WAR-MarketDistrictX

[Xyx]

Name:
Market District X

Version:
Beta 1

Compatibility:
Requires UT3 (duh).

Tested in Single Player. The bots do OKish. They could stand to be more aggressive capturing nodes and they often dump vehicles in the alleys, but they'll go everywhere and do everything.

Multiplayer is untested.

Description:
Epic's MarketDistrict with extra nodes and vehicles for more variety and mayhem.

Comments:
I made the following adjustments:

• Added a node near each base. Hellbender parked in the corner for Red, Nightshade for Blue, AVRiL in the locker.
• Added a node to the buildings in the corners. Scorpion parked outside for Red, Scavenger for Blue. These nodes link the cores.
• Center node is now standalone and provides a Manta and Viper.
• Added a Scorpion to the station node near the Red base and a Scavenger to the one near the Blue base.

My design goals were threefold:

1. Get rid of the choke setup. Accomplished by using double prime nodes and leaving the rest as standalone side objectives.
2. Make better use of Epic's excellent mapping real estate. Great map, shame to let the corners go to waste. Done by adding nodes to the otherwise pretty pointless corner buildings and plaza.
3. Add vehicles. I chose a mixture of Axon and Necris because cars seemed to fit the urban setting, the Necris stuff is plain cool and I wanted maximum variety. I could not add flying vehicles because of map limitations and the Goliath, SPMA, Darkwalker and Nemesis seemed a bit too much of a good thing.

These changes are obviously a matter of personal taste, but I really like the way it plays now. You have amazing variety in options and all parts of the map get used. Since most nodes are inside, there's still tons of work for people on foot.

I am a n00b mapper and not aspiring to learn how to map properly, but if I can improve on the following stuff in a simple manner, then please tell me all about it:

• Balance. Do the scorps and the 'bender hold up against the scavs and the 'shade?
• Any vehicles, weapons or pickups I should add or (re)move?
• Any way I can reduce the ridiculous file size?
• Any way I can improve bot behavior?

Screenshots:



Credits:
Epic for making the map.
Me for adapting the map. Which was like 0.01% of the overall effort.

Download:
MarketDistrictX.zip (MediaFire)
MarketDistrictX.zip (KeepMyFile)
(60 megs... yup)

Installation instructions provided in the Readme in the download.

[Jagnot]

Thanks, I was wondering earlier what MarketDistrict would be like with more nodes.

[Wail of Suicide]

Anyone have a mirror of this one? I'd really like to check it out, but it's on Mediafire, which I can't download from.

[Xyx]

MarketDistrictX.zip (KeepMyFile)

[D2F[Rob]]

Why get rid of the choke...that's what keeps it fast paced and intense. The side nodes are important tactically and the corners containt sniper/amp..also important.

[Xyx]

Try it and then tell me it's no longer fast and intense.

[rhiridflaidd]

Why get rid of the Choke.....

.......

......


No we won't even start that debate!

(I detest chokepoints)

I've crossposted this to the Titan fora to see if the admins will be interested.

p.s. since I know nothing about map editing, does UT3 force mappers to keep axon and Necris vehichles seperate or can you mix and match?

p.p.s. If mpas are 60 megs, Epic urgently needs to think of ways to push out community content, because waiting for a 60 MB DL between maps will mean that the game will be over before the map will be downloaded.

[D2F[Leo]]

60MB, hmm.... I have more than 700 files in my 2k4 map folder and most of them are actually maps, I guess. Multiply that by 50MB (to be optimistic) and I'll maybe have a 35GB map folder in two or three years. :/

@Topic: Nice idea, downloading atm.

[D2F[Rob]]

Looking at it with a fresh mind. The map is considerably less intense than the original, too many nodes for such a small map. Maybe in onslaught it may have performed ok because choke nodes always promoted camping (a la primeval :P) and so the dual node setups got you on your feet more, offence was the best defence.

