Conquer Cup Ice Hockey v.3 - More territories, new names

[lostatlimbo]

Conquer Cup Ice Hockey is an attempt to represent the fast, physical, gritty, yet graceful tradition of ice hockey.

Gameplay is a bit like a cross between Baseball and Prison Riot (which seems fitting for the sport!). Players start as Skaters, who can attack anything in their zone except other skaters. Hold a Goaltender and some Pucks for extra troops, go to the penalty box to bombard the other team, and more.

3rd Draft:
Added Fan Sections (will make these look nicer if people like the addition)
Added Bench Spots
Changed Player names

Click image to enlarge.

The Basics
56 territories, divided by impassable "Blue Lines"into 3 zones - Away Zone, Home Zone & Neutral Zone
10 Skaters - starting positions with 3 troops each and auto deploy 2
10 Pucks - start 3 neutral
10 Bench Players - start 2 neutral (accessible from different zones)
12 Fan Sections - start 2 neutral
5 Faceoff Circles - start 3 neutral
4 "Fight!" territories - Left starts 1 neutral, Right 2 neutral, Hook 3 neutral, KO 4 neutral
2 Goaltenders - start 9 neutral
2 Icing - killer neutral 2
1 Head Ref - starts 5 neutral
1 Penalty Box - killer neutral 15
1 Breakaway Puck - starts 4 neutral

Attack scheme
Skaters can one way attack any territory in the same zone, except for other skaters.

Skaters one way attack...

Pucks
Goaltenders
Faceoff Circles
Icing
Fan Sections (AC1 & AC2 or HC1 & HC2)
Left Punch (neutral zone only)
Head Ref (neutral zone only)
Breakaway Puck (neutral zone only)
Penalty Box (neutral zone only)

Pucks attack Goaltenders in the same zone
Goaltenders attack Pucks in the same zone
Faceoff Circles attack Pucks in the same zone and adjacent Bench Players

Faceoff Circles attack

RFCA & LFCA attack AB1
FCN attacks AB3 & HB1
LFCH & RFCH attack HB3

Bench Players attack adjacent Faceoff Circles and adjacent Bench Players

Bench Players attack

AB1 attacks AB2, RFCA & LFCA
AB2 attacks AB1 & AB3
AB3 attacks AB2 & FCN
HB1 attacks HB2 & FCN
HB2 attacks HB1 & HB3
HB3 attacks HB2, LFCH & RFCH

Icing one way attacks Faceoff Circles at opposite end of the ice

Icing attacks

Away Zone Icing attacks LFCH & RFCH
Home Zone Icing attacks RFCA & LFCA

Head Ref can attack all Faceoff Circles

Head Ref attacks

RFCA
LFCA
FCN
RFCH
LFCH

Left Punch one way attacks Right Punch
Right Punch one way attacks Hook
Hook one way attacks KO
KO can attack Head Ref and Penalty Box
Penalty Box bombards any Skater
Fan Sections attack Penalty Box, Benches, & Head Ref

Bonuses
+1 troop for every Puck held while also holding a Goaltender
+2 troops for holding Breakaway Puck & a Goaltender
+5 for holding KO & Head Ref
-5 for holding KO without Head Ref
+5 for holding all 5 Faceoff Circles
+3 for holding a full Bench (AB1+AB2+AB3 or HB1+HB2+HB3)
+4 for holding a Fan Section (AC1-AC6 or HC1-HC6)

Comments
In short, there are several hockey themed ways to build up troops and win the game.
You can go after the pucks and Goaltender to try to score
You can pick a fight and knock someone out
You can dominate Faceoffs
You can bombard other players by going to the Penalty Box (instead of going to the Penalty Box after you bombard other players :)

I took a guess at what I thought all the neutrals & bonuses should be - I could use some input from Gameplay folks on these, but I think this can be a really fun, unique map that caters to the many hockey and sports fans on Conquer Club.

Mapmaker: lostatlimbo
Experience: Portland: Rose City map (in Graphics); The Human Body map (vacationed)

2nd Draft:
Better legend & look

Click image to enlarge.

1st Draft:

Click image to enlarge.

