Custom Map #1647: FPS: Wandering Fields. By: Kaiden

[Niflthaena]

This is definitely better. The upgradeable sniper and lack of tanks is a huge improvement to sniping quality-of-life. Managed a 26 minute time on my third run, and didn't even need AC breeder or the dual sniper upgrade.

That being said, I only got it that low by abusing the creeper cap - selectively targeting caches and buildings, while avoiding clearing creeper. Trying a full-clear approach was very frustrating - the creeper kept pushing the cap all the way past 45 minutes, meaning its production was well in excess of my damage and captured breeder terrain put together.

As for the main elements of the map - the Wanderer and Necromancer have potential. They can influence the battlefield without being right in your face, which motivates the player to seek them out.
The other three, though, they all come right to you, all in exactly the same way, meaning the player has no special considerations to make. Just need to turn, shoot, back to work. (It works okay as the zombies' mechanic, because they're effectively the weapon of something else.)
More unit diversity would be good, and more units that make the player think would be huge.

[Dismissdan]

Fun map. Not sure why everyone has so much problem with it. Seems relatively straightforward if you get auto defense.

[Ranger Von Danger]

Beating this would probably result in long term PTSD and paranoia

[joebywan]

Every time I see an FPS map I get excited, these enemies make me lose that.

[Shatterstep]

Positive Side: Cool layout. I like seeing the sniper upgradeable.

Not-So-Great Side:

• Creeper Breeder - Redundant with the crap-ton everything else was laying down. It really contributes to the slog. Should have been flip or even AC breeder.
• Mobs - Fewer, and maybe similar type in each area. Maybe each area gets harder to assault, not all at the same level.
• Skill Cost - Keep it to 1 or 2 points for most skills. Satellite ones maybe slightly cheaper (I never buy them so I don't know).
  

I hate critiquing maps. Ugh.

If you want to appeal to a larger audience things need to be more accessible. I think a lot of the frustration from players comes from how creative your additions are. People get their hopes up, but then.... anyway. You know, the funny thing is with some fine tuning I'm sure this map would be widely loved. Alas.

If you are going to continue at the same difficulty level, it might be worth tagging your maps as expert level or something similar. Managing expectations can make a world of difference.

Don't give up. You are such a skilled map maker.

[Shatterstep]

Interesting. I just replayed the map, but changed the creeper breeder to flip breeder, and added a few extra points to make up for the anti-crimson and autodefense abilities exorbitant costs. It was much more enjoyable. I think changing the creeper breeder to flip breeder was the biggest difference. Hmm, I also limited the new flip breeder resource creeper-height to 10 instead of 20. Meh, maybe that makes things too easy. 

Anyway...

[CS Z]

The map starts out okay but then fails at one of the most basic, well-established CW4 FPS gameplay mechanics:

The point of the 4 minute mark bonus is to help players who are struggling.  This is so that even if they are currently stuck, they can still eventually win even if their play time will not be great while those who are CW4 FPS pros will generally do better and need fewer bonus points.  Without a reasonable creeper cap or cutting the time between the bonus point(s) or other options (e.g. autobuild), creeper generation vastly exceeds the bonus points and the player gets shoved back into the starting corner where they die once the creeper gets upwards of 2.6M and finally overwhelms the shield.  A slow death after playing for 25 minutes is not fun, which is was what happened on my first attempt.  Don't know if I even want to try a second time.

Even placing down a bunch of AC breeder spots isn't sufficient for this map as someone suggested.  That only delays the inevitable.

Also, there are 4 starting points to spend but auto-defense is now 3 times the cost.  Since auto-defense is required (3 points), that leaves very limited options to select from.

[Xanif]

This map is good, just play the objectives (kill/collect).
Covering the map with AC will take over an hour.

[rowlet]

Personally I think the best way to deal with all the problems with the new sleeper units is to make them not need the use of sniper.
If you can use the cannon or mortar to deal with them, you could use the mortar when they are far away. This lets you kill them before they get close and also most likely remove a good bit of creeper at he same time. The cannon would be good for tagging the faster units close to you will also helping to keep the area close to you clear.
It would also help with my ears ringing from all the sniper shots.

[rowlet]

Your other maps were really fun.
The main problem is just that the new units halt progression rather frequently which is what seems to be one of the biggest problems ATM.
Keep experimenting until eventually you find a sweet spot.

[UberWaffe]

Really enjoyed the map.

Didn't really have any problems with the map.
I did take auto defense from the start.

Really like that that spawners are now split up between forts.
Killing off the spawners in one or two forts makes a difference that you can feel. That is good.

Double sniper is nice, though I have to admit I didn't take it on my second run.
I found it more useful to aim for things that help me kill off the structures / spawners.

Felt that I sort of had to go with singularity + conversion to take on the last few creeper footholds (the main reason I restarted.)
But that is sort of a minor nitpick.

Good job with the map.

[Zarem]

I like that the spawners where spread out so it where possible to limit the enemys by destroying them. Also really liked the removal of the spreading mesh and that there where no skimmers. I think that this map is much better than the previous map and that you are on the right track when making maps.
I would like if there was a ramp up on the wall in the fortresses since I think it is sometimes hard to aim on things that are on the wall. I think that the wandere could be little bit slower.
If it is possible to make so that the towers and pylons contribut to the maximum creeper, so the map start with 5 on the creeper cutoff and by destroing a tower the maximum reduces by 0.1 or something.
Also I think I had a bug when I pushed to far into the creep and died I respawn on the spot I died wich where inside the creep.

[favour6]

Fun map. Not sure why everyone has so much problem with it. Seems relatively straightforward if you get auto defense.

i had auto defence on 6 different tries and it did nothing worth while it bought me maybe ONE WHOLE XTRA SECOND!   the nw flying usits ar getting WORSE not better, the earlier feedback was to dial them down, but the map dev seems to take Turbine method "oh you like A and dont like B... welp more B less A"....

[CS Z]

I'm apparently a glutton for punishment.  I beat the map after two hours on my second attempt, rushing the first two strongholds (not how I want to play), and finally dropping enough AC breeder to make progress (also not how I want to play).  I also died a half dozen times but by the end I didn't care.  Definitely a massive, frustrating slog.  All of my earlier comments apply.  The Tanker unit can go away altogether and the new unit spawn rate needs to be massively reduced and all units need to adhere to the map's creeper limit.  The insane amount of creeper breeder/flip breeder all over the map was unnecessary.  I'd complete an area, go over to another area, come back and find that the previous area had been completely overtaken by creeper again.  Maxxed out weapons and various orbitals did squat for advancement.  Waiting 30 seconds to plop down a little more AC breeder was the only thing that worked past the halfway point, so I ended up playing at 4x and later 2x just to save time.  Once I got AC past 800K, I finally made headway, no thanks to the gajillion maxxed out mortars and AC I was constantly firing.  The first few seconds of gameplay was the only thing that was okay but otherwise was an unenjoyable map.

My final recommendation if you plan on making more difficult maps like this one is to make "Hard" and "Winnable" versions so those who hate themselves can play your harder stuff while everyone else can have a good time.

[mzimmer74]

Stop making maps

No, I'll make maps whether you like it or not, as long as I have some new ideas.

I haven't had a chance to play your last two maps yet due to lack of time, but I am glad that you keep making them. Some of them have been hard and some have been a slog, but overall I've really enjoyed them. Thank you for continuing to make maps! Not all will be enjoyed by everyone, but know that at least some people will enjoy them.