Shutting down again

Well, it's honestly been too much of a struggle. We've watched this group dwindle down to nothing and all because the lobby experience and ghost players have sucked the life out of doing FCF.

So we're shutting down again.  Perhaps we'll give it another run if they fix the lobbies.  Otherwise, we'll wait for Far Cry 4.

Some of us will probably be playing co-op on the latest Gears of War tonight.  You are welcome to join if there's an open spot.

FCF: April 5, 2013 @ 7PM CDT

Looks like we have an update to Broken Piggy’s Tomb Raider.  We’ll be checking it out along with a bunch of old favorites – and maybe some not-so-favorites.

Tomb Raider	Broken Piggy	No preference stated
There is much that is deceiving about this map. For example, while it’s title conjures images of a busty, no-nonsense adventuress, the overall design is straight out of an Elder Scrolls Dwemer ruin.  Moss hangs freely in an all-indoor environment featuring pieces from the Temple object set. Another deceit is in its size.  Ostensibly this is a small arena taken up mainly by a moldering pyramid.  And yet, when one ventures through the moss-covered doorways on the side, a bi-level labyrinthine path is revealed that more than triples the overall size of the play space. It’s apparent to this writer that Broken Piggy is redefining his “arena within a ring” pattern in a way that encourages players to spend more of their time in the ring. There is indeed a tomb here – but any adventurer brave enough to enter it will find that it is likely they themselves that are raided.  The ghosts haunting this tomb are all too eager to have you join them.

FCF: March 27, 2013 @ 7PM CDT

Thanks to Broken Piggy and Panyc333 for running last week’s party.  And thanks to everyone who wished me good health – it is greatly appreciated.

This week CJ is back in the saddle for a Good Friday edition of FCF.  Here are the new maps we are serving up for you:

Beachtown Beatdown	JesterTheKyle	Domination/Transmission
It’s a sad day when mercenaries and pirates can’t get along.  This map features a number of vignettes of UFC-style action spread throughout the map, though most are concentrated around a campfire scene in one of the initial spawn areas.  Note that these guys were all trained by Jackie Chan – it’s Hong Kong style, no holds barred fighting. The majority of the action in this multi-tiered map takes place in a stilt village where the houses are connected by long rope bridges.  The play area is good for medium-to-large groups and has been fine-tuned for snipers.  Careful observers will find some custom-designed sniper nests scattered around. Navigation on the map can be confusing and there are several places where the player ends up walking on rails and needs to jump in order to pull themselves off the tracks.  We’ll see how this plays on the author’s preferred game modes tonight.

Black Box Jungle	FND Killer Tuner	Domination/Firestorm
The three-story tall mechanical spider surveys the wreckage with a mixture of concern and confusion in his multifaceted red eyes.  Is the wooden carnage below him the product of a cargo cult eager to please the sky spirits?  Or has Howard Hughes been defrosted and allowed to make a passenger version of his Spruce Goose? The wooden DC-10 below was fortunately bereft of passengers when it fell out of the sky – perhaps it was a maiden voyage that ended in tragedy.  Or perhaps the survivors have escaped into the nearby luminous cave, never to be seen again. So many mysteries – and yet we ignore them all for the pleasure of turning other people’s problems into our personal playground of carnage. The terrain on this map can be rough in places, so watch your step.  Also note that the giant spider is fully traversable, but, alas, the cable coming from her spinneret does not serve as a zip-line.

Tomb Raider	Broken Piggy	No preference stated
There is much that is deceiving about this map. For example, while it’s title conjures images of a busty, no-nonsense adventuress, the overall design is straight out of an Elder Scrolls Dwemer ruin.  Moss hangs freely in an all-indoor environment featuring pieces from the Temple object set. Another deceit is in its size.  Ostensibly this is a small arena taken up mainly by a moldering pyramid.  And yet, when one ventures through the moss-covered doorways on the side, a bi-level labyrinthine path is revealed that more than triples the overall size of the play space. It’s apparent to this writer that Broken Piggy is redefining his “arena within a ring” pattern in a way that encourages players to spend more of their time in the ring. There is indeed a tomb here – but any adventurer brave enough to enter it will find that it is likely they themselves that are raided.  The ghosts haunting this tomb are all too eager to have you join them.

As always, we’ll fill out the night with past FCF favorites.  See you there!

Recap for March 22, 2013

With a nice start to the night with a large number of players We jumped right in with Ancient Arena. BiTTeReRli0N and XxYAX is bakxX held high ground forcing the other team to change strategy, especially on Domination.

We played Ghetto Apartments by FND KillerTuner next. Unfortunately the creator of the map never made it in so it was only played once on Team Deathmatch. I particularly enjoyed finding the guy sinking in the bed Freddy Krueger style!

After that Firestorm was tested for the first time on BiTTeReRli0N's Map 1ions Den. Firestorm played very well on this map except some felt there needed more room in the middle Temple with the radio, but still very fun.

Next was My (Broken Piggy) Overgrown City. Panyc333 made this somewhat of a family night with His Wife Hestis and Bro.-in-law lil Dragon 69. As soon as the match started the game decided it was time to initiate Dragon to Far Cry Friday by placing Him on a team by himself against 9 other players, Panyc333 insisted we play so Dragon got a thorough stomping but he was a good sport about it. After voice problems during the next play of the map and the uneven teams We disbanded the party and was forced to play in silence for an entire match.

We decided it may work better with two parties since we had past the party limit and the game chat wasn't working. I believe We moved on to Cold Justice's Jonestown once again for another reminder not to drink the kool-aid. After a quick game of Firestorm we played Tranmission, once the tower was taken though the game was pretty much over with a good job by the snipers marking targets and foot soldiers doing the groundwork.

Somehow we lost the entire other party, Panyc333 thinks they may have been sick of shooting at easy (older and somewhat inebriated) targets so we moved on to Broken Piggy's Ancient Arena for some Team Deathmatch. At this point it was Everyone against Smoken Crow where he kicked everyone's a** with over 30 kills.

I decided it was a good time for My Contained since the room was small and the night was winding down. Once again Smoken Crow owned the map taking the high ground and doing a good job switching positions to keep us guessing.

After officially ending Far Cry Friday for the night we decided to go off script at Panyc333's request and a quick vote by the party to play a Star Wars map, Return to Endor. Nice looking map but was large, especially for the number of players we had. I would  like to see some pathways layed out but it still played well enough.

Hope everyone had a good time! As You may have noticed Cold Justice was not feeling well so Broken Piggy was the host for the night.

Players were: Panyc333, Hestis, lil Dragon 69, Broken Piggy, Smoken Crow, BiTTeReRli0N, XxYAX is bakxX, FND Killer Tuner, MorosePrism, Element Zn, 

 Get well soon CJ!

