Review [Issue 26] Exploring the Unknown: Molotov

[hogree 4,179]

 

The servers are jam-packed with maps displaying an incredible range of looks and sizes, packed with opportunities beyond number to discover new skills to benefit from. Unfortunately, so many of the maps in the game are yet to fully come to light – and in this series, we'll be slowly unpacking some of the greatest hidden gems out there for us to uncover! After my brother ended his "RIP Maps" series well over a year ago (which you can read one part of at this link) we've had very little covering those lesser-known jewels lying around. It's time to revive the articles looking at the unpopular maps of the game and try to attract these under-rated maps to our screens more often! My primary aim, through this series, is to get you readers up for exploring the unknown in Tanki!

 

So, just In case you hadn't noticed, the map themed for this issue is Molotov. "What, you mean a Molotov Cocktail?" you say. "No, I mean Molotov. The map." "Molotov? That's a MAP?!" And so it begins.

 

Molotov has got to be one of the most underplayed maps in the history of Tanki, and I'm not exaggerating. Unfortunate though it may be, there are a fair few Generallisimos who haven't played in Molotov in their time, let alone know what it looks like. But, like Courage, this map is special. And though perhaps not offering as diverse a gameplay as other maps, the way Molotov makes two completely different sides of the map relatively equal is something to be admired. And so, as I scrolled through the list to think of an unknown map that would be worth talking on, Molotov caught my eye. And my eye is surprisingly linked to my fingers, which (typically starting the day before the Deadline) began to tap out the words you read today...
 
 MEMOIRS
 
Just like in my previous guide in this series, the Courage review which you can read here, I'm going to attempt an aliteration in each of the four titles, all with the same letter that the map begins with. Clever? You can judge afterwards. Pretty lame attempt at boasting English skills, but still...

 

Anyway. No time to waste. The Memoirs of Molotov. What is it's past? Well, the first question to ask is, did it have a beginning? Technically speaking, of course, but Molotov was actually one of the first maps to grace our game. It's creation date is unmentioned in Patch Notes and Updates, suggesting it was one of the original few maps that Tanki introduced "at the beginning of time". Now we're talking serious time here. Like, May 2009 period - even possibly before. Back when Tanki was barely a game, back when they had very few developers - and back when, let's face it, you and I weren't around.

 

Let's imagine the scene. Old Anton Volkov was sitting at his table, doing some devvy-thing, and next to him - let's pretend we know the creator - old DukePlatinum, the creator of many of the old maps from 2009. They have a chat, and the conversation swings to history - as you do. And typically, conversation begins about what they learnt in school about World War 2. "What was the name of that Foreign Minister again? You know, the famous one." Anton says with a strong Russian accent. "Aaahhh... I know zees... it begins with M I'm sure..." says DukePlatinum, racking his brains. "Ah!" shouts Anton, "Vyacheslav Molotov!" "Of course! Molotov!" says DukePlatinum, banging his fist into the table.

 

Conversation flowed over to the subjects of Communism, Solidarity, holidaying in Europe, and eventually back to designing maps. Anton looked over at the almost-complete draft on Duke's PC. "Wow, that one's nearly done. Looks great! What are you planning to call it?" Duke pulled a face: "Any ideas?" Anton thought for a moment. "Erm... how about Molotov?"

 

 Probably didn't happen, but who knows. Molotov was an inspiration, for sure, as it's certainly stood the test of time in the developers' eyes - t's barely had a single change since it's original release. Molotov still looks pretty much the same as ever. However, it really never kicked off with the players from the beginning till now. All the same, there was one period of serious popularity...

 

I'm sure most of you well-learned in Tanki history (or old-timers like me) know exactly what I'm talking about. The Molotov 1000 Gold Box is one of the most famous parts of the history of the game. Mainly because of it's uniqueness. I'll sum it up quickly.

 

On July 19th 2011, the "Secret Gold Box Event" was launched. Players were told that on one secret map in the game, a 1000 Gold Box would be dropped every 1000 fund. "1000 Gold Box?" some of you are thinking. "We get that all the time now. What's so cool?" Let's put in into context shall we? In 2011, Tanki was a very very different game from what you're playing nowadays. Firstly, Crystals had a much higher value back then. Getting an M3 Weapon only required a little more than 20,000 crystals altogether. Before you start wishing you had played Tanki back then, just remember that crystals were much harder to come by too, with a 100 Battle Fund very good, and Crystal Boxes only holding 1 crystal. And, of course, regular gold boxes only held 100. And so, the news of 1000 Gold Boxes got many higher-ranked players racing online to work out what map held the secret Gold Box.

