Originally Posted by Agamemnon

Before play-testing a map, you need to put in enough time on the design such that it's possible to have reasonable games on it to get the feedback you need to make it a good map.

Truer words were never spoken. If you have a map that is as horribly out of whack as this one is, the only feedback you're going to get is out of pure frustration by the players that lost and "wow this map rocks" from people who had the ridiculously easy win.

This map would actually be relatively easy to fix if some certain KEY points were observed from other NS maps.

-COVER COVER COVER! Structures, odd overhangs, boxes, all kinds of stuff. Not just for aliens, but marines as well. Every NS map that we play on has immense amounts of cover in places where fighting goes on with very few exceptions, and most of those exceptions have a specific explanation as to why (i.e. the area directly outside MS on tanith...MS is supposed to be a bunker and marines have to get out of the bunker and cross into the main facility, thus, open space. there's still a decent amount of cover and it only takes 2 seconds max to cross from MS into one of the three hallways.)

-Everywhere has at least 2 exits. There are very few rooms, much less hives, that only have one exit. Actually, I cant really think of ANY off the top of my head other than the hive on trochus. Even the west node room on veil and PSJ on eclipse have 2 exits (1 main and one vent) and those are the tiniest rooms I can think of. Again, not just for aliens, but for marines. This gives the aliens escape routes and the marines more options for things like sieges.

-Vents. Vents are tricky devils. They cant be too simple otherwise you get jp rushed every game. they cant be too complex or it takes too long to get anywhere. You have to find a decent balance of bumps, turns, map intersections, and obstacles (ladders, lights and such) to make them well-playable.

-Lighting and shadows. This is a MUST for ns maps. If the whole map is bright, marines cant hide anywhere to ninja and aliens (cloaked or not) are given away by the slightest movement even in obscure places. If its too dark, marines cant see anything and get slaughtered by hiding aliens. You have to vary your lighting and include shadows.

-Map layout. You cant run a map in straight lines. You have to have curves. Things need to seem like "whoever built this ship/station must have been on crack to put 'engine cooling' so far away from 'coolant tanks'." It gives the map depth and playability from both sides. It forces the teams to strategize, opens up options like chokepoints and siege spots. Mainly, it makes the map playable in a decent fashion because of the variation.

Building a map is a very difficult task. We have a whole crew of guys from our own community who have been building one for months (i believe they took a hiatus from mapping out of sheer laziness for a while but are back at it now) and they have it broken down into pieces so no one person gets overwhelmed. The main impression I get from trochus is that it was made in a hurry with little or no feedback or internal testing before a public release was made. Why it was done that way, I couldnt tell you, but thats how it feels: unpolished and completely incomplete.

I'd be willing to play new versions of the map for testing purposes only, but I wont play the map again in a real game until some vast improvements are made.