Don't let the title mislead you; I'm not a long-time Counter Strike player. Once I became a CS fan, however, I've been very devoted, playing at least a game almost every single day since I bought CS:GO. I've also grown very fond of Nuke (mostly because I dislike all of the other Active Duty maps) over the months, so I feel that I'm somewhat qualified to provide my input. I'm vaguely short of 4000 rounds played on Competitive Nuke, and during all that time, have gone from Silver 2 to Silver Elite.

A few things to note: most of this is written using "you" to directly refer to the map creator. Another thing, I tried writing this earlier and got very far, but then my CS:GO crashed and I lost my progress in this Discussion, so this is actually my second ***third*** attempt to write this analysis. With that, I'll begin.

The first thing I want to cover is something that is very important to Nuke's design: the rotations. It's something that's defined Nuke for a long time. New players could be slated to rotate too quickly, allowing sneaky entrances in an otherwise-CT-locked map, while experienced players can use the rotations to set up multiple dynamic lines of defense within the building. I'm very happy to see that it's still intact in Newke, but I feel that rotations are even faster now; this would allow less time to set up defenses and coordinations, which is what Nuke's rotations capitalized on. All the same, the fact that rotations still happen so quickly is a good indicator that Newke didn't change too awful much, which is probably a good thing.

Another staple of Nuke, one that is much less considered, is the unorthodoxy in using information. CS:GO is a game of both tactic and skill, and Nuke was a wildcard map, where many traits of human nature could be manipulated. With Nuke being so compact, and with one half of the map literally on top of the other, the use of sound was much less advantageous. Hearing vents break meant very little, as did hearing gunshots, grenades, or even the bomb. With that, I'd like to say that some things were done right, and some things were, in my opinion, done wrong. Most notably a "right" thing is changing "Secret" to have a metal floor; the hearing of footsteps from adjacent rooms/floors was one of the few useful bits of information a player could gather in Nuke. On the flipside, I find the change to vents very "wrong"; someone going to Bombsite B through vents now has their choices restricted from 3 to 2, both of which are suddenly very manageable. This is unappealing enough to make players prefer to go through either secret or, more likely, ramp, which, as I'll touch on later, stacks a lot of one-sided pressure from ramp. But more pertaining to the beginning of this paragraph, regarding sound: hearing vents break is suddenly VERY informational. This is actually a gamechanger. When there were two vents, it was hard to infer what the enemy would do, but now that there's only one, vents are a non-issue. Even if someone coming out of vents successfully breached Bombsite B, their location is widely on display to defending teammates once he kills someone. I DO think it's interesting how the single vent comes out of the middle of B, and that's a change I don't mind, but I still think there should be another hole. Perhaps another one-way hole leading to Toxic, causing a situation similar to the vents in Assault?

With those two main fundamentals of Nuke covered, I want to get to the scene now. I'm going to start with what was most drastically changed, Bombsite B. I'm surprised to see that B received the largest overhaul, mostly because I considered it the most sound part of Nuke already, heh. But I'm also more interested in tweaking what's there in Newke than reverting it, to be fair. The first thing thereof that I want to address is the reworked wall design. Having changed the walls on Bombsite B, making the diagonal ones and making it less sneaky, removed a certain defining feature of Nuke; it was actually very interesting to hide along the walls, essentially under Attackers' noses. Now, there are plus-sides to the new layout, so I propose that you add more crap to the actual floor of Bombsite B. For reference, recall how many barrels and crates were present in both bombsites and ramp in the CS:GO trailer. The one stack of things that is already there is simply not enough, and with the new layout, hiding behind the nuclear device isn't sufficient either. The player needs more cover on the ground. I imagine that the idea is that, once the bomb is planted, the Terrorists should disperse along "Secret", "Ramp", "Toxic", and the vents, but in reality, you can only expect that out of a 5v5 situation, or one where both teams are mostly alive. Nuke/Newke is one of those maps that the bomb gets planted at B when it gets much past 3v3, at which point a Bomb Planter is very unsafe to leave Bombsite B to go to the surrounding rooms. He cannot go towards Ramp, for it is too dangerous. He can no longer go to "Secret", for it, too, is now too dangerous (as it's connected to Ramp, of which is dangerous). His only choice is to stay on-site, as one might do in Nuke, but since the walls are now more compromising, his remaining choice is to go to Toxic. This is why I propose more props for cover on-site. For the sake of transitioning, I'll cover Toxic now, because that has ALWAYS been the Terrorist's last-ditch effort in Nuke, and it is still annoying as ever. The thing is, adding a window wasn't a bad idea, but it makes Toxic more dangerous... and no less appealing. Due to how Bombsite B is currently set up, Toxic still appears like the best option to hide in, and that simply isn't the case. I'll admit, I've been killed many times by somebody hiding in Newke's Toxic, but my teammates were quickly able to follow-up thereafter. I still feel that Toxic needs some work, but I'm not sure what. I feel that adding props to Bombsite B's floor might alleviate this, and the idea regarding a vent in Toxic might as well, but in the event those do NOT help, I am out of ideas. Removing Toxic altogether is out of the question in Newke due to the new changes, I feel. Instead, surrounding changes should take the weight off of Toxic (such as adding props). It was always annoying, knowing that the last-alive Terrorist could be defending the bomb from Toxic in both Nuke and Newke. To be fair, "Toxic" was a perfect way of teaching new players the concept of fake planting and fake defusing, but as for more experienced players, Toxic is simply something to be dreaded, for it is a dull, boring, repetitive firefight, every single round where the bomb is planted at B. As it stands, I feel Toxic is not to be set in stone.

