Tortuga
Tortuga is a Trinket Wars/Territory map set in a caribbean town and it's notable for being so far the only map in Pirates, Vikings and Knights II to be built and released for two different game modes. It's also notable for having the second biggest development cycle for a map, being teased and reported as playable in 2008 but it didn't saw a release until 2012. It is regarded as one of the mod's most visually striking maps.
Stats
- Map file: tw_tortuga, te_tortuga
- Mode: Trinket Wars, Territory
- Author: Evil_Taxi (original author), Niknak (final version), Colonel Sanders (Territory mode implementation)
- Release Date: Beta 2.5 (Trinket Wars, October 2012), Beta 2.6 (Territory, October 2013)
- Theme: Urban, Caribbean
- Capturing Time (Territory):
- Pick-ups: Food (x_), Armor (x_), and Ammo (x_)
- Stage Hazards: Piranha pond, shark-infested sea
Overview
Tortuga's layout can be described as having a main building in the center of the map which leads to all four main capture areas in Territory mode. To prevent dead ends to ruin the game's balance, small shortcuts are added so that players can attack from behind. In Trinket Wars mode, the level's layout is the same as the Territory one, only with the difference of not having specific respawn areas for each team. In Territory mode, the Knights' respawn area can be accessible by other players, while the Vikings and the Pirates' areas are unreachable, and because of that no player can respawn in those specific areas in Trinket Wars mode.
Hubb Jubb Stash
Like a fast food chain, Hubb Jubb is present in this map in stash form near the Knights' respawn area. It's a very small area and it's hard to avoid incoming attack while capturing or defending the area, and therefore the better option to capture it is to have a large group on your side.
Dinah's Well
A square dedicated to the noobs who felt in the well to get a gulp of fresh water, this is an open area suitable for archery and sniping, as well farting, since all players gather around the well to capture said area. Evasion can be easy in this place, very easy to evade in fact, and that's a huge motivator for the players to stay there and defend, quite paradoxically. The Vikings' respawn are is located near Dinah's Well.
Bellamy's Balcony
Named after the famous pirate, Bellamy's Balcony can only be accessed when going inside the main building in the middle of the three main areas, where a staricase is placed there. The balcony is rather small and running from enemies is possible, though fall damage is obligatory if jumping from the balcony.
Haven Port
The area is well known among players because of the promotional artwork which is based on; the capture area is located near a corner between two streets and behind it there's a huge ocean with deadly sharks swimming around the bay, ideal for lunge attacks. Players who are in Dinah's Well can reach Haven Port with ease through a small narrow street, leaning behind the players defending the place. There's a small platform surrounding Haven Port's crane which serves as a detour to attack the territory. The Pirates' respawn area is located near Haven Port.
Presentation
One of several urban-themed maps, Tortuga's streets are paved with roads which lead to the town's landmarks; not only that but it's filled with exotic plants that give a more refreshing feel. There are many buildings built with stone and wood, and some huts with hay roofs, but the pearl of the city is the Haven Port, constantly sunbathing until twilight arrives. In downtown, players can hear its inhabitants inside the pubs talking and singing, having a great time in this lovely place somewhere in the Caribbean Sea.
History
Development of Tortuga started with the production of Beta 2.0. The first official screenshot of Tortuga was revealed in October 2007, alongside many other screenshots featuring the then upcoming classes.[1] In December 2007, CrazyTalk announced that the map was ready but it needed some modifications, but like Town, another map planned for the Beta 2.0 release, it didn't make it to the update. During development of Beta 2.1 it was revealed that mapper Evil_Taxi was no longer working on Tortuga and left the team without giving the original map file for other members to edit.
"What you've seen of Tortuga is basically the most complete area. The rest of the map is fairly unfinished and needs a substantial amount of work. I'm concentrating on helping out 2.1 bugs, and then working on pvk_pinegrove. Perhaps after that I can start fixing up Tortuga, now that Evil_Taxi has gone." -Gaz
"The guy making the map had to leave the team due to some commitments in real life, we don't have a source for the map so we can not finish it." -Crazytalk
After years of no news related to the map, it eventually resurfaced from obscurity in late 2011, with footage of a nearly complete Trinket Wars version of Tortuga in the Sharpshooter trailer; until then, Tortuga's game mode was unclear, despite a loading screen texture file being leaked, claiming the use of Terrotory as its game mode. The development team confirmed that Tortuga was ready to be released on Beta 2.5, alongside the Sharpshooter, a rather fitting character because of the map's theme. The update was finally released in October 2012, concluding over five years of development.
Shortly after the release of Tortuga, a Territory version of the map was developed by Colonel Sanders. making use of the map's landmarks as capture points. This version of the map was released the following year in the Map Update, in October 2013.
Differences between Versions
Aside from specific respawn areas for all three classes, both versions of Tortuga are almost exact copies of each other, with some minimal visual differences; for example, a pile of coins can be found in the Territory version of Bellamy's Balcony, while in the Trinket Wars version it doesn't exist.
Trivia
- Despite the ocean being infested with sharks and being deadly by touching it, there are no sharks swimming in the area, although a shark model exists inside the mod's folder, albeit in an unfinished state, with no complete textures and no animations;
- It is one of the maps with the least amount of graphical bugs when loading to Source Filmmaker. While several maps have issues related to water textures, High Dynamic Range or alpha textures, Tortuga seems to be nearly intact apart from the darker areas which is a result of the sunset effect;
