When I saw these map names running on servers, I assumed that they would be the typical newbie "box with monsters" efforts. Well nope. In actual fact these are some fantastic and beautifully crafted maps! A great deal of thought, design, effort and testing has clearly gone into all of them, resulting in an outstanding collection of very playable and rewarding maps. They contain a large amount of refreshingly custom models and some lovely props, some interesting (often fiendish) gameplay, a good mix of combat, puzzles, mazes and skill tests, some horror and some hilarity. The "Couch of Doom" and the half-a-slave monsters are only a couple of examples! Just play them, you'll see.. it's quality stuff.
These aren't maps for the usual "run around crowbarring each other then jump off a cliff" crowd, you actually have to think what you're doing (or at least someone has to). If you want to proceed and can't think your way out of an apparent dead-end, consult the motd which contains essential hints. Co-operative gameplay is constantly rewarded throughout the series, if you think of your team you can proceed much more efficiently thanks to a liberal use of shortcuts and assists in every map, you just have to use your eyes to find them all.
Note that the grapple is used extensively in some maps, so you must be familiar with it and how to change modes, especially during use, same goes for the gauss gun.
I think justIslaves is the most fun, it's very reminiscent of the bonus level of HL Decay, where you get to change sides - it's really fun, and is executed very nicely! The only thing that breaks the mode is that the iSlave playermodel isn't enforced, and probably should be. (Turns out iSlave model is set properly by the map when the justIslave playermodel folder is in the correct place.)
XP and RPG style servermods break these maps as usual, in that you can just jump over stuff that you were meant to think/co-op around, and there's plenty of ammo caches anyway without it being dished out for free. High levels of XP or the RPG mod will allow you to walk/fly through in godmode, which is utterly pointless and ruins everything for everyone. These maps would be at their best played on vanilla servers with a group of co-op players. They're still ok with cheating mods, but not nearly as good as if you beat them working as a team using your brains and skills. A bunch of strangers can soon form an effective team, if they work together..
There's only a couple of minor issues:
* Each map ends with a game_end entity instead of a trigger_changelevel. This means the next map isn't hard-coded into the ending of the previous map, so if you want to play the series in the order the Mapper intended, you must set up your mapcycle.txt correctly, to reflect the correct sequence (see above). Alternatively, you could Ripent a trigger_changelevel into each map instead of the current game_end and set the next map name there. If set to "use only" it might even work without needing a brush.
* The folder path for the iSlave playermodel is currently incorrect, so players aren't able to use the model unless the ServerOp spots this and installs it properly. In the justzombies_v5.05.zip, the path is ../player/justislave/.. whereas the correct path should be ../models/player/justislave/.. So once unzipped, pick up the "player" folder and drop it into the "model" folder, then install all as normal.
* justIslaves should ideally have the iSlave playermodel set by default, and shouldn't allow it to be changed until after the Human conversion, where something like dm_helmet should be enforced instead. Seeing a bunch of random models running about really breaks the map's core concept, plus the model is very good and deserves to be used! Map already does this, however mp_modelselection 0 should be added to the justIslave.cfg in order to keep the map's theme.
* justmilitary lags dreadfully in the arena battle, just because of the sheer number of concurrently active npcs.
Easily a 5 star effort! Good job :)
justmilitary
You spawn with the grapple, that's a clue. Grapple to a team-mate and then rappell/abseil to the canyon floor. Once you have got to the bottom of the canyon floor don't just run off, think of your team-mates and open the big round water tank for them to safely fall into! Or bring them all down on the super-express elevator.
Behind the Gonarch is a potential ally, if only you'd release him from his prison.. He is Johnny Alpha (possibly the original Strontium Dog?) and is very useful.
Once you reach the first small lava area, don't just XPM jump across it like a lame person, break the two large wooden crates instead - they contain green grapple anchors.. use your brain, not the cheating-mod, it's much more rewarding! Once across, you can navigate the lava pool if you are patient, and observant. Just wait for a while if nothing seems to be happening, you won't die from waiting 20 seconds!
For non-German speakers, when you press a button and the message says "Bruecke wird ausgefahren", this translates to "The bridge is extended" - referring to the big outdoor canyon that you initially spawned at the top of, next to a retracted bridge which now becomes a shortcut from spawn.
When you cross the bridge that is mostly destroyed (defended by grunts and snipers) the door ahead of you is closed and you need to descend into the lava canyon. At the end of the canyon footpath, look up carefully at the ceiling, there is grapple texture there. You must grapple "Tarzan" style (Tarzan yodel optional) until you are clear of the lava canyon. After some fails, a "pity" shortcut opens in this area.
Proceed until you get into the "all green" caves - these are covered completely in grapple texture. Shoot the vertical columns/plants and use the holes they leave behind for access to the next level. Mostly you have to go up, but at the top, you have to go right down to the bottom, before grappling all the way to the top into the adjacent room, then you're out.
The "technical Weapons" room is accessed via a vent. Look up at the ceiling nearby, where those barnacles have broken through..
justIslaves
If you haven't played Half-Life and you don't know what bounce pads are, or that the gauss alt-fire shoots through things, or that the grapple can be used to safely descend as well as climb, or that exploding props are often the way forward then you're not going to get very far here.
Once you have "jump started" the generator with your zap attack (nice idea) the elevator by the exploded crates is then enabled.
If you are playing on a non-cheats server, you will need to use a little crane to get up onto a higher level. It requires two, one to stand between the "claws" of the crane grapple and the other to use the nearby control console. Once at the other side, the "hoisted" player can soon open a shortcut door for the stranded player(s).
There is only one obscure part, when you get to the big generator at the end, and you can't shut it off because the Sesame Street Count won't let you (yes - really) it's intended that you die here in the attempt and then respawn (as a Human) in the sealed "conversion containers" in a nearby room. Once there have been three respawns (in different containers) the lids will raise and you can escape. As you leave that room the game suddenly proceeds from that point, from an otherwise dead-end. I mention this since cheat mods can stop you from being killed, in which case the map will simply stall here.