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Stratification v0.4

By Regnans
Rating:

Stratification
Size: 16 x 16

PLAY ON THIS MAP


Downloads: 3
Manual downloads:
http://zero-k.info/content/maps/Stratification_v0.4.sd7


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Map area has been quadrupled in this release, in attempt to address some issues:

After playtesting the previous version (0.3) noted that there were multiple issues stemming from the small map size.
-Units getting stuck on the mexes in the 'x' shaped hills.
-AI getting stuck in the back of its base - walled in by its own solar collectors
-Spiders had a bit too much advantage over rovers/tanks in the north, I feel they/jumps might still be the meta choice (perfectly fine) but want to support more gameplay styles if possible.
-Map has multiple lanes, and might eventually be nice for 3x3. However, the size was a bit limited for that many players.
-Early to mid game arty emplacements (cerberus, missile silo, sniper turret) had a bit too much area control on their own. Missle silo was particularly concerning as it could easily hit deep into the enemy base with not enough counter-play.

(Minor edit's to address Mach56's comment)
+3 / -0

2 days ago
8x8 to 16x16 isn't a doubling, it's a quadrupling. Doubling the length of the sides multiplies the area by four.
+2 / -0
2 days ago
After running a test battle and reviewing the footage I'm happy with the results of the size increase and will keep the change into future versions.

The biggest success is that rovers, tanks and bots are now considerably more viable up top. The smoother hills allow traversal by bots, and there is enough free space that spiders/jumps are not OP in this sector. In line with my original vision the hills still block sight and direct weapon fire, enabling forces to get much closer to each other than would be possible in open terrain. I'm not sure what is going to be meta, but for casual play I think there is plenty of interesting space to work with the differing levels of vertical and horizontal mobility each factory has to offer, as well as direct vs indirect fires.

AI was properly able to expand, and didn't get many units stuck until long into the game (approx 1hr) where it walled off once section with buildings. I feel this has gone down from a major to a minor issue.

Additionally I saw good use of tremors by AI to deal with defensive positions on the plateaus, with shielding the region a viable counter-play.

Still plenty of stuff to test. Not sure if I'll do it today but I need to sort out the balance between amphibious bots, hovers and ships in the bottom lane. My vision is that Ships should be a little stronger than the other two, to balance the player's choice to go all in on water, and be unable to react to attacks up north.

Also going to see if I can work out how to get some random numbers working in LUA to mix up the AI's starting locations.
+1 / -0
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