Why do you like Sword Base?

Games Other Halo
1

Sword Base is one of the most popular maps on Reach, no doubt about it. Every time it’s up for voting it instantly gets at least a few votes and more often than not gets chosen.

However Sword Base is also a very hated map by a certain community. I personally believe that this is one of the worst map in the series, however, it seems that I’m part of a minority.

What I don’t like about this map is the fact that most of the combat take place at the higher level, and there is really no convenient way to get there. Dying and spawning at the bottom level you are faced with three options getting to the top, either take to gold lift, and in many cases get your face greeted with a shotgun shell. Take the corner lift and get sliced open by the sword, this does not happen as often because most people are busy by the gold lift. The third choice is taking the man canon, wich is very flexible, to a place of your liking, making it the only good way to get back to the combat, unless you’re equipped with the jetpack.

The map is very split up. There are parts of the map where there is almost no combat at all. This means you could easily just stand in a corner for the entire game without getting glanced at. Comparing this to Asylum for example where there is almost no part of the map wich is cut out from the rest making this, in my opinion, a much more fluid map.

My last complaint with this map is the choice of power weapons. There’s no reason having the sword and shotgun on the same map unless it is a big team map, this is because they are pretty much identical and serve the same purpose. They partly fixed this problem by reintroducing the sniper rifle wich made this map much more playable. Still however, I see no reason having two identical power weapons on the same map, especially on sword base, because it makes it easier to camp a certain area, like the gold lift.

Now, I did not make this thread to complain about the map, I made it so that I could get a better understanding of why it is so popular. So please, try to explain WHAT it is that you like about this map, what it is that make it a better option to vote for over the other maps? Thanks.

2

My problem is that people will consistently and constantly reward the gold lift campers, even when they KNOW someone is camping there. I just wish people would use their brain once in a while and either avoid that lift or just go around and toss grenades into the room if they get the chance. Many good Rumble Pit games were annoyingly lost because people would repeatedly and brainlessly charge into the lift while a guy shotgun camps it.

3

Yeah, I agree. I don’t understand why you keep going up the gold lift if you know there is someone up there with the sword/shotgun. However, that does not remove the fact that there is no good or convenient way to break that setup if you spawn in the bottom levels of the map. I don’t say that the top level should be a weak spot, but as of right now I can’t get my head around why this is such a popular when, in my opinion it’s such a weak map, so if anyone could please enlighten me on this, please do so.

Edit: I’m mostly talking about team based game types, not FFA. In FFA this is a playable map.

4

> Why do you like Sword Base?

I don’t. It’s a horrible, unbalanced map.

5

Honestly in terms of map design…it is one of the worst in the Halo series…i put it in the same boat as epitaph, backwash and gemini…cant think of any horrbile CE maps…except maybe chriron

6

> My problem is that people will consistently and constantly reward the gold lift campers, even when they KNOW someone is camping there. I just wish people would use their brain once in a while and either avoid that lift or just go around and toss grenades into the room if they get the chance. Many good Rumble Pit games were annoyingly lost because people would repeatedly and brainlessly charge into the lift while a guy shotgun camps it.

Have you ever thought that the choice for players to get up is either one of the lifts or a very, very, very long walk unless you have a Jetpack. Especially when you usually tend to spawn near the bottom of the gold lift most of the time. Even if you use another route up, you will still have to deal with the fact that you have the corridor near the top of the gold lift full of enemies and the Shotgun guy in the room.

So let me lay down your options:

A) Go up the gold lift and die to a Shotgun
B) Go up the corner lift and die to a Sword
C) Take a long and boring walk up just to die to concentrated DMR fire or Shotgun anyways
D)Take Jetpack and die to concentrated DMR fire or Shotgun, if you’re lucky you may even die on your way up and get away faster
E)Same as above

You see, the gold lift and it’s surrondings are the only place where fighting takes place, otherwise the map is mostly empty. In team games the team that manages to get the power weapons first always wins because they just have the Shotgun guy there with Armor Lock and Sword guy possibly on the other lift. Rest of the team is on the top using DMR against everyone who tries to use Jetpack or the center lift.

The map is just badly designed, that’s why everyone gets up the gold lift. Why to bother going a longer route when you’re going to die anyways?

7

I think the reason people like Sword Base is because it’s very easy for a certain team to hold the higher ground. If the team that spawns on the high ground (Red) is able to obtain power weapons and go back to their spot, they will dominate for most of the game. The converse is also true, Blue team can rush into the golden lift and ambush Red when they come back with power weapons. The top of the map was designed to be very defensible, which makes it very easy and very simple to obtain map control. After that, it’s easy kills.

