Curse

JR · Feb 07, 2006, 06:08 AM // 06:08

CA/TA Map Guides -- Fort Koga (Annihilation)

Also known as:
"The donut map"
"The Maguuma arena"

The Maps

General Layout

Fort Koga is a straight-forward map, generally only hindering teams relying on projectile attacks due to a relative abundance of line-of-sight breaking obstacles and terrain, divided between clear higher and lower ground sections.

Fort Koga consists of broad walls enclosing a lowered center, connected by three ramps. The wall has two gaps in its western and northern side, spanned by narrow bridges (C, D); the gaps themselves are accessible from the center, but are immediate dead ends. One team spawns in the south-west of the map (A), the other team spawns in the north-east (B). The map features a seperate shrine in the south-east which no longer serves any purpose (G).

Terrain Quality

The terrain is littered with impassable rubble, from stones and bushes to small ornaments in the center. Use these to your advantage when kiting, and above all don't get caught by them yourself. Most notorious on this map is the bush on the middle ramp, resting against the eastern pillar - try to avoid cutting inbetween the bush and the pillar since you're likely to get stuck, then bodyblocked by the character chasing you.

Hazards

Fort Koga has no natural hazards.

Strategy

Most fights on Fort Koga take place on the north-west wall, inbetween the two bridges, as the midpoint on the swiftest route between the two spawning points (A, B). This wall section has a slight bend, and for fights taking place on top of the wall the stone pillars lining the inside rim of the curve can be used to break line-of-sight; typically the pillars next to the downward ramp will be used for this purpose as they give the most certain cover.

Considering teams generally take these routes toward eachother, a defensive team can use the bridge on their respective side (C, D) as a choke point for traps or other area control tools, and position their support characters before the base. If necessary, they can fall back into their own base, using the base walls to break line-of-sight and potentially using the base entrance as a new chokepoint. If even that fails, there is a slim chance of escape towards the shrine (G) or heading into the center below via the nearby offramp, but fights are generally over if this much terrain is conceded.

Going below

There isn't much strategical benefit in taking the fight to the middle. Although there's slightly more elbow room there, the numerous impassable objects littering the center diminish mobility, and the added risk of an up-hill battle (elevation benefits rangers and provides better battle overview) against the other team is usually enough reason to stay on the wall.

Spellcasters that do not rely on line-of-sight spells can take the middle ramp into the lower area (E->F), casting spells from lower ground (or from underneath one of bridges C and D) while remaining out of visual sight of their opponent and becoming difficult to reach for melee attackers. Keep a close eye on your aggro bubble - targets can dip just out of your range, which will force your character to take a very long walk around the wall to reach that player again; this is especially critical for monks that lose a player if they start running instead of casting. When casting from below, position yourself to keep optimal wall coverage, and know your limits.

When diving into the center to specifically escape ranger attacks from on top of the wall, either hug the wall directly or put a pillar between yourself and the ranger up top. When doing so, don't rely on distance to escape fire, the elevation will give rangers an alarming range that will push you well outside of the fight, which isn't desirable for anything other than a desperate attempt to stay alive, and unless you have an urgent need to cut through the middle to reach someone, escaping along the walls is usually safer. The middle ramp is split into two ways by a stand-alone wall (F), which is very well suited to kite people around it, and due to the sharp corners is very attractive to frustrate ranger interrupts. Casting range from here is limited to the center and the wall area around the ramp (E).

Into the unknown

The south-east wall section, connecting to the unused shrine (G), typically goes unused since it's the furthest away from any of the ramps, restricting tactical mobility; it also largely eliminates the option of having casters in the center casting onto the wall because of vegetation preventing casters from standing close enough, and the aforementioned distance to the ramps. There is a distinct elevation towards the southwest base (A) which can be used for higher ground advantage - alternatively the pillars at the offramp near the southwest base are higher and broader than usual, making them more suited for breaking line-of-sight than the relatively tame counterpart near the northeast base (B).

-[iQ]Silmor

agentblade · Feb 08, 2006, 05:02 AM // 05:02

nothing to add..just wanna say nice guide.. great info for new players.

zoozoc · Feb 08, 2006, 05:20 AM // 05:20

ya a pretty sweet guide, you planning on doing the same for the other Ra and Ta maps?

Phades · Feb 08, 2006, 06:07 AM // 06:07

Its interesting JR is digging up alot of IQ guides like this. I just gotta wonder when the midpoints in the bridge along the railings will stop blocking line of sight on this map.

JR · Feb 08, 2006, 06:57 AM // 06:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by zoozoc

ya a pretty sweet guide, you planning on doing the same for the other Ra and Ta maps?

As the title says, these articles are by Silmor of iQ, not me. I would assume he is planning on completing the set, for all of the arena locations. No garauntee though.

@Phades: Untill someone else starts producing articles of equal worth and relevance, it's iQ exclusively

Rajamic · Feb 08, 2006, 10:32 AM // 10:32

I may have to check out that shrine sometime. All the RA matches I've done, and I don't think I've ever looked in there!

Former Ruling · Feb 08, 2006, 12:09 PM // 12:09

This map me and friends call "Runner's Heaven".

There are more Griefers on this map than any other. Normal players that brought a run inorder to get away will from time to time just decide to run around. Its like mentioned its hard for Random Arena teams to get the Pincer on him since the map is in a circle, has multiple floors, and has all the obstacles.

The average time of a round has to be like..doubled..for this map.

TheArrow · Feb 08, 2006, 02:23 PM // 14:23

I've run for about 5 hours straight on this map. It was really fun.