Only reason i see is that many many many people use cargo ships for some reason. All i see in MA is cargo ship and ninjas. I'll just say I'm kinda of getting sick of cargo ships and there all the same thing same layout too which kind of makes them boring to me.
*They're long, and even if they're not they feel like they are.
*They're awful for kill-all missions, as enemies tend to work their way in between cargo containers, making them very difficult to find.
*Other mission objectives also sometimes spawn in hidden-away locations. They can also spawn on top of cargo containers.
*They're dull and boring.
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Only reason i see is that many many many people use cargo ships for some reason. All i see in MA is cargo ship and ninjas. I'll just say I'm kinda of getting sick of cargo ships and there all the same thing same layout too which kind of makes them boring to me.
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Overuse, I can understand ya. I think I've found out at least the common overuse for it [really densely populated maps].
That said, there are a few different layouts, but they largely look the same [only I think 4 different layouts for boat?].
The other common reason for overuse I suspect is the reason I want to use it; there not being many maps for 'intercepting a shipment'].
Although, thanks for the comment, shed some light on it for me.
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Anther thing if you want a higher rating you might want to make it so a cool map works. You can get a great story in with out doing the generic "There is a ship carrying a ton of weapons. I want you to ambush it and steal the weapons so we can win the war." kind of thing.
Keep in mind that there are other things like warehouses and stuff like that. You can make it have a timer to steal the stuff before the trucks come to pick up the goods.
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*They're long, and even if they're not they feel like they are.
*They're awful for kill-all missions, as enemies tend to work their way in between cargo containers, making them very difficult to find.
*Other mission objectives also sometimes spawn in hidden-away locations. They can also spawn on top of cargo containers.
*They're dull and boring.
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All of these things. My biggest problem with them is that, even on non-kill-all missions, it's way too easy to just hop/fly through all of the spawns and get to the end, which makes the whole thing feel very anticlimactic.
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Anther thing if you want a higher rating you might want to make it so a cool map works. You can get a great story in with out doing the generic "There is a ship carrying a ton of weapons. I want you to ambush it and steal the weapons so we can win the war." kind of thing.
Keep in mind that there are other things like warehouses and stuff like that. You can make it have a timer to steal the stuff before the trucks come to pick up the goods.
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*shrug* 'bout rating, that's a lost cause anyway.
Although I am confused, the complaints I see about cargo ships seem to apply about as well to Warehouse maps. With the only difference being that Warehouse maps can be tiny, the ambient noise [which is non-trivial with cargoships, gah :P], and the layout pool being larger if you use random [by a factor of 4, which is a fair bit].
Timer is a neat idea, that said, personally not one I would be willing to use due to personal preference. That and lack of branchability with the arcs currently make that feel 'irksome' anywhere but the final mission anyway. Again though, that's personal opinion 
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Re Vermain:
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All of these things. My biggest problem with them is that, even on non-kill-all missions, it's way too easy to just hop/fly through all of the spawns and get to the end, which makes the whole thing feel very anticlimactic.
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Maybe it's just because I'm used to having some ability to blitz missions [teleport, freebird, stealth, PFF], but short of using a kill-all or escort, that's always going to be the case.
Again thanks though, I realize I'm coming off a bit argumentative, and I'm sorry, just exploring the grump a bit.
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Maybe it's just because I'm used to having some ability to blitz missions [teleport, freebird, stealth, PFF], but short of using a kill-all or escort, that's always going to be the case.
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Yeah, I suppose if you're a Stalker or using Stealth or SS it doesn't matter too much. I just find that it's much easier to be at least somewhat linear when going through a mission if it's in a more compact space, like the office buildings or Cimeroran caves. This is likely just unconscious bias, though.
I can confirm one bug with cargo ship maps, some wall glowies don't appear because they are recessed into the wall. 4 of the 12 spots in the front of the cargo ship are like that. Means you can't use things like bulletin boards.
its an ugly looong map that no matter how it spawns is ALWAYS the same size / length with only minor details differing...
(otth i remember 3-4 varieties but thats only due to running so many of them)
it also is a 'room' too big... and waay to many kill alls on this horrid map...
to describe this map in relative terms... the cake room aka room of doom is bad but only sometimes do you encounter it...
you always encounter the cargo ship map the same way
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Boring. Boring boring boring.
"Oh this must be the last room. Finally! ... wait, there's a doorway in the far wall. Noooooooooo"
It doesn't exactly foster the constantly-moving-foward nature of good maps like sewers.
If you must have a "farm" map, outdoor maps work better.
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Only reason i see is that many many many people use cargo ships for some reason. All i see in MA is cargo ship and ninjas. I'll just say I'm kinda of getting sick of cargo ships and there all the same thing same layout too which kind of makes them boring to me.
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the devs had no problem throwing them at us in striga.
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After spending a LOOONG time trying to work out which maps work best for my first arc, I realized why people use the cargo ship map: laziness.
1) It is linear so you know the front/middle/back placements will work 100%
2) There aren't ten, fifteen versions of it to consider and have to test
3) It's also at the top of the list.
