Sajberhippie
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When the rumours of increasing bandit activity around Lake Scampleshire first reached Redport City, Lord Beckwall wasn't late to respond. At first, only a few trained warriors were dispatched, but when the reports from the captain returned, a full force was sent.
The captain reported that bandit activity wasn't neither the only nor the largest of the problems at hand - tribes of goblins and other savages had thrived in the relative safety of the hills and even more disturbing - sightings of undead had become far too common to be normal. Lord Beckwall issued an order to send several companies, including some of his best men and women. The elven lords in the forest around Redport City were quick to join - few races carry as much hatred of both blackbloods and undead as the elves.
At the same time, Gurgazalak the Half-dragon stood among the ruins of Mudskip Village, proud of the a work well done. The heavy spear at his side was black and red of dried and fresh blood, and the rage had just left his eyes. Another victory for the groups of savages under his control. Yagl-Greb, the Ettin elementalist, joined him at his side. The head to the right, which undoubtedly was the gifted one, spoke.
- The hobgoblins have captured the last survivors. I had to threaten the trolls with fire; they seemed quite hungry.
- Trolls is stoopid. Alvays tink wit tummy, the other head added.
Gurgazalak knew that keeping the trolls in the army always were a risk; more than one unlucky goblin or even ogre had had their flesh enter the acidic stomachs of the vile creatures. But they were invaluable fighters and had to be kept to ensure victory over their next target, the far largest town of Graycall. From behind, a fourth head joined in the enjoyment of victory. While not the official leader, this head was satisfied on far more levels than any of the others. Layer upon layer of intrigue, layer upon layer of deception...
What is this?
So, this is my first really serious project (or rather, the first serious project since I learnt to backup properly
). It's kind of an altered melee, but it's quite heavily altered. I don't think any map of this type exists so far. The setup is like most basic RTSs; train troops, control them in battle, kill the enemy, and train more troops. Repeat.
However, it is different than regular WC3 in that it tries to focus more on the strategic parts and macro management than on the tactical parts and microing. I will try to make a player benefiting from having more than two or three different unit types, and the race of the player and the chosen hero will greatly affect game play.
Also, the building and resource system is changed. Instead of sending peasants to gold mines and building buildings on the ground, you will have to capture towns with certain building "foundations" that can be upgraded into buildings. For example, if you as a human player captures the Town of Graycall, it contains among other things 3 Industrial Foundations. Each of these can be upgraded into either a Carpenter's Workshop, a Windmill, a Hunter's Lodge, or a Blacksmith. Each of these of course have different abilities and affects game play in different ways.
The resource system is also different. You gain resources from mainly two sources; taxes and looting (killing enemy/creep units).
This works much in the same way as in AoS maps - taxes periodically add gold and lumber, looting adds gold and lumber. The amount of gold and lumber gained from taxes is very affectable, though. It's based on the amount of tax-generating units you control; for example, all industrial buildings mentioned above produce 1 gold and 10 supplies (lumber) every 10 seconds. A basic Villager, produced automatically by farms, has a 10% chance to produce 1 gold, and produces 2 supplies, every 10 seconds. Obviously, having a lot of villagers is a good thing. How do you get a lot of villagers? By capturing more towns.
There will be three teams, with two players in each team as well as an allied computer. All players in the team will play the same race, and all teams will play different races. One team will play Humans, one team will play Savages (orc), and one team will play Cult of Orcus (undead). Oh, and on the Orcus thing; you will notice that there is some, not to say a lot, D&D influence in this map. At first it was an attempt to convert the D&D world into this RTS, but I gave that up. However, some influence isn't a bad thing! At least there's no Apparatus of Quelch...
