2007-08-19, 16:20:40
http://www.mediafire.com/upload_complete...lyrtdzsqed
This replay shows everything I perceive as wrong with Battle Tanks.
Including of course, manually controlling specific units of Troop Command, especially early on. And of course early on it means unless you use some direct ability or abilities that can outright kill your target, you simply won't. Compare that to some silly hull. As shown in the replay, for the most part I managed to evade it, but not everyone starts with a Helicopter/Tinker nor should they have to.
Then there's the matter of the forgiving defense. 1.5 second teleport, when the factory is already being attacked? That is simply messed up, and it means people paying attention even halfway can easily defend every last factory unless outclassed/overpowered. Which brings me to another point, late in the game when on occassion the enemy team would be wiped out, guess what? The also-forgiving revival times allowed them all to portal in and defend. If you watch the replay, you would likely notice how often I absolutely DID NOT go for a Factory. Why? Because chances are, one or two people are on standby ready to portal in and do whatever.
Then of course, there's feeders. I might add there's a difference between just not being good at the game, and deliberately giving the enemy team a payoff. I was quite busy at the time so I didn't really notice until the guy piled up 30+ deaths. So suppose even if he is kicked from the game, that doesn't exactly repair the damage he's done. While I know it may be impossible for the map to discern deliberate payoffs and just plain sucking, maybe there's a possible system for that. My suggestion would be something in the way of... If any single person dies within 45 seconds of revival three times in a span of four minutes (outside the base only) that person "mysteriously disappears". As well, if any single person dies within 90 seconds of revival, 10 times in any game, that person "mysteriously disappears". While it obviously isn't foolproof to those who know the system, it would place restrictions on the amount of time it would take and the amount that they could pass over to the enemy team.
Back on the subject of Troop Command even, I don't know if one of your (the mapmaker) priorities is to make the map playable for the minimum computer, but I run a 1.2 GHz, 768MB RAM, 256MB Video Card piece of junk that happens to run just about every other map Warcraft has to offer smoothly, including this one. But in this game, everyone and their mother was spamming Troop Command, and gradually the game became more and more unstable. It was getting to the point where the lagspike that happens from too much usage of Troop Command was far more of a threat than the Troop Command itself.
Then there's the invisible suicide bombers you simply cannot stop, coupled with the concept that if you are handicapped and the enemy team is more than capable of killing you and defending factories, you are simply screwed if your idea of the game is to destroy their base than defend yours for a couple hours before it caves. If you watch the replay, you would see that even if I could leave the base unhindered, by the time I could get to their base they would have already destroyed mine.
General Summary of Post:
Troop Command is not only IMBALANCED, it affects map stability. I would say to remove it entirely or make the summons give full gold upon death. Or perhaps make it only usable on allied factories while giving some other passive bonus, it is just too powerful in combat area of effect or not.
Quick-teleport for factories makes captures nearly impossible. I would suggest not allowing teleportation while a factory is being attacked. If not, give an option to outright destroy the factory. I mean, if your own factory is being used against you and you cannot capture it, wouldn't it make sense to just dispose of it if possible? (At least make it so they can be disposed of past the 30 minute mark or something)
Suicide bombers, while they may be turtle-busters (Forced turtle at that due to circumstances beyond my control, and I am obviously no simpleton if you watch this replay) they cannot be stopped with invisibility or something similiar.
You can kick deliberate feeders, but not before they may have caused considerable damage that can add up late game.
And finally I might add, why does offense get PUNISHED for going on offense, even? They destroy the factories, and suppose the opposition can hold out. Now suddenly they're making gold and the only real source of income for offense is the occassional boost on timed intervals and successfully killing a stacked tank. I would suggest making it so if you kill an opponent's base factory, any gold or experience that would have been obtained from the units of your own respective factory is lost. It would certainly have broken the turtle faster, especially under less cheesy circumstances.
All of this of course, coming from a player that is probably better than 95%-100% of the player base. You might call that arrogant, but if you watch my early game (I think) it would be arrogant to disagree.
