Viertel Am See Plaza
Base Map: High Ground
Time to Complete: One day, minus tweaking
Resemblance to Inspired Defense Point: Moderate
More famously known as Echo Base, Viertel Am See Plaza is the site of some of the fiercest fighting at Mahorafest, second only to the desperate final battle at the World Tree Plaza. Defended by the members of the Mahora Halo Enthusiasts' "Fireteam Charlie" Echo Base is the only defense point that made use of live ammunition, up until the point where Fireteam Charlie's "marines" began spreading to other defense points.
This map went into production from RAVEN NULL's devious architechtural plotting, knowing only that he needed to build a highly-defensible base that would be difficult and time-consuming for the droids to overrun. To this end, he established the front gate as the natural first line of defense, by placing a pair of turrets in the guard tower to provide an interlocking field of fire from all three turrets, making approach highly difficult.
In order to balance out the heavy fire field, the droid spawn area was equipped with a Wraith (representing the droids' heavily-armored spider walkers), rockets, and a sniper. A later moment of insight on my part led to the spawns of the Wraith and the droid team going into the water, with Sentinel beams (our answer to the droids' strip ray) placed in front of all eight spawns. The reason for this new spawn placement was to nod back at the original manga battle, in which the droids appeared and attacked en masse out of the lake.
I later decided to change the Mahorans' first defense line, moving it out into the pillbox outside the main gate. Adding a pile of assault rifles and battle rifles, as well as two rocket spawns, into the pillbox turned it into a position that could heavily harass the droids for a considerable amount of time. With the gaping hole that's normally in the pillbox sealed by crates and barricades, the position is defendable until a Wraith blast gets lucky, or the droids get a good sniper.
Upon being overrun, the Mahorans manning the pillbox, as well as those manning the main gate and the guard tower, can easily make their way into the heavily-fortified area of the base by use of a teleporter placed in the guard tower building. Of course, the enemy can also use this teleporter...
The fortified room of the base is where most of the fighting, and the fiercest fighting, is expected to occur. Counting the teleporter, there are four ways in and one exit toward the command center. Two of the exits are blocked by barricades and crates. The majority of the fighting will be focused around what I like to call the "Tantive Corridor." The entrance that is closest to the back of the map is blocked by two stacked barricades that can be destroyed by the droids to gain entry into the fortified room. The other entrance is harder to break into, and is guarded by a shotgun spawn.
And lastly, the droids' prize is the command center. Situated in the center of the base, all entrances into it have been blocked except for a single bridge walkway which is barricaded to protect occupants from small-arms fire. This creates a natural chokepoint, particularly when paired with the multiple close-range weapons inside the command center. The VIP is expected to remain inside the command center, as it's the most defensible part of the map, but they are by no means restricted to doing so.
The Bridge to the Command Center
Base Map: Valhalla