[Riskismy]

This seems like a very well thought-out gameplay. At least I can't find any faults (and yes, I tried). Neutrals seem fine to me as well, though you might tweak them to make the action faster or slower as you like. Specifically, I would consider upping the pucks to 3 neutrals, in order to keep a player or two getting a serious head start in the first round (with lucky dice).
I particularly like the penalty to holding KO alone and the very open paths of attack. Over-all it reminds me of my Fall of Constantinopolis map, and needless to say I like it a lot!

[lostatlimbo]

This seems like a very well thought-out gameplay. At least I can't find any faults (and yes, I tried). Neutrals seem fine to me as well, though you might tweak them to make the action faster or slower as you like. Specifically, I would consider upping the pucks to 3 neutrals, in order to keep a player or two getting a serious head start in the first round (with lucky dice).
I particularly like the penalty to holding KO alone and the very open paths of attack. Over-all it reminds me of my Fall of Constantinopolis map, and needless to say I like it a lot! =D>

Thanks!

[lostatlimbo]

2nd Draft:
Better legend & look

Click image to enlarge.

[lostatlimbo]

What no hockey fans on Conquer Club?

[40kguy]

YES! YES! YES! awesome map man, keep making it.

[grifftron]

We have baseball, we have friggen cricket... why not hockey! looks great bro.

[Bruceswar]

What no hockey fans on Conquer Club?

Not as many as would be if this was a soccer map. I just cannot seem to get my hands around this map...

[MrBenn]

This reminds me a little bit of NHL Hitz on the GameCube... that said, I think the map is almost a little small (in terms of territory-count), and the image a little busy...

I'm not sure if there are any issues with using the names of professional players, especially as they'll generally have commercial sponsorship deals and there may be copyright/licensing issues with the NHL, any specific teams etc...

[lostatlimbo]

This reminds me a little bit of NHL Hitz on the GameCube... that said, I think the map is almost a little small (in terms of territory-count), and the image a little busy...

I'm not sure if there are any issues with using the names of professional players, especially as they'll generally have commercial sponsorship deals and there may be copyright/licensing issues with the NHL, any specific teams etc...

I don't mind changing the names.

I'm not really understanding the rest of your comment or what you're asking for. 42 territories seems to be a fairly common count and visually there are about 4-5 elements used here. Seems rather clean and simple to me, so you'll have to give an example if you want it more so.

[QoH]

For names why not use mod names?

[grifftron]

For names why not use mod names?

why? use names off the hockey greats... not of some mods that change every couple years...

[QoH]

For names why not use mod names?

why? use names off the hockey greats... not of some mods that change every couple years...

WOuld there be legal issues?

[grifftron]

For names why not use mod names?

why? use names off the hockey greats... not of some mods that change every couple years...

WOuld there be legal issues?

Just do first names, or just last names like on the new baseball map... you got "Babe" on the batter for "Babe Ruth"... we all know who it really is but on there it is just "Babe"... so you could put any last name I am sure... there are not copyrights on peoples names are there?

-griff

[MrBenn]

There is no copyright on an individual name, although there may be licensing/copyright issues with the commercial use of a hockey player name in connection with a hockey based product.

That issue aside, I think the gameplay scheme is far too open, which is problematic for building bonuses etc. Supermax works because there are lots of cells, and the free-for-all areas are spread out and generallynot all that large.

There is little benefit in going for the face off spaces from the start, because they offer no bonus; and there are actually very little places to safely expand. expansion requires space - and with 8 players, 42 territories ( all of which are vulnerable and several of which are not immediately accessible) is not enough to encourage growth.

[lostatlimbo]

If you hold all 5 Faceoff Circles, you get 5 troops.

I suppose I see your point about 8 player games, but aren't there several maps currently available that are not good for 8 player games? (Doodle Earth for one) There are also plenty of maps that aren't good for 2 players (World 2.1). I'm totally open to adding to the gameplay if I hear some ideas, but does a map need to be ideal for all game sizes?

I could expand the Benches a bit for more bonuses. I'll try to brainstorm some other options too.

[lostatlimbo]

That issue aside, I think the gameplay scheme is far too open, which is problematic for building bonuses etc. Supermax works because there are lots of cells, and the free-for-all areas are spread out and generallynot all that large.

There is little benefit in going for the face off spaces from the start, because they offer no bonus; and there are actually very little places to safely expand. expansion requires space - and with 8 players, 42 territories ( all of which are vulnerable and several of which are not immediately accessible) is not enough to encourage growth.

