Map Name: Overgrowth
Created By: Yardbird92 and Ablesir Thomas
Location: Forgeworld Canyon

The Setting:
This is a once abandoned civilian facility that has been reactivated to defend the military intel it still holds. In its years of solitude, many features have been hidden by nature, but the main facilities still stand.


Worn With time, the main gate requires mantinance, but it is still strong enough to hold back a small scale infintary assault.


The one issue is that the main gates now require a secondary power source, so they have been wired to the backup generators powering the check-in station.




The facility itself requires many rennovations, so to save time, Temporary Living Facilities have been installed along the main road. The Communication tower collapsed many years ago, the wrechage rests along the same road.


The main Research facility is powered by two dedicated generators, though both are required to run the facility, and due to limited resources, there are no backups.




The Research Facility is quite simple, as many lower access points have been long since burried, so only the main lab as well as the observation deck are available.


The Vehicle Repair Shop still functions, and is capable of holding 2 vehicles for defensive purposes. The mian office rests above the shop, overlooking the main raod.


The R&R building doubles as the Food Hall on the lower level, and is found across the street from the Main Lab.


An abandoned mine shaft reveals an alternate route of retreat, in case the main road is shut down.



Weapon List:
Spartans:
T1- DMR x2
T2- Sniper, Shotgun, Rockets, SpLaser

Elites:
T1- Needle Rifle x3
T2- Plasma Launcher, Focus Rifle

Vehicle List:
Spartans:
T1- N/A
T2-Warthog
T3-Scorpion

Elites:
T1- N/A
T2- Ghost, Wraith
T3- Banshee

Overgrowth:(FW gulch)
Spawn (Bravo, Mid, Alpha):
Bravo

Tier 1
Describe the pathing you used on the map to advance and/or defend to the territory or territories.
Advance, stuck close to the wall and ducked in and out of cover. Spartans held the guard watchpost pretty well so I tried to go towards mid but it was even harder... eventually the two routes that proved most effective for P1 were up against the cliff wall and just below the watchpost which was somewhat safe from the bravo spartans spawn.

Defending, was very easy keeping our side held. The occasional mid team would flank us but we realized after the fact that our P1 was so easy because the attackers had no Needle Rifles. BUT that was our fault for playing the wrong version so, sorry about that!

Which territory did you find most vulnerable and why?
I think Alpha was because it was very open to Elite fire (when we had Needle Rifles) where Bravo had a building right next to it blocking the middle and Alpha teams from shooting past it. Alpha and Mid Elite teams were able to shoot into Alpha very easily and the Bravo team was able to take over the mid building and assist with great protection from their spartans.

If your spawn had a DMR/Needle Rifle, how did you use it?
We HAD one and we used it to cross map a little but mostly to unseat the spartans from the watchpost and push up... the area was very hard for us to hold, even for a little bit, so that sucked because the spartans could respawn quicker than I could spawn a buddy.

Describe the setup used, if any, to take/defend the territory or territories.
Team fire with NeRf and taking the middle building with the help of middle team ensures the capture of the territories by at least distracting the spartans and drawing them away from the objs.

Tier 2
Which power weapon (if any) spawned near you? How did you use it?
Plasma Launcher... (coulda been T3) I picked it up once and as soon as I did the game ended... i still managed to stick Sarge in the warthog as he was trying to stop the Core but I guess thats T3.

Which territory did you feel more inclined to attack and why?
Bravo, of course, But I managed to get behind the base and get into both hills a little bit.

Describe the power positions, if any, you noticed for the defenders.
The high ledge will always be a concern but I don't think it was too powerful since the spartan sniper has a clear view of it.

Describe the vehicle gameplay you noticed for tier 2.
Wraith, ghost, and Warthog were both out and about I think but I was mostly on foot. I managed to get across the map to the alpha spartans spawn and camp there for a bit with the help of the ghost. It was ALMOST taken down by laser but I managed to knock him out of scope just before he fired causing a miss. This was all from far Alpha side.

Tier 3
Did any new power weapons spawn near you? How did you use them?
Plasma Launcher, nope.

Did you find the core easy to attack/defend? If so, why?
I never touched the core but on offense because my team had it out before I ever got close to it.

Describe the setups used to attack/defend the core.
Attacking: spread the spartans out, use one Elite to keep the bravo team at bravo spawn and one elite to keep the alpha team at alpha spawn and let those Elites Battle Buddies help them and clean up the spartans while the middle team pulls core. Keep the spartans respawing staggered to assure plenty of Elites are on hand to help middle team pull.

