After I didn't saw much comments on this I tought I might start the discussion. From the look the map is epic. The amount of ships in the background only Denon is coming close to this. Still from a gameplay perspective I found it the worst TDM map. And the reasons for that boils down to one reason: To much rubble on the map.

 

While I am aware everyone was afraid of The Lost Gunship Playground Yards part 2 I really think the amount of obstacles on the map was an overreaction in the other direction. And this are the two of the reasons why I think so:

1) Well by now the map for me has earned the Nickname "Death by Engine ability map". While I unfortunately don't have a chance to track it I have seen matches with double digit amounts of self destructs on both sides combined as result of using Engine abilities to break rockets that ends in the next stack of rubble. Even on Kuat with its narrow canyons I rarely have seen more than 5 unintenional self destructs as a result of engine manoeuvre didn't ending how the player thought they where. So doubling the amount of unintentional self destructs seems a lot. Of course there is a chance that by now not everyone is familar enough with the map to have a feeling where they can use manoeuvre and where not and as a result we will see a decline in the number of unintentional self destructs, but by now Engine manoeuvre deads seem to be a feature of this map.

2) The other thing I saw much more often on this map compared to the other two TDM maps are matches ending because the time did run out. So despite more self destructs the overall number of death went down, so what is missing? Combat that ends in kills. This map offers plenty of opportunities to hide from the enemy and to break LOS. The result compared to the other TDM maps: chasing the enemy around corners up, actually shooting the enemy down. some teams can handle that better than others but still I don't think that the goal of a PVP map is to prevent fighting. I don't know how many of you still know and remember Classic Battletech from the time when the gaming internet consisted of a pen and a peace of paper. There was a series of maps called Heavy Woods. This series of maps throw as many wood peaces together as the map could fit, the result nearly nowhere on the map you had a line of side and movement was reduced so much that even the melee build, that on paper would like the map because the coundn't be shoot down over a distance, had a hard time closing in on the enemy because of all the movement penalties. While Iokath isn't as bad as the heavy woods it feals like a step in that direction.

 

So what are your experiences with the new map?

There are ONE Main reason I LIKE this map:

 

It is a TEACHING map. Missiles are the new game, and you can now use more obstacles than ever for cover or line of sight breaking. If you're a pilot who is learning how to fly, this map teaches you that it is MORE rewarding to fly evasively and use cover than to just use your abilities to brush off missiles so that when you're OUT of abilities, you're just a sitting duck with no skill to protect you. This Map cultivates that skill. It also teaches you how to maneuver around objects large and small. Sure we're all more prone to self destructing, but the potential to learn for new pilots is really great. Anybody can press a button to stop a missile lock tone, but not everybody can use a giant ship engine to do it.

 

Big thing I DISLIKE about it:

 

It rewards bombers who hide their mines or cluster together. It rewards the worst part of bomber abusive play that lures in inexperienced pilots (and sometimes well experienced pilots) to kill them and die to their mine arsenal

On Satele Shan at least I actually tend to get more kills on the Iokath map, using a T1 strike with HLC and concussion. I am not sure why, maybe it is harder for pilots to support teammates once the action starts with obstacles easily breaking groups up once they have to move a lot. That allows more isolated fighting. Also I seem to be getting more chances to attack people who are attacking someone else, which is always the best situation for offense. That might be because people are less conscious of nearby opponents in all the clutter. Of course the better pilots are difficult to kill, but that is true in every map.

 

I have been surprised by how useful barrel roll is on the Iokath map. I think with all the clutter many pilots are more tentative following someone who is moving rapidly at a distance.

 

There are some hiding places for bombers that are very hard to get at. But for TDM, my normal rule for bombers hidden in a tight space is to ignore them, on any map. The downside is if a well coordinated team gets a quick lead, it can ball up around bombers and be very hard to get at.

I somewhat disagree about the map. I like it.

 

- It takes away some of those long range attacks from lose-grouped gunships. You can sneak up on people and chase them every-which way. - since there isn't really an 'up' or 'down' but with a bit of support, a Gunship can still notch up several kills - even if its not all in one massive chunk of damage.

 

As for the engine ability, BR is probably the best for knowing where you're gonna end up, but with practice with the others, then suicides should be not much more than any other map - And there are some clear spaces to pull those crazy-Ivan turns.

 

It does marginally favour fast scouts and tanky strikes more- ( and support ships a lot) but the best bit is that it feels very STAR-WARS - swooping in and out of wreckage with all guns blazing. - Once people learn the intricacies and the power-up spawn points a bit more, I'm sure this map will shine....

 

It does encourage team-play, coz it's east to get disorientated and end up too far forward and alone in the barrel of Piranhas. - Unfortunately most PuGs just blaze away for personal glory tho'

 

- At least it wasn't a reskin like the ground-pounder PVPers got. - And now that we're all on big noisy servers, you can bet another match will be along soon - which is no bad thing.

 

And yes I prefer dom to TDM- but then who doesn't like a bit of domination every day?