 

Hours after the server update, news leaked out that the first 1000 Gold Box had been spotted - and guess where? Yep, Molotov. How did you guess?! The servers around the medium-to-upper ranks suddenly flooded with Molotovs as players tried to experience the thrill of the 1000 Gold Box. Just imagine it - back then, Gold Boxes only fell in one particular place in the map, and this special gold box also could fall at any point between 1000 and nearly 1030 Fund. Once the fund hit 1000, the Thin-Bridge in Molotov was packed out as everyone tried to push each other off in a fervent attempt to "hold domination" on the bridge, in case it fell. To get a taster of what it must be like, feel free to watch a couple of the best videos I found of it, linked here and here.

 

And, unfortunately, that's about as far as most people have heard of Molotov. And to be honest, it's history hasn't been gripping. Interestingly enough, however, the map offered only a maximum of 5-a-side for almost all of it's career before the recent update that upped the amount of people able to join a lot of the maps. Now, the "cool" aspect of a 5v5 gameplay which encouraged a lot more long-distance play has been changed into a free-for-all 10v10 maximum limit. I personally think that was slightly over-the-top, now with almost all routes to each of the flags packed out with enemy tanks when the battle is full.

 

Molotov also recently got the CP Mode like all maps in the game. It contains three points, with two of the points in open sections of each of the bases, and the other point plumb in the middle of the map. I'll discuss the different Game Modes in the map later on. 

 

And so, the Memoirs of Molotov come short here. Though a limited knowledge of it's history, the key to getting stuck into discovering this map comes when you begin to look at the...

 
 MODEL
 
The success of a map is really closely linked to how it is constructed. The layout of the map shows a brilliant look on whether it will offer good gameplay - or bad. I'm sure most of your favourite maps are your favourites because of where the flags are, the different routes in and out of the bases, the bridges, the sniping positions - the list goes on. Good maps are always linked to good, diverse and yet simple constructions. Let's take a look at what Molotov looks like from above. 
 

 
Look at the picture for a few moments and just use your basic Tanki knowledge to investigate it. Think about it. Do you think the map looks like it works, or not? Thanks to Archy's high-definition picture, there should be a level of clarity as you look around. What are your immediate thoughts? Get thinking.

 

Now you've looked it, I'll just sum up a quick investigation. Well, as you can see in the picture, Molotov is nowhere near symmetrical. Both bases are completely different. Whenever I see maps like this, it excites me but worries me. Gameplay working is far more risky if bases differ on two such extremes as this. But I hope to convince you of the brilliance that this map's construction actually is.
 
Actually, the Molotov construction may not look it - but really is rather simple. As normal, the flags are on a diagonal to each other on different sides of the opposite bases. There is an open area in the middle with a rather unprotected route to-and-fro from the bases. And of course, there are the more protected routes down the sides of the map, as you can see above.

 

Let's just glance at the two different flags for a moment and the two different bases. As you can see, there are five routes in to the blue base, which is positioned above the ground on a raised section of the map. This is a compact base which very little space which makes it very hard to penetrate but also difficult to defend due to lack of well-protected hiding places- particularly in a Pro Battle with no Supplies allowed, since Mines are such a use in the Blue Base.

 

Which side do you think you would prefer to be on in a Capture the Flag map? Does the easy route to the Blue Flag appeal to you, or does the Red Flag look simple to arrange an attack against? Which do you think could make a cleaner getaway? Is the simple route away from the Blue Flag through the middle more appealing than the easy stealing of the Red Flag down the side of the map?  And of course, notice the defence. Isn't that position behind the house next to the flag a completely flawless defensive position for the Red Flag? Or what about the tight routes in to the Blue Base which can all be so easily guarded by a Smoky-Mammoth on the flag? In the end, it's your choice. But what I love about this map is that, though it looks so imbalanced and potentially dangerous to the completely contrasting bases, it actually offers very complete balanced gameplay.

 

So, now we've seen the bases. Not decisively, but we've got thinking. I hope that whet your appetite a little for what this map could potentially hold. Let's look at the middle. What is the most prominent feature? You may say the thin bridge across (in my mind, one of the thinnest bridges in Tanki), but what I think makes this map very clever is the ditches that completely domineer the middle. We all know how annoying it is to drive into a ditch, some of us more than others - as I will remember too well in a clan war against The Mighty Midgets when they were one of the best clans, where we were all too close to winning the round before my team-mate with the enemy flag accidentally drove into a ditch, just a short distance from capturing. However, the ditches offer a good means of covering each base and ensuring that routes into the Red Base, for example, are not too far and wide and can be watched more carefully. It also ensures that people who know the map by memory have an advantage as they can drive backwards without looking and make sure they dodge the ditches in the middle whilst at the same time shooting respawning enemies.

