I also wouldnt mind it being a single room however I would like it to have natural barriers like stacks of boxes or cargo containers to give it a cargo hold feel.
Seeing this, I really appreciate how much of the original is still visible in ns2_origin. It also helps me understand why there was that double center in the first place.
Here's an old screenshot of ns_origin I found... anyone know how legit this is?
Not sure, wich version it it ? NS2.0 ? I believe Powercore ressource node was in Xenomorph later ? Or the contrary ?
Biodome was a good hive : a node very close + ventilation wich was very far from marines
Ventilation was a bit isolated we better drop biodome & Ore extraction (but ventilation is the central hive wich strategically is a good stuff)
Furnace you would drop Ventilation + Ore
Tipically for marines blocking biodome (or even rushing biodome) was a good plan. Having double ress with phase gate would pressure ventilation. Furnace not very interesting since theyre was only Ore extraction at the time...
Totally agree with Handschuh, more corridor in the middle. Marines walk too slowly.
pSyk0mAnNerdish by NatureGermanyJoin Date: 2003-08-07Member: 19166Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Community Developer
Update:
-Improved the ambient sounds through the entire map (also adjusting to more detailed occlusion geo, which muffled some sounds)
-Updated minimap on loading screen
-More collision geo to smooth movement at some spots
-Detailing here and there..mostly to get rid of some more flat faces or to better direct players where to go
-Opened up the rock side of Lava Catwalk a bit to direct Aliens coming from Furnace to this cover/evasion spot or alternate route below the bridge.
It feels like Furnace is the worst start hive for players who don't know the map, so these kinda changes help new players where to go and not get slaughtered in Lava Catwalk for instance.
I'm glad the map is getting more popular and played more often. Thanks to everyone playing and supporting it!
pSyk0mAnNerdish by NatureGermanyJoin Date: 2003-08-07Member: 19166Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Community Developer
Update:
-Subtle visual changes to the whole Furnace/Ore/Lava side of the map to hopefully make it less visually overwhelming and easier to navigate.
-Flipped ~100 props, because of mirrored letters/numbers or wrong orientation.
Usually I wouldn't even make a post and mention this, but I have to credit IeptBarakat here for making 100 screenshots
He is always providing suggestions and bug reports in private messages, without making a big deal about it and his Squad5 is certainly well deserved.
moultanoCreator of ns_shiva.Join Date: 2002-12-14Member: 10806Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Gold, NS2 Community Developer, Pistachionauts
Just played some fantastic matches on this tonight. Every inch of the map looks and plays just perfectly. Unlike my previous encounters with it, I never got lost at any point, which really speaks to how well the lighting and texturing has developed it to feel like a real place.
pSyk0mAnNerdish by NatureGermanyJoin Date: 2003-08-07Member: 19166Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Community Developer
Some of the changes of the recent updates:
-Moved Scanning resnode into Smelting
-Moved Smelting powernode on the opposite side of the room (out of Infestation range of Furnace Hive)
These two changes make it harder to defend nearby Extractors, when Marines have a PG in Ore.
Also reduces the scenario, where Marines pressure Furnace through Smelting and lose power or PG in Scanning.
-Moved Power Core powernode so Marines can see it from the position of the resnode.
This also reduces the scenario, where Marines lose power in Power Core too easily due to backstabbing, biling Gorges in Skylights.
-Destroyed some railings or lowered them to improve fighting around the catwalk/stairs area in Monitoring - Cargo connection.
-Improved low-lights performance
-Changed some textures, props and lights to hopefully improve routing
pSyk0mAnNerdish by NatureGermanyJoin Date: 2003-08-07Member: 19166Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Community Developer
Updates:
-Added a broken catwalk ramp on the right side between Ore and Generator to improve the flow and fighting in that area.
Makes it a bit easier to attack Ore PG , powernode and structures, because of the ramp shortcut.
-Visual changes to Ventilation so it's easier to recognize, which side you are looking at and where to go (symmetry issues similar to Sub-Sector in Veil).
-Moved all location names onto the minimap and into better positions.
-Minor changes to crates in Cargo and Shipping to improve fights in certain scenarios.
Dude, this map is awesome.
It's a close perfect balance between the old layout and new game mechanics.
This should be the new default map instead of veil... ;]
moultanoCreator of ns_shiva.Join Date: 2002-12-14Member: 10806Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Gold, NS2 Community Developer, Pistachionauts
This map is starting to win map votes and lead to great games. Had a wonderful one on it last night.
