Multi Stage Dune (CP) [B11] 11.2.0

Ey! Minor thing: fixed a bit of clipping near RED spawn where the small health + full ammo packs are; kept getting caught in the corner between the open spawn doors. Major thing: initial round times are back at 6 minutes compared to 5, but I toned down the total amount of time BLU gets to capture a sequential point in the first two stages. Instead of getting 8 minutes when capping A or C, now BLU only gets 5. This should help RED a bit more during the earlier stages. The Final Stage, point E, should be a bit more doable for BLU since they have the extra minute to start again; they will still only gain 45 seconds for each capture, so they need to keep the pressure and defend against RED's counterattacks.

RED spawn at E sucks, it does. I've done a lot to make it suck less and bring a bit more classic DOOM into your eyeholes! Hopefully this'll do.

The new ladder flank in Stage Two was awkward with the clipping, so I went ahead and fixed it. Also patched up some weird nav mesh issues around the same area, along with the First Stage. Should all be okay now!

Ey folks! Although player numbers were scarce for the last beta, and quite frankly some feedback was pretty broad, I went with what I interpreted and did some noteworthy tweaking to some stages! I'll update screenshots in due time.

GAMEPLAY:

GENERAL

• Cap times are measured in Scout time (x2), just as a reminder!
• The skybox has been shown a bit of love, with it being pretty level with the gameplay area now. I may add further details in the future but remember that the theme of the map revolves around an expansive desert full of wavy dunes. You're not getting a lot of mesas, canyons, and cliffs.

FIRST STAGE

• Health and ammo sizes have been lowered a bit around point A.
• RED is now given a singular small health pack, and a singular full ammo pack in between the two spawn exits.
• BLU's respawn wave while A isn't captured is 4, while RED's is 5.
• BLU's respawn wave while B isn't captured is 3, while RED's is 8.

SECOND STAGE

• The old ladder flank has been reintroduced but reworked to increase the travel time. It still leads to the stairwell, but now BLU must wrap around the upper front entrance complex to hop in through a window.
• BLU has a bit of additional high ground from the billboard building to look down at point C.
• RED has been given more advantages in order to protect point C.
  • There is a one-way gate leading from point D through a cramped new set of halls leading to C.
  • The lower deck looking out towards point D has been expanded and given easier skill-jumping to allow RED to utilize that connecting hallway.
  • RED now has an additional high ground pocket to look down upon point C, which connects to the upper hallway in the complex, and drops down to the new cramped gate room. The flooring is grating, so watch out for explosives!
  • The hallway below the previously mentioned grating is visually a nod towards old-school DOOM; if you get the reference, then you get the vibe of the map!
• Health and ammo have been adjusted around point C.
• The window inside the rusty building that looks onto point D has been reopened due to RED having a lot more cover to work with around point D.
• Point C now has a capture time of 20; point D's is 12.
• BLU's respawn wave while C isn't captured is 5, while RED's is 4.
• BLU's respawn wave while D isn't captured is 4, while RED's is 6.

FINAL STAGE

• Point E now has a capture time of 25, and total captures required for BLU to win has been lowered from 7 to 5. I'm sticking with my guns because it can be a clever idea, but the execution and unique nature make it a challenge to balance, and from earlier iterations, repetitive and a bit bland. It's hopefully getting there!
• BLU's initial respawn wave at point E is 7, while RED's is 9.

It was over by point A, resetting details messed up overlay stuff, but I think I got it all fixed. Oh, and respawn timings were quite off for point E, whoops. Fixed that so now the page description and in-game respawn wave time adjustments actually line up.

Howdy! +1K downloads, between testing and exploring the map yourselves, is much appreciated. Haven't had this stroke of success in a while, so here's to continuing to grow and get this project to a decent state for the workshop!

GAMEPLAY:

GENERAL

• Rounds now start at 6 minutes compared to 10 minutes but cannot exceed more than 10 minutes. Capturing a point adds 8 minutes to the clock to encourage the stalemate nature.
• More flanks, routes, and cover for all stages.
• Cap times are measured in Scout time (x2), just as a reminder!
• When points A, C, or E are captured, RED will be forcespawned to prepare a defense for B and D, and to help reclaim E.
• Generally speaking, BLU should now have an easier time in the First Stage, while RED has an easier time in later stages. Again, I hope.

FIRST STAGE

• The dreaded Sniper sightlines from the turret towers and palm tree near A have been blocked off.
• BLU has more high ground to work with when approaching point B.
• RED's spawn no longer has the two middle shutter doors, meaning RED only has two lengthy exits out of spawn.
• Point A now has a capture time of 11; point B's is 8.
• BLU's respawn wave while A isn't captured is 4, while RED's is 7.
• BLU's respawn wave while B isn't captured is 3, while RED's is 10.

SECOND STAGE

• The ladder flank leading into the fort's front entrance where point C is no longer exists; RED should have a bit of an easier time defending the area without fear of getting flanked from every angle.
• BLU has more high ground to work with when approaching point D from the Cargo flank.
• There is now a small health pack inside the alleyway; this, however, will not stop crimes... we're at 9 murders in that alley!
• The window inside the rusty building that looks onto point D has been blocked off so it isn't a super-lethal sightline.
• Point D has additional cover for RED, as well as a bit of high ground next to the Bunker building; don't worry, the Bunker itself is still useable!
• Point C now has a capture time of 15; point D's is 9.
• BLU's respawn wave while C isn't captured is 4, while RED's is 6.
• BLU's respawn wave while D isn't captured is 5, while RED's is 9.

