cp_horseshoe

CP cp_horseshoe a5

kalzonkly

L1: Registered
Jul 29, 2021
5
0
cp_horseshoe - Two-point A/D map with a focus on high ground and the occasional sawblade.

I tried to keep things open and make the chokes oppressive. The flanks are strong and the height advantage is substantial. I really hope you enjoy!
 

ahazz

L1: Registered
Jul 24, 2020
2
1
I like what this map does in terms of the strength of flanks and high ground, but I believe that it's a bit too open and that sightlines for sniper specifically can be especially powerful. From what I've tried out, Sniper has few options to be dealt with outside of a counter sniper. The best sniper sightlines are ones that his team have to push him into, and ones where if he's alone, he doesn't have a way to get out.

The two small windows right outside of B and in the large room next to that are kind of redundant since they both only give one sightline towards the orange building covering Blu's flank towards A.
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The window farther from B actually has a sightline onto Blu's far spawn, and getting sniped from someone a country away really sucks.
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The barrels right on A point also cover sniper enough to where he can pick off Blu's flank spawn fairly easily, he gets full view of whoever wants to come towards point from that left path.
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Considering also how sniper should be playing around the engineer brings up another issue: There is too much ammo on this map. Four full ammo kits in relatively close proximity to each other eliminates any worries for the engineer to manage their metal intelligently, especially the medium ammo kit on the point. I believe that can be moved down to under the stairs, and one of the full ammo kits can be eliminated entirely. The two full ammo kits next to A's platform and the orange building should be replaced with medium ammo kits, and the full ammo kit behind the shipping container behind A point can be removed and just be a medium health kit for flanking explosive classes. I haven't found any truly overpowered sentry spots on A or B, and overall I feel like engineer is strong on this map to the point where it's really nice to have one on either team.

I think B is where this map really shines. There aren't any sniper sightlines into spawn, and as you had intended the chokepoints feel like they could have some pretty intense action associated with them. The problem I find with it is that Red's demos can fairly shut down any aggressive engineer nests with the spam angles from B point onto the rooms outside of it.
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While a Red demo does have to be right next to the doors outside of B point, the medium health kit and full ammo kit allow him to take such risks without too much worry of being spammed out, and presumably because a Red engineer will be setup fairly close by.

Overall, I really like what the map is trying to accomplish, specifically with the emphasis on smart flanking. Adjusting sightlines and the generous amounts of ammo present on the map will hopefully make the map easier to attack. Adjusting spam angles will make the map less easy to defend, which may or may not be too much if you choose to remove the ammo first. My own bias comes from the fact that I hate being killed by sentries and snipers, and I mostly play soldier but put time into everything. Now onto the actual bugs of the map.
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These are the only ones I found, they're all around Blu spawn.
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Weird texture, probably just hasn't been rotated.
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HUGE out of bounds, no need to ctap in order to get that high.
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Is standing here intentional? I'm assuming not. Could be a cool flank, but fairly impractical.
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This saw won't kill if I smash my face into the actual blade portion, only from the sides.
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Resupply cabinet won't trigger from the sides.
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Incredibly niche problem, but if someone decides to rocket jump and change class while still in the air, they will get the respawn timer. Probably inconsequential, but probably should be fixed. Just in case.
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VERY small angle, definitely inconsequential. I couldn't see anything from them. Fixing them would be a good idea anyways.
 

kalzonkly

L1: Registered
Jul 29, 2021
5
0
I swallowed the very large but very necessary pills of the first playtest's feedback and made some pretty substantial changes.
- Replaced fence w/ building offering high and low ground for both teams
- Reworked left flank room on first point
- Added geometry to block oppressive sniper sightlines
- Moved second point up and forward a little
- Blocked off the long hallway into second w/ truck. Both teams can now access high ground inside computer room
- Added ladder into window as a means for BLU to get to B faster
- Other changes I'm sure I'll remember later

Read the rest of this update entry...