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Author |
File Description |
slama (id: Slama) |
Posted on 06/18/08 @ 11:57 AM
File Details |
Ruleset: |
AoW: SM - Unofficial Patch 1.4 |
Map Size: |
XL |
Levels: |
3 |
Single Player?: |
Yes |
Co-Op vs. AI?: |
Yes |
PBEM/Hotseat?: |
Yes |
Multiplayer Online?: |
Yes |
# of Wizards: |
8 |
# of players: |
3 |
Skill Level: |
Advanced |
Password Protected: |
No |
UPDATE! This is an updated version of my original scenario Underdark Dwiggs. This version should be more SP friendly and I have fixed a bunch of minor bugs. I would love to get some feedback whether good, bad or ugly. More just curious on whether or not you enjoyed the map.
Welcome to the Underdark
This is a battle between the evil races for control of the depths of the Earth.
Wizard locations and background:
Nekron - His domain is not really part of the Underdark but is actually an ancient city that has been absorb by the earth and thus is relatively close to the surface. Nekron endless goal is dominate all life that he comes in contact with.
Skulkan - Supreme Leader of all the Orc Tribes in the Region. The Orcs have become a very structured community in this region that live in the caves of the surrounding mountains. The only issue is that the Goodly races in the area have blocked most of the old tunnels leading to surface. Thus Skulkan must expand his empire by exploring more of the Underdark.
Arachna - High Priestess of Lolth. On a mission from her goddess to control all of the Underdark before spreading her chaos to the rest of the surface world. Her first task is to destroy the rogue Wizard Malvag and his upstart males.
Malvag - He leads a splinter group of male Drow casters that have formed their own community away from Dark Elf society. They are the hunted with respects to Lolth's Priestesses, but never trust a cornered animal.
Karissa - Karissa lost control of her original tribe many moons ago and was forced to retreat deeper into the Underdark. Now that she has restored her power and is continuing to build her army, conquest is sure to follow.
Mangst - In his ever growing lust for more power, Mangst has established a base of operations in the deepest parts of the Underdark. Now he plans to conquer all.
Mab - The Queen of the Goblins has been on a mission to free her people. First she liberated a large number of goblinkin slaves from the Dark Elves in the region and then led a number of other tribes away from areas infested with Dwarves. In order to maintain order and to build upon her growing empire, she has established a stronghold below the normal tunnels of the Underdark away from the other races. But with the influx of Demons in the area, solitude is no longer an option. Grow or die!
Nazure - Little is known of Nazure. He has broken away from the Demon collective and now has created a stonghold in the deepest parts of the Underdark. His hunger for power will continue to drive him onward and upward until he controls everything and everyone in his domain.
Let the WAR begin!
Ed Notes:
1. This map should be balanced for Multi-player for up to three players. The map is designed to give you some time to grow your empire before encountering other wizards. But once you do, it should be all out war.
2. It will play somewhat balanced for Single-player but the AI can only build so quickly due to the complexity of the tunnels. This updated version has increased the starting strengths of the AI Wizards.
3. This map has been built using the Dwiggs 5.0 mod pack.
4. The Earth vs Rock graphics on the Surface level are difficult to discern. The Earth spaces that are "diggable" can only be seen from the side but they do exist.
5. There is no running story on this map.
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Author | Comments & Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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RogerRabid (id: Roger the Rampant) |
Posted on 07/14/08 @ 07:26 AM
Playability: 5
It's great to find a new dwiggs map, as there aren't many around, and this map is definitely worth playing if you love dwiggs, which is one of the best mods around. I did play this all the way through, and it took me 297 days because I chose to take the enemy wizards out one at a time. At no point did I ever feel remotely threatened by an enemy wizard.
