Tournament Map Feedback Thread

[ryguy266]

Lincoln Seasonal V Maps:

By a Thread by @superfrog :
My game on this map was drawn entirely to one side. I opened full Q10 to attempt a MBS assassination (which worked) and once the grok riders made a desperate engagement attempt I sent in vipers and we crashed our units into each other until I came out on top. The outside double hex level 3 perch was perfect for Q10, and he tanked a ton of unbuffed grok attacks from that position. It's possible that it's just how a mostly-melee game turns out, but it's easy to see how a Raelin/screen setup could support a double-space range domination (dragons or majors). It's difficult to explain in text but I think either a slight adjustment to the road or to that outer level two may keep that in check.

Stigmata by @Typhon2222 :
I'll come clean. I'm not a fan of Dance of the Dryads. If you're reading this and you don't want to be friends with me anymore, I'd understand. And unfortunately, I'm not sure Stigmata greatly improves on what in my mind is Dance of the Dryads biggest flaw, which is that it's really easy for range to slide to the left and dominate melee. I only had one ranged piece, but Q10's 8 range dictated my opponent's early placement (who, granted, was also dealing with the threat of 9 move venocs). Q10 hopped up from the start zone behind an armoc/Venoc Warlord screen and started launching attacks at grok riders. My opponent took the time to develop a squad of micros to their hill, but having committed to groks early lost all of them for very little compensation. By the time the armocs and Mittens chewed through the groks, the micros didn't have enough of a head start to utilize their downhill attack. I didn't mean for this to turn into a battle report, but I wanted to give an idea of just how powerful having one strong ranged piece on this map can be. You can force your opponent into the bottleneck, and the road doesn't end up leading anywhere useful to assault the level two dungeon. Their best bet was probably a microcorp opening, to do the exact same strategy to me. In terms of mitigating this, possibly placing the single-hex tree by the start one 1 space further in might help mitigate sight lines? I admit Q10 already had a tough time seeing through that gap, but it was enough. Somehow shielding the road from LoS while also keeping that pathway open might help in the long run. It's certainly improved over DotD, but it's just not for me.

Trodden path by @Shurrig :
Second time playing on this map, first was at the last Midwest Melee. I had Valda on this map and it played FAST. I don't have a ton of useful feedback. The ruins provide useful cover and pathing options, and I think more careful glyph placement will lead to more tactical games. I'm also partial to single RotV maps as a TD and this is up there with Origin and Compact while providing a much different play experience.

Percolator by @Ulysses :
I had this map knowing full well that if I played on it, I wouldn't have any feedback. One of, if not my favorite map currently. I could play on this map 100 times and not get tired of it. Every game feels balanced for both range and melee and provides so many interesting options. There is a recording of the three games played on it (Games 1, 2, and 4) with Wannok and Dagmar that I streamed during the tournament including a game between Matthias and I in Game 4 that was quite interesting until I decided to let Ken win. The stream quality is not great and is something I'm hoping to improve on in the future, but the footage is there:

Spoiler Alert!

YouTube

[Shurrig]

Appreciate the feedback @ryguy266 !

[Shurrig]

A few map reviews from OST, OHS, and the OST special event tournaments.

OST S7

Viney Pines by Me: It's a very fast map. I was worried that range would be able to turtle behind the level 3 and the two trees or pod up on the 7-hex out the right of the SZ, but my melee was easily able to reach 10th and reinforce before they could do much of anything. Range actually struggled here in a few games I watched, and I'm not quite sure what to think of that. The middle is also still a bit bumpy, but overall I'm not convinced Viney Pines is in need of any major changes just yet.

Can't See the Jungle by Dignan: One of a kind. I wouldn't want to play CStJ in a bring 1 event, but being able to choose between 4 armies helped curb the issues SZs all over the place could incur.

