ECL Map Design Contest

[teutonic_tanks]

i have several questions:
1. how do you upload a picture to aoczone? Do i need to change every picture from .bmp format into .jpg?
2. is it really necessary to create a fullscreen pick of every map in 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4, wouldnt just 4v4 enough? Because i kinda need more time to create picture and post the map than to create the map itself LUL
3. if not, then would 1v1 and 4v4 be enough? Or is it better to post the right settings of the tournament (eg west europe is only 1v1 and 3v3, so it' enough to post 1v1 and 3v3 pictures)
4. Ty for your fast answer, robo

 

[Cicero]

I had to convert from bmp to jpg. And yes it took a fair while to get everything together for mine XD. Got a couple of maps more but I'm not sure they are worth the effort.

 

[teutonic_tanks]

My first entry (there will at least follow another 6, but posting this stuff is a lot of work, i probly will need some more time for it 11)
(entry for america)

ZR@Andean_Mountains

Spoiler: map for 1v1

Spoiler: map for 2v2

Spoiler: map for 3v3

Yes, you see correctly this is really fancy ****. I tried to give viewers and player the perfect southamerica feeling with this map, by using a mixture of jungle terrains, huge mountains and fancy expansion animals.

There is a big mountain chain (representing the ands) separating enemy teams. Usually there are 2 big passages connecting both team (in 1v1 there is only one passage), on the passages you can find some loose extra lamas and on the snowed crown of the passage some relics (up to 10, depending on the mapsize, in 1v1 there are most of the time only 3-4!).

At home every player got nearly standart resources, except one little thing: you miss the berries, in order to make the run for the erxta lamas at the start more interesting.

Now ppl might say this map gonna be a BF map, players will just wall and boom. Well first of all the passage is pretty big to wall with new nerfed walls, also the relics and the fact that you will always fight uphill (if you have mapcontrol in the middle) make a defensive boomstyle very difficult, in 1v1s and TGs.

But the best thing about this map: maybe you know from maps like WiC_Homeland or Michi that they tend to favor one time by giving them 3 corners to trade, which ist auto gg in late imp. To stop that i used direct_placement instead of random_placement. Player spots still include a little randomness, but they are fixed in general. You will always have 2 corners. Always. The mountain chain is always spawning from southwest to northeast or southeast to northwest (this is comparable to eg scandi water spawn).
The possiblities of UP 1.5 making this possible are just awesome.

Well if this map can't convince you, then nothing can convince you :D

Just tell if there is anything missing

EDIT: i updated the map/pics. Just some minor stuff like a few mountains less to make the middle wood in between the mountains easier to chop. Please redownload the map and del the old one! thx

 

[nimanoe]

@teutonic_tanks the pic for 3v3 is in fact a pic for a 4v4

 

[teutonic_tanks]

fixed

 

[Cicero]

To stop that i used direct_placement instead of random_placement.

I spent hours searching/experimenting to find a way to do that when making my Anatolia! Thanks - I'll be updating that map, and will probably try to use that in some other maps also

EDIT: Anatolia now updated

 

[teutonic_tanks]

I spend hours searching/experimenting to find a way to do that when making my Anatolia! Thanks - I'll be updating that map, and will probably try to use that in some other maps also

DansGame borrowing ma positions engine
Na it's fine, just take care that if you use the landposition command the first one is the Y coordinate and the second one is the X coordinate (to the genius from ES studios who programmed that I HATE YOU, wasted hours because of this). Using this is a **** ton of work, you kinda need new spots for smaller maps and to ajust pretty much every single possible position.

EDIT: But srsly guys dont start to borrow my engine to create 658384 maps, i still got some other maps that work on the same engine and they might be less special then

 

[EscapeAoE]

It's really wonderful to see the new UP features being utilised here to come up with creative and exciting new maps. Thanks for all the effort guys, it's great to see and we look forward to seeing more!

 

[mangojuice]

first one is the Y coordinate and the second one is the X coordinate (to the genius from ES studios who programmed that I HATE YOU, wasted hours because of this).

y,x is very common in math/programming (e.g. matrix indices) . The map is most likely stored row-by-row, so naturally the first index is the column-index, the second the row-index.
Though typically this is not exposed to the user.