Other things that will greatly affect gameplay is weather and terrain. Both will drastically change a unit's movement speed and in some cases they might even hurt a unit. Many things will be determined randomly - where bad weather will show up, where creeps will spawn and where they will go, where the player will start, how developed towns are when the map starts (will there be one built farm or five?) and even the location of some quests. This is to make gameplay varying, and to allow a bigger bit of chance in. That tests the players adaptability, instead of the map only testing how fast you can click your units or your micro-management skills (which I do not in any way look down upon; there are great maps with no chance involved at all, but it's not the kind of map I want this to be).
Heroes!
Ah, and then there's the heroes. Every war needs a hero! While each player will only have access to one single hero through the whole game, the hero plays a major role - not only is he a powerful combat and tactical unit, he also bestows bonuses. All heroes have at least two bonus benefits (such as access to a special unit or a global aura or free upgrade) one that benefits the player controlling the hero, and one that benefits the team that has the hero on his side. Heroes will have a max level of 20, and start out with 2 skill levels already placed (they have a total of 22 skill levels). Even a first level hero is a powerful entity compared to most normal units (no, a balor or a frost giant is not a normal unit ^_^) So far, the plan is to make three heroes for each team, and since there are two players on each team one will be left over (several players can not have the same hero). I've not decided all heroes yet, but here are some examples (namely, the Human heroes - two are finished and the last is nearly finished):
Miranda Swiftpaw, Elven Stalker
Miranda Swiftpaw is a veteran of elven warfare, even by their standards. After over twenty all-out wars where she served as a scout and spy, she retired to a life in peace and hunting. She's been in the area hunting dragons for three years, and have already grown tired of all goblins pestering the area. When the elven lords' messenger catched up with her, she accepted the quest to lead her rangers into battle. A master scout and hunter, she has great mobility and is very valuable for any stealthy operations.
Damage Attribute: Agility.
Attack Type: Longbow, piercing damage.
Player Bonus: Ranger unit available. Rangers are unaffected by normal terrain and can become invisible whenever they are in forests.
Team Bonus: Archery Training. All ranged units have a 15% bonus to damage.
Abilities:
Hunter (7 levels) - The Stalker has a 50% chance to deal additional damage to non-humanoids (dragons, bears, trolls and the like). Also increases nearby units movement speed.
Mark of the Predator (7 levels) - Lowers defense and gives vision of a target unit for a while.
Hawk Companion (5 levels) - Miranda's dear hawk is an uncontrollable scout and warrior.
Hide in Plain Sight (3 levels) - The Stalker can become invisible anywhere, anytime.
Lorgeth Lightborn, High Colonel
The High Colonel of the human forces in the area has just been promoted, and is very proud of his new title. He has a great strategical mind, and is known to always equip his troops with the best of weapons. He is also a skilled melee combatant, and not the least, he was once the High-Generals personal architect, improving the defenses of many human military bases. There, he learnt the art of war and even saved Lord Beckwall of Redport once.
Damage Attribute: Strength.
Attack Type: Axe, slashing damage.
Player Bonus: All buildings have +5 armor.
Team Bonus: Free Lieutenants, Heavy Crossbows, and High Quality Plating upgrades.
Abilities:
Crippling Strike (7 levels) - Lorgeth strikes with such force as to create permanent cripples on his targets, reducing their speed.
Instant Stronghold (5 levels) - Instantly creates a stronghold building that attacks enemies and that units can hide in.
Strategic Modes (5 levels) - Choose between different modes that affect all units, increasing either defense, melee damage, attack speed, movement speed, or ranged damage.
Call To Arms - Summons a troup of armed warriors.
Arch-Cleric Cerkalain, Priest
Cerkalain has long been a mortal enemy of all undead, and seeks to combat them whenever possible. Joining this cleansing seemed an easy choice, much to the delight of the other elven lords. He is a powerful priest with a cadre of spells at his disposal, and is extremely capable against undead. When not using his spells, he uses his shortsword to tear at near opponents.
Damage Attribute: Agility.
Attack Type: Sword, piercing damage.
Player Bonus: Access to Paladin upgrade to knights, which gives knights magic abilities to combat undead and mend their wounds.
