Überena

Dating back as early as 2004, this map was my take on Team Micro Arena, another series of maps popular at the time. Whereas Team Micro Arena had players choose from predefined sets of units, Überena simply gave each player predetermined amounts of minerals with which they could build whatever units they wanted. Two teams of up to four players battle it out to destroy the other team's headquarters (Overmind). They earn mineral upgrades and heroes, which buy powerful units or effects, along the way.



DOWNLOADS:
SEN DLDB
Nibbits Project


Specs, Basic Information, Features
* 2 to 8 players divided into two teams of four.
* Terrain is Jungle, 128x128. The arena itself is 74x44 excluding the water and borders, 98x62 including them.
* A typical game can last 60+ minutes.
* The map uses a custom killscore system to reduce killstores of more expensive units and therefore make them more viable for player's use. It is, however, not perfect and may be inconsistent, particularly when many units are killed simultaneously in one trigger cycle.


Game Modes
The player in the lowest player number slot selects the game mode at the beginning.

Classic: This mode is the default mode if none is selected before the timer runs out. Players gain minerals and heroes based on fixed score amounts, all of which are listed in the mission objectives. Score only decreases via suicide penalty, but the amount of minerals a player gets per spawn never decreases, even if the penalties drop their scores beneath the score needed for their current mineral level.

Modern: Mineral amounts per spawn are connected to score ranges or tiers. The range which a player is in is shown at each spawn and all tiers are listed in the mission objectives. In addition to normal suicide penalties, a player's score decreases by 10% on each death, and the amount of minerals a player gets per spawn can decrease if the score drops into a lower tier. The first hero is awarded when a player accumulates 10,000 cumulative points, the next hero at 30,000 more cumulative points, and then one more hero for every 50,000 cumulative points after.


Mechanics
Score: The map uses a custom killscore system to reduce killstores of more expensive units and therefore make them more viable for player's use. The system is not perfect and may be inconsistent when many units are killed simultaneously in one trigger cycle.

Comsat: All players start with a Comsat Station for Scanner Sweep, for which scan costs 75 energy. It is reccomended to hotkey the Comsat. Players have a second Comsat frozen at 0 energy, for which use is unlocked through a hero; make sure to use the correct (top) Comsat while the other one is locked.

Spawning: Build whatever units you like with your minerals each spawn and deploy using the Bunker. Unloading the Ghost deploys your units, whereas unloading the Firebat will cancel your build and reset your minerals after about three seconds. (Danger: If you use the mineral bonus hero and cancel, you will lose the bonus minerals.) It is reccomended to hotkey the Bunker. You can safely deploy with the (U)nload All hotkey, as the Ghost deployment takes precedence over build cancelling. All casters deploy with 25% energy.

Suicide: To suicide your units, simply move them off the arena's edge. Ground units can reach it via paths in the four corners of the map. Doing so carries a score penalty of half the unit's modified killscore and a corresponding respawn time penalty. The following units suicide with no penalty: Dropship, Shuttle, Overlord, Observer, Medic, Broodlings, Heroes (Infested Kerrigan, Artanis, Jim Raynor (Marine))


Heroes
+Minerals: Adds 1500 bonus minerals plus another 500 for every time this hero is used, up to a maximum of 7000 minerals. Click the display mineral to see the current level of mineral bonus.
Infested Kerrigan: Spawns an Infested Kerrigan at the player's Overmind. Players still respawn when all other units are dead if heroes are alive. Heroes are not subject to suicide penalty.
Minimind: Replaces your team's Overmind by an Overmind Cocoon with 5000 HP. Essentially this buys another 5000 HP for your HQ. Both teams are notified when a Minimind is purchased.
3x Respawn Rate (Team, 120s): For two minutes, the player's whole team respawns three times faster than normal.
ÜbArtanis/Raynor: Spawns an Artanis and Raynor Marine at the player's Overmind. Players still respawn when all other units are dead if heroes are alive. Heroes are not subject to suicide penalty.
Extra Comsat: Allows energy regeneration for the second Comsat and sets it to 100% energy.
Defense Traps: Activates the Floor Gun Traps surrounding the player's team's Overmind for 60 seconds. The player who activated the traps earns score for the units killed by the traps. The player still respawns when all other units are dead if the traps are active.
Team Heal & Energy Refill: Fully heals and sets energy to 100% on the player's team's units in the arena, as well as their Comsats. The team's units in the arena will continue to be fully healed once per second for eight seconds afterwards.