 

[Cicero]

Thanks for the info

But srsly guys dont start to borrow my engine to create 658384 maps, i still got some other maps that work on the same engine and they might be less special then

Well for Anotolia I just want to position teams so they both can equally compete for both sides - rather than both teams just having safe water in the back. I always thought Scandinavia should be like that.
This creates so many possibilities though. Imagine even just Arabia but with the pockets forward level with the flanks. Or the flanks further back with the pockets. The games could be very different.
There are probably 658384 new possibilities opened up with this feature so I doubt you need to worry - my ideas are probably different to yours.

It's really wonderful to see the new UP features being utilised here to come up with creative and exciting new maps. Thanks for all the effort guys, it's great to see and we look forward to seeing more!

Thanks for this contest - I designed my first map (Valley of the Kings) within 12 hours of the announcement after having never even looked at an RM Script before. The possibility of having my map played by these teams in these events was too good.
(For anyone out there with ideas for maps but doesn't know how to write them, RM Scripting can be learnt pretty quickly.)

 

[teutonic_tanks]

Here is my next entry, this time for West Europe:

Mercenary_Camp

Spoiler: map for 1v1

Spoiler: map for 2v2

Spoiler: map for 3v3

This map is trying to represent Italy/West Europe during the 15th and 16th century where countries switched to mercenaries as main army instead of kts.

What's so special about this map?
Players start in a fortress, the walls are made of fortified palaisades (pretty much some sort of expansion palisades, that have 500 HP and look fancy af).
You start with a feitoria and 4 houses (the houses are tends and compensate the 20 pop the feitoria takes). Since a feitoria equals circa to 2 vills on food, 2 vills on wood, 1 on gold and 0,5 stone, this start is comparable to a regicide fortress start. The eco management gonna be more difficult than on standart maps, since you can't deicde what resources the feitoria is producing.

To make it even more interesting there is a ring of water surrounding the mainland, the possiblity of fishing fair distributed fish should make the start even faster and increase the possiblities for crazy new BOs even more. Especially in TG format, we might see some players fighting full on water and protecting the fish, while others focus full on mainland. All together fish + feitora can make uptimes around 3-4 mins faster!

Additional things about the resources on the map: standart resources in general, you only miss the deers and one 4-tile gold spots (to compensate the gold from the feitoria), oh and i changed the sheep into cows. to make the map as balanced as possible i put 2 small forests with around 25 trees each inside every arena.
Extra resouces: 6 relics between the players and in each corner there is a very small island with extra gold (with some lions and baobab trees on them for some african/colonial feeling), maybe some team will even build docks there and use tradecogs's superior efficency (+30% vs tradecarts) to win.

Alltogether a funny mix of arena, RF and watermaps.

 

[Juvenal]

on the 3v3 and 4v4 map one fortress is open to the water, the other not. isn't that a disadvantage in case of landings?

 

[robo]

i have several questions:
1. how do you upload a picture to aoczone? Do i need to change every picture from .bmp format into .jpg?
2. is it really necessary to create a fullscreen pick of every map in 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4, wouldnt just 4v4 enough? Because i kinda need more time to create picture and post the map than to create the map itself LUL
3. if not, then would 1v1 and 4v4 be enough? Or is it better to post the right settings of the tournament (eg west europe is only 1v1 and 3v3, so it' enough to post 1v1 and 3v3 pictures)
4. Ty for your fast answer, robo

Sorry for the delay, too many other things happening

1. You can upload the images to imgur or similar image hosting sites and linking to the image with img /img tags if that is easier.
2 & 3. Doing just the relevant sizes for the settings is ok for the post if providing all 4 is too much of an inconvenience but the map will still be judged on all 4 formats, as it may have a place in the LAN final or future tournaments.
4. Sorry again

 

[teutonic_tanks]

on the 3v3 and 4v4 map one fortress is open to the water, the other not. isn't that a disadvantage in case of landings?

Emm i cant see how transporting vills around the whole map should be effective or working. Once the enemy has fires out its pretty much impossible to oand anything. To answer you, this isnt a disadvantage by any means.

