Why isnt normandie added?
Maps I don’t like:
● Battlefarm
● Binladencompoundv7
● Crossfire3
● Octopus
● Yukon
● Moon
● Greenravine
● Plateau
● Halongbabel
● Dedust2x2
● Waterfrontv2babel
● Turv
● Pinline
Click for details
please remove :-[ :-[ :-[
Maps I’d like to see on rotation:
● Paradise
● Remus
● Alexandria
● Yubacore
● Tortuga
● Turv2
● Goldbeach… maybe?
● Lard… maybe?
All other maps on rotation are just fine to me
Don’t judge the maps for appearance. Look for maps that would work well for babel.
Binladencompoundv7 - usually takes some time but its a fun map. The alternative is worse.
Octopus - Burn it. Not okay for babel. The tower has to be giant. Your spawn is in a giant death bowl. There is a premade tunnel going to the base of your tower. The entire left and right side of the map make it easy to shoot at someones tower and stay defending doing it. These games usually last a long time or one team is stuck having their spawn obliterated nonstop for 30 minutes while the attacking team builds something. if you like this map its because you can spawn camp easily and not because its good for babel
Moon - I played it for 5 minutes. I couldn’t see anything so i left. Is it a requirement of every UFO map to have really really bad fog choice?
Greenravine - Fun map. Shorter tower size and good for babel.
Plateau - I love this map. You only have to build a small tower and the gameplay is usually intense.
Dedust2x2 - fun but I wouldn’t want to build a tower on this map.
Waterfrontv2babel - not really enjoyable. The tower has to be huge and its easy to shoot at with good cover.
Turv - fun map that doesn’t last long
Remus - horrible for babel. It was literally impossible to build a standing tower before griefing the entire left and right side of the map.
Alexandria - horrible for babel. I complained enough to get it removed after a 3 or 4 hour game on that map.
Yubacore- hard to keep a tower up and not very enjoyable besides
Tortuga- One of my all time favorites but horrible for babel. It was incredibly hard to keep a tower up at all.
Lard- horrible for babel. It was hard to keep a tower up and it was a spawn campy map at all times.
Any thoughts on towerdive? It’s an interesting concept for babel. I enjoy the map but its pure chaos for a lot of people and really hard to build on.
yeah, do not re-add remus. it used to be quite the server killer even back when babel had a more consistent playerbase
cool for tdm, not as much for building
thanks very much israel, great input. how would you say frog compares with octopus?
pinline and waterfront seem pretty unpopular. i’ll remove those soon unless people object too much.
my main issue with dust2x2 is that it takes forever for either team to get a tower up and it’s very difficult to keep a tower up once you have it, so the map drags on for a really long time. it doesn’t seem to make everyone want to disconnect though so i won’t say it’s a server killer
I would say edit pinline to the way israel suggested. that might make it a better map.
Pinline is good for babel. Though it can end up having a dominant team, the towers are usually weak so it can take just one good life to turn the game around. Also it’s always a relatively short but tension packed round, and it’s completely unique and great to show off a variety of maps in rotation.
My only huge gripe in the rotation is dedust2, as a builder it makes me want to kms. It takes very few ok players to disrupt an exceptional team, but unlike Pinline this leads to endless exhaustive rounds.
As for Frog/Octopus, they play essentially as the same map, I think it would be fine to keep one of them. Preferably frog Imo. While we’re on it frog/octopus/crossfire2/spitfire all play pretty similarly, you need to build a huge tower from the bottom level and they all have huge accessible flanks which make it easy to destroy towers.
Also Idk if ufo is still in rotation but it’s absolutely unplayeable
Imo, pinline is a disaster and it is near impossible to even get close to a tower and knock it down. Frog and Octopus are both horrible babel maps and play exactly the same. I wouldn’t even keep one for the nostalgia, they just suck. UFO was and still is plenty playable. It’s a nice map to any coordinated team. It was a very popular map with a lot of players. The main gripes I heard were about the fog and the number of UFO’s. I don’t know why else it “wasn’t playable”. If it’s about the fog, well uh, too bad? It fits the tone of the map. People seem to hate maps that have a different fog color. If you mean that there are too many UFOs, then you might be right with that. However a few whacks with a spade fix that issue.
I saw some guff about Yubacore, Tortuga and Remus. They’re challenging maps. Maps that present a challenge are what makes babel great. There are the easy wins but if it was so easy why would we all play it? These maps made a very nice addition to the rotation. Doesn’t matter that they were hard. It made you have to work with your team. To add to this, never once did I see any of these maps kill a server. The main issue with some of the statements about maps I’m seeing is mostly a personal thing. Yeah there are definitely maps that kill the server but I’m seeing people complain about maps they personally don’t like because it doesn’t fit their normal playstyle. That being said there are maps that are really unplayable, such as the original mazemountain, pinline, waterfront, crossfire3, frog and octopus. Frog and octopus are especially bad because they’re small, cramped and your avenue to arrive to the enemy base is black and white. There are also maps that are just bad for babel.
