On my fileshare, Arrival.8 at the time of this post.

Map Name: Arrival.8

Photo Album

Designed for Dominion, CTF, and Slayer, supports Oddball and KOTH.

Vehicles
- Dominion:
--- Alpha: Rocket Hog, Chain Hog
--- Bravo: Ghost
--- Charlie: Rocket Hog, Chain Hog

- Others:
--- Red and Blue team each: Rocket hog, Chain Hog, 2x Mongoose
--- Center area of map: Banshee (180s spawn, not on start)

More information:

The design of this map uses strictly rocks, scenery to (a) make an outdoor dominion game play and (b) to maintain cohesion with the surrounding aesthetics of the forerunner structure - to make the arrival of the Spartans appear believable. All bases are in the open with only Bravo base having any kind of roof, but no base has any fully enclosed spaces for protection. As a result, the Banshee is not used in Dominion at all, making a foot infantry style game play with the hogs.

The goal of this map has evolved to focus on making the game play more competitive and less Action Sack style by reducing the power weapons and power vehicles on the map. The engagements have resulted in base turn overs in line with less overly powerful defenses as seen in the playlist, making it more of a challenge to maintain control of bases and as a result more of a challenging game.

this map also includes man cannons at the far corners of the Ravine to bridge the center and make a path between A and C. Also, in the flight path of the man cannon, jet packs are disabled to prevent the player from using the man cannon's forward momentum and flying all the way to the enemy base.

I included make shift ramps at A and C to give more interesting movement and play at those bases. And people seem to enjoy using those ramps to both control the bases and look out over the base.

There are only two OBJ DROPS per base. For A and C, they yield 1 rocket, 1 shotgun, 2 DMRs, 1 BR, 1 Needler, and a few frags/plasma grenades between both drops each. For B, there are lasers, incineration cannons, and other lighter weapons. Bravo gets more anti vehicle weapons because it has the least vehicles and it is the most accessible base. The intent is to provide the type of fire power typical with a Slayer game, perhaps a little more, to ensure that a player doesn't have to respawn to reload.

INIT DROPS:
- shot gun at each base
- incineration cannon at ravine edge in middle
- sniper at top ledge of dugout

OBJECTIVE DROPS: (dominion game type)
- 2 @ A and C each: rocket and close range, but mostly low power weapons and grendades.
- 2 @ B: sniper, laser, incineration cannon and less powerful ordinance

RANDOM DROPS: (non dominion game types)
- sniper, incineration cannon and less powerful top ledge of dugout
- various powerups, grenades, etc at ravine edge in middle


I am posting this map here at HWM in hopes that you can provide some feedback to help me improve the map for better game play. It is a map I am working on for MM submission when 343i asks for maps in the future. Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I'm not a Dominion expert, and probably never will be, but it looks rather small for 6v6. And not just square footage but in all things. There isn't much vertical variation, dance floor, cover, or structure.

To be fair, good feedback comes from an actual game but thats my initial impression.

Hope to get a game on it sometime.

This map looks like it has a lot of potential, but I think it needs more life to it. Maybe adding in some large crates here and there, it would maintain the look of the map and add in some character at the same time. If you just have rocks and the bases, IMO that doesn't make for the most interesting map.
I would have the hog spawn inside a large crate, or put some of those artifact bases sticking up here and there, perhaps some enclosures consisting of temporary UNSC stuff.
Hope that helps, I'd love to try it out though.

TuphorX- thanks, i am out of crates, but I could possible switch a small one for a larger one.

LuvGunn - What do you look for that would suggest that a dance floor exists? I am wondering because a dance floor I always thought is precluded when you are in tight areas with low ceilings and no cover or exits near by.

You've got plenty of map that acts as "dancefloor" it just might not be enough for an interesting 6v6 match. (I REALLY don't know). But it just looks like you didn't create any of your own. You've added rocks and crates but there doesn't seem to be any structure, caves, or interesting geometry. This is obviously intentional so its probably just a matter of taste but, and again this is without playing the map, it just doesn't appeal to me.

I'll look for you online to get a playtest in.