Well, after a weekend of seeing Teth and Taris getting abused to no end, I'm still firmly in agreement that the maps are the biggest problem with the game right now. Yes, Melee pieces are a little weaker anyways, but its not the game mechanics that make them weaker, IMO. It is simply the fact that they must be adjacent to attack, and shooters can be all the way across the map. So, the only way to adjust that, is to start slapping a range on shooters, or design maps with a little more melee friendliness to them.
Right now, maps are 34 squares by 22 squares. So, shooters have roughly a 50 square range on a completely wide open map. Maps like Taris, that range is somewhere in the 30 range, at least. Even Teth has some opportunities for 25+ range shots. If you look at maps like Ruined Base, Death Star, Bespin, etc., yes there are places you can get those 25+ square distance shots. BUT, there are many other ways for opponents to advance without taking those kinds of hits. With Ruined Base, there are ways to reduce those distances to 5-10 squares, easily.
I don't think the maps have to completely "melee friendly". But they just can't be so wide-open as Teth/Taris/Muun Commerce. Can you imagine how broken the Snowspeeder would've been at GenCon if Broken Cristophsis had still been legal?!? Death Star doesn't have to go anywhere. Heck, Starship probably doesn't even need to. Yes, the top Speeder squads ran Starship last year and succeeded with it. But so do Lancer and Yobuck squads right now. Death Star has long been a map that runs well for Shooter squads, but that doesn't mean that Melee squads can't win on it all. Play a matchup on Taris between a Speeder and a NR Melee squad. Then play that same match-up on Death Star. It will be a MUCH closer game on Death Star.
One of the suggestions that came up SEVERAL times over the weekend at GenCon, is to add a separate section to the Floor Rules for a "Championship Level Map List". Could still leave maps like Taris, Teth, Broken Cristophsis, etc. on the regular map lists, but then create a separate list with the more balanced, and less abusive maps. Then LGS's that want a more laid back atmosphere, can run the other maps.
Whatever the case, the Championships at GenCon absolutely need to have a restricted map list again this year, like we did last year. I think that would have made the event MUCH better overall.
_________________ -Aaron Mand'alor "You either die a hero, or you live to see yourself become the villain."
|