Fight for the Dam

Description
Another map from 237th_SC_Com_Bly.

This map is centered around a large dam, as the name suggests, in a hilly area with some waterfalls. Overall, the map looks nice, and can provide for some interesting battles at multiple choke points. The Empire starts on a plateau north of the dam, and the Rebels start in a town to the south of it. A couple of mining facilities are scattered around the map, and each faction's bases consist of multiples of the same building.

The author has used props to create the bridges and the dam itself, and it works well. The general texturing of the map looks rather good, but could be improved upon by varying the textures a bit more. I suggest that the author take a look at Petroglyph's maps, in which there are small variations in texture, which make a map look just that much more realistic. The water has been created not with standard ingame water, but by applying a water texture to land. Standard water could have been used on the lowest level, but the way it is done by the author looks surprisingly good nonetheless, if you don't mind completely static water. As on the other maps by this author, there is no fog. This does not dtract from the map overall, but adding it can only make it look better.

The author claims to have added markers to the map, but unfortunately, they did not appear to work for me when I tested it. Whether this is just me I am not sure, but be warned that the markers may not work, meaning that you do not get starting units. Another problem is that all the buildings are destroyed and must be built at the start of the battle, even when "Pre-Build Base" is selected. I am not sure if this was intentional, but from my knowledge of mapping, I know that it should easily be fixable in the next version. Also, the author should note that units cannot walk on props. The units move through the bridges, but this could be fixed by increasing the height so it matches the top of the bridge, and then applying a "hole" texture.

In the end, this map has a lot of potential, and has a lot going for it. However, it has some problems that should be adressed, but can still play rather well. I recommend giving this map a try, and giving the author feedback, as I am sure he would like to improve.

If anyone is wondering why the version is 2.0, then it is because this version was submitted before we put V1 up, so I decided just to put the new one up.

NOTE: This file is not zipped, so the download may take a bit longer than normal.