Tantus Awakens V 1.1

21X21 64MB Martian World Map 
TA:CC required
TAMEC HPI not required



Version 1.1 Notes

Minor revisions to non critical height errors. Added additional features including mars plants, rocks and smudges. Geothermals were also added to positions 5 and 6 to allow for better 3 on 3 games. In addition, metal patches have been added throughout, especially underwater at key locations and in the middle. Increased wind speed (I can't seem to get it above 30 ticks though), and tidal strength (not by much though). Because the terra-forming on Tantus was only in its initial phase prior to the battle you are about wage on it, plantlife only thrives very near the 'pool' areas (The oceans have high concentrations of impurities). I did this to convey a sense of desolation, with life only teetering on the brink. Rocks abound, not unlike those seen in the pictures sent from the Viking Lander and Pathfinder missions. I doubt, given the way ARM and CORE fight, that the emerging ecosystem on Tantus has much of a chance :-) Anyway, have fun. 

Remove any previous versions of this map. And download my other maps (see below)...


Map Design

This is my third map, since releasing 'Valley of the Gods' and 'Spring Dawning' a few months back. Both maps have enjoyed moderate success at TAMEC's map site, so I encourage you to try out my earlier maps if you have not done so already.

This map took nearly five months to complete - simply because the mars world tileset provided by Cavedog is mechanically flawed. From the onset, I had to readjust the heights of the shore based and water pool tiles to reflect the proper sea level elevation. In addition, all of the islands were misaligned as well. All in all I spent the majority of my time using Annihilator to adjust height settings on nearly everything - Argh! I must admit, making this map almost drove me away from map making for good. Well at any rate, I believe it is one of the first Martian style maps to properly utilize the terrain features as Cavedog originally intended. I hope you enjoy it as there are not enough Mars map out there. 

As with my previous map, I made an effort to use new terrain settings not previously used on other maps. This meant going though the Cavedog mission CDs and extracting some of the more interesting elements from the maps therein, or spend time building my own. The sea crossings were built from scratch using Annihilator. I felt this would add a new tactical element to a mars based map. You may also recognize the big hill in the middle from Cavedog's 'King of the Middle' map. Believe me, putting that hill in my map was no cut and paste job. The hill was originally designed to work from a sea level base of 0. Because my map has a sea level base of 50, I had to adjust the height of the hill accordingly and then move the height lines with Annihilator. That took a couple of weeks, not to mention adding that valley on top of the hill. The large crater in the lower right corner was done in the same fashion as well, but was considerably easier. There are other areas as well where I modified new terrain as well, but you don't need to hear about all that...


System Requirements

This map requires a minimum of 64MB to run. If you don't have 64MB, you should, because a few 32MB SIMMs cost next to nothing!  Besides, TA runs better with it anyway, and since your reading this, chances are you are a TA fanatic like the rest of us.

Anyway, I ran several tests with a Celeron 400, Pentium II 300 and 450 and the map played well in all games with maximum units (250 each). I would not recommend anything slower than 200MHz 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 	64MB		1-4 players
Pentium 200 	128MB		1-6 players
Pentium II 266	64MB and up	1-6 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 2-3 minutes. Also, I would not recommend hosting a game with anything less than a Pentium II system and 64MB. 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!

 
Gameplay and Strategy 

Don't ignore the sea! The water could prove vital to secure a complete victory! Even though the crossings toward the middle will provide a short cut to your opponent, they can be easily defended from the water. All but the biggest ships may traverse over the crossings as well. The central hill offers an opportunity to dominate the map with long range weaponry. Access to the hill is limited, so getting to it quickly should be one of your main objectives. The start locations for players 3 and 4 are less defendable by land but offer abundant sea resources. Take advantage of the harbors to build strong navies and underwater facilities. Players 5 and 6 are designated for support roles to the other players. I don't recommend a free for all using more than 4 players. For skirmishes, I've added the Sea Battle AI. If you want a better opponent, there are a host of very good AIs out there. 


What's next?

Probably my final TA based map. As usual I will make use of a Cavedog tileset, but add a new twist. The map will be my largest by far, but will not likely exceed 40X40 in order to preserve gameplay. I hope to offer a final battlefield that will help answer, once and for all, that nagging question - which side is better, Arm or Core...

