-Defense of Kamino- (image intense)

[Achillesz7]

I will briefly describe each image

and what I believe should happen

within the context of a NEW Battlefront

level being created. (Note all images

are taken from the Clone Wars comic

book series by Darkhorse. I strongly

urge anyone who likes the Clone Wars

saga to buy them. Now, onto business.)

 

Map name: The Defense of Kamino

(based off Clone comics)

 

Intro -

What is wrong with Kamino? Well, its just

not that hot. And it could have been a

awesome level. It could have been like

Hoth where you see the planet man and

you say, "Yes! Let's rock this!" But instead

when we see the Kamino name we say,

"eh, ok another blast fest." Here's where

a NEW, purpose driven map comes into

play. When you play Hoth you know what

you have to do. As a Imp you need to destroy

the generator and totally "own" the map

just like in the movies. Now, as a Rebel you

desperately are trying to stop the Imps

from blowing the shield generator and

getting close enough with the ATATs to

"land" troopers right outside the front door.

Now, imagine the current Kamino objectives.

Silence. Well, what the heck are you supposed

to do? Quite literally not much. The objectives

for CIS are capture the Cloning Facilty. What

cloning facility? Do they mean that single room

with two chairs in it? Thats what a cloning facility

is? And what about the Clones objectives? Well,

that's no better it's simply a rehash of all the

other maps objectives "defend/capture all CPs".

Wow. I'm really excited about doing that. And

what about the command points? We've got a

whole bunch of landing platforms to take over...

But did anyone ask why they are so important?

I thought it was the facility that was important,

not the platforms. I really think that lack of

creative on the part of Pandemic is a problem

on what could have been a sweet map of

Kamino.

 

With the battle of Hoth we can relate easily

with the situation because we've seen it a

million times on TV. But with Kamino there

wasn't a land/air battle there, we don't

know or feel risks or high running emotions

when it comes to the battle that is presented.

Well, I say we inject some of those emotions

in the game. Here are some of my ideas:

 

Problem A.) We don't see any of the interior

of the Clone facility -

 

Immediately this should be a problem. What

is so important about this place? Why should

we defend it? For those that have seen the

movies you can imagine all you want about

the shots of the clone embryos stacked up,

the clone kids learning and the adult troopers

getting their helmets on. But in the current

Kamino level you don't see a dittle of this.

You see two chairs in a white room. Why the

heck would I want to defend chairs! Here's

my solution. If a new map is created there

should a series of CP points inspired from

the rooms we've seen in the movie. Pick and

choose your favorite rooms, it doesn't matter.

But what does matter is the CP at the heart

of them all. Starting outward working inward

the command posts would get closer and

closer to the heart and hope of the Republic:

the fragile clone embryos Command post.

Here would be the prime directive of the

Droid faction: destroy the new generation

of clones. And if they got into that room I'd

try to make those testtubes destroyable. I'd

give the players that got down there a reward:

blast the hell out of the room, smash the next

generation of clones. Make them feel as though

they are furthering their overall purpose, destroy

the place where ALL the clones come from. But,

again, back to reality of the current Kamino map,

when the droids overtake the Clones "facility"

they get the reward of sitting in chairs.

 

 

Here's another idea for a command post in the

Clone facility could be the learning center where

all the clone kids are stationed. Defending this

command post could actually become EVEN

very interesting in gameplay terms. Maybe the

Clone faction has to ACTUALLY defend NPC Clone

kid characters. If the droids break in there and

manage to kill them all off they'd win an objective.

I mean think about it! We already have little NPCs

running around with Ewoks and jawas.

If someone created a clone kid model

and you placed about a dozen of them in the room

you'd be set. Of course within the game programming

context you'd have to establish that if all 12 died

the Clone faction would lose an objective and

Droids would win an objective. But could you

honestly imagine the droids bursting into the room

blasting the defenders and unmercifully turning their

guns on the children!? Don't you think that's

LIGHTYEARS of emotional difference between what

we know have with the generalized objective of

capturing bland landing platforms?? I think so.

 

Problem B.) We are defending landing platforms.

That makes no sense at all since no landing ships

are present.

 

1.)

 

The above image is what we should have been

privy to in Pandemics verison of the Kamino map.

If a new, "proper" Kamino map is created I believe

that Jedi and Droid starfighters should be present.

On the Clones side you would have a command

point/hanger embedded into one of the sides of

the Kamino buildings, much like the type of hanger

presented in the Hoth level.

 

From here jedi fighters would launch and emerge to

a large map, filled with Kaminoian towers and

platforms. Think about the scale of current Tatooine,

with all the structures and buildings. This should be

the kind of size and density (in terms of building

structures) that the NEW Kamino map would

emulate.

 

Granted I'm not saying that we need millions of

tiny buildings. What I'm saying is that it is possible

to have a good amount of structures with the

precedent amount set in Tatooine. On the opposite,

far end of the map floats a droid control ship.

This command point serves ONLY as a hanger

for Droid starfighters to launch from and begin

their attack on the Clone facility below. Much like

Hoth and Endor's shield generators the

CIS Droid Control ship would be a DESTROYABLE

spawn point and its destruction would be a Clone

objective. In addition to having starfighters launch

from the Control ship you'd also have the option

to defend the location with accessible turrets

(think Bespin turrets). And of course on the

Clone side you would have a sprinkling of Anti-air

turrets at key locations on the different platforms

for troopers jump into.

 

2.)

 

 

Looking at this image should speak volumes

about the power of a droid invasion. The top

panel is what I will focus on talking about. Now,

imagine if we could somehow get that droid

lander working as a flyable vehicle in Battlefront.

This would add a WHOLE other dimension

to the gameplay on the NEW Kamino level.

Remember the Droid control ship hanger?

