ctf_convoy_v2 the good and bad.

Tiftid

the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
aa
Sep 10, 2016
602
465
Good:

-Really iconic and cool theme. Pretty nice geometry and texture work to go with it

-The dynamic where you can use a jump pad to get to the enemy base but have to use very dangerous bridges to get back is a step in the right direction, making it easy to reach the enemy intel but hard to escort it out again, which is a generally liked dynamic in CTF, since it discourages camping and allows teams to be able to stop the enemy team from getting the flag out of their base even after dying in the attack on their base, since they can respawn and come back before the enemy team have returned to their own base - it's just a shame that you can use the enemy team's jump pad to return to your base

-The bridges between the carriers would be really cool if they weren't sniper heaven - having a route where players can walk on not only the floor but the roof above it is really cool, and the fact that they're below everything encourages people to jump down to defend them, thereby losing their high ground - sadly, this encourages people to camp in their base (especially Snipers, who can see everywhere from their base) and not lose their high ground, you can't easily go between the roof of the bridge and the floor (nullifying all the coolness of a double-levelled route) and there's no health anywhere near the bridges that would reward people for attacking and defending them

Bad:

-The theme seems to have come before the gameplay - the carriers are symmetrical save for a few hydro barriers, meaning standing on one side is as good as standing on the other, which encourages teams to camp in their base

-There are some spots at the front of the carriage you can jump down to but not easily get back up from, and they don't have anything worthwhile in them - 'punishment pits' like this aren't fun, players would rather just be killed

-Since everything between the two carriers is completely empty space, Snipers can pretty much shoot anything from anywhere, further encouraging other classes to camp in the few safe spaces they have

-There are only 2-3 ways to get to the enemy base - this isn't necessarily a problem since it's true of most CTF maps, but these connectors are basically the worst you could imagine - thin bridges which can be seen from everywhere, making people attempting to push them simultaneously vulnerable to explosive spam, snipers and pyro airblasts (did this map exist before airblast existed?), making it not only hard but also unfun to attack

-The map's design amplifies the problem with CTF-type gamemodes - when there are engineers the map stalemates, but when there aren't, caps are near-impossible to stop:
Any class that is able to get on top of the rocket has a direct rout to the intel room without being in the line of sight from the opposing team. There is also a sun roof on top of the control room that one can drop in and make an ambush on those guarding the intelligence. Defense on this map is not as easy as most CTF maps. The opposing teams can gain quick entry to the control room where your intelligence is stored if all routs aren’t guarded. There are a few hot spots for sentry guns but for an impenetrable defense it will require a precise coordination of at least 3 sentry guns
This directly states that you need 3 engineers to not get cheesed by enemy soldiers and scouts, which forces people to play a class they might not enjoy, and makes the map stalemate.

-The best place to fight in the entire map is within a team's base, but the map makes it way too hard to reach the enemy base and fight therein

If I were remaking this map, I'd probably make it so that there are a few fairly long, chokey, completely enclosed routes (with health) between the two carriers, as well as an upper route between the two carriers, which not only acts as a wall obstructing vision between the two carriers, but you can use the jump pad on your base to get up there, giving you a decent sniper spot and one-way route into the enemy base - that way, the dynamic of it being easy to get into the enemy base but hard to get out is preserved, and most of the fighting actually takes place in the bases, where teams can do fun things like take the flag to the back end of the carrier in hopes of surviving long enough to get out again, which encourages the enemy team to go to the back of the carrier, kill them and defend the flag, which makes them defend a different place than normal, which makes every round not feel like defending a flag in the same spot for hours on end like on 2fort, Turbine and Doublecross.
I'd also remove the existing intel room and put the intel in a nice open area so that engineer camping is thoroughly discouraged, so engineers are better off building in and around the bridges between the carriers.

However, I would encourage you to make a standard CTF map before remaking this, since the challenge of having to work around the idea of two carriers and bridges between them is actually a really hard one, and you can achieve most of the dynamics this map does with standard geometry, which is much easier to build and work around.