Wingman Maps?
Before creating any ideas for maps, I wanted to take a look at other Wingman maps to not only get some inspiration, but also see what common tropes and themes underly the layouts.
The majority of Wingman maps in Counter-Strike 2 are unfortunately just pre-existing 5v5 Defusal maps stripped of one site and presented as new maps. This means they often don’t play as well as maps specifically designed for the Wingman format, however they make up 4 out of 6 available Wingman map slots.
The other 2 slots are reserved for community made maps, which are rotated out every few months. One of the currently available maps is Whistle, a picturesque heritage railway based in fictional rural England. The other being Palais, a vertical map set in the center of Paris on the rooftop of a museum.
I’ll be taking a look at how these two maps play, and seeing what made Valve choose them. This should give me a good starting point to decide how to move forward with my own Wingman map.
Whistle
I’ve used the online note taking tool Miro here to quickly assess key features of the map. Lets break down some of the key aspects:
- Terrorists have timing advantage on both the major peeks.
This causes Counter-Terrorists to play more defensively in cubbies and holding angles - CTs have powerful wrapping potential in their spawn.
The circular layout gives them a powerful spot to let the Ts plant and play to defuse bomb - Site has several access points.
Despite this, clever positioning of the board in the middle of site means most line-of-sights are blocked and evens the peeks out to be fairly neutral - Long is powerful but risky.
Choosing to push long as a terrorist gives a powerful control over the map, but with the four access points to long, it creates a high-risk high-reward situation
Whistle is a bold map; the size and power of long on this map gives it a unique playstyle, however it may be a little swayed for Terrorist advantage.
Palais
Palais has a unique sense of verticality, giving Ts the opportunity to get a bird’s-eye view on the CTs. However, if they’re smart, the CTs will ignore the initial raised peek and play to deny plant. Here’s a couple other things I noticed about the map:
- CTs are heavily encouraged by the layout to rush T spawn, and get the high ground themselves
- In a post-plant situation, if Ts manage to get back up to the high ground, it’s a very powerful position to play
- CTs are easily clearable in most common spots with Molotov grenades. This means they have to either prepare with a smoke or play carefully
- Assuming the Terrorists push upper, they cannot drop without either making sound or walking all the way back round. This means CTs can play off audio well
- Given the nature of site, both teams can comfortably wrap around the rafters, this gives post-plant an unpredictable nature
Palais is interesting as far as Wingman maps go. I’m not sure I will take much inspiration from the T side of the map, however it deals with lines-of-sight well and encourages utility.
Has This Helped?
Taking a look at these two maps has given me a nice starting point to base ideas off of. Palais is definitely a little far from what I’m intending to create, but Whistle has helped me think about the possibility of an interesting long to have players engage with.
My next goal is to start working on a couple layouts, and create my statement of intent. See you there!