I feel like the maintenance -> biodome vent is very powerful right now, but perhaps it's just that marines don't know yet how to counter it? We used it to just continuously put pressure on biodome from ventilation until we got the PG down, and it was all downhill from there. It seems like if marines expect to hold biodome, they should have someone continuously pressuring ventilation via maintenance, because it's relatively easy to hold that with the long sight-lines down the curved hallway.
This would be a larger change, but I'm wondering if a vent from ventilation to water treatment would work better. It requires a lot more than typical map awareness to know that to effectively hold one room, you need to cut off aliens at another.
pSyk0mAnNerdish by NatureGermanyJoin Date: 2003-08-07Member: 19166Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Community Developer
edited September 2018
I've seen these games too, where Marines don't know how to handle that vent. It's definitely contributing to the fact that this map is hard to learn and confusing at first.
Unfortunately Aliens starting in Biodome really need that vent.
It seems harder to hold Biodome side compared to Furnace for Marines, because there are more ways for Aliens to get past.
What works for Marines to win, if they hold Biodome side:
-Put an aggressive phasegate into Water Treatment for constant pressure on Maint. You need an Obs to cover the Biodome vent tho and Marines who can watch minimap and defend your backyard res nodes.
This is also closer to a 2nd PG in Cargo so it'S easier to recover one of the two PG positions, when they are lost.
-Put a defensive PG in the exit of Biodome towards Power Core or even on the other side (that's still Biodome location). This gives you easy defense of Power Core RT and the Biodome power node is still in view and frequently passed by Marines going to Water Treatment. It takes a long time for Aliens to reach that PG.
The 2nd PG should be in Cargo, or Shipping to cover the other lanes towards Skylights and to arc Cargo PVE.
As far as changing vents goes, I'm thinking for a while now to remove the vent from Biodome going below Power Core to Skylights, because it's rather useless for Aliens defending Biodome side (too long travel time, just use the tiny corridor from Water to Xeno) and more annoying for Marines holding Biodome side (another route for Aliens to hide or outrotate defending Marines). ...but it's so awesome below that glass floor
As far as changing vents goes, I'm thinking for a while now to remove the vent from Biodome going below Power Core to Skylights, because it's rather useless for Aliens defending Biodome side (too long travel time, just use the tiny corridor from Water to Xeno) and more annoying for Marines holding Biodome side (another route for Aliens to hide or outrotate defending Marines). ...but it's so awesome below that glass floor
I enjoyed using that vent a lot. I harassed RTs with it, but I don't think it changed the game. Maybe the solution here is really for the Marines to learn the map. It seems like the relationship between biodome and water treatment is somewhat like the relationship between system waypointing and sub sector. And maybe you're just always better off taking water treatment.
pSyk0mAnNerdish by NatureGermanyJoin Date: 2003-08-07Member: 19166Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Community Developer
Update:
-Opened up the area between Skylights and Xenoform Research (one less generic doorframe prop and a bit more marine friendly)
-Moved Powernode in Water Treatment so it's easier to defend against Aliens coming/biling from Maintenance entrance.
-Improved pathing and building placement in Biodome, especially around the edges of the room
-Added Reverb sound entities in the entire map, although I don't care for them ( You are welcome, Sweets )
pSyk0mAnNerdish by NatureGermanyJoin Date: 2003-08-07Member: 19166Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Community Developer
Update:
-Removed the vent between Ore and Scanning (wasn't really contributing anything anymore except confusion for newer players, after the hallway between those two locations was added)
-Made Scanning slightly more Marine friendly by moving one bucket away from the center of the room
-Removed pathing below the hanging buckets
-Widened the entrance into Ventilation coming from Maintenance (helps Marines to pressure Vent Hive from Maintenance, which is rather difficult).
-Added floating, animated alien cinematics for the tubes in Xenoform Research
-Removed more lights and specular lights from low_lights
pSyk0mAnNerdish by NatureGermanyJoin Date: 2003-08-07Member: 19166Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Community Developer
edited October 2018
Update:
-Made custom location labels and added more location signs throughout the entire map
-Added halloween ready room stuff (not activated yet)
-Another little, visual story outside of Marine Start window (similar to Xenoform Research)
-Visual improvements to the secret room, because some things just triggered me
Edit:
-Created more space in Maintenance
-Made the broken wall hole wider leading from Access into Laser Drilling
pSyk0mAnNerdish by NatureGermanyJoin Date: 2003-08-07Member: 19166Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Community Developer
edited November 2018
Some of the recent changes:
-Made the techy pillar in the middle of Maintenance slightly smaller to improve that room for Marines
-Removed the Biodome-Skylights vent (sorry, I loved it too, but had to go)
-Improved the look of the lava and added lava decals for the edges
-Added a bit more green to the lighting in Monitoring so it looks more different compared to adjacent locations.
