Greetings!
Guess what's today's topic. City maps! Hell yeah. And what's better than talking about city maps? Of course, it's making them!
So our fellow Mechwarrior Pytak has something special just for...well, none of you. Yet. It's basically a quick proof-of-concept. He took a Crysis map, Refinery, leveled a few buildings and put 2 hangars on top of them. The result is an extremely tiny map with tight buildings and streets. I was one of the few honoured to be allowed to test it.
So how is it? Well, first off, it's buggy. There's rain inside the hangars, mechs clip through a lot of buildings, as do BAs somewhere. Some items are left floating around. But this is to be expected from a quick'n'dirty mod like this. Pytak will fix some of these, so don't worry. (although I doubt that anything can be done about the clipping)
Furthermore, it is tiny. The hangars are merely around 500m apart, so it is wise to take some ECM with you. Not that it makes much of a difference, as BA can oversee most of the map, as can mechs with jumpjets.
But enough negative points. Now for the awesomesauce:
Have you ever wondered how a mech would look like when he walks past some properly-sized buildings while you sit on the ground and watch the spectacle? It is impressive. Finally, you get a real feeling for the size of these machines, and they are truly intimidating.
The fights are brutal and fast as there is absolutely no room to maneuver. A proper city map would probably have much wider streets, but even these narrow passageways are interesting. It is a cramped, claustrophobic feeling, sitting in your cockpit navigating around the map.
Just like in CBT, jumpjets offer an enormous advantage. You can jump out of tight situations or unstuck yourself if needed. Jump on top of buildings and look down at others (only works if your enemy pilot is blind, huh Ragor?
), or jump down from buildings in a Death-from-Above attempt. Or jump from building to building, while heavier mechs navigate below. Not that there's a lot of space to navigate in...
Pilots need to be careful with the throttle. If you accelerate to high speeds, you -will- smash into a wall within seconds.
And then there are BAs. Nasty little buggers, as they can navigate between buildings with ease and pop up everywhere. Now if there wasn't this damn radar that mechs have....
This map is best played with very few players. I'd say 3-vs-3 is the maximum or the mechs may start piling up
Pytak is now in the process of fixing a few things up. Afterwards, you may try your teeth at this. But keep in mind - it is only a quick'n'dirty proof-of-concept. It is very buggy and too small to actually play on properly. Also it will eat your firstborn. Don't say we didn't warn you.