FCF: March 22, 2013 @ 7PM CDT

Sorry for the late notice folks, but I have a severe nauseas headache coming on.  I hope you regulars will still play tonight – perhaps Broken Piggy or Panyc333 can take the reins.

For those of you who have submitted maps, we’ll get to them next week.

FCF: March 15, 2013 @ 7PM CDT

Hey, it’s payday – well for some of us anyway – and we’ve got another session of Far Cry Fun coming your way.  No new maps were submitted this week, but we have a pantload of tried and true maps from past sessions upon which we can create mayhem.  (See what I did there?  I avoided ending that sentence in a preposition.  We’re just oozing talent tonight.)

This week the order of the evening will be Host’s Choice, so we’ll be pulling out the oldies according to the size and temperament of the room.  See you there!

And for those of you outside the USA (or living in Arizona, which might just as well be outside the USA), please note that Far Cry Friday is, once again, observing Daylight Savings Time.  Why?  We have no idea, but we’re doing it anyway.  So adjust your wayback machines accordingly.

FCF: March 8, 2013 @ 7PM CST

We have one brand new map, a couple of holdovers from last week and a revision to a previously-played map are up on the table to review.  We’ll spend the rest of the night playing favorite maps from past FCFs.  And yes, that probably means Kaiyu Shiki Teien, Apocalyptica and Jonestown will find their way into the rotation. Hey, I know what I like…

New/Revised Maps for Friday:

BF3 Gulf of Oman	EddieNES	Domination/Transmission
Not played last week, so we’ll give it a go this week if Eddie shows up. This Battlefield 3 remake has a good mix of CQB and open play. The environment is definitely war-torn. The flyover for this map can be deceiving – Eddie has decorated a lot of the area outside of the playable zone. I haven’t checked the spawns, but this looks like it will be a fun map.

Fallout Fury CQB	Dark Reyule	preference not stated
Not played last week, so we’ll give it a go this week if Reyule shows up. Don’t let the CQB subtitle fool you – this map has plenty of open spaces to complement its dark rooms and twisting hallways. The setting is difficult to describe and something of a visual departure from what we’ve come to expect of Reyule. It’s pretty much a tri-level indoor play area with a mix of open spaces, offices and narrow stairways and hallways. I believe it will play well, but again, I didn’t have time to review the spawn positions so it’s a bit hard to judge. Come prepared for anything – shotguns and sniper rifles are equally recommended.

NASCAR Speedway	FND KillerTuner	Transmission / Firestorm
All turns are left turns… This is a HUGE open-plan map.  Definitely a sniper’s paradise.  The playable area includes the entire speedway arena, including stands, executive boxes, broadcasters booth, the track itself, the infield and the underground infield garage. Aside from a couple of jaggy staircases, the map navigates very well.  But if you are anywhere outside of the infield, you will feel very exposed.  The stands and track have little to no cover, so RUN, FORREST, RUN!

City of Zinj	Broken Piggy	preference not stated
Zinj has been updated to now support all game types. The City of Zinj is set in an ancient ocean caldera, slowly eroding into the waters.  This is a multi-level arena map that uses the Temple building set.  It has a good mix of assault, CQB and sniper elements.

FCF: March 1, 2013 @ 7PM CST

New maps?  Of course – there are always new maps.  Here’s what we have on tap for this week.  And, of course, we’ll fill out the night with some old favorites.

New/Revised Maps for Friday:

BF3 Gulf of Oman	EddieNES	Domination/Transmission
This Battlefield 3 remake has a good mix of CQB and open play.  The environment is definitely war-torn.  The flyover for this map can be deceiving – Eddie has decorated a lot of the area outside of the playable zone. I haven’t checked the spawns, but this looks like it will be a fun map.

Thru the WORM	Chongokiller	preference not stated
A fantasy-themed map with just a touch of Myst-inspired steampunk added for spice.  Gameplay in this small, multi-level sandbox is likely to be fast and frenetic.  This is set in a spatial Nowhere, so watch your step or it could be your last as you fall into the Nothingness. Watch out for the worm guarding the wormhole…

Fallout Fury CQB	Dark Reyule	preference not stated
Don’t let the CQB subtitle fool you – this map has plenty of open spaces to complement its dark rooms and twisting hallways.  The setting is difficult to describe and something of a visual departure from what we’ve come to expect of Reyule.  It’s pretty much a tri-level indoor play area with a mix of open spaces, offices and narrow stairways and hallways. I believe it will play well, but again, I didn’t have time to review the spawn positions so it’s a bit hard to judge.  Come prepared for anything – shotguns and sniper rifles are equally recommended.

Desert Fortress	Smoken Crow	Domination/Transmission
A small desert base under siege by helicopters…. a single survivor valiantly defending what remains with his last shoulder-mounted beer-bottle rocket… this is the scene you walk into as play begins.  This map features a nicely detailed keep-style layout where there was apparently a sale on sandbags.  And, as always with a Smoken Crow map, there’s a sweet spot for setting off a fuel barrel chain reaction – the challenge is being the one to set it off. This layout is tried and true and should play very well.

Back to the Cellar	Smoken Crow	TDM/Transmission
As you enter the building with ancient stone lion heads sneering at you, you feel a sense of foreboding… a feeling made worse and validated as you see the bodies writhing in agony in the hole set before you that you know you must enter – are compelled to enter.  Back to the Cellar is a snaking shotgun topology map illustrating the evils that the fabled Rhinoceros Beast (posssibly a relative of the mythical Minotaur) performs on the humans who dare enter his dominion of narrow corridors. This is a true shotgun-topology map – you will meet the enemy and your mettle will be tested.  CQB is the order of the day.

Arena Ruins	Broken Piggy	preference not stated
Once again, Broken Piggy shows off his knack for creating nice bi-level arena-style play areas.  This map has a wonderfully overgrown feel to it and features not one, but two guarded perimeter paths for those who are looking to get a quick rest from the battle. Note that this is a work in progress.

Lockdown	Broken Piggy	preference not stated
“Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.”  Almost five months after it was begun, Broken' Piggy’s first attempt at a FC3 map breathes in the light of day.  Or, rather, it doesn’t.  Lockdown is a dark hellhole of a prison where even the scant views of the outside prison yard fill the viewer with despair.  The prison features three offset levels and a variety of small and large play spaces.

FCF: February 22, 2013

I’ve been feeling pretty out of it this week, so the map list is coming out later than usual  We have four new maps this week and some maps that have either been reworked or need another run to see if they are ready for final publishing.  We’ll round out the list tonight with two or three oldies but goodies.