Overall I do like the new map, however, there are a few things that make me not LOVE the new map.

 

1.) It is too cluttered and with the coloring of the objects, it is VERY hard to see some of the smaller items.

2.) The coloring again is an issue as it is VERY hard to see the power-ups. I know where they will spawn, I can even see it on the map, but I can pass right by them due to the coloring surrounding the power-up. This really should be fixed as I know I'm not the only one missing them. I see pilots fly right by them from a distance and then hurry to go grab it now that I'm far enough away to actually SEE it.

3.) There are two very good places for bombers to tick and very difficult to get them out of there. It's easy to say "just don't go that way or avoid that area" but difficult to put in place when the other team sticks close to those spots purposely. At least on the other maps we can usually avoid it or can coax that other team our way, but not so much with this map and the cluttered nature of it.

 

Overall I do like the new map and just wish it was less cluttered, especially around where they put the power-ups, then at least I could see them clearly.

So far I like Iokath a lot more than Lost Shipyards. It seems like there are a lot of viable builds for that map. Gunship spam and proton spam is still strong there, but nowhere near as OP as it is in a wide open map like Lost Shipyards.

 

Some of the objects are a little too dark and there isn't much contrast between them and the background. But once I turned up my monitor brightness and contrast, I haven't had any suicides. But yea I agree, using power dive on that map is risky. I think after 100+ games on the new map, these suicide problems will diminish.

Oh it's not only Power dive. Let's say Retro thrusters back fire a lot on this map... And yes even barrel roll has it's moments but that could be part of the coloring issue that some of you mentoined, after most deaths with barrel roll come from a part that sticks out of one of the bigger parts of wreckage that you didn't notice when starting to roll.

My only problem on Iokath is I find myself disoriented a lot. Although I assume the reason for that is not having played thousands of matches there, as well as just having started playing GSF again around a week ago.

Iokath is turning into my favorite map. It's the best scout map, significantly better than Kuat Mesas in my opinion. The broken debris may be cluttered, but the more I've flown the map the less of an issue I have finding my way around it. Missiles aren't nearly as dominant as on the other maps, because you can almost always reach cover by the time it takes to lock anything like a torp.

 

Gunships can still stack and in serious matches that's what will happen, but that's not a map issue to me -- that's because slugs and plasmas are so accurate, and ions are still so powerful in TDM.

 

I have no complaints with the way this map was designed. I also love all the powerups, and the fact that there seem to be more engine overcharges than any other powerup, This encourages mobility.

I like this map, because of many tight spaces that you can hide in. Mostly because gunships have harder time to hit people.

I like this map, because of many tight spaces that you can hide in. Mostly because gunships have harder time to hit people.

I like them too. Here you can fly almost everything, it is so wonderfully confusing.

One idiosyncratic thing I've noticed.... although this map undeniably has more clutter than any other... I've also found that it's not at all uncommon to be able to place yourself so that you have LOS on someone who's even 40K kliks. I mean... by the time you're in range, they're not in LOS anymore, but there are a lot of through-shots in the map.

...if that makes any sense.

We need map.

 

Cut big chunk of space near Iokath.

 

Drop garbage.

 

Done.

 

I think picture for loading screen took more effort.

So far I really like the Iokath Map. It doesn't feel like any of the maps to me, it really is another unique addition to the five maps we had. Whether some tactics will ruin it in the future, like Ticking Bombers, I don't dare say yet.

 

The skybox texture is looking really good, there are lots of LoS options and even though some think that Gunships might not be good in the map, so far I've had a lot of fun with my Mangler flying around.

 

There is one thing I dislike though: The map eats a lot more CPU than the other, static maps. I think this may be due to the dynamic blaster bolts flying around, but I just don't get an as high framerate in Iokath as in other maps.

Are you having similar issues in Denon Dom? After that map has also background Blaster fire it would be a surprise if Iokath causes problems and Denon not, or it would mean that not the background blaster fire is the problem.

Revenge of the knee jerk retro thrusters.

 

You mean people might have to think besides blasting past you at full speed, hitting retro thrusters, cutting the engines and bursting people down? For shame.

 

There are angles and escape routes that you can perch around waiting for somebody trailing smoke trying to evade missile locks on their tails only to fly straight into your lap.

 

It is a challenge to buzz through with scouts. Not a bad challenge. A fun one.

I am a huge fan of the new map. I think it's pretty much the coolest map for girl bombers, and I think it tries to split the difference between clean line of sight and not. I also like how it is so meaningfully tall, with space that matters in all directions. I think it's a great addition. The meta is absolutely determined by available maps, after all, and this is actually a new map that is substantially different from the others.

Are you having similar issues in Denon Dom? After that map has also background Blaster fire it would be a surprise if Iokath causes problems and Denon not, or it would mean that not the background blaster fire is the problem.

 

There is a lot more debris in Iokath though. A blaster bolt may not necessarily be more complex than a static structure, just because it is in motion. It may not have the same complexity of textures as the hull of an Eternal Fleet ship. I haven't checked my framerate in either map yet though.