(8)DS Zone Control
Here is a list of features I've painstakingly included in this map to make it at least a bit different from the rest of the Zone Controls out there:
Brief:
Rock, Paper, Scissor units
Smart Mass Attack system that ignores player ordered/controlled units and can be auto cast on spawning units. You can also order your basic units to follow your mass attack unit.
Refined Random Placement for each team and player sorting in case anyone messes around with lobby teams.
The unit you build bunkers with is more meaningful than just that thanks to special abilities.
No buildings or buttons set off to the side of the map, keeping players fixed on the action for flanking units around. You can also zoom out farther than normal using the built-in camera controls.
Custom Supply limits that can be fixed for each player, based on number of controlled zones, or both.
Mineral cap that can be set to keep treasure hoarders moving to stay on top of things.
Team Balancing - Down a teammate and have a mineral cap? Things really stay balanced when lone players are agaist two player teams.
Finally, win a game by destroying all enemy bunkers. Simple as that.
Detailed:
Rock, Paper, and Scissor units may be set as the current production of any zone via the bunker. (unless map is set to marines only)
RPS units will deal 1.75 times normal damage to their weaker counterparts.
Which unit you start off with can be secretly set in the in-game lobby.
Teams are placed randomly, however you may always expect another team across from you (unless only three teams are present). If there happens to be three people on a single team in the lobby you can rest a bit easier thanks to team sorting. Any extra players on a team will be swept into other teams in the end. You also don't have to worry about team killing either as friendly fire is disabled.
If a player leaves a team the remaining player will really take control of the left over units and resources.
Upgrades are handled at any bunker, but only one bunker may research upgrades at a time. Basic +1 to armor or weapon upgrades are all that's available.
A supply limit may be enforced in three different ways: 1. A supply limit based on number of Zones Controlled. 2. A fixed supply limit for each player. 3. All of the above.
Ravens, which build bunkers, when destroyed may be built at any available bunker for minerals. Ravens also have three abilities which may help in any situation. 1. Auto Turrets which are available by default and shoot enemy units. 2. Healing drone (called Medigel Nebulizer) which needs to be installed on each Raven if commanding more than one. 3. Mass Recall that teleports a mass of units across the map to the Raven using the ability. Also needs to be installed.
A Mineral cap may also be enforced to keep players spending instead of saving up forever. Bunkers are 525 minerals each so lower mineral caps will keep players on their toes. Lone players will have same total cap of a two player team, so there isn't a huge break of balance in this case.
Mass Attack will not just ignore player selected units, but units set to hold position or partrol as well. When Mass Attack is set to auto-cast it will order all newly spawned units for you, as well as make your existing units attack-follow your observer. The observer travels only slightly faster than your basic units, but can teleport anywhere on the map with a cooldown period afterwords.
Don't forget about Hero icons for your Observer and any Ravens you have. Lastly all bunkers you own will be automatically added to Command Group Nine for easy switching of RPS unit production.
(Old) Future: I plan on taking the middle of the map and turning it into a king of the hill type zone. Whoever has the most units at the zone will control it. I feel that this objective could help early on in cases where no one wants to attack anyone else.
Right now this map is only on the US server, I'd be willing to look for someone to post it on the EU server in the future. Finally any constructive feedback would be greatly appreciated.
March 5th 2011 Update: I've just finished the King of the Hill mode. The you'll find it under the lobby option "Game Type". I've also added Rally Points to the bunkers and Hill. There is also a Cancel Rally Point ability that will clear rally points for all selected buildings. Rally points will currently override Mass Attack. I'm thinking of adding an ability to toggle the Mass Attack override.
Game Type has now replaced Starting Minerals in the lobby options. I'm now planning on adding a voting system in the future. The voting system will include an option for Starting Minerals.
I've made a few updates. For details please see the map's patch notes on SC2. You can currently find the map by searching the maps name here without spaces.
Here's another update:
Corner Style is now the default Map Layout.
All preset gametypes now vote Unlimited as the Mineral Limit.
