Map Ideas Galore!

[Darlington]

Hello there, anyone who wishes to take a look. I am Darlington (I use my last name as my username - it just seems to be somewhat anonymous. That, and I recently found out about a British POW by the name of Evan Darlington - also, oddly, my brother's name!), a relative newbie to the BF 1942 world, and also a somewhat mediocre player. More of a defense expert than anything else...ah well.

Anyway, the big reason I'm posting something here now is because I'm brimming with ideas about maps and even full-blown add-on packs - with perhaps a small twinkling that some might wind up becoming official EA products. *chuckle* I can dream, can't I?

First, let me begin with the Add-On ideas - the way I see it, there are three more add-ons that EA could attempt besides the new "Road to Rome" addon. The new addon would probably cover battles like Anzio, Salerno, Naples, Rome, Siscily, and so on. However, three other add-on packs could be possible.

The first idea for an add-on pack, most likely, would be to detail the extensive Asian battles of the war - Burma, Corrigedor, Manila, Nanking, and so on. It would be rather entertaining to have a battle take place near the Bridge on the River Kwai, as it would be to stage battles on the Burma Road and in jungles. It'd also be rather nice to explore the British/Japanese battles here, which were particularly important, tho unfortunately omitted from the initial product.

The second idea, less likely of course, is to have a "prequel" add-on pack, naturally named "Blitzkrieg," detailing the earlier portions of World War II - Warsaw, the Russo-Finnish War, the invasion of Norway, France, Holland and Belgium, the early stages of Barbarossa, the last days of the Bismark, even the Sino-Japanese War that took place years before World War II even began! (Perhaps even - as a little taste of battle - an Ethiopian/Italian battle!) This would allow usage of various different vehicles - the Sinking of the Bismark would be especially entertaining, seeing as it would provide another Coral Sea opportunity, except with one side only having a battleship, the other only having a carrier armed with Swordfish torpedo bombers. About the only mission to be excluded from this would probably be Pearl Harbor - for obvious reasons, of course.

The third and final add-on idea could be an entirely fictitious campaign - the "Lost Battles of World War II," as it were. Here, you would see battles that COULD have been, but did not happen. This would probably include the cancelled Operation Sealion, the hypothetical invasions of London, Moscow, Cario and Tokyo, a few Russian/Japanese battles (in the final days of World War II, the Russians wished to open a new front against the Japanese - anyone remember the Russo-Japanese war of 1907?), and perhaps even a Suez Canal mission pitting the British against the Germans! I think that this add-on would not be very easy to make or market, simply because it would be a rather exotic idea - even if it would make for an interesting opportunity.

Now that I've detailed some add-on pack ideas (which I hope EA would hear about one way or another), I'll go talk about independent map ideas that would not fit into any of these expansion pack ideas. For the sake of variety, I've also included a joke map - you'll have to see what I mean when you get to it!

"The Pass:"

In 1943, late in the African theater, the American Army came on the scene and went eagerly after The Desert Fox - but when they reached a certain pass, Rommel got the drop on them. This battle resulted in one of the major Allied defeats of the war, only rivalled by Operation Market Garden. It would be very interesting to see if intrepid online players could turn this defeat into a victory...

Leyte Gulf:

A late-war battle, in 1944 the Japanese sent a massive naval force at the American Navy in an attempt to block the American's island-hopping campaign, and perhaps even produce a counter-offensive in the process. Unlike many of the maps seen in the game as of late, this map would be a naval duel, not unlike the popular "Mayhem" map that seems to be floating around a good bit.

"The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot:"

So named by AA crews in the U.S. Navy, the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot was primarily a battle between enemy planes and their AA crews. Both sides will probably be fitted out with a good number of planes as in the Coral Sea map, but instead of placing the emphasis on sinking the ships conventionally, the emphasis will be on kamikaze tactics and AA supremacy - to supply the additional AA, both sides will also get a destroyer or two as escort. This also makes for the enticing possibility of sinking a carrier with a few well-placed shells...

Okinawa:

Another Iwo Jima in a sense, only much more brutal - instead of merely having a good defensive position, the Japanese will also have tunnel networks, AA guns that can fire ONTO enemy troops, and two more spawn points than on the Iwo Jima map. The Americans, of course, will not only have the carrier and battleship familiar to Iwo Jima, but also a pair of destroyers and a faster respawn rate on the airplanes. This will probably promote even more frenzied fighting than seen on Iwo Jima.