**** Version 033B -- June 24, 2013
- Fixed bug related to Minimind death when certain players leave the game.

Most Recent Changes
**** Version 033 -- June 17, 2013
- Eggs are now moved to the pre-spawn area while still under construction, so unloading before Scourge finish building will not waste a turn.
- Adjusted terrain near Overminds so Tanks cannot hit them from the south or north over the walls.
- Adjusted deploy locations to have deployment be slightly more outward. (1 tile)
- Usual minor changes to strings.
- Fixed build cancel for the right team.
- Removed SCV and Command Center to eliminate instant repair cheese. Engineering Bays removed as Turrets can no longer be built.
- Increased Feedback cost from 15 to 25.
- Increased Maelstrom cost from 25 to 45.
- Increased Lockdown cost from 40 to 45.
- Increased Stasis Field cost from 140 to 175.
- Carriers and Reavers are now set to full hangars in the pre-spawn area.
- TinyMap2 was setting Consume's energy cost to 0, it has been restored to the proper 20 energy as per Version 031.
- Adjusted the mineral tiers in Modern mode to make progression faster. The mineral tier minimums are now given in the mission objectives. Heroes are given at 10k total points, 30k after that, then every 50k after that. Fixed how the 50k total point hero award only subtracted 20k.
- Fixed initial unit placement by Bunkers that would cause some players to start off with a build cancel message if a sufficient number of players were in the game. (Also fixed by the next item.)
- Players can no longer deploy or cancel before a game mode is selected.
- Added a safety, deploying without building units is considered a canceled build. No points will be deducted in Modern mode.
- Broodlings added into the suicide triggers. They suicide for free.


**** Version 032 -- June 08, 2013
General:
- Added Modern and Classic modes. Selection defaults to Classic in 30 seconds.
- Redid the arena terrain, left/right instead of top/bottom now.
- Mineral upgrade and hero information is shown in the mission objectives now.
- Overhauled respawn and suicide mechanics. A player's respawn time is now visible and indicated by Vespene Gas.
- New suicide mechanics. Suicide penalty is half the unit's modified killscore and a proportional penalty to spawn time.
- The following units suicide with no penalty: Dropship, Shuttle, Overlord, Observer, Medic, Heroes (Infested Kerrigan, Artanis, Jim Raynor (Marine))
- Changed player color for Brown to Tan for improved visibility.
- Moved Yggdrasill Overlords so deployment is actually near unit storage now.
- Spam-clicking the Yggdrasill Overlords out of the box will kill and replace them instead of just killing them.
- Removed Zergling attack speed.
- Removed superfluous locations that I couldn't remember the purpose of.
- Various trigger efficency improvements.
- Many string changes and polishing.
- Fixed potential exploit where Cocoons/Lurker Eggs could pass between spawns.
- Added victory triggers for when the other team leaves the game.
- Removed Citadels of Adun for players, as they were not necessary.
- Removed Geysers. Let's be honest, stack attack was a joke move.
- Removed Drones and creep from the terrain. This made Zerg Evolution Chambers superfluous, and they were also removed.
- Added Map Revealers to the spawn storage area.
- Disabled Infestation ability on Queens.
- Victory triggers now activate when the last player on the opposing team leaves the game.