Raven ability Mass Recall now costs 115 energy and 25 seconds to install instead of 200 energy and 40 seconds.
Saving and loading of vote preferences is now possible (also saves your voted map layout).
Loading screen text will now reflect the latest update form the help menu.
The old loading screen text is now in the help menu.
I've now changed the game varients on the map so if you bookmarked the map before you'll need to do so one last time. I've taken out the lobby options that were available before as the number of options I can make available isn't enough for all the settings as is. I have, however, left the starting unit production avaible in the lobby to ease the amount of buttons in the voting system.
Got some videos up for new players.
Update: April 5th, 2011
I haven't yet added repairs to the bunkers as I hoped I would in this update. I intend to add an ability that will cost minerals and/or pause unit production for repairs, but for now normal health regeneration will take place when not under attack for 10 seconds.
The main changes in this update are the following:
The Observer (Mass Attack Controller) now has Wormhole Transit as a Smart click command. It has also been reworked to be more stable and shiny.
Placement of starting units have been moved and the camera now starts at a different zoom level.
Raven installs no longer cost minerals, instead they will cost 200 energy each.
Map Layouts are now implemented in the map and are choosen at random if none are voted upon.
Bunkers will now auto repair when not under attack for 10 seconds. (Similar to Ravens)
I've added a new preset to the voting screen as well as made the winning votes easier to see.
I've also lowered the cost of upgrades and the maximum starting minerals per team to reflect the new upgrade cost.
I've finally added the game settings to the 'help' menu. I made the settings yellow so they are easier to read.
Lastly I've added allied alerts of upgrades. I have yet to test this with anyone, however it's harmless to gameplay so I added it anyway.
Just fixed a no unit spawn glitch and put up some basic messages for new players.
Here's another update. I've fixed the Mass Attack ability and have given it back to the Raven. There are a few other minor tweaks still to add, however they won't effect gameplay as is. I'm proud to say that the map is currently more than I originally planned. I've got more up my sleeves for this map, but for now I've announced three things I'd like to expand on:
I'd like to add different layouts of the map (adding walls or gaps in the terrain) other than the plain flat battlefield that currently exists.
I'll be looking to add functionality to the "Load last games selection" button in the presets window. As the name would suggest it would load your last vote from a previous game.
Lastly, I'll work on populating the "help" menu with the games current settings (in case a player forgets the winning vote of a game), more tips, and finally any news/changes for the map.
Made a lot of tweaks for todays update. First of all there's now a voting system available to use. When playing with Marines only you can once again upgrade armor and weapons on their own. When the Hill benefit is set to unit production it now makes units only as fast as a Bunker instead of twice as fast.
More under the hood improvments are now in place, however there's now a very minor glitch with basic units being ordered to Mass Attack while a Raven is selected. When Ravens use Mass Attack there is no effect. I'll be working on this glitch to see what I can do. I've disabled the ability on the Raven for now.
Hope you all enjoy the new voting system.
Just changed the hill to no longer produce more units, instead players that control the hill will gain 50% more income from kills. This can be changed back when creating a game via the lobby options under "Hill Benefit".
Just put out a performance update. The mass attack system and two custom abilities now work even more efficiently than before.
Edit: I had forgotten to mention that I had also added a Mass Attack button to marines, hellbats, and tanks for easily sending small groups to the observer.
Lastly I updated the Wormhole effect for the observer. Now enemies will not see the effect from other teams and also players using the ability will be able to see it when used in the fog of war.
March 5th 2011 Update: I've just finished the King of the Hill mode. The you'll find it under the lobby option "Game Type". I've also added Rally Points to the bunkers and Hill. There is also a Cancel Rally Point ability that will clear rally points for all selected buildings. Rally points will currently override Mass Attack. I'm thinking of adding an ability to toggle the Mass Attack override.
Game Type has now replaced Starting Minerals in the lobby options. I'm now planning on adding a voting system in the future. The voting system will include an option for Starting Minerals.