CTF-LavaSpeed][
Map Info
	File Name ctf-lavaspeed][.zip Author Cobra Gametype UT Capture the Flag Date Added 02-25-2004 File Version 2.00 File Size 8.05 mb Player Count 14-20 Map Description @ bases separated by lava whit 3 bridges . And hill. How come no screenshot? there's one. Review Rating 1.5 User Rating 3 Overall Rating 2.5
Review
Reviewer Ironblayde Awe Score:  0.5/3 Date 06-09-2004 Build Score:  0.5/3 Review Schema Cast Score:  0.5/3 User Point:  +1 Overall Score:  2.5/10 AWE: 0.5 Cobra has admitted that he doesn't spend very much time on his maps, and it's glaringly obvious in this outing. A huge outdoor map with two bases separated by sheer cliffs, somewhat recalling Epic's CTF-LavaGiant, this effort from Cobra is a farraginous assortment of boxes, staircases, and impossible rock formations melded into a repulsive whole. Aside from a few barely elevated bridges, the map between the bases is perfectly flat, consisting of a single, perfectly rectangular surface covered with grass, whose sides you can't fall off of. The bases, too, are each composed of a few rectangular rocks held up by sets of pillars. There isn't really anything positive that can be said on this front. There isn't much to say about the texturing either; it's grass for the ground and rock for almost everything else, excepting some Egyptian textures for the pillars (some of them gruesomely stretched like dwarves on the bed of Procrustes), team flags, and of course, some random photographs. There's a puma on the front of the blue base and a dragon on the front of the red. At least there's only the two, unlike another map of Cobra's I played once. The author has also retextured several of the pickups so they appear an ugly green instead of their usual colors, thus unnecessarily proving once more that novelty by itself is not necessarily a virtue. If you're going to add something to a map that's rarely if ever been seen before, ask yourself whether there's a good reason why that effect is never used. Finally, the map is mostly given over to white zone lighting turned up to almost full brightness, which means that much of it might as well have been left entirely unlit. Actually, I wish the whole map had been left unlit, because that would have spared us the fully saturated team-colored lights that desecrate each base. BUILD: 0.5 Exceptionally bad brushwork can be found wherever one cares to look for it in this map. I don't think there's anything that's properly on the grid in here, as is evident by the hundreds of misalignments you'll see while playing the game, places where two surfaces are supposed to meet smoothly, but instead offer glimpses of what's behind or underneath. Pillars are not centered on their pedestals, and are often left sticking out over one edge. Fixtures that should be on the ground are floating above it instead. I'm amazed that the entire map doesn't collapse into one huge BSP Hole of Death. Zoning has been totally neglected. To be fair, it's an outdoor map and thus much of it can't be zoned, but there are several areas that can and should be. It looks like the author may have been contemplating it, as there are ZoneInfo actors all over the place, but he either doesn't know how to use zone portals (unlikely, since the lava pits work) or forgot to finish the map before releasing it. Oops. The author neglected audio as well; there are neither sounds nor music to be found. The movers all work correctly, but the map's numerous doors open far too quickly, like a tornado is trying to rip them off their hinges. There are some strange movers in the center of the map too, pendulums swinging across a bridge that goes across the lava, looking like they were borrowed from a Bunny Track map. Aside from appearing very much out of place, they serve no purpose; anyone lacking the skill to pass them effortlessly without slowing down has no hope of capturing the flag anyway. The bot pathing is functional, but that's the best that can be said on that count. There is a huge number of dead ends and missing paths in the path network, and even three PathNodes that are not connected to anything, each a useless island in the sea. There are some great places for DefensePoints that were overlooked. Even those DefensePoints that are included are faulty; enemy snipers never seemed to see me when they should have. The use of DistanceViewTriggers would have corrected that. Bots don't use their translocators at all; there aren't many places where that kind of path should have been included, but there are a few. There are far too many AlternatePaths as well. I've seen this approach before, and it can work as long as the author does quite a bit of playtesting to tweak positions and weights, but they seem uneven here. Besides, with all the clumsiness and oversights on display in this