If you could fly one of these you would launch

from there. But like a Clone gunship you would

first load up on troops before taking off. From

the droid control ship you'd soar the Droid

lander towards the undefended Kamino

platforms with droid fighters flanking you for

defense. Enter the purpose of the jedi

starfighters on Kamino. It would then be up

to the Clones to attempt to blast that SINGLE

lander out of the sky before it reaches a

SINGLE designated platform. Why a SINGLE

lander and SINGLE designated landing platform?

Come on, lets stay simple for now. Upon

successfully landing the droid lander at the

designated platform it would then automatically

become a indestructible spawn point for CIS.

Also, on the list of the CIS objectives they'd

have accomplished one of their goals:

Land invasion force on Tipoca City.

 

Ok, nay-sayers. Let's say that it's not

possible to perform that kind of drivable,

landable, turning into permanent indestructable

spawn point idea for the Droid lander. Alright,

here are two alternatives.

 

1.) Have that CIS lander already sitting on the

platform at the beginning of the game. It would

just be eye candy for people to admire when they

spawn near it. You could also make it a destroyable

spawn too... This would cut down on the use and

importance of the droid control ship hanger. Also,

that cool feeling of attacking an invasion force

would be lost with this compromise.

 

2.) Instead of a the droid lander in the hanger

spawn 3 or 4 MAF's. These could fulfill the same

role that droid lander would perform.

However, the drawback and subsequent the

reasoning behind multiple MAF's would be

because they are more likely to be shot down

quicker than a massive Droid lander. With

option number two you can preserve the

coolness of an invasion force with the MAF,

but I think there would be some serious

balancing issues. Because if the droids are

not able to get a single trooper on the landing

platform because they are being shot down

that not going to be too fun for the CIS players.

 

3.)

 

I thought this might be nice for inspiration if

someone DOES want to create a NEW Kamino map.

Kind of neat.

 

 

Closing thoughts:

 

It is my FIRM belief that everything stated

above is possible if we have the right tools,

people and passion. Let's correct what was

improperly released, let's make Battlefront the

game it should have been. If you doubt it can

be done look back at what I wrote and see

the comparisons I was making to the

current game. This stuff can happen! And if

they did it we sure as heck can do it in a MOD.

In a couple days I will add another entry here

with pictures for a completely different level.

I have a TON of ideas for this game and the

future of its MODs. I hope to hear some some

feedback from all of you readers.

 

-Achillesz7

[Gerardo]

Great idea man! I totally agree with you. That would totally make Kamino one of the best maps in the game. From what I've seen modders do with games like Jedi Outcast, I believe this idea is feasible. I would like to see ships that can hold more than 2 or 3 people. And I would like to see more pilotable ships. A flyable star destroyer (would move extremely slow) with a hangar for tie fighters to come out of the bottom would be a great thing for the Dune Sea Map. Droid Landing ships would also be a very cool ship to make flyable. I though Pandemic could have done a much better job on this game if they were not rushed by Lucas to make the game come out on time with the Trilogy DVDs. IT's our job as passionate players, modders, mappers, whatever, to make this game what it could have been, especailly the ability to fly fighters out of the hangars of larger craft rather than just flying them off some random spot on the ground. It is understandable if the rebels have thier ships just laying around on the ground but I would like to see maps with hangars inside larger ships floating above the ground below. Example: Tie fighters would fly out of a star destroyer's hangar (like the one at the bottom of the Star Destroyer featured at the beginning of a new Hope) which would be floating above the Dune Sea below. Just wondering, Why didn't Pandemic put Tie bombers and Y-wings in the Dune Sea level or the Naboo Plains level? Anyway, I would love to hear more of your ideas, they seem like they would make the game a lot nore fun.

[teeth_03]

interesting idea,but that map would prolly be a b!tch to make....

 

Oh yeah,I just noticed sumtin, when somebody makes a post about a special mod idea, other people start giving their ideas about completely other mods,IMO,those ppl should make their own thread about it,but it really dosent bother me,just an observation...

 

Lol,I think I might be one of those ppl,have to make a mental note...

[TheProphet]

I like your idea Achilliesz, but you have to consider something: What will kind of affect will a map this big have on the preformance of other people's computers? Will it cause lag, ect. I agree that it is possible, except maybe some of the cinematics, but mostly possible to do, yet as we had a problem before about making flight higher, affecting lag, I think that a map of this size would also cause a considerable ammount of lag. Once again good idea, just something to consider.

[reltes]

good ideas.

 

i think it should just be the vehicles, anti-aircraft guns and a big interior room with clone kids. also the kids should have guns like the ewoks do so they aren't completely defenseless.

[BeBop]

Yeah This sounds like a great idea. But as Gsccc said, It might prove to be a challenge for a computer to handle. But all in all a great Idea. It seems as if originally vehicles were going to be in the Kamino Level. If you go to instant action and click on the Kamino level the little video of the map that displays in the bottom right hand corner you can see turrets and gunships and Jedi starfighters. Anyway, If anyone ever gets custom maps figured out I'd say that this is a map I'd look forward to playing. Though it would probably take a looong time to make.

 

-KS

[klouie316]

Which number or title is the comic your showing? I want to know

[BeBop]

Originally posted by klouie316

Which number or title is the comic your showing? I want to know

 

Pretty sure it's from Dark Horse Comic: Republic #50: The Defense of Kamino.

 

-KS

[GFLPraxis]

Well, something that's within the current realm of possibility:

If some modder could add a fighter (droid and clone) or two on each platform, that would make the map way more fun.

[klouie316]

Where do you get the star wars darkhorse comics? do you go to a regular book store or somewhere else because that one looks cool:D

[TK-8252]

That'd be way better than the current Kamino map. Hopefully when modding tools are out an improved Kamino map like this could be done.