 

A final great asset to the map is that all the routes back with the enemy flag are dangerously open at times. Snipers play a key role in this map as many opportunities are given to pick out attackers returning with your flag from protected and yet easily penetrable sniping positions. This fact leads to more intense gameplay as players always sense hope when their flag is grabbed rather than giving up their flag as dead immediately when it has been taken.

 

These are just a few points about the construction of Molotov I thought I would bring out, but I'm sure you've investigated stuff yourself when looking at the picture above. There are many things that form this "model" which play such an important role in making the construction of the map work. And, yet it does, and I have to admire the creator's work in ensuring two completely different sides are yet so balanced. But, of course, what does the layout of the map mean anything if gameplay on it is no good?

 

 MILITARY
 
Military. Yes, I know, it's getting rather lame but the word does display what I want to talk about in this final section of the review. The military aspect of Tanki is, in layman's terms, the battling.

 

We've covered Molotov's gameplay in small amounts in the previous section - basically me affirming that it's good - but here, we will look a little bit more in-depth at each of the game-modes, and whether they work...

 
Death Match
 
It's always funny when I write about Death Match, because it really relies very little on where it's set. I could do a Death Match in my back garden to be quite frank, and my back garden is one ramp and an open patch about the size of Ping Pong. With nothing in the way. And people would still play Death Match on it.

 

Now, if you seriously want to consider the plausibility of this map as a Deathmatch, I would definitely not put it anywhere near the top of my lists. The map firstly isn't that beautiful, secondly isn't simple to learn, and just doesn't really work. Long-range weapons thrive a bit too much, it's a little bit too open in areas, a little bit too closed in others - I just dislike it in terms of Deathmatch. However, the irony is that Molotov is probably played most in Death Match since players can't be bothered to learn it in CTF but find it simple just to kill people in a map that they've never heard of before. And so, that's why you may see a Molotov DM, and not a CTF. It's simply because people are lazy.
 
Team Death Match
 
The TDM Mode is next to be talked about. Though popular at low ranks, TDM is largely uncommon to find at the high ranks, due to the lesser effect of teamwork that it involves. It also tends to rely a lot on your team; and most of the higher-ranked players are 1. Very Wary of Sabotage and 2. Good enough to do it by themselves, thank you very much.
 
Molotov TDM? I can only judge from an outside perspective looking into the map, as I despise TDM and Molotov isn't exactly a popular TDM Map anyway. But, it certainly doesn't look like it would work too well. Similar bases are normally better in TDM as it gives it more equality and Molotov certainly isn't similar. Too many sniping positions on the Red Team enable them to stay alive much longer, and what looks like it could pass for a decent TDM Map would only really work at low ranks, when players are more intent on killing other tanks than caring about their own lives.
 
Capture the Flag
 
Ahh. My favourite. If CTF didn't exist, I'd have quit this game in 2010. In fact, if it was removed tonight, you might as well say Farewell now. Now, don't get any ideas, Tanki devs.

 

Molotov CTF is all I really discussed in the Model and all I really feel like discussing in Military. As I've said and explained before, it's beautiful, brilliant and works on so many levels. I don't want to repeat myself from what my arguments were in the "Model" section, but the way the two different bases work really well is very admirable. 

 

Indeed, Molotov is a great CTF Map but there is a slight problem that I do have with the way Tanki have set up. The automatic set-up of 10v10 when creating in such a relatively average-sized map is too much - far too much - in my opinion. As I mentioned previously, the Molotov limits have been 5v5 with a maximum of 10 players for as long as I can remember. Thus, I reckon that if you do want to play a Molotov CTF yourself, and are creating it (since players don't tend to find Molotovs to join very easily nowadays), make sure you do put yourself at maximum an 8v8. I would even consider going down to 7v7 or even 6v6, since the gameplay in Molotov is enhanced when players are few on each team as it encourages more use of the different routes, and clever planning in all aspects of battling - defence, attack and the all-important midfield.