This replay shows everything I perceive as wrong with Battle Tanks.
Including of course, manually controlling specific units of Troop Command, especially early on. And of course early on it means unless you use some direct ability or abilities that can outright kill your target, you simply won't. Compare that to some silly hull. As shown in the replay, for the most part I managed to evade it, but not everyone starts with a Helicopter/Tinker nor should they have to.
Then there's the matter of the forgiving defense. 1.5 second teleport, when the factory is already being attacked? That is simply messed up, and it means people paying attention even halfway can easily defend every last factory unless outclassed/overpowered. Which brings me to another point, late in the game when on occassion the enemy team would be wiped out, guess what? The also-forgiving revival times allowed them all to portal in and defend. If you watch the replay, you would likely notice how often I absolutely DID NOT go for a Factory. Why? Because chances are, one or two people are on standby ready to portal in and do whatever.
Then of course, there's feeders. I might add there's a difference between just not being good at the game, and deliberately giving the enemy team a payoff. I was quite busy at the time so I didn't really notice until the guy piled up 30+ deaths. So suppose even if he is kicked from the game, that doesn't exactly repair the damage he's done. While I know it may be impossible for the map to discern deliberate payoffs and just plain sucking, maybe there's a possible system for that. My suggestion would be something in the way of... If any single person dies within 45 seconds of revival three times in a span of four minutes (outside the base only) that person "mysteriously disappears". As well, if any single person dies within 90 seconds of revival, 10 times in any game, that person "mysteriously disappears". While it obviously isn't foolproof to those who know the system, it would place restrictions on the amount of time it would take and the amount that they could pass over to the enemy team.
Back on the subject of Troop Command even, I don't know if one of your (the mapmaker) priorities is to make the map playable for the minimum computer, but I run a 1.2 GHz, 768MB RAM, 256MB Video Card piece of junk that happens to run just about every other map Warcraft has to offer smoothly, including this one. But in this game, everyone and their mother was spamming Troop Command, and gradually the game became more and more unstable. It was getting to the point where the lagspike that happens from too much usage of Troop Command was far more of a threat than the Troop Command itself.
Then there's the invisible suicide bombers you simply cannot stop, coupled with the concept that if you are handicapped and the enemy team is more than capable of killing you and defending factories, you are simply screwed if your idea of the game is to destroy their base than defend yours for a couple hours before it caves. If you watch the replay, you would see that even if I could leave the base unhindered, by the time I could get to their base they would have already destroyed mine.
General Summary of Post:
Troop Command is not only IMBALANCED, it affects map stability. I would say to remove it entirely or make the summons give full gold upon death. Or perhaps make it only usable on allied factories while giving some other passive bonus, it is just too powerful in combat area of effect or not.
Quick-teleport for factories makes captures nearly impossible. I would suggest not allowing teleportation while a factory is being attacked. If not, give an option to outright destroy the factory. I mean, if your own factory is being used against you and you cannot capture it, wouldn't it make sense to just dispose of it if possible? (At least make it so they can be disposed of past the 30 minute mark or something)
Suicide bombers, while they may be turtle-busters (Forced turtle at that due to circumstances beyond my control, and I am obviously no simpleton if you watch this replay) they cannot be stopped with invisibility or something similiar.
You can kick deliberate feeders, but not before they may have caused considerable damage that can add up late game.
And finally I might add, why does offense get PUNISHED for going on offense, even? They destroy the factories, and suppose the opposition can hold out. Now suddenly they're making gold and the only real source of income for offense is the occassional boost on timed intervals and successfully killing a stacked tank. I would suggest making it so if you kill an opponent's base factory, any gold or experience that would have been obtained from the units of your own respective factory is lost. It would certainly have broken the turtle faster, especially under less cheesy circumstances.
All of this of course, coming from a player that is probably better than 95%-100% of the player base. You might call that arrogant, but if you watch my early game (I think) it would be arrogant to disagree.