In related news I made a map and had it tested last night. I also posted that in the other babel map topic as well. This map recieved overly positive community response and there were certainly a lot of happy players. I’m updating it and it probably is going to be tested again tonight.
lol i meant moon
vippers_nes (*** I THINK THIS IS THE MARIO MAP. I HATE IT MORE THAN ANYTHING)
no link
flower (* WHEN THIS MAP FILLS WITH AIMBOTTERS, IT DRAGS ON FOR HOURS, AND HOURS)
no link
moon (*** I HATE THIS MAP SO MUCH. SO MUCH)
no link
tradeoff (WE ALMOST HAVE TO KEEP THIS BECAUSE OF THE ULTIMATE GRIEF OPPORTUNITIES!)
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/tradeoff.html
ellipsis (* PLAIN MAP. SLIGHTLY BORING BUT IT CAN GET INTERESTING)
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/ellipsis.html
blam (I ENJOY THIS BUT IT TAKES MAJOR SKILLS)
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/blam.html
utopia2 (ITS PRETTY GOOD)
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/utopia2.html
moskvababel (INTERESTING MAP, PAINFUL TO PLAY. TAKES SKILLS!! IT’S OK)
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/moskvababel.html
islandbabel (* a LITTLE BORING)
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/islandbabel.html
pinpoint2 (* IT’S ALRIGHT BUT I GET BORED ON THIS ONE. TOO SYMMETRICAL)
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/pinpoint2.html
dedust2x2 (I ALMOST THINK WE NEED THIS MAP BECAUSE OF THE CSGO NOOBS)
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/dedust2x2.html
icecraft (KINDA FUN.)
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/icecraft.html
pinline (*** HELL NO. HATE THIS MAP. NOT REALLY A MAP AT ALL.)
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/pinline.html
abridgetoofar (FUN AND GOES FAST)
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/abridgetoofar.html
minihills (FUN)
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/minihills.html
toast (I LIKE IT)
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/toast.html
turv (I DO LOVE THIS MAP AS LONG AS MY TEAM IS STRONG)
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/turv.html
crossfire2 (* I DON’T LIKE IT)
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/crossfire2.html
catseyebabel (MEHHHHHH)
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/catseyebabel.html
halongbabel (I FREAKING LOVE THIS MAP. MMMM)
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/halongbabel.html
TowerDive (I LIKE IT BUT IT HAS A GRIEFER ELEMENT)
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/TowerDive.html
babelstairs (* SORRY, I THINK PPL HATE THIS ONE BUT I LIKE IT.)
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/babelstairs.html
crossfire3 (** I DO VERY MUCH HATE THIS ONE)
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/crossfire3.html
pincushion (*** WORLDS BIGGEST GRIEFER MAGNET MAP)
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/pincushion.html
[details=Click for details]
[/details] I wasn’t judging maps by their appearance lol. I’ve played on every single map i said above. yeah, i know how they works for babel.
In my opinion,
● Binladencompoundv7 - One of the worse maps to build tbh. Usually takes too long to finish.
● Dedust2x2 - Blue spawn area sucks. They are always insta-killed/nade-spammed from everyside of spawn. Even average players can easily do that. Horrible to build. Works as serverkiller sometimes.
● Plateau - uh, oh. I don’t like this map at all. Not really a bad map though
● Moon - Ahhh, I feel like I have to change the power of my glasses 
Now we can’t/shouldn’t even change the fog. Maybe a lil brighter?
● Greenravine - Awful to build. Almost everytime I played on it, it lasted too long.
● Octopus - As you have said.
● Waterfrontv2babel - As you have said.
● Turv - Unless both teams main tower’s destroyed… it’s fine I guess.
Aaand about those maps i said i’d like to see on rotation were on babel rotation years ago. I know the reason they were removed, yeah, some of them can be horrible sometimes. But honestly I personally enjoy playing on those maps.
I’ll briefly butt in to say that we should distinguish between challenging maps and ineffective ones: pinline is challenging; pincushion is ineffective.
