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Title                   : lambda_outpost
Author                  : Alidoe
Email Address           : doherty_alison@hotmail.com

Description             : This medium-sized arena map is built around an abandoned spanish villa
                          near the Black Mesa facility in New Mexico. The building has been taken
                          over by the military and is now an outpost for special forces to stage
                          operations into the nearby Lambda complex.

Game play               : This map has a three-level central courtyard with an outer ring of passages
                          that feed in and out of it at different points. Its fairly spacious, but
                          because all the side passages tend to funnel through a few spots, it keeps
                          things lively even with only a few players.

                          I designed this map around strategy. There are a lot of strategic
                          opportunities in this map, some subtle, some less so. I'll give some
                          examples and leave it to you to find the rest:

                          1. High mobility. There are multiple points (the stairwells at the long
                             ends of the map, the water rooms, the temple, etc.) where players can
                             go up or down a level and/or double back. This makes it possible to run
                             from someone, and then loop around behind them and catch them by
                             surprise. It also allows players to take less predictable routes
                             through the map. There are also usually several different ways to get
                             to wherever you're going.

                          2. Sound plays a big part in this map. I deliberately changed the texture
                             of the floor in multiple areas, making it possible to track players by
                             sound. For example you hear someone crunching through the sand in the
                             lower courtyard, then the click of stone as they enter a side opening
                             and go up the marble slope, then the clunk of metal as they pass the
                             lip between the stone and the wood, then the clank of metal as they go
                             up the stairs...

                             There are some subtle tricks too, like trim along passages or stairs
                             that make a different sound when you run on them, allowing clever
                             players to disguise their footsteps.

                             I also added a lot of environmental sounds to make it easier for people
                             to get their bearings. 

                          3. Lots of fun ambush spots. Balconies or ledges over passages, air ducts,
                             the other side of a door, overlooking a stream as they fight the
                             current. In playtesting I loved running from someone, doubling back
                             around or over them and shooting them from behind by surprise or
                             dropping a satchel onto their heads. :)

                          4. Retracting bridges allow players to close off the route behind them
                             stranding pursuers or dropping them into water where they make easy prey.

                          5. An exploding symbol in the temple. Shoot it as a player tries to get
                             the hornet hand and watch the gibs fly. :)

                          6. Grates between levels that allow you to see people passing by on the
                             level above/below that allow you to shoot through them.

                          7. The nastier weapons are placed so that players need to take risks in
                             order to get them. e.g. to get the gluon you need to take a slow
                             moving platform across a chamber. To get the rpg you need to jump in
                             a stream and fight the current upstream (HINT - crouch in the stream,
                             the current is stronger near the surface). To get the gauss you need
                             to jump down to a ledge in a waterfilled shaft then climb the vines
                             along the back wall to get out. Etc.

Additional Credits to   : The marble floors, the green trim, the hanging vines, the creeping vines,
                          and the two types of hardwood flooring were obtained from texture packs
                          at http://www.planethalflife.com/wadfather/

                          To the folks at www.k9kennelclub.com and www.bubblemod.org for helping me
                          with the playtesting and their suggestions.

                          To numerous people at the VALVE ERC who helped me figure out problems during
                          development of the map and providing valuable feedback.

                          To Goggs/[K9]Bulldog for hosting the various beta versions of my map on
                          his website so others could download it.
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* Play Information *

Multiplayer             : Lots of spawn points - I tried to put them near the action but out of
                          the usual points where crossfires happen. Weapons are generally near
                          the spawn points. I also tried to place them in lit locations so they would
                          stand out. The power-weapons are in harder to reach and/or risky locations.

                          I put a pillar in the middle of the courtyard with several spare
                          crowbars around it... this is for crowbar fights. Since the mod I like
                          to play supports throwing the crowbar, the pillar serves as partial cover -
                          spectators can watch the cbar fights from the balconies. :)

* Construction *

Editors used            : Hammer and Zoners Half Life Tools

Custom Textures         : 6 custom textures (listed in the credits). I reduced some of them in size
                          in order to keep the bsp size down.

Build time              : A lot of hours spread out over several months. Tweaking and tuning probably
                          took more time than making the core map.

Known Bugs              : I was unable to get the river in the temple to have a current AND behave
                          like water (e.g. drown, can't fire weapons) when you crouched in it.
                          Because fighting the current was integral to making the room beyond the
                          grate hard to reach I decided to keep the current. As a result, you are
                          able to fire weapons when crouched in the stream. A small but annoying bug
                          that seems to be a limitation of the HL engine :/

Secrets                 : There are 7 secrets in this map. I'll leave it to you to find them. As a
                          hint, there *is* a longjump module, but its kind of tough to get to.

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* Copyright / Permissions *

Authors MAY use this level as a base to build additional levels. Do what you will, but 
include this text file with your final vesion. It would also be appreciated if you send
me a copy of your work.

Thank You
-Ali
