(4) Highway to Baku

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2075893034

Please help test my new 2v2 map. There is a new map patch coming up and maybe if people give enough constructive feedback it could be added to automatch. The map is in a very early stage at the moment, no actual player vs player tests have been done so don't expect a polished map.

It's set in the Caucasus and features a battle over a big, mostly destroyed highway (no red cover) leading to the oil fields in Baku. (fictional). It's split into a north/south segment by a river (not blocking movement but gives red cover)



The map is designed for mostly long-range combat in the middle and along the highway with some pockets of closer range combat on the sides. I made it so that teamplay is encouraged instead of two 1v1s, all the main battle areas (fuels and VPs) are contestable and not far away from each other. No strong cut-offs because of that. Also few garrisons and the ones that are in the map are mainly designed for the use of infiltration units.



Access and sight towards the middle VP is broken up by two bridge walls. It's still very spacious but should make it harder to just camp with Elefant and ISU and shoot across the map in the late game as these bridge walls are designed to last the entire game. This does allow to place a forward HQ pretty far forward but at the same time also allows indirect fire and rocket artillery against it from the other players perspective.

Good map, had great fun playing it. Highly recommend people play it.

V 0.2 Update

- Yellow cover spline added on the edges of the highway as suggested by NBTATER and Farlion



- Yellow cover objects added as suggested by YoungRutra



- Destructible sight-blocker turned into indestructible one so it remains during the game and another sight blocker added as suggested by Lipton





- River reworked to have less red cover in total and look more natural



- Visual effects added for FPS testing



- Optical improvements, slightly more details

- moved muni points slightly towards the middle as suggested by YoungRutra

- Base defences slightly reworked as suggested by Silvercat18

- Territory layout visually improved and changed fuel cut-off lay-out

V 0.3

- improved pathfinding and directional cover (green cover for player coming out of base) in north-east corner as suggested by Stormjäger

- general pathfinding improvements

- added sight blocker on highway in north and south to help with flanking (suggested by several people)





- added/changed sight blockers on base exits (suggested by Toyvendor)





- visual changes

Map has been further improved visually. New loading screen and improved mini map thanks to help by Rosbone.

Needs more testing.

V0.7

- green cover at mid vp removed and replaced with yellow cover craters

- green cover partially removed at fuel and replaced with yellow cover objects

- new cut-off, you now need to hold the TP at the water and in the industrial side to connect your fuel

- new LOS blockers on the highway and at the crossroads

- all changes mirrored on both sides

Looks great, are those railcars destroyable out of curiosity

Looks great, are those railcars destroyable out of curiosity

No

I got some feedback from the tournament last weekend and implemented some of it.

V0.8

- fixed mini-map/tac-map image
- slightly increased brightness
- lowered train tracks and highway so there is almost zero elevation
- removed red cover from road
- some pathfinding improvements
- slightly changed the position of the bridge walls as they weren't 100% symmetric before
- fixing unintended little things


-recuded size of LOS blockers on highway next to middle VP

- increased this gap so attacking is easier and you don't have to go through a narrow channel for the shortest way to the enemy`s fuel + the LOS blocking bushes are now crushable by heavy tanks so they will eventually disappear



- removed the tower and silo object at base exit so less chances of retreating tanks getting stuck



- moved the LOS blocking objects next to the munitions point on the highway more towards the middle so players have these 3 general combat areas better defined (picture from rosbone)



Undecided question

I am not sure if the LOS blockers on the highway around the middle VP will remain or be deleted. They are supposed to stop the dominance of support weapon play which was previously too strong because you could shut down vehicles and infantry too easy by getting 2 AT-guns and/or MGs. This would then result in rocket artillery spam. A lot of people complained this area is too open so I put the LOS blockers in.

Now after putting them in others have complained that there are too many LOS blockers. I will decide if they are removed or remain after I get more feedback on them.

V0.9

- map widened a little to make pathing easier in the industrial area

- adjusted/bug fixed green cover at fuel

- northern and southern corners have now a bit more space (between bunkers and between houses)

- optimised base bunkers

- improved detailing in non-playable areas

- added wooden bunker in the northern corner to balance the wooden bunkers in the south for infiltration units