Crackalanche
By Nitrotomato - An infection map for those of us who love insane games, with lots of explosions and death. [4 - 16 players - 12 optimum]

"I just got an overkill on a mongoose and I...JIZZED IN MY PANTS!" - DJShade 707, on this map.

Overview
After my recent forays as part of my group into the territories of extremely complex gametypes with tactically deep maps and difficult to master tricks, I thought it might be nice to take a break and work on something more fun and purely simple. The end result? Crackalanche. Inspired by a map created by my mate Chaz 50no on Sandtrap, this map takes infection back to its basics: fast zombies vs Humans in vehicles. This traditional gametype, whilst generally lame, can be extremely fun if pulled off correctly by the map designer, and this is something I think I have done very well here. The basic premise of the map is where humans spawn with a lot of vehicles, they can choose to drive or not, but they are pitted against large numbers of Zombies eager for brains. The rest speaks for itself, really. This game is not for those who enjoy tactical or deep games, it really is for people who just love getting in a hog with a mate, and doing some serious mass slaying.

You won't find any geomerging or serious interlocking here, I've had enough of that stuff. Gameplay was my main aim, which I feel I have achieved.

Layout and Basic Design
The simplicity of this map is what I feel is great about it. All I did was take a blank Avalanche and add vehicles to the human spawn, as well as a variety of jumps, mad ramps and a tonne of man cannons to allow for some hilariously fun stunts and tricks whilst blowing the heads off of countless zombies. Zombies spawn in the air, either on top of the giant mancannons or in one of 2 sky bases from which they can drop down on the humans.

Humans have the freedom to explore most of the map (bar the bases - to prevent camping, though it is still do-able, just not very well), and there are weapons and grenades scattered around the map, though not very many. There are also mongeese and other assorted one man vehicles (namely Choppers and Ghosts) scattered around by these stores. My personal favourite is the laser + rocket spawn with a mongoose. Nothing quite beats riding brokeback, lasering Zombies whilst your driver is doing a backflip on the mongoose.

Should the Zombies have the luck of spawning in one of the two sky bases, they have 3 options. They can drop straight down into the map and hunt down the humans. They can stay in the base and wait for a human to drive under them and surprise them. Or their other option is to wait for a teleporter to open at 90 seconds. Once this tele is open the Zombies gain access to a small cave from which they can access a few anti-vehicle measures, though nothing too extreme or overpowering. The cave contains:

1 Power Drain
2 Plasma Nades
1 Grav Lift
1 Trip Mine
1 Fuel Rodder
2 Instantly Respawning Custom Powerups

The custom powerups allowing 3 seconds of weapon pickup. This stuff is all on long respawn, so shouldn't have too much of an impact on gameplay. The zombies can then return to the level and unleash their fury on the humans.

Simplicity is the goal, and that's what you'll get playing this map.

Gametype and Gameplay
Games vary from long and drawn out with tonnes of slaying to short and sweet. Humans are weak individually whilst the Alpha is the zombie to look out for. Other Zombies are fairly week though a stab from their sword is strong enough to flip a warthog if done right. Humans die in 1 hit and Zombies essentially are just basic no-shielders with a sword. Alpha has a hammer and high damage and so is the absolute killer of vehicles. Do not let him get close. He is your priority when you attack him.Alpha Zombie Traits

100% Damage Resistance, No Shields
Hammer, Sword, 300% Damage, Infinite Ammo
200% Speed, 75% Gravity
150M Enhanced Tracker, Forced Colour Black (English spelling ftw)

Zombie Traits

100% Damage Resistance, No Shields
Sword, 300% Damage, Infinite Ammo
200% Speed, 75% Gravity
75M Enhanced Tracker, Forced Color Black (American spelling ftw)

Human Traits

100% Damage Resistance, No Shields
Shotgun + Magnum, 100% Damage, Infinite Ammo
100% Speed, 100% Gravity
25M Regular Tracker, No Forced Colour
Waypoints - Visible to All

Last Man Traits

50% Damage Resistance, 4X Overshields
Normal Damage, Infinite Ammo
200% Speed, 75% Gravity
150M Enhanced Tracker, Forced Colour Pink

If the last man is good, he can really survive for a long time and escape from the hordes of Zombies pursuing him, which is exhilarating to say the least. The alpha is deadly, he can kill vehicles with a strike from his hammer some distance away, he should always be your first target. I got the generally extremely difficult "Infection Spree" as this guy.

To finish off my small novel, here are some pictures of this map in action!

Alpha Zombies spawn. Weeee!

A skybase. Zombie waits for bridge to tele to appear. I gave the skybase an aesthetic similar to a drill, no idea why. Looks cool though.

Wow! You weren't lying when you said you were strong! A human falls off his ghost by the wall of crates (which is intentionally messy btw). The wall is amazingly fun to plow through in a chopper, especially when the resultant mess from the collapse of the crates falls on the pursuing Zombies, earning you 2 splatters and a nice double kill.

Now to tell a brief picture story!

Chopper at spawn gets seriously smashed. Fool. None of the humans even noticed this, oddly.

I brace for my inevitable death...or do I?

Kabooom! Double kill! Triple kill! Suicide! Count the corpses. I got splattered by the warhog wreck, for reference.

THE END

Last man gets power drained, having just earned a Killtacular. Go pinky! Notice the chopper base in the background, with the explosives? Ramming into them with the chopper won't result in your death, but it will send you flying!

A small nuclear explosion. Infection spree!

A pretty good shot, considering he's moving at 200% speed. Can you spot the shooter (me)?

That's about it for my post, I hope you enjoy my map, please post feedback as it's not quite finished yet. I enjoyed making this map and I enjoy playing it from time to time at (prepare for shameless advertising) our Brain Feasts, our social group's (50 members and counting) weekly infection event. If you're interested, sign up! New members are needed, and we're a fun group who love all things infection (except Fat Kid, but then again who does love that anyway). Just click the link in my sig if you're interested. Enjoy my map, please! Oh, and one last thing.

Download Map - Crackalanche
Download Gametype - Speed Zombies (by Chaz 50NO originally, tweaked by me)