CEONSS

ONS-{UEM}ColdTorlan

Download: ONS-{UEM}ColdTorlan

Top map. Same size as Torlan.
ONS-{ROW}Shipdock

Download: ONS-{ROW}Shipdock

Perfect map for CEONSS. Well made, nice on the eye, good with 32 or 12 people, good balance.
ONS-[SD]8-Ball

Download: ONS-[SD]8-Ball

Probably too small for CEONSS, but very fun. If there was ever a need to find a long term replacement for Spambox, this would be it.

ONS-{UNK}ShantyTown-ANS1

Download: ONS-{UNK}ShantyTown-ANS1

Being a shanty town it not very nice to look at, but it does have all the other qualities for CEONSS - good balance, game-play etc
ONS-{UEM}DeathCanyon

Download: ONS-{UEM}DeathCanyon

Top quality map, but perhaps a bit too linear for fun game-play.
ONS-MasterShower-V3-VKedit1F

Download: ONS-MasterShower-V3-VKedit1F

A VK rebuild of MasterBath, don't really need to say any more than that. Hopefully is distinctive enough to sit alongside MasterBath on CEONSS should it get included on the server.

ONS-BigDamVer1_3

Download: ONS-BigDamVer1_3

Really nice map. Only thing going against it is possible performance issues.
ONS-RedBluff

Download: ONS-RedBluff

I can't remember if this has been on CEONSS before. If not it should be, perfect.
ONS-Atoll

Download: ONS-Atoll

Feels like the bastard love child of Air Mars and Chains Isile Final. For some reason it also reminds me of Myst. Anyway, good map.

They all seems to be pretty nice. I'm getting wet especially for Coldtorlan
I'll gave them a run on local, for sure.

So... Are you looking for some feedback from the users?

Please Cat bring a substitute for Grendel and a little brother for Bridge :inlove:

Anik wrote:Please [...] bring a [...] little brother for Bridge[...]

Ah, c'mon, that's just hurtful for poor little VK's-Playground. I mean, hasn't it tried hard enough and done quite well living up to Bridge's legacy in your book? Also by being more square-shaped than elongated and, thus, offering more strategic cutoff options and hectic backtracking when played with fewer ppl. Anyways, there's always more NV maps to consider, so don't worry too much about it .

Karma_geddon wrote:[...]I'm getting wet especially for Coldtorlan [...]

Karma_geddon wrote:[...]So... Are you looking for some feedback from the users?

Well, it's not like we ever said we weren't . No reason why there can't be an external effort running alongside the internal one on such a subject that affects all players. Still, while crowdsourcing is a great way to expand one's horizons in terms of previously unknown content, there is one favour I'd like to ask of anyone taking the time to seek out good candidate maps for the roster and tell us about em here. Instead of just offering a DL link and maybe an obstructed pic with the node layout (:p), maybe try to also do a quick review of the map and outline what it's got going for it - in terms of aesthetics, geometry arrangement, gameplay balance, other unique innovative mechanics, etc. - and what kind of editing tweaks it might need to bring it up to snuff with the server's standards. Considering your suggestion would be competing for space with existing maps, highlighting its advantages over current content would probably be an efficient way to make your case. Nothing too crazy or long either, just 3-4 lines of text should suffice. If anyone's game for that but can't nail down a good enough method for doing that, I can even post a couple of older reviews from our own internal thread about exactly that issue to see what we tend to seek out and focus on.

Oh, also pics always help so if you wanna tack on a selection of good looking shots, I doubt anyone would protest - the node setup we can infer from the small radar image at the top, no need to be a separate thing either. Just... maybe try stitching 'em together or something if you can, cause 4-5 pics per map in a multi-map review post might get messy.

So, think you've found the greatest forgotten ONS map out there that CEONSS should host? Show us!

Why do some of those map archives include packages that must be considered stock content nowadays? (i.e. ECE bonus pack stuff)

[edit]
ONS-Atoll offends the eye with far too bright lighting on the terrain. I also question the usefulness of the Leviathan on the central island, as its use is almost exclusively defensive there. The SPMA on the north and south center islands seem a bit more useful for attacking surrounding nodes, but they won't reach the core islands either. Lots of air stuff there, making the Leviathan even less efficient, even in its defensive position. The water around all islands is extremely deep, so it probably can't even be used against incoming Mantas by firing on the ground there.
However, this map may be a great base for future edits to include other hovering vehicles. *cough*hovertanks*cough*

ONS-BigDamVer1_3 looks ok. There might be a bit too few vehicles and too many super weapons, though. I also noticed that on ONS-Atoll: Super weapons placed right next to a node, as if controlling the node automatically means controlling the super weapon. Also, those weapons are always near the middle nodes. If a team gets cornered, it has a hard time accessing those weapons for an easier comeback, because enemies will spawn right next to them.

