Sawmills secrets

[ellimanest]

Haven't seen any other mentions of this so here goes.

Set in a stormy mountain sawmill, this arena map has its cap point in a large structure atop a hill in the center of the map; beneath which lies a hidden underground spytech base; and above which, pouring down on everything we just mentioned, is rain—the first weather effect to appear in a TF map. If that previous sentence wasn’t long enough for you, replace the period with a comma and add this next part: players must ALSO watch out for the two deadly saw blades near the cap, which were left on when the previous occupants abandoned it for a less deadly, hilly, rain-swamped sawmill not built on a spybase

I've been over that map a couple of times now, and not once have I seen anything related to spytech in anyway.

I understand it's a hidden base, but why put it in the map description if it won't even feature in any way at all. I'm pretty sure there's not even a doorway labeled secret. It's like telling us that the doomsday device in Nucleus is powered by Chuck Norris on a treadmill. Players want to see it, so we'll tell them it's there, but in reality they'll get nothing.

Is it fair to offer more then they're including? Or could you just call this given background information, which they were nice enough to include, not needing any reference?

 

[lefty]

I thought nucleus was the base underneath.

 

[Viperidae]

Except nucleus takes place in a giant canyon/silo. Look up!

 

[ellimanest]

Yeah, I guess they could be, what with the joint release. But again, what Viperidae said, and Nucleus seems to be set in the desert theme again. Plus I think Sawmills rock type is different to the normal, orange one.

 

[lefty]

Eh I haven't played since november, so I'm just guessing. I'm sad :<

 

[Omnomnick]

The base is only visible from the control point. Similar to Lumberyard. These 2 arena maps use the Badlands final CP window which surrounds the control points as bases beneath them. You can noclip down to find a small room which is obviously suppost to be part of the base.

And don't follow the level description literally, it might say theres a base down there, but Source is a rescource whore so Valve only construct parts of the levels which will be visible.

 

[ellimanest]

The base is only visible from the control point.

Oh yeah, I forgot about the shaft. I s'pose that much of a detail does allow for the inclusion of the base in the description. Shame that they didn't really make it more intertwined with the level however.

 

[Nibwoddle]

Source is a rescource whore

 

[Viperidae]

Valve only construct parts of the levels which will be visible.

Oops. Someone needs to learn how Binary Space Partitioning works. In Valve maps if there is an area the player has no chance of seeing, it will have zero effect on the rendering performance. The only thing it will add to is the map load time and filesize.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Oh wow, Nucleus and Sawmill...I completely forgot about these two maps being released with the last major update. To be honest, arena mode really doesn't interest me...but I should have checked out those weather effects. Impressive?

 

[Nibwoddle]

Oh wow, Nucleus and Sawmill...I completely forgot about these two maps being released with the last major update. To be honest, arena mode really doesn't interest me...but I should have checked out those weather effects. Impressive?

Yes. In my opinion Sawmill is the best map since the game came out. Visually it trumps all others by a long shot. Nucleus is a pretty standard map with the big rainbow machine in the middle.

 

[Viperidae]

Sawmill lags my machine mercilessly. It also gives an overly harsh height advantage against people on the ground. I prefer Nucleus both for it's smoother design, and also for its multiple paths/escape routes.

 

[Operational]

You really should give those new arena maps a go, Glenn. Arena benefits greatly from their larger than normal size.

 

[Sloth]

I have had a lot of fun on both Sawmill and Nucleus - but love double jumping around in Nucleus, I swear it is the best fun with two teams full of Scouts, people jumping across the middle.

But to the OP; never really saw the spy base in Sawmill, just was making sure the saw blades didn't kill me...

 

[Omnomnick]

I miss the tutorial videos at the start of every map. They don't really exist anymore...

 

[ellimanest]

Just was making sure the saw blades didn't kill me...

I gotta agree with you there, it can be a bit of a task. You'd expect something as obvious as them to be easy to avoid, but what with all the methods of causing knockback, it becomes quite a task to keep your distance. Thay make good cover though =P

 

[Qhartb]

Yeah, you can see through the floor on the control point to see the spybase below. Lumberyard is also build on a spybase -- same deal. It'd be interesting to have an arena in the spybase below an existing map.