Complete Pagodas I

CTF Map Submission

Map Name: Pagodas I
Map ID: 393861
Style: Rework / Asian / Pavo-Themed
Creator(s): puhdgy, with help from @Daveeeeeeeee and @woolctf AND an amazing dragon by @skysheepp
Desc: pudgykerstin here with another episode of Cutting It Too Close To The Deadline! Today I'm here with a rework of a half-loved map from years back! I tried a bit of mashing together all the Pagodas reworks Pavo made (love u @Pavocado p.s. ♪ I would wait for ever and ever ,, for you to come back to CTF !!), while also improving but not completely changing gameplay(since I genuinely think gameplay needed tweaking and that's about it). Pagodas has gameplay that is not exactly conventional, but definitely unique and interesting, so I'd be hyped to see this back.
Structure Restricted Areas: Flagroom, a bit around flag building, on top of flag building, in underground tunnels, some pathways, inside/on top of spawn pagoda, in front of spawn, on taller buildings you cannot get to, and on trees that would allow you to shoot engineer arrows into the flagroom. (Maybe this seems like a lot, but this is also a bigger map keep in mind.)
Configured (yes/no): yes
Number of Caps: 3

Picture(s):

Spoiler: Images

Entire Map
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Spawn
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Flagroom (Outside View)


Flagroom (Inside View / Bottom Level)
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Flagroom (Inside View / Top Level)

Midfield
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Underground (Exit 1, connecting to the underground that was on original Pagodas)


Underground (Exit 2, coming out under stairs near mid)​

And for style points, a fancy shmancy spawn box, with a fancy dragon to go along with it! Thanks to @woolctf(Spawnbox) and @skysheepp(Dragon):
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Critique is accepted and appreciated. Thanks for viewing and thank you to everyone who helped and gave feedback! Changelog is below.​

Spoiler: General Changes

*Note: Usually, my changelogs are longer than this, because I usually rework maps I dislike and find bigger flaws with.. but I don't dislike Pagodas, it is actually my favorite map. That being said, I have recognized smaller flaws with it and I was more than happy to tweak them. The reason I mainly tweaked the map is because the gameplay of Pagodas is unique, I didn't want to make it like every other map. Different isn't bad all the time !! So, I just ask you to have an open mind and see how it feels in testing. If you don't like it then, I'd love it if you could message me feedback or comment it here! <3

- General Changes
> Layers. I am going to try and explain this to the best of my ability but bear with me. So, when I think of Pagodas I think of a wedding cake. Originally, Pagodas has 5 layers if you include the top of middle as a layer(which I do). In this rework, there are 4 layers(again, including the top of middle). Combining 2 layers into 1 allowed me to make the map slightly less wide. Additionally, I made the walls separating the layers shorter so archer gets slightly better sight lines. *Important: I am fully aware soldier is a very viable class on this map, I could have completely changed that, but changing that would have changed one of the unique aspects of Pagodas which is not my intention. So what I tried doing instead is making it so archer AND soldier are both very viable, since they counter eachother very well(i.e. Blackout).

> Trees. All trees are parkour-able in one way or another. One thing I loved with Pagodas is that classes that were not soldier could tree hop, so this is less of a change and more of a retaining feature that I'm probably lame for enjoying. Along with this, I made the forests a bit less clunky, so navigating them should be easier. However, the original feel of foresty Pagodas has not left us.

> Less flowers/grass/plants. Loads of people hated the amount of grass and flowers and PvP obstacles on Pagodas, so I lessened them. Please don't hate my bamboo I love my bamboo so much

> Aesthetics. While gameplay is more important than aesthetics, it doesn't hurt to attempt to make things look nice. There is more detailed added to the entire map, ideally making the map good for gameplay but also not looking bad. Examples: Pink trees have more color variety to them but are also smaller, the pagodas themselves have more depth to them and look better, the middle is prettier but also cleaner than it used to be, a majority of the structures on the map were edited to look better and play better.

> Underground. Pagodas originally had an underground with an opening on the side of the map that lots of people didn't even know existed! I recall the best use of that underground was using it to juke recovery, which was smart, but the underground generally didn't take you farther towards middle, so it wasn't exactly a route itself. I tried changing that by making the underground go to the side of middle. I wanted it to be useful for any class and be used as any underground would be. Adding this underground made it so taking the spawnside route is more viable, it offers you something different than what the previously funneling left side route could.

Spoiler: Flagroom Changes

- Flagroom Changes
The flagroom on Pagodas Original was probably one of the tinier flagrooms in CTF maps, the general setup of the flagroom is the same, I just stretched it around and made the width and length. The only setup change is that the drop-down hole is a bit further back, making it so that a soldier can't just jump in and jump out with your flag, you have a bit more time to react and do something about it. This flagroom does make the map need some roaming defense, but I do not see that as a bad thing at all. There's now a sponge in the back of the pagoda that takes you to the top level aswell.

Spoiler: Spawn Changes

- Spawn Changes
Remember when soldiers could sit on top of the Pagodas spawn building, making recovery super painful?! NO MORE. There is a sponge inside the bottom of the Pagoda that brings you to the very top of it, so if a soldier is there it is counterable. There is also now 3 exits to the Pagoda, and HALLELUJAH the sign is fixed so you are now facing towards middle!!

STAY TUNED for an Islands rework in the upcoming days ;D​