SMA Khione is a map that some would say came right out of BW, and you wouldn’t be wrong by saying that, because Khione has many features which are simply not seen on “Normal” SC2 maps. The map showcases not in-main, half bases, but Mineral Walls and Destructible Reinforced Bio-domes which have 7000 HP.

One big misunderstanding of Non-standard map features such as the Domes, or Mineral Walls, is that they are being used as features by themselves, when in reality they are used to compensate for other features, in the case of the Reinforced Bio-Domes, they have such amount of HP because normal rocks simply won’t cut it when it comes to blocking important passages, with the standard HP it is simply too easy for a big army to break the rocks and enter areas which shouldn’t be easily accessed. Same thing goes for the Mineral Walls. That kind of features gives Maps the ability to use some curious features, which otherwise simply wouldn’t be balanced, or would force players to play hyper-defensive styles lest they lose to a very simple run-by.

Top Left Main base. Top Left Natural Top half Base with Rich Vespene Geyser. Central Gold base. Top Right Natural base. Top Right Main base. Center Left Exposed base. Top Right open Third base.

Using Non-standard features requires a great deal of care, because many of these features can’t be simply slapped into a imbalanced map feature and expected to work, but need to be flushed out and tested, yet the advantages of doing so are tremendous because of the vast amount of possibilities they offer.

Now looking Khione in particular, the map is inspired by Hitchhicker, not only on aesthetics, but on design. The map features a single central passage and two blocked off “wings”, but other than the highly visible surface the map does not share many more intimate details with the BW classic, instead it works his way to a new flow and layout, which better fits the new and sometimes very terrain independent SC2 units.

Map Information

Map Size: 146×140

Rush Distance Top Left vs Bottom Right: 240

Nat to Nat Distance Top Left vs Bottom Right: 193

Rush Distance Top Right vs Bottom Left: 280

Nat to Nat Distance Top Right vs Bottom Left: 210

Xel’naga Towers: 0

Half Bases: Half bases have a Rich Vespene Geyser and 6 Mineral Patches, 3 of which are 900 Mineral ones.

Mineral Walls: Wall Mineral patches have 40 Minerals each.

Destructive Domes: Each Reinforced Domes has a total of 7000 HP and 3 armor.

Quick Links

TL Thread: No Thread Yet Made.

Reddit Thread: SMA – KTV Khione (Using non-standard features to achieve curious maps!)

Changelog of the map

V 1.01

♦ Fixed a Bug where units could see up Ramps blocked with Mineral Patches.

♦ Fixed a small pathing problem near Top Right/Bottom Left spawns. V 1.00

♦ Published!