Defending team scores 2 points every
minute and 5 more points for defending
the key 8 minutes.
Attackers score 5 points for detpacking
the crystal and 15 for capturing the key.
When one team scores, they switch
roles so that the defenders become
attackers and vice-versa.
Overview:
As my first review for Planet Fortress,
i beleive it's appropriate to review a map made by the guy before
me! Some of you may think this is poor taste, but beleive me,
Zouave created a great map when he created this map back in
1999, and here's why.
"Up a creek" is a pioneer map
in the TFC community. I do beleive it was the first map ever
to feature the "Assault & Defend" gameplay in
TFC, way before Dustbowl or Avanti.
Description:
The map pits the Blue team versus the
Red team for control of the launch of 2 missiles located in
the back of the enemy base. When the map starts, the attacking
team has 8 minutes to launch the missiles before the map restarts,
and the teams switch places. Sounds simple enough? Think again!
Before the attacking team can get to
the launchpad and fire the missiles, they must first get the
launch key. Easy enough, except that the key is protected by
a force field that is sure to end your life in a split second.
You must first deactivate the enemy generator located in another
portion of the enemy base. How? With a detpack of course!
One of the strong points of Up a creek,
is the layout Zouave created to balance all of this in a fun,
yet challenging way. The map is built around a desert-like creek
(duh!) filled with wonderfully crafted rocks, hills and even
a nice looking waterfall. The attacker's spawn is located at
the bottom of the creek, in a base crafted right into the cliffside.
The attackers must first make their way to the enemy base via
multiple levels of trails built into the cliffs surrounding
the creek, which lead either to the backdoor to the generator
room, or the front entrance which leads almost directly to the
key room. The quickest way to get to the missiles is via the
backdoor and into a nicely crafted hallway, even for a map made
almost 4 years ago!
The enemy base has numerous platforms
and levels to keep engineers busy with building sentry guns.
The base also has a few sniper nest to keep the enemy at bay,
and yet, not make the creek a sniper's wet dream. Between the
enemy base and the attacker's base, a neutral building also
built right into the cliff has a sniper nest as well to aid
the attackers get to the enemy base, thus keeping teamplay a
deciding factor in completing the objectives. Spies will also
like this map, as they are truely needed to clear up the launchpad
for your teammate carrying the key.
Visually, the map holds up quite nicely
with good texture choice by Zouave to give it a bit of a futuristic
look inside, but manages to keep things interesting outside
and I only spotted a handfull of texture misalignments for the
entire map. Even though they are all Half-Life textures, a few
of them have been edited, and the attacker's base even features
screenshots of the map's key areas to help out newbies on what
to do! The brushwork is solid everywhere, and r_speeds are keeped
low everywhere in the map. A few ambient sounds are spread all
around the map, ranging from a slow flowing waterfall, to computer
sounds to make the map feel more alive.
Conclusion:
With all of this, Up a creek is a great
map for public servers as well as clan matches. Class usage
is also good all around for every type of player.
For a map made during the golden days of TFC mapping, it easily
holds up against even the newest maps being released. Up a creek
is a definite classic of TFC mapping, and the fact that it is
rarely ran by server admins is a shame.
P.S.: Don't forget to take a walk inside
the neutral building and click on a few of the consoles in it!
BlackPanther's
Mapping Guide
How
do you make an attack & defend map?
Before VALVe released the 1.1.0.0 patch for
HL and TFC containing the new map "Dustbowl"
and the appropriate code in the .fgd, the only
way to make an attack and defend map was to
do it the same way Zouave did in this LOTW and
as i will explain breifly below:
The attackers and the
defender's spawn area both have a double of
themselves next to each other. You just don't
see them because their was a func_wall_toggle
entity blocking the view of the respawn doors
that was triggered when ever the map was won
by either side, and the teams switched positions
to their new spawns. If you load the map in
single player and type in the NOCLIP cheat,
you can float around and go through walls and
see both spawns. The illusion is seemless .
The author had to do
this, because there was no code in the old .fgd
to change the state of the teamspawn entity
to spawn the other team, make the turrets attack
the opposing team and make the objectives availble
for completion by the other team.. But now there
is. (Thx VALVe!)
To make a true attack
and defend map like Dustbowl with the new .fgd,
the TF Mapped site has a tutorial on how to
do it.. Keep in mind this map is more like Avanti
then Dustbowl, because the teams switch places
after the map is completed. Also keep in mind
that the tutorial is geared towards territorial
control rather then objective based, but the
principle is still there since you DO carry
the key to the missile platform the same way
you'd carry the flag from point to point in
Avanti and Dustbowl.
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