Some are a mixture of the two, and thus unpopular e.g. crossfire3 and pincushion
Some may be challenging, but prove quite fun/popular e.g. towerdive and utopia2
Though pruning is a good thing, the focus should be expanding and diversifying the map rotation.
i’ve finally been able to restart babel! i changed the random rotation code: now each map in the rotation will be played, then when we get to the last map we shuffle the rotation and begin again. it’s still possible to play the same map twice in a row but it will be much much rarer than it was
rotation currently:
Click for details
vippers_nes
ruins_onigiri
flower
tradeoff
greenravine
swag2
holes
tunnel-top
ellipsis
stadium
blam
utopia2
moskvababel
islandbabel
pinpoint2
swag1
1river2forts
icecraft
frog1.1
abridgetoofar
minihills
toast
turv
crossfire2
bridgeyard
catseyebabel
halongbabel
babelpocalypse
plateau
spitfire
chestren
TowerDive
battlefarm
swag3
godstairs
driftice
arenatoofar
trenches
newfort
turtlesoup
pincushion
nomansland
binladencompoundv7
changes:
Click for details
- moon
- dedust2x2
- pinline
- babelstairs
- godstairs
- yukon
- waterfrontv2babel
- crossfire3
- octopus
i’ll now start looking at maps to be added. the maps i’ve removed so far will be re-added if enough people want them, but they’re the ones i saw complained about most
great topo! this was desperately needed.
why might a map be played twice? random chance? what is the %?
it’s possible that the last map played in the current shuffled rotation will be the first map played in the next - so we could go from [‘stadium’, ‘holes’, ‘ellipsis’, ‘battlefarm’] to [‘battlefarm’, ‘holes’, ‘stadium’, ‘ellipsis’] - in which case we’d play battlefarm right after we already did. i can change that for the next restart, just something i didn’t think about until i posted here
% is around 2.3% every time we hit the end of the rotation but i can get that down to 0 
edit: done
Are we ready to add any of these? 
This looks like it could be my favorite:
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/pug.html
I have heard players say they want a city, or buildings, or a map that’s all buildings… THIS!!
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/metropolis.html
Another city, no trees, Aloha player’s dream…
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/capitol.html
Not an ironically named map. I fucking love it…
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/izcool.html
this looks playable and awesome…
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/darkfort1.html
I like this one and it’s beautiful
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/2keep.html
Does this play well? It looks nice…
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/yarr.html
This maybe? I can’t tell…
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/yubacore.html
Oh come on, this one looks cool af…
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/titanic.html
This looks cool but like other maps, this looks too small. I don’t know if it’s alright for Babel…?
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/smack.html
I like this one. looks playable too.
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/chute.html
Too cool, mannnn…
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/skullfort.html
Looks cool…
http://aloha.pk/files/aos/maps/jungletest.html
my favorite of those is probably jungletest… Looks pretty fun to navigate through!
I’m pretty sure I played that map on another server- but I may be wrong. It looks like it. It’s the one where you have trailer throughout the jungle. It has huge potential for Babel. It’s possible to snipe from the pyramid, the trees, etc. The trees provide support for the stairs to the babel. Somebody could even heist from the center using the semi exploit trick where you go up through the center below and grab it. It could be a very interesting map.
My map Arica Harbor was tested on babel. Might be fun, here’s the topic and video of the test. The only complaint I heard was from someone bitching about why Aloha wasn’t testing the maps they requested. “Big shocker”, you need to actually PM someone to do that! Sarcasm aside, the administration wants to clean up the bad maps before starting a lot of testing. A reason mine was even tested was because it was a BFBC2 map, and aloha had BFBC2 servers back in the day, so it was a bit of nostalgia. That said it’s also balanced and fun, from what I’ve heard.
As for the maps Steamgamers just suggested:
Pug: Seems griefer friendly. But fun!
Metropolis: It was tested by ei8htx a long time ago. I personally didn’t like it as a babel map. It’s too easy to sneak up and level the entire enemy city…also the buildings are too high, and some might actually be too close to the heaven. It’s just not for babel.
Capitol: See Metropolis
Izcool: Definitely worth a test.
Darkfort1: Personally, this would not be my cup of tea. However some people probably would like it.
2keep: Too small. Like, WAAAY too small. You wouldn’t be able to build a good tower.
Yarr: This map is good for Kraken, and I like it a lot. Might be fun, but also is does have a lot of cons. I see “grief me” written on those raised land-bridge type things. It would take probably 20 seconds and 2 people to remove one. Now imagine they’re all removed. You can’t cross over anymore. Just like Babelstairs.
Yubacore: Definitely a fun and challenging map. I love it. It was removed from rotation because people used to the island maps were getting their asses whipped. AKA, a challenging map.
Titanic: Hell no. Wrong orientation, not nearly wide enough, and you could grief that entire thing down. Not fun. Not practical. That has “Server killer” written all over it.
Smack: Correct me if I’m wrong, but this was removed from babel rotation because it was massively unpopular. If this isn’t the same map, it looks almost exactly like it.
Chute: Cool looking, and I think I’d like it. I didn’t mention this before, but there are a lot of island style maps in Babel rotation. I think we need more variety.
Skullfort: Worth a test. Not as cramped as some of the island maps.
Jungletest: Looks amazing at first glance. However I almost hear the “lumberjacks” already.