44 replies to this topic

[Milocinia]

Seems quite good with no apparent "go to" point for the fighting just yet which is nice. The only complaint I have about it is that some of the surfaces are quite difficult for a mech to move over or around. I've gotten a little stuck a few times and had to use jump jets to get out of the situation. There definitely needs to be a "smoothing" pass at some point.

But otherwise good job.

[Lightfoot]

Great except way too much Fog. This was on the evening version. It interferes with your sense of depth and distance which is critical to enabling the mechs to have the correct sense of scale. Day might be better. Basically, I could not even see mechs 250 meters away so it kills the gameplay significantly since you are just shooting at the HUD selection brackets.

Overall the map is great though.

Edited by Lightfoot, 19 August 2015 - 08:26 AM.

[Kodyn]

Have only had daylight so far, but I absolutely loved it. FPS is a bit meh, compared to maps like HPG and Canyon, but it runs better than River City, looks better too.

I like the potential that the size and various locations to fight from provide. Only worry at this point is a lot of last mech hiding for 7 minute situations, since it is such a massive map. Already had this happen once today. Hopefully it's a rarity.

[Stealth 1S1K]

brilliant map to build great team play
now we just need a new achievement
Lumberjack - take down 100,000 trees =1,000 gxp and title Lumberjack.

[White Bear 84]

I has been trying to break. Also finding some areas that need brushing up... ...just to be pedantic. It's a great map though.

http://whitebear84.tumblr.com/
[spoiler="Can break?"]




















[/spoiler]

And for lol's...

[Vellron2005]

Well here we are..

The newly revamped Forest Colony map is out, and here are my first impressions..

First of all.. So.. Many... Trees! You can't see the forest from the trees! Seriously though, so many of them.. they will provide some great visual cover, and we can have a "who knocks more trees down" tournament..

Secondly, on the first glance, the map is a bit confusing, with many many roads and windy ways, its easy to get lost.. And I believe finding a solitary light will be nigh impossible.

On the upside, the revamp has expanded the map greatly, and added much depth to the design.

I do miss the old parts though. The new map is completely unrecognizable from the old one..

I do have a few beefs though:

1) Why are so many rocks made as stacked stairs? (that lead into solid rock) That looks.. unnatural somehow..
2) Why is there an open area on B8, that leads into out of bounds? Many pilots will die there easily..
3) Lots of places only lights with jump jets get into and snipe from, almost unseen. This is not inherently bad, but I wish I could get my Timber Wolf up there..
4) The obvious bugs - Dropships hovering in the air
5) Very little or none of the old topography left over.. its a completely new map, nothing of the old one has remained in terms of layout.. just a few landmarks, such as the tube bridge, the overturned shipwreck and the satelite uplink.. but its on a "wrong" hill now..
6) Nothing of the infamous "tunnel" remained..
7) Many hiding spots that will promote "I'm the last mech, I'm a light, and I want to waste your time, so come and find me powered down" mindset..
8) Sort of lost the "colony" feel... not that the original map had it in spades, but still..
9) The waterfall mists look unnatural, more like smoke than water mists

And now the good things:

1) MUCH bigger map
2) More Trees, that can be knocked down
3) Added the Forest to the colony..
4) Added the jungle feel, wish this map was used also for the Tukayyid event.. since it resembles the battlefield of that particular battle.
5) Had that "Wow, I'm in a strange unknown place, and I think I'm not alone" feel

All in all.. The map is not great, but its a step in the right direction. I still think a much better job was done for River City, since on that map, much of the original map remained, where the New forest colony is a completely new map. That, in itself, is not bad. But I wish some of the old one lived on..

P.S.

I think that "vulcano" is completely unnecessary..

Edited by Vellron2005, 18 August 2015 - 10:54 PM.

[Kjudoon]

My only suggestion/complaint:

MOVE THE BASES SOMEWHERE ELSE!!!! That way we'll use more of the map instead of fighting in the same places we have been since the start because it's still too easy to just base rush and win next to the gravel pile.

Same goes for the conquest points. spread them out.

Edited by Kjudoon, 18 August 2015 - 11:36 PM.

[Dodger79]

I just had a short visit via the training grounds, but man, that looked beautiful, absolutely gorgeous!

[Mikex88]

I absolutely love this map, no complaints about it whatsoever.
PGI stated the bugs with the midair dropships and some other stuff, so I won't bother about that for now.

One thing I realized, mechs are difficult to see between all these trees, bushes etc....especially the well-camouflaged ones just seem to blend in with their enviroment. Which will make a good camouflage finally worth it (reminds me of the forest practices in the army )

Another thing- This Map reminds me soo much of Star Wars and the mechs in the forest

Edited by Mikex88, 19 August 2015 - 03:26 AM.

[Trance Master]

Mikex88, on 19 August 2015 - 03:24 AM, said:

I absolutely love this map, no complaints about it whatsoever.
PGI stated the bugs with the midair dropships and some other stuff, so I won't bother about that for now.

One thing I realized, mechs are difficult to see between all these trees, bushes etc....especially the well-camouflaged ones just seem to blend in with their enviroment. Which will make a good camouflage finally worth it (reminds me of the forest practices in the army )

Another thing- This Map reminds me soo much of Star Wars and the mechs in the forest

Thats True lmfao.. I hear the Star Wars music everytime now I drop on this map

[Josef Koba]

I haven't dropped since the patch, but took a look at it in the training grounds since it's my favorite map. Or was, anyway. I really, really like it, though I haven't seen how it plays in a real match yet. I suspect that some of the negatives that have been described above (solitary ECM light never being found, lots of shooting trees and textures that aren't visually there as in the Tourmaline issues) will come into play.

