Oasis Trouble

Oasis Trouble
Map preview as seen from the client
Information
Players	2
Terrain	Tropical Island, Temperate
Mode types	Standard Type
Miscellaneous
Mapper	BornL33T

Oasis Trouble is a two-player standard multiplayer map.

Features

Oasis Trouble is a large (pseudo-?)island map that encourages base expansion and the involves the odd situation of naval units with no land/water access.

The map is diagonally symmetric. Each player's starting location is on a small raised area with a small gem patch and a medium ore patch each with an ore drill. A N/S ramp and an E/W ramp connect the starting area to the rest of the map. Clockwise along the N/S ramp is an Oil Derrick surrounded by a destroyable fence and protected by some small garrisonable structures. Further along is another raised area with two medium gem patches and two ramps. To the E/W of this area, below the cliff, is an Artillery Bunker. The Artillery Bunker is itself over another cliff surrounding an ore pit with two drills, accessible from a nearby ramp and another on the far side.

The centre of the map contains a lake flanked on each side by a large garrisonable hut and a small gem patch with a drill. Each of these patches are backed by a thin surrounding cliff that is accessible by ramps at the top and bottom.

Since the entire island is surrounded by cliffs, there is no way to get land or amphibious units into the water around the edge of the map, and no way for many non-siege naval units to fire on the land.

Tech buildings

• Tech Oil Derrick x2
• Tech Artillery Bunker x2

Strategy

The starting position on this map is very easily defended. Denying an enemy scout or harass is simple; just put a few infantry at the top of each ramp. However, there are two problems with the starting position: there isn't enough ore to last very long, and there isn't enough space to build. At some point at least one player is going to want to pack up and move, or make another MCV.

The obvious spot to expand to is the cliff with the gems up past the Derrick. The gems there also won't last long, but capturing the Artillery Bunker will provide some safety and help secure the ore pit below. Of course, doing any of this too early is a massive gambit that risks wasting much build time and/or money if the opponent reacts well. Not moving mining operations up will lead to one's miners roaming all over and inevitably being harassed in such a twisty map. The Ghost Miner's cloak really shines in this sort of situation, lending Epsilon players a potentially big advantage in a stalemate.

Naval units can't really interact with non-naval units due to the cliffs, so their only real use is as a surprise siege unit. This can be a dangerous gimmick if unexpected. To counter, one can either try to go naval themselves - which probably isn't worth the investment - or can invest in air units. Fliers take advantage of the map in exactly the same way navy does, which is to say they abuse the difficulty in scouting the map edges. But fliers can also attack inland targets, react quickly to threats, and transport units. What's more, many of them don't require wasting your build time on a specialist building to make them.