Thaw A6

i had covid and nothing else to do so heres my dramatic return to this map!

- completely tore out red's spawns for B and replaced them with a more angled setup using the same exits. this should make the exits more equally used rather than the lower exit being the primary exit.
- removed part of the cover behind B and moved the highground platform down to make it more accessible to blu attackers trying to hold the area for the extended cap time. also generally changed up the visuals to better communicate where red is coming from.
- replaced the sightline blocker and chute in the centre of the C area with a more established highground defensive platform. This should help to push the frontline further away from the point and give red more control over the area.
- messed around with some routes around C in order to force blu to pass through the main C room wherever theyre going. this should help to reduce the 'unfocused' feeling of the point and keep everyone playing around the central space. i've only touched the left 'upper' route so far, and am interested in seeing how that plays before extending similar changes to the right 'lower' route. i definitely also feel like the lobby area before C is unfocused and confusing as well, but im unsure how to approach altering it so may end up completely tearing out a sizeable chunk of it for the next update. stay tuned!
- removed the flank route from behind C - this was awkward tight geometry, not fun to push through, caused blu to forward hold in an area that made no sense and made red have to defend against all sides with no safe wall to put their back against. Red can access the upper route through their spawn, and blu attackers in that area can use the balcony to attack the point directly.
- opened up the first spawn yard a bit to give red spies (chin) a bit more wiggle room.
- messed with spawn times a teensy teensy bit to help blu hold B when they already have cap progress on it.
- pickup changes.
- various minor displacement, prop, lighting, visual, geometry and clipping changes across the map.

- raised the small shed at B up onto stilts. this allows it to block sightlines across the upper level of B, and opens up the lowground to allow for more comfortable combat in that area. also added another rock on blu's highground behind it to allow for more cover to help them combat red snipers.
- made most of the platform directly behind B an interior, to allow red a more covered approach to the building to the side of the point.
- restructured and consolidated the lowground route on C to funnel players more into the other routes and allow for red to focus their defence more elsewhere.
- removed blu's chicken wire cover in their main entrance to C, which should make pushing the central route on C riskier and give snipers more angles to play with in that area. added a little extra cover behind the doorway to allow safer access to the other levels for blu players not taking the main route.
- flipped blu's balcony on C to the right instead of the left, to prevent jumpers from having the same ease of access to red's grate balcony.
- completely restructured and rebuilt red's final spawn at C, seperating the exits completely.
- you can now stand (but not build due to angle) on the chute at C without being pushed. we'll see how balanced or unbalanced this is.
- slightly rerouted the path towards B point from blu's forward spawn thru a new side room, in order to prevent sniper spawncamping.
- made the 'no flag' visualisers generally smaller and higher to obsure vision during combat less, and moved them back at the entrance to C.
- added flag reset triggers further behind the 'no flag' drop triggers to address cheesing attempts by repeated dropping and picking up of the flag.
- increased A's capture time slightly.
- delayed blu's forward spawn on both points by 10 seconds.
- reduced red's respawn wave time slightly for A and C.
- gave blu a little extra time to attack C.
- dealt with some more cringe gameplay trees.
- various geometry, prop, clipping, displacement, lighting and visual changes across the map.
- pickup changes.
- spectator cam changes.
- added a mapwide generic soundscape.

- fixed the visualisers on red's last spawn being disabled due to duplicated entity names.

- completely tore out C and rebuilt it as a new and different point with new routes, reusing parts of the existing lobby area and connectors. the idea behind the new point is that the point area has a choke on either side, which both lead to advantageous positions over the point, so red must split their attention between those chokes, but doing so will give them simultaneous control over the lowground and point area. however, if blu pushes either choke that advantage should allow the rest of their team to push the lowground.
- moved the right-hand 'midground' route towards A down and removed the staircase directly to A, so that there is now a cliff over that doorway. this should move red's frontline forward and give them more advantages over that route, as well as forcing blu players using that route to take a longer path onto A.
- completely restructured the left building out of blu's spawn courtyard. with the bridge in the last update, this was solidified further as a defensive hold position, while the existing geometry mostly treats it as a pure connector. the new geometry should allow for much more interesting fights and give red more ability to hold ground in that building.
- restructured the staircase room behind A to widen it, give it more interesting gameplay and prevent complete lockouts when a clueless blu flag carrier inevitably carries the flag in there.
- closed blu's left highground window directly onto A. this should push back blu's frontline and make the lowground safer for red while simultaneously allowing for stronger blu forward holds on the highground.
- significantly increased the capture time for B, and gave blu more time on A cap. i really want blu to have to hold red out of the area for an extended period of time with this point, and as red usually defends from ahead of the point they shouldn't be able to regain their lost ground very easily. this change will have to be tested rigorously to ensure balance and fun for both sides.
- you can no longer build in a specific corner of blu's first spawn.
- touching red's first spawn door after A cap no longer teleports you.
- many snow piles are now more smooth in texture at their deepest points and where footsteps don't make sense, which should make them a bit less visually noisy.
- moved a cringe gameplay space tree at A.
- raised all skyboxes by 256hu.
- various minor prop, geometry, clipping, displacement, lighting and visual changes across the map.
- pickup changes.

