Sector layout:
After some further testing, I've established that the main issues of this map are retreat pathing and sector layout. In its current form, the wehr player need only establish a front in the center to be in a dominant position. This is mainly triggered by the high ammo income that results and the ease at which the ami player can be cut off from his/her fuel. Due to the high munitions income, weapon upgrades and mines become plentiful, making a center push for the ami player increasingly difficult. The ami player could, in response, attempt to head northbound and hold the medium fuel of the wehr player, however fighting so far out with retreat pathing that always leads to the center of the map, makes this sort of strategy very risky. Moreover, the rather low fuel/high munitions count on the map encourages tier 2 wehr play and ami tier 3, simply because fast teching is generally too risky and less potent, since it hits so late.
As a solution, I came up with this sector layout:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?4o7mnczbv70hpzs
The desired effects are:
-attention of wehrmacht player is slightly averted from the center.
-fuel count is slightly increased to encourage more diverse teching paths (red indicates how the ami player could cap and hold the wehr player's medium fuel).
-ammo is slightly reduced so that the wehr player can't lay as many mines on all the choke points (in its current state, the center quickly becomes a death zone for the ami player).
-the cutoffs and pins aren't as punitive as they used to be.
-capping strategies are more varied.
Retreat pathing:
-light yellow arrows indicate current retreat paths
-black arrows indicate desired retreat paths
-importance: with units always retreating via the center from anywhere on the map, the wehr player can quite easily finish off retreating squads. In addition, it further encourages the wehr player to just hold the center.
-most squads retreating from anywhere along the center road makes them easy prey for jeeps and m8s that are in pursuit of them. One way of partially fixing this is by altering it so that a base mg/flak covers the retreat road. This is also necessary because of early exploits with Schwimwagen that can just rush your base in 3-4s, take little to no damage and lay firetraps. This is especially devastating to brit players, since it'll net their truck a damaged engine.
Additional notes:
-this map seems to do a better job at mitigating the semois pin, since you can connect the other players natural fuel to your territory via the extremes of the map.
-the pe player feels very confined on the island, especially in the north (little room to maneuver and tactically place your troops).
-Brit might have a hard time holding the center and consequently the vps.
-Light vehicles, especially the jeep, felt very powerful on this map, because of all the roads and etc.
@ Purlictor:
When I first started playing on this map, I would have agreed with you about the cutoffs. However, after a few games, I started to realize that if the ami player is pushed back and cutoff, he/she can quite easily disregard the cutoff and go for the northern part of the map and attempt to cap and hold the natural medium fuel of the wehr player. This is will force the wehr player to push northwards, which will allow the ami player to recap the cutoff and, thereby, reconnect his/her natural medium fuel.
Keep it up, Tribalbob!
This is shaping up to be one hell of a map!