Team Bonus: All buildings gain Hospital ability, healing nearby units as the building with the same name.
Abilities:
Divine Spells (10 levels): A group of spells, reaching from the simplest of healings to summoning powerful planar entities.
Dispel Undead (4 levels): Destroys undead in an area, with chance of success based on skill level and affected undead's level.
Guardian Angel (4 levels): Whenever the cleric is severely hurt, a defensive field is erected around him, healing and protecting him.
Metamagic (4 levels): Increases the power of the Divine spells, from increased duration and range to lowered cooldown and bonus damage.
What have been done?
So, a lot of talk about what will be. But what is right now? How much have I done so far? About this much:
Terrain Playable: 95%.
Terrain Beautiful: 5% (I'm a bad ass, not badass, at terraining)
Large triggers (Creep system, weather, terrain): 80%
Human units: 95%.
Human heroes: 80%.
Orc units: 50%
Orc heroes: 20%
Undead units: 40%
Undead heroes: 30%
Misc (custom interface, gameplay constants and so on): 80%.
Testing: 0%.
While you can see that there is much left to be done, the amount already finished is enough for me to feel safe to post this, and to feel safe about myself finishing this. So why do I post this at all you might wonder? It IS a solo project, after all.
Well, for one I will need help even though it's mostly a solo project. Someone who can shapen up the terrain a little bit would be wonderful, and I'll need one or a few people who can check my triggers for any bugs or leaks I might have missed (of course I'll give proper credit to any helpers!). But mostly - to get feedback to the idea, to get information if maps such as this already exists (ironically, I rarely play wc3 other than in LAN with friends, and then it's mostly the same old maps over and over again) as well as random ideas on heroes, skills, units, and anything else you people might come up with. I'll also request a couple of people to test what has been done so far as soon as I'm finished with the human heroes.
And not the least, I want to brag about finally getting some seriouz bisniss going!
Note: Sorry for few and bad screenshots. I can upload max 1MB worth of files to this site, and also the game won't save the screenshots as it should so it's a lot of extra work with Paint.NET I'd rather put into the mapping. Hope you'll enjoy anyway.
The captain reported that bandit activity wasn't neither the only nor the largest of the problems at hand - tribes of goblins and other savages had thrived in the relative safety of the hills and even more disturbing - sightings of undead had become far too common to be normal. Lord Beckwall issued an order to send several companies, including some of his best men and women. The elven lords in the forest around Redport City were quick to join - few races carry as much hatred of both blackbloods and undead as the elves.
At the same time, Gurgazalak the Half-dragon stood among the ruins of Mudskip Village, proud of the a work well done. The heavy spear at his side was black and red of dried and fresh blood, and the rage had just left his eyes. Another victory for the groups of savages under his control. Yagl-Greb, the Ettin elementalist, joined him at his side. The head to the right, which undoubtedly was the gifted one, spoke.
- The hobgoblins have captured the last survivors. I had to threaten the trolls with fire; they seemed quite hungry.
- Trolls is stoopid. Alvays tink wit tummy, the other head added.
Gurgazalak knew that keeping the trolls in the army always were a risk; more than one unlucky goblin or even ogre had had their flesh enter the acidic stomachs of the vile creatures. But they were invaluable fighters and had to be kept to ensure victory over their next target, the far largest town of Graycall. From behind, a fourth head joined in the enjoyment of victory. While not the official leader, this head was satisfied on far more levels than any of the others. Layer upon layer of intrigue, layer upon layer of deception...
What is this?
So, this is my first really serious project (or rather, the first serious project since I learnt to backup properly
). It's kind of an altered melee, but it's quite heavily altered. I don't think any map of this type exists so far. The setup is like most basic RTSs; train troops, control them in battle, kill the enemy, and train more troops. Repeat.However, it is different than regular WC3 in that it tries to focus more on the strategic parts and macro management than on the tactical parts and microing. I will try to make a player benefiting from having more than two or three different unit types, and the race of the player and the chosen hero will greatly affect game play.
