Asteroid

Asteroid
Basic Information
Developer(s):	{{{map-developer}}}
Map Info
Environment:	Space
Setting:	Space
Map Photos
Map Overview

“

Gravity? Who gives a crap about gravity?

Click to listen

— The Scout

”

Asteroid is a Robot Destruction beta map, released in the July 8, 2014 patch. The map is set between two space stations. The goal of the map is to be the first team to obtain a total of 300 points which can be collected through two methods: destroying robots wandering in the opposing team's space station or stealing the opposing team's reactor core (similar to the Capture the Flag gamemode). The opposing team's reactor core holds all the points gathered by that team and can be brought back to a base to steal a certain amount of points. The total amount of points tied to the reactor core increases the longer the player stands on the spawn point of the opposing team's reactor core.

As of the July 8, 2014 patch, it is unfinished and still in development, but the TF2 community is allowed to play-test it and give feedback to Valve on how to balance the map.

Locations

Asteroid is a mirrored symmetrical map.

Mid Bridge – The midpoint between the RED and BLU bases, the Mid Bridge area includes the actual bridge as well as two stone side paths. A fall off of the bridge or paths is fatal.

Entrance or "Lobby" – An open area that is the first room to each team's base. Includes two front-facing entrances to Mid Bridge as well as stairs to the second level of the base and two exits to the platform that houses the A robots.

A Bridge – A platform over a large flooded room that connects Spawn to the Entrance area. On the current version of Asteroid, the A level robots are found here.

B Chamber – A central area immediately outside of (and below) Spawn, where access from the A Bridge, Water Route, C Deck, and Reactor all converge. A large semicircular control booth of indestructible glass provides some cover and ability to survey A Bridge. The B Robots are found here.

Spawn – A windowed chamber overlooking the B Chamber that exits into the battlements and Reactor.

Reactor Vault – The Reactor Vault or Vault is a semi-secure zone that protects the Reactor Core. The vault is the furthest portion of the level from the enemy base. There are three entrance paths leading directly to the visible Reactor Core in the middle of the vault:
- The Lasers route is directly through the middle and is guarded by three shifting laser beams.
- The Gate route is to the right (when approaching the Vault), and passes through a one-way Gate. The Gate will open for either team, but only opens from the outside.
- The Vents route is to the left, crouch-crawling through a ventilation duct near the glassed-in control room. Low pipes occlude a portion of the duct, slowing the player significantly and making this the longest route by time.

Upper Deck or "C Deck" – A platform immediately above B Chamber and overlooking the A Bridge. The C Robots are found here. C Deck can be accessed directly from Spawn as well as from a glass hallway that runs between C Deck and the deck above the lobby.

Robots

The robots featured on this map serve as scoring targets. Players may attack the robots, which drop Power Cores when destroyed, which may then be collected for points. One point is scored for the player's team for each Power Core collected. Friendly robots will heal their team players if they're close to them

The robots are separated into three areas, named A, B, and C. There are two robots roaming around each area. They will always follow their path that is marked on the floor, unless they are being attacked.

Robot data

Group	№ Robots	Cores per robot	Health per robot	Respawn time
A	2	5	500	60
B	2	10	500	90
C	2	25	500	90

Robot behavior

The robots in areas B and C are protected by what appears to be an ÜberCharge when the robots in front of them are alive; B robots are protected if any A robot is alive and C robots are protected if any B robot is alive.

After 7 seconds without taking damage, the robots heal themselves at a rate of 8 health per second.

All of the robot groups share a respawn timer. The timer is reset when each group of robots is destroyed.

When destroyed, A and B robots drop their associated amount of Power Cores in a single drop. When C robots are destroyed, they perform a death animation wherein they run around dropping a stream of Power Cores. The A and B robots also drop Dispenser gibs when destroyed. These gibs may be collected for Ammo or Metal .

The robots are defenseless, but will attempt to escape from attackers by running in circles.

Robots will give 5 health per second to nearby friendly players.

Strategy

See Community Asteroid strategy

Update history

July 8, 2014 Patch

Added Mann Co. Beta Maps - Early Access program.
- Added 2 new beta maps: rd_asteroid and pl_cactuscanyon.
- Beta maps can be accessed via the Quickplay menu by checking the "Play Beta Maps" option.

July 9, 2014 Patch #1

Updated rd_asteroid
- Fixed incorrect respawn times for Blu attackers
- Fixed missing kill triggers in pits
- Added blockers to starting gates to prevent Engineers from building outside the base before the round starts
- Added medium health kit near large ammo pack at the front doors of each base
- Removed the ability to create buildings in the lasers
- Removed chair prop from vent access room near vault

July 9, 2014 Patch #2

Updated rd_asteroid to fix another problem with respawn times for Blu attackers

July 17, 2014 Patch

Layout has been adjusted with the overall goal of improving visibility of teammates
Removed spawn teleporter
Reduced map size by removing the front lobby and cave sections
Added terrain paths on the sides of the mid bridge
Increased width of the mid bridge
Removed doors that locked when A and B robots were active
Robots have been rearranged:
- A robots now roam the bridge above the water
- B robots now roam around the floor in front of the vault
- C robots now roam around the upper deck
Added more line of sight blockers to the water room to provide better cover during combat engagements
Reduced travel time for the water flanking route under the interior bridge
Added a drop down to enter the water room from the front door staging area
Increased size of the glass room near C robots to provide flanking cover to use against Sentry Guns that are placed at the corner of the upper deck
Increased width of vault corridors
Reworked vent route that leads to the vault, no longer need to crouch jump on exit
Moved left spawn exit forward to reduce effectiveness of spawn camping
Added a resupply cabinet to the right side spawn exit
Re-positioned health and ammo pickup locations
Added ramp collision to stairs
Fixed gap in the death pit that allowed players to survive
[Undocumented] Removed unused paths from rd_asteroid

July 24, 2014 Patch

Mode changes
- Players must steal at least 25 points before they can leave the vault with the reactor core
- Updated power core pick up sound
- Updated robot death effects and sounds
- Updated HUD layout
Map changes
- Layout has been adjusted with the overall goal of increasing players ability to participate in creating points for their team
- Added terrain path and cave entrance under mid bridge. Exit is located near the large row of windows. Cave contains a medium health pack
- Widened play space near cave exit leading into large row of windows
- Added small ammo pack to underwater flank that leads to enemy reactor vault
- Added small health kit to staging area before the interior battlements
- Reduced ammo pack near vault from full to medium
- Added alcove near front door staging area
- Robots have been rearranged
  - A robots now circle the staircase near the front door
  - B robots now roam the interior bridge above the water
- Enabled flashing lights when a team's power reactor has been stolen
- Fixed broken stair collision when exiting the water near the bridge. In some cases it would push players back into the water.
- Added player blocker to ledge above exterior battlements
- Widened glass tunnel flank doorway near C robots
- Increased attackers spawn time by 1 second

Bugs

The robots sometimes display %HEALTH% instead of a number indicating health, or display nothing at all when moused over, especially if the player backs through them.
Spawn gates are not configured like standard spawn gates
- When setup ends, spawn gates disappear instead of opening like they do on other maps,
- Spawn gates are not aligned properly
- Spawn gates do not block bullets.
The pits to the left coming from each battlements has a small area on the far side where players can stand and build.

Trivia

There is commented out I/O to disable the laser trap when all the robots are destroyed.
The reactor cores are set up for paint, similar to a hat.
There are several areas in the map that are enclosed and can only be entered in the spectator freecam.