predeployed 1v1
Creator: scarabix || First Published: 01/06/2013 || Players: 2 || Size: 20x20
Categories: None
Rating: 5.00 in 1 rating
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Comments:
Xmo5 (01/09/2013 11:40am):
It looks like you're a new user but its hard to tell since a lot of people have multiple
accounts. If you are a new user, this is pretty good for a first attempt, but there are
some basic gameplay problems with it.

1. FTA: Playing against other people is a lot different than playing against the computer
and things have to be much more fair. Turn based games inherently give an advantage to the
first player(s) to move, in this case Orange. This is called First Turn Advantage (FTA)
and is hard to correct for on predeployed maps. You usually want to keep units far from
the battlefront at the start because otherwise Orange can attack before Blue ever gets to
move (as is the case here). Also, it is common to set back some units on Orange by 1 turn
worth of spaces but deciding which ones and how many can be difficult, especially when
there are a lot of units. The moral of the story is, predeployed matches typically favor
the first player to move and are hard to balance especially as you increase the number of
units.

2. Chokepoints: Tight chokepoints are usually a bad thing, especially with predeployed
rockets so close. It would be pretty easy to lock down the center with indirects and
neither team would advance and the match would stalemate. This is less of an issue in
predeployed maps with no bases and when there is a lot of air warfare (unless its a pipe
created chokepoint). Overall, chokepoints score you negative points on a map rating,
especially when its the only way to get from one side of the map to the other (like in
this case where only infantry/air can cross everywhere but the center.

3. Other: Symmetry is an issue and can really make a difference if its off, even if only
slightly. Sometimes its hard to tell how it might fully impact the game until you test the
map. Non-symmetrical maps can work, but they are very difficult to balance so I would
stick to perfect symmetry if possible. Also, the carriers can't do much and it's
unrealistic to expect the winning team to be able to find/destroy the carrier in the back
in a timely manner assuming the losing team didn't resign (mostly with fog of war, but
without as well). HQ capt would be a way around the carrier problem, but with only 4
footsoldiers on a map with powerhouse units like that, I doubt they would live with enough
health to really help the situation (unless you managed to sneak them in early). People
don't usually like central towers either, but I guess that's more personal preference.

Hope that helps, and I hope you are new, otherwise that's a lot of explaining you probably
don't need. Just remember to keep these things in mind when you design a map. There are
other things to worry about, but taking care of these things will carry you a long way.



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