What’s up guys, Rogue-9 here and now that Operation Ember Rise has finally dropped,
it is high time for me to give you a detailed breakdown of how the Kanal map has changed.
The top down comparison that I will be showing you in this video will hopefully help give
you a different insight into the new version of the map, plus I will also be highlighting
some of the key little details (such as drone access spots) that can make all the difference
when you play the new Kanal map going forward.
The video will be split into three parts, a floor layout comparison, overview of the
new bomb sites and then a guide to all of the newly added external drone access vents.
And as is tradition, before we sink our teeth into the new Kanal map, let take a quick moment
to show off one of the latest goodie sent to me by Drop, formerly known as Massdrop!
Over time I have tested a whole bunch of different headphones and headsets and most of them have
been on the higher end of the price range.
The issue is, not everyone wants to spend hundreds of dollars on a gaming headset and
that is where Drop and Koss have teamed up to deliver the GMR-54X-ISO Gaming Headset.
Their goal was to create the best possible headset in the $50 price range and after testing
it in Siege over the last week; I have to say that I think they’ve done a pretty good job.
The headset is super light and comfortable to wear for hours at a time and the sound
quality is very good considering their price point.
Do they match the sound of the AKG or Sennheiser products I have tested in the past?
No, of course not but we’re also talking about a quarter of the price here.
I checked the current customer rating of the Koss GMR and it stands at 4.1 out of 5 stars,
so buyers are very happy with the value for money.
If you are looking for a new gaming headset where the focus is on good quality sound for
a reasonable price, then check out the Koss GMR on the Drop website and if you use the
link in the description below, it shows Drop that you came from me!
Now: Kanal and let’s start out on the ground floor of the eastern building.
This area has always been limited to the garage and stairwell access and as you can see at
first glance, it looks as if not all that much has changed in the rework.
The floor space is still very limited with a large part of the building inaccessible
but the garage itself has changed a little.
You can now access the area from three large open entrances to the east, north and west
and the entire garage is now level, instead of having the raised platform running around the edges.
The western building has seen a more dramatic change with a significant expansion to the north.
The southern side, as you can see remains relatively unchanged though.
Overall everything is brighter and less cluttered of course and a couple of the walls have been
made solid to help the defenders.
The former boat storage has now become the kayak room and the locker room has a window
leading outside but other than that the rooms and layout remain mostly untouched.
To the north though and below this floor, is where you will find completely new rooms.
The awkward little waterway and outdoor area that made attackers so vulnerable to getting
peeked from the other building has been replaced with a new Diving Room with internal stairs
leading up and another garage area that is mostly enclosed.
And of course, let’s not forget the brand new tunnel that runs from the Diving Room to the shower area.
This tunnel is an interesting addition because while it can offer a useful rotation to both
attackers and defenders, it is also a highly risky option.
Once you go down here, the only way out is a ladder at each end and of course ladders
will make you completely vulnerable to anyone waiting for you above.
For defenders using the tunnel can be especially risky, since the attackers can drone you out
using the special external drone access.
But as I mentioned in the beginning, I’ll cover all of the drone tunnels together in
a separate segment so let’s revisit that in a bit.
Fun fact about this tunnel is that it was at one point designed to act as a third connector
between the two buildings.
This electrical panel here was, at one stage during the re-design, a door way that led
to another tunnel section to the east and I believe it would have emerged underneath
the red stairs, next to the garage.
During internal testing though, it emerged that this just made flanking far too easy
and so the connector tunnel ended up being scrapped.
The final part of the ground floor that I want to show you before we head on up is the
western tunnel outdoors that leads to the floating dock.
This tunnel has now been expanded to the south and allows a safer rotation route for attackers
trying to get to and from the front of the building, along the western edge of the map.
And while we are over here, let’s just head one floor up to the main entrance area in
the south western part of the map.
Again, you’ll notice that apart from everything being a bit brighter and less visually cluttered
the layout is pretty mostly identical in the southern part of the building.
The wall between the Archives and the Coast Guard Office has been moved to be in line
with the main entrance, the two hatches have been moved and the front desk flipped around
but other than that, this part of the building will still be exactly as you remember it.
