Archive:Halowars.com/Skirmish Maps/1v1 Maps: Difference between revisions

==Tundra 1v1==

===Artist Notes===

Paul Slusser, Skirmish Map Artist, talks about Tundra:

===Designer Notes===

Justin Rouse, Multiplayer Map Designer, talks about Tundra:

Iterations: Tundra, the large open 1v1 map with a Mega turret shooting everyone. Sounds like an easy bar to hit but the Mega turret was cut from the story and was no longer going to be created at one point, so I was left with just a large open 1v1. Since I still wanted some interesting decisions to be made I put in more craters to break-up the map, but that alone just didn’t seem interesting enough watching people play this map in playtest. This is when I came up with the wall tower hooks. Putting the wall towers and the higher difficulty creeps guarding the close expansion bases gave me more of the game play I wanted to see for this map. Later on in the project the Covenant Mega turret was back in the production plan and was back on the map and became my favorite one to play.

==Blood Gulch 1v1==

===Design Notes===

We wanted a throwback map for Halo Wars that Halo Players would be familiar with. Blood Gulch is one of the more popular Halo multiplayer maps, and it was an easy choice. It's nice and open, with some cliffs on the sides for variety. The little nooks and crannies made excellent places for crates, and keeping the teleporters in roughly the same place was an easy call.

===Tactics===

Blood Gulch is a small map with little in between you and your opponents bases. Well, there are the extra bases with their guards in the way, but you should try to take those as quickly as possible. If you're feeling spunky, go for your opponents extra base, and try fortifying it early. It will be quite a surprise for them when they come to take it to be met with some turrets and a small army.

The hooks are also very important, each team has a reactor close by on one side and a Supply Elevator on the other. Getting both reactors early can enable you to tech up without having to spend a base slot on a Reactor, although it is risky if you lose one of them.

==Chasms 1v1==

===Designer Notes===

Justin Rouse, Skirmish Map Designer, on Chasms:

===Tactics===

Duncan Stanley, Community Manager, dishes out the dirt on Chasms:

Another great tip is to plan some Spartans or Jackals in the Watchtowers in the middle bridge, they provide some great early warning to anything coming across the bridge, and can often be fairly difficult to take down, making them great for delaying your enemy.  

==Pirth Outskirts 1v1==

===Artist Notes===

Paul Jaquays, Skirmish Map Artist, talks about developing Pirth Outskirts:

I hold to the design philosphy that even skirmish maps should tell stories that reveal something about the the game world's history and recent events. Each of my Halo Wars maps, including Pirth Outskirts strives to achieve that. Like most assignments, this one began with a basic, unadorned map layout from design. In this case, a simple, elegant cloverleaf layout by designer Kevin Holme and an instruction to set the map on the jungle environment of the Arcadia game world. I started low-tech and roughed out my ideas for the game setting in a simple pencil sketch. I initially envisioned a sort of "Shang-ri-la" lost city setting with the ruins of a lost civilizaton in the center and plateaus edged by cliffs. The four leaves of the clover (Clover was also the working title for the map) had to be flat, but from the first, I saw the map as a series of descending terraces, connected by sloping roadways that would visually guide the players through it.

In my concept paint-over (a quick digital painting that shows the map and major features as they might appear in game ... with notes and reference photos attached), I built around the idea that wherever mankind explores, tourists typically follow. I developed the area as a remote vacation destination with mysterious ancient ruins, modern hotels, and dramatically steep, mist-shrouded cliffs into which breathtaking waterfalls poured majestically. On top of this, I layered the planet's recent, tragic history. Covenant bombs had cut the area off from the cities and turned the man-made structures into smoking rubble. The wreckage of mankind's attempt to flee the invasion was littered through the setting.

===Tactics===

Duncan Stanley, Community Manager, gives his take on how do to well on Pirth Outskirts.

If I can get 2 extra bases up and running while keeping my opponents to 0 or 1, I usually have the game in the bag. I always try to keep some pressure on their main base, and that's easy to do. I usually end up losing if I'm put on the defensive early on and am not able to expand. A couple turrets at a forward base will usually turn back an early enemy advance.

==Release 1v1==

===Designer Notes===

Justin Rouse, Multiplayer Map Designer, talks about the making Release:

===Tactics===

Release is the only map where you have a little bit of “Control” over the flood in Halo Wars. You quickly learn that controlling the Consoles that release the flood is key to victory but many players make the mistake of using the flood as a solitary attack strategy. If you know you can open the flood gate multiple times in quick succession, at the level three flood army size, then they may be enough on their own but until you’re at that point you should use the flood as a supplementary attack force. Early on whenever you’re planning an attack, if possible you should open the release gate around 20seconds before your attack will hit the enemy. This makes the flood army a distraction while the real attack comes in from hopefully and undefended angle. Keeping your opponent busy in two locations can usually earn you a win but if you’re mistiming your attacks and just feeding flood into his large army you may be throwing experience at his forces causing them to gain veteran levels ahead of you which is definitely not the desired outcome.  

==Barrens 1v1==

===Barrens Notes===

Justin Rouse, Multiplayer Map Designer, talks about Barrens:

===Tactics===

Barrens has some interesting gameplay for any leader but Forge is my favorite option. The layout and hooks play into Forge’s strengths exceptionally well. Barrens forces you to leave you expansions more secluded from each other than normal, early game this can allow a Forge player to gain a bit more advantage from his boosted supply pads while other players have to spend their early game resources upgrading pads if they don’t want to risk the far away expansion. When playing as Forge my endgame plan is always formulated around having an army of Scorpions and upgrading them to Grizzlies as soon as possible, but most of the time this is easier said than done. Although, Barrens is another 1v1 map that offers the reactor hook, clearing away the nearby flood and gaining access to one of these hooks allows me to jump up in tech level quickly. It’s also the only 1v1 map to have the healing spire on it. This hook synergizes well with a tank strat because it can help you keep those expensive units alive and gaining veterancy throughout the course of the game. Combine all these advantages and your Forge heavy armor can have a lot of success on this 1v1 map.

==Blood River 1v1==

===Blood River Notes===

Justin Rouse, Multiplayer Map Designer, talks about Blood River:

===Tactics===

Duncan Stanley, Community Manager, spits some game about Blood River:

Given how small the map is, it's very risky to try to boom on this map, map control early on is much more important than going for late game heroics with super units.