Np robo i found a way to make the pics faster. Should be fine now

 

[Juvenal]

it is not just villagers but also raids. of course water control will make most landings impossible, but it is still something that might happen and especially in 1v1 could result in a fairness discussion. i like the map though. would it be possible to fix the spawn point far enough away from water?

 

[teutonic_tanks]

No its not possible, the arenas might spawn into each other. Why would you even waste resources into a transport ship, if the walls are easy to break, a fortified palisade wall has just 500 Hp and is pretty ez to kill. The map is fair enough right now.

 

[Chrazini]

Is there a reason why Europe East isn't part of this contest?

 

[dodageka]

Is there a reason why Europe East isn't part of this contest?

Afaik cause it is the first stage and the organizers wanted to allow more time for creating a selecting the maps

 

[chrummi]

i guess because the second (and last) event of that stage has already started when the deadline to submit the maps ends.

 

[Chrazini]

i guess because the second (and last) event of that stage has already started when the deadline to submit the maps ends.

But in theory they could just change the deadline. Making it one week earlier.
Anyway, I just wondered.

 

[chrummi]

I dont know how long it will take them to choose the map, and i guess they will also want to give the players some time to practise the new map, so i guess the contest would need to end way more than a week earlier.

 

[teutonic_tanks]

I dont know how long it will take them to choose the map, and i guess they will also want to give the players some time to practise the new map, so i guess the contest would need to end way more than a week earlier.

the time frame is a bit long agree, if you're completly new to rms-scripting to make a map you need 1-2 weeks, if you make it very, very, very relaxed.

 

[Henkdesupernerd]

Oppidum
West European style (1v1, 3v3)

Context:
This idea is based on the earliest fortifications found in the Western-European area, which were built by Celtic people in the 2nd and 1st century BC. The oppida were spread across Europe; from Britain and Iberia in the west, to the Hungarian plains in the east. The oppida remained in use until the Romans began conquering Iron Age Europe. In conquered lands, the Romans used the infrastructure of the oppida to administer the empire, and many became full Roman towns. The oppida developed to become the first settlements north of the Alps which could genuily be described as towns.

In the game this basic defesive structure will provide protection in dark age, allowing the towns to grow to real cities. However trough the ages, the small areas will fail to support a growing population, forcing players to expand and build their own defenses. The moats can still be used as natural defenses and can even support a small defending navy.

Map description:
The player base is surrounded by fortified palisade wall (500hp) and a moat of Shallow terrain. A connection between the players creates a path which makes it easy to locate the enemy base. The connection also creates a small harbor area inside the player's base where they can build a defending dock.

The walls and moat surround the players in a wide peremiter. Inside are enough resources to allow a safe boom. The walls will not fully surround the base. One gap will be left open, which players can wall to fully secure their maps. (beach terrain supports walls, gates, and docks)

Spoiler: dock defense

add in some demos or fireships to do big damage to groups of archers or siege.
(the palisade wall and gate were built in DarkAge to complete the wall. The dock was added when advancing to feudal and came in handy to protect my town while I executed a fast-castle)

A risky strategy that can be done on this map is to dockrush: While your enemy is booming, feeling safe with his walls, you can sneak a villager to build a dock on the enemy moat (which will be out of sight of the walls by 1 tile). Downside of this very strong agressive push is that it leaves your base vulnerable. You can't retreat your army to fight at your own base or to help an ally since moats will not be connected.

Spoiler: dock rush

also in lategame docking the enemy's moat will help to add pressure to your attack. Fighting for the water can be expected since it gives significant map control.

