A word of appreciation for Mao Valley

DrMcCleod · Post by **DrMcCleod** » 2007-03-01 10:56

Awesome map. Looks great, plays great.
Slow, steady movement, frenzied gunfights, minimal spam, awesome tension and excellent M60 action. Brilliant.

(ps fix the 64 player map bugs)

Michael_Denmark · Post by **Michael_Denmark** » 2007-03-01 11:35

Well i agree. Only reason i don’t play it so often is my medieval hardware doesn’t run it completely smoothly. IF/when I choose to use more money on my hardware I will probably play this map a lot more.

KP · Post by KP » 2007-03-01 11:45

True. 'Tis a great map! But the helicopters should be removed. They don't really add to the gameplay. If anything, they make it worse. This map should be pure infantry combat, intense, with players moving slowly, stopping, listening, looking and setting up ambushes. This is rather difficult when the only thing you can hear is the sound of helis buzzing around overhead, having a killfest.

Post by **IronTaxi** » 2007-03-01 12:17

agree and disagree...i think the bottlenecks in it become far to repetitive but as an example of well thought out mapping it is outstanding...would like to see it doubled in size and opened up alot more...NOW that would be one of the ultimate PR maps....as it is now...2 steps and you are basically under fire..not my style of play personally...but it is a very well made map...very few flaws

Threedroogs · Post by **Threedroogs** » 2007-03-01 16:15

StrkTm MurderCityDevil wrote:IMO this is an example of a map that has not benefited from AASv2. The way MAO plays now is no where near as fun as the .4 version.

i totally agree. mao was my favorite map on v0.4. with AASv2, it doesnt play nearly as well. al basrah is another map that AASv2 needs tweaking with.

::Major_Baker:: · Post by **::Major_Baker::** » 2007-03-01 16:48

this is the worst map in the whole mod. Every other map 'plays great' but certainly not this one.
I call it LMAO valley, and avoid it at all costs.

Determined · Post by **Determined** » 2007-03-01 17:19

I love Mao Valley. I liked it better in .4 though.

mattcrwi · Post by **mattcrwi** » 2007-03-01 17:23

Every time I play this map it turns into a frag spam fest at the choke points (particularly bad between beta and that flag to the east of beta). This is because of the lack of visibility. The lack of visibility kills situational awareness and I think kills gameplay.

I hate this map.

PS its great eye candy if thats all you're lookin for a in a map -_-

DrMcCleod · Post by **DrMcCleod** » 2007-03-02 10:21

mattcrwi wrote:Every time I play this map it turns into a frag spam fest at the choke points (particularly bad between beta and that flag to the east of beta). This is because of the lack of visibility. The lack of visibility kills situational awareness and I think kills gameplay.

I hate this map.

PS its great eye candy if thats all you're lookin for a in a map -_-

TBH, the limited visibility is what I like about this map. You need to play like you are in a jungle. Your eyes are drawn to movement. You must advance very cautiously, stop and slowly scan your environment. Your cammo blends you in, but a moving enemy stands out like a sore thumb. I take the point about widening the choke points out a bit. But this map _feels_ like the most realistic combat environment.

Fritz_Fraghof · Post by **Fritz_Fraghof** » 2007-03-02 16:59

Yes I agree this map is great fun and can be played quite realistically. I was on a server (six a side) with a guy who was, quite simply, a real jungle combat master. He was trying to teach me how to spot, listen, and crawl about. He mostly used his knife for kills. I would have hated him on the other side cos he was a frighteningly efficient killer. I would be pissing myself looking down my ironsights, seeing nothing, then just hear a terrible human scream not far off in the bush. I would call out (on VOIP) for reassurance I wasn't alone, and lo, he almost always was alive and victorious! In a gruesome whisper he would fill me in on the cunning he used to finish his prey! I felt I stepped into the pacific theater of WWII or Vietnam. He actually loved the jungle environment and used real jungle warfare tactics I had read about as a kid. But even after an hour of listening to him I could never fully reproduce his superb method. The next map the grass was only thigh high and he was very disappointed. He was so perfectly adapted for jungle warfare. Amazing!