8

> My problem is that people will consistently and constantly reward the gold lift campers, even when they KNOW someone is camping there. I just wish people would use their brain once in a while and either avoid that lift or just go around and toss grenades into the room if they get the chance. Many good Rumble Pit games were annoyingly lost because people would repeatedly and brainlessly charge into the lift while a guy shotgun camps it.

Ever seen the midway advertisement on sky about homer seeing a Six pack of beer on some electric power lines and keeps trying to reach for the six pack but keep getting electrocuted? Well thats what the majority of the community seem to be to me :confused: ( homer ).

9

I don’t like it.

Mostly because I’ve just played it too much, it always gets voted for.

I don’t have a problem with it’s layout though, it’s fine, I can play their game if they want me to.

10

Sword Base is ok when players aren’t trying to camp all game. Mind you same goes with maps like Powerhouse, and Reflection.

The best maps are the ones bad kids who rely on cheesy tactics can’t break. Like [Arena] Zealot, Midship, Citadel etc.

11

Because default reach settingw promote camping and swordbase is camping focused map. Thats the point of the map, to camp.

I enjoy camping lol especially since the CE-3 run and gun is dead for now due to bloom

12

I like the map. But like all things in life, it has room for improvement. Not saying Halo: Reach is like real life but you know. lol It could use some tweaking.

13

Take out sword, take out shotgun and let the FUN BEGIN. Same with CampDown…

Give a noob a power weapon/and or AA and a semi-secure area and they are gonna camp…

14

Okay, I did not expect these kind of answers. Most of you, if not all(?) seem to agree with me. It is a overall bad map. This leaves the question unanswered. Why is it so popular in matchmaking? If there is no one to answer to why they like it, do some of you who have already replied have any thoughts to why this is one of the most popular maps in Reach? God I hate this map, hahah!

15

I have no problems with Sword Base, the weapons being used or how people play the game. As long as it’s a fair 4 v 4 game and we work as a team then there’s nothing to complain about. I do enjoy the few times when idiots come up with yellow lift repeatedly but they have to learn some way.

16

> Okay, I did not expect these kind of answers. Most of you, if not all(?) seem to agree with me. It is a overall bad map. This leaves the question unanswered. Why is it so popular in matchmaking? If there is no one to answer to why they like it, do some of you who have already replied have any thoughts to why this is one of the most popular maps in Reach? God I hate this map, hahah!

I enjoy the map. Its camping friendly and there are alot of power weapons. And i think people enjoy that!

plus its not as bad as those horrible forge maps ughh

17

> I enjoy the map. Its camping friendly and there are alot of power weapons. And i think people enjoy that!
>
> plus its not as bad as those horrible forge maps ughh

So you like sword base because it promotes camping? Is that why it is voted for so often, because most people who play Reach likes camping?

18

> > I enjoy the map. Its camping friendly and there are alot of power weapons. And i think people enjoy that!
> >
> > plus its not as bad as those horrible forge maps ughh
>
>
> So you like sword base because it promotes camping? Is that why it is voted for so often, because most people who play Reach likes camping?

I think he’s right, I think a lot of people enjoy camping, and that’s why they vote for it.

Personally I don’t mind, if you get ahead of them in kills, they can’t camp and expect to win. And if camping is the only way they can win, then by forcing them to NOT camp is making them play into your hands.

So like I said, I don’t like Sword Base because it comes up so often, but when it does come up, just make them play out of their element, and you win.

19

> Many good Rumble Pit games were annoyingly lost because people would repeatedly and brainlessly charge into the lift while a guy shotgun camps it.

This. And usually I’m the guy with the shotgun. =D

On a serious note, however, I think that Sword Base is actually on of Reach’s better maps if you’re willing to ignore the yellow lift room for the moment. Its only other real flaw, one that many maps in Reach share unfortunately, are the initial spawn locations that favor red team. It takes red team literally less than five seconds to get both the sniper rifle and grenade launcher, and less than 10 seconds to get the shotgun.

But aside from that, Sword Base really is a pretty good map. It’s not great, but it blows most other maps out of the water, especially all those crappy Forge maps in Team Slayer.

20

Sword Base is a corridor-shooter based map. It’s heavy on 2 things.

  1. Hallway firefights. Enemies engage from down a “long” path of sight that is normally blocked in 2 directions.
  2. Close quarters room firefights. Enemies and friendlies alike are all equally susceptible to explosions in the very tightly constructed rooms.

It’s not a map you can easily spawn and shoot on. In fact, it’s a map where if you die, you tend to spawn in a disadvantageous spot. It’s a corridor tower of power map. One where momentum is hard to gain, but once it does, it can be a total landslide.

I like it thrown into the mix. I can stand having it 2 times in a row or twice every 4 or 5 maps. But no, I can’t stand to have it every freaking time :smiley: