|
Author |
File Description |
lorenzomichele |
Posted on 01/02/06 @ 09:24 AM (updated 08/11/15)
File Details |
Ruleset: |
AoW: SM - Unofficial Patch 1.4 |
Map Size: |
XL |
Levels: |
3 |
Single Player?: |
Yes |
Co-Op vs. AI?: |
No |
PBEM/Hotseat?: |
No |
Multiplayer Online?: |
No |
# of Wizards: |
7 |
# of players: |
1 |
Skill Level: |
Any (depends on AI difficulty setting) |
Password Protected: |
No |
A silent dagger in the rival's back, treachery and subtle plots: these are the ways drows prefer in order to gain positions of power. But now Lolth, goddess of the dark elves, seeing that these internal power struggles are weakening the major houses, has decided to suspend the forced peace she had previously ordered. In the meantime, drow scouts have reported about heavy undead activities and a sort of wicked garden born around the tower of the demilich known as Szam-Tam: Matron Vistra Baenre and Matron Liriel DoUrden, through powerful divinatory spells, have discovered that the souls of the deads don't reach the Lower Planes, instead they are diverted towards Szam-Tam's tower and used to animate an enormous undead army. So Liriel and Vistra has decided to face up to this menace together, instead of destroying themselves each other, and to eliminate the arising DeVir house and his Matron, Malice. But drows are not the only ones to have perceived the danger: the new goblins' ruler, an (unknown to them) ulitharid archmage, after having enslaved the minds of all the clans chiefs, and having sent spies all over the Underdark, has learnt about Szam-Tam's and his ally's, the Devourer, dark ritual: so, psionically disguised as a goblin king, he has formed an alliance with orcs' King Gruumsh, in order to face any threat to their kindoms and to expand their influence. Among all these deadly dangers, you, Matron Malice, highest priestess of DeVir house of the outpost of Ches-Nasad, have to show to your goddess your faith and your power, following Lolths' paths.
This map is the prequel to "Dark hordes". You play with Matron Malice, and you have to conquer all the Underdark.
This map has been made with the unofficial (1.4) patch: you need it to play.
Some tips:
° Do not make peace with the other matrons, or you will loose (the reason is explained in the scenario)
° Try to complete all the missions Lolth gives you: you will receive rewards of increasing power, depending on the favour you have gained in Lolth's eyes
° Do not fail too many Lolth's quests or you will completely loose Lolth's favour AND the game
Old update:
The old one, but easier:
-You start with more buildings and stronger trooops
- halved Szam-Tam's gold external income
-fixed a (small) problem
Old update:
-Now, you'll not receive Soul collectors (because they are immortal for AI)
New update (29 january):
-I've found in the 1.4 patch that dark elves shamans look like spider queens, so Lolth's avatar is now a dark elf shaman (instead of a Shadow demon). |
Author | Comments & Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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Swolte (id: swolte)
Staff |
Posted on 01/02/06 @ 11:34 AM
This looks like a scenario made with a lot of attention to detail and care for atmosphere! Cetrainly would have taken weeks (or a very long week). It has a great story and large world to be immersed in!
Great job!
Although some areas will surely be overdetailed (cluttered) to some, I can only see that to be a real problem in a very few areas (where I think it's overdone and it doesn't look good anymore). On the other hand, since when should jungles be friendly and clear places to travel?
;)
Great hero portraits and I love the names for the items and cities! Original use of the surface as well... A very inspiring map!
To those that like detailed, epic Single player maps, with a lot of customization, THIS is surely one you want to play (and if you trust me blindly, you don't need to open it in the editor to see for yourself anymore).
~ Swolte[Edited on 01/02/06 @ 12:03 PM]
|
rat_peddler |
Posted on 01/04/06 @ 12:02 AM
Playability: 3
The underground areas are very hard to move around in. Too many webs, storms, etc... Just too frustrating (and I have played some pretty hard maps)
Balance: 2
Way too strong of competition with all the enemies and they are allowed to ally. Even if you conquer some cities the other races are against you until you kill their leader.
Creativity: 4
All bad races and underground is a different twist.
Map Design: 4
Lots of detail. Too much actually. It makes the game play slow as well.
Story/Instructions: 4
I only saw one set of quests from Lolth. I completed them and got some help, no where near enough to really make a dent in the unrelenting waves of Dread Reapers.
Additional Comments:
I did manage to kill one other leader before getting ground down. I can see this was a large effort. However, the game play just doesn't turn out to be much fun.
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kaskoid |
Posted on 01/04/06 @ 05:14 PM
Playability: 1
Something is wrong with this map. Seven times it shut it itself off in Turn three. It just jumps out of AoW to desktop.
Balance: 2
Who could tell? see above
Creativity: 2
Who could tell? see above
Map Design: 2
Who could tell? see above
Story/Instructions: 2
Who could tell? see above
Additional Comments: This is only the second map that I have had do this. It is flawed.
|
lorenzomichele
File Author |
Posted on 01/05/06 @ 07:31 AM
In reply to Kaskoid: I have downloaded and played it on my laptop for 10 turns, but it hasn't crashed. I have played it for a longer time before
uploading it, and I've never had this problem.
Another thing: if I were you, I wouldn't have rated a map I didn't manage to play.
If someone else thinks it is too hard, I will make it easier, but when my brother tested it, he had (around 30th turn) very powerful heroes and armies of Kharags, Dread reapers and Treehulks possessed with Incarnates.
Some tips to make your life easier:
In order to take greater rewards from Lolth, you have to go west and take the other missions.
There are 10 Lolth's quests and 2 implicit requests: every success increases a counter by 1, so at 12 you'll receive the last (and most powerful) reward.
Upon Vestress'(Gruumsh's) death, you will be able to produce goblins (orcs).
If the Devourer finds the souls globe (or you give it to him-there's a mission for this), he will be at war with Szam-Tam forever. If you find the orb and activate it (there'a another mission for this) you will be able to produce undeads, and you will spawn them too.
|
lorenzomichele
File Author |
Posted on 01/06/06 @ 10:01 AM
New update (29 january):
-I've found in the 1.4 patch that dark elves shamans look like spider queens, so Lolth's avatar is now a dark elf shaman (instead of a Shadow demon).[Edited on 01/29/06 @ 08:16 AM]
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Triadasoul |
Posted on 01/10/06 @ 01:15 PM
Thank you for this great map. I've played it for a week (and it was interesting all the time, that's feature is rare for all AOW:SM maps). I'm longing for more Forgotten Realms maps from you %).
And if there would be more quests it would be even greater %).
Playability: 5
(Insert Playability analysis here)
Balance: 5
(Insert Balance analysis here)
Creativity: 5
(Insert Creativity analysis here)
Map Design: 5
(Insert Map Design analysis here)
Story/Instructions: 5
(Insert Story/Instructions analysis here)
Additional Comments:
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fischgott |
Posted on 01/12/06 @ 05:56 PM
Playability: 5
(Insert Playability analysis here)
Balance: 5
(Insert Balance analysis here)
Creativity: 5
(Insert Creativity analysis here)
Map Design: 5
(Insert Map Design analysis here)
Story/Instructions: 5
(Insert Story/Instructions analysis here)
Additional Comments:
I'm approximately at turn 50. It's a really nice scenario so far and I was really under pressure to fullfill the dwarven quests in time. Now I'm slowly expanding, because the enemies are really though. I gave these high ratings so this map will possibly more downloaded, the current rating is to low for my opinion, matched with other scenarios. to be continued... [Edited on 01/12/06 @ 05:58 PM]
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Brick Commander |
Posted on 01/18/06 @ 08:24 AM
A Forgotten Realms-scenario map with drow and lots of customized stuff, great! What could possibly go wrong?
Well, a lot actually. I am at turn 104 now, but I don't think I will play on. The map looks great, and appears very playable at first glance (and second glance, as well). The problems, however, start after turn 50. After fullfilling the first of Lolth's missions the game starts to drag. It takes ages to build up your forces, and when you finally have gathered enough strength to take on one opponent directly, your troops and cities get destroyed by firestorms and earthquakes. And casting this kind of spells is the favorite pastime of your opponents! Your own cities are far apart and limited in many ways (no wizard towers), so they stay small, and you can't even build magic defense screens - bad for the forces you're trying to gather. It also seems to me that those area-affecting spells are much stronger than usual. Again, bad for your guys.
There are also some problems concerning the 1.4 patch. The game runs much slower, and saving a game takes like 3 minutes. More often than not, the game won't even load those savegames anymore! I lost many hours of gameplay this way.
Bottom line is, this is a map for very, very, very patient players who have little else to do in their free time. I'm really trying to like the map, but from a certain point on it is not fun anymore. |
steppenfox |
Posted on 11/01/06 @ 07:51 PM
Playability: 5
The map is, hands down, quite difficult. Air/death mastery is very much an overpowered spell in AoW, and the power of that spell shows its true colors on this map. The goblin ruler, early on, cast air mastery, and with his orc ally kept at a relentless magical assault. Conversely, when I managed to build up the resources to disjunct air mastery and cast death mastery - the balance of power completely turned. That said, I like difficult maps.
Balance: 5
Look above.
Creativity: 5
The map is very creative. It is the first I played with complete focus upon the underground.
Map Design: 5
Story/Instructions: 4
The story and the setting are brilliant. I liked the teleporting out of the meeting, and the initial setup. It would have been advantageous to keep the story going a bit longer though... most of the later game is pure strategy/conquering with little regard for storyline.
Additional Comments:
I am currently around turn 170, where I have notably turned the balance in my favor. However, it was a very difficult fight to get where I am right now. The key turning point was when I managed to disjunct the air mastery spell, and cast my own death mastery spell. At this point, my internal cities were finally secure. Throughout most of the game, I was the t was the weakest combatant upon the map. It was very enjoyable to play my enemies against each other. In order to survive, you cannot capture every city you can get your eyes upon. I recommend this campaign for experienced gamers. The challenge will be very enjoyable.[Edited on 11/01/06 @ 07:52 PM]
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Blackthor |
Posted on 09/04/14 @ 05:32 AM
Playability: 5
(Insert Playability analysis here)
Balance: 5
(Insert Balance analysis here)
Creativity: 5
(Insert Creativity analysis here)
Map Design: 5
(Insert Map Design analysis here)
Story/Instructions: 5
(Insert Story/Instructions analysis here)
Additional Comments:
A beautiful map, very hard at the beginnin (tons of dread Reapers everywere)
I'm stilla t turn 80, killed Vestress and Dark Soul, now matrons are my target
With big heroes full of artifacts and a great army, now the game is quite easy, but challenging before killing my first enemy (vestress, with mastery spell casted) |
HGDL v0.8.2 |
Rating |
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4.3 | Breakdown |
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Playability | 3.9 | Balance | 4.1 | Creativity | 4.4 | Map Design | 4.6 | Story/Instructions | 4.3 |
Statistics |
Downloads: | 1,931 |
Favorites: [] | 1 |
Size: | 2.05 MB |
Added: | 01/02/06 |
Updated: | 08/11/15 |
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