Heat Sink

Figure 1: Symmetrical (left) and Asymmetrical (right) Heat Sink, second floor

Download Link: Download Heat Sink

Gametypes Supported: 1-Flag, 2-Flag, 1-Bomb, Assault, Neutral Bomb, Slayer, Conquest, Territories, Oddball, King of the Hill

Map Haiku

Symmetry settings...
Is this the same F*****g map?
Yes. Watch the sink hole.

Map Overview:

Heat Sink is a casual map made to support all gametypes, both symmetrical and asymmetrical, in the spirit of Furious D 18's Duality of yore. Essentially, it's a 3-tiered map, where each floor has a different feel. The top floor is more of a safe zone. The middle floor is a pretty standard area, and the bottom floor can be pure madness at times. Essentially, what you're going to be doing is working your way around the map, always trying to stay one-step ahead of the enemies. FYI, it gets the name from the "sink hole" feature (discussed later) and the staircases runnins along the walls which have a high surface area (for 'sinking' heat). You'd know what I was talking about if you'd taken a heat transfer class, lol.

Anyway, Heat Sink has a fairly high learning curve, so here's a diagram of the way the 3 floors of the map change depending on if you're in a symmetrical or non-symmetrical gametype. The biggest difference is that a wall spawns to separate the two sides of the map so you go side-to-side rather than top-down or bottom-up.

Figure 2: The changing face of Heat Sink

Gametypes Overview:

-----Slayer
---Best with teams of 2-4 or 4-6 people FFA-style.
Your best bet here is to know the map better than everybody else. If you can stay mobile, you'll probably win.

-----1-Flag
---Best with teams of 3-4
Attackers Start down low and must get to the top level to grab the flag and return it to the floating bridge. The fastest way up is the basement elevator, but it's not the safest. I'd suggest 3-minute rounds here.

-----2-Flag
---Best with teams of 3-4
Both teams start in the symmetrical bases (second floor, opposite sides of the wall) Use one of the many paths to get around. The fastest and least safe way is through the 3rd floor 'crouchway'. Destroy the grav-lifts to create a way over the center-wall.

-----1-Bomb
---Best with teams of 2-4
Attackers must make their way from the 3rd floor and plant the bomb above the sink hole. Safe pathways depend on the play-styles of the defenders. Don't let the bomb fall through the hold. Defenders should be sure to use the crates to block off attackers' pathways. I'd suggest 3-minute rounds here, too.

-----Assault
---Best with teams of 3-4
Just like 2-flag, but backwards.

-----Conquest
---Best with teams of 3-5
Though this is nowhere near a traditional conquest map, I've decided to set it up for the gametype. Control all 3 floors and know your way around better than the next guy to win.

-----Other Gametypes
---Keep it below 10 players, it's a highly-glitched map.
This should work for everything except infection and objective-point-based Juggernaut/VIP. Also, be sure to know how to exploit the window panels in bomb and flag games.

Features:

-----The Sink Hole:
The sink hole is the small hole leading from the second floor to the bottom floor. This can be a quick and unexpected way to get to or escape from your opponents. It also plays a large role in a-bomb games. If the attacking team fails to get the bomb to the hole, but gets close, the stupid thing will roll right into the sink hole and disappear to the basement... so long as the defending team has destroyed the pallet blocking its path.

Figure 3: The sink hole

-----Multi-purpose Floating Crates
These crates have different uses depending on the gametype being played. In asymmetrical games, the grav-lifts can be destroyed to drop the crates and block a main attacking passageway. In symmetrical games, they can be dropped to the ground to form a staircase that will let you easily get over the wall and into the opposition's base. Be sure to use these to your advantage.

Figure 4: Floating Crates (overspawned on previous version)

-----Pink Floyd's The Wall
The wall that spans the map in symmetrical games is constructed of shield walls and fence walls. I hope you like it. More importantly, you can jump the thing at one place (indicated in Figure 2) and grab an overshield. Note that you can still crouch and use the sink hole in symmetric games.
-No figure included.

Screenshots:

------The Basement
This is where a lot of the action goes down in slayer games and 1-bomb games. Also, people new to the map tend to drop down here more often than necessary. You can find a sniper down here in asymmetrical games and a shotgun down here in symmetrical games. The man-cannons at the end of the basement send you straight to the 3rd floor. It's not easy to get out of the basement if you get cornered, so use your time down here wisely.

Figure 5: The ominous basement

-----Top Floor (asymmetric)
This is the top floor, where the flag and bomb spawn in asymmetrical games. It's pretty open. The passageways on either side lead back to the exit of the basement-to-3rd-floor man-cannon tube. Use your height advantage to your.. advantage...

Figure 6: The top floor (asymmetric view)

-----Top Floor (symmetric)
Here's the top floor in a symmetric game. As you can see, it's blocked off by an extension of the central wall. To get to the other side, you can either crouch down and crawl past some fusion coils or you can go around the U-shaped passage. That's if you only want to work with the top floor...

Figure 7: The top floor (symmetric view)

Outro:

I'm not going to overwhelm everybody with a bunch of screenshots of this map. It won't make a lot of sense until you've studies the diagram AND taken a walk through the map in a custom game (if you go through it in forge, everything spawns at once and the map looks terrible). Go have a look, and I encourage everybody to make use of the symmetry options available to you in Forge, as I have. They're a powerful tool.

I'd, of course, like to thank my many, many testers who have put up with not seeing the finished product of this map for a few months now.