[edit]
The performance problems on Big Dam are home-made. The only performance optimization here is the distance fog. No antiportals at all and the underground bases aren't even zoned off. Apart from that, the map overuses ambient sounds (fewer with larger radius would have sufficed) and road path nodes. (Again, fewer are better.)

Pegasus wrote:

Anik wrote:Please [...] bring a [...] little brother for Bridge[...]

Ah, c'mon, that's just hurtful for poor little VK's-Playground. I mean, hasn't it tried hard enough and done quite well living up to Bridge's legacy in your book? Also by being more square-shaped than elongated and, thus, offering more strategic cutoff options and hectic backtracking when played with fewer ppl. Anyways, there's always more NV maps to consider, so don't worry too much about it .

Oh, sry, I love Playground as much as Bridge :inlove: I don't want to replace one of those two, but to bring another map like them I just can't get enough of them

Ok, let's talk about Cold Torlan. Here's my two cents.


1) Where are all the avrils? I didn't see any of them. Usually I like maps with rare avrils (like classic torlan), but, maybe, not having any avril at all is too much for a vehicle map like this.
Let's also count that this map has many mountains (basically, every road is a valley between two cliffs), so the vehicles (and most of all, birds) would have full of chances to avoid avril locking. It could be interesting and challenging (and so, fun) to play with avrils here. I'd definitely add them.

2) The core has a Cicada. Good. It should make comebacking easier. Also, all these mountains could make very fun to play with it.

3) There is no deemer at the central node, but there is a deemer at each core. Also good for comeback, and more fair too.

4) There are lots of Goliaths and lots of narrow roads. This could favor the use of tanks. I don't know if it is good or bad... Maybe it's just "it is" - it's just a feature of the design of this map. Could be fun, I suppose.

5) Lots of mountains could mean lots of camping. Maybe. There are flyiers too, so who knows. And I don't particularly hate camping and campers, so... IMHO, I'd consider it to be just a feature, again.

6) If I saw it right, the tower at the central node has a wide visual on all the roads that leads to the node itself, but not to the other nodes. So: good for defense, and not very good for attack. It's very different from the central node in classic torlan. Here, fight for the nodes stays at the nodes (and on the roads).

7) Again, if I saw it right, there are no spidermines. Even if I don't like maps with LOTS of mines spamming everywhere (like, again, classic torlan at some nodes), I think it could be fun to have some lockers (not all of them - maybe just at the central node or just at the cores) with a limited amount of mines (in many maps here on CEONSS, there are lockers with a non-reloadable 4 spidermines amount; I'm suggesting that option), because there are lots of narrow roads to place them.

8) Last thing about the narrow roads: they are ASKING for a Target Painter especially with all these Goliaths. Bombing them may definitely be fun. Maybe, I'd put just one of them at the top of the tower at the central node, to make it a little more "special".

9) Uh, right: am I the only one who gets stuck on these teleporting pads every time? There's a small stair, that is probably a little to high.


Ok, that's it.
As you all know, I'm pretty new to online multiplaying in UT2004, so please be charitable.

I just tried Atoll too.

Wormbo wrote: ONS-Atoll offends the eye with far too bright lighting on the terrain. I also question the usefulness of the Leviathan on the central island, as its use is almost exclusively defensive there. The SPMA on the north and south center islands seem a bit more useful for attacking surrounding nodes, but they won't reach the core islands either. Lots of air stuff there, making the Leviathan even less efficient, even in its defensive position. The water around all islands is extremely deep, so it probably can't even be used against incoming Mantas by firing on the ground there.

I definitely agree with you.
I hate maps with too much brightness. I already get blind with Chainisle2...
The Leviathan at the center seems to be a real waste... I hoped that I could use his ion cannon to fire on one of the ring island, but nope. That's a shame. The two laser turrets at the centre node are far more appealing than the lev (they can give you a lot of control of the sky and water field).
The SPMA on north can actually attack the centre island (I tried)... But the other still can't.

Overall, I think it's a map with a lot of potential to be very, very fun, with some tweaks.
It also could be interesting to add some juicy stuff underwater (secret weapons, teleporters, underwater caves with things and stuff).