New/Revised Maps for Friday:

Overgrown City	Broken Piggy	Domination & Firestorm
We want to see how this one plays on firestorm with different team dynamics.

Limited Grab Bag	Chongokiller / The Govener	Domination
Constructed map with a futuristic setting.  Unusual flora can be found everywhere.  Looks very cook, but has some of the most annoying spawns I’ve ever encountered. I believe this was a contest map where participants were limited to 29 specific objects when making their maps.

Jungle Boogie	Smoken Crow	Domination / Firestorm
The town went to pot after the mine crane accident.  And then those crazy pirates moved in.  Darn pirates have no respect for anybody.  And they leave their stinking gasoline barrels everywhere!

Burial Grounds	xXxMentalxXx	Firestorm
xXxMENTALxXx has updated this map so that it now works with Firestorm.  So we’ll give that a spin.

Ghetto Life	wickedmoose306	Firestorm
Firestorm has been re-worked. We’ll give it a spin and see if this ghetto is ready for bid’ness.

You Arr A Pirate	Broken Piggy	TDM & Domination
Johnny Depp’s dreadlocks are buried here.

Gaztown	Chunky Cows	Transmission / Domination
The room kind of fell apart last week when we played this map, so it’s in for another spin.

Boxed Inn	EddieNES	Domination
It’s like The Courtyard by Marriott – only deadlier and with no complementary breakfast.

Maps in review, awaiting revisions or known to be in development:

Map	Creator	Modes	Comments
The Pit	RGC Cambles	ALL	REJECTED/GAMEPLAY Tilted ladders on guard towers and shipping containers need to be re-worked. They often cause players who descend them to be stuck at the bottom. (NOTE: This may not happen in the editor, but it DOES happen in multi-player.) The map may be resubmitted once this issue has been corrected.

Host’s Favorites:

Map Name	Creator	Modes	Comments
Workmans Comp	ST x EROCK	All	Great map for 6-12 players
Contained	Broken Piggy	All	Fun for small groups.
Septic	Broken Piggy	All	No new changes, not yet published.
Jonestown	Cold Justice	All	Making the best of a bad situation…
Ancient Arena	Broken Piggy	Domination Firestorm	A fun end-of-the-night map
Suspended	Mikk_Q	TDM	Always in the rotation, but hasn’t gotten much play lately.
Smuggler’s Airport	Broken Piggy	All	Now with extra vegetation!
Island of the Dead	Broken Piggy	TDM	Another end-of-night standby.
KAIYU SHIKI TEIEN	DapperHayden007	TDM Domination	Pretty Japanese garden. Great start-of-session map.
Relictus	xXxMentaLxXx	All	Warfare in a decaying factory from a long-forgotten civilization.
Apocalyptica	Broken Piggy	All	Arid and desolate – a land now devoid of joy where men fight over what remains.
Unwanted	ST x EROCK	ALL	A small military base is installed near a village – and the inhabitants aren’t happy about it.
Overgrown City	Broken Piggy	ALL
GHETTO APARTMENTS	FND Killer Tuner	ALL

Far Cry Friday Gamertag!

The gamertag “Far Cry Friday” is gold again.  Here’s an easy way to find your Far Cry Friday friends without adding them all to your friends list – essentially giving you another 100 friends!  And we all need more friends, right?

Being on the FL for Far Cry Friday will also signal that you want us to spam you with FCF info a couple of times a week.

So be sure to add “Far Cry Friday” as a friend.  You know Jack Carver would have done it… Jason Brody – not so much.

FCF: February 15, 2013 @ 7PM CST

I hate to say it, but we have too many maps!  You all have outdone yourselves.  I’ve reviewed as many maps as I can in preparation for this Friday and there isn’t a single stinker in those that I have reviewed.  But we honestly have more maps than we can play under the current lobby conditions.  So here’s the plan:

I went through the map list in a first-come/first-served fashion.  With the exception of a couple of maps that were carry-overs from the prior week’s list that didn’t get played, I’ve limited each author to a single map.  Maps that didn’t get selected will be carried over to next week unless I hear otherwise from the author.

I’m also changing-up the format of the map list.  I found myself wanting to make more expansive comments this time around – especially since there were so many maps and I just don’t have time to review them personally with the creators over Xbox LIVE.  So you will see a very different layout for the maps that have been accepted for play.  I hope you like it!

New/Revised Maps for Friday:

Katatonia	Broken Piggy	Domination
Domination points have been reworked.

New Camelot	Broken Piggy	Domination & Firestorm
Both game modes have been reworked.

GHETTO APARTMENTS	FND Killer Tuner	Domination
Ghetto? These guys have a pool, hot tub, recreation room, laundry facilities and tennis and basketball courts. That’s a pretty cushy ghetto… These are also the nosiest neighbors around.  Everyone is watching somebody else – except for the pot-growing pirates who sit around playing Xbox all day. There are lots of fun details in this map.  Exploring them, though, is likely to get you killed. This is a long, shotgun topology variant map. It will be interesting to see how it plays.

Burial Grounds	xXxMentalxXx	TDM / Transmission
An archaeological dig site somewhere in a forgotten part of Egypt. Apparently two teams of archaeologists claim to have discovered the site and a scientific dispute is to be solved with gunfire. This map has a good feel of a dig site and has a large pyramid as its centerpiece. There’s a good mix of open ground and cover here. The layout is mirror-image symmetrical along a diagonal axis and reduces down to an inverted ring and spoke topology. Visually, I’d like to see a bit more trash and dis-orderly positioning of the tents on the map – it looks a bit too pristine and military for a scientific site. Also, I’d like to see the wells made deeper, perhaps using the hole tool and cement sides beneath the ground to give them some depth.

Ghetto Life	wickedmoose306	Firestorm
Firestorm has been re-worked. We’ll give it a spin and see if this ghetto is ready for bid’ness.

Hide in the Cellar	Chongokiller	Transmission
This map of an isolated compound raises more questions than it answers: What are the phosphorescent plants that the drug dealers are growing in the greenhouse?  Why is there a giant earth drill under the waterfall?  What are the strange bulbous creatures who are lumbering out of the jungle?  And, most importantly, WHY MUST I HIDE IN THE CELLAR? Chongo’s tri-level map boasts a number of paths running through a relatively small space.  Outdoors, you can opt for the rooftops or the land – or take one of two entrances into the cellar.  Inside, you can explore the greenhouse, lab and lounge, or find your way through the locker room maze into the cellar. The cellar is tight and winding.  At first it is very confusing, but it actually has very few rooms.  There are three exits, two via ladders and one via stairs.  And there is a bonus room that you can see into (provided you break down a false wall), but cannot enter. This map has a solitude and spookiness to it that is hard to describe. The only item on the map I don’t really like is that one of the cellar entrances from the ground takes advantage of a glitch to pull you through a “secret” entrance via a ladder.  I’m not a fan of hidden pathways in maps – I think they are counter to multi-player gameplay – so that does count as a negative.  It’s also disconcerting if you happen to head into the shack covering the hidden entrance and suddenly find yourself on a ladder when all you wanted was some momentary cover to get some healing.  At least it’s a nice forced entry – it’s not as bad as the horrible “bury a ladder in the wall” glitch whose venomous charms beguiled so many gullible map makers back in the Far Cry 2 era. The ending movie has a nice effect here.  Most of the movies pan out and to the side and on this map, the pan goes through the wall as the scene fades for many of the animations.  It’s a very nice cinematic effect.

