Randall's 30May2011 post got me thinking …

[Goose]

I've seen more then one get become a snore-fest because one team or the other don't have much practice reading the terrain, and I hold up that river'n pond set of maps as a leading example. Conversely, I never play on the Heavy Woods map, as you'd have had to have known about it ahead of time to bring Victors or some jump-physical 'Mechs, as otherwise everyone struggles to move on it.

This is sort of like how I've gotten away from playing with LRMs, as T-Aug just ruins the game for me …

So: What say ye about the maps you play on? Got a list of despised or reviled? Or maybe you have a map you think no one else can comprehend, and so you pick it to let the enemy defeat himself on?

[Lanceman]

I'm not a big fan of "canyon" type maps.  I play with a lot of maneuver, and I don't like getting boxed in anywhere.  With a BattleMech's difficulty of moving through water, the river and delta maps are always a bit of a headache too. 

Playing on these maps won't ruin a game for me, mind you, it's just that they tend to throw me for a curve at first.

[Diplominator]

My views on jump jets have gradually evolved from "waste of tonnage that could be used for more Clan pulse lasers" to "situationally useful but not essential" to "nearly required for almost everything" to "why doesn't it have IMPROVED jump jets?". So, as far as I'm concerned, the more broken the terrain is, the better.  That, and I've recently been playing a lot of games that pit high tech, high skills, and small numbers against decent tech, less skills, and 2:1 odds. So, anything that allows me to break line of sight and keep the opponent from focusing everything on one or two units is a boon.

That's just me looking for an advantage, though. I could certainly see how no jets and average pilots could make a map with a lot of trees and hills take an absolute eternity.

[A. Lurker]

I prefer to avoid maps that by accident or design prevent units fielded for a given game from actually participating. So no river delta or heavy woods maps if somebody's itching to play with tanks, for example (and I'll probably shy away from the deep canyon ones as well).

I'll take on jumpers in heavy woods with non-jumping designs if need be. I won't be happy and the OpFor will have a clear advantage, but it can still be done.

[willydstyle]

Can you link to the post you're referring to?

[Goose]

Erm: http://www.classicbattletech.com/index.php?action=news

[willydstyle]

Where is Games & Gizmos? The name seems familiar to me.

[MistWolf]

Where is Games & Gizmos? The name seems familiar to me.

Redmond Washington

[Khymerion]

I actually detest the wide open maps where there is little more than scrub brush and a few mud puddles on them.  Several of the original paper maps were kings of these.  I tend to skitter away from map lay outs that are predominately open like that, since I know the kind of game people are going to be wanting to play when those come out...  especially if it is going to be just another slug fest between heavy and assault class units.  Now, if it is going to be a light to medium match, I might be more inclined to stay.

Then again, I enjoy maps with tons of water, roadways, built up with buildings, and the such...  I like a few turns of maneuvering for position before the shooting starts.  I like the very chess/go zen like feel of that portion, where it is a test of wills with little dice involved before it just comes down to dumb luck dice rolling... like the open field fights tend to go, where these is shooting almost on the first or second turn.

[willydstyle]

I prefer to play on maps that have a bit of a middle ground: enough terrain to make maneuver important, but not so much terrain that non-jumping mechs just don't get to go anywhere.

[truetanker]

Hardford Gardens mapset: Solaris 7.

I love this. Quick set up: me in a Painback ( oh yeah! ) my OpFor in a Centurion ( good for him ).

Turn #11? or 12? We successfully walked around the map shooting ourselves in the foot occasionally. ( We both had shitty pilots 5/6s at best. ) I was studing the terrain to see where I could go on my next turn. Did you guys know there is a Depth 1 hex on this map? Right next to a Level 0 under the trees and next to the right hand wall back in the lower corner? Hard to see but it is there.

Well lemme just say " I'm gonna creme you! I only need 7's and I walked"~ Centurion. Me: " I don't think so look at the map again. " " Huh? " * Depth 1 * " WHA? " " Make it 8 and I'll let you hit me. ", I said smiling snarky like. Needless to say, I ran as well and turned around but all I have is 7 ML's to fire on a possible 9 to-hit roll. Yeah thers is a Depth 1 on that map. Lower Right hand corner near the wall under the trees. Bad printing? Or good strategy?

You pick.

TT

[Jim1701]

We almost never play on stock maps.  I also can't stand playing miniatures rules.  Fortunately, our agent has a nice felt hex map and a ton of buildings, trees, roads, water, etc. to make a never ending variation.  That said I'll play on just about any type of terrain so long as it isn't deliberately designed to favor one side over another.

[willydstyle]

Hardford Gardens mapset: Solaris 7.

I love this. Quick set up: me in a Painback ( oh yeah! ) my OpFor in a Centurion ( good for him ).

Turn #11? or 12? We successfully walked around the map shooting ourselves in the foot occasionally. ( We both had shitty pilots 5/6s at best. ) I was studing the terrain to see where I could go on my next turn. Did you guys know there is a Depth 1 hex on this map? Right next to a Level 0 under the trees and next to the right hand wall back in the lower corner? Hard to see but it is there.

Well lemme just say " I'm gonna creme you! I only need 7's and I walked"~ Centurion. Me: " I don't think so look at the map again. " " Huh? " * Depth 1 * " WHA? " " Make it 8 and I'll let you hit me. ", I said smiling snarky like. Needless to say, I ran as well and turned around but all I have is 7 ML's to fire on a possible 9 to-hit roll. Yeah thers is a Depth 1 on that map. Lower Right hand corner near the wall under the trees. Bad printing? Or good strategy?

You pick.

TT

What was important about the depth 1 hex?

[Nightwinder]

What was important about the depth 1 hex?

At a guess I'd say the partial cover it gave him, saving his precious face due to the increased TN and saving his legs from the mean ol' bullets.

[willydstyle]

But if the firer is elevated, the target cannot gain the benefit of partial cover, except when in water.

[Shi_no_Kami]

Maps?

Bah. 3D home made terrain, Hotzmat. Never the same map set up twice in a row.

[truetanker]

Almost, I was on level 0 while he was in the " hole ". Perfect kick postion and laser spamming. I did soak up a 20 round up though, barely made the PSR as the result. 3 out of 7 MLs hit but the kick made it to CT with a nice sounding crunch! Maybe had like 4 or 5 points of armor left when he threw the towel in. Me: I was barely standing at this point, having been shot up by a few 20 point holes in me and from plenty of falling.

Ended up having to replace most of my armor and some crits, as well as the complete LA assembly, from shoulder to hand and all that jazz.

TT

[dirty harry]

Usually i'm happy with every map out there. The only maps i can't stand are the moon scape and large mountain maps. Damn aquarelle camo whatever. Have to read every hex separatly for the imprinted information.

[A. Lurker]

A good example of what I consider bad maps would be the (unofficial) "ModCan" series added to MegaMek a little while back. There are thirty-four of them (all regular 16x17 hexes), meaning that if you're playing with random or surprise maps one or two of them stand a pretty good chance of showing up simply through weight of numbers...and they all, that I've seen at least, have as their defining element a canyon with unbroken sheer walls that just so happens to be exactly three levels deep.

I don't know offhand who submitted them, and I can certainly appreciate the work put into them, but I think by that point it's fair to suspect that person of loving jump jets just a little too much. ::)