PL Levee

LeSwordfish

semi-trained quasi-professional
aa
Aug 8, 2010
4,102
6,597
"Drove my chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry, and that was suspicious..."
- The Engineer

pl_Levee is a single-stage payload map, themed around hydro, construction, and industrial.

The track winds from a garage, up past some kind of storage thing, through an under construction area. The planned rest will lead down a dam's spillway, through a city section, and into a final spytech base. Alternative routes make for several different ways to attack or defend all areas, and fully acessible rooftops make for lots of height difference around key battlezones.

A and B are the points being currently worked on. C and D are higly placeholder, and will be entirely rebuilt. Anything you like about C and D, though, please tell me so i can include it in my plans for the next version.

Feedback group link Here.



Credit to:
Mick-A-nator's fence variant. (http://forums.tf2maps.net/showthread.php?t=12214)
The Construction Pack guys
ABS's mapper's pack
AAA's Environment gallery

Thanks due to:
Wilson for getting me into a few impromptu's (or whoever it was).
ZPQ, for proving that no publicity is bad publicity.
Rexy and ABS for bug fixes.
Everyone, for the feedback.
 
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Fraz

Blu Hatte, Greyscale Backdrop.
aa
Dec 28, 2008
944
1,152
I like Madonna too.

...and this map...

You have no idea how happy this makes me feel, and how ashamed I am at Tech and Stick...

19:45 - Tech: zpq posted a stupid comment again
19:45 - Midget: whar tech
19:46 - Tech: http://forums.tf2maps.net/showpost.php?p=201770&postcount=1
19:46 - Tech: usefull comment is usefull
19:46 - Midget: Tech...
19:46 - Midget: dont you get it?
19:46 - E² StickZer0: I don't
19:46 - Midget: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV9WDpbSc-4
19:47 - Midget: god sake
19:47 - Midget: you idiots need to learn music
 

Fraz

Blu Hatte, Greyscale Backdrop.
aa
Dec 28, 2008
944
1,152
Of course, I just know the Madonna version the most since it's the version I've heard most. I'm hoping its the same with zpq
 

tyler

aa
Sep 11, 2013
5,102
4,621
Anyone that is mostly familiar with the Madonna version must have a horrible life.

Good looking map, by the way.
 

lana

Currently On: ?????
aa
Sep 28, 2009
3,075
2,778
Please tell me you are aware "Miss American Pie" was actually by someone else. Please.

It's American Pie and it was written by Don McLean and it should have been the #1 song of the 20th century.
 
Mar 23, 2010
1,872
1,696
map looks pretty good. got a lot of height advantages.

It's American Pie and it was written by Don McLean and it should have been the #1 song of the 20th century.

cool opinion.
 

lana

Currently On: ?????
aa
Sep 28, 2009
3,075
2,778
You should be building cubemaps, even if it's just kittens or Dave Heads. It gives people something to look at other than eyestrain.

Also, I'm surprised none of you guys have brought of Led Zeppelin.
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
CP1 is a major choke point, don't let your map become a goldrush. Suggestion: allow access through door on right after capture of CP1. This will seriously give BLU an advantage but for CP1 this shouldn't be a concern.

The final point probably needs a few more tests before concerning yourself with balance, but there was a lot of space that didn't get used on the far flank, and it wasn't obvious the flank was even there, most people just followed the tracks and the cart.

area around CP2 is problematic for non jump-perk classes. Soldiers and demos have a real field day ontop of the crates and containers, those on the ground have no real chance of counter attack/defending themselves.

Other than the rediculous chokepoint at CP1 i rather enjoyed this map.
 

LeSwordfish

semi-trained quasi-professional
aa
Aug 8, 2010
4,102
6,597
One of the things i'm thinking of doing is opening Blu access to the warehouse all along, through the big room off the warehouse that probably no-one noticed. Hopefully the minor height and major width advantage for blu will give them a big advntage until cpA. then i might move red spawn back, along with the wall in front of it, so the large door comes out into the B-C area.

Also: didnt seem to crash the server, and no-one said it was too small! Tangible progress!

Ok, after checking the feedback,i'm going to give blu more routes into and out of the warehouse, put a big sign indicating where the side route into the final point is, and sort blu a forward spawn.

As of yet, however, i'm not doing much brush-wise to the final point, as grazr recommended. a few more playtests should give me more useful feedback, and i'll store it up for large-scale changes.

P.S. The gnomedoor will be fixed.
 
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grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
One thing i forgot to ask, does this map only have 3 CP's?

Single stage payloads usually have 4, and even though your map choked at CP1 it wasn't that long to reach the finale. I would have recommended making the track a little longer, or maybe that's just BLU's shortcut allowing BLU to reach the final point real easy. Your shortcut is quite significant in that players never really have to follow the winding track or even sticky jump across the map. Mid-round there is usually some travel time involved to stretch the difficulty for BLU.
 
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LeSwordfish

semi-trained quasi-professional
aa
Aug 8, 2010
4,102
6,597
@Batandy: can you specify where this was, exactly, for both of these?

@Grazr it has 3 capture points and a finale, which i think is normal? And I'm getting competing feedback: some people say blu needs a forward spawn, you say the travel time is too short. I suppose travel time from spawn-C should be longer, and spawn-D shorter?

I dont have time to make significant modifications until next weekend, but i will try and submit A2 for US gamesday this week.

I'm considering making the "warehouse" wider, a-b's track longer and cp1 more interesting. is that dumb, or sensible?
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
Did you fix RED not being able to block the cart at the end?

People probably want a forward spawn because that's what they're used to. It seemed fine with the shortcut. Especially if BLU get a teleporter up which is something i never noticed happening (so it's understandable if there were complaints). If you're getting 50/50 for for or against then it's probably balanced, even Badwater has a lengthy walk from the advanced spawn, but psycologically people don't see it like that because the fight is on the other side of a wall, rather than a linear walk and entering straight into the finalé area beyond that.

If you want the source TV demo from the server then just let me know and i can grab it for you.
 
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LeSwordfish

semi-trained quasi-professional
aa
Aug 8, 2010
4,102
6,597
The STV would be very good, i'll put in an official request.

Red not being able to block the cart at the end

This is the first i've heard of it, actually, so i havent yet fixed it. It might be apparent from the STV what's wrong. Can anybody give me more details on this? This seems a fairly top-priority thing. My final point is a frankensteinian mashup of ABS's pack and copied Badwater, so i'm sure theres an entity muckup somewhere.

I'll do my best to submit A2 for gamesday, and have the next weekend to polish up A3.