map, I can't believe that the author tested it much, if at all. Finally, the download is unnecessarily large, due to the inclusion of a very large pack of textures, of which the author used only a handful; and another .utx file that's actually one of the retail texture packs! That's very annoying, and very lazy on the author's part. Don't include packages that aren't necessary, and don't include entire packages if you only need one or two textures from them. CAST: 0.5 As you've probably guessed, the gameplay doesn't redeem the other shortcomings of the map at all. Should you choose to try this map for yourself, you're in for lots of running in straight lines with no cover from the architecture. Two snipers are enough to have every approach constantly watched so that you'll be seen coming from a mile away. There's no hope of taking more secretive routes or trying any trickery with the translocator. Of course, in botmatches, taking defenders unawares is simplicity itself, since the bots don't defend correctly. The bases themselves are four levels high, with all the levels connected by teleporters only, so there's only one long, boring way in and out. Needless to say, flag running gets dull very quickly. You could jump off the side to a lower level to hasten your descent, but the bases are very high, so it'll only work if you've got a ton of health to spare. Item placement does not appear to have been thought out at all. Pickups are simply placed at intervals about the map so that there's always something nearby. Unfortunately, that something isn't always appropriate. The Shield Belt and Redeemer are right next to each other, with the Damage Amplifier very close by as well. Also, instead of placing ammo packs apart in small groups appropriate to their locations, the author tends to opt for huge caches of pickups, as many as ten at a time. One spot right in the center of a well-traveled area features ammo for every weapon in the game, Thigh Pads, and a Big Keg O' Health all clustered together. FINAL SCORE: 1.5 Basically, this map is like CTF-LavaGiant, only without any visual appeal, technical merit, or interesting gameplay whatsoever. Steer clear of this one. To the author: patience, grasshopper. Please put more than an hour's work into your future releases if you want a better reception for them. Your lack of effort doesn't just hurt the appearance of the map (which is important); it hurts the gameplay as well, and significantly so. Mappers don't spend an hour working on gameplay and weeks working on aesthetics. Quality maps take time; simple as that.
Map Comments
Rick6 03-28-2004 05:43 PM MST   Cobra , now honestly , take a really good look at all your maps , cant you see that you're doing all wrong ffs? Instead of releasing crappy maps with unaligned textures , ugly unfinished geometry , ugly unfinished lighning , pr0n textures like in your previous maps and lots of utx packages that increase a lot the zip file size with textures that do not have anything to do with the map , try reading some turorials , buying some arch books or play good maps or mods to have an ideia of a ( at least ) normal concept of a map and only releasing it when ITS REALLY FINISHED. And by the way , dont you throw at me stupid awnsers like you suck or your maps suck , cuz i even dont got any at the moment. Im not trying to piss you off , just trying to open your eyes...... Stay kewl. Sicko Teddy 03-28-2004 10:10 PM MST   I agree with Rick6. One thing I see good in that map, is that the author used deco meshes->pylons on the right spot. (all mapping beginners, PLEASE use decoration meshes for better visuals and good fps.) Just keep working on it, don't drop it. Or start a new map with a good theme in mind and ON PAPER too! Yes , on paper, would be a good move. Cobra 03-28-2004 10:29 PM MST   I respect your idea's. I could do much better that's true. A map take me about 1hr to do. But you have to admit that they have very good flow for playing. On all the comment's that I have since I have started to map, on a ratio of 10 well it is about 25% of the people hate them but 75% like them. It is a mater of taste. Me I like very big outdoor maps, can't stand indoor maps. Well like I said all diferent taste. But I really respect your opignion thank's for the comments. XepptizZ 03-29-2004 09:04 AM MST Rating: 4   I like outdoor maps to, but that doesn'r mean the map shouldn't look nice, now does it? Kyouryuu 03-29-2004 02:08 PM MST   Maybe people would think more highly of your maps if you spent more than an hour building them. :P I mean, we're talking about the old UT here. There isn't a huge rush to get maps done and there's no one breathing down your neck saying "Make me a map in an hour, or else!" Take the time to get it right, instead of releasing these slapdash maps. Manticore 05-08-2004 10:03 PM MDT Rating: 5   The use of custom movers and the ENORMOUS scale of this map are the best things about it. Definitely only for the lovers of large scale CTF where you have to run for minutes between flagbases. Multiple gameplay paths must have required a hell of a lot of bot-pathing to get it all playable........ Considering the scales this mapper works with they should really think about planning a map for VCTF or ONS for UT2K4 where size can matter! cobra6 06-10-2004 01:51 AM MDT   First of all. I did not asks for that map to be review. That said,you are right for almost everything in the review. I don't take my time true. But the bots play is super, they take all the 3 briges oftend plus the underground routes. That I can say and I no. Bots play is reall ok, no problems there.And for defending post they are at the right place. Play whit 15 masterfull bots, and see if you can cap easy. For the rest like I said all is true due to the fact that I have so much work to do. That I find a bit of time here and there to map. But good review even if I did not ask it. PS: That map as NOTHING in common whit CTF-Lava-Giant?. It may be not a great map but 1.5? for the score, no 5 is really more objective. If that map is 1.5 well 60% of the maps are a big FAT 0. Thank's Irondblade. But those thing in there have really nothing to do. I mean those conected path work and so on I don't believe in that, pathing is simply pure logic. When I come out of the teleporteur where they are sniping they no that I'm coming and they shout at me.(Maybe I have upload a beta of it, I really don't no. It happend very oftend so it is possible it whoud not be the first time) And I tell you that the bots in that map are perfect. Cause they take all the avalable routes, don't get stuck and so on. they defend very well in there sniping post. What more can you ask. They take the 3 bridges about equaly, take the underground route, take all weapons and stuff. Beleive me the pathing is perfect in there. But I agree whit the review, you made all good points in there, you no what you are taking about. But for the bots sorry they are perfect. But really whou care's. Good review again. Ho yes almost forgot, if you win easy whit 15 masterfull bots you are very good. Cause me I win to but it is hard. Ironblayde 06-09-2004 10:54 PM MDT   Cobra: Sorry if the review was unwelcome, but requests can be made by anyone, and someone requested this map to me specifically. I don't know who it was. Anyway, I was playing at and above Masterful for testing, and had no trouble winning. The pathing is not "super;" it needs work. Here are some specific things for you to check, for future reference: Island nodes PathNode45 PathNode89 PathNode206 PathNode208 PathNode210 PathNode309 PathNode310 PathNode370 Incorrect dead-end nodes PathNode34 PathNode35 PathNode77 PathNode80 PathNode92 PathNode158 PathNode179 PathNode181 PathNode212 PathNode216 PathNode223 PathNode225 PathNode289 PathNode308 PlayerStart6 I don't claim that these are complete lists; I may very well have missed some. I also left off some nodes where more paths should probably exist (e.g. PathNode91), and some where it would only be a small improvement (e.g. MedBox41 to PathNode421). In some other, more serious cases, nodes close to one another have only extremely inefficient paths between them, such as: PathNode148 to FavoritesTeleporter25 PathNode290 to FavoritesTeleporter0 PathNode366 to FavoritesTeleporter13 The approaches at PathNode22 and PathNode23 are unwatched by any DefensePoints, so getting into the base is easy. Also, snipers at the window DefensePoints are not alert enough to catch incoming attackers at full possible range; use TeamTrigger/DistanceViewTrigger combinations to correct this, as in CTF-Face. Such things might also be used to make the snipers more aware of attackers coming up behind them, out of the teleporters. Or you could even try setting a secondary DefensePoint, say, on the ledge above FavoritesTeleporter15, to shoot enemies in the back of the head as they come out of the teleporter. Please don't think that I gave you the score that I did out of malice, or some kind of bias. I try to check these things very carefully, as you can see. Nahand 06-10-2004 09:32 AM MDT Rating: 2   Hahaha! Ironblade's arguments pretty much buried Cobra's deviations of mapping dominance. SeeD 06-11-2004 07:11 AM MDT Rating: 1   Yeah :) There you go, Cobra. And the difficulty comes from the bots' code prolly, not your pathwork. If you have 343 bots @ masterful @ instagib inside a cube map with no paths it might get a tad difficult.. Luquado 06-12-2004 12:35 PM MDT Rating: 1   It loads, it runs, so it's not a zero. Barely. For all of the reasons listed above. SilverHairDevil 06-15-2004 11:27 PM MDT   IT BURNS IT BURNS!