As of build 77725 I feel there are 3 actual issues and 1 possible with the map pool that are probably worth raising a bit more. In decreasing severity, Significant Styx Orbital rush is the dominant strategy, and many new players who don't know this and start with a normal build such as 3 fabbers and factory spam have quite literally lost the game very early on. Why this is the case boils down to two main elements. The first is that there is too much metal on the metal planet, allowing you to go much further on t1 metal (up to 600 income) before having to jump up into t2. I know the vast majority of games we tend to focus our attention on the lava planet trying to invade the metal planet with t2 fighters and so on, but there is nothing stopping it from being the other way around. You can also look at styx and say that the orbital distance is either too long, or too short, depending on which part of the game you want to emphasise to fix the problem. Right now the distance is in a goldilocks zone for orbital rushing. Not too warm, not too cold. If distance is too short, you're trying to fix it via an early game timing gate to prevent commander from escaping lava planet with an orbital rush before usual unit pressure timings. Or to increase inactivity time if traveling by astreus. If distance is too long, you're trying to fix the problem by making invasions slightly easier via decreasing the available reaction time from when the metal planet player sees orbital units heading from lava to metal. Material Pacific There are alot more trees on one island than the other, creating big advantage since this map relies very heavily on treeconomy builds Duat The raised platform zone is way too easy to defend for the ammount of metal it has. You could say this is a good thing because it anchors how players approach the map, but i feel that it instead tends to limit the variety of strategy and player choice. The other two zones are not roughly equal either. The zone with the two holes is much better than the third zone that has alot of spread out metal. The third zone is the worst in terms of defensive effort vs metal payoff. Potential Forge Taking the 6 metal in the middle of the map gives the player big advantage in terms of map control and the ability to swing forces in either direction. It's easy to reach early on in the game and also easy to fortify. This issue is not so severe as the duat issue though as there are also other very important areas of the map like the third pocket with the small choke, but I think it's one that is worth keeping a close eye on. Potential solutions if this turns out to be a material problem might be decreasing the ammount of metal payoff there e.g. 6 to 4.
Great read. Hard to argue with anything you have mentioned, however the metal group on forge you mention and the one on duat give people something to fight over. Forge: It's a strategic point on the map of course but it is fine as both players have an equal opportunity to claim it. Nothing a strategic pelter ( I know I never use them) can't handle if you feel you are losing the game because of it. I feel the sides are a lot easier to claim. Because if you build 2 lazer towers, aa and walls it becomes extremely safe from attacks unless your opponent commits a large force to kill it. This will leave them weak in other areas and units out of position. Duat: the middle area with the 6(?) mex is a lot easier to defend than the plateau you mention. Walls, turrets, aa can make this a nice forward base.
Agree with elodea. Although duat has more issue's than only the platuea. If they remove the cracks at the side where there is the large spread out mex.
I agree with you on Styx. That game we had recently I deliberately tried to rush T2 on the lava planet, as I figured getting unit cannons and such up quickly + the fact you'd lost your start base and had to start again would give me an advantage. The problem was although I got t2 slightly earlier, you were able to outpace my T2 eco with mass T1 and therefore defend the metal planet before my first invasion units hit the ground. I'm not so sure about the hill on Duat. I usually win that map by concentrating on the other 2 lanes, as I know almost all my opponents will rush the hill. Yes it's hard to invade, so I don't bother- I just sit lots of units near by to prevent an invasion from that direction and raid, so I'm not sure why it's such an advantage?
Oh, all i'm saying is that the metal and effort required to defend x ammount of metal income is much lower if you go for the raised platform than for the other zones. Clopse is right that the zone with the two holes is easy to defend too, but it imo it doesn't have as low a metal/effort to metal income ratio. Raised platform has like 8 or so metal that can be defended by one turret. The two holes has 6 and you need atleast 2 turrets, although i'm pretty you can't cover all 6 of them with just 2 on each side. All I mean is that over a large number of games you will have an imbalance. No doubt in individual games a good player can over come it!
