System

ctf_system
A capture the flag map.

Spytech theme with desert outdoors. Not based on any real location.

EU Mirror: http://213.115.191.55/~ravidge/ctf_system_rc1.zip (2Gbit connection)

Story:
Red team has decided to build a secret hideout. Of course it would have to be in a inconspicious location, a place where no one would ever look. Once a suitable location had been found, construction began (in utmost secrecy, naturally). The Red base was nearly finished when suddenly a blue shovel came trough the outer wall...
It was then the Red team noticed that they weren't alone in this mountain. But who could these trespassers be? What did they know? Did they build an identical hideout next to Reds? It's time to steal some papers and get answers the only way they know how.

Objective: Steal the intelligence from the enemy, and bring it back to yours.

Twist: The intelligence is moving.

Credits:
A Boojum Snark made improvements to the intellligence parenting mechanism.
Karmakaze Inspired me with his version of moving intel.
III_Demon made the 45° curves and 32 unit tracks. link: here.
Big Rexy for the custom Ibeam models.

gastrop0d · 05-21-2009, 03:05 AM

Cool concept. Is the capture zone also moving?

Looking very sexy for a [somewhat] dev texture version.

Jonah · 05-21-2009, 03:22 AM

This looks pretty interesting

Ravidge · 05-21-2009, 03:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gastrop0d

Cool concept. Is the capture zone also moving?

Looking very sexy for a [somewhat] dev texture version.

Yes. The capturezone is also moving together with the cart. I figured that was the first place people would try to capture at (your own intel).

I have also tried to name the different rooms in the bases, and since both carts (red and blue) movement is syncronized the defence can keep the offensive players updated where the enemy cart is. I hope the names will make it easier to memorize the layout and diffrentiate the gray rooms from eachother.

Phobos · 05-21-2009, 05:49 AM

The moving intel is a very interesting idea, a different approach to sentry camping.

Quote:

I have also tried to name the different rooms in the bases, and since both carts (red and blue) movement is syncronized the defence can keep the offensive players updated where the enemy cart is

Good concept! Will never work in pubs though.
My first impression was that the map is huge. But once I roamed around a bit, the map 'shrunk'. Navigating between the bases became easy.
The signs with the room names do their job, but you could add a spotlight on them to highlight them more.

Ravidge · 05-21-2009, 07:42 AM

Yeah, I only found that the map might be on the larger scale after I duplicated the base. I have been looking at various ways to fix this but so far I got nothing. I have to think about optimization and sightlines, location of spawn so that I dont force attackers to move past it to get into the base, distance to travel to get to the intel from any given point (and time!), Escape routes and alternative paths.

Just squishing them together would result in a horrible mess, but I'm seriously looking for a solution to this non-confirmed issue.

I think the defence-reporting-to-offence tactic will work pretty well on pubs WITH alltalk on, for some reason

There's always the ctf hud arrow to follow if nothing else works.

Ravidge · 05-22-2009, 11:18 PM

I just ended a ~2 hour playtest of this map (hosted by me).

things I/we noticed:
Outdoor area isnt used.
Distance between bases is slightly too long.
Might need some more health in the bases. (unsure)
Impossible to guard all entrances to the base. (good thing)
Sentries are not the best defence, i'd say heavy or demoman does the job much better.

A big thanks to all who joined the server! The [TE] clan members, Chrono, Void and all the funky guys who stayed on long enough to download the map (and then actually played for over 1 hour!).

Fireman · 05-22-2009, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ravidge

I just ended a ~2 hour playtest of this map (hosted by me).

things I/we noticed:
Outdoor area isnt used.
Distance between bases is slightly too long.
Might need some more health in the bases. (unsure)
Impossible to guard all entrances to the base. (good thing)
Sentries are not the best defence, i'd say heavy or demoman does the job much better.

A big thanks to all who joined the server! The [TE] clan members, Chrono, Void and all the funky guys who stayed on long enough to download the map (and then actually played for over 1 hour!).

It was a really weird reverse situation. Whenever I was playing a flanking class, pyro, scout, spy, whatever, I'd tend towards the middle, since I knew the majority of both teams would be pushing up the sides. Honestly, I didn't really see this as a bad thing.

Void · 05-23-2009, 12:49 AM

Fun map, fairly balanced, make the center prettier and more people might use it! Put a nice centerpiece in it once you start detailing.

Ravidge · 05-23-2009, 06:24 AM

I'm leaving the server up and running until I notice it's dead. So far it's steady at 20-24 players almost always, probably because of free weekend.

ctf_system_a1 is played every 3rd mapchange. So If you want to just pop in and take a look at it, feel free to join my server

ip: 80.216.242.159:27015