Re: My first map "Clean sweep"

[Jens Granseuer <jensgr@gmx.net>]

On 10.08.2004 17:08, Marcus Schreiner wrote:
> I just finished my first map. I would appreciate any comments, bugreports or
> critical arguments on my little baby.
Heh. I was expecting to get some hacking done today! You ruined
that! ;-)

I really like the map. My first thoughts upon starting were
1) Too many bunkers.
2) THREE artillery units?? What kind of soft cake is this?
3) 20 vs 25 units and not much in the neutral shops. Some enemies
  damaged even. Granted, they are a little more experienced but
  that's not going to help them jack.

In that order. After having actually played it, only 1) still
stands. It's an interesting setup with several difficult to reach
spots and a twist. Just when I thought the mission was over the
commando I had sent to take the headquarters through the back
door was surrounded by heaps of enemy reinforcements! Rah! Fall
back! Great!

I still have a few suggestions and one or two technical comments,
though.

* You have a city image beneath every Bunkers unit. What's that
 supposed to do there?

* The reinforcements are placed directly on the map. While this
 is possible I always feel it's kind of awkward and it would
 be better to let them start in a shop. Otherwise, if you know
 the map, you may even be able to easily prevent the
 reinforcements from arriving by blocking the relevant hexes.
 (I even think I did this by accident with at least one unit
 in my first game.)

* There's no briefing for Player 2. (But maybe that's just because
 you first wanted to make sure the story is acceptable?)

* There's no support for difficulty levels yet. Possible changes
 from my point of view:
 easy - give yellow one more infantry and a hovercraft, plus maybe
        one or two heavy tanks, and reduce the reinforcements a bit.
        Maybe also remove the blue infantry closest to Wenyn 
 normal - leave almost as is. I'd probably give blue one or two
        more experienced tanks
 hard - take away one yellow artillery and a scout (or two
        artillery units? Probably gonna be murderous)

* You made the reinforcement message event (12) depend on one
 of the create unit events (0). That's not necessary as there
 is nothing to prevent event 0 from triggering. The dependency
 doesn't hurt either, though.

* The forest graphics are jumbled for the western forest.

* "Nexus HQ" should be called "Free Nexus Army HQ" or "Rebel HQ"
 or somesuch. Nexus is the planet. It doesn't have an HQ.

* And, of course, I'd take out the two northernmost central bunkers.

> I think this could be a map for the campaign. In the mission briefing they
> say the FNA is crossing a river and trying to build up a first bridgehead on
> imperial territory. I don't know whether this interferes with your global
> story, so please tell me what to change.
Due to its small size the map is probably best suited for the first
stage of the campaign when pretty much everything is still Imperial
territory (not too early, however. The Imperial units have apparently
had some clashes already, and the map also is a little too demanding
for "testing the waters", I think). So it would certainly fit in that
respect. What is not so nice is that we already have a map where
crossing a river and getting a foothold on the other side is the main
purpose (Omyar Gorge). Therefore I'd prefer it if you could come up
with another reason for attacking the Empire here. Due to the story
not yet being fleshed out you have pretty much freedom to introduce
even major events which pave the road for several maps after (or
before). If not, well, we'll find a way to make it fit anyhow. I'd
certainly like to have the map in the campaign.

Jens