Paranormal Prison	Smoken Crow	TDM
When I saw the flyover for this map I thought “somewhere down there is a REALLY PISSED-OFF teenager”.  And I found him.  You’ll know him when you see him – he’s the one riding the bicycle. Paranormal Prison is a correctional facility where both sanity and the laws of physics have been thrown out the window – along with a few prisoners.  Ships and pieces of jet fuselage are suspended in air; rivers of blood flow out of windows; men wear primitive masks and mutilate each other while suspending themselves by the neck from ropes like masochistic puppets under the control of an invisible and maniacal puppet master.  Strange lights flash at seizure-inducing rates through clouds of bile and gore. This is a multi-level, indoor-outdoor map with lots of unique visuals.  It’s a sniper’s map, with some rather unique (and dangerous) sniper points.  TDM is going to play very well on this map if the spawn points are laid out as well as the map itself. The ending movie, while placed in an interesting setting, does suffer from visual glitches and pop-in/pop-out as the camera moves around.

Gaztown	Chunky Cows	Transmission / Domination
This is a nicely-decorated, small map.  It’s a tiny urban village set on a lonely road, offering much-needed fuel to those travelling through the sparse jungle.  In addition to the gas station, there is a bar, several houses and a church.  The map has a feel very much like locations in the first FC3 co-op mission. One item that may detract from gameplay is the map’s open borders: if you aren’t watching your mini-map, it’s easy to walk outside of the map limits for much of the map perimeter.  In this particular case, it doesn’t make the map intolerable, but it’s something that should be addressed with environmental cues, if possible. The map is essentially a shotgun topology – a main road with closed buildings on either side.  There is a single side-road, but other than leading to a building, it takes players outside the map boundaries. The ending movie is, unfortunately, not set on level ground, so the actors feet are often shown as buried under the asphalt of the main road.

TerrorFormed	Dark Reyule	Domination
Life as a comms tech in the Venarius Cluster was never a picnic. But ever since the discovery of maltenemite on Venarius Eta it’s been much worse.  The Syndic pirates have been conducting constant raids on Confederation comm arrays around the planet, attempting to disrupt Confed’s ability to organize a mining colony.  You’ve had enough.  With yet another array burning in the distance you and your mates decide to hold your ground on the last working array.  If the Syndics want to hijack this array, they’ll have to go through you first. Reyule’s latest map is set high above a jungle world on a floating communications array – one of many.  Another can be seen broken and burning in the distance with yet another intact array to be found in the opposite direction.  The playable area of the map is almost symmetrical with four arms leading out from a central hub.  As you enter or exit the hub, friendly arm numbers on the walls let you know if you are heading in the right direction.  Two of the arms are also marked with red and blue flags to further help with any disorientation. This is mainly a close quarters map, though some sniping can be done from adjacent arms.  Cover is sufficient, but death still awaits those in cover --  a careless step will send the unwary engineer to his death on the surface of the planet, 100 meters below. Reyule has done a beautiful job with this map, faithfully producing a science fiction map with the grittiness of the first Alien film.  While I haven’t reviewed the spawn positions for this map, I suspect it will play very well.  Very well, indeed.

Rainbow Six LVU	EddieNES	Domination
If you’ve played through Rainbow Six: Vegas, you will likely be overcome with a strong sense of déjà vu while playing this map.  Inspired by the Las Vegas University level (loosely based on the UNLV campus), R6V players will quickly recognize the Administration Building, quad area and library from that level. This is a bi-level map with two large buildings that are relatively easy to navigate.  I was able to run the map easily without encountering any glitches.  I anticipate that gameplay here will be solid for Domination.

Maps in review, awaiting revisions or known to be in development:

Map	Creator	Modes	Comments
Limited Grab Bag	Chongokiller / The Govener	Domination	IN REVIEW
Jungle Boogie	Smoken Crow	Domination / Firestorm	IN REVIEW
Boxed Inn	EddieNES	Domination	IN REVIEW
The Pit	RGC Cambles	ALL	REJECTED/GAMEPLAY Tilted ladders on guard towers and shipping containers need to be re-worked.  They often cause players who descend them to be stuck at the bottom.  (NOTE: This may not happen in the editor, but it DOES happen in multi-player.) The map may be resubmitted once this issue has been corrected.

Regular Rotation Maps:

Map Name	Creator	Modes	Comments
Workmans Comp	ST x EROCK	All	Great map for 6-12 players
Contained	Broken Piggy	All	Fun for small groups.
Septic	Broken Piggy	All	No new changes, not yet published.
Jonestown	Cold Justice	All	Making the best of a bad situation…
Ancient Arena	Broken Piggy	Domination Firestorm	A fun end-of-the-night map
Suspended	Mikk_Q	TDM	Always in the rotation, but hasn’t gotten much play lately.
Smuggler’s Airport	Broken Piggy	All	Now with extra vegetation!
Island of the Dead	Broken Piggy	TDM	Another end-of-night standby.
KAIYU SHIKI TEIEN	DapperHayden007	TDM Domination	Pretty Japanese garden. Great start-of-session map.
Relictus	xXxMentaLxXx	All	Warfare in a decaying factory from a long-forgotten civilization.
Apocalyptica	Broken Piggy	All	Arid and desolate – a land now devoid of joy where men fight over what remains.
Unwanted	ST x EROCK	ALL	A small military base is installed near a village – and the inhabitants aren’t happy about it.
Overgrown City	Broken Piggy	ALL

Recap for February 8, 2013

Our first match of the night started right at 6:59 PM CT with a nearly full party chat room.  By the time we finished the first map, our numbers were into double-digits.  It’s nice to start the night out with a good-sized room.

The first map on the table was mambonuts’ Pot Luck.  This map is set in a small valley with a river running through it.  Players are assigned to completing marijuana farms on opposite sides of the river.  We played TDM, Domination and Firestorm on this map.  Each mode had its high points, but Firestorm was probably the most hard-fought of the battles where the final radio position is set on a tiny piece of land in the middle of the river accessed from a single bridge.