Tarawa:

An earlier part of the American island-hopping campaign, this blunder is a chance to see how a series of minor effects can have a major effect in the end. For instance, the large expanse of shallow land near the beach would make landing craft a little unruly, perhaps even unusable in the conditions. Adding to the problems would be a good Japanese defensive position. Of course, as with many U.S./Japan encounters in BF 1942, the U.S. will also have a good Air Corps element.

Kiev:

An intriguing addition to the Eastern Front, this map will play, hopefully, like a large-scale version of the included Stalingrad map. While the Stalingrad map made a valiant effort, it still did not properly encompass (in my opinion) the kind of fighting actually seen there during the war. Kiev would be an attempt to remedy it - the city would be probably a good deal larger, with just as many ways of going through and annihilating the enemy.

St. Lo:

In the aftermath of the opening stages of Operation Overlord, once the Allies had established a good beachhead, their next significant target (besides, perhaps, the port of Calais) was the town of St. Lo, a crossroads the Germans could use to reinforce their frontlines. Here, tank and infantry warfare is a must, but Allied bombing would also come into play - even if they accidentally bombed their own men...

Gibralter:

Not precisely a real combat mission, it would probably be another naval equivalent of the Coral Sea map. However, here the British and the Germans would be engaged in naval warfare - the Germans with destroyers and torpedo planes (from an island base, perhaps), the British with destroyers, planes and submarines. The emphasis here would be on submarine combat, which I believe to have been woefully neglected by the majority of gamers.

Maginot Line:

Not to be confused with the 1940 assault on France, by 1944 the Germans had converted the Maginot line into a defense fortification to use against the Americans. Also, unlike the 1940 assault, the 1944 battle at the Maginot Line actually held the Allies down for a good bit, and proved that the Maginot line was indeed a fine fortification - the only problem in 1940 was that the Germans could simply drive around it, giving the gunners of the line very little to shoot at while their comrades were being perforated.

Siegfried Line:

Another defense oriented map, this map would detail the Allied assault on Germany's vaunted Siegfried Line, the last major obstacle before the Ruhr and Berlin. Of course, since the Germans were running low on many things, they could not use the Siegfried Line to its fullest, manning it with few troops and stocking up on plenty of tank-stopping barriers.

Bingo-Bango Island:

This is not so much a major battle as a tribute to a little-known and underappreciated cartoon of the war-era, the wonderful Private Snafu series. (For those of you who don't know, SNAFU stands for "Situation Normal, All F***ed Up.) The cartoons, made by Warner Brothers from 1943 to 1945, were made for the American soldiers who needed a morale boost and some subtle reminders about what they shouldn't do in combat. The island of Bingo-Bango comes from a cartoon about censorship of the mail, to prevent information from leaking to the enemy. In it, Private Snafu tries to write a letter to his beloved Sally Lou - a letter which always contains some information that is censored to keep the enemy from knowing. Eventually, Snafu gets someone to mail a coded message to Sally Lou, who in her exuberance, calls up her mother and inadvertantly tells her the name of the island that Snafu is going to assault, Bingo-Bango. Even with the idea that no one should know, the message invariably gets around, all the way to the Japanese command on Bingo-Bango, who spring into action, call Japan for reinforcements, and cover the island in troops, so that by the time Snafu gets there, the whole place is pretty much a trap. Fortunately for Snafu, the whole ghastly trap turns out to be a dream. He retrieves the letter, and this time censors it himself. The map itself would be filled with little sight gags and jokes - for instance, the trees could really be Japanese troops in disguise, or large guns with palm leaves sticking out of their muzzles. Various little sight gags could be inserted here and there, and there could even be signs talking about Snafu and his ubiquitous "conscience," the Technical Fairy, First Class. It would still probably be a good map to play, but more for humor value than anything else.

Anyway, that pretty much does it for my map ideas. I'm sure that someone else out there has thought of many of these for maps, but I've yet to see anyone make any of these maps or expansion packs. If anyone out there would like to try, I wish you the best of luck - I dunno if I'd be able to help, I'm just a game player fer cryin' out loud!