Balance: 4
This map claims to be playable as single player or multi player, but I don't think it is ideally suited for either. Although Nazure is supposed to be cpu only, because the mapmaker hasn't put "human" against one of the non-cpu wizards you are automatically given Mazure as your wizard unless you specifically choose another one. Nazure has a big advantage, because as well as most units having fire immunity and having a capital that is surrounded by lava pathways, most of your opponents will be suffering from shadow sickness and Nazure's units won't. Mab has a big disadvantage, being based in the shadow world and having units that suffer from shadow sickness. I actually played as undead, and left Nazure until last, but because of the stupidity of the AI it was still quite easy for me to waltz past hordes and hordes of arch fiends, using hell gates for transport. To be a good SP map, the enemies would need to be much tougher, and there would need to be a lot more events and story provided. Also the indies that jump you could be much tougher on an SP map, especially in remote earth-bound locations. I can't see this really working as a multi-player map, either. Firstly it is too big, and it takes an enormous amount of time to get anywhere as it's effectively a giant maze of tunnels on three layers, with various paths blocked by spider webs or poison clouds, so the game would take months. There isn't enough of a challenge to do it as a co-op against the AI, as again, the AI races would need to be much stronger for that to work. This appears to be a map for beginners, but will beginners want to go through the hassle of installing dwiggs? Also each time you kill an enemy wiz, because all races are evil you end up being able to recruit an enormous quantity of units and heroes, so in the end I had more than twenty heroes fighting for me.
Creativity: 4
Although there weren't any parts of the map containing new mapmaking ideas, this is a well made map, parts of it are very nicely themed, and it was an unusual concept to have an all-evil map using three layers of tunnels. To my mind this map is not ideally suited for dwiggs mod. Dwiggs mod, for me at least, is all about using lower level units. On a map this big and this complex, where it takes such a long time to get anywhere near your opponents, it is inevitably all about lvl4 units and uber-heroes. Limiting most of the towns so that they can't become cities means that you can't produce special racial buildings and the units therein, nor can you produce lvl4s from most towns. So what you do in reality is leave those towns idle (although in the case of the undead you can produce hordes and hordes of spectres) and only concentrate on building up the towns that CAN become cities.
Map Design: 4
Nicely made, well worth trying out for SP. More income structures and nodes than you could ever need, I had more than one hundred and seventy thousand gold (plus three hundred and fifty thousand mana) by the end of the game. Because there was a lot of (caverns) rock on the surface, as soon as you went by with a unit with path of decay, for example, the rock was eroded away, so it was quite easy to get past any watch towers loaded up with tough defenders, or spiders webs that blocked the route.
Story/Instructions: 3
If this is going to be a good SP map, it could do with a lot more story and events. You are going to be playing it for a long time, simply due to the size and complexity of the map, and you really need more to keep you interested.
Additional Comments:
Great to see a new dwiggs map, interesting concept. This has taken the mapmaker an enormous amount of time and effort, which I do appreciate, and it is a good map to play. To enter the hall of fame as one of my favourite maps, however, it would probably need more work on story and events. |
slama (id: Slama)
File Author |
Posted on 07/18/08 @ 01:10 PM
Roger,
Thanks so much for the feedback. Since this was my first map, I did not want to complicate it with stories since I was not sure yet how to do it, but I agree with your evaluation 100%.
A couple of comments:
1) I really like Dwiggs due to the new units, restricted growth in the towns/cities and higher value for lower level units. Unfortunately, I think I missed the mark on this map since I also ended up with high level units and "uber-heroes" dominating the map.
2) I am not sure why the "Path of Decay" erodes the walls of the map regardless of the level (whether surface, underground or shadow). This must be a bug in the Dwiggs module since it was certainly not intended.
3) Income structures and nodes were over-kill and will be better balanced if and when I ever do another map.
4) Still figuring out how to make the AI tougher for experienced players. I have been a long time player but just a newbie map maker so it will come.
Thanks again for your feedback and I will certainly incorporate some of it in any future maps.
Cheers |
RogerRabid (id: Roger the Rampant) |
Posted on 08/13/08 @ 08:30 AM
Hello Slama
Path of decay removing rock and diggable earth only happens on the surface, it happens in all versions not just Dwiggs, and presumably it is because the mods only intended rock and earth to be used underground, and not to be used on the surface.
Swolte has confirmed that in patch 1.5 they are intending to have cavern tiles that can be used on the surface without them being removed by path of decay etc.
Keep up the good work!
Roger |
HGDL v0.8.2 |
Rating |
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4.0 | Breakdown |
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Playability | 5.0 | Balance | 4.0 | Creativity | 4.0 | Map Design | 4.0 | Story/Instructions | 3.0 |
Statistics |
Downloads: | 1,324 |
Favorites: [] | 1 |
Size: | 496.81 KB |
Added: | 06/18/08 |
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