Playing nice with the BSP compiler?

[Quake Matt]

I've just started work on a new map but, after fiddling with a three-levelled floor for a few minutes, I've got a bit stuck deciding how best to place the brushes. Here's a pic:



It's a base-styled map with three floor levels (8 units apart, I think) to break up the flat surface and to help get a bit of extra height on the left-hand side. I've laid out my brushes with lots of criss-crossing, attemping to cut down on the amount of verticies, almost like you'd do for a low-poly model. My worry is that once I start adding details, the BSP compiler's going to break up my geometry and introduce more polys that it would otherwise.

So, basically, is it a good idea to continue doing this, or should I try to keep everything simple and ortho-aligned?

[Sajt]

I dunno if there's much mroe the compiler can do to that map, other than a few t-junctions.

Looks clean to me to the point of beauty

I dunno how obsessives actual mappers get about it though.

As for details, yeah they're going to break stuff up, but a clean map can't hurt. Just use the trick of making things actually 1 unit away from the floor/ceiling as much as possible and/or using func_walls if you don't mind no shadows, and I guess check out the wireframe after you load it up in a quake engine.