Authors:
AZN FTW, ell3ment

Map Name:
The Station

Map Canvas:
Orbital

Map Size:
Medium

Player Count:
4 - 16 players

Supported Gametypes:
Conquest

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Description:

It's here... after weeks of testing, The Station, is now ready for the public. After the release of the Mythic Map Pack, many of us looked at Orbital and saw an obvious connection to Conquest. It contained many hallways and many objects too block off areas, so sir Ell3ment took up the challenge. Through out the forge process I showed up and helped him out and eventually began to help him forge it to perfection to meet the Conquest Map Creation Standards. This is what resulted...

The Station is a work of art as well as a battlefield to fit the largest amount of players possible. It is asymmetrical, but that doesn't stop a forger from making it a balanced Conquest map. With proper cover and weapon placement on each side balance was achieved. To start here are the two starting areas:

As you can see everything starts exactly the same. All three of the power weapons exist in this territory; the Sniper Rifle, the Brute Shot, and the Plasma Grenades. First of all, power weapons for a Conquest map are normally placed in the first territory to be able to push back if ever backed into the starting area on their side. It is nearly impossible to capture because the territory stretches to behind the shield door, so just holding the 2nd territory should be enough to satisfy you.

Second, Plasma Grenades were select for two reasons. The coloring of the explosion matches the scenery (yes I am anal about little things like this), and most importantly the plasma's explosion is wider in diameter hence is more suitable on this map. Frags are bad because they feel week due to the not so narrow areas making it easy to avoid and negligible. Spikes are still good, just they don't match the setting because the map isn't narrow enough to take advantage of sticking to walls. On to the next set of territories:

The weapons here are dual spikers in the main run path, SMGs off to the side, and a plasma pistol in transition into the third territories. Spikers were chosen to go in the main path because SMGs were placed at the transition of the 1st and 2nd territories. The reason there are 2 sets of SMGs rather than Spikers is because Spikers are more specialized... SMGs are a common weapon of Conquest and nothing really special. Spikers provide melee capabilities. And the reason why only one set is in the main run path is to offer up a variety of weapons if everyone on the team took the shortest path possible to the center. The plasma pistol isn't very visible, but can be snagged when you are running by it... the box there is an eyecatcher due to it's small size.

The third side is where you equip up when you didn't snag anything earlier. The dreaded Plasma Rifles are in here as well as both a Battle Rifle/Carbine. The reason for these two is the bigger size enables for bigger battles, and it isn't much of a risk because their power levels are a lot lower in Conquest. Also there is the standard 4 magnums at the doorway for when you are desperate for ammo or a headshot weapon.

And finally where all the action really happens:

The center territory proves to be a crazy battlefield. The most notable combat aspect of this part are the moveable wirespools... with the Brute Shot being a main weapon those create dynamic cover and have you always adjusting your strategy. There is a ledge and a whole on one side to offer an advantage, because on the other side the door is much wider and easier to break through. Not to mention that 3rd territory suffers from the straight line of site into the 2nd territory. So we offered a bit more of an advantage with the lift server and the little hole you can shoot through on the right. And yes that is a geomerged soccerball for laughs... ;)

And yes the map does plays for up to 16 players... as long as you leave your Walmart Connections at the door (thank you to all my XF testers for having good connections... lolz). And it plays beautifully... here are some action shots from that crazy game:

Brute Force Clash

Fight for Land

Full-blown Action

Passing below the Reactor Core

Preparing from the 2nd Territory

Fight for the 3rd Territory

Warning: Flying Boxes Imminent

Backup is on the way...

Outnumbered

The power of the Brute Shot

I had a bunch more pictures, but FH has a freakin' 20 image limit... you can see the rest here: My Map Screenshots

We hope you enjoy the newest addition to the Conquest Featured Library, and after this Ell3ment is now a Certifier for all Conquest maps... if I am busy contact him and he will help you get your Conquest map certified.

Oh yeah... and also Sage and Ell3ment decided to make this on the map: