MAP36: Castle Clash (Strife: Veteran Edition)

MAP36: Castle Clash is the first Capture the Chalice map included with Strife: Veteran Edition. It was designed by James Haley (Quasar) and uses the music track "Strike".

Overview

 * Letters in italics refer to marked spots on the map.

The map is based on, with two copies of the map attached end-to-end, one rotated 180 degrees relative to the map's normal orientation. The two are joined at the gate and along the circumambulatory catwalks. The left half of the map serves as the red team base, while the right half serves as the blue team base. The spawning areas and flag bases are inside each castle's respective command bunker area, while the medic areas serve to provide rapid deployment via teleporters into the caves, central structures, and "intel/ops" buildings of the respective bases.

Due to the relatively large size of the map, six- to eight-player matches are recommended.

Primary routes of attack are along the catwalks, through the central structures, and by crossing the bridges.

Other points of interest
Each base contains a computer screen and sacrificial altar where the Programmer ostensibly offers players penitence. There is no strategic benefit to activating these, however.

Deathmatch
Source ports which offer the ability to play normal deathmatch games on Capture the Flag maps will allow deathmatch play on this map. All required spawn spots are provided. Strife: Veteran Edition itself always enables Capture the Chalice play when the blue and red team spawn spots are present.

Things
This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level:

Inspiration and development
The map went through three iterations during development. The first build was a simple test of concept with the two bases directly facing each other across a river, with one in the normal location of the blue team base and the other in place of the hospital building. This level was too small for practical gameplay. The next build used the "two castles" idea, but the castles were to the north and south of each other, and routing and strategies were less than obvious. Input from Samuel Villarreal (Kaiser) and Sarah Mancuso (esselfortium) resulted in the final layout.