Now for what I take most seriously, Ramp. Aside from the fact that it realistically looks silly, the walls by the ramp extension put Bombsite B in a terrible position. It's so easy to attack from, that it makes Bombsite B one-sided, which avoiding that was one of the few things the original Nuke did right. My proposal is this: move that covering wall, the one that obscures sight between Bombsite B and Ramp, over to where that gaping hole is, and put a window in it. Moving the wall over so that defenders on Bombsite B can see invaders coming from either one Ramp entryway or the other at a time, but not both at once, which will allow for some long-range combat to be retained. Regarding that platform to the side, that gaping hole platform area has essentially replaced the "Control" window, but it didn't do so gracefully. Y'see, "Control" had a very good grip on Bombsite B in Nuke, covering *one* ramp entry, *one* vent, *half* of Bombsite B, "Toxic", and "Secret". The window wasn't omniscent (hence the words in asterisks), but it was a fair vantage point for defenders that could be applied to multiple situations. Having removed it in Newke is something I find very interesting, but I don't find a direct problem with it nonetheless. The indirect problem, however, is how that over overlooking platform has essentially replaced it, for it has a *full* view of Bombsite B, the vent, Toxic, and the door from "Secret"; also, due to inherent design, a player there is relatively safe from Ramp behind him. I believe that opening should be a wall, with a glass window in it instead. The glass window shattering will be a solid indicator to defenders of someone's presence, but the window will still be a decent vantage point (while not necessarily being THE defining vantage point). Of all the changes, I feel most sure of this one.

*phew* As for Bombsite A, this much must be considered: the idea behind it is that it's difficult to overtake, but if you do, it's yours. The problem is that Nuke (and Newke, as far as I can tell) is great in 5v5 encounters, but once the Terrorists plant the bomb at A, only few players remain alive, which makes taking the site BACK ridiculously difficult. I think this ought to be changed. Another staple of Nuke is how diverse it is; some spots are built for long range, some are short range, some grounds are uneven, some are even, et cetera. Bombsite B is already an "uneven ground" type of situation, so if you're willing to make a drastic overhaul, I'd say rafters ought to be removed entirely from Bombsite A to put more play on-site. "Heaven" can still exist, but the actual walkspace around the site ought to be gone. On top of that, more props (crates & barrels) should be added on-site to encourage more engaged, level-ground firefights (which will contrast Bombsite B in a way I imagine will be good).

Finally, the various paths. In Nuke, the Terrorists have to make a decision between 3 things, and with an additional 2 unorthodox plays as options. The three normal routes are Ramp, an A rush, or outside. The two weird plays involve going from "Heaven" to A. In Newke, however, two of these options (going Ramp or going Outside) are prodigiously more enticing. One can view this as a good thing, implying that the Counter Terrorists can more easily stack 2 in one place and 3 in the other, which in Nuke was not a good idea but could be capitalized on in Newke, but regardless, the Terrorists are now able to rush these two places with flashing ease. After having watched your overview video on Youtube, it seemed like you had many ideas for how grenade plays can go, but unfortunately, grenades in Newke are basically useless. I recall a few times I tried to use smoke grenades as a Terrorist, pushing outside, only to find that some CTs have rushed ahead of the red box, forcing me to put the grenade away to engage in a firefight. The Terrorists usually come out of such encounters as the victors, as far as I've seen, and at that point, the CTs don't have the outside staffed enough (once you've killed them all) so you can save your grenades. In reality, the outside has been bunched up in a way that opens close-quarters combat, which is honestly rather unnecessary, the way I see it. Ramp can be the close-quarters place, while Outside is reserved as the one haven for snipers to thrive. Now, I don't mind the repositioning of the boxes, but you also seemed to move them all closer to "Secret". I'd consider moving the boxes back waaay further, spreading them out more, and making it slightly more traditional in the sense that Terrorists might have to cling to the outer fence. The first cluster of boxes outside should start where they always were in Nuke; not necessarily in that same spot, but that same closeness to T spawn. The thing about outside is, now, the Terrorists gained a sniping advantage, AND the Counter Terrorists LOST one. "Warehouse" is no longer a viable sniper nest, because of how snipers can pick them off from either "Silo" or on top of "Mini". I will admit that I love how "Heaven" and the Locker Room window are now more key sniping positions, but the difference is, these two spots pick off Terrorists attempting to make for "Secret". The two Terrorist sniping positions however can support other Terrorists crossing the entire outside section, which is actually much more effective.

