My first map screens: Westerplatte 1939

I have posted some first screenshots on the TWI forums of the map I'm making. Here is the background story:

WESTERPLATTE - Poland, 5 septembre 1939

After 4 days of German bombardments and fierce artillery from battleships on Westerplatte (a Polish peninsula) the German attack continues with an infantry battle through the woods. The main focus is to capture 3 'waithouses' occupied by Allied troops. Before the charge, the Germans tried to burn the woods by exploding fueltanks between the trees. The goal was to expose some bunkers inside the forest. But the wood was too wet, the attempt was unsuccesfull, only burning a part of the forest. On 5th of septembre, German machine guns and snipers take position into the old bombed kazern trying to outnumber Allied soldiers in the woods. Axis infantry try to take control of the forest, leading the way to the first waithouse that oversees the rest of the flat Westerplatte. Still a long way to go to the 2 other waithouses on a battlefield with minor cover and well dug in Allied troops, history tells the Germans lost a lot of reinforcements taking the flatland. This battle is remembered as the first German attack starting World War 2 in Europe, followed by the battle for Danzig.


Some first screenshots below:

Sideways view of the first field to cross towards the forest:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9099818...ream/lightbox/

One of the bunkers inside the forest, the Germans failed to burn the forest to uncover them:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9099818...ream/lightbox/

Death is everywhere on Westerplatte, you'll notice :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9099818...ream/lightbox/

German battleships at sea. They did the artillery bombardements on Westerplatte right before the infantry attack:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9099818...ream/lightbox/

Looking from the forest towards the bombed kazern, the starting point for the Axis:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9099818...ream/lightbox/

The Germans tried to burn the forest with fueltanks, they failed:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9099818...ream/lightbox/

Overview of the forest from a window of the burned kazern:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9099818...ream/lightbox/

Overview of first 1/3th of the map:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9099818...ream/lightbox/

An overlook taken from first cap, right behind the burned forest. From here on, the German awaits a long flat battlefield to take:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9099818...ream/lightbox/

Second cap right in the front. A bunker on the right is not a cappoint, but definitly one to be taken control of by the Germans, if they want a chance to get to the final cap:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9099818...ream/lightbox/

The final cappoint, an open field heavily bombarded before. A crawl and take cover nightmare for the Axis:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9099818...ream/lightbox/

The Westerplatte monument, real life built in memory of the Polish soldiers, is overlooking the map:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90998187@N07/8289862356/in/photostream/lightbox/





Some map features

1. Bullet penetration: machineguns are able to penetrate the outer walls of some buildings (except concrete bunkerwalls). This means you are never completely safe taking cover under or next to windows. It raises the immersion and realism, making everyone vulnerable to bullet ricochet and wounds caused by the power of bullet exitholes. This also raises the important role of MG support in the map. Also, the bullet penetration ability’s of other materials (like thin steel plates) has been adjusted making them easier to be penetrated.

2. Fixed machine guns: where usefull, Allied fixed machine guns are placed in both directions of the map. While this may look a bit odd at first, this setup simulates the ability of the Axis attacker unmounting and mounting the Allied MG's in his favour.

3. Flat bombed land: a part of Westerplatte is, like in real life, an almost completely flat land. Thanks to craters caused by previous bombardments and other elements, the Germans have the opportunity to use these to advance and take cover. Axis are forced to crawl, use smoke and advance in group. Rambo-style solitair gameplay ('running & gunning') is punished the hard way.

4. Long range firing: once the forest has been captured, soldiers get the opportunity to hunt the enemy long range. Visibility is kept high enough for that reason (minor distance fog).

5. Axis artillery support: historically, the Germans used lots of artillery, which actually played a primar role in the surrender of the Allied troops, being demoralized by the continues strikes combined with hunger and running out of ammunition. Therefor, only the German side will have access to artillery. Allies will only have a couple of mortar rounds.

6. No recon planes: recon planes make a battle pretty 'arcade', showing where the enemy troops are. On this map, decisions to place artillery or to lay out an attack/defense route, shall only be made by the use of the eye, goggles and efficient communications among soldiers.

Any input of you guys is welcome, of course it is !

I like it !

looking cool Attila......let us know when you are ready to test it

I updated with a new screenshot (which actually will be further filled up with some trees and other rubble) and some map features. If you have dislikes, please tell me before its too late

Looking great,

sign me up for beta testing,

I've been out of the loop for some time, but i'm anxious to give it a go again

let me know when the map is up!

Great to have you back Shifty

Update about the map: I'm comming in the latest stage of finishing the 'pre-beta' of the map. I suggest I organise a moment for any AKA member interested to have a private look and exclusive tryout on our server. I hope to get some feedback then. After this pre-beta (and changes done), we can put the beta in our mapcycle and promote it on the Tripwire forums. This will bring some extra traffic to our server while I hopefully get some more feedback as well.

I have added more screenshots on the TWI forums. If you want to check em out, follow this link: http://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/showthread.php?p=1168836#post1168836

Keep on the great job Attila !

@Shady: I think I found the problem for ROgame.exe crash upon loading the map. It has something to do with game cache. I'll try to fix and test offline and then we can have another try on the server. Hope it works next time