- attached a blu dispenser to the flag, to reward blu players for staying close to the flag carrier and encourage more team coordination around the flag. the dispenser is only active while the flag is carried.
- i'm mainly making changes to A and B right now, and may completely tear out and redo C next version.
- made the left lowground route on A significantly thinner and more precarious to increase and better communicate the disadvantages of that route.
- added a bridge between the high left building by blu spawn on A and the main lobby - this was already a jump that could be made, but now it's a more solid route.
- made a ramp in the dropdown to the lowground in A lobby - this had forced blu players to take the disadvantageous flank rather than being able to rotate back towards their other routes.
- restructured the connector between the connector building to A from B and the B lobby building, with a new ramp directly from the lowground.
- added a small platform behind B lobby to put lost red players going to A back on track without forcing them to u-turn, and also as a better around-the-corner defence spot for B than the existing lowground. the door from this platform towards A closes after A cap.
- made a window on C oneway.
- adjusted capture times - reduced time on A and C, increased time on B.
- more arrow signs to help routing.
- half-fixed some architecture sins, ty ido.
- various minor geo, visual, lighting, clipping, prop and displacement changes across the map.
- various pickup changes.

- swapped the intels to CTF mode instead of AD mode. this means that they show up as red in outline and colour instead, and i'd prefer them blue, but the announcer voicelines don't work in AD mode (without me having to bloat the map filesize).
- made the access to the lowground route from the large connector building at A a short dropdown, to make it harder for red flankers to easily bomb blu engie bases on the highground and to generally make that lowground route worse for red. Note this is short enough for most minor jump options to still be able to get up the dropdown (double jumps, moon jumps, etc). Marked this with hazard stripes.
- added a wood platform outside of a window on the large connector building at A. this should allow and hopefully encourage red jumpers to use that highground, and perhaps allow for blu wrangler shenanigans.
- made part of the floor of red's highground over A a grate to better watch for flankers from below.
- added a staircase up to red's platform over B directly from the C entrance door, to allow for quicker rotation and easier reclaimation of ground for red. also moved the nearby doorway slightly to allow this.
- removed the wooden platform outside the window in front of red's first spawn exit, on the building to the side of B. this allowed jumpers to too easily peek and take out sentries inside the building, and removing it has minimal impact on red rollouts to A.
- pulled back the walls around blu's highground over B. this should hopefully move the frontline back slightly and make blu attackers feel less safe while still allowing them to keep pressure on red's lowground defenders.
- expanded the internal size of the flank shack on B to help blu engies trying to setup inside a little bit.
- added a staircase up to blu's higherground area over C from the main lower room, allowing for easier rotation and routing up to that route.
- im still generally unsatisfied with C but want to test it more before making major area changes.
- changed capture time of all 3 points - increased A and B's time to require that blu hold the area for a more extended time and not just force red out of it then pile onto the point, and slightly reduced C's cap time.
- reduced both teams' respawn wave time slightly.
- added doors that open after A cap blocking access into the C area, to help prevent red players getting lost out of their first spawn. also added two similar doors next to red's second spawn, that open after B cap, but don't completely block the C area, just help to prevent players getting distracted.
- added and modified a lot of arrow signs to assist with routing.
- gave all glass windows brushwork panes to easily indicate from a distance that they're windows.
- marked all resupply doors with gameplay signs.
- replaced a red spawn door with an animated one to prevent the door clipping through a floor.
- cp props all now change to the correct skin after capture.
- added teleporter-only nobuild on a potential sandbag spot under blu's first forward spawn.
- various lighting and minor prop, geo and displacement changes across the map.
- pickup changes.
- quick and dirty mapwide clipping pass.
- added spectator cameras.