The neutral lands look very much like green arabia, with mediumsized woodlines, and a decent amount of hills ( I have varied hill levels, so you will see some of the hills only max 2 high, others max 4 high and others max 7 high, I like this slight change to hills compared to standard maps since it limits the amount of very high hills whilestill keeping the strategic elevation bonusses in the game)

Spoiler: Resources on the Map

Resources within walled area:
- 2 starting cows (150food) underneath TC
- 2 more groups of 2 cows within walls (total of 6 cows which adds to slightly more total amount of food than 8 sheep)
- 3 deer, can be inside or outside
- 2 boars, inside walls
- ~roughly 4 patches of wood, enough to last till imp.
- some straggler trees
- berries
- large gold (8tiles), small gold (5tiles)
- large stone (5tiles), small stone (4tiles)

Neutral resources:
- golds, stones, 5relics, wolves all similar to stadard maps like arabia. (will never spawn within walls)

Map Screenshots:

Spoiler: 1v1

notice the dying horses that can be visible in the first second of the game. The horses are spawned to get vision over the walls and to convert them. The horses have 0 hp and thus die instantly. Their corpses are updated into invisble objects.

Spoiler: 2v2

Spoiler: 3v3

Spoiler: 4v4

only on 4v4 I have seen rare instances of generations where two players' moats were connected. I might be able to edit the map more to prevent this, for example by making the bases slightly smaller.

 

[teutonic_tanks]

let's go ahead:

nC@Dry_River
(middle east)
This map is representing a dry river in the middle east, where all fish has been concentrated in the last little ponds

Spoiler: Map for 1v1

Spoiler: Map for 2v2

Spoiler: Map for 3v3

The base concept of this map is my map for last NationsCup SYNC_Valley/nC@Valley: there are many small lakes with lots of shorefish between the players, but unlike as in SYNC_Valley, the middle in nC@Dry_River is made as one big river and not shaped like a lake.

For perfect fairness i used direct_placement again, that means the player will always spawn in a line (more or less there is still a little variance of a few tiles!), that guarantees even and fair distances for the players to the juicy shorefish. The middle will always go either from Southwest to Northeast or Southeast to Northwest. (pretty much same rms-concept as in ZR@Andean_Mountains)

Some strategical aspects: Since everyone has the same distance to his enemy being pkt or flank doesn't matter on this map! You can play archers/scouts/kts in pretty much every position, although i expect scrushing as the dominant strategy. The huge amount of shorefish should make mapcontrol very interesting and essential to win the game, it also makes the game very fast paced, we gonna see faster uptimes and more army, which means more action earlier in the game.

Ressources: at home you got standart res, but you miss the berries! (this way you will be forced to mill the shorefish right away). Instead of deers you get ostriches spawning close to edge of the river. Beside shorefish there are also a few extra zebra patches in the middle and some tiny islands, where corcodiles are taking a nap.

EDIT: i reposted the map, because from time to time the straggler trees werent spawning, now it's fixed

 

[teutonic_tanks]

ZR@nC_Jungle
(Africa)
This map is representing some a jungle in the middle of the savannah.

Spoiler: Map for 1v1

Spoiler: Map for 2v2

Spoiler: Map for 3v3

The base concept is fairly simple: players start in a Savannah-like enviroment: baobab and acacia forest mixed with african terrains from the expansions and a few rock formations. In the middle we have a Jungle with magrove forests containing crocodiles and in the very middle there is a lake full of turtles and freshwater dolphins.

Strategies: the map is a bit like a mixture of Oasis/Hippos_Belly, outside the map is barely wallable (except you're CL), while you have bigger forests in the middle, that become handy later in the game. This should encourage an agressive playstyle. The lake in the middle contains enough deepfish that docking and contesting water for at least one player is a clearly must, but dont sent unloomed/unprotected vills in the middle otherwise crocodiles might eat you alive! On top of that all the middle is amphibious terrain, ships can move trough it and ships can be very, very useful to control the forests in late game. Docks can be played next to the small middle lake AND on the edge of savannah/jungle.

Resources: 1 elephant, 1 rhino, 5 ostriches + 5 zebras and to compensate that a little bit only 4 tiles of berries and only 6 goats. Gold and stone are standart.

A little extra: crocodiles/lions contain 70 food, if you kill them with a villager! The food is collected super fast, a bit more than twice as fast as boar/deer meat. But considering the idle time and the risk of losing a vill, it only has the value of luring an extra deer (at maximum, probly even less!). It's more like a little funny gimmick, you can ignore it comepltly or use it, its totally up to you. The idea is from aoe1, where all wild animals (lions/crocos) contain food.