With the orb the choke nodes now play very very well imo. Even if the center node is being swapped very regularly you still have that small window of time in which the core is vulnerable. Market district also has the incentive to capture the two side nodes to raise the core, meaning that when it is vulnerable you can blast it from the damage amp and various other places - possibly critical hits if the game is tight. With dual node setups and orbs the game becomes a bit messy - both cores vulnerable at the same time etc etc.

Sorry but i prefer the original.

@rhir: yeah choke points are awful, in onslaught. The orb totally changes the meaning of choke points though. Instead of the camping stalement that 2k4 was, you now have an intense challenge for an important node.

[Wail of Suicide]

MarketDistrictX.zip (KeepMyFile)

Thanks, downloading now.

p.p.s. If mpas are 60 megs, Epic urgently needs to think of ways to push out community content, because waiting for a 60 MB DL between maps will mean that the game will be over before the map will be downloaded.

I've been saying for awhile now that I want an integrated torrent client or something inside of the game itself. Something that would allow you to download custom content (maps, skins, whatever) that you specify, or according to predefined rules, in the background (either as you play, or as long as the exe is open, or from an external utility - e.g. uTorrent).
Ideally something like this would also have an option to detect files in your /Published/ folder, and would allow content creators to automatically start seeding finished projects without needing to go through the hoops of either buying hosting space, or finding good free file hosts.

[Xyx]

does UT3 force mappers to keep axon and Necris vehichles seperate or can you mix and match?

There seem to be no restrictions to their use. VehicleFactories can also be enabled for only one team... that would allow mappers to do things like give Red Axon vehicles and Blue Necris vehicles for capturing the same nodes. I haven't done that because I didn't want to restrict teams to an even smaller set of vehicles.

With dual node setups and orbs the game becomes a bit messy - both cores vulnerable at the same time etc etc.

That's how I like it. Takes some pressure off of the orb.

Working on Downtown now.

[D2F[Rob]]

Well, either way. I would move the side nodes somewhere slightly different. The current position severly promotes camping, then again that may be what you are after.

[Xyx]

Where would I move those nodes to? The buildings are the only place where you can't shoot the nodes from halfway across the map. I could move them outside onto the parking lot, but the map would lose a bit of "urban combat" flavor in the process.

Warfare promotes offense to the near-total exclusion of defense already, so actually having some good defense spots adds to the available options. But I think I can see what you mean... the nodes can only be approached from one direction. Would it help if I removed the fence by the UDamage or placed a jump pad up to the Sniper Rifle?

[†TYRANICK†™]

I will try this map when i get back, looks good, nice change from the current.

Does anyone reckon the core explosion sound are kinda...pathetic? It looks good but when it explodes it just seems to make a fizzly kind of sound...in the tech demo's I remember a massive BOOM.

Mutator hint there lol.

[MadCat221]

How do you alter the layout of the powernode pathing? I'm attempting to reconfigure Torlan to have Paladins (uprated in all the right places from UT04, but curiously underused) and a more traditional UT04 node path (with the tank nodes linking to each other, and the prime nodes linked to the center). Despite my noobness, I already figured out vehicle factories, but cannot find how to reconfigure node layout.

[Xyx]

View -> World Properties, then expand WorldInfo -> MyMapInfo -> UTOnslaughtMapInfo -> LinkSetups. It's all there. Copy/paste around some values in the NodeLinks to link up new nodes or add nodes to StandaloneNodes. Link nodes to the proper core in NodeStartingOwners if you want pre-built nodes.

[Wail of Suicide]

Checked this out the other day -- I'm not really sure if I can offer any gameplay suggestions because I only played it against bots. I felt like it was too chaotic, though, two paths and the orb meaning wild changes in the state of the game. It might be a playercount issue -- I can see the orb working better on this map the more people there are. It is fairly easy to take down the nodes with only 12 people on the whole map, but if you bump that up to 24-32p, it'd be much harder. In those situations the orb would at least give you that small window of vulnerability on the core.

Anyway, I do think you have a good idea doing this with the maps. All of these interesting areas go completely unused in the stock version of the map.

[MadCat221]

Thanks a bundle, Xyx! Figured it out real fast, once I actually found it.