Axis of Industry

(4) Axis of Industry

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Take up position along the porous center line to protect your commercial ...

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(4) Axis of Industry

Take up position along the porous center line to protect your commercial interests.

Axis of Industry is a melee map with four starting locations. The concept at heart of this map is a porous line of unpathable cliffs across the otherwise open center. The line (axis) creates a unique battlefield with different tactical opportunities for early, mid and late-game armies.

Summary
140x140 playable bounds
14 bases (4 mains, 4 nats, 4 center expos, 2 gold expos)
Center expos are non-standard: 7 mineral patches and 3 gas geysers, one gas blocked by destructible debris.

Rush distances on this map are comparable to the Blizzard ladder map pool:
In cross-positions the rush distance is about 170 units like cross-positions on Metalopolis.
In close positions the rush distance is about 120 units like the shortest distances on Delta Quadrant or Lost Temple.

Details
Axis of Industry is all about the center, it has valuable bases and a terrain set up for interesting battles.

The main mineral line is very close to the map boundary, making it relatively safe. One end of the main is bordered by high ground that is unpathable; this reduces the amount of cliff-walking space to a long-but-manageable perimeter and is a place for either player to hide air units.

Three production buildings or four small buildings are enough to wall in the natural choke, making fast expand builds at least a possibility on this map.

3-Gas Expansions
You can't put a 3-gas expansion on a competitive melee map, that's crazy!

Of course we can, its early and we should experiment. But here's an argument why the 3-gas expos are not really so crazy:

• The 3-gas expo has only 7 mineral patches.

• One geyser is blocked by destructible debris. 3-gas might be really awesome but you have to invest in enough army to have all three.

• They are in the center of the map, a significant distance by ground from any main+natural. Even a defense-oriented strategy has to come up with a plan for protecting the main base and a 3-gas base, so lazy turtlers, you'll have to work.

• If you take a 3-gas that is not the one nestled against your own main, then it is cliffable.
  

Other Notes

• This map has many minor asymmetries, but I carefully balanced it with the map analyzer.

• When deciding on the ratio between gaps and cliffs for the center line I decided to err on the side of a little more open and a variety of "dot" sizes. The opportunity to block chokes or use them to reduce your attackable surface area is there, but they are open enough that armies can move through them quickly.