SC2Mapster

Dang, Mapsters 5 came out like 2 years ago. Crazy stuff!

Small Teaser

Another teaser, cuz why not? A clip from the intro cinematic to mapsters 6! Special thanks to Wargirl for some amazing terraining!

In reply to Forge_User_05769808:

Got tired of waiting so went ahead and released Mapsters 6 :P. Might still make a few small changes here and there... Like I'm thinking a suicide button for the healing banelings...

Anyways to play it you can either search for Saving Hockleberry on the arcade. It's under Single Player genre. Or you can go to the Mapsters project page and download the map file and play it locally. https://www.sc2mapster.com/projects/vespene-warlord/files

Quote from TChosenOne >>

Mapsters is a fun and interesting campaign, and is absolutely worth playing by all.  It pulls off a decently-written unserious story (I'm not great at evaluating stories, so this rating is very high praise), its terrain, and unique mechanics every map.

 

Where mapsters falls short is in gameplay.  I felt incredibly limited to the point that I only built one or two types of units in a mission.  This turns mapsters from an RTS map to a micro-puzzle map, where you find the unit that works the best and mass it.  The worst offenders are mission 1 and 2, where it's very hard to get anything but mass zerglings due to the gas you'll be pumping into hockleberry+upgrades.  Mission 3 is a lot better since you get banelings to play with, along with enough gas to produce things like roaches and hydras.  The anti-ground protoss mechanic of 5 really makes it incredibly micro-intensive to attack with a ground army, along with huge losses you'll be taking against reavers.  Combine that with the advantages of mutalisks...

 

While there's nothing wrong a few limits to what you can build, or less efficient comps, it's just that I feel that I'm extremely limited every mission except for 3, the gates for success for inefficient comps are incredibly high, and for missions 1 and 2 in particular, you cannot have a composition that wins without a large portion being the offending unit.

 

However, the puzzle aspect does mean it's a good test for players to see if they can determine what they need and execute that build, and as such I feel Mapsters is best played without any aid of walkthrough vids.

 

Warning: review gets less serious ahead.

 

Releasing 5 missions only is a stroke of genius, though.  It's clear how the plot resolves.  For those of you who are lazy, let me guide you through the only way the plot can end, starting with this:

 

This proves that Jayborino doesn't really exist, as Mapsters states he does have a daughter (sorry if you were big on that existence thing, Jay).  Now since it's obvious that Jay cannot be real, who could be posing as Jayborino?  Who wants to kidnap Hockleberry and poison ElvinDL?

 

The answer is obvious, the zerg CEO.  Let us remember that ElvinDL moved up the ranks via BETRAYAL, and suddenly in mission 4 after an interaction with Jay, repents.  Is he actually poisoned or is that a side effect of his brain being rewritten by the Zerg CEO?  Is the zerg CEO rewriting minds with his own?  Yes!  What's better than one brilliant CEO?  A management team made up of mental copies of the brilliant CEO!

 

So why is hockleberry needed?  He has to die in order for Wargirl to get promoted to match her skill.  I mean you fight an upper level manager and take on the cult of Sixen.  Wargirl's pretty skilled if she can take 'em on.  But look at what you can do while you have hockleberry around.  Mass zerglings?  Can't build support units like infestors and gas-heavy attack units at the same time?  Ultras are a luxury item?  That's what a low-level manager would do, not a middle or upper manager.  Why can't wargirl do cool zerg things? Hockleberry!  He's gotta go for Wargirl to be promoted.  

 

So in mission 6, Hockleberry dies, you "kill" the Jaypuppet, Wargirl gets promoted, and everyone is happy (except for Jayborino who doesn't exist, ElvinDL who is now becoming a mind-clone of the CEO, Hockleberry for obvious reasons, and the protoss and the terrans who you murdered), I MEAN EVERYONE.

Brett & Keith go on another misadventure!

In reply to TChosenOne:

Mapsters 5.5 is released. It's another side mission with Brett and Keith (BK map as the kids say!) as they go on a misadventure! Fine out more details here: https://www.sc2mapster.com/projects/vespene-warlord