I also hope you've enjoyed reading up on this. I know I enjoyed writing this!

-Darlington

[Capt. Nichols]

Originally Posted by Darlington

"The Pass:"

In 1943, late in the African theater, the American Army came on the scene and went eagerly after The Desert Fox - but when they reached a certain pass, Rommel got the drop on them. This battle resulted in one of the major Allied defeats of the war, only rivalled by Operation Market Garden. It would be very interesting to see if intrepid online players could turn this defeat into a victory...

I believe that it was called Kasserine Pass.

All great ideas. When the map editor finally comes out, you'll have a blast.

[MrMan]

Not bad Not bad! I like the idea of some of those! Nows all we need is a map editor!


DANG YOU DICE GIVE US WHAT WE WANT!!!

[Darlington]

Wow, first topic and I already get two replies. I feel so special!

*ahem* Anyway, I dunno if Dice or EA will come out with a map editor, but I'm pretty sure someone else is already coming up with it...after all, we're already seeing new maps out there, including some with custom terrain! So all we really need to do is to figure out how to get a map editor to work in a better way, and go from there!

I recall, actually, that games like this usually come with a secret "built-in" map editor, unsupported tho it may be. Tribes 2 had an editor like this - tho I never did get the hang of it. *shrug* BF 1942 reminds me of Tribes 2 in some ways, although BF 1942 has a lot more going for it. (For one thing, the AI actually USE the darn vehicles!)

Anyway, if and when a map editor makes itself available to me, you bet your life I'm gonna get myself to work making some of these maps! >

-Darlington

[Super-Sniper]

god thank u for not being a idiotic noob. in warcraft and starcraft so many ppl join without even learning how to play. hate when their on MY team....





I love all u suggegtions , in warsaw u mean early warsaw (poles versus krauts) or later version(krauts versus reds)?




i wanna a polish caimpain , i know they fell after 1 month , but they did cause some problems.














u know what be a tightass caimpain? liek a resitance caimpain , were u get to play polish , norwegian , french , etc... restinsances .

[Darlington]

The Germans versus Reds Warsaw would probably be one of the custom jobs, seeing as it'd be a bit like the Kiev idea...the earlier Warsaw was what I was referring to, for the Polish Campaign.

As for my playing style, I prefer defense...sniper rifles, machine guns, static cannons and AA guns. Otherwise I wind up becoming cannon fodder.

Ah well, I'll learn eventually.

-Darlington

[Monty]

"Where eagles dare"........the best war movie ever made........what a level this could make!!!!!!!

[Darlington]

I'm not sure I'm familiar with "Where Eagles Dare," actually.

An interesting idea, tho, would be to do a map based on missions undertaken by the Tuskegee airman - tho I doubt it'd work too well if there's only white skins available for the Americans. *shrug* Ah well, it's pretty hard to do something about racism that was so present and unnoticed...

I suppose, tho, that SOMEONE out there is gonna come up with it eventually!

[Pej]

god i can't wait for a map editor to come out... i too have a billion ideas. hurry, please.

[Monty]

Darlington.........if you havn't watched or read where eagles dare,check this out!!!

http://www.whereeaglesdare.com/index2.htm

[Pickle_Puss]

actually, I recall seeing a photo of a black skin somewhere on this forum. I believe it was called "battlefield's own gary coleman" or something like that. Gary Coleman because he was sunken into the ground. Ah, and for the Wasaw map, it would have to be Germany vs. Poles in 1939, as the battle when the Russians took it was rather tragic, and not well suited to gameplay. When the Russians had gotten within sight of the building, the "1st Polish Army", A fighting force of the resistance, immidiately tried to fight out the germans, assuming that the Russians would aid them. Unfortunately, Stalin couldnt quite trust the Poles, what with how they killed so many when they invaded, so he didnt want a Polish army behind his lines when they drove past (this was in the early part of the Jan 12 offensive towards Germany). Instead, he waited till the germans had subdued them, and then began to advance. During this time, the 2 German Engineer Batallions in Warsaw placed explosives in every building of note, according to hitler's orders that no city they marched out of should be left standing, so when the Russians took the city, it was merely a pile of rubble.