CS:GO EMPIRE

nice

The name de_empire doesn't really sound like a map set in a industrial environment. :?

"An empire is defined as "an aggregate of nations or people ruled over by an emperor or other powerful sovereign or government."

Quote from Andre Valera

The 2014 version of de_empire was based partially on the Brooklyn Naval Yard in New York City. New York is known as the Empire State

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_the_name_"Empire_State"

Alright, I see where you're coming from

I think @Logic raises a good point though, it's an error I made and undoubtedly many others will. I appreciate the abstraction, but it's also a little misleading and you must have had to answer that question / tell people quite a few times where the name came from?

Even if I had known what the context was, I would hazard a guess that most people wouldn't associate the Brooklyn Naval Yard with "The Empire State", and not something based around the empire state building.

The best alternative I could suggest would be something like de_brooklyn, otherwise ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Regarding the changes, they look really good. However, the boxes/crates seem to be scattered a bit too randomly to feel realistic. Too conveniently placed.

I really like the visual look of this map. Not sure about the B bombsite. Felt too cluttered to me to hold on by T's against retake.

about as dope as the hope that soap will float

Ran around the map, I liked the vents, they seemed fun to use. I remember this map back then, the visuals changed a lot!

Your radar isn't normalized compared to official/operations maps, it should be a dark/black background, not gray.

http://imgur.com/a/wvfaf

Congratulations! As a finalist, this map thread has been stickied.

I'll be providing my feedback in the coming days.

as I mentioned tonight, let me know if you want further feedback.

Ok I'm gonna be pretty harsh here, I just played a playtest and after figuring out the layout (which took several rounds, it is seriously confusing) I understand some balance issues.

• I really like (love) the basic layout, the big pathways that lead to the bombsites, I like how T's can go right or left to get to B, and mid to get to A, you got a really good layout there. The problem is with the vents. Lets say I have a teammate that holds left side and makes sure T don't go down B, when he dies the T still have to run down those stairs and all the way to B. So if the Ct's have a player by the vents in mid, helping out on A, he can instantly drop down and hide in B, and the T's cant do anything to stop this. Imagine pros playing this against other pros, it would be a 15-0 map.
• Everything is under roofs, you can't do any smoke takes, against a good CT team there are no options but to go into aim duels. This is the maps hardest problem to solve. Imagine inferno with roofs covering the bombsites, gl on taking B. B is under roof and that is Ok, because directly at B is not where CT's will hold, they will hold left and right side,so being able to smoke CT's off there is the most important thing, and being able to smoke almost anywhere on A really.
• You don't get punished for dying as CT. If my friend die on A and I hold left side, I can rotate to A in 3-4 seconds. This can be a good thing tho, just wanted to point that out.
• Heaven on A just seems ridiculously OP, why can you walk out all the way on it? That is just like Nuke A site = hell to take
• Remove the vents, and give the CT team a stairway down to B from the spawn, this way people have to play as a team and can't instantly rotate down to B. The vents just feel cheap. The stairway could lead down to the backwall of were T's plant. If I am to A it means that I commit myself to that bombsite, I shouldn't be able to rotate to B in 2 seconds, it really removes skill and the ability to use the map to your advantage.
• Why is there no sign at A, on our first round, we pushed middle to get to A and I was shocked when my teammate planted the bomb in front of me, I thought we were still in middle. The only thing telling me that it was a bombsite was the vague lines on the ground, spray a big A on that floor.

As I said, the basic layout is fucking golden, but the vents ruins any chance to balance. The map also looks beautiful, and I love the name, when we voted for a map, almost everyone that hadn't played any of the maps wanted to play empire, it just give that kind of respect, it represents something powerful, and now it is your job to make it that, gl!

We played this today and personally, I had a lot of fun. I would consider the feedback you got from testers, but I enjoyed the layout.

I think you need to examine your theme. It's called "Empire" -- why? What does that mean? What does it symbolize? Where does this map take place?

Think about it. Work on it. Get some custom art in there ASAP.

I also think you need to NAIL down player navigation and signage. I think it's a bit confusing to even tell where the bombsites are.

Consider that you need a) to improve your theme-ing and b) to improve signage, I think there's an opportunity there to use custom textures or models to accomplish both.

Is "EMPIRE" the name of a company? Maybe a defunct manufacturer? If so what do they manufacture? Why is there a high-tech lab underneath the map?

I think the lab theme should be revisited and become like a laundromat area. I think you should put some washing machine type props in there and some clothing, or something like that. These are the types of questions you must ask yourself.

Not as qualified to make any remarks on the environment art, but from our playtest and my experience going through the map, the only changes I could suggest while respecting the layout is to make the routes into B a bit more conspicious.

i.e. A vent almost blended in with the wall. Maybe a light source or a border?:[Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/uYYYry7.jpg]

The actual engagements and chokes that defend B routes are fine IMO, but it was a bit hard to intuitively know B was beneath the hidden stairwell:

[Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/wzrfGpY.jpg]

These things are probably forgiveable since it's just a matter of players learning the layout but it'll definitely make it a bit less confusing.

Good luck!

Congratulations! your map has greatly improved since the last year (gamebanana cevo contest).

Good luck!

The map has a lot of thin walls that mid lead to unintentional wallbang spots. a lot of cover on the outside (left hand area from tside) was like this (green)

was pretty brutal for CTs cutting in behind too terrorists trying to set up too (this didn't happen in the 5vs5 we had a couple weeks ago) I can only see this getting worse as more people learn the map. I suggest looking at nuke again for a way to circumvent this- the terrorists have the elevated room area near their spawn as a strong place to hold. While I'm not saying you copy this verbatim you can probably do something to strengthen the Ts control of the highlighted area (red)