That said, I do absolutely love the look and feel of it for the most part. Visibility is cut down pretty heavy, which could be good and bad. My only issue is that, unlike River City (which is vastly improved) very little of the original feel of the map remains. It's no longer Forest Colony. It's FOREST colony. We can all agree that the original played in a very predictable way. No one went water, which was sad to me because a decent team taking water could throw off the OPFOR. Virtually all encounters ended at the same place. It got pretty boring. This should change things up quite a bit, but I don't really get the feel of the original at all. This, too, is sad for me since it was my favorite map. It's just...a new map. Which is still pretty awesome.

One thing, however, is I wish they'd leave the old maps in for us to use in private matches. I see no reason why they'd not. Having a 1v1 duel on the old Forest Colony was perfect. The new one? Forget it...

[Brian Windover]

Hello everyone,

Great thread and feedback I have sent the link to the level designer and artists. I give big props to White Bear 84 with the screenshots these help identify the area you are talking about that we can fix.

Also for the next patch we have done another performance pass on the map to help people that are having FPS issues, granted it will not be perfect for every users(every machine makeup is different) but we will continue to improve it as we get reports.

Cheers,
Brian

[The Mech behind you]

Had 3 matches on the new map today, and I like it. Unlike the old Forest Colony, now you feel like fighting in a forest. It feels very big with a lot of possible paths for flanking and a lot of cover through big trees and uneven terrain to close in on a target.

After the first matches I got the impression it will be a brawler map. It was so easy to get near or even behind a target in my SRM Griffin. While long range mechs might have a bad time with all the hills and trees blocking their LOS.

It's here for only a day yet. Let's see how the map plays out once everyone is familiar with it.

[Kjudoon]

Thanks Brian! I look forward to the fixes, and hopefully position changes so we can see and use more of this map functionally,

particuarly that huge open back bay with the homage to Terra Therma in the background

[Tarogato]

Brian Windover, on 19 August 2015 - 07:25 AM, said:

Hello everyone,

Great thread and feedback I have sent the link to the level designer and artists. I give big props to White Bear 84 with the screenshots these help identify the area you are talking about that we can fix.

Also for the next patch we have done another performance bass on the map to help people that are having FPS issues, granted it will not be perfect for every users(every machine makeup is different) but we will continue to improve it as we get reports.

Cheers,
Brian

Thanks mate, really appreciate it! Getting 20-30 frames here when I get 35+ on most maps. Do you think some of the smaller grasses could be disabled for Low settings? I think that would help a lot. Being able to turn off the egg-nest-cabbage-thingies might help, too.

Man... I'm really enjoying the fog, though. Makes mechs hard to see and is beautiful as well. Very well done!

Edited by Tarogato, 19 August 2015 - 08:15 AM.

[B L O O D W I T C H]

to much fog, can't see ****.

[Luscious Dan]

Did the testing ground runaround last night, probably a couple 20 minute sessions in my Cheetah. Overall I like the aesthetic, sort of blending the North American forest with a tropical setting in some ways.

I was getting better fps in the testing grounds than the old Forest Colony seemed to. Maybe I'm an oddball there. Will see how it holds up in real matches.

I also found the so-called "b33f den" to be a potential issue. Lights can fit in there and go around the corner a bit. I have a screenshot or two at home. In my testing I was trying to climb the rocks in that area around G9 (I think) and I was able to clip through a wall of some sort and get stuck in behind the rocks. Did that thing where you get wedged with your feet off the ground, but the speedometer thinks you're going 200kph backwards. Gets you stuck and wrecks your legs. Wasn't able to replicate the issue though, and since I was zooming around at night I don't really know how exactly how it happened.

Anyway, it's a really nice job visually and I just hope that the matches end up using an appropriate amount of the space. Right now I'm a bit concerned about some large portions of the map where combat isn't likely to take place. The entire beach area seems suicidal, and the new hilly area will be a death trap for slower, long range mechs. Some of the paths (especially along the edge, past the ship if you're going clockwise around the map) seem extremely isolated. Like Alpine, I just worry that River City and now Forest Colony might be a bit too big for skirmish, where the capture points don't attract people to certain areas.

Like I said, I'm eager to see how the map is utilized and how the combat feels, but the map does have great potential. Some visual tweaks could improve a few areas (the metal structures don't seem as convincing as on other maps) but I dig the ROTJ vibe.

[Desintegrator]

The map design is great, but I must say that it will give some great advantages to ECM Mechs !

You cannot see enemy mechs, even if they stand 200m directly in front of you.

Therefore reduce the amount of trees and other stuff. Clear out the map !
The are enough rocks which provide cover. We dont need another 30000 trees in this map.

[Pz_DC]

IMHO there is only one problem with this map now - "Forest colony" is not a "Forest colony". Its a new map, good, intresting and shining with new features but its not even close to "Forest colony". Devs take and idea and made a new map, instead re-vamp it as they did with "River sity"... So IMHO we should have 2 maps now - old and new - in same queue since its two different maps. Nothing close except as idea...

[Wildstreak]

Kyocera, on 18 August 2015 - 01:27 PM, said:

Seems quite good with no apparent "go to" point for the fighting just yet which is nice. The only complaint I have about it is that some of the surfaces are quite difficult for a mech to move over or around. I've gotten a little stuck a few times and had to use jump jets to get out of the situation. There definitely needs to be a "smoothing" pass at some point.

But otherwise good job.

Agreed. I had one match on it, got stuck in my Ebon where White Bear's first pic is by the old Arch. Having odd performance on this map while the River City pass did quite well with no performance issues.

Strange the Snow version is gone.

Edited by Wildstreak, 19 August 2015 - 12:51 PM.