Prototype Showcase: Dome #3

(NXA-Orellien) #1

You’ve battled your way around our five Objective maps, and now we’re giving you a sneak peek at the next in development! From 17:00 UTC, Friday, July 31st until 17:00 UTC, Monday, August 3rd, certain servers will be set to be playing only Dome, in addition to the normal array of standard Objective and StopWatch servers. Be sure to look for them in the Server Browser if you want a sneak peek at the next map to come!

Event Duration

London (BST, UTC +1:00): 18:00, Friday, July 31st - 18:00, Monday, August 3rd
Los Angeles (PDT, UTC -7:00): 10:00 AM, Friday, July 31st - 10:00 AM, Monday, August 3rd
Sydney (AEST, UTC +10:00): 3:00 AM, Saturday, August 1st - 3:00 AM, Tuesday, August 4th

About Prototype Showcase
Dirty Bomb will always have something new in development, and whether it’s a new map, mode, or something else there’s no replacement for the kind of feedback that our players can provide. As such, we will occasionally give limited sneak peeks of upcoming content in its prototype state, in order to ensure that it is of the highest possible quality when it is fully released.

Please remember that these features are in a prototype state. While everything should be playable and largely functional, there will be bugs, there will be imbalances, and there will be parts that are clearly unfinished, most notably the textures on the maps, as well as pieces of poor collision…

About Dome
Dome is a large Objective/Stopwatch map featuring three objectives.

Objective 1

Objective 1 requires the Attackers to carry two Datacores from the helicopter near their spawn to a radar tower. Standing in their way, aside from the opposing team, are two gates that block direct routes to the Objective, and can be opened by blowing up nearby generators. As with other Delivery objectives, players carrying the object cannot use their abilities or weapons without dropping it, although it can be used as an improvised melee weapon if needed.

Objective 2

Objective 2 gives the attackers two bomb sites to plant at, ones that the defenders must defend against the attackers. Attackers can also open up additional routes through the objective by raising a ramp towards a rooftop, or fixing a forklift to do much the same. Only one of the bomb sites must be destroyed in order to trigger the next objective.

Objective 3

Objective 3 is another Bomb objective, requiring the attackers to plant a bomb on an anti-aircraft gun. There’s a few dozen paths through the area, and more can be activated by destroying two doors along the main path. Once the bomb is detonated, the Attackers have won the map.

Please let us know what you think of Dome in the Official Forums!

–Team Dirty Bomb–

(Backuplight) #2

Haven’t actually tried this one out yet, pretty keen to take a look!

(Hellfig) #3

Will this be a 10vs10 event?
Anything lower as 10 persons per team isn’t acceptable for such a large map.

(MisterMurder) #4

Sweet!

(VincentRJaeger) #5

I missed this the last couple of times so I was looking forward to try it out.

Then I realised I’m not on my stationary computer!

(chicHouse) #6

this is beautiful

(Ardez1) #7

Another week, another weekend. Looking forward to this weekends event. :slight_smile: This seems to be a pattern.

(Nail) #8

[quote=“Hellfig;56895”]Will this be a 10vs10 event?
Anything lower as 10 persons per team isn’t acceptable for such a large map.[/quote]

wrong game, this one is spammy at 8v8

(ludicrousBlast) #9

I played this a little bit at the last showcase, defense won every single time. Have any changes been made to make it a little more fair towards attackers? (I might have just been unlucky, I just have yet to see offense win on this map)

(NXA-Orellien) #10

Dome should be up now! Enjoy!

(Packiej) #11

The radar tower is a bit campy… Its hard to place the obj, if some one camping the stairs(radar).

(Sithas) #12

The defenders overall have it a little easy on this map, but other than that its a great map.

(neg0ne) #13

my 5 cents: Dome was a really great map until SD started to mess with adding a 1st Obj.
The one before was crap and this one does not at all meat the greatness of 2. and 3. Obj.

plz rethink the */(§&")= 1.st obj and this map has the potential to be awsome

(Ctrix) #14

Ok first of all, proper playtesting of a map is going to take way longer than a weekend.