The map is a Quasatch's daydream. There was definitely a point in my game where I could have just ran away from my opponent and won the game, but I'm a bad competitive player and don't like winning like that. 7 move is just so good here, I could definitely see a nasty endgame here against range but that wasn't the case here. Even though I lost and Q10 blanked on the first attack of 4 skulls I still enjoyed my game here. Is it the most balanced map? no, but it provides interesting gameplay and just looks pretty, even on OHS.

OHS S57

Snare by Flash_19: Pretty fine map overall. I felt the jungle was really well placed and helped me develop my slow army very safely. Some say Death Knights into Cathar Spearmen is a bad matchup, but man, did I really undervalue the center level 4s. I couldn't really force Cathar to engage me, but I still should have developed into the center and try to get high ground rather than try to hold the Holdir glyph.

I also liked the extra LoS the intact wall provided, as of yet this and Thermal Shock are the only competitive maps I've played on that do this. However, partly due to this, the map pulls right. Players really want to get to the center here, so going right and in is the easiest way to do that. Flaxen Shard has a somewhat similar layout, but the big difference here is the amount of level 3 your army has to develop behind the ruin; with Snare you only have level 2 to develop. That, and also the left side of the SZ is practically all swamp water, so it takes a full extra turn to get to any level 4 if you're a 5 mover going that way. An easy solution here would be to shift some the level 1 SZ to the left or take out the wall from the ruin, but by far and away it's not a bad map. I think answering one or two of these compounding issues could really improve gameplay here, though I still wouldn't complain playing here again.

OST Special Event #2

Preface: I only played on two maps in this event, a real shame. One of those maps was Honeycomb by Vydar_XLIII, which I've played on a ton and recently gave feedback on. I understand this was more of an issue due to the format and amount of players, but still disappointed in how little maps I played on during the event.

Relic by RainyDays: So, I've never played on Fossil, but from what other players said throughout the day Relic seemed like an overall improvement. The road was extremely useful for my teammates and opponents and I really enjoyed the level 3 height. Shadow was also placed well, especially the hexes next to level 3. My only concern during the tournament was how abusable range could be on the level 2, but the water out of the SZ made it slow getting there. Looking at the map afterwards, I don't love that the glyphs are both 6/8 for flying AND that they're unassailable by road. If the glyphs were moved in by 1 space, that would fix that. All said though, I really liked the map, very solid redux of a classic BoV staple.

[Foudzing]

OST7 maps:

Incursion: @Flash_19
Great remake I start to like it as much as the original, the original forces you to be more sure in your choices early on but this one is more dynamic.
Great map. 10/10

OHS57 maps:

Snare @Flash_19
Very cool Hexmap, the center is very strong and very effective to draw the attention, I don't think it's as range friendly as some people claim it is, it is balanced enough to me. Great map just very straight forward nothing crazy you don't have as important choices to do early on. 8/10

[Sir Heroscape]

Been meaning to give feedback for some time. Here are quick blurbs...since there's a lot and I don't have time for a deepdive.

PEORIA - DEC
Incursion by Flash_19
I hate the BoV version that this map is a "fix" for. So seeing an attempt to redo that map by Flash made me really happy...and it doesn't disappoint...this map is great! I really like it and feel that is solves a TON of the issues of the original, but still has that nostalgic feeling of the original. I've been very pleased with my games here.

Subduction by Ulysses
A really fun, funky map! I think it does a really good job of feeling symmetrical...but not being symmetrical. I've enjoyed a lot of my games on this map and feel it's pretty decent.

Receding Waters by Gamebear
Not the biggest fan. My games on it seemed decent enough...but the center felt REALLY strong. The edges didn't see too much action and it kinda felt like king of the hill. Not exactly sure it those were just my games, but that was the feeling I got and I just wasn't sure it felt great? idk...mixed feelings I think.

Trodden Path by Shurrig
The back of the SZ feels difficult to develop out of. I feel like most melee will try to advance/develop on the sides rather than the middle though as the low ground middle doesn't really pose an advantage to development with the map being so long...so you kinda have to slow roll up the sides and hug the ruins.

