Things you like/hate about each map. 2of5 (SoA, L&L, VL)

First part is here (along with links to all the other parts). 5 parts so that each mission can get its fair shake, without too many threads

Scythe of Amon - Mission does force you to find some optimized way to push… don’t take too freaking long, but don’t rush in underpowered and underprepared. Bonus obj is a good yardstick to see if you’ve got what it takes to “get to the next level” in your play (can be used for preparing for next level stuff, like hard mutations).

The bonus shuttle does fly-bys near enemy Missile Turrets, Bunkers, Spore Crawlers, cannons, and other units as if it were friendly air space. Idiocy

Lock & Load - Can be a very fun map to speedrun (not even by professional standards. IIRC, I’ve managed to do it with some random ally in less than 16 minutes, if not sooner)! Has a hybrid “king-of-the-hill” + tug of war vibe to it, and only map at that! Although pushing is great, having defense is also helpful!

If your ally is in la-la-land, then you ain’t passing this. The tug of war can end up going so far in the other direction that this mission drag’s out up to 30 minutes! Truly, if you don’t end this mission soon, it can really spiral out of control!

Void Launch - The objectives require AA (anti-air) and only AA. Granted, AG (anti-ground) isn’t useless since the accompanying forces will often have ground troops, so AG still has its place. You can spawn camp, or camp out near the gates, or in-between (although that’s more tight)

More than other missions, spawn camping almost takes the fun out of it. Shuttles have that hidden “Unstoppable” tag, so you won’t be able to use Time Stop nor Infested Diamondback’s Ensnare to stop them (and by extension for the latter, bring them to ground level for AG attacks)

Lock and Load - It’s an interesting map that forces both players to work together, but also can promote them to split up and push the enemy individually. Also the fastest map in the game.
Void Launch - Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiips. This one can actually be very punishing if you’re caught out of position. It’s also fun that there’s 6 bases on the map, 3 for each player if you choose to base break.
Scythe of Amon - I… don’t really like this one, honestly. It feels like it is trying to choke various slower commanders really hard. Like, full on WWE choke slam. It’s fun to ESO cheese, though, and can be a mild challenge for various commanders to play aggressively with.

1 Like

What I hate about Lock 'n Load is that (1) you must have an ally present, and (2) you don’t have to defend captured points. It’d be a lot more entertaining if the focus was on holding the point, rather than whack-a-mole intercepting weaksauce waves.

You don’t need an ally on LL. It’s easier more often than not if you don’t.

Scythe of Amon - Kamikaze bonus and main objective can be quite hard to solo push if your ultimate ability(-ies) on CD, which is a rare thing among the maps, I would say. Those AOE blue circles that make you dance half of the time instead of actual fighting and crystals that can disable dozens of units is a big pain.
Also, expansion is heavily protected, I hate so much when I’m trying to quick expand by some slow commander and ally meanwhile just smacks the shard near first bonus via hero unit and completely ruining my attempts - in this case expansion shard gets full increased hp and new ability.
One more thing about bonus - it doesn’t get counted as completed if you finish the mission before it gets to the evacualtion points. How in the world it makes any sense? Why would you want to continue evacualtion if the threat which caused in the first place is now eliminated?
But at the same time the good thing about this map that it can be actually challenging even on regular Brutal. Probably not if I’m rolling Zeratul/Tychus/some other “imba” or ally is happening to be coop carry master, but still.

Lock & Load - My F2 addiction strikes again here. It’s so cool when my commanders has units that can be burrowed/sieged near the locks so I can continue my F2 - A - move across the map.
And the bug where AI starts rallying a stream of units to the locks is quite annoying.

Void Launch - 3rd base, I like it. But yeah, fast clear and spawn camping is quite easy and makes this mission a bit boring sometimes.
Also, being not able to just go mass diamondbacks as usual Stukov disappoints me greatly. Necessarity of building Turrets/Bunkers/Liberators ruins almost perfect mineral/gas balance of diamondbacks.