That being said, this map is too big. I apprechiate you guys trying to make a complex map, but my initial impression is that with the long walk ways together with the respawn timers being 25 seconds (?) means you only have half of each team on the map fighting at any one moment. Together with people getting lost all the time, I’ve only really seen 3v3s on a full 12 man server.

Next point, people getting lost. Now this is only a problem in so far that people need to learn the map and then it’ll go away. Which is good! A map that takes a while to figure out all the intricacies of means deep gameplay.
But here’s the kicker, intricacies. But even the main paths are hardly obvious, as a defender on 2nd multiple times after respawning I ended up turning through corridors, no idea how to get to the fighting, or anywhere really. You absolutely NEED some CS style <-A B-> style markers in the final textures. Otherwise every new player will spent the first 10 games aimlessly wandering around.

Lastly, first objective. Do the attackers really need those two turrets aimed straight at the defender entrances? That’s a bit much.
Also the whole way the delivery point is in that pit. Not a fan of that. Should be higher up instead. Have it need to be defended (from both sides) by pushing the other team out of the yard, and not reward camping ontop of it/rushes hiding behind all the geometry.
The attacker turrets only further encourage defenders cramping themselves into the pit with shotguns.
Also the attacker entrances to the yard are too close to both the yard itself and the attacker spawn. There’s no way as defenders to really get between the yard and the attacker spawn. No chokes are available. The defenders I’ve seen be beyond the yard towards the attackers were just bypassed without each site even realising it.
The whole part seems to have been designed with only the attackers in mind.

(Sithas) #15

[quote=“Ctrix;58064”]Lastly, first objective. Do the attackers really need those two turrets aimed straight at the defender entrances? That’s a bit much.
Also the whole way the delivery point is in that pit. Not a fan of that. Should be higher up instead. Have it need to be defended (from both sides) by pushing the other team out of the yard, and not reward camping ontop of it/rushes hiding behind all the geometry.
The attacker turrets only further encourage defenders cramping themselves into the pit with shotguns.
Also the attacker entrances to the yard are too close to both the yard itself and the attacker spawn. There’s no way as defenders to really get between the yard and the attacker spawn. No chokes are available. The defenders I’ve seen be beyond the yard towards the attackers were just bypassed without each site even realising it.
The whole part seems to have been designed with only the attackers in mind.[/quote]

As long as the defenders keep the barriers up they can use those turrets for defense. Which i like because this makes the turrets usefull for both teams.

(Badger_Commander) #16

Just to Echo Ctrix a bit. I also think the map may be a bit too large. It can take quite a while (compared to the other levels) to get to objectives which is partly because of the labyrinthine nature of the map and also because it’s new and we don’t know the routes yet. The second point is fair enough but it seems to me that if the map is going to be so complex with so many alternate routes then it could be a little smaller.

The team is getting very spread out and ok maybe that’s their fault but with people taking different routes all the time they’re converging on the objective in a very staggered way that doesn’t lead to big meaty battles as often.

Also I agree that some more signposting of ‘main’ routes would be great. I do like that it’s a lot more vertical than other maps, that’s cool and all of the chances to use the parkour mechanics is nice especially given their relative scarcity in the other maps.

(GildedDark) #17

i think that the first obj is almost impossible for the attackers to get off. Only one out of my 13 games have the attackers gotten off the first obj

(GhostEntity) #18

Firstly, I like that there is an effort into trying a different kind of map (complex layout, many paths etc) so please don’t take any of the bellow comments as only negatives. Keep up the good work!

@Ctrix I agree that the map is too big. It takes a very long time to get back into action and often leads to to a objective fail cascade (where the attackers build too much forward momentum). So maybe another way of looking at it is that the players are too far away from eachother when they spawn?

My other thoughts are mostly focused on the first objective as many games I played never progressed from there. I think that this first step is too hard. This is [u]why[u] I think this:

  1. Attackers starting area is really really big. Really big and empty. All you do is run. I’m sorry to say but it’s not interesting or fun and repeated runs (from respawns) adds up very quickly (in regard to lost time).
    Potential Fix: One way to offset this is perhaps have a forward spawn point to capture/uncapture (like in terminal) instead of a second generator powered door.