As I mentioned earlier, party chat was bursting at its seams by this point.  So I’ll post the night’s roll call.  Note that not everyone was in the room this early, but here’s who we saw during the night: BiTTeReRli0N, Broken Piggy, Chongokiller, ChunkyCows,  Cold Justice, Crazy Uncle Dave, Darksteel Titan, FND Killer Tuner, mambonuts, Panyc333, RGC Cambles, Smoken Crow, wickedmoose306 and  xXxMENTALxXx.

The next map we looked at was unwanted, a small, well-detailed map by ST x EROCK.  Erock couldn’t make the match, but this map was definitely worth of play.  The map features a tiny military helicopter base around which a small town has grown.  As with Pot Luck, we played TDM, Domination and Firestorm.  This map played very strongly in each of the game modes we tried and is likely to become part of our regular rotation.

Chongokiller’s space opera SPACE INVASION pt2  (there are a pt1 and a pt3 as well) was put through its paces next.  Set on an asteroid, his map depicts an epic space battle, complete with giant robots and flaming flying saucers.  The review team had some initial concerns about  areas of the map where the steepness and vertigo would lead you to hurt yourself unintentionally, but in actual battle, those concerns went away.  The objectives and pacing of the battle tend to draw players away from the more extreme slopes in the map.  The only real criticism that the panel had with this map is that the spawns are disorienting because they tend to be facing out into space rather than toward the nearest path to battle.  Simply turning the spawn points to face stairs, paths, ladders, etc. would solve this problem.  At Chongo’s insistence, we only played Domination on this map.  The points were difficult to hold at times, but very fun.

From deepest space we moved to a more sedate setting, RGC Cambles’ Abandoned Park.  This map depicts a small California-esque park with a lake centerpiece.  It features a parking lot, baseball diamond, dog park, trails, a park office, restrooms and a picturesque gazebo at the center of the lake.  TDM and Domination both played well here.  Domination was especially interesting, because the map presents a number of opportunities for domination points to be protected by distant snipers.  So a new side-game of sneaking up on and executing snipers (Chongokiller, you know I’m talking about you!) became part of the fun.  It should be noted that there are some issues getting in an out of the third base dugout, but overall, the map plays very smoothly.  Abandoned Park is not a home run, but it is a solid map that plays very well.

Just a few miles away from the park, we stumbled upon Broken Piggy’s Overgrown City.  This small, bi-level urban setting map is in definite need of attention by the Public Works Department.  The centerpiece of this map is an open sinkhole in the street where a water main has broken.  The map features multiple routes to all locations, a bar, a church, a school with a nicely appointed playground, a gas station (complete with exploding pumps), a victorian home, a church, a hotel and a small warehouse.  All locations are highly detailed and the map has a very lived-in feel.  Or, at least it used to be lived in… that was before the forests and pirates took over.  We played TDM, Domination and Firestorm on this map.  Domination was the definite star here: the gameplay was fast-paced and furious.  Chongokiller took ownership of point C and woe to anyone who entered his territory.  Too bad the rest of his team didn’t just leave him to his devices, because one point doth not a victory make.  Team CJ figured out that owning A & B was good enough and that it’s not good to be greedy.  Virtue won out.

Firestorm was also fun, but there are concerns that there may be some balance issues on the map that favor points A & B over points C & D, with C being possibly too central to the traffic patterns of the map. (Almost every major path on the map passes by C – it’s essentially the hub of the map from a path perspective.)

Overgrown City, unfortunately, marked the beginning of our real connectivity problems for the night.  In particular, Darksteel Titan found it impossible to rejoin the match.  But he wasn’t the only one.  Room quality went steadily down from this point as the night progressed.

At this point several people needed to break for dinner, so we switched gears to a smaller map from our regular rotation: Broken Piggy’s Contained.  With six people playing TDM, it at first seemed like the room was too small with players dying almost as soon as they spawned.  But the room soon gained its rhythm and fun was had by all.

We then moved back to the new maps list for a bit and took a couple of spins on wickedmoose306’s Ghetto Life.  This map, whose flyover promises a much bigger map than the actual play area, is set in a typical Canadian ghetto.  The primary play area is a central street bounded by apartment buildings and run-down sleazy businesses.  Most of the action happens in the alleyways and the local strip club seems to come into play more than you would think.  TDM played very well on this map, as did Domination.  Firestorm, unfortunately had some serious balance issues and will need to be reworked.  We also found an unfortunately-placed fence piece that blocked a running path.

Changing things up a bit, we introduced the newer FCF folks to the desolate wastes of Broken Piggy’s Apocalyptica.  This map never disappoints, and last night was no exception.  Both TDM and Domination featured some very hard-fought battles.

Cold Justice's Jonestown was also pulled kicking and screaming into the mix around midnight CT.  Domination, TDM and Firestorm were featured.  Somehow the group’s younger members broke into a fifteen minute discussion about the weather during this time which had this correspondent wondering if he’d been suddenly transported to Shady Acres instead of Jonestown.  Jonestown, as always, was a blast to play on – and I think this marked the first time that Cold Justice lost a Firestorm match on it.

We closed the night with our last new map of the session: RGC Cambles’ Desert Day Inn.  We played TDM and Transmission on this map – this being the first time all night that Transmission came into play.  DDI features a hand-constructed hotel in the middle of a desert.  It has a parking lot and an indoor pool.  Both modes played okay, but there seemed to be something missing in the overall scheme of things.  A node-path analysis of the map reveals that it essentially  has four paths running between two nodes (the parking lot and the pool house) and this may explain why the gameplay is fun, but unremarkable.

We shut the room down at 1:03 AM CT, just over six hours from when  we started.  Overall, this was a good night.  Network problems were not as severe as on other sessions and the partygoers all had a great spirit and enjoyed each other’s company.  It reminded this reporter of the camaraderie that we first saw in the very first FCF sessions back in 2005.  Ahh, the memories…

Not played in this session were Broken Piggy’s updates to Katatonia and New Camelot.  We’ll catch these next week.

Have something fun to recall from this session?  Be sure to note it in the comments!

FCF: February 8, 2013 @ 7PM CST

We have a full program for this Friday.  There are seven new maps to be played, interleaved with maps from the regular rotation as selected by your humble host.  (Expect both Apocalyptica and Jonestown to make an appearance.)
Note that the host will alter the order of the maps based on room size and availability of the map makers.
I’m expecting to have an AverMedia C958 Live Gamer HD card installed and active during tonight’s session.  I’ll definitely be using it for showing off maps, but it may be fun to use in our weekly recaps as well.