-Shrunk a few obstacles here and there
-Fixed an occlusion bug in Generator (thanks Foxy)
pSyk0mAnNerdish by NatureGermanyJoin Date: 2003-08-07Member: 19166Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Community Developer
Recent changes:
-Opened up Water Treatment a bit by switching the floor-to-ceiling silo with some kind of water basin/pool control thingy.
-Slight changes to floors and lighting colors in Water Treatment.
-Added a bit more colors to the lighting in Smelting/Furnace and added these yellow rings around the pipes in Smelting to spice up the red/orange and give better orientation points for players.
pSyk0mAnNerdish by NatureGermanyJoin Date: 2003-08-07Member: 19166Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Community Developer
Update:
-Moved the Ore Extraction res node more to the north. Bit easier to defend for Vent Hive, bit longer travel times for Marines from Cargo.
-Simplified the vent system around Ventilation Hive. Stronger vent exit into Generator to help against Gen PG/ARCs. Marines can't enter from Gen side anymore.
Comments
I also wouldnt mind it being a single room however I would like it to have natural barriers like stacks of boxes or cargo containers to give it a cargo hold feel.
I still wonder how the Mapfeeling would be if you would implement the centerrooms like my suggestion... maybe the Pink Road a bit Bigger...
Not sure, wich version it it ? NS2.0 ? I believe Powercore ressource node was in Xenomorph later ? Or the contrary ?
Biodome was a good hive : a node very close + ventilation wich was very far from marines
Ventilation was a bit isolated we better drop biodome & Ore extraction (but ventilation is the central hive wich strategically is a good stuff)
Furnace you would drop Ventilation + Ore
Tipically for marines blocking biodome (or even rushing biodome) was a good plan. Having double ress with phase gate would pressure ventilation. Furnace not very interesting since theyre was only Ore extraction at the time...
Totally agree with Handschuh, more corridor in the middle. Marines walk too slowly.
-Tweaked a few lights (hopefully less bright Biodome with shadows off)
-Added low quality lights to the map
-Improved the ambient sounds through the entire map (also adjusting to more detailed occlusion geo, which muffled some sounds)
-Updated minimap on loading screen
-More collision geo to smooth movement at some spots
-Detailing here and there..mostly to get rid of some more flat faces or to better direct players where to go
-Opened up the rock side of Lava Catwalk a bit to direct Aliens coming from Furnace to this cover/evasion spot or alternate route below the bridge.
I'm glad the map is getting more popular and played more often. Thanks to everyone playing and supporting it!
-Subtle visual changes to the whole Furnace/Ore/Lava side of the map to hopefully make it less visually overwhelming and easier to navigate.
-Flipped ~100 props, because of mirrored letters/numbers or wrong orientation.
Usually I wouldn't even make a post and mention this, but I have to credit IeptBarakat here for making 100 screenshots
He is always providing suggestions and bug reports in private messages, without making a big deal about it and his Squad5 is certainly well deserved.
-Moved Scanning resnode into Smelting
-Moved Smelting powernode on the opposite side of the room (out of Infestation range of Furnace Hive)
These two changes make it harder to defend nearby Extractors, when Marines have a PG in Ore.
Also reduces the scenario, where Marines pressure Furnace through Smelting and lose power or PG in Scanning.
-Moved Power Core powernode so Marines can see it from the position of the resnode.
This also reduces the scenario, where Marines lose power in Power Core too easily due to backstabbing, biling Gorges in Skylights.
-Destroyed some railings or lowered them to improve fighting around the catwalk/stairs area in Monitoring - Cargo connection.
-Improved low-lights performance
-Changed some textures, props and lights to hopefully improve routing
-Added a broken catwalk ramp on the right side between Ore and Generator to improve the flow and fighting in that area.
Makes it a bit easier to attack Ore PG , powernode and structures, because of the ramp shortcut.
-Moved all location names onto the minimap and into better positions.
