Airbase Infiltration (New Map)

[A2Rob]

Second map I've technically "finished". Tried going smaller this time compared to my first map.

Spoiler

DOWNLOAD: https://www.dropbox.com/s/uzyl7uib3k74kdl/AirbaseInfiltration.wad?dl=0

-Utilizes texture sets from Valiant wad
-Tested in current versions of Zandronum, GZDoom, ZDoom, and Zandronum 3.0

Criticism and feedback is much appreciated!

[Koros]

This was a great map. Hard as balls.... But a great map none the less.

Seriously. Great job with this man! Also that "exit".... Wow. LOL

[Koros]

I made a video with your map in it man. Its should be considered a Doom crime that there are not more comments in this thread about your map.

[A2Rob]

Jimp Argon said:

I made a video with your map in it man. Its should be considered a Doom crime that there are not more comments in this thread about your map.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTJb8NFg-Qs

Thanks mate! I was really surprised to see you make a video of this. Glad you liked the map. Any suggestions for improvements?

[illuknisaa]

I got bunch of unknown patch errors when loading the map. I didn't see any texture related errors though.

I liked the map but there seemed to a bunch of encounters I could cheese by camping behind a corner or a door.

[Koros]

A2Rob said:

Any suggestions for improvements?

None really that I can think of... I really liked the map as it is. I hope to see more maps from you in the future. And yes, I have checked out your Storage Complex map. :-)

[Flesh420]

Awesome map! Only thing I found was you need to clip mid textures where you first encounter chain gunners because the textures go into the floor.

[Benjogami]

100% kills, 33% secrets, ~16 min, no deaths. Most of the encounters felt pretty non-threatening, but maybe I got lucky ;) I had fun cruising through. The look of the map is very nice and really captures the nighttime atmosphere.

Notes about non-threateningness:

- The mancs came out ahead of the AV in the dark room, and I caught a glimpse of it around the corner without waking it up, after the all the mancs were dead. It was then easy to SSG around the corner. The AV probably shouldn't be deaf, or it should be paired with monsters that will flush the player out into its view (which the mancs do not, since they're slow and the boxes give lots of cover).

- The SMM was so far away that I could hose him down with plasma while only taking a little bit of damage.

- The sniper imps in the arach/demon/SMM area could be revs, to spice it up a bit.

- The final fight is easy to cruise around while everything infights. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. It's grand and fun without being super threatening, which fits with the other encounters.

[Steve D]

This is a beautiful but very easy map. When I get through a map with a Mastermind, a Cyb, a bunch of Mancs and Arachnotrons, and a full platoon of Revvies on the first try without dying or being in any great danger, then I have to assume the map is either easy by design or maybe you need to ratchet up your killer instinct.

That's not to say it wasn't fun, since blasting away big monsters with relative ease is enjoyable in itself, especially when the scenery is so spectacular.

You have a wonderfully clean and techy-looking techbase here. All the detailing is just right, including some of your interesting ceiling detail. Everything was the right combo of visually interesting and tastefully done. BIG thumbs up!

In terms of nitpicks, you put an unavoidable Medikit in front of a switch vital to continued preogression. Try to avoid that, because if a player encounters that Medikit while at 98% health, they're forced to waste 23%, which might be vital at some point of the game. Also, in the Archie/Manc crate room, you have Techno Floor Lamps giving light, with an overhead ceiling texture composed of lights, so it looks a bit weird. ;) Also, the real exit didn't open up for me -- I played on GZDoom 2.1.1 -- so maybe I missed a switch somewhere?

In terms of encounter design, the main thing I noticed was an absence of flanking the player and especially of attacks coming simultaneously from front and rear. As a result, the pressure was low, so that made Revvies the premier challenge since they're not always easy to dodge, especially for me, since I play keyboard only. Mancs are also dangerous thanks to their spray-fire and I tanked some damage from them while trying to grab the Rocket Launcher.

Now, if your plan was to make a big, easy map with low-pressure encounters, you succeeded. If you wanted to challenge the player, consider adding teleport traps or monster-closets that open on multiple sides of the player. Use some Revvie snipers in place of a few Imps as Benjogami suggested, but avoid going wild with heavy snipers unless enough people specifically ask for more, because heavy snipers add to clean-up time.

Like Benjogami, I plasmaed the Mastermind from long distance, and did one circle around the mob at the end, which was enough to get them all infighting. I never took a hit! ;D I let the Cyb kill every single monster and then took him out with only 3 rockets. That space is huge, and gives a player all of Kansas to dodge in, so unless you used waves of teleporting monsters appearing from all points of the compass, it's really tough to make a hard fight in a space like that. Not impossible, just tough.

I finished with 100% Kills and 66% secrets -- I missed the Soulsphere.

Keep mapping!

Edit:BTW, great BGM.