Best CO map in my opinion:
Qinling
The map
Size
The operational size of this beautiful hilly forest map is just massive. The amount of battle-space provided for whatever one wants to try out in the craftsmanship of example mobile and static warfare, is in my opinion more than enough when taking my subjective experience of the average PR CO skill-level into consideration. And in that regard I think the map of Qinling is ahead most of the PR Commander skills out there. We the CO players, simply still don?t have the organisational, tactical and communicational skills required to make use of all the options Qinling, as a whole offers.
To the skilled PR CO, the sheer map size will often provide a second chance if having lost a significant initial engagement in a round. Thus if you?re the Freeze-Type commander, loosing the ability to act when the Sierra hits the fan, Qinling actually offers you time to deploy your self into action-mode again and regroup your team accordingly. Other maps in PR does offer that same opportunity too, but not on the scale as Qinling.
Terrain
The terrain is beautiful designed. It consist of hilly landscape combined with the light forest environment, a huge water obstacle in the centre of the map and a river in the north middle part of the map. All together the terrain features makes Qinling a beyond doubt challenge when moving ones team around in a safe manner, making sure its not going to be ambushed entering that next main grid. At the same time the terrain combined with the operational size of the map, makes it possible to use a team in loads of different set-ups too. Finally every flag zone has constructions added to provide basic urban warfare challenges too.
The huge amount of fairly north-south valley corridors and ridges too and the fact you most lightly somewhere/anywhere on the map will become engaged on the cross-axis of x of those, is it in self a superior PR CO learning ground. On most other maps out there it?s the same places where the battles are won or lost, thus the learning factor often base it self from those same places. This pattern if you will, also exist on Qinling too, but due to the unique specifics of this map, the chance for a pattern-break is more lightly to happen. Especially if the team is a veteran team from Project Reality Tournament.
Assets
The amount of assets available on Qinling are almost second to none in the game environment of Project Reality. They offer numerous options of how to be used, both for the basic Project Reality Commander and the advanced one too. Actually, the assets them self combined with the hilly forest terrain and the operational size of the map too, provide a highly unique PR CO challenge too. Until I began playing the game as CO in the Project Reality Tournament I never was aware of this fact, but in the tournament I got a wake up call if you will. It was cool to experience that Qinling opened my eyes up for that.
As the trained and experienced PRT CO will be aware of, both the Armour leader and the Air leader and also, if skilled up enough (through team sized training hopefully), the Infantry leader/s too (in set-ups where the team is organised in two-three services) can have their own subjective service-based-viewpoints on how this map should be processed. Thus, in such case, its vital for a CO to completely understand those one-sided points of views, both in their width and in their depth, sole and combined with each other too. Not that those POWs automatically will diverge from each other, but the map and its assets does provide exactly such a potential unique challenge. I experienced that I had to get more into the service-knowledge if you will that on any other map I have played out there, simply because the leaders I played with at that point, had evolved their own specific skills.
CO-Creativity
Restrictions is the mother of creativity and the Qinling map, is so rich in providing that potential. Again, the operational size, the terrain features and the assets all contributes to that outcome. As CO, one cant, as one in fact can on Street, cover all parts of the map with ones forces. Thus in order to designate focus to the sub-units on a PR team playing Qinling, coordinated and meaningful organisational, tactical and communicational restrictions are necessary. Consequently creativity is simply borne out the very map design of Qinling it self. That fact alone, is in my mind, just awesome and shows the future non-traditional potential of this game, this MOD, Project Reality.
The lack of any real conventional reason for making use of the ground-area in the northwest part of the map, due to the absence of flags and important assets, opens up for new thoughts, creating new ideas that can ? if not change ones tactical view ? then at least influence it. Both in regard to Qinling it self and other PR maps too. So, that?s nice to experience as a so-called tactical player. Not all PR maps have had the designed volume so to say, to bring such tactical benefit online and through the screen even before going to battle.
Trying to go creative when ordering around 31 players on this unique designed tactical map, involving all those assets is just awesome. I recall that when I realised my team faced the challenge to play this map in the tournaments campaign 6, I decided for a map strategy, where this map ? in case we could pick it our self - was the last we were to play due to the great many challenges it presented for a/my team as a whole.
Training
When a (mainly tournament) CO want to find a suitable map where the leaders on a team can be trained and evolve their team-sized skills, Qinling can be used as both basic and advanced training area too. It can also be used as a test map for organisational, tactical and communicational ideas.
Advanced Tournament training/planning
All warfare is based on deception. Thus using a map like Qinling provides pretty much all what?s needed including being used as a decoy map too.
Best CO map in my opinion
The CO verdict sounds like as follows:
Qinling is a magic box of chocolate, you always know what your gonna get; everything and more!