New/Revised Maps:

Map	Creator	Modes	Comments
Pot Luck	mambonuts	All	One of our favorite FC2 map makers returns with a base-styled map. Apparently competing pot growers have set up business across from each other – with comedic results!
unwanted	ST x EROCK	All	Small jungle map set near a military installation. (NOT PUBLISHED.)
SPACE INVASION pt2	Chongokiller	Domination	Visually stunning “moment in time” map depicting a battle on an asteroid.  This map does have several playability concerns, though, chief among them being that you can get hurt just walking around.  There is also limited cover.
Abandoned Park	RGC Cambles	All (TDM desired)	This is a rambling public park featuring a small lake in the middle.  It’s a bit on the large size, but should play decently.  Considering the activities the corpses are engaged in, I question how “abandoned” this park is…
Desert Day Inn	RGC Cambles	All (TDM desired)	A lonely two-story hotel in the middle of the desert…. an undefined human disaster… of course you want to do battle there.  Visuals are a not the greatest, but the map should play.  Note that some map boundaries are not indicated with visual cues.
Overgrown City	Broken Piggy	All	Extremely detailed urban setting that time and nature have started to take their toll upon.  Another beautiful Broken Piggy map that should play very well.
Ghetto Life	Wickedmoose306	All	An inner city setting where the only entertainment is the local strip club and street warfare.
Katatonia	Broken Piggy	Domination	Domination points have been reworked.
New Camelot	Broken Piggy	Domination & Firestorm	Both game modes have been reworked.

Maps received after cutoff, awaiting revisions or known to be in development

Map	Creator	Modes	Comments
GHETTO APARTMENTS	FND Killer Tuner	Not stated	IN REVIEW
Burial Grounds	xXxMentalxXx	Not stated	IN REVIEW

Regular Rotation Maps

Map Name	Creator	Modes	Comments
Workmans Comp	ST x EROCK	All	Great map for 6-12 players
Contained	Broken Piggy	All	Fun for small groups.
Septic	Broken Piggy	All	No new changes, not yet published.
Jonestown	Cold Justice	All	Making the best of a bad situation…
Ancient Arena	Broken Piggy	Domination Firestorm	A fun end-of-the-night map
Suspended	Mikk_Q	TDM	Always in the rotation, but hasn’t gotten much play lately.
Smuggler’s Airport	Broken Piggy	All	Now with extra vegetation!
Island of the Dead	Broken Piggy	TDM	Another end-of-night standby.
KAIYU SHIKI TEIEN	DapperHayden007	TDM Domination	Pretty Japanese garden. Great start-of-session map.
Relictus	xXxMentaLxXx	All	Warfare in a decaying factory from a long-forgotten civilization.
Apocalyptica	Broken Piggy	All	Arid and desolate – a land now devoid of joy where men fight over what remains.

Recap for February 1, 2013

Despite an update to Far Cry 3 sixteen hours before the session we still had our share of ghost players, difficult-to-enter rooms, party drops (Xbox LIVE issue) and unexplainable host migrations that dropped players.  We even had a room fragment into several rooms (many with only one player in them) during a match.
And yet, we play on.  Such is the drive of the Far Cry Friday Crew.
This week saw a lot of new folks and a dearth of our regulars.  The room size varied throughout the night, but peaked at eleven players for almost an hour, exceeding the capabilities of LIVE Party Chat.  The guest list for this party included BiTTeReRli0N, Broken Piggy, Caidkiller (briefly), Chongokiller, Cold Justice, Darksteel Titan, DT58Fan4Life, EddieNES, FND Killer Tuner, Panyc333, RGC Cambles, wickedmoose306 and xXxMentalxXx.  Although we had anticipated the triumphant return of PrisonedBullet to our ranks, he was sadly missing from action.
We opened the evening at 7PM sharp with DapperHayden007’s beautiful garden arena KAIYU SHIKI TEIEN.  It’s a good opening map and was new to many of the folks who joined in.  This map has a well-deserved Silver status with 26 plays and 29 votes.
Next up was a dramatic facelift to Broken Piggy’s New Camelot.  The addition of vegetation and the play of light and shadow from changing the time of day were welcome improvements to this map.  TDM and Transmission game modes played well on this map, but the raised daises used for Domination made that game mode almost unplayable and will need to be reworked.  This map remains unpublished for now but is nearing completion.
We followed with Trailer Park, a new map for FCF from FND Killer Tuner.  This is a fun map for TDM with a typical trailer park setting.  Domination played generally well, but many players complained that the point in the sewer was too hard to find -- despite the provision of three separate entrances to the sewers.  Firestorm played very well, even with the questionable placement of the radio dish on top of one of the trailers.  Broken Piggy and Cold Justice, who have become adept at winning Firestorm matches using minimal communication over party chat, were able to take and hold the point long enough to set the park ablaze.  Ahh… I just love the smell of napalm in a trailer park…  This map is Silver, with 62 plays and 43 votes.
From there we moved to the debut of Broken Piggy’s latest opus, Apocalyptica.  This arid, debris-strewn map set in the aftermath of a cataclysmic upheaval was played in all game modes.  The map was extremely well-received by the panel and played well in all game modes.  I did find a spot where you could get stuck sliding into the ravine during Transmission – but since it was directly behind one of the transmission points, I didn’t survive long enough to complain about it.  This map was published on Saturday and already has silver status with 13 plays and 14 votes.
We tried to play on Cold Justice’s Jonestown since the room was at eleven players.  But Xbox LIVE and FC3 conspired against it, fragmenting both the party chat and the lobby during play.  In the confusion it was decided to move on to a different map.  Jonestown has Silver status with 24 plays and 18 votes.
As we tried to reform the party, we shifted to BiTTeReRli0n’s 1ion5 D3N.  This is an arena-variant map based on the game’s Ancient Temple object set.  The group’s reaction to the map was quite positive, although there were a few rough spots where a running player would come to a dead stop for no apparent reason.  TDM and Domination both played well.  This map has Bronze status with 2 plays and 4 votes.
We closed the night with xXxMentalxXx’s derelict factory map, Relictus.  We played this map a few times, concentrating on TDM and Domination.  The group’s feedback was very positive.  The map is clean and has a very natural-feeling multi-path layout.  Domination played very well with the center area being highly contested.  This map has earned a silver status with 9 plays and 10 votes.
The session ended just before 1AM Central Time. 
Not played this week: mambonuts’ Pot Luck and ST x Erock’s unwanted.  We ran out of time for these two, but they will be at the top of next week’s playlist. 
NOTE TO MAP MAKERS: When there are a lot of new maps, the host prioritizes the maps made by people present in the room over maps whose makers are not available.  This is to maximize the feedback given to a map maker and also shows respect to those map makers who take the time out to attend the session.  Note that his is not a criticism of those who were not able to make it this week, but a statement of how I run the room.  Not being there doesn’t mean your map won’t be played, but it does mean I’ll prioritize other maps above it in order to maximize the effectiveness of player feedback.
Do you have a particularly memorable moment you’d like to share?  Add it to the comments.

