fixing map readability

Hey guys,
there are some maps in faf that are played competitively, but are far from obvious to read for new players due to the scripts changing certain dynamics, that actually might make players playing them for the first time fall behind. Sometimes the more they know about the game, the more they will get hurt.

Let me ilustrate it with an example:
Loki is a very popular , great classic map. Since I played it many times I know that buildings in the middle are basically useless- there is almost no mass to reclaim. Yet any capable player who didn't get to play it before will have a wrong image of the map(that comes from his valid game knowledge) and might consider grabbing the middle to fight for the mexes later as an actual strategical option, only to lose miserably as a consequence if he choses to do so.

Proposed solution:
Would that be viable to replace all maps with scripts for ladder with their versions that display the script specifics in text?(something like text in adaptive acid lakes, but informing that the buildings are nerfed)

Remember: Losing is Fun!

This stuff just shouldn't be allowed in ladder/matchmaker in general. Loki is simply given the exception of being an ancient map.

I believe another example is the amount of mass in trees varying by map?

That's not something you would info dump a player with, particularly since maps can have a variety of tree groups on them. You would need to be able to hover over a tree group and get the value it provides in your ui instead.

Instead of obnoxious text in the middle of the screen like some maps do it I would rather be able to see how much reclaim a civilian building will give. Maybe as a reclaim label. Then I can make a decision if it's worth it to get to the civilian base and it would also solve the problem on maps like Loki, because the buildings would show up as 0.

I like this idea, the reclaim in neutral civilian buildings should just show up like reclaim otherwise would. That way, there would be no difference between a living civilian building or destroyed one when you press ctrl+shift to show reclaim on the map.

Why not extend that to everything that is reclaimable?

It is not possible to determine the reclaim value of a unit. Take Loki as an example, it adjusts the reclaim value by script and there's no way to know that this map (or any other map / mod) did that, at any point in time. Mechanics like overkill have impact on the reclaim value too. It would, at best, confuse players and at worst the system would lie to players.

The real issue is that people consider Loki being 'ancient' to be a good argument to keep it in the pool, while the map is confusing to every (new) player that are just applying what other maps taught them.

A work of art is never finished, merely abandoned