 

Well, I'm sure you can discover yourself what Molotov CTF has to offer, but all I can say is that I recommend it. It's good fun, a great map and worth trying out, at the very least. Pro Battle or not, it has a lot to offer and all I can say is that it's a brilliant map to play. Particularly with supplies, the slight advantage that the Red Team may have in escaping with the Blue Flag is cancelled out by the ability to mine out many of the entrances which is very useful for the Blues. All the same, with a well-coordinated defence, Blue Team can easily stop quick flags from being stolen from them - whilst Red have their own problems with an open base in defence.

 

It's almost quite funny that I feel compelled to write something about the XP-K Mode at some point in this article, and so now seems like a good time. The growing influx of XP battles is beginning to overwhelm tankers on their visits to Server 1. This, of course, leads to a lot of players seeking to explore new maps with this game-mode that seems to get more and more fans as time passes. I have seen a couple of Molotov XP's in my time, which are rather pleasant to see really - but actually, my opinion of this map as an XP battle is very small. Although a great map for gameplay, the fact is that Railgun-Hornets in it is rather boring. The defence-midfield-attack feel to it is lost slightly and gameplay is rather unexciting in comparison to many other XP Maps. Thus, I wouldn't personally recommend it to players, although you're welcome to give it a try. Molotov CTF, after all, really is brilliant. Diverse, Clever - a CTF Map worth playing. 

 

Capture Points

 

Covering Capture Points in unknown maps may seem a little bit pointless for you, but I thought it may as well be covered. Who knows, maybe this article could set off a Molotov CP Craze. As mentioned previously, there are three points, two in open parts of each of the two bases and one plumb in the middle of the map. The old-school way to do CP, but it works very well. Molotov CP is actually pretty alright and it tests a team's ability to "hold out" the middle point. It's certainly better than DM or TDM in this map, if I'm honest.

 

Well, I hope you've found it quite obvious which game mode I prefer in this map. If you haven't, it might be a good idea to visit Specsavers. Anyway, I do believe maps are rarely made to accommodate for other modes apart from the good old-fashioned Capture the Flag. And this map more than rises to the task of being a good CTF Map, in my opinion. And so, perhaps you could take a glance up again at the picture of the map above. Has your appetite even been slightly aroused by this article? Don't shake off what you've read - go and give it a go. It can't be any worse than playing Sandbox CTFs all day every day, like some people. Molotov - a great map, and for what it is, I'm sure we all can say that it deserves more popularity than it currently has... now it's up to you to change that.

 
 MY CONCLUSION
 
...Well, you try and think of a synonym of Conclusion beginning with M. Huh? Exactly. And there ends my second map review in this "Exploring the Unknown" Series. Molotov is a serious gem, and yet pretty much barren on the Servers. It's now up to you to get it up and running. Well, don't just sit there! Get out, create a Molotov (8v8 maximum please!), invite your friends, and resurrect the unknown. Cos it's worth it.
 

 
 
Cover Picture made by Lhamster | "Molotov" Picture Edited by hogree | Molotov Birds-Eye Picture taken by ArchangeI, Edited by hogree | Avatar made by BLASTOISE-T12

[Mr.I3oSS 557]

Perfecto Hoggy ^_^

[aBdUlLaHkInGg 39]

Molotov has a Good Model :P

[okfighter 331]

Good job, your writing is an inspiration for me :)

[lordmostafa 3,821]

Well done, another amazing article by you, keep it up mate. 

 

Also the map actually isn't that bad, it is a nice map I wounder why people don't play it anymore, in fact, there are still some maps in the game that I haven't played yet  ^_^

[lukey0 27,543]

Perfect article Hogree good job!  ;)

 

Ok tankers lets make Molotov popular again!   :D

[aBdUlLaHkInGg 39]

Well done, another amazing article by you, keep it up mate. 

 

Also the map actually isn't that bad, it is a nice map I wounder why people don't play it anymore, in fact, there are still some maps in the game that I haven't played yet  ^_^

Me too,I haven't played in all the maps of tanki online -_-.

[lordmostafa 3,821]

Me too,I haven't played in all the maps of tanki online -_-.

:P

 

---

When responding to a post of mine, please quote the post, so I get a notification and see it :)

[trombone_ftw 734]

Created a majorly successful battle on this map, thanks to your article :D Had lots of fun

[HUGHIY 568]

Nice work--I like Molotov, but I'm sad it was forgotten. I also like Osa, another forgotten map, and Boombox, Sandbox'a forgotten brother. I'd love reports on these too!

[the_four_seasons 0]

I would like to see one on Gravity. I just recently found it but I haven't seen a single match on it. Can't decipher much but its like its normally played sister, Atra.

[UnKnown_AngeLz 670]

:ph34r: Are you exploring me?