The more I think about this, the less I agree. I don't think every map on here needs to have the same style of gameplay.

That said, I'm adding a few things now that might help.

[lostatlimbo]

The addition of Fan Sections should add some more room & bonuses to the map. If that's not enough, I could add more in the bottom 2 corners (or maybe Coach's Corner?). These will look a lot nicer if they stick (saving that stuff for Graphics).

I also thought about adding "Hit" territories on the ice, but it just added clutter and didn't seem to address your concerns.

3rd Draft:
Added Fan Sections (will make these look nicer if people like the addition)
Added Bench Spots
Changed Player names

Click image to enlarge.

[Riskismy]

Sorry to see the names go. Not much of a hockey fan, but I did manage to recognize a couple of them. The Baseball map now in beta includes names of famous players - what's the difference here?

Not sure what you mean by the 'coach corner', but if it's gonna have the slightest bearing on gameplay, you can't put it off until graphics.

[flexmaster33]

looks awesome

[lostatlimbo]

Sorry to see the names go. Not much of a hockey fan, but I did manage to recognize a couple of them. The Baseball map now in beta includes names of famous players - what's the difference here?

The names are still hockey players, but first names/nicknames (like baseball) - it is now a mix of Hall of Famers and current stars.

Not sure what you mean by the 'coach corner', but if it's gonna have the slightest bearing on gameplay, you can't put it off until graphics.

What I meant was that I just put up the Fan Section to see what others think and didn't put much time into the graphics of it.

[spidey]

i've taken a look at and I've got 2 questions. How do you attack he left punch? Can anyone attack from the neutral zone to the left punch? The other thing was that it looks like the only way to win is by controlling the penalty box as you can only bombard players from there, but it resets to 15 which means you need a huge stack to try and take the penalty box in the first place and then hopefully you have still have a huge stack to attack the players that are being autodeployed to. It seems to me that if you are playing a game other then escalating, i would never end. Am I wrong in this thinking?

[lostatlimbo]

i've taken a look at and I've got 2 questions. How do you attack he left punch? Can anyone attack from the neutral zone to the left punch?

Currently only the 2 skaters in the neutral zone can attack Left Punch. I'm open to changing this. Maybe all skaters should be able to attack Left Punch?

The other thing was that it looks like the only way to win is by controlling the penalty box as you can only bombard players from there, but it resets to 15 which means you need a huge stack to try and take the penalty box in the first place and then hopefully you have still have a huge stack to attack the players that are being autodeployed to. It seems to me that if you are playing a game other then escalating, i would never end. Am I wrong in this thinking?

The new Baseball map has a similar set up with the Mound (15 killer neutral) bombarding Pitchers. On baseball its almost too easy to use the mound - both games I've played ended that way (in round 7 and 10).

That said Baseball has a winning condition and maybe that's something I need to incorporate?

[natty dread]

That said Baseball has a winning condition and maybe that's something I need to incorporate?

Nah, it's not about the winning condition. 15 is not necessarily all that much... It's all relative to the bonuses you get on the map. On Antarctica, we have a neutral 30 you need to take to eliminate other players, and it's almost too easy to take.

[DarthFrog]

While I love the idea of a hockey map and hope it works out in the end, here's my thoughts on it.

1) Please, not another map with "a killer neutral to kill starting points you can't get at otherwise that give you auto-deploy". King of Diamonds and Antartica are still in beta with this concept. We seriously don't need another map with that concept in my honest opinions.

2) The puck idea to me looks wrong. There should be a single puck on the ice. Instead of pucks, why not make it more about territories? You have the face off circles, the face off dots (which there should be 9 of, not just 5), the high slot, the low slot, the crease, the left/right points, neutral zone, etc.

3) The player auto-deploy one way attack like I said is being over done right now. Why not use something like Transib where you have to have the zone the player is in to be able to attack the player, and they give you a +1 auto deploy?

4) Not a fan of the fight idea, but that's just a personal thing. I think it would be more fun to find a way to get a -2 bonus and a -5 bonus in the game to represent penalties.

5) I really like the blue line being a no cross line, and that you can get by it through the benches. Another way to be able to pass it would be a one way from the defenseman to an offensive player in the neutral zone (breakout pass), which is another reason I think you need to make the players be more involved in the overall gameplay.

Anyway, just my initial thoughts on the map. Take whatever you want from it.