The quick fix for outside, I think, is, as aforementioned, to move the boxes back further to space them out better, and also, remove the boxes that allow Terrorists to jump onto "Mini" without the use of "Silo". Being on top of "Mini" isn't something that happened every round in Nuke, but in my experience, you can almost count on it in Newke. Nuke was infamous for being a map where you can't count on much of ANYTHING, and this breaks many things, as I see it.

As for Ramp, the Counter Terrorist defense positions were essentially cut down from 2 to 1 with that middle island being raised. I don't know if that raised platform is necessarily a bad thing, but making it one-sided is. The Terrorists being able to access all of ramp while making the Counter Terrorists do a U shape around it makes it too difficult to defend. The thing is, when Ramp is being defended by one Counter Terrorist in Nuke, it's easily overtakeable. Even with two CTs, it's still do-able. The problem arises when Ramp is stacked with two really competent players or, 3 or more players. They choke Ramp easily when they have many places to camp. However, the fix in Newke actually made a new, perhaps worse, problem, by making ramp only defendable from only one viable spot, the very back. (Another player can defend from "Hell" but this is highly unrealistic, as he can't be both a sniper for picks as well as a close-quarters fighter for when he gets rushed across the middle island). The main goal in my opinion would be to make ramp defendable from only two or three positions at a time, and there's many ways you could do this. My personal idea for that is moving "Headshot Box" left (from T perspective) so that the very back of Ramp cannot see into "Radio". This will make a fundamental difference but what this will do is make Ramp a two-part thing: when you enter ramp, someone can be right behind "Headshot Box" which can provide a challenge to oncomers from "Radio", but if he gets picked off, you turn the corner to where a player can either be in "Hell", or alongside that wall on the ramp itself. Once those potential zones are squared off, the Terrorists walk past the Headshot box to show themselves to the back wall, where snipers can hide. As a last, sneaky resort, a CT can hide carefully behind the Headshot Box to catch Terrorists by surprise as they jump down the ramp. To kinda "wildcard" this scene, some more cover can be added in the middle, maybe. I hope that I'm doing justice to this description; without a visual representation, this is difficult for me to convey, but I don't know much about map editing.

One last thing: rushing Bombsite A will be a sinch if rafters are removed, as per my suggestion earlier. To combat this, what if "Hut" was essentially flipped so that the exit was right by "Squeaky" and there was a window that could be seen from "Heaven"? This window can be crouchjumped through but in an A rush, that wouldn't be fast enough; however, once the bomb is planted, CTs moving in still have both directions from Hut as options (since you CAN jump through the window).

Those are just my suggestions to improve the map, as my understanding is that de_newke should serve as a dynamically updated map for improving Nuke until it can be re-added to the Active Duty collection. I was absolutely shocked when Nuke was moved to the Reserves, as it did, in fact, have some defining qualities that set it apart (in a good, fair way) from the other Active Duty maps. Its problems are mostly how the Terrorist team is forced to go on the luck of picks, but in Newke, this is no longer the case.

The idea of a map is that both the Terrorist and Counter Terrorist teams should have a roughly equal percent of rounds won. Almost every single map is somewhat "defender"-sided (CT in bomb defusal, T in hostage situation), but Nuke was a little too much. I actually actively enjoy playing Newke, despite how helpless I feel sometimes when playing as a CT. I feel that while Nuke was CT sided, Newke is T sided; the goal should just be to kinda throw it equally. I think one final thing that should be changed is giving the Counter Terrorists a better chance to retreat from outside; now, with how the Warehouse is set up, if the outside becomes too overrun, the Terrorists can just chase players down and pick them off, which isn't in very good spirit of Nuke. I'd like to say, I love the direction this is going, and I think that it's awesome that efforts are being made to fix Nuke up. Your efforts specifically that I think are just gold are the metal floors in "Secret", some of the point behind Bombsite B's design, adding a window in Toxic, and attempting to fix up Outside (needs some work, though ;D).

I tried writing this analysis THREE SEPARATE TIMES due to my work not saving, so I really hope this all is thoroughly considered. I'd love to know what you all think. It would make my day if the creator of de_newke responded with his thoughts, though I know I'm not the only one with opinions. Danke sehr, good luck and have fun. XD

***POST-SCRIPT, I almost forgot to mention; I love that you made the Terrorists the Phoenix Connexion. I WOULD KILL to see the CT team on Newke as the GSG-9. The GSG-9 is a German CT team, which fits in the GERMAN nuclear facility. It's also vaguely accepted that the Phoenix Connexion and the GSG-9 are direct rival factions, essentially. The GSG-9 were even featured in the trailer which took place on Nuke.

I am very pleased to see the GSG-9's sudden appearance on Newke. XD