PEORIA - JAN
Embattled Den by RainyDays
I really like this map. It feels way better than the original and gives you good, dynamic options on both sides. My only concern is that on the high road side, it is abusable if you can get a Dragon or mobile range to sit up there with a decent screen.

Twisted Cistern by Ulysses
I'll be honest...not a fan. It's a decent enough map for casual play...but the center can be very difficult to navigate...especially laterally, and that showed difficult to deal with for melee trying to catch range. It's a very cool aesthetic though

Hawthorne's Edge by Sheep
Mixed feelings. Development felt difficult on this map. All development feels a bit funneled to the center road...which slowed things down. That is, the right side SZ is difficult to develop with a 5 move figure because only a few figures can get to lvl3 in 1 turn. The left SZ feels fine...but it still feels funneled, because you an only reach the left side road in 2 turns with a 5 move figure, unless you go to the center.

Honeycomb by Vydar
I really like this map. I've played it several times and it felt very balanced. It definitely feels like each side has ways to advance and counterattack the other, and I've had really good, balanced games on this. Never felt like the map caused issues.

Cold Relief by Gamebear
Seems okay. Only got 1 game in on it...and it felt fine. Nothing really stood out to me as I played on it.

PEORIA - MAR
Guts by Shurrig
I've been pretty happy with this version. It's been pretty decent for all my games, and I never felt like I ran into places where I felt like the map created issues. This is a good version!

Deja Vu by Dignan
Fun map...but probably a bit too short for good competitive play. Even with Jungle and road, it felt a bit abusable with long range forcing advancing melee into tough spots. That is, several games I've played on this map I was able to kill a large portion of advancing troops with Syvarris getting turn 1 shots, and keeping them from advancing meaningfully. That said, road is accessible and jungle is very accessible...so there ARE ways to counter it, I just felt like it could be a bit more abusable with strong range like Dragon+screen etc.

[Sheep]

Basement Brawl V
Hot Fulcrum by myself
I’ve enjoyed my games on it. If you don’t like how Fulcrum filters down the middle you probably won’t like how it plays with lava heights and the level 1 sand on the left. Definitely a pretty straight forward map. But it solves some of the original’s faults by making the level 3 3-hex lava field and bringing it in a few spaces.

Nivay Roads by @Sir Heroscape
Not much different feedback than CCL. I moved Raelin turn one on the far left side of the map a couple spaces out of my SZ to cover the 2-hex level 4. Using my Ice Troll in that position allowed me to deny Granites any Rock Throws anywhere.

Hodrveil by @GameBear
This map is pretty good especially considering the sets. Definitely the best/most dynamic of the pool. I’ve been happy with my games in practice and today. Had to face Micro Agents round 3 today. Definitely cannot slow roll against Micro Agents so I planned to move Raelin to the level 4 snow and then move Arrow Gruts and Swogs up assuming they didn’t get picked off while on level 2. First swog got picked but the 2nd swog made it up to level 3 rock while the AGs covered level 4. Same with the 3rd swog. That gave me a good chance against the Micros. Ice Troll developed quickly with a charge. He was integral in taking down the Micros that were on level 2 and 3. Then it just turned into cleanup unleashing the Troll onto level 1/water Micros while denying heightened attacks with AGs. Won with a 2-life Raelin, full health Troll, and a couple Arrows vs. a couple Micros left.

Ascension by @Flash_19
I suggested this map to RainyDays for the event because several players I respect like it similarly to Yngvild and I had never played a game on it before practice for this event.

Uh, not a bad map. Just falls to one side basically every game. It plays fairly fine in doing so it’s just not super interesting. Maybe more level 2 safe spaces in the middle of the map would make it more interesting. As it is, range never really needs to contest the middle of the map as the left level 2 has 6 safe spaces and the right level 2 has 7. And the sides have LoS to one of the glyphs and just as much access if not more to single space perches.

[Typhon2222]

@ryguy266 , @Shurrig , @Foudzing , @Sir Heroscape , @Sheep , thank you for posting your reports/thoughts on various maps! I always love reading them.