Yes, it is. I always hear people complaining about Steel being TF2's worst map, but this one is by far my favourite one. Most CTF maps end in trench warfare, because everybody goes either sniper or engi, thus making the own base impregnable. This ends in a boring game and finally a sudden death.
Most of the other maps have the disadvantage that in most cases there's only one way to get to the control point, respectively Intel. Take Dustbowl, for instance. I like the map, but its main aspect is zerging. BLU simply wins because they had two or three ubers so they could zerg RED down.

Steel, however, offers so many different possibilities. First of all, the fact there are two active control points means that RED has to take care of both of them. Secondly, there's a multitude of possibilities to get to the respective control point. This maze of different ways, dead ends etc. is what differs Steel from all the other maps in TF2.

Also, hi SpA forum :D

AMEN TO THAT

you, sir, are my new hero

_________________
ュ~ちゃんgamer.jp Pinky: true genius
ュ~ちゃんgamer.jp Pinky: doesn't make sense
ュ~ちゃんgamer.jp Pinky: till you're senseless

Most SpA regulars have been big cp_steel fans for quite some time - we had the map in our SpA-point menu long before it became official. ^^

_________________
War does not determine who is right - only who is left. - Bertrand Russell

I quite like steel, but just not for competitive play xP
There, I said it~

The problem I have with it is that it is too easy for demoman to use their uber pwnage mega camp weapons to kill the whole team :3 Also it just turns out to be a spiffing spamfest most times I have played it, since it's like the level was designed for sticky placement and general non-aiming pipe spamming.

Yes I am a massive hypocrit because I play demo bla bla bla, but this is my humble opinion I prefer the demo class when I actually have to aim with pipes and not just have an easy ride through the level (Although stickies kind of defeat the point of this, since they can be blown up in the air ).

_________________
a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a pig

All I have to say is that Steel is awesome!

Oh and hi darling! <3

_________________
Ze Ãœbermensch

steel is alright.
but you know what is awesome... me playing spy <3 <3
oh yeah, hi and welcome to the forums <3

_________________
Sebas the avenging zebra's sidekick! <3

You know something we don't? 0_o

_________________
War does not determine who is right - only who is left. - Bertrand Russell

I shall say that i've had far fewer enjoyable games on steel, but i don't recall EVER enjoying a game on turbine, so, it's not the worst map one map has to be the worst, even if it's still good :p

_________________
Computer is fixed. That is all.

Bird endorses that message.

And hi Sawi

_________________

+1 on Steel
-1 on Minimoose (just ignore Ms. Bullock ^^)
No... you don't know something we know: Ze Germanz are invading ze Nezerlandz... at leazt zer zerverz!

_________________
SaintK: I'm completely lost

I love Steel, but whenever I buy it as nextmap, people starts moaning

They should just be glad that I don't buy my favourite map, Winfort!

_________________
<@Howard_s> usa just has a made up economy - they can't really go broke

JuncoPartner: I could barely hold it up for long.

Steel is a great map
Welcome to the forums Sawyer !!

Can we ban spike from using his spa points ?

I reckon I've spent more spa points choosing Steel than any other map. Very clever design and so many ways to attack makes it fun for both sides.

_________________
The stats below lie. I'm actually much much worse.

Steel rules, but I hate when people leaves just because there will be this map ;x . And I think, that it's pretty easy to cap E in 2 minutes after game starts, but to this, you need two engineers, and it's cool if there is also a good sniper to protect. I've never seen on SpA people using this tactic, and we always have to go through sucky cp C ;x .

i have been and trying to make my team to that, but usually i just get ignored :S

_________________
"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving."

I always rush E as engineer. Either it works or I get frustrated :>

_________________

it is a good map indeed

_________________
"The bots came, saw Saints post count and gave up instantly."-[SpA]futari

Not. Period.

_________________
All roads may lead to Rome, but all Wikipedia pages eventually get you to the Third Reich. - m3n

this worked for me once. I had my tele pre-upgraded, put it down just outside, got most of my team to E in a few seconds, win!

_________________
ュ~ちゃんgamer.jp Pinky: true genius
ュ~ちゃんgamer.jp Pinky: doesn't make sense
ュ~ちゃんgamer.jp Pinky: till you're senseless

B rusher as Engi , that rocks ... one of the better maps.

but on the other side minimoose is right, its often just grenade spamming ...

<3 At last someone has had the common sense to see why I hate it so much, I don't mind if people like it, I just don't like it when they completely ignore my side of the argument

_________________
a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a pig

About the demo-spamming:
I admit that a lot of demos tend to simply spam their grenades, but actually, this isn't a problem of Steel but a general TF2 problem. I mean, nearly every class requires a bit skill. As a sniper you need to have good reflexes, as a medic you need to have an eye who requires healing, as a spy you need to behave like the enemy etc. But as a demo, you can easily score on nearly any map, by just covering the intel/control point/cart in stickies. This is somewhat annoying, especially when these demo score some crits. Still, Steel is aweome =D

What I'm saying though, it that it's so much easier to do it on steel, it's like the level was made for the sole purpose of sticky traps

_________________
a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a pig

Steel map
Medic, sure
Heavy, sure
Soldier, sure
Sniper, yeah
Demoman, sure
Engineer, yup
Pyro, yarr
Scout? err what?
Spy? err what?

No fault to him though, even valve pretty much screws it up for those 2 classes on the attacking side. I just wish there would be more maps like badlands, where all classes are viable. The other problem with steel is the limited space to move in, which makes the explosive weapons even better, simply because it can be quite difficult to get away from their blast radius. Note how granary and badlands by example have quite a lot of space to move around and then some chokepoints that lead to that open space. In steel on A you are fighting in quite a tight area, on B you are fighting an uphill battle, which in effect helps people with rockets and grenades even more since it makes it easier to aim. On C you not only have to go through 2 narrow chokepoints, but to actually get up to the point you need to go through another 2. Also the entry points are very easily spammed by demomans lobbing grenades. D, you have to go through some relatively long and tight corridors to get there, again massively benefiting explosives and spray weapons. and then the final point E, not only are controlpoints usually confined to a small area, this one has a hazardous fall of death surrounding it.

Steel really could have used some better designed open spaces, actually it got pretty much the same problem as Labor where the points after the middlepoint are spamtastic design as well.

_________________
Da boyz need themselves a Nob they do

Hmm... never felt that demos are such a big problem on steel. I can see what ya mean, but never felt it this way.

So what ya say about cp_junction, moosey?

_________________
SaintK: I'm completely lost

Scouts are awesome on steel as long as the bridges are down on E - then they become redundant but this is always the case on heavily defended maps. Try capping the last point on Badlands with a Scout when there are millions of stickies, 4 Sentry guns and whatnot.

I'm absolutely useless as a Spy but play as one from time to time and steels layout makes him pretty useful as well except for the first point - since there are two routes you can take with alternating CPs it's quite possible to sneak behind the defenders lines without going through any chokepoints.

_________________
War does not determine who is right - only who is left. - Bertrand Russell

problem is that the map is choked, so you usually run inbetween 2-4 enemies in a confined space. Recipe for disaster

But like I said, attack/defense maps the spy is a lot harder to play on the attacking side simply because of the multiple sentries same goes for scout. At least the scout can still harass a little bit.

_________________
Da boyz need themselves a Nob they do