3 replies to this topic

[jjm1]

I have created a block-concept of a city map. And paint-over concept art for a part of it.

I used a yellow MAD-3R called banana to indicate the scale. But then I made Steiner and Davion Marauders to take us on a long tour of the block map instead. Using 3DS Max. Rigged using CAT using an automated walk cycle and rendered in "Quick"silver hardware renderer. Its been emotional.

Music borrowed from 'Dark Reign' (It's close to MW2 music but not MW2 again) and 'Emperor Battle For Dune - Harkonnen - Victory is Inevitable' to fill for Steiners half of the tour.

The city and its lore is my own creation, the battle would take place during the Battletech novel 'End Game' after the battle at Salat City (which was a minor flavour story in the novel used to represent many similar battles in other unnamed cities).

6 minute (sorry) animated tour:


Paintover:


Compilation of renders.

Spoiler

Map view with grid, bounds and game mode positions.

Spoiler

Aerial view with landmark labels:

Spoiler

Lore:

Saratov, Tikonov
Capellan March
Federated Suns
30 June 3065

A city situated on the travel corridor between the city of Salat and Arano Bay. Saratov is a commercial and industrial hub connecting a large arid farming and mining region to Tikonov's larger cities via rail, road and sea. Saratov exists due to mining and ore refining, much of its residences are workers apartments and hotels all serviced by low quality restaurants, street vendors, bars, brothels and entertainment arcades. Half the city are long term permanent residents that live in run down grey concrete apartment complexes.

After routing the Federated Suns in Salat Katrina Steiners forces continued on-wards toward their goal of retaking the mech production facilities in Arano Bay. The forces left behind by Prince Victor Steiner-Davion could only delay their advance. One small old and dilapidated coastal city in their path named Saratov provided ideal cover to hide ground forces and delay their advance. The resulting intense city fight lasted for days, every street hard fought by infantry, tanks and battlemechs on both sides but like so many other minor battles in the FedCom Civil War it was soon forgotten and ultimately in vain when Tikonov fell easily to the Capellan Confederation a few years later.

More Lore

Spoiler

Landmarks:


Pioneer Memorial - A large concrete ring raised by large columns. In its center is a iron sculpture representing the regions earliest settlers.

Union Tower - A tall flat topped pyramid shaped building. The buildings top three quarters are purely residential and houses some of the wealthiest residents while the bottom half is commercial and filled with offices and shops.

Ceres Complex - At 310 meters tall (mast not included) the Ceres Complex is Saratov's tallest structure. It is a dark steel and ferro-crete rabbit warren of shops, eateries, hotels, residences offices and even manufacturing. The top section of the complex is almost a separate entity from the lower half and contains the regional offices of various Ceres Metals Divisions and other mining and manufacturing companies.

Saratov Hospital - This large hospital services multiple cities in the region. It provides a level of merely adequate care that citizens on other Federated Commonwealth planets would consider at least a hundred years behind their standards.

Drainage Outflow - When it rains in Saratov, the streets become rivers. The drainage canal system helps funnel the floods out of the inner city and into lakes on either side. The lakes have collected a lot of Saratov's trash over the years.

Shanty Towns - Jobs shortages running for centuries have made living in shanty towns a normality for much of Tikonov's population.

Overpasses - Rail and road traffic, mostly industrial freight passes right through the middle of Saratov's inner city on its way to other centres. The sea-port is serviced by a railway running high above the city floor that connects to inland mines.

Design rationale:

Spoiler

Dense city map with a goal to providing opportunities for all build types.

The map will favour close range brawlers as they can move about using buildings and canals as cover from long range weaponry. There are plenty of positions for snipers and LRMs to provide support where there are large open areas and long sight corridors.

The map is quite small in terms of distance between bases. It could be enlarged if testing deems it too small. But any extra size usually equates to more walking and more map circling potential rather than more places to fight. The claustrophobia of the inner city more than doubles the actual distance to travel on the ground levels.

There is a direct overpass between the bases. It would probably would get removed or modified if it didn't test well. Its only really a concern in the modes with bases.

Conquest nodes. Are there. I'd look at finding better locations in play testing.

Tunnels and alleys are very narrow (for mechs anyway). This makes it hard to camp a brawler army inside one tunnel and ambush with more than one at a time. Positioning to allow multiple mechs to focus fire and moving forces to avoid the enemies shooting galleries will be critical to success.

A Viper can reach the tops most of the buildings either directly or using other structures as a launch pad.

Give assault jump jets a reason to exist. Cutting travel time in half and increasing survival odds by jumping out of canals gives assault jump jets a reason to exist. If only we could select our mech after the map selection!

Taking notes about what doesn't work well in existing MWO maps:

Almost all detail is inconsequential surface clutter (fences, cars, trees, awnings, cables etc )that do not affect a mechs movement. All rocks and objects that stop a mech dead in its tracks will be carefully placed out of the way to allow for light mechs to take advantage of map flow without getting stuck and instantly killed while running and gunning.

Most buildings at ground combat level will have flat walls to remove all unambiguity between collision hulls and display mesh.

No half-mech high structures that specifically disadvantage low mounts.

No sharp gradations that hinder walking and shooting like the floor panelling on HPG, the steps on Viridian Bog and the spiky polygonal terrain on Terra Therma.

Terrain is relatively flat to avoid most LOD problems, any height features should be modelled.

Time of day and weather variations - Night, rain, fog and thunderstorms add variations. Doing proper city lighting will probably trash performance, so I would separate the map into day/night versions in case its not possible. I wouldn't want another River City where you cant see anything without sitting one inch from your screen with night vision switched off.

Art rationale:

Spoiler

Design influence was taken from Tikonov's history described as being descendant from the Asian continent, the soviet influences in its social design from places like its capital Tikograd that is heavily sectioned into sectors by walls, the descriptions of the city of 'Salat' in the FedCom civil war novel 'End Game' that has dark canyon-like streets poor visibility due to a storm, brick and ferro-crete buildings and a street called Kowloon Avenue (Perhaps meant to give the reader an impression of Hong Kong's Kowloon walled city). Overall the city is run down from decades of neglect.

Edited by jjm1, 27 June 2017 - 06:10 AM.

[Pariah Devalis]

Absolutely incredible. If anything, it might have too many side paths, but I rather more than not enough. It looks claustrophobic, with room for long range combat. Overpasses of various heights add a lot of verticality, as do the buildings. Geometry is simplistic but recognizable - something PGI ought to take note of. Overly complex structure designs can make it hard to identify what something is, but your minimal design approach to them works perfectly.

[TheArisen]

I hope this gets noticed by PGI and at least inspires a new map.

[Kaptain]

Great work!