Hi all, I had this map layout for a VERY long time now but I didn't get around to putting it up for inputs and outputs from others until now so ya . Anyways I just want some suggestions, criticism, ideas from you guys possibly some ways I could improve the layout? Currently one of my clan's member is making the map after I had drawn the layout and showed him.

Heres the layout: (Its a crappy drawing )


Sorry for the huge size, but I didn't want to reduce the size of the picture cause I didn't want to make some of the parts so small that you couldn't see it.

Oh yes, the part with the hive underwater is not a mistake the hive IS actually underwater, and the only way the Marines could kill that hive is with siege. That underwater hive is actually one of the more unique features on this map (In my opinion at least).

remebers me of tanith, but its looking good
remebers me of my concept drawings, only yours are way more detaild
i never paint those induvidual wall shapes out, i just keep making hallways

Looks interesting at first glance... not so sure a/b the hive that can only be killed by siege. Could be unbalanced. Nice work tho!

Actually a more important matter I was wondering is if there are enough res points near the Marine Start? Theres two right now (MS & Nova Cluster) but since the only way the marines could get out is with the two elevator platforms, would marines have enough res to hold their own if they were trapped in by that choke point?

Err... anyone?!?

I think its just right, but, dont ask us only 3 hours after you post. Forums are getting kinda slow these days.

I love the underwater hive idea. One idea, make an air port above the UW hive that is accessable by vent only, thus lategame marines have 2 options JP shotty from above the hive, or HA siege from below. My one concern is that the hive would be nearly impossible to take early game if the aliens spam the UW acess with OCs. My way the marines could still make a swim for the hive and get above it to knife/shoot without being killed by the water, never mind the aleins.

Assuming the red lines are vents, you may need a better connection between the left and right side of the map. At the moment you appear to only have one passage.

An i thought my designs had detail..

I do like the under water part. The siege may work, if aliens let them start building outside and thats their only hive, then their gonna get a little stuck. Its kinda slow swimming through water. So it should work... ..i think.

And yes i agree their aint enough res towers near M-Start. Try adding at least 1 more. But over all cool design, lets see how you do when building it

A few extremely long corridors with no VIS blocking or height variation mentioned, could be a problem.

Also the underwater hive thing is not as unique as you think, Belg did it ages ago in his Combat map

In co_sift? I thought the hive was above the water? Or just sitting half in it?

Yeah I was planning to do something similar in one of my maps. The map looks awesome, and that is one detailed layout. There should be enough res near MS. Think of Veil, it only has 3 in/near MS and it works fine.

Hmm how about you make it a dry dock? Like a submarine comes in and you can drain/ partially drain the area?
That way, you could have lots of vents coming off of either side, the lower ones being flooded and the higher ones being dry. Then some other random vent connection to the high drainage vents...

I'm not suggesting the water level can be made to go up and down, keep it constant, with the hive partially out of the water, and vent access just above water level.

*EDIT* Damn, thats a fine idea!

seriously listen to AlienCow's idea, that would be soooo cool, if i were marine i wouldn't want to play a map where a hive is underwater and you are FORCED to waste the res to seige it, but if you could drain it if you wanted, or just siege it as is... that would be the coolest feature of this map.

very nice layout btw.

hmm... a melee marines vs aliens? i wonder who's gonna win this...
marines would get raped underwater. A dry dock would be cool, and marines would still be swimming half of the time anyways(since aliens would want it underwater and marines would want it dry), but there should be an air pocket or something, or gorges couldn't get to the hive to heal it and live.

bullets would project through the water, but with the layout look, it would be under water and around a corner.

and imma take the enthuist as a compliment, i still think it would be very cool, and i know you can do it, but i've only seen it done in CS using a pressure lock, i even stumbled on the prefab for it once.

and my point was that sieging would be easier than trying knife vs teeth.

Also how could marines cover that hive, you could build just outside off the water but then you wouldnt be able to stop them putting up a hive and then youd have to seige it anyway.

A half dry dock would be better me thinks, for a more even game. It'll give easy access for leaks an jetpacks. The aliens will still have the advantage but it'll give marines some chance of destroying the hive without siege.

The underwater hive is a cool idea. But im thinking if its goign to be a submarine entrance thing, that you have the hive over the entrance, so seeing outside it is for decorative purposes only. Then mabye you oculd have some platforms around it. Generally its a good idea to have hives in an upward direction, so marines cant look at the skulks on the ground

For the Hypnos Directory location you should have a picture of the minimap with various informative details. Sort of like Hera's Reception.

Loving the layout so far, I just don't think that hive being underwater is going to be marine friendly... Your map we'll see how it testes out keep us up to date




Nice work tho

Heres the updated version of the layout. I sort of "enhanced" it with photoshop and as you can see I've added some new parts to the map that you guys suggested.

Added:
- One extra resource node near MS to compensate for any possible bottleneck at Hypnos Directory (I couldn't really think of anyway to fix the bottleneck problem)

- One extra vent route at the top connecting Reactor Core and the area near Gate Lock Controls so aliens has an alternate route to UW Access Hive.

- Added an area ontop of the UW Hive where Marines could break the glass floor to fire directly at the hive from above.



Oh of course, heres the legend:

BLUE Rectangles = Auto open/close doors
YELLOW Outlined Areas = Elevator Platforms
RED Outlined Areas = Vent routes
ORANGE Rectangles = Barriers that must be welded to open
ORANGE Outline with BLUE filling Rectangles = Switch door that can be closed by welding
WHITE Outlined Areas = Breakable entity

wait wait... explain the breakable glass floor, so all the water drains out and the hive gets sucked into space? i'm confused

imo, if marines relocated to reactor core, then they would be unstoppable...

besides that, nice map. gud layout and ideas... make it so the dry/wet dock will unfill 1/4 of water when a button is welder for example... marines only need a little bit of air to fire there guns, not half a large corridor

can u explain to me how and whys theirs a bottomless pit?
Just wondering how... not saying it wouldnt work.

Nanites

Sorry for the confusion with the room above UW hive. I made a more detailed visual on what that section would be like:



The reason why the hive wouldn't get sucked out of the tunnel is because there is a water-tight gate there. The gate malfunctioned when the kharaa infested Hypnos so it remains shut and there'll probably be some sparks coming out of it to show that its broken. That also explains why the water level in the tunnel doesn't increase and flood the entire Hypnos station.

The two broken glass floors are actually special glass made to withstand extreme water pressure. This explains how before the Kharaa infestation, whenever the large gate is opened, water wouldn't flood into the upper levels. After Kharaa's infestation of Hypnos however, the Bacterium had taken it's effect on those glass floors and made it very weak (explains why its breakable now), but luckily the gate is shut so water levels didn't reach the upper sections.

Oh yes, I might as well explain what that room above the hive is for , that room is suppose to be a "look-out" type of room where underwater vessels would signal the look-out and the crew there would report to gate lock controls as to when to open the large water-tight gate for the vessel.

Anymore suggestions?

I guess were just going to have to see. I really like your layout, wondering what kind of textures you will use...Good back story Lets wait and see is what i say

Excellent idea with the Hive in the water speil. You already know my ideas about the map through our forums. I hope my brother can actually do something like this if he messes it up...I'll have to him in the face.

I still think you're giving up some of the coolness that the underwater hive was all about by giving the marines normal ground access to it. Its a underwater hive!!! it should force player to SWIM! [/rant]

Looks really cool, time to start teh mapping.

origin overview looked worse when it was half done.
you get serious r_speed and ballancing problems with long straight corridors.

and Hives under water just dont work