Once we move north though, things start to get interesting again.
The Radio Room and Holding Room have been joined and widened and across the hallway
the former Lounge has now been expanded and split into a recreational area and gym area.
All the way in the north are the blue stairs, leading up to the brand new Printer Room and
the yellow stairs leading down to the Diving Room.
The Printer Room is interesting of course, since it is the western link to the brand
new Upper Bridge but before we explore the top floor, let’s first check out the second
floor of the eastern building.
If we start at the south, you will once again notice that most of the areas here look the same as before.
Even the model of the map is still the same as before and shows the layout of the past.
In principle, the Security Room is still the same although one of the soft walls has been
replaced by a doorway.
The map room and projector room are mostly the same as well except that the map room
has been opened up to incorporate the former Map Archives room.
The Kitchen has been shortened and is now one cohesive room instead of being split in
two and the freed up space in the south has been used to create a brand new Museum area.
And last but not least, the external stairs in the east have been pushed outward a little
to make space for the new green stairs that lead up to the third floor.
Speaking of which, this is probably the area of the map that has changed the most.
The former Electric Room has been completely scrapped and the Server Room expanded instead.
This means that the Server Room hatch has also shifted positions although the two other
hatches on this floor remain pretty much where they were before.
The major update to the Control Room is of course the removal of a whole bunch of the
windows (thank goodness for that) and we now have a few more internal soft walls… oh
yes and of course there is the all-important Upper Bridge that leads over to the other building as well.
So that’s the floor layout comparison done and now let me briefly show you the reworked
bomb sites before taking you through all of the new external drone access tunnels.
In principle, the Server Room / Radar Room objective is the same as before although the
exact locations of the bombs have changed slightly to accommodate for the room restructuring.
The former Projector Room / Kitchen objective is still similar although the bombs have been
moved to the Security Room and Map Room instead.
This shifts the required defensive setup westward in general.
The final objective option on the old map was the Holding Room / Coast Guard Office
and this has also changed a bit, with the Holding Room bomb moving over to the Lounge.
I think early on, you will need to be a little bit cautious with this objective, since the
Lounge is easily accessed from the outside and because of the corridor with solid walls
in between the two bomb sites, it can be difficult for defenders to hold the Lounge.
I recommend opening up the wall to north and maybe even the other two walls, to make this
room as difficult for the attackers to hold as possible.
If you make the mistake if actually reinforcing the Lounge, you may find yourself in a bit
of a bind once the attackers get in, so avoid reinforcing the Lounge unless you definitely know you can hold it.
Finally, a map is not really complete without at least four site options in the bomb mode
and so a brand new site has been added to the Kayaks and Supply Room.
With the little bit of experience I have been able to gather on the test server, I have
to say that I quite like this objective from a defender’s standpoint.
The two sites are decently connected once you open up the wall and the toilets and locker
room offer a good opportunity for players to position themselves for defending the approaches
to the objectives.
And so, over to the last part of the video, the new external drone access ducts.
You will find a lot of them accessible from the roof, like this one in the north-west
of the map that will allow your drone to drop all the way down to the first floor Diving Room.
This duct can also be accessed from right outside the Forklift Alley, if you wish.
There is a drone access hole in the Printer Room, which is good to know but more importantly,
there are two more ducts on top of this room.
The one on the north-western side takes you one floor down to the bottom of the blue stairs,
near the Radio Room and Lounge.
The one in the south-east also takes you down one floor and gives you direct access to the Lounge itself.
Knowing about these special access routes is always useful, since it will save you having
to drive your drone down hallways, which is far more likely to result in it getting spotted and taken out.
And that is it for my little overview of all of the most important updates and changes to the Kanal map.
I personally think that the result was well worth the wait.
Every match I have had on this map so far, win or lose, has been pretty good fun and
considering how this map used to be riddled with frustrating features, I think that is
a pretty good early sign.
If you’ve had a chance to play the reworked map on the test server or if you have gotten
stuck in over the last day or two since the release of Ember Rise, let me know how things
have been going for you in the comments section below and with that, as always; thank you
so much for watching, I hope you enjoyed the video and I will see you in the next episode!