Also, the building and resource system is changed. Instead of sending peasants to gold mines and building buildings on the ground, you will have to capture towns with certain building "foundations" that can be upgraded into buildings. For example, if you as a human player captures the Town of Graycall, it contains among other things 3 Industrial Foundations. Each of these can be upgraded into either a Carpenter's Workshop, a Windmill, a Hunter's Lodge, or a Blacksmith. Each of these of course have different abilities and affects game play in different ways.
The resource system is also different. You gain resources from mainly two sources; taxes and looting (killing enemy/creep units).
This works much in the same way as in AoS maps - taxes periodically add gold and lumber, looting adds gold and lumber. The amount of gold and lumber gained from taxes is very affectable, though. It's based on the amount of tax-generating units you control; for example, all industrial buildings mentioned above produce 1 gold and 10 supplies (lumber) every 10 seconds. A basic Villager, produced automatically by farms, has a 10% chance to produce 1 gold, and produces 2 supplies, every 10 seconds. Obviously, having a lot of villagers is a good thing. How do you get a lot of villagers? By capturing more towns.
There will be three teams, with two players in each team as well as an allied computer. All players in the team will play the same race, and all teams will play different races. One team will play Humans, one team will play Savages (orc), and one team will play Cult of Orcus (undead). Oh, and on the Orcus thing; you will notice that there is some, not to say a lot, D&D influence in this map. At first it was an attempt to convert the D&D world into this RTS, but I gave that up. However, some influence isn't a bad thing! At least there's no Apparatus of Quelch...
Other things that will greatly affect gameplay is weather and terrain. Both will drastically change a unit's movement speed and in some cases they might even hurt a unit. Many things will be determined randomly - where bad weather will show up, where creeps will spawn and where they will go, where the player will start, how developed towns are when the map starts (will there be one built farm or five?) and even the location of some quests. This is to make gameplay varying, and to allow a bigger bit of chance in. That tests the players adaptability, instead of the map only testing how fast you can click your units or your micro-management skills (which I do not in any way look down upon; there are great maps with no chance involved at all, but it's not the kind of map I want this to be).
Heroes!
Ah, and then there's the heroes. Every war needs a hero! While each player will only have access to one single hero through the whole game, the hero plays a major role - not only is he a powerful combat and tactical unit, he also bestows bonuses. All heroes have at least two bonus benefits (such as access to a special unit or a global aura or free upgrade) one that benefits the player controlling the hero, and one that benefits the team that has the hero on his side. Heroes will have a max level of 20, and start out with 2 skill levels already placed (they have a total of 22 skill levels). Even a first level hero is a powerful entity compared to most normal units (no, a balor or a frost giant is not a normal unit ^_^) So far, the plan is to make three heroes for each team, and since there are two players on each team one will be left over (several players can not have the same hero). I've not decided all heroes yet, but here are some examples (namely, the Human heroes - two are finished and the last is nearly finished):
Miranda Swiftpaw, Elven Stalker
Miranda Swiftpaw is a veteran of elven warfare, even by their standards. After over twenty all-out wars where she served as a scout and spy, she retired to a life in peace and hunting. She's been in the area hunting dragons for three years, and have already grown tired of all goblins pestering the area. When the elven lords' messenger catched up with her, she accepted the quest to lead her rangers into battle. A master scout and hunter, she has great mobility and is very valuable for any stealthy operations.
Damage Attribute: Agility.
Attack Type: Longbow, piercing damage.
Player Bonus: Ranger unit available. Rangers are unaffected by normal terrain and can become invisible whenever they are in forests.
Team Bonus: Archery Training. All ranged units have a 15% bonus to damage.
Abilities:
Hunter (7 levels) - The Stalker has a 50% chance to deal additional damage to non-humanoids (dragons, bears, trolls and the like). Also increases nearby units movement speed.
Mark of the Predator (7 levels) - Lowers defense and gives vision of a target unit for a while.
