Map Platforms

So from the interview with tvinita we know the goal of the platforms on maps was to create chokes and safe areas for players to develop during the early game without being constantly harassed. If you havn't had a listen, you should check it out anyway here.
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However, i feel like this goal is not currently being achieved for a few reasons.

The metal points on the corners and edges allow direct fire units to attack them from below i.e. dox and tanks. This creates a big advantage for attackers as opposed to a simple open spawn with no height differences. The defender's direct fire units cannot shoot back at units below, so the area you need to defend is actually beyond that of the platform, effectively requiring you to protect much more open pathing than just plain open space. Going down ramps to protect also leaves your metal exposed from some other vector. The positional advantage of these spots for harass are really strong. I would be ok with only grenadiers being able to do this, not tank and dox though.

There isn't enough room on the main platform to build the buildings and units you need. This disrupts the flow and efficiency of play as well as creating a pathing logjam impeding the movement of your own units. If you are a new player and don't place your buildings with exact pinpoint precision, you'll find you won't have enough room to build much of anything, and factory timing is really important for unit counts and snowballs. It's not very forgiving.

I remember we had this space problem in the first few versions of forge where you could only build maybe 5 factories or so in your spawn and it felt more like you were playing tetris. It also doesn't look pretty when you have to build factories on ramps .

Also, air doesn't move smoothly across platforms unless you fly them up a ramp, kind of negating the advantage of air units not to be effected by terrain in the same way as land. It just hits it and stops, which is frustrating for flow of movement especially on maps like Lock.

Agree

clearly the space problem finally should be solved by rescaling PA down.

The harssing one hasn't happened to me yet, but I do it every game And reckon it's pretty annoying to deal with. It's possible to build a couple of walls per mex to stop this.

The planes stopping is really annoying especially if your bomber being chased and you have sent fighters to protect them and either get stuck. Little bugs like this can cost you a game, or help you win too I suppose.

Haven't watched video yet, just here to agree that building on the platforms is like building your units with giant "kill me" arrows above them. A lot of the metal extractors on the new maps that are on platforms can be shot by Dox that are around the platforms, but then the other teams units which are on the platforms can't shoot back. Kinda sucks.

Actually colin, haven't Uber scaled the t1 units back a bit in Titans? Things like dox feel smaller now or maybe my mind is playing tricks on me?

Your mind is playing tricks. There is no scale change I am aware of.

EDIT:
I think that may be due to the introduction of units that are even waaaay bigger.
I would not scale down those btw. Makes them look even more over the top.

Is there any way to get any kind of idea what the map looks like from within the map picker without loading it? It's a bit silly that, for instance, some maps which say they are 2-4 players can actually support 8 players, whereas others couldn't.

I'm trying to avoid having to spend several hours loading up each map and then creating a spreadsheet for what gametypes it is suitable for. A jepg and a description would be very useful and help you remember which planet is which.

I agree they really need to make the system viewer when you choose you map a lot more clear so you can quickly see what you are signing up for.

There is a mod for that on PAMM, Lobby System Preview if I am not mistaken about the name.

True but that means you only know what you are playing when you load it up AND it doesn't show spawns and metal. Also when joining a lobby you only know what you are going to play if you know the map by name. For eexample Team Arena and the ladder maps. You know how it looks like and you know what you are joining because you have played that map before and remembered the system/planet name. And imo there lies a problem. Which is quite a difficult design problem to solve.

Yeah I played a few FFAs on the updated PAX system today (never again, I still can't stand long orbital showdowns even if the turtling is much less now) and spawning on the earth-like planet I had big problems with tanks firing up at my plateau without being able to return fire. The pathing down ramps is also still a bit dodgy, especially when you throw factories/walls on the ramps into the mix.

I love that uber are trying to add more interest to the planet surface but I think they should focus on getting some fixes out for these problems asap since so many of the pre-made maps are affected.

They could just tweak the maps to work with how the game plays. I'd hate for them to put 3 months into improving pathfinding meanwhile we're stuck with the same maps. TA had the same problems with units shooting the floor and even causing damage to your own units. if they've not managed to come up with a suitable fix for this in 18 years then I'm not holding my breath now.

Also, regarding the map picker, you can point to mods all you like but that would only solve the problem for me and a hand full of others, the problem should be solved for everyone. A picture of the planet in place of the biome would be a suitable start, the biome image does not look remotely like the planet in any case I've found and so what is the point of using it?

If the map editor mod still works, it's possible to make the platforms much wider without altering the height.
Of course, the best option would be modular highground creation so you choose the size and shape of all your highground areas. (Yes I am going to be very annoying about this for the coming months until this is added (or importing custom CSGs) *wink* *wink* @jables )

Custom CSG would be my dream, surely Uber knows how to get CSG in the game and can let us in on the secret.. x3

Fixing this issue would also give grenadiers a purpose again.

Huge changes in the editor to allow this to happen. Doubt you'll see it anytime soon if ever

We actually use the same editor to create all the official maps. Nothing fancy or different on our side.

Nah I mean you guys can make your own CSG, like your own rock models for example. Atm i don't believe it's possible/anyone knows how.

That's true, we could, but we don't. The process for doing so is art heavy and expensive. We make use of the CSG that you have, as we release everything we currently have afaik.