Walkthrough video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT8GToo-kAs
Download: http://www.fpsbanana.com/maps/download/118880
Gotfrag Review Thread: http://www.gotfrag.com/tf2/forums/thread/409541/

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/769/66393262.png

This is the first koth map to use the swamp tileset that I've found so far. It has a rating of 10/10 on FPSBanana, and all previous versions were above 9/10 there. Unfortunately, I haven't found any information about how it plays competitively.

One plus that this map has over Viaduct is that I don't get crappy framerates in the middle.

We also played it a bit in a pug. If you guys ever play it in a pug, please save a demo of it and post it here so I can watch! I really want to know how well this map plays.

The only downside I see to this is that its extremely close quarters and the far end of the map hardly ever gets used. This isn't that big of a downside, though, as the close quarters discourages the use of Scouts and I'm totally open-minded to changing the status quo.

(This forum lets you attach demos to posts)

http://www.mediafire.com/?wy1jjnjoz0z

I have a demo that is too big to attach so I posted it on MediaFire. You may think that the close-quarters is against the scouts but here I prove otherwise, it is actually quite great for scouts since there are so many paths to flank small rooms from, and it's really easy to run away quickly from a heated situation, even against other scouts. Outside near the point is a few areas in the murky water where you can sneak or lose your enemy, it's nearly opaque. The medic is especially vulnerable in this map as there is no place at all to hide near the point, and there are at least 3 entrances to each room. There are tons of ledges to stand on for scout and soldiers, and maybe a demo perch as well guarding the point. As for classes, scouts are probably dominant in this map due to the large amounts of doorways to appear from and point-blank lone or weak heavy classes. Soldiers and demomen are staple as well as any amount of spam can clear out the rooms easily, and there are many places to jump to and lay traps. Non-standard classes are also great as heavies which can block out doorways and be a great meatshield to ward enemies off of the medic, pyros have many chances to flank but may not be useful at all most of the time as there is much water and health packs in this map. Spies have a chance of being deadly as they can appear out of nowhere, and the sniper ledges on the 2 sides of the map are rather safe and easily defended. This is a balanced map as it has many choices of assault on the enemy team and the point, but this also brings the dilemma of the map to light. It is very easy to assault the medic and finish him off successfully. This mostly implies to the small houses on the map, as the point and the "pond" area are rather safe when the medic is surrounded by teammates. It is really easy to get spammed into one of the shacks and have the medic get eaten by spam or a scout coming from any of the 3 entrances whichever is unguarded. This is just my opinion based on what I have seen on the map and people will have their own views as well. I have enjoyed it very much and can see it be alongside the stock KOTH maps that Valve has provided.

Watching you guys play this while I was uploading the other map, It appeared to be play fairly well and move back and forth quite a bit, I do think one half the map is largely ignored since its so open to snipers.. Well worth a play.

Just want to make a quick comment, the version reviewed was an older version, I stumbled onto the v2 of this map and it is now on the server. Fundamentally I don't think a LOT has changed though..

Hello everyone, just wanted to poke my head in and say I'm the map maker for koth_moonshine. Thank you for the map posting, video, and great review.

Hawkeye, latest version of the map is koth_moonshine_rc. Not a lot has changed on the outside from the first version koth_moonshine to koth_moonshine_rc, due to very successful testing of the early versions. I will say there is a lot that changed under the hood like lighting and optimization, so i would definitely suggest going with the RC version. Plus you have to love that new map smell. :smile:

Thanks again guys, hope you continue to enjoy the map.