Are "bumps" making corridors impassible for rants and suits a good idea?

[zybork]

After I underestimated my original plans for a first map (it was in a mine, with a lot of irregular corridors that gave me hell making them), I am about to make another, more simple map, however, I still want to discourage the over-use of tyrants and battlesuits, so I intend to divide corridors into sections (maybe the joints of prebuilt corridor pieces when they [scenario!] built the facility) by "bumps" you have to crouch over as a human and cannot pass as a tyrant, for the space between the ceiling and the floor of the corridor isn't big enough for a to pass through.

Is this a good idea or not?

On my first draft, those bumps are relatively frequent, which means that you cannot really go far with a suit or a rant, while unsuited humans and all aliens up to an advanced dragoon have no big trouble whatsoever moving around.

I made the experience on maps like ATCS and Tremor (which are really good ones), that tyrants usually overpower even larger groups of humans, and that lonesome lucisuits can kill an alien base by themselves for trappers don't restrict their turning around and so they just evapourate everything.

What I fear however is that advgoons may not have the durance to withstand concentrated chaingun fire of even only two humans or one well placed luci shot, giving the humans an unfair advantage.

[commander scrooge]

Key: humanmaxstage, value: 2
Key: alienmaxstage, value: 2

Personally I don't like to be prejudice against certain classes/weapons on maps.  The game is built with optimal balance, so the removing of a weapon or class could ruin that balance, along with rigging a map for certain classes/weapons.

[zybork]

After some first "stagetests" I decided that it maybe is a good idea not to completely lock a corridor for battlesuits or tyrants, but just to narrow it down, so that maybe a tyrant or a battlesuit may pass the corridor, but only one after the other, giving the weaker classes an advantage for not having their mobility restricted. And some corridors I still will completely lock for "the big guys". I think this should add some spice to gameplay for it wouldn't be enough to just amass a big number of chainsluts/tyrants to knock anything down.

In my opinion, too many maps out there are derived from the usual ego-shooter arena maps, completely ignoring Tremulous' special features or even abandoning it. It is easy to create a human-vs-human map, it is not that easy to balance it for aliens.

The idea with that partial-restriction came to me when I thought about ATCS' default base platforms, where a tyrant has only one way up, while smaller aliens or jetpacked humans have more. ATCS after all it is [much overplayed!, but still] a descent map, and some characteristics can deliver proper advice for your own planning.

As long as you take hints, and do NOT just copy the map, that is...

[UniqPhoeniX]

Commander scrooge: those values default to 2, which is stage 3. I think you meant setting them to 1 to limit to stage 2, but that also removes hives/tesla/lcannon not just bsuit and rant. A better way would be using disabledclasses and disabledequipment keys.
Zybork: I recommend you don't remove any classes/equipment, instead make the map to suit what Tremulous really is, and not by making rants/suits unusable, maybe just add places they can't reach, like behind crates/barrels, or in vents.
Neither ATCS nor Tremor have good places to hide from rants (except Tremor basement where rants rarely go, and vent at alien front). Instead look at maps like nexus6 (Generator top to mid floor and most ways from pipe room top to bottom too small for rants, pipe room bottom has many hiding places, all stairs have a hiding place near them, etc) and Niveus (plant room plants block rants, several places behind boxes/barrels and under stairs at stairway bottom and 2 places near window room should be safe, etc). Maybe you have not yet learned to fully utilize those parts of the maps? I haven't yet tested whether rants can now hit further and to some places that used to be safe in 1.1, but many are definitely still safe to use.
Also make sure that if aliens can evolve to rant in some area, they can still leave...

[commander scrooge]

Sounds much better, you should look at the hall way to the right of the human base on transit, there is one place were rants can pass each other.  While causing problems for bigger alien classes to move, they still have an option that does not take too long.  On this map of your I suspect there will be multiple... /callvote kick -r blocker!  Another map that you might want to look into is niveus, in the hall ways rants can pass eachother but they must be were the indentations on the walls are, or else they cant.  I would suggest doing it like niveus, it causes traffic jams, but only takes a few seconds to straiten out.  If you have ever tried to run from a chain suit on niveus, you will know that those precious seconds it takes you to sort the trafic jam out, it could cost you your life.

@uniq
Yeah, I mess that up every time... g_humanstage 3
Tremor has a good place, in the box room you can hide between boxes that rants get get to you, but goons usually snipe you out of them as soon as you get in.  Making lots of ledges and higher-up places make tyrant and battle suits inadequate, case in point, transit.  Undoubtedly you will need a jetpack/goon.

[zybork]

The more I think about it I come to the conclusion that it is a good idea to restrict movement of "big guys", but to not lock them. I think I will create obstacles to the "big guys" (=battlesuits and tyrants) but still enable them to reach most parts of the map, or maybe even every part, altough it will take them longer to go there or something. An idea I also like is to enable them to enter a place in multiple ways (ramps or so) but to leave them only in one, or to leave them in two ways, but enter only at one, or something.

Well balanced maps are ATCS and tremor, Karith and Niveus have the flaw of one superb base location, otherwise they would be okay too I guess, uncreation just sucks, it is unbalanced in nearly every possible way I can imagine. Looks good, tough

[A Spork]

If you're refering to window room/ele they're aren't really that awesome.
they both break down relatively easily against continuous assault....
and I dont see any reason to go out of your way to make it harder for suits/rants go move around, they are a part of the game for a reason...

[Noyesdude]

zybork, Just so you know, (just about) No matter how hard you try people are gonna do what your trying not to let them do. If you make bumps they build the arm past them, or they'll wait to evo till after all the bumps. Its very hard to stop a human from doing something you want them not to. Most of the time I think people think that if you don't want them to do something they've got to try their best to do it. :/

EDIT spelling fixes