Heroes:
- Removed Nuke, replaced with 3x Respawn Rate (Team, 120s).
- Mineral bonus now goes to a maximum +7000 instead of +5000.
- Added text message when using mineral bonus, includes warning not to cancel a build.
- Added text message and minimap ping for Infested Kerrigan purchase.
- Added text message and minimap ping for Übartanis / Raynor purchase.
- Added text message and minimap ping when buying second Comsat. Also added warning and DT move when trying to buy it multiple times.
- Minimind HP changed from 3600 to 5000.
- Improved handling of Minimind placement and Overmind replacement when the Minimind is destroyed.
- Fixed bug for buying Minimind with second team when it already had one.
- Added text message and minmap ping for both teams when either team buys Minimind.
- Fixed bug where second team could activate defense guns while they were already active (thereby losing time) or prevent first team from using them.
- Added text message and minimap ping when Defense Guns are activated, only for the team using them. Another text message notifies the team when the time runs out.
- Removed 3x Invincible IT hero, replaced with Team Heal once per second for eight seconds, 100% energy refill once.


**** Version 031 -- Date Unknown
- I have forgotten if I ever released or completed work on this version, especially since the version I had was lacking some Version 030 changes. Skipped to Version 032 to be safe.
- Fixed bugs related to Minimind's death. (note: There were still more.)
- Decreased cost of consume to 20.

**** Versions 030B & 030C -- Mar. 14, 2008
- Fixed bugs related to the Minimind.

**** Version 030 -- (on or before) Dec. 30, 2007
- Changed version naming, what would have been "Beta 030" simply became "v030".
- Bugfixes for death and respawn triggers.
- Fixed location size on the arena to cover the whole battlefield, which possibly corrected double death bugs.
- Fixed bug where players had a normal death and suicide penalty death at the same time.
- Went back to Übers/Noobers for force names.
- Cleaned up some strings.
- Modified terrain slightly, but not in the arena.
- Overmind HP changed from 22707 to 27070 (the original amount)
- Decreased build times and/or costs for Missile Turret, Bunker, Creep Colony, Sunker Colony, Spore Colony, Pylons, Shield Batteries, and Photon Cannons.
- Removed Overmind Heal hero option and replaced with Minimind. When purchased, the Overmind moves to a storage area and the Minimind takes its place. When destroyed, the Overmind returns to its original spot. Essentially, this purchases additional HP for the Overmind. This has a side of effect of making nukes less powerful.
- Heroes in excess of the first are moved out of the selection area to prevent blocking and congestion.
- Changed defense gun placement around a bit.
- Changed damage on defense guns to 40 (38 factoring in two armor upgrades on everything, so essentially, one hit lings).
- Fixed bug where suicide didn't cause a score penalty.





Post has been edited 27 time(s), last time on Jun 24 2013, 11:41 pm by Mini Moose 2707.

That's something along the lines of what Deathknight had talked about for an Arena map years ago. Basically the premise is that the first people to reach the score for a Hero are usually the most skilled, so he suggested some way of boosting the Noobers. This method (a la Risk) is a good way of doing so without stacking the tables heavily in favor of the Noobs (which otherwise could cause people faking bad skillz to "earn" the boost).

P.S. find my Majesty 2 topic yet?

You know, this is a pretty schweet map. Atleast, when you're winning. It becomes a bit boring once they get 500,000 or so points ahead of you=P

If they've got a 500k lead and don't beat your ass, that's pretty pathetic.
Though my solution to four hour games is coming. ^_^

