pl_substation
Back Story: It is a dark night, Blu has a plan. A plan to take over the underworld of New York. The great battles of the war have left the world as we know it uninhabitable. The only long term habitable areas are the abandoned subway stations. Blu has gained access to Western Yard, the western most train yard. They know it will not be an easy task destroying the Red base to take over the underworld. The Red base is Eastern Substation and Red is aware of Blus' plans (Spy got in on a meeting). Blus' task at hand, take over the underground for a better life. Starting at Western Yard they will need to escort the bomb down into Wester Substation onto a flatcar. Then move the train, bomb loaded, across town using subway tunnels. Lastly unload and escort the bomb to its strategic destination to destroy Eastern Substation upon detonation. Red, simply defend, as is life in the underworld.
Map Info:
Working Name: pl_substation (Possibly pl_underworld)
Current Build: Alpha 04 09/07/08
Download: [Download pl_SubStation Here] (Zipped so I don't have to change link every build)
Object:
Round 1: Blue team escorts Bomb on Cart from above ground down into the subway station onto a flatcar.
Round 2 & 3: Blue team pushes a train (engine and flatcar loaded with bomb) through 2 stages of subways while Red attempts to stop them.
Round 4: Blue team unloads bomb from flatcar and escorts it to "final terminus" and are rewarded with a nice large explosion.
Of Note:
- At this time only the flatcar is the payload, only it has the trigger to push. ie: A player on top of the Engine will not move the train. In a4 I made engine push also. No one mentioned it but I think it will give blue a bit more of much needed advantage after Alpha 3 testing on Game Day.
- You can not build on the flatcar, it is not currently possible to make it so. (Valve has hinted to this ability at some point in the future, specifically stating that there will be a payload map with a platform instead of a bomb and that engis will be able to build on it). I am researching a spawned sentry but don't like going around Valve.
Update Progress: [Link to ChangeList.txt]
09/07/08 - Alpha 4 uploaded. Lots of mapping changes. Added alternate route from blue spawn to 1st point and also from first point to second point. Added a couple more ammo and health packs. Created new exit from blue spawn that unlocks after 1st point is capped. Made the entire train push, you can now ride on top of the engine and it will move. Made narrow tunnel between 1st and 2nd point to alleviate sniper heaven.
08/24/08 - Game Day was awesome. Demos available [One, Two. 1/2. Thanks Arma!]. Lots of great ideas to work with.
08/17/08 - Finished up workings of spawn rooms. Put simple skybox to give idea of starting at street level. The PL is flawless now for Round B, does everything it should as it should. Replaced boxes on the train with the cubic ones for A3 release.
08/15/08 - As of last night I have everything working great with the first stage except a few minor things (listed below). Still some layout work needed at first point. No texturing done.
ToDo:
- Class specific research (08/24/08):
- Engis WAY to powerful. Need alternate routes for Blue team to run ahead and clear defender camps.
- Snipers way to powerful. Need to address issue of straight map.
- Soldiers might be a little to powerful currently though testing showed they did not take advantage of the straight map as much as the snipers.
- Heavy/Medic have their place
- Spys have cutouts and corners and utilized them well.
- Pyros and Demos can do their destruction
- Scounts can run and jump their merry hearts out.
- Add nobuild to the flatcar so it doesn't look like an engi can build.
- Address the issue of the straightness of the map. Brainstorm the ability to turn the train. I haven't played with this yet but in my mind the train will look odd because the cars wont hinge. I was able to make the train turn and hinge but was not fluid in movement and caused lots of collision issues. Made a narrow tunnel instead.
Known issues (08/24/08):
- The small rectangular boxes on the train were destroyable. The square ones are good, the shorter rectangle boxes when shot, fall off the flatcar. The clip brushes around them stay causing invisible barriers.
- The Bomb dispenses metal. I followed the
- As mentioned above even though you can not build on the train, as an engi it shows the "blueprint" of the buildings then doesn't let you build.
Valve Wiki. The Payload in Goldrush doesn't, does it? Is there a setting in mapobj_cart_dispenser or dispenser_touch_trigger? This is not a problem, It dispenses metal in Goldrush. - Red did not win when time ran out. :blushing: [so newbish] *Fixed*
- When the Stage 1 2nd point is capped and blue wins, the announcer gives "the payload is reaching the final terminus" message and then the siren (that plays when the bomb is close to final cap) plays and does not stop. It continues into the next round/game. (FIXED : Had last point relay disable Bomb Watcher A.)
Alpha test 02 (b.03) (08/24/08 TF2M Game Day): Gameplay went great and got a lot of excellent feedback.
- Snipers were way to powerful on both sides. Engis way to powerful on defense.
- Seeing a Heavy eat a Sandvitch on my map was pretty fun.
- A Blue Engi [Credit] at one point utilized buildings to get up to the red spawn at the second point. If he could get a bit higher or the ledge was lower he could have got a building up there. I may allow this for the next build.
- The engine not pushing became an issue when SIX defensive Engis setup 6 level 3 sentys at the 2nd point. Multiple times players made it safely to the front of the train (mostly ubers or spys) but then could do nothing. If they were to be able to push, it would nullify the 6 level 3s.
- A demo was camping at the exit to the first point and dominated everyone that came down the ledge because they were instantly cornered. Need to edit the wall placement.
- I (and I saw others) placed a teleporter exit on the tracks and the train went over it. As soon as I tried to use the entrance, the exit blew up. Perfect!
- No evidence of collision issues!
Alpha test 01 (b.01) (08/13/08): I hosted the map for my buddy Dan to check it out and some random guy ended up on the server with us. We played 2 on 1 for about 2 hours. It was great having help and checking out if things worked or if it didn't. Noticed a few things I had no idea were happening. Got a lot of things fixed.
Images:
Alpha 04:
- Click! - This is the map as of A4.
- Click! - The new path from 1st point to 2nd. You can see the 2nd point in the right of the pic.
- Click! - Point A (2nd point). Train enters from gates at the right (They open apon cap of 1st point).
- Click! - Entrance behind the tanker takes you up above the 1st point, for spys and ubers to forge ahead and clear the way.
Alpha 03:
Click! - From TF2M Game Day, The Engi defense that worked a little too well at the second point.
Alpha 02:
- Click! - This is the exit from Blue spawn. It will eventually be built to look like turnstiles to get onto the train platform...
- Click! - The exit from Blue spawn from the outside, we see the train.
- Click! - From behind the train down to the end of the map. This is what worries me about snipers and soldiers. I think some strategically placed objects can cut down the issue. I was thinking a boxcar on the 2nd track would help.
- Click! - This is where the train enters the first point area. Note the elevated room across the track...
- Click! - View from inside the noted elevated room. The entrance across the way is a tunnel that comes out above the blue spawn for initial defense of the train (And spys to go around and come up from behind).
- Click! - Point A (First stage 2nd point)
- Click! - Red spawn. Stairs down to point A to the left and quick exit to mid map shows to the right.
- Click! - A screeny from Alpha Test 01
All thoughts, criticism, ideas or help are 110% appreciated!
-Bobby
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