Greener Pastures

28X28 64MB+ Greenworld / Water Map 
TA:CC required.  
TAMEC HPI not required.

Map Design

Nearly two and half months after torturing myself with this one, I have finished my second map - after releasing previously, 'Valley of the Gods' - a large desert/barren map. Having learned a bit about map making since then, I humbly offer my latest attempt at providing all of you a new battle ground to continue that endless (endlessly addictive that is) war to control the galaxy. 

The map is fairly symmetrical, but every large hill and mountain on this map is different - hence the main reason why the map is nearly 13MB. Had I chose to use similar hills, the map, while taking up less disk space, would have proved much less interesting. I went to great lengths to create a unique as well as a realistic map.

While some of the large hills are in fact familiar, you will probably notice that several have not been used before (at least with the proper height settings). By importing hills from several maps provided on the mission disks from the original TA and CC CDs, I was able to make use of some interesting hills and mountains. This was not as easy as copying the files from one map to another, however, because the height information varied between maps. About half way through the project, I realized that an expanded tileset would be needed in order to make the whole process easier for this map and future ones as well. I did not provide the tileset with the map because it was too big. If there is interest, I will submit the tileset for review by the folks at TAMEC.

The large ridges were imported from several maps available from Cavedog's Battle Tactics CD. I had to do some height editing with MS Photo editor in order to use the ridges with the standard green tileset. It was only after a month or so into the project, however, that I realized some guy named Punkkid already went through the trouble (PK tileset). You will also notice a number of fords, or crossings, also imported from various Cavedog maps. Once again, I had to make modifications in order to make them fit with the standard green tiles.

I have included the sea battle AI with the map. The AI will still make land units and it is fairly competitive. Feel free to add your own as you see fit. 


System Requirements

Every attempt was made at keeping memory requirements under or at 64MB! Because of the number of unique sections, however, and given also the size of the map, this proved impossible. Despite this, however, the map will run on certain systems with 64MB! I have run several tests with a Pentium II 300 and the map played well in a 1vs1 game with maximum units (250 each). I would not recommend anything slower than 300MHz with 64MB though. Turning off the visual features on slower systems also helps, and does not really take away from game play. Listed below is breakdown of recommended (and tested) system requirements. 

Pentium 200 	96MB		1-3 players
Pentium 200 	128MB		1-4 players
Pentium II 266	64MB		1-3 players 
Pentium II 266	128MB		1-6 players
Pentium II 300	64MB		1-4 players
Pentium II 300 	96MB+		1-8 players
Pentium II 400+	96MB+		1-10 players

All configurations tested at 800X600 resolution and on a 10 Base-T LAN

Keep in mind that systems with 64MB should have plenty of disk cache available. Using the specs above, load times will be kept under 5-6 minutes. Also, I would not recommend hosting a game with anything less than a Pentium II system and 96MB. AMD K6-2 systems perform on par with Pentium II equivalents with the Cavedog patch. If you are lucky enough to own a 400MHz or 450MHz system with 128MB ram, you're in for a real treat! 


Game Play

The map is very playable as two-player game, with both sides able to build large strategic bases at the NE and SW corners of the mainland. Early rushes are difficult due to the overall size of the map. Three player games are also possible and proved very enjoyable during testing. You can't always find a fourth buddy these days, especially one with a system that can play the big maps. At four players, each side starts at the respective corners of the mainland. Alliances can either be east-west or north-south oriented. Free-for-alls are also fine. At six players, the two additional combatants will start at the north and south portions of the mainland. Also at six players, as well as eight and ten players, the battles between alliances are designed to be north vs. south   

The islands are reserved for players seven through ten and are rather stringent on available land area. Most of the resources are located underwater since the island locations were intended to produce naval support for the neighboring land based allies.

Remember, six, eight, and ten, player games are processor and memory intensive! With ten players at maximum unit count, there are 2,500 units running around! Even a 450MHz with 128MB is going to start to feel the pain at this point. Can't wait till next year when 600MHz and 256MB RAM are nice and cheap...

Strategy

For the land based players (1-6), the goal is to build a base capable of stopping a land based assault while also ensuring that naval and air operations are attended to. There are few spots within the 'base' areas that are safe from cruisers and battleships. Your base defenses should also populate the often overlooked and vulnerable sea side areas. Also, you will need to build a navy along with that ground force. This means you will need metal - a lot of metal. On games with less than seven players, this means the islands are your best bet for additional resources. Players in the north and south (players five and six) need only to look toward the metal rich mountain in the middle to slake their metallic thirsts.

Each 'base' has a few large hills (or craters) in which to build formidable land ward defenses. In addition, those hills provide suitable locations for the big guns, especially if some bold soul manages to fortify the central mountain and uses it to your disadvantage. There is a lot to consider, but tactics are for you to figure out and for me to hear about. Please let me know if you have any suggestions regarding the map by e-mailing me at jhoulema@oanservices.com. Anyway, have fun and happing gaming!   


What's next?

A new land/sea map based on a rarely used (at least properly) tile set with several interesting never seen twists. Look for this next map in early April.

Story

Not much is now known about the world that was once named Prymalis IV. Many thousands of years ago though, this world was colonized by the CORE hegemony that reigned before the great civil conflict that erupted into the ARM-CORE wars. It was one of the few worlds that could be inhabited by humans without major terra-forming efforts. For centuries, the temperate weather, along with the rich variety of flora and fauna, offered a virtual paradise to the colonists and eventual tourists that walked this world. In time, millions came to live here, while far away across the galaxy, the great leaders of the hegemony debated the fate of humanity, with a great many demanding that all mankind pattern themselves for the eternal continuity of the empire.

It was at this time that two comets had returned from their 10,000 year cycle around the Prymalis star system.  Calculations were done to ensure that comets would not strike the fourth planet. Scientist assured those that feared the worst that no harm would come. It was known to all, however, that the senator from Prymalis supported the fight against human patterning into machinery, and that he was preparing to leave to the capital to join the debate with almost full support from the local populace. After all, could a mind patterned into a machine truly appreciate the beauty that was Prymalis and others worlds like it? It was also known, however, that a few radical pro-patterning elements also existed on Prymalis IV and many of these made up the scientific community. Suspicion mounted, and new studies were done reaching the same conclusion that the planet was safe from impact.

 It was too late though, when security forces were alerted that a prominent, but radical, pro-patterning scientist was missing for several weeks. All searches turned up empty handed, however, and he was in time, forgotten. Just twenty hours before the two comets were expected to pass Pryamils (closely, but by a safe enough distance), the horrifying truth came to light, however. The missing scientist was not missing at all! Earlier that hour, another scientist had nearly completed a routine security check into the prime-central supercomputer that administered all of Prymalis's data networks. Just before the last security sequence a large data anomaly was discovered in the secondary storage repository. The supercomputer was ordered to explain the nature and origin of the data. It was traced to a university lab a few hundred miles away. When the lab was searched, moments before the comets were set to pass by the planet, the security personnel discovered a strange piece of equipment and the decaying remains of the missing radical scientist. When the security scientist stumbled past the guards and surveyed the scene, his face turned white in utter horror. When he summoned the will to speak, his words could not convey the shear dread that gripped his heart. 'My God, he has patterned himself into the prime-central computer! Someone check those comet trajectories immedit....' And with that no more words were ever spoken again on the blissful world it's people named Prymalis IV. At least not until now...      

