Complete Citadel II

CTF Map Submission

Map Name: Citadel II
Map ID: 401547
Style: Desert/Castle
Creator(s): Creeperflame
Structure Restricted Areas: spawn, just outside the citadel, top flag area, stairs down to underground
Configured (yes/no): yes
Number of Caps: 3
Pictures: (see attached, with explanations)

This is my rework of Citadel, the old CTF map created by xxxxdead. I've reworked almost everything about the map while trying to keep the original structures intact, and rethemed it into a desert citadel with ruins in the ravine below.

Overview of the map


Overview of red citadel:



View from the top of the waterfall:



View from the other side of the ravine:



Center building at mid:



View of underground:



Here are some of the key gameplay changes made to the map:

Formerly, the flag room was a small, enclosed room at the top of the tower smaller than reach distance, meaning it could easily be camped by one dwarf or pyro, or 2-3 people playing other classes. The flag has been moved to the roof , a much more open space with 4 entrances: front, back, and diagonally front-right and front-left.




The fifth and largest entrance is obviously from above, but I've made some changes to prevent easy soldier bombing and ghost capping. First is that the roof has a large "lip" extending inwards 3 blocks. This prevents soldiers from easily climbing the interior walls and restricts the angle at which ninjas can pearl out of the flag room, meaning they'll have to throw it more vertically and lose a lot of horizontal movement. In fact, if they try to pearl directly from the flag, the pearl wouldn't land out of the citadel. Second is that this roof has been made easily accessible to all classes via a ladder and sponge on the inside and outside of the building, preventing soldiers from camping on the roof without being punished.



There are multiple ways to get up to this flagroom, all with advantages and disadvantages. The first is the conventional way and formerly the only way, via the stairs. The second is a route up the inside front of the building, using a sponge and a ladder to get up to the top, seen here in the background.



This route leads onto the second level platform, usually used by archers. Though this route is sneakier, you run the risk of having to deal with them, which could be messy and may end with you being bowpunched off. This also helps balance the archer area, forcing them to stay on their toes. The platform and the final ladder to the top is shown below.


The third route are the side routes, accessible by ground and by a stairway to the underground area (only on once side). It uses a triple sponge to launch you to the top platform. Additionally, the triangle shaped carpet covers double soul sand. There are two more similar triangles at the front of the building. These facilitate capping with classes other than ninja and soldier, allowing them an easy way to get down and an easy way for recoverers to follow them. The side with the stairway is shown below.

A problem with the old Citadel is that there was no easy way for people from spawn to get to the flag. You either had to take the route that went to the front of the building and go back inside, or take a side staircase to the back of the building that was not immediately apparent and hard to find. To combat this, I opened up a new route from spawn, giving direct access to the main room and a sponge up to the top of the staircase to the flag, ensuring defenders can get to the flag room quicker.

In the underground area, I made the path to the top easier to use by adding stairs:

and made a new stairway that faces forward, going to the ravine. The exit of the siair and one of the desert ruins is shown:


This wall of text and images probably doesn't do the map justice, so to see it for yourself do "/map 401547" on Build to explore it. Though this map is "complete", I am very open to changing any part of it, so please give me your feedback.

 

You can access the original Citadel, the map ID is 1179. What cannot be accessed is Citadel I, whose map ID is 70542 but is private apparently. The engi/necro restrictions are done with block 97 under the floor, not signs, which is why you can't see them. I'll try to fix the spawn/fountain glass isssue.

Edit: fixed it, there should no longer be a way to get from the main room to spawn via the gap in front of the fountain.

 

oops, fixed it

 

Made a large update to the map, besides the little changes I've been making in this thread.

I rethemed the map fully to a desert and added better pathing and a cool border around the castle. New overview:



I changed the long tunnels so they don't feed right into each other. You have to now come at least towards the middle of the underground to go from one side to the other:


I added rear sponges/soul sand pads:



and I made all the soul sand pads bigger, from a 5 block wide triangle to 7 blocks wide: