Thoughts on first design map

Hey all. Recently I made my first design map: http://www.awbw.amarriner.com/prevmaps.php?maps_id=65943

Xmo5 has been kind enough to offer some advice on improving the map and I think it's turned out very well, but there's still some room for improvement. I'd be glad to hear any suggestions to that end.

Some notes:
-25k funding, though you won't reach it very quickly; intended to encourage the use of Landers and allow the defender to build Rockets or Neotanks to oppose the predeployed Neos, without making it advisable to buy many Battleships.
-Battleships are hopefully to be used purely in an offensive role. The port with access to the center is shoal-locked, while the other is on a front you'll want to be attacking on.
-It takes 4 turns to break down the pipe seam (even Max can do it with a tower up): two hits for the lander and two more for the seam. Not to mention you have to spend 15k on the Rocket and take two turns moving it into position.
-The NE and SW corners are choky and easier to defend at first, but are meant to become more and more difficult to defend thanks to the trapped Neotanks, pressure from the attacker's third base, and the possibility of a Battleship to soften up the defenders.

Let me know what you think!

I'll let others do most of the talking about the map since I've said a lot already, but I just wanted say that this is a great first design map.

I'm curious; how long have you been around? You clearly know a bit about the process, even (forgetting) that black tile maps automatically publish which means you've been exposed a bit, so you have to have some degree of exposure. On the other hand, you only have like 8 games on this account so that suggests that you've either been lurking for a long time or you had another account at some point. Inquiring minds want to know.

I had an account back in 2011 that I played a couple dozen games on before I lost interest, and migrated to a new computer. Later I rediscovered AWBW, but I had forgotten my account name and password, so I just re-registered.

I didn't have much experience making maps though - I read about how to make black tiles on the wiki the day I made his map. I did look at a bunch of S-rank maps for inspiration in making mine though. I decided from the start that I wanted a map about Neotanks trapped behind pipe seams that you had to free with Rockets, (which themselves aren't commonly built units) and that would make Landers useful - hence the watery design and city-rich central islands.

Well I stand by what I said- that's a really good first map.

Hey welcome to the forum and welcome back to the site! As Xmo5 said, this is a pretty solid map (even more so for a first attempt!), and it's clear that you picked up on a lot of the essentials of map-making from studying S-Rank maps. I do have a few comments for you though:

- I think the center of the map could use a slight redesign. I would add a few more routes from the side into the center to give players tactical options for switching fronts (for example, connecting the empty missile tile to the nearest island city with a shoal or actual bridge might be nice. Connecting the shoal bridge near the river tile to join the two halves of the center would be another good candidate).
- The center is also very city heavy. I have a feeling this will have a poor effect on gameplay, as it limits players options to attack. Having 3-4 properties on each half of the center island would be better than the current 6.
- I'm not sure having the pipe seam near the neutral base will benefit gameplay much either. What about starting with that broken? Perhaps if you add more central access routes it's less of a problem, but right now you are forcing all play to the very choky area on the outer edge of the map. Starting with the seam broken allows play to develop into the center from the start.
- The neotanks are an interesting gimmick, I wonder at what point they'll actually come out and if the battles will generally already be decided by then. I'm guessing that it's probably okay to remove the pipe seam from under the lander, but you might just have to determine through play-tests if they come out at a good time as it is now.

I know it may seem like a lot of criticism, but I'd just like to add the disclaimer that I only give this type of feedback to maps that basically have no real issues and can only use a bit of refining. Your map is already quite good as is, I just hope I can give you ideas for little tweaks to make it better.

Cheers.

Thank you for the advice. I've decided to remove a city from the center, break the central pipe seams and add another shore bridge leading to the central isles. I'm a little worried about HQ rushing so I've added Black Boats to them - you can move your Black Boats off the HQ to transport infantry but can't move it back on, so deciding when and if to move it should be a fun exercise. I wish you could place weaker versions of pipe seams or ones with less starting HP, but this should do fine.

Once some of my current games finish up I'll start a few tests on this map. I'm thinking Sturm and Von Bolt bans in addition to the usual 5. Maybe Javier too, he's basically VB with better CO powers on the current state of this map.