The NEW map feedback thread

[~SJ~ Blhurr]

Sandblasted and Marshes don't appear to me to have changed much and I still enjoy playing them as much as before.  Now on to the former lemons.

Inferno.  Plays so smoothly now and it's delightful.  Really I need another week or two to explore the new layout and get my bearings straight to give a proper review but I appreciate the extra roominess, the knooks and the cranies.  The base layout when you first see it is positively breathtaking in scale and design and their positioning on the map as well as the location of the exits make them a good deal less friendly to base camping.  The sniper ridge is just sick.  Nothing like running towards the middle of the map and seeing two or three guass poking their heads over the cliffs like murder hole crossbows gunning for you and then sneaking up behind them to punch a few holes in their rear armor.

Clearcut.  I'm going to refrain from commenting on stability and performance until I've had a week to assess.  The new layout is a vast improvement imo.  The added barriers are what was needed to make the game more combined arms friendly although they don't make any sense at all geologically. ;-)  I find myself playing in the middle a lot more now which is a blessing (Unless I get flanked and jumped on from up top hehe.)

Frostbite.  Haven't had a chance yet!  Pending.

[Raptor Khatib]

The cover does make sense Blurr. We were practising stuffing oversized boulders into the long tom and a seeing how far we should shoot them

[~SJ~ Blhurr]

hah. Well I love the cover as a born brawler and boulder lobbing in the vicinity might be fun as well.  I haven't driven an LT yet myself.  God I love mechs =D  I just meant that it would be hard for a geologist to explain the formation of those cliffs.  It's a bit of a non-conformity.

[Stahlseele]

Frostbite!
I love it!
It's a Tankers dream more or less ^^
Not too much visibility, not too low either.
Hills but enough smooth ground to drive on.
The new Clearcut gets my approval too, even if i don't find much difference in there.
I don't think i like the new Inferno just yet.
I get lost in there all the time ._.

[phobeste]

I'm a pretty big fan of marshes and clearcut, too... if only because they are both a good general color and brightness so you can actually see the chat windows. Something really needs to be done about the message color, though, because they can be just about invisible on sandblasted and extremity day-cycle (haven't played frostbite yet).

Also I really wish trees were a lot more destructible, and some of the buildings were too. Nothing says "walking tanks combined arms" like an Atlas plowing through a forest and several buildings leaving only fallen trunks and rubble in its wake.

[Gibbage]

The new Extrimity still sucks ass.  I dont think anything was done too it?  Still looks like a smurfs poop, and plays like it too.  Its got 0 personality!  Ya, its got some interesting features, but its nothing more then a tech demo. 

The new Inferno, the best map!  Really!  Amazing job!  It went from one of the least fave, to the most fave!  Stratigy plays big in this, and the Missile Boats are kept at bay due too the turrain acting as a shield for most.  LT's are having a field day though.

Sand Blasted.  Not much changed.  Some added structures, but nothing much more then that.  Aero's are now almost useless due too the change in the dmg of the AC's.  You cant live for more then 3 seconds now, even in a 85T Shiva! 

Clear Cut.  Havent played it yet.  In fact, I havent seen any servers playing it.  Maybe its due to LT ruiling the map.

Frostbite.  Same as Clear Cut.  Havent played it yet.  Looks way WAY too open, and a missile boat/LT's wet dream.

Marshes.  0 change.  LT's DOMINATE this map to the point its no longer ANY fun.  The game turns into a battle of who can support there LT's better.

[Freakazoid]

I have casted my vote for extremity.

It may look like a smurf poop, but I like how it plays. The large open basin in the middle of the map reminds me of how clearcut used to be, though it isn't as open as it appears. It's actually very defendable. The little dips here and there is enough to hide APCs in, making forward deployments and resupply pretty effective.

[(TLL)Sky_walker]

Nah... I wanted to keep the second edition of "most popular map" topic till we get fix for Frostbite.... but sure, let's vote.

IHMO the best are Clearcut, Frostbite and Inferno. Perhaps because of *freshness* cause my old fav - Marshes - haven't changed... it's still an amazing map but cannot get any good game on it ever since 0.2.0 patch (tried only one with 20 players+ but had to quit before got Heavy Mech :/ server owners seems dislike it now).

I'll vote for Clearcut this time. Frostbite could be better, while Inferno... well, it lacks the feeling of a hot map. Everything seems to be nice, yet I feel like it would be 20 degrees there, not over 200.

[(TLL)martinroshak]

I went with Sandblasted just because it's basically got everything.  Air support, LRMs, close range.  Was running around with about 6-7 a side tonight on the 3FL Oz Servers and was hammering down the opposition in chaos with my team.  First kill was me running out of the Clan hangar and gunning for the IS Missile Ridge, eviscerating a Harasser before turning back to the centre and joining a scrum of ullers, ravens and osiris mechs.  I ended up doing a Leeroy and fell on the guns of the enemy near their base.  It was combat at its best.

Inferno is an... interesting map now.  I can't play a small game without becoming bored to be honest.  It's HUGE and not having jump jets really restricts your movement through the maze it now is (and basically always was).  I can see it being havoc with large teams, but with small teams, things such as sandblasted, clearcut and marshes get my vote, as you get reasonable LOS and movement.  Yet to give Frostbite a go, as we don't have it on the 3FL servers yet... new Extremity is great though, wider valleys really help playability in mechs, BA are still a nightmare xD  Also found aeros to be sluggish... anyone else had this problem?

[Sumptin]

I voted for Sandblasted on the basis that it's where I've found the best fights.

Marshes is a personal favorite as I love the obscured vision and terrain.

