Pastoral

Pastoral A5

ITS BEEN SO LONG SINCE I DID TF2 MAPS I FORGOT WHAT I CHANGED x3

i probably wont test it at all but the map was lonely on my computer

and this song is very good so listen to it instead owo
I've been overall satisfied with the way this map plays for awhile. Balancing it has only focused on the end of the map, which is sick

The choke outside the spawn is pretty much gone, but the fast respawns after that point and the easy access to the other team's spawn made it a meat grinder.
  • Expanded the spawn to give the other team less access to your batts
  • Raised the batts to make it more difficult to get onto the other team's batts
  • Removed a couch jump up onto your team's batts
  • Added an opaque shutter between where players spawn and your last batts
  • Raised respawn wave times when the cart leaves the spawn from 6 to 10
  • Added a forced respawn wave when the cart leaves the spawn
The turntable also didn't communicate its purpose very well. So I added lights!
  • Added lights around the turntable
  • Added lights above the doors to the silos (not functional, oops)
  • Added an explosion to the finale
  • Removed the broken payload alarm, replaced it
Miscellaneous changes
  • Fixed an issue with Red's turntable logic that forced Red players (and only red players) to get off the cart when the cart reaches the turntable
  • Added a couple random signs/textures
The last version was interesting! There's a choke I need to buff out. *big surprise,* but the interesting thing was that the reason it was a choke was because the defending team was at such a disadvantage they couldn't do anything but defend. Both teams funnel into the choke and it's a meat grinder until the defenders get wiped and the other team immediately wins.
  • Added an upper spawn, accessible from the beginning of the round by a prop jump, which is enabled when the enemy cart reaches your choke.
  • The turntable now turns back to the neutral position when not being pushed.
  • Changed the respawn wave time from 8s to 12s when the cart reaches your choke.
  • Changed the respawn wave time 6s when the cart exits your choke.
  • Expanded the batts to the finale from spawn
  • Removed the platforms at the finale to put cappers at a stronger disadvantage.
Last test got two rounds off before the turntable broke. And that's alright! Because I got some really promising results. Primary issue though, the turntable. As noted, very scuffed under the hood. My theory is that someone on Blu got off the cart in the 0.1 seconds before the cart's trigger was disabled, so interrupted it from rolling forward. We'll see if it worked in imp 2!
  • Moved the place the carts stop to turn the turntable back
  • Created a separate path for the turntable (so it doesn't show up on the hud as part of the track)
  • Separated the forward and backward sections of the turntable path so it should no longer spin around and point the wrong direction through the entire finale
    • The caret should also no longer wiggle or point the wrong direction as it arrives
  • Rounds now end when the cart begins to roll forward onto the turntable
    • This should mean that even if the cart fails to move across the turntable, the outcome of the round shouldn't be impacted.
  • Slowed down the turntable, to extend the end of the round.
  • Moved the control point entities to their own box under the map.
  • You should no longer have to get off the cart to start the turntable moving
  • Added overlays to the place the cart stops
  • Warning bells ring when the turntable is moving. This emphasizes that you need to stand on the cart for the turntable to move.
No complaints until the cart reached the second U-turn. Both teams had a back-and-forth over the middle of the map, under and around the big X-shaped building and attacked the other team's setup in the opposing choke.

Attackers didn't have a hard time clearing the choke when they used the farther batts, but the distance it took to get there was too much. Defenders are, save for one route, defending from the lowground.
  • Added a railing you can't shoot through on the edge of the shelf. This prevents players from building sentries, as they cannot shoot down from the ledge.
  • Moved the pickups in the sewer pipe to the other side
  • Connected the sewer pipe to the batts stairway
  • Removed the redundant door to the batts stairway
The final specific issue was a couple cheeky places Snipers found.
  • Raised the wall separating the big door into the spawn courtyard from the smaller door into the terminus yard
  • Adjusted the alignment of the corners of the buildings in the terminus valley to get rid of a teeny tiny sightline on the spawn doors
Miscellaneous changes
  • Fixed a missing displacement at the bottom of both teams' stairs up to the middle building
    Fixed two unsewn displacements near the sewer pipe
  • Disabled shadows cast by the rockets and turntable
  • Made the spawn door triggers larger so scouts couldn't accidentally step on the door as it recedes
  • Removed an overlay improperly applied to two overlapping brushes
  • Fixed several places along the track where the path does not follow the ground
  • Fixed several improperly skinned track props
  • Raised the top edge of the curved frame onto the terminus balcony for scouts and soldiers on top of the crates in the middle building
  • Named the control points
  • Fixed a misaligned brush on the ramp in Blu's side of the middle building
  • Added several NoDraw brushes under the concrete area behind where the carts begin
Other feedback seemed minimal, but then again, we only got through two rounds, so who knows? Possible issues:
  • Is the not-finale half of the map too empty when the carts are at the end of the track?
  • When the enemy cart has made it to your spawn, does the other team have too easy a time holding you in spawn? Is it too difficult to get to your own cart?
  • Why does the announcer say "1" when the round ends?
Did you know: Pastoral was originally going to have three turntables.