Moose has been the best tester so far. Playing with just him, we got really far into the game. Everyone else needs to step up their game.

Also, taking into account the increasing costs of upgrades, especially late in the game, I have put in a progressive cash kills system. It starts off at 5 ore 1 gas per kill, but then later in the game at a specific time that will increase.

Due to the conflicts with Aldaris sharing the same attack as Tassadar, I'm making the final boss a protoss dark templar rather than Aldaris.

I've been running tests by starting the game at certain timer amounts and checking to see if the events are running properly.

Also, in addition to the final boss having progressive hp depending on how fast you kill the cells, it also gets progressively stronger as well. If you kill the stasis cells in under 5 minutes the final boss is given to p8, and if you kill it in under 10 minutes it is given to p6. If you fail to kill the cells at all then it will be given to p5.

I like your idea of adjusting bosses based on the player's actions. Keep up the good work man.

Wow triple posting...

I like the boss progression too...
I wouldn't mind testing (but u seem to dislike me )

Actually it's quintuple posting.

Wow, looks (and sounds) like an awesome game. I would test, but I don't play online much anymore. Plus, I've never really tested a StarCraft map for anyone before so I would be pretty inexperienced. If you're in dire need another tester though, just PM me. I'll help out as best I can.

I can't wait to play the finished version.

Best of luck,
Phenix

Testing isn't hard if you know how to map. Basically you do what the map maker says, and try as hard as possible to break it.
For example, when i was testing Antz with r00k, I played normally for a while, at the same time as trying to build nydus canals where i shouldn't, and looking for glitches. The main one i found was that the ant queen could jump into the next level and walk around to the final boss, and onehit kill it.

Yea, testing for this map is simple. All I really need is for people to just play through it and try to beat it. If it's unbeatable then that means I need to do some balancing.

However, unless you've been playing the map a lot and are experienced at it, I probably won't make any changes to the difficulty if you find it too hard since I don't want to it to be easy, especially for noobs.

Also, for this you don't really need to go out of your way to try to break it. I'm more interested in balancing and having people try to beat the map first.

I'm attaching the latest version here so if you want to try it just DL it.
[attach=4154]

Attachments:

Yay finally the open beta is out ty

I'm very interested in helping you test this.
e(x)iLe@useast

I was thinking of adding missile DOODAD turrets at each corner/intersection on the roads that would activate once some of the neutral defenses died or at some point later in the game.

The reason for this is that it would allow players to hold and defend the corners longer as the turrets would kill some enemies, but they would mostly act as damage tankers. If you can prevent yourself from losing the corners and being pushed back all the way into the base you have an easier time accessing the missions that are often on the outskirts of the map.

This game was too easy, we beat this game with Kenoli, devilesk and someone else and we got it down pretty solidly. The last boss was a joke, and some of the spawns were kinda unbalanced. Not too bad, besides the infinite spawning buildings, and the doors kinda get wonky. Also, the computer is stupid, ally and enemy.

You played a FAR earlier version. MUCH has changed since you played and if anything the last half hour is probably impossible right now. Orange enemy computer with +75 ups pretty much rapes.

Id be willing to test if you still need

Last night I thought of a better idea for making the barricades last a little longer into the game. At the :51 minute mark, about two minutes before the portal to hell event starts (which is when brown comes) any remaining neutral barricade tanks/vultures will be repaired (set to full health) and be given to p11 who has +50 armor.

Also, I'm going to write a guide for new players, because there's a lot of stuff you need to know in order to succeed, like how to be successful in the early game and how to finish key quests.



The yellow star in the middle is where you send your civs to be converted into other units. The selection area is at the top in the middle (purple rectangle). The green star is where you can gain access to tech buildings which are in the bottom left corner of the map. Upgrade buildings are also in the bottom left corner. You can heal at the beacon with the medic on it in the middle (blue star).

The first thing to notice are the enemy spawns numbered 1-8. There are four on each side. As you can see from the picture, spawns 1 and 8 intersect at the top corner, spawns 2 and 3 intersect at the left corner, spawns 4 and 5 intersect at the bottom corner, and spawns 6 and 7 intersect at the right corner. The corners are marked by the green squares.

In a four player game the first thing you want to do is assign a corner for each person to cover. Each person will also be responsible for the two spawns that intersect at the corner.

When the game starts each person starts out with a civilian and a medic. Convert your civ into a marine,ghost, or firebat and then send your marine to one of the lanes you're responsible for and the medic to another lane. In each lane there are two neutral civilians on the high ground that can be rescued. So once your marine and medic reach their respective lanes you'll want to rescue the civs so you can get more men. In the picture the civ locations are marked by the light blue circles.

After your marine saves one civ, send it to the end of the lane so you can start killing enemies. Getting as many kills as you can is important because you get more minerals for kills than if white killed them. Also remember that every two minutes you get an extra civilian in the middle.

At 1:25, 5 minutes into the game, air will start to spawn (marked at the red circles) and they will attack the corners. You'll want to have a couple units at your corner so you can kill them.

As the game progresses the outer neutral barricades will fall and you'll be retreating to your corner. The middle lanes will retreat to the corners sooner than the top and bottom lanes since the spawns are closer.

Upgrading armor is very important as the enemies progressively get stronger. However, in the early stages of the game just upgrade weapons since the barricades will be providing cover and you'll be able to get kills faster. Once you're at around 25 weapon upgrades you'll want to upgrade armor until it matches or exceeds your weapon upgrades.

The first real mission you'll be given is to rescue the engineers (SCVs) located at the light brown circle. You must do this mission because scvs are essential to completing many of the other quests. To complete the quest all you need to do is kill the two mature chrysalis that surround the door and then make sure the SCVs make it to town hall safely. Once completed you'll be rewarded with one free scv in the middle as well as the ability to turn civs into scvs.