Hawk Companion (5 levels) - Miranda's dear hawk is an uncontrollable scout and warrior.
Hide in Plain Sight (3 levels) - The Stalker can become invisible anywhere, anytime.
Lorgeth Lightborn, High Colonel
The High Colonel of the human forces in the area has just been promoted, and is very proud of his new title. He has a great strategical mind, and is known to always equip his troops with the best of weapons. He is also a skilled melee combatant, and not the least, he was once the High-Generals personal architect, improving the defenses of many human military bases. There, he learnt the art of war and even saved Lord Beckwall of Redport once.
Damage Attribute: Strength.
Attack Type: Axe, slashing damage.
Player Bonus: All buildings have +5 armor.
Team Bonus: Free Lieutenants, Heavy Crossbows, and High Quality Plating upgrades.
Abilities:
Crippling Strike (7 levels) - Lorgeth strikes with such force as to create permanent cripples on his targets, reducing their speed.
Instant Stronghold (5 levels) - Instantly creates a stronghold building that attacks enemies and that units can hide in.
Strategic Modes (5 levels) - Choose between different modes that affect all units, increasing either defense, melee damage, attack speed, movement speed, or ranged damage.
Call To Arms - Summons a troup of armed warriors.
Arch-Cleric Cerkalain, Priest
Cerkalain has long been a mortal enemy of all undead, and seeks to combat them whenever possible. Joining this cleansing seemed an easy choice, much to the delight of the other elven lords. He is a powerful priest with a cadre of spells at his disposal, and is extremely capable against undead. When not using his spells, he uses his shortsword to tear at near opponents.
Damage Attribute: Agility.
Attack Type: Sword, piercing damage.
Player Bonus: Access to Paladin upgrade to knights, which gives knights magic abilities to combat undead and mend their wounds.
Team Bonus: All buildings gain Hospital ability, healing nearby units as the building with the same name.
Abilities:
Divine Spells (10 levels): A group of spells, reaching from the simplest of healings to summoning powerful planar entities.
Dispel Undead (4 levels): Destroys undead in an area, with chance of success based on skill level and affected undead's level.
Guardian Angel (4 levels): Whenever the cleric is severely hurt, a defensive field is erected around him, healing and protecting him.
Metamagic (4 levels): Increases the power of the Divine spells, from increased duration and range to lowered cooldown and bonus damage.
What have been done?
So, a lot of talk about what will be. But what is right now? How much have I done so far? About this much:
Terrain Playable: 95%.
Terrain Beautiful: 5% (I'm a bad ass, not badass, at terraining)
Large triggers (Creep system, weather, terrain): 80%
Human units: 95%.
Human heroes: 80%.
Orc units: 50%
Orc heroes: 20%
Undead units: 40%
Undead heroes: 30%
Misc (custom interface, gameplay constants and so on): 80%.
Testing: 0%.
While you can see that there is much left to be done, the amount already finished is enough for me to feel safe to post this, and to feel safe about myself finishing this. So why do I post this at all you might wonder? It IS a solo project, after all.
Well, for one I will need help even though it's mostly a solo project. Someone who can shapen up the terrain a little bit would be wonderful, and I'll need one or a few people who can check my triggers for any bugs or leaks I might have missed (of course I'll give proper credit to any helpers!). But mostly - to get feedback to the idea, to get information if maps such as this already exists (ironically, I rarely play wc3 other than in LAN with friends, and then it's mostly the same old maps over and over again) as well as random ideas on heroes, skills, units, and anything else you people might come up with. I'll also request a couple of people to test what has been done so far as soon as I'm finished with the human heroes.
And not the least, I want to brag about finally getting some seriouz bisniss going!
Note: Sorry for few and bad screenshots. I can upload max 1MB worth of files to this site, and also the game won't save the screenshots as it should so it's a lot of extra work with Paint.NET I'd rather put into the mapping. Hope you'll enjoy anyway.