I haven't played Frostbite yet as I've yet to find it in a server rotation, so I can't comment on this one.

The new Inferno is very nice, indeed! The terrain gives an excellent chance to set up defensive positions and favors a slower, larger mech (my Osiris is often killed due to hitting a rock and stopping, etc).

Clear Cut has been buggy so I can't really comment on the changes. It was enjoyable before the patch, imo, so it likely will remain the same.

Overall, I find maps to be a little small. They're great for the Solaris arena encounters, though....but for maps with objectives I'd like to see more space so things such as advancements need to be coordinated.

Thanks for the fantastic work!

- Bogeyman

[Liberius]

After another week of play, I have different opinions about certain maps. I will clear/edit my previous post in this thread and link it to this one.

Marshes: My opinion of this map declines every time I play it. The only cool thing about it is the atmosphere imho.

as I stated in another thread, I think this map should be renamed trench warfare for the following reasons:

1) The middle is flat and open, with a few structures and mounds that provide minimal cover.
2) There is relatively little distance between opposing mechbays
3) The North and South Sides of the map have good cover, which gives pop-tarts and Long Toms a tremendous advantage.
4) There are no air assets to counter pop-tarts and Long Toms.

It's so bad that I won't even play on Marshes anymore as the game usually devolves into teams protecting their artillery pieces, and little else. Eventually, this results in one team shelling the other teams mechbays. This is 0 fun, and the problem won't be alleviated when the Long Tom is balanced some more. This is a map-related problem for the reasons stated above. Either artillery should be removed from play in marshes, or VTOLs should be added to counter the artillery, as the map is too small for Aeros.

Inferno: The new inferno is amazing. I love it. Lots of brawling. and if you are going to snipe, you have to be smart. great improvement here...The only thing that strikes my interest here is that the fighting seems to focus on the mountaintop in the middle, and the team that controls it has a good advantage. Intended or not, This actually gives the map the feel of "king of the hill". It feels like there is an objective, and that is something very lacking in the other maps.

I have not witnessed the complaints people have had about LTs on this map for myself. However, I think that this is solely an LT related issue, not a map-related issue, unlike marshes.

Sandblasted: This feels like a completed map. I really enjoy it. Lots of ways to get to the other side of the map. lots of room to maneuver around the enemy lines. When things get coordinated, it really feels like a battlefield. I haven't had any problems with AA on sandblasted. I racked up several kills last night with a shiva and was only shot down by a 'mech. I feel the pyramids and valleys/dunes add plenty of cover for air assets.

I voted for Sandblasted because it does feel more like a battlefield than the other maps(though clearcut comes close) I've seen some amazing things on sandblasted, from coordinated strafing runs by a wing of Sullas on an assault mech(destroying it) to massive 8 mech charges across the dunes into the enemy lines. It just feels epic.

I haven't played the other 3 maps much since the patch, so I can't really comment on them.

[Gibbage]

Marshes needs a lot of work in the area of gameplay.  Hangers need to be in defendable bases, flat out.  I have seen 1 too many base rapes on that map.  Its bad when you spawn in, and you see an enemy Madcat Mk II in your own hanger.  Aero's would have a VERY hard time with the trees and finding targets, so I dont think they are an answer.  Maybe Vtol's since they can fly slower. 

[~SJ~Azov]

I like the unchaged maps as well as the new and improved inferno.

however, CLEARCUT is unplayable. After I choose a side, the spawn map does not load correctly, I can only join the innersphere side, because that's the only spawn point I can see on the map, and I can only see a small section of the aero spawn point. Once I get into a vehicle the radar and map are completely off balance. I can provide pictures and maybe some video of this. After all of this, I have no sound on this map. Even when I create my own LAN I still have no sound or I will here a 5 second delay on weapons fire.

I haven't seen anyone else with this issue, so I think I may be an isolated issue.

[Liberius]

I like the unchaged maps as well as the new and improved inferno.

however, CLEARCUT is unplayable. After I choose a side, the spawn map does not load correctly, I can only join the innersphere side, because that's the only spawn point I can see on the map, and I can only see a small section of the aero spawn point. Once I get into a vehicle the radar and map are completely off balance. I can provide pictures and maybe some video of this. After all of this, I have no sound on this map. Even when I create my own LAN I still have no sound or I will here a 5 second delay on weapons fire.

I haven't seen anyone else with this issue, so I think I may be an isolated issue.

I have this issue every once in a while on clearcut, but it is not every time. It seems random to me.

[Ceneraid]

After playing 0.2.0 much I come to this:

Clearcut: In general the same map but in detail - as mentioned, low quality trees and some ground-textures which are rendered too late. In general I think 0.1.0 Clearcut looked better.

Extremity: New Extremity still looks a little bit empty. There are characteristic places too which look really nice but after these there is boring emptiness. Extremity seems a little bit more open with its paths too and thats good. So 0.2.0 makes Extremity better but not perfect.

Frostbite: Just played on it a bit and it felt really empty and boring. SA_Desolation is better than this. Maybe I just don't like Frostbite.

Inferno: When I first entered the new Inferno it just was like "WOW". This map is just awesome. The atmosphere is just perfect and matches on it are really fun. It's really a challenge to navigate a mech on it and heat is a challenge too, but this is just making it more special/awesome. 0.2.0 made it perfect so far.

Marshes: It's still the same as it was - yeah. I had some really good matches on it but maybe because there was no Long Tom.

Sandblasted: Noticed no changes. Good atmosphere, good matches, good map. Only thing is that this map is some kind of overplayed on the servers out there.