A good litmus test is to see if you can play as COs who are slow to ramp up (e.g. Swann and Karax, both P0, although for kicks and giggles, try their P2 and P1 respectively) and keep up on SoA.

For Mengsk, it’s not just ESO, Nuclear Annihilation is enough to take out the last Shard on its own (40K shields IIRC?). I’ve had one Mengsk ally do that against 2 of them. Just like that. He was surprised b/c the last one was still alive. Np… the shields are gone, leaving 1,500 hp. That’s something Zagara P1 can easily snipe :smiley:

P1 Karax can actually put in some work if you can Spear of Adun snipe things. Instant warp-in structures is very powerful.

Hmm, then perhaps “no” to Karax P1 then! :slight_smile: Yeah, setting up even a few smattering of towers, then Chrono Wave, is enough to do solid damage. Without CW, they’re still durable to give enemies a run for their money

Originally, SoA was near the bottom of my list, but over time it’s moved up. Generally, I don’t care which shard people do first. If my ally moves out first, I’ll just follow them. I do like that the bonus’ path changes depending on the shard order.

I do find that SoA can be more hectic than other maps if an ally isn’t keeping up. Also, I don’t like not getting full bonus XP when the mission finishes before the bonus does.

I love Lock and Load. It’s super easy and can be quite fast with a good ally. None of the bases (at the locks) are overly threatening. To cut down on travel time, L&L is the only map where I build my base at the expo. I tend to play like I’m solo most of the time. I only join my ally when they need help with something.

Obviously the glitchly AI on L&L can be annoying.

Void Launch is fun, but it’s always the same MO: kill 1st two waves while building up, destroy the bases, camp the bays and the spawn points. The only thing that adds some spice is that the attack wave difficulty ramps up faster than most maps. Despite the ease of VL, mutators seem to increase the difficulty exponentially, for me at least.

Scythe of Amon - I don’t really like it. Aside from the moronic bonus objective, some minor shards could paralyze your entire army before you can kill it, and voila, all those mineral invested gone. This is particularly annoying when playing as Nova, sets me back so hard.

Lock & Load - They should’ve required you to guard the lock without leaving.

Void Launch - I actually like this mission. Despite having ways to cheese it, it usually requires both AA and AG units, and I love to put all units to good use.
[/quote]

SoA -

I like the asymmetrical nature of the map. Multiple paths to completing it.

Some say it’s hard. I don’t find it that hard . I find it punishing to slower commanders, and macro commanders with more of a linear power curb. By linear power curb, I mean you kind of need calldowns give you a temporarily bump in power, especially early on, to push the shards / optional objectives. Like I found this map very easy with Artanis P3 and quiet hard or at least tedious with Artanis P0-P2. This map takes a bit longer to macro up, and early unit retention without call downs is challenging.

Lock and Load -
I like the asymmetrical path of this mission as well. I like how this can be done fast or if you and your ally so choose you can wipe out Amon’s bases.

I dislike the map if I don’t have an ideal ally. Don’t leave your entire army at the lock then, F2 move your army, leave one unit while rest of your army moves on.

Void Launch -
I both like and dislike long maps. I think this being a long map it’s nice that you can really get your full late game army; with 3 /3 (or 3/3/3) upgrades, max supply, and full research on special abilities. It’s nice Amon sends some big waves at you, for you to fight with your big army. It’s nice that you can push the bases if you’re board but can also play it safe.

The map really is friendly to most commanders but if it’s tough on any commanders, it’s commanders with mobility issues. You got to really be on top of where the shuttles are going, where the attack waves are going / coming from. You can get punished for being caught out of position.

SoA – 2nd worst map. It’s too restrictive and not particularly enjoyable. The void rifts are already bothersome, but once you mix in mutations it becomes unbearable.
Lock and Load – Also hate it. It’s a quick map, but by far the most punishing if you match with a moronic ally. Cloaked enemies shouldn’t be able to activate locks.
Void Launch – This and Oblivion Express are my favourites. Good mix of sniping objectives, sieging bases, and defending bases. It’s also snowing.