farmbuidlings, you have to recognize what it should represent), past battlefields (no boring random tankwrecks, but placed how they would have encountered and being destoyed), a town with some more shops and the shop interior is scattered onto the street (like clothes), a tank that fell into the water and you can only see half of it, a dry river bet with a bridge over it and the river bed is filled with stranded rocks and some other goodies, a bridge over a bridge, a tunnel, a car racing field, creative ruins (most ruins are filled with things that are in worldbuilder but dont belong into it like a bed in a factory hall), a zoo (of course without animals), ....

Most of all it must be balanced map layout and sector layout wise and must have something special in it only few maps have already

[Max 'DonXavi' von B.]

• Balanced map layout (few choice points, some open space seperated by impassable areas like wood or hedges; The most balanced map is one where you can draw a middle line and both sides are a mirror like on red balls but that looks ugly. Semois did it very good actally. There is no mirroring but its somehow balanced)
• balanced sector layout (very important; meaning fuel/mun 2/3; if its 1/2 its allied biased; look carefully if a high fuel point is really necessary. It can be a gg for axis id a map has only 1 high fuel and no medium fuel points in the corners.)
• Every starting position should have the same way to the mirroring sector point.
• I like if your basic fuel and mun near your base are directly at the sectors base but 2 sector points are around them. This way you can be cut off like on Duclair. A Medium fuel point next to a medium mun point is boring
• Whats most importan: Every map needs something special. Look at alsace moselle, kotelnikovo or karachev. These maps are well balanced but somehow boring. They look very similar.
  If you would add something special on it, like the big church ruin on Kholm (i love it ) or a giant building where the VP or a sector point is within the ruins (sevastopol) that would be amazing. Fighting in a destroyed factory hall (no roof because otherwise you cant see ) that would be something special.
  Other ideas:
  Soccer field, a complete industry facility (no random buidlings but when you look at it you can clearly see what it should represent), shipyard, U boat bunker, your basic HQ is the Farmhouse and around it you have complete farmbuildings (no random farmbuidlings, you have to recognize what it should represent), past battlefields (no boring random tankwrecks, but placed how they would have encountered and being destoyed), a town with some more shops and the shop interior is scattered onto the street (like clothes), a tank that fell into the water and you can only see half of it, a dry river bet with a bridge over it and the river bed is filled with stranded rocks and some other goodies, a bridge over a bridge, a tunnel, a car racing field, creative ruins (most ruins are filled with things that are in worldbuilder but dont belong into it like a bed in a factory hall), a zoo (of course without animals), ....

Most of all it must be balanced map layout and sector layout wise and must have something special in it only few maps have already

Just like from the bottom of my heart 

[Pac-Fish]

I like maps with not too many buildings and areas of open fields for tank combat and makes you have to build cover .I also like nice building where its almost a must to have an MG in

[Killar]

That picture inspired me somehow. It shows a battle field trench system in a former forest. The wood is cut in half and destryoed by constant arty rain and leaves a destryoed wasteland. Many green cover positions are possible in such a scenario. A frozen lake in the middle maybe some destroyed and burned military equipment and voila



EDIT: A map with a Reichsautobahn would be cool too. Set in Germany at the end of the war it could be one of the final battles. Highway across the map with and divides both enemy sides. Onto the highway are the highest ressource points. Cars drive onto the highway very fast of course but will be threatened by mines ....

[neosdark]

An Autobahn map sounds awesome, you should have abandoned cars strewn across the road and some barricades built on it, in defensive expectations of course

[Walentin 'Walki' L.]

An Autobahn map sounds awesome, you should have abandoned cars strewn across the road and some barricades built on it, in defensive expectations of course

There weren't that much cars in germany it was more used and build for the Wehrmacht to deploy faster.

[Pac-Fish]

An Autobahn map sounds awesome, you should have abandoned cars strewn across the road and some barricades built on it, in defensive expectations of course

There weren't that much cars in germany it was more used and build for the Wehrmacht to deploy faster.

How about France ?

[vonklaus]

why not try a 3v3 that has unusual starting positions, such as maybe two in middle and rest on edges, or four in the middle 1 on side. Something different that the usual starting positions to create a unique gameplay experience based on the strategy involved.

[Killar]

Something like that is already made like on Point du Hock. One side starts nearer to the middle than the other side. But directly in the middle is not such good idea

[neosdark]

An Autobahn map sounds awesome, you should have abandoned cars strewn across the road and some barricades built on it, in defensive expectations of course

There weren't that much cars in germany it was more used and build for the Wehrmacht to deploy faster.

Still, gives it a bit of coolness IMO.

[vonklaus]

Something like that is already made like on Point du Hock. One side starts nearer to the middle than the other side. But directly in the middle is not such good idea

thats not what I meant. I mean directly in center with enough space inbetween mortars cant hit bases. The twist would be that they would be closer to opponets side the there own. It would make it so there is really no front line and the fighting is almost everywhere.

[cephalos]

Nice ideas here, though I'd focus on 1v1 maps. We already have quite gamey 3v3s. The main poit is to show mappers what elements you would like to see in 1v1 map.

[stealthattack1]

i think autobahn is cool too. maybe vehicles could get a substantial speed bounus for using it. watch out for mines though