The concept for the map was originally coined by mousEtopher and I've decided to bring it to life.
PUDPIC :8 Players, 128x128
The neighbours at 10, 1, 5 and 7 o'clock are supposed to be partners/allies. You can also play this on a 4v4 top vs bottom format too.
This is an MP map and also kind of a custom map at the same time. The thing is, there are map restrictions in place.
The partners in the corners who are hiding behind their allies' bases play the role of support, while the allies closer to the center play the role of carry.
Support players: The players in the corners (Players 1, 3, 5, 7) cannot train Footmen, Archers or Knights, and cannot do upgrades relevant to those units. Other than those, they can train or build anything else. While they cannot train any units to defend themselves with, they will be defended by their partner on the frontline, and they will supplement their allies in various ways.
Carry players: Players closer to the center (Players 2, 4, 6, 8 ) cannot train Ballistas, Sappers, Zeppelins, Mages or Dragons, and they cannot do upgrades relevant to those units. They also cannot build Towers, while support players can. Their initial starting base sits on a more compromising position while they cover up for their support allies. But even though they only have units to defend themselves with, support players can build towers to help on their base defenses.
The partners are supposed to be in a good communication, teamwork and synergy in order to get the most value out of their team. This also takes away a lot of the micromanagement pressure a player would normally have on a Vanilla multiplayer map, and distributes them amongst the roles. While a carry player might be busy chain casting bloodlust on their ogres, a support player would be busy with casting the D&D's, or positioning a sapper.
Metagame? : While carry players will probably be busy doing what they would always do (which is spamming Ogre magi) - if they aren't grunt rushing that is... There are quite a few options / duties a support can choose to go with, resulting in gameplay variance. For example, supports can choose to harrass enemies with sappers, or they can choose to just go DK's instead. Or they can save all the gold to build up a large Air fleet. They can also choose to go for offensive early game Tower harrassment. They also must build all those towers on allies' bases and expansions too. They can build catapults to aid the carries in both defensive and offensive ways.
Since carries cannot train zeppelins, supports will probably be responsible for most of the scouting done in a game.
Other than restriction properties, nothing else is changed about the game concerning unit stats or costs of units & upgrades.About the map itself: While carries start with a Goldmine with 52500 Gold, supports start with a 37500 one, making 90k in total between two partners. There are 4 other easy to reach expansions closer to the center in 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clocks, and each of them have 45k in them. At all four edges of the map behind the mountains, there are also 4 more goldmines, and since they are harder to reach, they each hold 55k. It's supports' job to reach them. There is one super-mine right at the center of the map behind the trees and rocks, and it has infinite gold.
Each carries' main bases has two entrances, one of them 3 units wide, and one of them 4 units wide. The chokepoint widths are the same across all bases. I tried to make the map mostly symmetrical.
While hosting the game, make sure that you enable fixed start locations, and you can play in top vs. bottom mode. Other than that, you could also play as in diplomacy mode and do 2v2v2v2 as well.
That's about everything I can say about this map. I'm open to suggestions if there's anything that needs to be rebalanced. I also would like to see some players try it out if possible. Download is at this post's attachment.
