DOM-Villager

"Displaced Villager"

By Aaron "Hedge-o-Matic" Starr

This is my second DOM map for UT2k3, and I've taken a very differnet approach this time.  Villager continues my experiments with non-symmetrical DOM maps.  This time, I've chosen to have both teams start in the same area, and fight it out to get to the first DOM point, which is in a very difficult-to-defend area.  Beta also stands at the chokepoint between the two map areas, so anyone wanting to proceed to Alpha will almost always have to take Beta.  Alpha will turn over very rapidly.  The upper area of the map is a large defensive zone.  Long fire lanes and limited appraoaches make this second area very difficult to storm, if the defense is doing it's job.  The presence of the Redeemer nearby can go either way.

The idea of two seperate strategies for the different CP's makes maps that are more difficult to design, and far more difficult to have the bots play correctly.  The bots will take Beta without a problem, and, as long as they hold Beta, further reinforcements will be fed past to the upper area, to gather and take Alpha.  Thus defenders of Alpha will know, if the opponant holds Beta, that an attack is usually immenent.  And, unlike Beta, there are no reinforements to be had for the Alpha defenders.  If attacked consistantly, these defenders should be slowly worn down, allowing Alpha to change sides occasionally.

Known troubles with the bots:  Bots don't seem to use the Ion Painter, though they grab it all the time.  Of course, it's in a tough area, and they don't have a lot of liesure to use this weapon.  They are also pretty bad with the Redeemer, though the tight fire lines have something to do with this.

The static meshes are all my own creations, with the exception of the bridge, which was made by King Green
(Email Address: rubyred537@cs.com).  It's sweet, but I didn't generate a Karma model for it.  This doesn't affect play, it just allows corpses to be pounded through it.

Some people reported performance issues with the first release of this map.  If this is a problem for you, I suggest turning down Textures to Normal.  Setting Character Detail down to something like Normal helps, too.  This map uses a lot of emitters, so free up that texture memory!  I've done a lot of optimization for this map, but, like all high-end 2k3 maps, it's still pretty heavy-duty.  People who insist on playing with every detail setting on High, you have been warned!  World Detail has no impact, nor does Physics detail, but Texture Detail's the killer, here.

Anyway, I hope you like this second effort.  If you've got feedback, especailly regarding tweaking the bots, feel free to e-mail me at astarr@systemtwo.com.  Put "Villager" in the subject line, though, so it will go through my filters.

The music is "Death Coach" by Trevor Jones.  This is part of the "From Hell" Soundtrack.  Buy it if you like the music.  I think it fits quite nicely.