27 replies to this topic

[ThetaOrion]

I have had some big nasty battles on these two Maps:

http://dawnofwar.fil...;48168#Download

Somme II and Worms. Each in their own way were both Christmas presents for me long ago.

--

Buried in here:

http://dawnofwar.fil...ap_Pack_1;38537

there is a map called Waterlee (Canals of Mars), and I have had some huge epic battles on that map, 4vs4. I have in some games had to rebuild my army 5 times, cap it out five different times and rush into the enemy base, before I was finally able to take down an enemy base and then establish another base of my own on the other side. This Waterlee map has negative cover in the gulleys that makes the AI reluctant to pass over to the other side, and once the AI gets going it has plenty of space to build and the armies get huge.

EDIT: Waterlee shows up in your playlist or maplist as Neo-Martian Plains (8). Its offline file name is different than its in-game name.

--

These maps are worthy of honorable mention.

Edited by ThetaOrion, 29 April 2006 - 10:35 PM.

[ThetaOrion]

I added another one, 8P Hell Lutien.

With 1.80 of the AI Mod and the 1.50 Relic Patch, I experienced some really wonderful gameplay at the HARD setting on this map. It's balanced enjoyable gameplay, but it was also very challenging to finally pull off the win -- a couple of opportunities for my AI ally to come to my rescue and vice versa. It took awhile to get the win, into the final tiers of the game.

Hell Lutien seemed to have a different layout or pathing than the original Kasyr Lutiens -- detours and stuff, which helped to make the gameplay different and interesting and unpredictable as well.

Edited by ThetaOrion, 29 August 2006 - 02:14 AM.

[ThetaOrion]

This thread contains links to my favorite 'Tier 4' maps, including the Winter Gauntlet Map that gives you Titan Cannons firing into a gauntlet, Restored Necron Monoliths on a ledge firing into the gauntlet, and 6 enemy AI at or near Tier 4 trying to rush the gauntlet and get to you inside.

Greatest Photo-Opportunity Map for Dawn of War ever created!! The biggest pile of persistent bodies you will ever get from the game!! It's just awesome. And, the Necrons with the Restored Necron Monolith on the ledge makes it a real joy-fest, if fire and lights is your thing.

[dctrjons]

THANK YOU.

Good stuff, yeah vanilla AI but I like the maps so far.

Edited by dctrjons, 25 February 2007 - 03:04 AM.

[ThetaOrion]

Well, thank you, dctrjons!

I'm glad that somebody found some benefit or enjoyment from this little side project of mine.

Nothing made the DoW game or the AI Skirmish Mod fresh and new for me quite like a new or interesting map!!

Large custom made maps add a whole other dimension to the game and to the AI Skirmish Mod experience as well!!

Enjoy.

And trust me, these maps will be even more enjoyable once there is a Dark Crusade version of the AI Mod, a DC AI that actually tiers up all the way and fully presses or brings the attack! There's nothing like it!

[ThetaOrion]

I finally did it and created a handful of balanced symmetrical 8 Player maps for betatesting the AI and for betatesting the balance of the Ultimate Compstomp Rebalance mod.

Now, in my betatesting of things, I can run some quick tests of all 7 factions on balanced symmetrical maps where the maps don't get in the way of the betatesting.

I called it The Symmetry Collection.

Nothing fancy, just balanced maps with nothing much on them -- for betatesting mods.

But, it's amazing how good the gameplay can be when the map is symmetrical and balanced and empty and can fit in all 7 of the DC races at a time, just in case you do decide to play them as a human in the mix.

More Info:
http://forums.relicn...024#post2039024

A download Link:

Expired. (See below for an updated like to The Symmetry Collection. The Symmetry Collection has proven to be much more successful than I ever dreamed it would be.)

Edited by ThetaOrion, 13 April 2007 - 11:14 PM.

[ThetaOrion]

For a year or more now, I have been a proponent and a promoter of the belief that balanced gameplay is the best gameplay.

To that end, I created a bunch of barebone perfectly balanced symmetrical 8 player maps, and they do indeed provide some really good DoW and DC gameplay:

The Symmetry Collection:
http://dawnofwar.fil...ollection;76086

--

I'm not going to put them in the first post here, because they haven't been nominated, and they really aren't the 'best' maps ever created. Some of them only took an hour or two to make. BUT, nobody can successfully argue that they are not balanced! They are probably the most balanced DoW and DC maps ever made. They are as balanced as it is humanly possible to balance a map. For most of the maps, nothing there on the map to get in the way of the balance.

--

I also created two other DC maps, huge 8 player theme maps, and spent two months on each. At least half of that time was spent playing the map a couple of times a day, adjusting the maps trying to get the balance and the gameplay just right so that I actually liked it, using the Ultimate Compstomp Rebalance Mod AI Skirmish Mod combo as my measuring stick. I eventually got the gameplay just the way I liked it, but it wasn't easy.

Still, these maps are not as balanced as is humanly possible to balance a map, as they are not inherently symmetrical and neither is the scenery balanced or symmetrical either:

http://dawnofwar.fil...que_Dunes;75511
http://dawnofwar.fil...ing_Dunes;76158

--

Since this is my thread, and since I prefer 8 player maps so that you can get one of each of the Dark Crusade factions on there for a game, I kind of felt that my maps reflected my DC gaming philosophy and desires and goals quite perfectly, actually. I made The Symmetry Collection specifically for modders and betatesters looking for perfectly balanced maps, as it was long ago one of my original assertions that balanced gameplay and balanced maps were the best gameplay and the best maps for the AI Skirmish Mod, and I still hold that belief and think it to be true.

--

And, to counter that belief, I have lots of skewed teamplay maps there in the first post for the hardcore among us who like an extra challenge and who can put up with playing a DC game for two hours straight only to end up losing the game in the end. The AI skirmish mod makes that possible. I had no problems at all winning 2vs6 on the Winter Gauntlet map using the DC Plain Vanilla AI. But, with the DC AI Skirmish Mod, the 6 united AI enemies outside the castle always beat me, and it was usually 1.5 or 2 hours into the game when I finally got overrun -- a completely different 'hardcore' gaming experience than trying to take them out in five minutes or less.

--

Crosslink to the thread and the post that generated the idea for this posting:
http://forums.relicn...p;postcount=201

I like to be complete and give people all the info.

[ThetaOrion]

In my opinion every map with much space is suitable for the ai.
So if you want to have a really challenging match you have to play on a 8-players map

--

Quietdeath summed it up nicely long ago. And my philosophy or beliefs on the subject have pretty much followed along the same lines, with maybe the exception of The Bridge Map and Soul Forge, which were six player maps.

I just love an 8 player map the best if given a choice, along with the long game and 'strategy' and endurance that often goes along with them.

--

There have been a few other 'great' 8 player maps that have shown up recently, or at least they look great. There's a lot to select from nowadays and very little time.

Cliffs of Carcythe has proven to be a worthy challenge, even though that map requires teleporting units, so the IG is greatly disadvantaged.

There is now Hell Lutien II with a better resource layout and more resources, to go along with Hell Lutien I -- these are smaller 8 player maps.

There is Bunker 149 that I and twenty thousand other people have downloaded, but that I have never had the time to play.

Aralez's Desert Outpost has been popular, although I only played it once. I was busy making my own maps at the time.

There are a few others out there, too, that I have never found or played, I'm sure.