Have you played or seen balloon racing maps?

[Artesia]

id increase the ship size dramatically... make it more like a floating base... like the size of the 2fort building minus the basement... style it like the peter pan pirate ship (several decks) so you can have multiple spawn exits... for the spawnroom, have a hidden spawnroom with a teleporter in it, that insta teleports people aboard the ship, they will never even see the original spawn so it can be tools/black.

then get off the sea/lake idea and move more towards a river just wide enough for both ships... high cliffs on both sides river goes in a circle, allowing players to jump off the boat, climb the cliff real quick and jump on the enemy boat. Sentry spots along the sides as well...

no I won't make one, but those are my thoughts on how to balance it. the ship design should reduce the sniper ownage against targets on the middle deck, the sentry spots give engies something to do. You could even have neutral ships going around that you could ride up alongside the enemy boat and board it...

 

[Mashi]

A fun afternoon I once had on a Balloon Race map

 

[littlewilly91]

I have big idea for the main objectives! It'd be hard for either side to actually win and when a side does eventually pull it off it'd be wicked. Basically you don’t spawn on the boats, the boats sail where enemies can board and attack them, and the boats sink if shot enough and respawn so you'd have to start over.

The map follows a wide river running down the middle of a grand forested valley to the sea. Blue spawns on one side of river, red the other, high up on one side of a really big map, in two opposing logging factories. You both have an initial control point to capture in a slightly difficult position, an exposed strip of land outside your base. This lets the boat for your team rise miraculously up from the depths, dwarfing your little conflict. Time for engineers and heavies to rush aboard, whilst the rest of the team defends their pride and glory.

The boats start drifting downstream automatically (faster with people on), and will sink back into non-existence and reset the initial control point if no one of the right team is aboard for more than thirty seconds or so. It has a dispenser on (like in the current balloon race) and a damage limit- masts and bits and bobs can be blown off it until it sinks. So it's important to stop people shooting the big fat hull of your ship. Soldiers etc can only get a clear shot at the escaping ship after it pulls away, by getting into dangerous positions, (blasted trees in the way) or hurrying after it on fast floating logs or their own ship. (Engineers can slowly repair damage however, and there would be a handy health display inside.)

If the boat survives it's wonderfully scenic and long (atleast as long as balloon race) journey down the weaving river, between steep cliffs and scaffold ideal for borders, through rapids and over a big waterfall (it's cue to start flying) whilst enemy scum attack from the sides, then it flies off into the peaceful sky and captures a control point on a hovering barge. This has a few crannies for teleporter exits and the like on). Here it is shown to be picking up bombs for it's run over the enemy base (which ends the game). This control point can be recaptured by the other team if the ship still sinks/plummets. After all, to make it's bombing run it will have to journey back, along the enemy's side of the valley. The first attempts probably won’t make it, so engineers will be able to set up key bases right along the shoreline… Without any immediate teleport access to the boat, being on it takes on a whole new meaning.

I think there should be some play testing of some take on this. Just being banned from teleporting onto boats, and keeping up with them and jumping aboard from the shore, whilst being able to sink the enemy vessel would make for a lot of fun. Maybe they would spiral up a mountain with a game winning control point on top, reversing back down when no one was on them, and carry your intel too. Chaos.

Can water exist if tilted in TF2? And any ideas for CTF?