Another update to Far Cry 3 on Xbox 360

Well, I can’t find any information on it yet, but there was an update to FC3 rolled out between midnight and 1AM CT this morning.  We’ll let you know what it was supposed to fix as soon as we find anything out.

FCF: February 1, 2013 @ 7PM CST

Here’s the map list.

NEW/REVISED MAPS:

Map	Creator	Modes	Comments
KAIYU SHIKI TEIEN	DapperHayden007	TDM Domination	Okay, this one isn’t new or revised, but it’s a good session opener.
New Camelot	Broken Piggy	All	New Camelot has seen quite a bit of face lifting – you may not recognize it!  (NOT PUBLISHED)
Trailer Park	FND Killer Tuner	All	Double-wides and pirates – with a sewer to boot.
Apocalyptica	Broken Piggy	All	A new, desolate map.  Great for snipers and all-out battle.  (NOT PUBLISHED.)
Pot Luck	mambonuts	All	One of our favorite FC2 map makers returns with a base-styled map.  Apparently competing pot growers have set up business across from each other.
1ion5 D3N	BiTTeReRli0N	All	There are some rough spots to walk, but this is a nice temple map with lots of cover.
unwanted	ST x EROCK	All	Small jungle map set near a military installation. (NOT PUBLISHED.)
Relictus	xXxMentaLxXx	All	Warfare in a decaying factory from a long-forgotten civilization.

 

Regular Rotation Maps

Map Name	Creator	Modes	Comments
Workmans Comp	ST x EROCK	All	Great map for 6-12 players
Contained	Broken Piggy	All	Fun for small groups.
Septic	Broken Piggy	All	No new changes, not yet published.
Jonestown	Cold Justice	All	Making the best of a bad situation…
Ancient Arena	Broken Piggy	Domination Firestorm	A fun end-of-the-night map
Suspended	Mikk_Q	TDM	Always in the rotation, but hasn’t gotten much play lately.
Katatonia	Broken Piggy	TDM Domination	We still need to play this with the new Domination points.
Smuggler’s Airport	Broken Piggy	All	Now with extra vegetation!
Island of the Dead	Broken Piggy	TDM	Another end-of-night standby.
KAIYU SHIKI TEIEN	DapperHayden007	TDM Domination	Pretty Japanese garden.  Great start-of-session map.

No FCF this week…

Sorry folks, but I’ve been working very long days this past week and haven’t been able to review any of the many maps that you all have sent in.  I’ll also be working tonight, so I won’t be able to host at all.

I would recommend that y’all get some Far Cry co-op going as an alternative tonight.

This crisis at work should be over by Saturday and I can get back to normal.

Thanks to everyone who has submitted maps – I have eight or more new maps from five map-makers.  I will be reviewing them on Sunday and will give everyone feedback, as usual.  The map list for February 1 should be ready early this week.

Recap: January 18, 2013

Ubisoft released the update to Xbox platforms on game day, promising no more “ghost players”, improved lobby joining and no more being blocked out of a lobby for incompatible profile settings.
Well, one out of three ain’t bad.  Oh, wait… yeah, it is.
While no one got the infamous incompatible profile message, we had the usual number of “I can’t join the room” and ghost player issues as before.  Looks like there’s still a lot of work to do…
The room was busy most of the night.  Here’s a recap of the maps we played:
DapperHayden007’s Kaiyu Shiki Teien opened the night with some 2 on 1 and 4 on 3 action.  This pretty and small garden map played very well in both Domination and Team Death match modes.  Players for this map included Broken Piggy, DapperHayden007, CrazyUncleDave, Panyc333 and Cold Justice.  (If I left anyone out, please let me know in the comments.)  This map has Silver status with twelve plays and nine votes.
We took an early look at Broken Piggy’s latest constructed map, New Camelot.  This map played well overall with a small room, but the bland nature of the concrete wall pieces combined with late evening lighting left little for the eye to look at.  The time of day setting was an oversight and BP plans on removing some of the middle area pieces in order to buy back some of his object budget.  Getting some more color on the map, as well as some daylight shadowing should perk up the look.  The occluded arena style of this map would benefit from some explosive elements, which, with Far Cry 3, limits you to barrels.  I believe we only played TDM on this map, though from what I’ve seen of the layout and spawns, all game modes should work well.
The published version of Contained by Broken Piggy was put through its paces once Darksteel Titan came on the scene. As always, this map delivers well on its promise of constant action in tight spaces.  TDM and Domination modes were enjoyed by all.  As of this morning, the map has three plays and three votes, putting it in Bronze status.  This map deserves some love y’all… let’s get it to silver!
Another newly (some would say finally) published map for this session  was Cold Justice’s historical Jonestown map.  We played all four game modes, somehow garnering the map Silver status as of this morning with six votes and eight plays.  Niko Anonamix joined in the fray during this map and shared perhaps a bit too much regarding his personal hygiene habits…  As always, this map is a blast to play on all game modes, with, perhaps, Transmission being the dark horse – fun, but not as much as the other modes in this author’s humble opinion.
We then took a look at an early version of Niko Anonamix’s Camp Crystal TEST.  This Friday the 13th homage features a very nice-looking oval lake at its center.  The lake is surrounded by various campgrounds and a bit of stake carnage.  The group consensus was that the map is very good looking and laid out, but the game modes and spawns need serious reworking in order to be enjoyable.  Cold Justice volunteered to provide a modified version of the map with reworked spawns and objective points.
We took a spin through Broken Piggy’s other work-in-progress, Septic.  This map has not been modified since our last session, but its gameplay warranted it a spot in the playlist.  Hillbillee and D0PEB0T made an appearance while this map was in play.
Ancient Arena, Broken Piggy’s temple-themed arena, was also published this past week and got its turn in the spotlight.  TDM and Domination got their workouts on this map, but unfortunately no Firestorm this time around.  (I have a fondness for how well Firestorm plays on this map and since I write this thing – I can take the liberty to complain.)  This map also showed three votes and three plays this morning.  Hopefully we can get it promoted to Silver during next week’s session.  FC2 mapmaker Nacho Woo made a cameo appearance while this map was on the block.
Maps on the playlist that didn’t see action were: Workman’s Comp, Suspended, Katatonia, Smuggler’s Airport and Island of the Dead.

