Drift Apart
Creator: Unsolicited Map Pics || First Published: 03/12/2026 || Players: 2 || Size: 24x16
Categories: A-Rank, Live Play, Standard
Rating: 0 in 0 ratings
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Comments:
Bum (03/12/2026 09:01pm | Edited: 03/13/2026 05:52am):
The contested areas are decently tuned, however breaking the seams or going for the corner airport costs too much tempo,
and the corner airport particularly is basically inaccessible (is a BBoat meant to be able to reach it?). I think if the back cap
objectives were more viable to go for, there would be more interesting decisions to make and it could work well.

Edit: Upped to A after edits
Shikabane (04/06/2026 05:47am | Edited: 04/06/2026 05:52am):
I'd consider switching the port tile with the city at 22,02 so Blackboat feels like a more valid option for getting corner airport
maybe its a skill issue on my part but my brain didnt register that a back port could still blackboat (maybe its the bridge tile idk
but i feel switching the cities would be a bit more clear imo)

P1 also feels slightly stronger here, as while P2 does get first tank, P1 can immediately follow with Tank + Recon and since
BM cant build a 2nd tank the following turn it allows red to do some really cheeky pushes with the recon side while having
the tank to ward away the opponent's tank in turn. Meaning the recon side can easily pressure the contested properties with
resistance not coming while P1 doesnt have to worry about this.

Recon play here from P1 on a normal d3 recon build is also very strong, due to the way the income curves, P2 will basically
be forced to respond with 1b tank or risk Recon hard denying contesteds or potentially airport, however P1 will be able to
immediately follow up with a tank where p2 even going for maximum economy (minus 1st inf going for base) will not be able
to respond with a 2nd tank day 5, and on day 6 they have a perfect 14k meaning no Strongside tank will even be capable of
being built until day 7 without baseskipping meaning P1's 1b can eat all the contesteds on the left side while being able to
harshly deny the contesteds on the right at the cost of not having infantry immediately available.

On the topic of recons day 3 recon in general, is ludicrously strong, the fact that d3 strongside recon can in 2 turns threaten
airport is silly. P2 infact has a stronger d3 recon than p1 because P2 is intended to get first tank and as a result the income
doesnt line up for P1 to be able to defend his airport in time if they dont opt to go for it immediately causing a knowledge
check on the map as early as day 2 as the only way to secure your airport as p1 from recon harass is to skip all day 1 caps
and rush it, a tank will not arrive in time to smack the recon by the time it harasses your airport cause you cant start
capturing it without rushing until day 5 and by then its too late the recon has gotten its value and if it attacks horizontally to
the mountain tile a tank cant reach on the subsequent turn which could be problematic.

Tl;dr Recons are silly, I like the idea of the map but it has some flaws. I'd suggest looking into p2 d3 recon opener and
maybe adjusting terrain so they cant reach airport in 2 turns, and make corner airport less obtuse.
MontySigurdson (04/06/2026 08:55am):
Moved to B-rank due to Recons being too strong (they can interrupt airport cap due to the convenient amount of light terrain).
Unsolicited Map Pics (04/19/2026 01:12pm):
Recon movement nerfed.
MontySigurdson (04/19/2026 04:06pm):
This seems to work better now since d3 Recon can still interrupt the airport (at least P1 can with P2's airport), but it looks like the Recon can be reasonably countered with tank from P2 now and P1 cannot keep attacking P2's airport cap unless they're willing to throw a lot of vehicles at it.

Moved back to A so we can see if I'm right.



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