  2. The first objective pit. Like Ctrix, I think that something needs to be done here. My take on it however is I think that the stairs down (as pretty as they are!) need to be changed. The overhangs provide far too much cover. I’m not saying remove them all but the games that I played showed that defensive mercs like Bushwacker and Rhino can hide down there with complete immunity from airstrikes, artillary and space lasers.
    Potential Fix: Reduce the size of the landings at the top of the stairs. Enough so that defenders can be hit with splash damage from abilities. ie some cover but not 100%. Shame, the pit looks good!

http://i1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff385/dubb_vault18/Misc%20gaming/2_zpsb3ww5ymu.jpg

  1. The twin gates at the start. This ties in with point 1. The first gate, after debating with myself a lot, is ok. BUT having a second gate, with it’s attached generator, is so far from the attackers spawn point is very hard to open and keep open, It’s a massive time sink.
    Potential Fixes: Like in point one, a forward spawn in place of the second gate might make a more interesting focal point? Or maybe change the second gate to a destructable wall so there is still something to fight over but if the defenders lose it then it’s gone BUT the attackers still need to run all the way back if they die.

http://i1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff385/dubb_vault18/Misc%20gaming/3_zpsjp8xu8wn.jpg

In the before time I was invited into the alpha forums and was granted the rare chance to comment on early map designs but life, as it often does, pulled me away. I’ll not miss my chance to contribute my thoughts again!

(bushyg) #19

The old full cover on the delivery point made the first Objective easier. It’s pretty hard to get past the 1st Objective on Attackers.

This map has been in Beta for a realllllllly long time now. Surely after a few tweaks it’ll be released soon? I hope there’s going to less waiting time for other new maps.

(Whens_Phoenix) #20

First things first: I think the map is excellent and I’m looking forward to it being implemented.
I love the amount of side objectives and general emphasis on movement, but I think if you want to implement this map, you need to add a movement tutorial. New people don’t know that there is a longjump and walljump and this is absolutely needed here.

What most people in the thread seem to criticize is the size of the map.
I’m gonna compare this map to chapel, as it shows exactly what happens when you make it too small.
Chapel is a narrow corridor at first which turns into a meat grinder. There is only 1 Side objective for that part and it gives you access to a Machinegun instead of opening new approaches.


Typical chapel gameplay

Once you finally manage to get out of that hellhole you have to go down two additional corridors and end up in a round area with litttle cover. There you find only 1 sideobjective, which gives you nothing but an elevated position to shoot from.

In my opinion that entire map is a disaster and Dome being “too big” is a nice change of pace in that regard.

So what about the current version of Dome?
Dome opens up with two side objectives which give access to a total of 3 ways to approach the objective.
It then gives you alternatives to win the next stage, more side objectives and an entire sewer-system. This sewer connects both objectives to be able to switch between them fast, at the cost of it being super confined.
And finally one last central objective to go for, combined with side objectives.

This is a grand total of 4 sideobjectives more and at least 3 ways to go for the main objectives, compared to one corridor with some hallways at the side to get blown up in.

So what does that mean?
First of all it’s currently the only map, that I think can be played in 8Vs8 without turning into a clusterf…
It also makes Rhino and Nader less useful, as they dominate chokepoints and corridors and there are little of those.
Vasili might actually be good for something, as his heartbeat sensor can cover the different approaches at once and the size of the map warrants a longrange specialist on defense.
Proxy is pretty much required on offense due to her being the fastest objective specialist.
And yeah Fragger will still be the meta-king.

In my opinion changing the size isn’t needed but maybe move the initial spawn more to the middle of the three approaches, or add a forward spawn to make it a bit easier if the attackers do get stuck.
What I don’t like however is, that the objectives on the second and third stage are surrounded by thick foliage, which makes proxy mines and fletcher bombs hard to spot. I don’t know if that is intentional or if textures would help but I don’t think it’s good design.
I also think the secondary option of stage two that is covered my a machinegun is too open and frankly worse for the attackers, so you hardly see it getting blown up.

Overall a little tweaking and you got yourselves probably the best map in the game.