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Beta Map RO-Elnya_beta1 PUBLIC

I have noticed it when I have played it, that HILL 90 can really put up a good and lengthy defense, especially when the Russians are concentrating on it. The foxholes are excellent for infantry (and hard to run over with vehicles) and the Russians can pretty much reinforce the hill from the back without fear of being attacked on the way there, all the while the forces already on the Hill can be fighting the defending Germans.

AT Bunker is a little harder to defend, once troops are inside the trenches, its hard to tell where everyone is.

So, I would say concentrate on defending the Hill 90 if the Germans seem extra aggressive.
 
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Good points all around. Actually, I have played out nearly 50% Russian wins on fairly full servers. And quite often, the Germans can't take Hill 90. That is the sticking point. It is all about communication and teamwork. If you see a disjointed German team early, they will never win unless the Russian team is worse off.

I am currently thinking of making both Hill 90 and 100 optional objectives or changing the cap dependencies somehow. Not sure yet. Thoughts?

I wanted to release beta2 July 12th, but with the prospect of new vehicles right on the doorstep, decided to hold off. As soon as we have an idea of time frame for introducing new tanks/trucks, I will decided on release of beta2.
 
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I would agree at this point to keep them mandatory. But if you felt you must, must make one of them optional, then make it Hill 100. Hill 90 overlooks the Bridge and Village and even part of the Train Station. Also the one flank of the AT Bunker. I think its value to either side would be too great to be considered bypassable.

Only (very) oddball suggestion I could make would be concerning the AT Bunker on cap dependencies. The Germans may want to bypass it to get to the Village; flank and bypass areas of strength. However, if you were to do that, you should make the AT Bunker stronger with extra AT Guns aiming at the flanks to harass any Germans attempting to bypass it. Only thing I could think of and I am not saying it is a good idea, just an idea.... :eek:
 
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Moe, I don't totally disagree with you. Spawns, flow, and spawn protections would be the problem. I had a huge 11 objective thing planned for Berezina to allow such flanking and 'kessel' making, but ditched it due to many factors. Maybe someday I'll do a big old 4km x 1km map that allows for pincer moves and such. I did think of adding another bunker and AT gun, but it might really tilt the balance there. Just need more tweaking I think to make that a tougher nut to cap.
 
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I remember the optional flanking choice in Berezina that had to be dropped and was initially bummed because the North Farm area did not get much play. Then of course the AT Guns were added and the Germans routinely use that road to flank now.

Hard to think of any cap sequence changes. You still are contemplating making the village recappable?
 
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Very nice map, I love these huge scale combined arms maps with trenches & stuff. I've played this a couple of times and found only two complainments.

First, there's a ramp leading to the AT-bunker trenches on the right (looking from the front from German perspective) where you'll have to jump to get on the ramp and down to the trench. Small thing but irritating if you have ran all the way and can't get to the bloody trenchworks because you can't jump due to exhaustion. I think generally maps should be desinged so that players don't ever have to jump because jumping is so damn difficult in the game.

Second, I think the AT gun in the AT-bunker is too easy to destroy. After all it takes only one shot, and that's pretty much the first thing I'll always do as a German tanker. This makes life way to easy for the Germans and isn't even realistic. If there's a way to make the gun more durable it would be great.

This is a great map with a good atmosphere. I played it last night and the fighting was intense in the village and on the hill above the village. For some reason or other positions before the village (2 hills and an AT bunker) usually got taken pretty fast.

Since I played as a Russian and we lost 2 out of 3 rounds, I think the Russians might need a slightly quicker spawning cycle for the BT7.
 
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Beta 2 changes so far:
- Main village is recappable.
- More eye candy and useful cover added across map.
- Modest terrain changes to smooth rough areas, provide minor rises or gullies for cover.
- Tweaking of some spawn locations to move them a bit closer to the next objective.
- Reduced saturation of yellow grass.

Considerations for Beta 2:
- Per Brit's suggestion, set wider arty dispersion for both teams.
- Arty strikes are 3 per team. Thinking about plus 1 for Germans.
- More transports. Still a victim of single-HT drivers running off to battle.
- Figuring out why triggers hate this map! I have a few cool ideas but triggers hate me recently.
- Reduce round time to 30 minutes from 40. I have seen it go the distance and end at 25, thoughts?

I played this map last night as a Russian. I think it is very close to perfect. One of my favorite maps ever...however it is a bit hard on the Russians especially since they can't recap and get wiped out by suddenly-apprearing minefields.

So here's a radical possibility: given the Russians a smaller, flanking bunker or OP that is Russian-only (capturable by both, but spawnable only as Russian, representing a neighboring unit entering the battle), but remote and an infantry-only spawn that can be used to threaten the main German axis of advance during most of the game.
 
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:)

One original concept...ok, two that I had for the map, that will not work. I had an advanced spawn for the Russian start at the west ridge but it would not work. The other one was a floating timer that would spawn a pair of T34s if the Germans can't win the map. That was to be a 'cavalry' to the rescue trick but again, the triggers don't want to work. I'll try again to implement that feature as I think it would be fun and offer a new twist. Glad you like the map. I am anxious to get beta2 out and we are getting close with the StuG-B and we will include the smoke rounds with that and the HE shells. A new KV1-41 is planned but probably won't make beta2. Also trying to drag a Zis truck along but doubtful at the moment. Currently discussing another vehicle option for a later release with the map.
 
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:)

One original concept...ok, two that I had for the map, that will not work. I had an advanced spawn for the Russian start at the west ridge but it would not work. The other one was a floating timer that would spawn a pair of T34s if the Germans can't win the map. That was to be a 'cavalry' to the rescue trick but again, the triggers don't want to work. I'll try again to implement that feature as I think it would be fun and offer a new twist. Glad you like the map. I am anxious to get beta2 out and we are getting close with the StuG-B and we will include the smoke rounds with that and the HE shells. A new KV1-41 is planned but probably won't make beta2. Also trying

Well...the basic structure of the map is extremely good. The action builds up steadily to a catastrophic mess for the Russians and makes for some great fighting so any additional stuff ought to be icing on a well-built cake. Maybe increasing the rapidity of BT7 arrivals over the round will give the Germans a similar feeling of impending doom...that is, if you can change the timing of BT7 arrivals as the round runs on.
 
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