Skunk.

Describe the vehicle gameplay for tier 3.
The tanks never seemed to last too long and on a different playthrough I recklessly took our warthog out to the elites vehicle spawn because I saw their banshee on spawn so that happened and the elites were stopped because of it... I think... its hard to tell because the Alpha elites spawn SO close to the core cap that they could've death walked it in.

Miscellaneous

Did you enjoy the map? Explain why or why not.
Yes, the timing might've been a little off with regards to weapons/vehicles spawns and the phases ending so quickly but I think with more playtests it will be refined to achieve optimum levels of "fun".

Did you notice a theme/location to the map? If so, what did you think it was/
The base looked very Human, which is an accomplishment given the gray of FW objects. The sandbags and UNSC cover next to the Guard posts helped with that and the Vehicle bay with its curved roof looked distinctly human.

Provide any addition feedback you may have here.
I'm eager to play on this map again after the most recent changes made. I know the forgers take an active role in playtesting and they do a great job of taking the feedback offered into consideration.

With more playtesting and refining this map will easily be one of the top 5 Custom Invasion maps out there.

You've done an excellent job at creating human themed buildings in forgeworld, it looks great! However now I'm interested to playtest this to see if the gameplay lives up to aesthetics I'm confident it will get there though.

After watching the film I noticed a lot of good things. The T1 defenders (bravo) were able to push up and out to defend their territory and the middle team gravitated to the middle. They did not push up as far but there weren't in their spawns by any means. The Alpha spartans kept very close to the territory but I think the changes that you made earlier today will address it, or at least show you whether or not its an issue.

The 2nd phase played really well with the changes you've made to the base. It might be too defensible but only more playtests will tell you that.

The 3rd phase played well IMO but we have already discussed the fire team issues. The map, in retrospect, did feel more like a 6v6 map at certain points (especially when watching the film) as opposed to an Invasion map HOWEVER I think thats how most players in MM play invasion so its by no means a deal breaker. Working to encourage the Attackers to take their path, preferably their flanks, will force the defenders to meet them. I was wrong to try to tweak the spartans spawns to encourage them to act a certain way. They should not act per se, but react to what the attackers are doing. If the Elites choose to send 6 people up the middle then they should meet 6 spartans and if the elites send 2 fireteams on wide flanks then they should meet 2 spartan fireteams.

Basically I HAD thought that the T3 Spartan Rocket Spawn needed cover and tweaking etc, but now I see that its actually the Elites or lack thereof that dictate spartan movement. I think by adding cover and "dancefloor" the spartans WILL stay on the 2nd floor more but make its needed as opposed to changing the Elite pathing or leaving it as is. I encourage more playtests before you make major changes.
Other than that one, "Grand Scheme" epiphany there isn't much to say. The elites will take what path they deem best and the spartans will try to counter that any way they can.

Overall the map played pretty well considering how teams were split and the XP some of us had on the map. I do really like the aesthetics on this map. Like BK said you've done a great job making that gray look very human. Keep up the good work!

I liked how this played in the game we did on saturday. I've looked at the film from all kinds of angles, and there's very little I didn't like.

T1:
Bravo and middle team is working very well for both teams. I don't know what changes Luv Gunn is talking about for alpha side, but the design we played seems to guide the alpha defenders into a very passive playstyle. It is important that the alpha defenders are able to push up past the territory, and I think the current design allows for that. However, maybe because the cliff wall near alpha is kinda blocking the view of the area which they should be contesting or maybe because the attacking middle team have quite good sightlines on them if they do push up, it seems that defending players don't feel the need to to just that (judging from saturday's game at least). If further playtesting proves that pushing up past the cliff wall to control the right side rocks is too difficult, then the defender spawns could always be moved closer to the territory.

T2 & T3:
Both played pretty well. I love how the Scorpion can actually be useful in T3. I'll wait until I've played these parts a couple times more with players who know the map before I say anything else.

Also, I noticed while watching the film that one of the DMRs that spawn in T1 is left leaning against thin air in T3 (?) when the barricade is gated out. Aside from the one that allows the vehicles to pass through, why are they being gated out anyway? Framerate reasons?

Good catch Yozi, I never noticed that. Yes, some of the objects are gated out to reduce lag just like some of the 2nd and 3rd phase objects are spawned IN after the 1st phase.