At this point, I'm starting to think that seeing the cargo ship when I step into a mish is an instant sign of upcoming crapiness - but I will keep an open mind and not quit-right-there-and-one-star. Hm, that action needs a good acronym or slang term...
I ran my new MA-only toon through his first mish and it was that map. I didn't have any problems with it. But then, I haven't done Striga a million times so I'm not that sensitive to it...yet. 
Dec out.
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Just an honest question here, I've seen more than a few folks grump about them, and I really don't know why. Since I use one in one of my missions, I'd like to know so I can properly weigh the pros/cons for it .
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I don't mind them at all. They're linear, not particularly big (no kill-alls tho pls), and suitable for a variety of narrative purposes.
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Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
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I don't mind them at all. They're linear, not particularly big (no kill-alls tho pls), and suitable for a variety of narrative purposes.
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These are good points. Not to dismiss them, but as time goes by I think that map will become very common in a "oh spit, not this again" sort of way - because of your good points and what I mentioned above.
Imagine if everything you had to eat was served as a sandwich: turkey sandwich, avacado sandwich, breakfast sausage in a pancake sandwich, etc. Everybody loves sandwiches, right? But after a month of them you might be ready to move on, you know?
(And then there's cake. No one gets tired of cake. But I digress.)
I dont mind the map per-se, but I am seeing it being used a whole lot. Overexposure to the mpa is the issue.
The other one I see a lot of is the ruined AP, which has the double whammy of not having a functioning mini-map. Its my own over exposure to that map which has left me in a quandry, of using it in one of my own arcs. Its 'right' for story reasons, but I dont want folks to come in see the map, see the foes and quit with a 1 star.
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I dont mind the map per-se, but I am seeing it being used a whole lot. Overexposure to the mpa is the issue.
The other one I see a lot of is the ruined AP, which has the double whammy of not having a functioning mini-map. Its my own over exposure to that map which has left me in a quandry, of using it in one of my own arcs. Its 'right' for story reasons, but I dont want folks to come in see the map, see the foes and quit with a 1 star.
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Use one of the ruined outdoor maps or just the meteor one, though the meteor itself is a destructible presence.
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These are good points. Not to dismiss them, but as time goes by I think that map will become very common in a "oh spit, not this again" sort of way - because of your good points and what I mentioned above.
Imagine if everything you had to eat was served as a sandwich: turkey sandwich, avacado sandwich, breakfast sausage in a pancake sandwich, etc. Everybody loves sandwiches, right? But after a month of them you might be ready to move on, you know?
(And then there's cake. No one gets tired of cake. But I digress.)
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Hee, people get tired of cake. People get tired of anything. It's an old "truism" that if you own a candy factory, you let your employees eat all they want. After a while...they don't want.
Dec out.
Cargo ships are great when you want to have a variety of objectives. I can add in rescues, glowies and destructible objects, while a lot of other standard maps are much more restricted. They're also very appropriate for many story lines, considering the coastal and island settings for the game. Plus, my hovering characters can get some good height distance in those maps.
I often include one of the smaller (relatively speaking) cargo ship maps for my arcs. I never make them defeat all. I usually don't leave my arcs up very long, so you aren't seeing my cargo ships, but I assume a lot of other players like them as much as I do.
I don't see what is so bad about them myself. As Mirai mentioned, they have a nice high ceiling....which beats a lot of other maps right there.
I don't find them any more boring than the other maps I've seen a million times. And I can find stuff easier on them too. It's a simple layout by necessity. If you're in a hurry for some reason, that map is for you.
I had to use one on the first mish of my arc because it's a ship. Not a lot of options there. No "kill all" though.
I often wondered why occassionally people complained that one of my missions is on a ship. But it fits my story, otherwise I have to change the story.
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I bail out of any arc I'm in which has a cargo ship. (Unless I'm on like mission 3/4/5 and may as well see it through.)
Ships are HUGE. The game thinks they're small, but nope, it will take you quite some time to slog through these things if you don't have stealth. Huge, and very annoying, with spawn placements you have to be careful to work around or just grind your way through if you want to move forward. And glowie placement... don't get me started on glowie placement.
I get WHY they're used (plenty of good story reasons to hop a boat) but mechanically they're just tedium incarnate.
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Huge, and very annoying, with spawn placements you have to be careful to work around or just grind your way through if you want to move forward.
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Ironically, one of the big reasons I like those maps is because it's easy for me to avoid enemies if I want. I can simply fly far enough over the heads of enemies so they don't notice me. If you don't have flight or a concealment power, I can see how things would be a bit different.
I have been playing alot of MA arcs. And I hate to say I've seen so many missions in a cargo ship I start to roll my eyes now when I see it. It's just being overused thats all. I understand that it makes sense for your story. Even I started to make an arc and said man I need the 3rd mission on a ship. But I don't think it's that big of a deal as long as your arc is not a 1-mish cargo ship arc. Just try and be unique on the locations of your other missions.
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Just an honest question here, I've seen more than a few folks grump about them, and I really don't know why. Since I use one in one of my missions, I'd like to know so I can properly weigh the pros/cons for it
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