I’ve been playing the new map nonstop, and it’s quickly becoming one of my favorite maps. However, there are some notes I’d like to share.
1.) I can forsee folks complaining about the snipers. There’s a particularly long sightline at the beginning, they can shoot through the mid-event walkway while its still blocked, and they’ve got highground + cover overlooking one of the final objectives. I don’t think it’s the worst thing, but slight adjustments to break up these sightlines might be required. Something to keep an eye on.
2.) The minigame is pretty fun, coming from someone who likes the Stardew Valley fishing game. However, I wish there was a greater element of skill beyond just keeping it in the middle. Having smaller circles appear that you can “Collect” by hovering in them for a few seconds in exchange for a boost would make the game feel more dynamic.
3.) The timer can be very strict. Not a bad thing, but it can be hard to clutch. I believe this can be remedied with a suggestion like #2 above, since It would also allow a skilled fisher-I mean operative, to get time back which could be lost saving a teammate or two.
4.) I like dropping into the action! However, no enemies spawn on the first car. Having a horde of poxers/groaners we land on would be pretty toit, no?
5.) Cover seems very light in the mid-event cars. I would suggest replacing the railings around the ceiling holes with solid half-cover and maybe adding a crate or two on top, as there’s very little cover from shooters.
6.) I wouldn’t normally suggest this, but since the DT team has proven unopposed to revising maps in a significant fashion, I would like to recommend an increased level of randomness be injected into the level to compensate for its short playtime. Having variant traincars that could sometimes be substituted in place of the existing ones would be appreciated.
For reference:
[Starting Car] [three paths Car] [minigame tutorial car] [cargo car] [mid-event cars (x3)] [resupply car] [finale cars (x3)]
Ideas for variant traincars.
“The Barrel Car”. A car full of explosive and flammable barrels, which appears to be lacking on this map in general (Perhaps with good reason, but they could still spawn in the interiors, no?)
“Cargo Car Variant”. The traincar with the cargo containers (Cargo Car), except full of holes that make traversing the most straightforward path impossible, and encourages the use of the upper path (Which is quite a time investment, considering the ladder climb speed is sooo slow)
“PoxCar”. A cattle car chocked full of poxwalkers. Could also feature a zig-zag of cattle cages that one could navigate slowly, or parkour over top of for a time gain. Alternatively, cages could open when a player crosses the midpoint of the car, resulting in a crush of poxers swarming in.
“Ramp” A car that requires players navigate a pile of cargo containers that ramp up near the end. This would naturally allow players to be redirected to the roof of the mid-event car and be a nice LOS blocker for snipers. Replaces the Cargo Car.
“Blocked Path Car” A variant of the Three Paths car where one or two of the routes are blocked off.
“Dining Car”. An open air car that is ferrying mounds of dead bodies
“Flesh Car”. A car bisected with a fleshy wall you can either blow up with a charge (safe but slow) or circumnavigate by going around the outside of the car (scary but fast!). Could be part of an alternate mid event where instead of getting batteries you have to slay a daemon infestation in order to open the path forward.
“Tanker” The center path requires climbing a ladder and crossing atop a tanker, however you can circumnavigate this with parkour at the risk of death.
“Monstrosity Cage”. A alternate finale where if you don’t do the objective(s) fast enough, a cage with a monstrosity in it opens and you have to fight that instead. If you complete the level fast enough, the monstrosity gets dropped off the side of the train.