FINAL STAGE

• The flank from the BLU warehouse to the RED rocket building has been cut off to better protect RED's side.
• RED has more high ground, as well as cover, to work with when approaching/defending point E.
• BLU's side now has less health and ammo to make it more challenging to defend point E while capping.
• Point E now has a capture time of 30.
• BLU's initial respawn wave at point E is 9, while RED's is 7.

MISC:

• On the map's overview page, there should be a more detailed explanation of the respawn wave adjustments for each point E capture.
• Each point that is being sought after by BLU, a set of nav_avoids will enable/disable at random time intervals to spread the BLU TFBots out and encourage more usage of flanks. Sniping and engineering spots have been adjusted accordingly for the new flanks/routes/cover.

Eyo! I adjusted the First Stage and a tiny bit of the Final Stage. BLU should have a much easier time setting up shop on the Data Center roof with the removal of the stairs behind the Data Center, and the planks next to the front of the building. There's also a full health and ammo there for BLU Engineers to help keep their buildings alive. The Final Stage has a minor tweak of +1 second added universally to BLU's respawn waves. I'm quite frankly afraid to touch the area because it is an absolute delight to balance a unique idea, so a minor tweak like that should work.

Well I certainly beefed up RED, but I really nerfed BLU's pushing power. This beta should fix the problem... boy I love balancing. :']

OPTIMIZATION:

• A lot of ambient generics have been removed, so hopefully that fixes the weird audio cut-outs.

GAMEPLAY:

GENERAL

• Adjusted respawn wave times.
• Added new routes/flanks in the First Stage.
• Added additional teamspawn points inside spawns.
• Fixed some clipping problems.
• Added some lovely dustmotes to spice up the visuals of some indoor areas.
• Skybox/ceiling playerclip has been raised; enjoy jumping!

FIRST STAGE

• Health and ammo have been removed around point B.
• You can now access the sentry towers in the first stage.
• There are now more ways to access the highground around point A.
• Grating has been added to the Data Center roof.
• Health and ammo have been bumped up from small to medium size on the Data Center roof.
• BLU's respawn wave while B isn't captured is 4, while RED's is 10.
• You can now kinda climb the turbines inside red spawn. :]

SECOND STAGE

• Health and ammo have been removed around point D.
• BLU's spawn is now open, removing the upper doorway.
• BLU's respawn wave while D isn't captured is 3, while RED's is 9.

Did some private testing and wasn't satisfied with the results, so now point E is more central to the middle grounds instead of on the map border. RED has more cover and access to health/ammo, while BLU loses a bit of cover. The big metal spawn door was also removed, and that really cleaned up navigation in the third BLU spawn.

Now the point is captured in 15 seconds by a Scout, with a 9 second cooldown before RED owns the point again. RED spawn waves are initially 10, while BLU is 6. Every time the point is captured, RED's spawn wave count goes down by -1; every other capture lowers RED's spawn wave count by -2, and BLU's by -1. This repeats in this order until RED spawns in 1, and BLU spawns in 4.

This was to beef up RED's defense the more BLU chose to be aggressive. This also makes it harder for BLU to defend E while RED can spam the point in counterattacking. Without this, BLU was able to park right on the point with absolutely no retaliation from RED... they'd die before they could reach the point and do any serious damage!

Yada yada, images will be updated soon enough, etc etc.

As previously mentioned, I reworked point E. This'll go into further detail and elaborate on the intended mechanics, as well as some brief patching mentions and changes. Images and the menu photos will be updated in due time; I'm more concerned about making the intended gameplay of Point E engaging and unique.

OPTIMIZATION:

• Hammer decided to be funny, and upon Saving As, messed up a lot of static props and considered them out of bounds for absolutely no reason. A quick shuffle of the map fixed this, but also created more portals, which had to be adjusted accordingly for optimization. Please feel free to inform me if there's noticeable dips in FPS.

GAMEPLAY:

GENERAL

• Adjusted cap times and respawn wave times.
• As a side note, all capture rate adjustments are measured in, "Scout time," so a capture rate of 10 seconds would be 20 seconds for any single class that isn't Scout. Didn't know that until recently myself!
• Arrows and some other overlays were flipped or visually impacted by copying/shuffling the map. This should be fixed now.

SECOND STAGE

• Fixed missing health/ammo patches on some spots of sand.

FINAL STAGE

• I am very stubborn and would like to try to keep the spirit of this final area present. The problem is that BLU suddenly struggled to take E, and once E was guarded by a sentry, RED couldn't do much to escape the spawn area, making it a very iffy experience for both sides.
  • Point E is much quicker to capture for BLU, but at the cost of a capture cooldown when BLU owns the point before it resets to RED ownership.
  • In order for BLU to win, they must capture this point seven times, each capture adding +45 seconds to the round timer. RED wins by keeping them away from the point at all costs.
  • This should reintroduce the CP/KOTH hybrid idea: BLU must suddenly try to defend against RED trying to counterattack and reclaim their territory.
  • The point's been moved to lessen RED's grip on the point, but with cover that has been added from previous betas, should help RED Engineers set up shop to protect the flank to RED's rocket, or the point itself.
• The goal string for both teams has been updated to accommodate these changes to gameplay.
• Point E's rework had a cap time of 6, but was changed to 9 as of this patch. Point E's capture cooldown has been changed from 3 seconds to 6 seconds.
• BLU's respawn wave is 3, while RED's is 8.