Sandy Slopes v2
Rocket Race

Since recently joining up with WARR and playing more Rocket Race, I decided to do something I had long thought about: make an improved version of Sandy Slopes. I wanted to make checkpoints more accessible instead of just having two ways to get to each one (without boosting).

v1 info

Sandy Slopes
A Rocket Race course complete with hills, banks, bridges, and, of course, dunes.
YouTube - Sandy Slopes: A Halo 3 Rocket Race Course
A quick tour.
YouTube - Halo 3 Minigame Map - Sandy Slopes
Overview and gameplay courtesy of HaloEvolution
Firstly, to all those whose first thought is "So much for being retired from forge", hear this. I had put more hours than you can imagine into this map before I had run into the problems that caused my forging leave. I had done so much that had turned out great, and I just couldn't let that go to waste. So you can either try to enjoy the map, or get pouty over me going back on previous statements. Your call.
I would like to give a huge thanks to Cheerful Dub, who re-introduced me to Rocket Race. I always had so much fun playing Rocket Race with his parties, and that is what inspired me to start this project.
A few things to know about the map. Firstly, it is very boost friendly. Almost all the checkpoints can be boosted to without taking the normal path. Secondly, the bottom middle checkpoint area acts as a kind of speed bump. If you hit it full speed, you can lose control. Also, beware of the crypt hole. And lastly, I created the checkpoints with callouts in mind, so use them to your advantage.
Moving on to the pictures:
Bottom Mid
Top Mid
Blue Hill
Red Hill
Blue Bridge
Red Bridge
Bank
Dune
Gutter
Action Shots:
Special thanks to all that helped with the completion of this map. Whether it was motivation, brainstorming, or testing, I appreciate everything everyone did.
I hope you enjoy my map!
Rocket Race
Sandy Slopes

Changes from v1:
-Two hill branches added to the big hill
-Two more ramps added to each bridge destination
-Added a checkpoint
-Removed obelisks from former "gutter" destination, moved meet with branch at "low sand"
-Counter-merged a Huge Block into the "blue hill" to replace a poorly geo-merged block
-Moved lights at bridge destinations under the go-to point, similar to colored hills
-Closed off area under bridge destinations
-Added a Bubble Shield at spawns (throw if Mongoose flips to protect from accidental rockets)

For some reason, I never thought about adding two more branches to the top hill. But when it finally popped into my head, I immediately started working on the v2. Sandy Slopes v2 has twice as many ways to get to the bridge and hill destinations. The two extra hill branches allow direct routes to the top mid destination and provide a jump down to the colored hill checkpoints, and the extra ramps at the colored bridges are pretty self-explanatory. Like the original, Sandy Slopes v2 is very boost friendly. Since several destinations are hills, you often can't tell if someone else is coming from the other side, so boosting is quite valuable. On to the pics:

Overhead view (mouseover to see callouts)
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll306/ShaddoBlade/sandyco.jpg

New Center Structure

New Bridge Structure

Special Thanks to Tyrant Hacker, IMaelstrom, Silly Box Cat, Dthen, aMaRyJaNe BlaZe, I Rain Down, and everyone else that offered suggestions, helped test, or played v1.

Thanks for checking out my map. I hope you enjoy it.

Rocket Race
Sandy Slopes v2