Hx.Clavdivs · Post by **Hx.Clavdivs** » 2007-03-02 17:04

I think the map works, but only if you slow down the pace. The few times I have been successfull in this map is when I sit in that tall grass and wait for movement infront of me.

There is usually always somebody who rushes to the next flag, making lots of noise and could basically just carry a big sign that says: I'm right here, kill me!

Determined · Post by **Determined** » 2007-03-02 17:05

Fritz_Fraghof wrote:Yes I agree this map is great fun and can be played quite realistically. I was on a server (six a side) with a guy who was, quite simply, a real jungle combat master. He was teaching me how to spot, listen, and crawl about. He mostly used his knife for kills. I would have hated him on the other side cos he was a frighteningly efficient killer. I would be pissing myself looking down my ironsights, seeing nothing, then hear a terrible scream not far off in the bush. I would call out (on VOIP) for reassurance I wasn't alone, and lo, he almost always was! In a whisper he would fill me in on the gruesome way he had stalked his prey! I felt I stepped into the pacific theater of WWII. He actually loved the jungle environment and used real jungle warfare tactics I had read about as a kid. Amazing!

That my friend is what makes the jungle maps so much fun. You have to slow down your pace and be very attentive to your surroundings. If your not, you will find your self dead early and often.

wooly-back-jack · Post by **wooly-back-jack** » 2007-03-02 17:13

Mao is my fav

Threedroogs · Post by **Threedroogs** » 2007-03-03 06:14

well, mao valley appears to be completely fixed with the tweaks to AASv2.

Noff · Post by **Noff** » 2007-03-03 17:26

I love mao valley. Maybe it needs to be expanded a little bit to provide more ways to flank, but the atmosphere is amazing.

Fenix16 · Post by **Fenix16** » 2007-03-03 19:57

Just curious, why bother putting in the AH-6 or the chinese equivelant in Mao valley when there are no repair/rearm pads? They're extreamly useful for taking out snipers on the hills.

Determined · Post by **Determined** » 2007-03-03 21:40

I love the new Mao. Its just as good as .4 all over again.

MRGUMP!! · Post by **MRGUMP!!** » 2007-03-03 21:58

I honestly don't like the map at all. It's an example of a giant flaw in the game engine greatly effecting the immersion and "realism" of the map. The flaw I'm talking about is the rather limited render range of grass. This allows for players above the grassline to see people that think the fact they are proned in high grass is hiding them, where in actuality they can be seen as if they were simply prone ontop of a rock.

Maps in this game should at least try and work with the strengths of the engine and avoid major flaws. Now at the same time I'm very impressed with the mod team as they have managed to take arguably the biggest gaming piece of shit ever made (I still want my 50$ back) and turned it into something rather enjoyable.

Threedroogs · Post by **Threedroogs** » 2007-03-03 22:07

MRGUMP!! wrote:I honestly don't like the map at all. It's an example of a giant flaw in the game engine greatly effecting the immersion and "realism" of the map. The flaw I'm talking about is the rather limited render range of grass. This allows for players above the grassline to see people that think the fact they are proned in high grass is hiding them, where in actuality they can be seen as if they were simply prone ontop of a rock.

Maps in this game should at least try and work with the strengths of the engine and avoid major flaws. Now at the same time I'm very impressed with the mod team as they have managed to take arguably the biggest gaming piece of shit ever made (I still want my 50$ back) and turned it into something rather enjoyable.

i have never experienced this with my setting on mao valley (max across the board). i have grass as far as i can see. it hasnt affected my K/D ratio on that map, either. i probably have my best K/D ratio on mao valley, like 2 or 3 to 1. i'm never hit by enemies across the map when i'm crawling through grass...