-Minor changes to crates in Cargo and Shipping to improve fights in certain scenarios.
It's a close perfect balance between the old layout and new game mechanics.
This should be the new default map instead of veil... ;]
I feel like the maintenance -> biodome vent is very powerful right now, but perhaps it's just that marines don't know yet how to counter it? We used it to just continuously put pressure on biodome from ventilation until we got the PG down, and it was all downhill from there. It seems like if marines expect to hold biodome, they should have someone continuously pressuring ventilation via maintenance, because it's relatively easy to hold that with the long sight-lines down the curved hallway.
This would be a larger change, but I'm wondering if a vent from ventilation to water treatment would work better. It requires a lot more than typical map awareness to know that to effectively hold one room, you need to cut off aliens at another.
Unfortunately Aliens starting in Biodome really need that vent.
It seems harder to hold Biodome side compared to Furnace for Marines, because there are more ways for Aliens to get past.
What works for Marines to win, if they hold Biodome side:
-Put an aggressive phasegate into Water Treatment for constant pressure on Maint. You need an Obs to cover the Biodome vent tho and Marines who can watch minimap and defend your backyard res nodes.
This is also closer to a 2nd PG in Cargo so it'S easier to recover one of the two PG positions, when they are lost.
-Put a defensive PG in the exit of Biodome towards Power Core or even on the other side (that's still Biodome location). This gives you easy defense of Power Core RT and the Biodome power node is still in view and frequently passed by Marines going to Water Treatment. It takes a long time for Aliens to reach that PG.
The 2nd PG should be in Cargo, or Shipping to cover the other lanes towards Skylights and to arc Cargo PVE.
As far as changing vents goes, I'm thinking for a while now to remove the vent from Biodome going below Power Core to Skylights, because it's rather useless for Aliens defending Biodome side (too long travel time, just use the tiny corridor from Water to Xeno) and more annoying for Marines holding Biodome side (another route for Aliens to hide or outrotate defending Marines). ...but it's so awesome below that glass floor
I enjoyed using that vent a lot. I harassed RTs with it, but I don't think it changed the game. Maybe the solution here is really for the Marines to learn the map.
-Opened up the area between Skylights and Xenoform Research (one less generic doorframe prop and a bit more marine friendly)
-Improved pathing and building placement in Biodome, especially around the edges of the room
-Added Reverb sound entities in the entire map, although I don't care for them
This is a great change. That area was incredibly claustrophobic previously. This'll make it much better for marines.
Now replace those aliens in the glass with some holograms that you can move through to open up the room a bit more!
-Removed the vent between Ore and Scanning (wasn't really contributing anything anymore except confusion for newer players, after the hallway between those two locations was added)
-Made Scanning slightly more Marine friendly by moving one bucket away from the center of the room
-Removed pathing below the hanging buckets
-Widened the entrance into Ventilation coming from Maintenance (helps Marines to pressure Vent Hive from Maintenance, which is rather difficult).
-Added floating, animated alien cinematics for the tubes in Xenoform Research
-Removed more lights and specular lights from low_lights
-Made custom location labels and added more location signs throughout the entire map
-Added halloween ready room stuff (not activated yet)
-Another little, visual story outside of Marine Start window (similar to Xenoform Research)
-Visual improvements to the secret room, because some things just triggered me
Edit:
-Created more space in Maintenance
-Made the broken wall hole wider leading from Access into Laser Drilling
-Made the techy pillar in the middle of Maintenance slightly smaller to improve that room for Marines
-Removed the Biodome-Skylights vent (sorry, I loved it too, but had to go)
-Improved the look of the lava and added lava decals for the edges
-Added a bit more green to the lighting in Monitoring so it looks more different compared to adjacent locations.
-Shrunk a few obstacles here and there
-Fixed an occlusion bug in Generator (thanks Foxy)
-Opened up Water Treatment a bit by switching the floor-to-ceiling silo with some kind of water basin/pool control thingy.
-Slight changes to floors and lighting colors in Water Treatment.
-Added a bit more colors to the lighting in Smelting/Furnace and added these yellow rings around the pipes in Smelting to spice up the red/orange and give better orientation points for players.
-Moved the Ore Extraction res node more to the north. Bit easier to defend for Vent Hive, bit longer travel times for Marines from Cargo.
-Simplified the vent system around Ventilation Hive. Stronger vent exit into Generator to help against Gen PG/ARCs. Marines can't enter from Gen side anymore.