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Ennead vBeta4 Featured

By Aquanim
Rating:

Work in progress. Designed for ZK FFA with 6 or 9 teams.
Size: 20 x 20

PLAY ON THIS MAP


Downloads: 5658
Manual downloads:
http://zero-k.info/content/maps/Ennead_vBeta4.sd7

Last battles

Bots B1467206 3 on Ennead vBeta4
Multiplayer B1466643 6 on Ennead vBeta4
Bots B1466411 1 on Ennead vBeta4
Multiplayer B1466409 7 on Ennead vBeta4
Multiplayer B1466383 4 on Ennead vBeta4
Multiplayer B1466372 5 on Ennead vBeta4
Multiplayer B1466360 3 on Ennead vBeta4
Bots B1466139 2 on Ennead vBeta4
Bots B1466023 2 on Ennead vBeta4
Bots B1465992 1 on Ennead vBeta4


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AUrankAdminAquanim
16 months ago
(edited 16 months ago)
Supported new version.

- Added some narrow bridges across the rivers. Not sure if this is a good idea and even if it is the bridges may need to be wider. Moved a few +1 mexes onto the bridge.

- The mex in the absolute middle of the map is now +7 metal. Maybe this is overkill.

- Startboxes are now configured a little better for 4,5,7 players. The map will still be significantly unbalanced but you shouldn't end up with three players on one island and one on another.

- Added config file to make the "outside" of the map out of bounds. This won't do anything until the next ZK stable though.

I expect that when and if I make a final version of this map I will rebuild it from scratch. The heightmap and texture of this version are pretty scuffed at this point.
+2 / -0

ROrankizirayd
16 months ago
In terms of balance, this map looks better than the previous version, I like that.



But the main problems remained, plus a new one appeared.

Positions 9, 5, 2 are not able to fight for the supermex in the center. Supermex in the center is now a struggle for 6, 4, 7, 1, 8, 3. It may seem that they will enter into this struggle, but in reality everything will be different, I will describe below why.

The strategy for getting the entire half-island.
Looking at replays of the game and playing on this card, everything tends to ensure that one of the players should get the entire half-island. Let's say for 1, 2, 3 players, their goal is to take the entire half-island. I noticed that players 2, 9, 5 are the most difficult, because they are opposed by two other players, for player 2 these are 1 and 3. 1 and 3 can kill player 2 and then decide between themselves who will dominate the half-island and it is while this iteration is going on that players will not fight for the supermex in the center.

About bridges. I think they will just put LLT and Stinger and that's it. But if player 1 and 3 bet on stinger + llt, then for player 2 it will be cool, because now he can "mirror" make one stinger for one corners.
In general, the bridge can be a great help for player 5, 9, 2, because now they can ask for help and it will come across the bridge, or maybe not, because attacking the enemy on another island, you become weaker on yours.

And most importantly, supermex!

+1 / -0

AUrankAdminAquanim
16 months ago
(edited 16 months ago)
quote:
1 and 3 can kill player 2 and then decide between themselves who will dominate the half-island and it is while this iteration is going on that players will not fight for the supermex in the center.

This certainly is a possibility.

When I watched games on previous map versions it seemed that the "middle" player on the islands defeated their neighbours and took over the island something like a third of the time.

On the other hand, when the "middle" player does get ganged on by the "flank" players, it probably feels suckier for the middle player than the average loss in a FFA game.

I can predict several things which might happen with the +7 supermex in the early game. It might depend quite a lot on who is in the game.
+0 / -0


AUrankAdminGoogleFrog
16 months ago
Perhaps the local terrain can be tweaked to address positional balance issues. For example, the middle player could have a larger and more defensible plateau.

Another comment, the whole map could be moved south in a rework to give spot 5 more river room.
+1 / -0

AUrankAdminAquanim
16 months ago
(edited 16 months ago)
quote:
Another comment, the whole map could be moved south in a rework to give spot 5 more river room.

I suppose this should be done on principle, though I doubt it will affect gameplay much. I don't remember seeing anybody make much use of the outside sea for purposes other than accessing areas soon to be out of bounds, but Scylla at least seems like it would have applications.

Possibly the pair of supermex in the middle of each island should be merged so that they cannot be "shared" by two players. An arrangement which allows sharing in this way might be interesting in a different FFA map but I don't know that it does this map in particular any favours.
+0 / -0
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