» Beat030 is just v030 now. Build 030 might sound cool for future versions, anyone else like?
» I put some work into the death triggers that "should" fixed them.
» I also made the battlefield location cover the whole battlefield... that might have something to do with people dying twice.
» No more of that dying/suiciding at the same time bullshit.
» Went back to Übers/Noobers for force names.
» Cleaned up some strings.
» Modified terrain slightly. Not in the arena.
» Stopped being lazy trigger-wise with the extra Comsat. The extra is given to P12 at the start of the game and returned to you when you use the hero (ie, you can't select the wrong one). Hooray for P12 optimizations. Never mind. We can't use give triggers on add-ons.
» Overmind HP from 22707 to 27070 (the original amount)
» Decreased build times and/or costs for Missile Turret, Bunker, Creep Colony, Sunker Colony, Spore Colony, Pylons, Shield Batteries, and Photon Cannons.
» Overmind heal has been removed. Here is how things will work: There is now a purchasable "Minimind" hero that costs 1 hero. When it is bought, the Overmind is moved into a storage area and the Minimind takes it place. It is moved back upon destruction of the Minimind. Essentially, heroes will purchase additional HP. This has a side of effect of de-gaying the nuke.
» No more heroes costing 2, so max of one hero in the selection area now. No more blocking or clusterfucks.
» Changed defense gun placement around a bit.
» Changed damage on defense guns to 40 (38 factoring in armor upgrades on everything, so essentially, one hit lings).
» Fixed the fact that suicide penalties to points vanished completely.


IDEAS:
» Uberena "Modern". Its premise is that you lose a percentage of your score each spawn and your mineral amount adjusts accordingly (the exact numbers of score and minerals are adjusted from Classic, obviously). I may make Classic/Modern selectable from the beginning by a player from each team, or make it into seperate maps. Time will tell.
» New hero idea: -2 seconds per spawn, including suicides, but not cancelled build resets. Yea or nay?

Heh, I found a glitch, its called: Mineral Hackers.

One guy beat me... while having 30 Battlecruisers...

I suggest you change costs to gas, because "Mineral" Hackers, only get minerals i believe....

If the costs were in gas, wouldn't they just use a cash hack for more gas?

I dunno... If in that case, then:

That is already in the map.
My question concerns YOUR hypothetical where the normal units cost gas.

But, the guy killed me with 30 Battlecruisers. If you changed it to gas. He would have lost if it had gave him gas correct then?

Yes. But Battlecruisers cost minerals. If I changed all the units to gas, you would lose immediately because you would then start with 600 gas.
Of course, I would change the defeat trigger and nuke expense to minerals. Then they would use the resource hack to get more gas and build 30 Battlecruisers, and you'd be in the same shit.

SUMMARY: If the same resource hack used for minerals can be used for gas, there is no point to changing.

Not 100% sure, but I believe the mineral hack is just that a mineral hack. Not gas.

I can check for you, if it makes you happy Moose

Direct Quote from the Zerg Mineral Exploit:


Seems like you can only get minerals. That is the only version that I know of, this version is IN another hack called Oblivion.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jan 10 2008, 12:07 am by FrIuT.

Ok, I did some testing, and I came to this conclusion:

If something costs gas, you only get minerals still.

My hypothesis (if moose can use big words, so can I xD) is this:

It works off of the eggs and cocoons that are preplaced, but somehow, it makes them, and cancels them, and you get that amount of minerals. So, to stop this, you cannot have the following things in your maps: Hatchery, Lair, Drone, Hydralisk, Mutalisk, Spire, or Sunken Colony. (These, i know that your map cannot deal w/o)

So, just change everything to gas. You don't have to, but to even it out, then I would highly suggest it .


YES 0.0. Compact maps are better. If you put multiple maps into one, people (me) would love to play it! Because, who wants to dl 2 different maps for 2 of the same things? Also, I think it should be a voting system...

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jan 10 2008, 12:45 am by FrIuT.

FrIuT, did you ever think about why you lost? Like maybe because they're better and know how to use heroes? *cough* *cough*

How is that possible in the first 10 seconds? *cough* *cough*

I can confirm that the hack does not give gas. I played a hacker who actually gave up when his geyser depleted and he wasn't able to get an expansion.

Screw hackers. Hacking just shows how noob they are and deserves to win unfairly and gives them articial pride from cheating.

According to the ones I play, it means they're skilled and an overall better person than the person who doesn't hack. It also means anyone who doesn't is a loser 30 year old who plays SC in their mom's basement all day long (this description is probably a bit closer to the hacker though). It also means that the not hacker is a girl, unless they are a girl, then they're an old man.

This map sucks.