2 Level Maps

[Evan Stelf]

Im curious on what everyone thinks about levels that have ladders that go up and down them. In my opinion two level maps create long delays of both sides just sitting by the ladders and waiting for one another to go or down. The almayer seems to have this a lot since most rounds aliens attack the almayer on one level. Does everyone think two level maps are good, bad, or in between? Talk about it below if you want. Thanks

[Rhicora]

Two level maps are great. They create an extra dimension on which to travel, which makes things more interesting. If one route is clearly blocked, it's often possible to find an alternative on a 2-level map.

[Evan Stelf]

Two level maps are great. They create an extra dimension on which to travel, which makes things more interesting. If one route is clearly blocked, it's often possible to find an alternative on a 2-level map.

I can agree with that, it does make it interesting to attack in different angles, my main concern is with Ice Colony. Aliens can just sit below the map and evolve while marines are too scared to go down, knowing they would get utterly decimated when doing so

[Challenger]

I think their concept is amazing and their implementation is good, not great.

If we had something of an instant level-transition like stairs, or maybe ladders were surrounded with see-through grilles/mirrors both sides, or there was just less "campability" to them, then that would take them to greatness. Despite that it's still pretty good to be faced with this figurative bridge to cross, it provides a different sort of situation from regular skirmishing where both sides just run in and do some damage and run back out.

[Recounted]

Its pretty good for me. Seeing the aftermaths on both levels shows the hotspots on both levels

[PreacherCini]

Honestly, two level maps add many flanking routes, but it is pretty hard to make on a 2d spessman game. The devs did a pretty good job with ice colony and how xenos could flank around the marine's defenses if done right.

[misto]

its ok. ice colony can get a little confusing (and like bigred, there are portions of the level that seem to go unused and ignored round after round due to the big mapsize) but its done fairly well on the almayer

[Wubs4Scrubs]

Love them, it really adds a lot of strategic decision making because at least in the case of the Ice Colony you have to organize which areas to assault and when. They could be done better, ladder combat is a little wonky however I don't know what could be done to improve it. If the devs could actually implement something like a working staircase that would be really neat however I have no clue whether it's possible or not.

[Slywater]

I think their concept is amazing and their implementation is good, not great.

Z-levels (or height maps) are never going to be perfect in a top-down 2D game. They are a pain in the ass on maps like Ice Colony, but add a lot more content. Instant-transition ladders or stairs could cause problems (eg. a xeno popping down the stairs and quickly running back up), so I think the fact you can look down the ladders and it takes time to transition was a good call.

[JennerH]

The issue is that these maps aren't true 2 level maps like other servers. Instead of 2 actual z-levels the ladders just teleport you to another portion of that level.

CM has 3 actual levels:

The planet, the almayer, and an admin level for testing. It's really quite clever how they've done it, and it's why we can have 200 people and still have large, stable maps