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We had a couple of incidents during the session that will result in one or more long-term (possibly permanent) player bans later this week.  This is not something I take lightly – and it’s not the first time I’ve had to do this.  FCF is very much my baby and I can’t let the disruptive behavior of any player or players tarnish the reputation that FCF has built up over the past seven years.  My first priority is to provide an experience that is as enjoyable and comfortable as possible to the majority of the people in the room.  The maps and their evaluation comes second to that.  When individuals take things too far or violate our Code of Conduct repeatedly, it becomes my responsibility to do what needs to be done.  It’s a pain in the butt, but it’s what I do.
There are plenty of rooms where you can play custom maps.  FCF isn’t just another of those rooms.  Those who have been a part of it for any length of time know that it’s something special and I intend to keep it that way.

Ancient Arena published

Map Name: Ancient Arena
System: Xbox 360 (Far Cry 3)
Creator: Broken Piggy
Game Modes: All

Broken Piggy has published his temle-themed arena map, Ancient Arena.  This is a small (4 grid) arena-style map that supports all game modes.  It features a crumbling ancient garden atmosphere with tight paths.  The map is surrounded by an upper walkway that presents limited sniping opportunities.  It also has two underground ceremonial chambers that are featured capture points in Firestorm and Domination gameplay.

This is a very fun map in all game modes and is now part of the regular FCF rotation.

Contained published

Map Name: Contained
System: Xbox 360 (Far Cry 3)
Creator: Broken Piggy
Game Modes: All

Broken Piggy has published his junkyard run'n'gun map Contained.  This map has been play tested and tweaked with the Far Cry Friday crew and has been deemed ready for public mayhem.  This is a relatively small (4 grid squares) and tight map that is littered with junk in an artful and gameplay-conscious manner.  The main battle area has multiple paths going around a garage, haphazard containers and piles of debris.  The outside of the map has a square alleyway that can be used to get a break from the action -- or not.We have had a lot of fun play testing the map and it is sure to become a favorite.  It has all four game modes and each is well structured, but my favorites for this map are TDM an Domination.

This map is now part of the regular rotation for Far Cry Friday.

FCF: Janurary 18, 2013 @ 7PM CST

Here’s the map list for this Friday:

Map	Creator	Modes	Comments
KAIYU SHIKI TEIEN	DapperHayden007	TDM Domination
New Camelot	Broken Piggy	ALL	Piggy’s new close-quarters, constructed map.
Workmans Comp	ST x EROCK	All
Contained	Broken Piggy	ALL	PUBLISHED!
Camp Crystal TEST	Niko Anonomix	ALL	HUGE Friday the 13th map.  Nicely laid out and decorated.  I have serious concerns about the spawn points/game modes.
Septic	Broken Piggy	All	No new changes, not yet published.
Jonestown	Cold Justice	Firestorm Domination	PUBLISHED!
Ancient Arena	Broken Piggy	Domination Firestorm	PUBLISHED!
Suspended	Mikk_Q	TDM
Katatonia	Broken Piggy	TDM Domination	Domination points have been reworked since the last time it was played
Smuggler’s Airport	Broken Piggy	ALL
Island of the Dead	Broken Piggy	TDM

Jonestown finally published

Cold Justice has finally published the historical map Jonestown.  An announcement has been posted here: http://forums.ubi.com/showthread.php/747182-Jonestown-(FC3-Xbox360)

The text of the post is presented below:

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After a month of development and play testing, I am proud to present Jonestown, a Far Cry 3 map representing the scene found by the FBI in Jonestown, Guyana in November of 1978.

Map Name: Jonestown
System: Xbox 360 (Far Cry 3)
Creator: Cold Justice
Game Modes: All

Jonestown is a large map that plays like four different maps. Each game mode covers a different map area. I believe this to be a unique approach to Far Cry maps and one that is likely to be emulated. The map is based on the actual layout of Jonestown, Guyana, and was reproduced based on aerial photographs taken at the time of the massacre, drawings provided by the FBI and other source materials. It is not to scale, and some artistic license has been taken for game play and other reasons. But every building on the map represents a real building from the site and it's relative position is accurate. I did not include the Jonestown farm areas because I wanted the edges of the map to be surrounded by jungle.

The map also includes a re-imagining of the Port Kaituma airstrip where U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan and four others were killed by members of the People's Temple cult. In reality, the airstrip is several miles away, so in this map I have introduced a river and waterfall that separates the airstrip from the town.
The game modes supported are:

Domination: This mode takes place entirely on the Port Kaituma airstrip. It is an open setting and the play is frenetic, but fun.

Transmission: This mode takes place on both sides of the river, involving parts of the airstrip and Jonestown proper.

Team Deathmatch: This mode encompasses most of the Jonestown area of the map. No spawns are placed in the Kaituma airstrip. Because the layout is relatively flat, even small lobbies (6 people or more) are able to have fun in this mode.

Firestorm: The firestorm phase of this game mode takes place entirely in the cottages area of Jonestown. Once a firestorm has been achieved, the play moves to the nearby radio shack, where a wild battle typically ensues. (Note that historical sources vary on which building was the actual radio hut. I have gone with the location indicated by family members, which works better for game play. FBI drawings indicate a different building closer to the main Pavilion.)

This map has been intensively play-tested and approved by the Far Cry Friday regulars. (You can find out more about Far Cry Friday athttp://FarCryFriday.blogspot.com)

About the Map:
This map contains all major buildings and roads identified in aerial photographs of Jonestown, Guyana and in other maps and records. The map is intentionally not to scale and is, unfortunately, rotated 90° from the correct compass settings. Buildings of note are:

• The Pavilion, a large open tent outside of which most of the 900+ People's Temple bodies were found.
• The dormitories -- five staggered buildings behind the Pavilion
• The West House (unfortunately on the north side of the map) where Jim Jones lived for most of his stay in Jonestown.
• The armory and heavy machinery/garage buildings
• The radio shack and generators
• The 48 family cottages. These were 15'x20' single room shacks arranged in a distinctive pattern. In this map, 40 of the cottages are represented by 5' x 5' shacks in the same distinctive layout. The remaining 8 cottages have been replaced by 8 latrines for artistic variety.
• The East House -- Jim Jones first house at Jonestown, which later became a guest house after the West House was built.
• The wooden outdoor basketball half-court. This doesn't show up on any of the maps I found, but is mentioned in several places and has been photographed a number of times. I placed it near the East House, since this seems to be the right location from looking at photographs. The size and shape of the court matches historical photographs taken in 1979.

Well over 200 corpses have been placed in the map to represent the areas where the dead were found by the FBI in November 1978. This map is not presented as a glorification of the mass suicides and murders that occurred in 1978, but as a historical representation of the event, much like any WWII map.