The next important mission is the factory mission located at the pink circle. The factories will blow up and tanks,vultures, and gols will spawn and attempt to travel to town hall. Not much needs to be done on your part, just make sure they make it there. Once they reach town hall you'll be able to convert civs into tanks, gols, and vultures.

Research all the tech upgrades you can, especially siege mode and gol range. Medic restoration is also useful as there will be queens that ensnare.

You'll want to get a couple gols as they are effective against the air that spawns at the corners. Each player should also get a few tanks as they do a lot of damage. Their siege range will be important in future missions where you'll want to kill the boss enemies before they can reach you.

Once you get a few tanks there are a few things you'll want to kill. The area marked by the yellow diamond will spawn some zerg buildings that you'll want to clear out with tanks. Once the buildings are cleared an "artifact" (psi emitter) will spawn. Take that back to town hall with an SCV and you'll get dark archons. This "secret" mission doesn't need to be completed immediately, but should be done before things get too hard. You can just keep a couple tanks sieged in the area and leave them to kill the buildings while you do other stuff.

You will also need to use sieged tanks to kill the brown hydras in the cell next to where the engineers were located marked by the green circle. Be careful, because brown has +50 weapon and armor. Once the hydras are dead, send an SCV to mine out the minerals surrounding the door and then pick up the data disc which is the key that will unlock the medics.

Once the medic mission is announced, gather a force of about 4-6 tanks with about 6 marines and head to the top right corner of the map where the green triangle is. There will be a hatchery blocking the entrance that you'll have to kill. Once it's been killed send all of your units in at once. You'll first be facing a group of brown zealots. They're dangerous but you should be able to kill them before they can do any serious damage. DO NOT, kill the creep colonies on the right and DO NOT go anywhere near the ramp in the bottom left, that area is for much later as there is an orange goon waiting (+75 weapona and armor).

You don't want to kill the creep colonies right away because they're blocking off brown goons. What you want to do is siege your tanks and kill the goons outside of their attack range. Once the goons are dead you'll have to face an archon, but you'll need to activate it by getting close to it, so send a marine to lure it out. You should have the other marines spread out so they don't get splashed, but in front of the tanks so the tanks don't get attacked. The archon can kill the marines in a couple hits so be careful. You'll want to get your tanks to kill it as fast as possible. Once the archon is dead you can send your SCV into the back to where the medics are (green star). This will complete the mission and you'll now be able to turn civs into medics. Also note that the medics that you rescued will also be given to you so take them out with you.

At 1:06 a jet carrying a group of special forces will crash at the airport in the bottom left of the map (gray circle). You'll want to send a small group of units to meet them and escort them back to the base.

The next quest that you need to do is the sewer upgrade quest. The entrance to the sewer is located on the right of the map in the middle where the blue dot is. To access the entrance you'll need to first mine out the min patches with an SCV. To complete this question you'll need to bring at least 4-6 tanks, 4-6 marines, at least one ghost, and an SCV. Around the first bend in the tunnel you'll encounter a very strong hero carrier which you must lockdown with the ghost. Then use your SCV to build a missile turret in the closest buildable space available. Missile turret is the most effective way to kill the carrier as it does a lot of damage.

After the carrier is dead, keep pushing your way through the sewer and go up the ramp. Siege your tanks on the high ground and lure out the archon that is farther down the sewer with your marines. Then keep going all the way to the end of the sewer. At the end they'll be a powerup that you'll pick up with an SCV, but first you must kill the orange zealot that is waiting at the end. The best way to do this is to just lure him back to your sieged tanks. Get the powerup and bring it back to town hall to have all your units upgraded into their hero versions. Note that ghosts do not autoupgrade, to upgrade them into kerrigans you'll have to bring them to the beacon with the wraith over it in the base (blue star).

Also, before you leave the sewer, if you explore the high ground where the ramp is you'll find a creep colony. Kill it and behind it there will be a battery (mineral chunk). Take that back to the town hall using an SCV and you'll get a high templar.

At :46 the plane that crashed at the airport before will explode and spawn a bunch of brown enemies. You'll want to have a group of tanks and other units there before hand or somewhere in the area where you can reach push to the airport easily. The important thing is that you kill the enemies before they destroy the airport. Once that's done, if you move a unit onto the beacon with the shuttle over it, you'll get a shuttle which will spawn in the middle. You can keep returning to the beacon to get a new shuttle if your old one dies. Shuttles are important for accessing various powerups scattered across the map.

Post has been edited 6 time(s), last time on Dec 21 2009, 4:09 am by Jeraziah.

Maybe SCVs could build supply depots that convert into barricades (tanks), might be a little OP depending on effective the barricades are and how cheap they are. Those sunken colonies are also equally annoying, you really can't prevent them from spawning once you've lost the area. Most of the units on the top-left and left side tend to pigeon hole directly left to the base, leaves no kills for anyone covering the top of the base. Also, de-selecting the civilians once you've moved onto the weapon beacons might help a little bit, since I often give orders and sometimes one civ doesn't get on, I issue another order, and my other 3 civs that teleported go onto the vulture beacon, leaving me with ownage vultures. Is there any way to stop the air units from spawning? Also, you should be able to call in air-strikes or helicopters!

Eh, after thinking about it I concluded that it's not really necessary. You can defend the base find without needing reinforcements, and any later in the game barricades just get ripped apart easily.

They spawn regardless of how much control you have over the area. It's a timed event, but you can kill them at some point once you get defilers.

Done.

yes kill the spires.

I'll think about it.

I think you need to advertise this more, people don't know the epicness of STA. You need to advertise it as a better version of Raccoon City basically.

Help me advertise then.