|
| Thread: The Swords of Night and Day (re-released as an Era 2.4 mod) |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 3 4 5 6 · «PREV / NEXT» |
|
Salamandre
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
|
posted January 25, 2013 07:07 AM |
|
|
Thanks for update, I have a few questions (if you don't want to give spoiler that's fine):
I am not sure what to do other than arena first level for 2 months in quick combat (after the three quests). Also in arena it takes less time to do one monster, get 1 xp, go back then do again one monster. Killing both monsters at once takes more time because we have to walk near the walls and escape that annoying angel. Even if higher arena options are more rewarding, the time-vs-benefit is still in the first level. Minotaur takes 10 minutes to defeat, by this time I get 20 xp points from first level.
I am now month 2 and got 60 xp, returning to arena. I went to knu knu but reloaded after visit as there was no point other than having information on how to kill megaton.
Visiting Tim, he says to go back home to kill a rabit, but the rabit is in the cave nearby (nice rabbit btw). He is impossible to defeat now.
Other paths are blocked or too dangerous, and dracolich in the dark towers is still impossible to do. The progression in HP after 2 months is rather inexistent, only got 5 hp from the mage transformation, while dragons or rabbit around have 500+.
Not sure what to visit, is there a minimum xp level from which we can start to explore around and leave this arena repetitive fights?
|
|
JimV
Responsible
Supreme Hero
|
|
posted January 25, 2013 02:58 PM |
|
Edited by JimV at 04:17, 26 Jan 2013.
|
Thanks for trying the map and for the questions, which will benefit others.
I always fight both the static creatures in the Arena now, although in my first tests I fought one and ran back to the exit, but I can beat the second creature and avoid the moving creature, as you say, by running around the inside of the Arena. The key as you probably have figured out is to never move towards the moving creature unless you have a big lead. It is slower, but always tries to move toward you, so if you move towards it your lead decreases quickly and if you move away your lead increases. So first I move straight down (away) to build up a lead, then straight across (right), then up to the second creature, then around the inside.
The main benefit of this is that you are never allowed to run out of movement points while in the Arena (this is also true in the Tomb and in the Maze), so for every step you take, your movement points build up (until a limit of 20,000 is reached). So usually I run around the inside of the Arena several times before exiting.
The next point is that the problem with only fighting creatures for resources is that the other three options give +attributes as rewards. You need resources, but you will get stronger by using the other Arena options, especially if you complete 6 Gauntlets and 8 Labyrinths (which used to be 10 of both) because there are big rewards at that point (and smaller additional bonuses at 3 and 4 wins, respectively).
Anyway, my goal is to complete the 6 Gauntlets wins, 8 Labyrinth wins, and the Gladiator Ladder (Minimus, Brutus, Humungous, Giganticus, Titanicus, Maximus, and Sparticus) before going south. (This took me about 5 weeks of game time in my last play-test.) (It used to take almost two months before the current changes.) The first of these that I try to complete is the Gauntlet, because with Town Portal I can go back to Woodshire for training and get back to the Arena in the same day (over and over). Note that difficulty in the Arena is based on the training level of your lowest troop slot, so it may help to get promotions one character at a time, and move the lower character to the lower slot. Promotions come in increments of about 25-30 EP but are staggered between the characters, so you are always 5-20 EP away from the next promotion.
Another pro tip is that once you know there is a Magic Spring near Tim the Enchanter, you can use that to restore your spell points for the Arena.
By the way, Tim does not say to go home to fight the Rabbet. He says go home, you are too weak and there is a Killer Rabbet around here. He is afraid the Rabbet will kill you. (I don't attack the Rabbet until I have a High Mage who has learned the Titan's Lighting Bolt spell.) (I think that is at 100 EP.) (The Dragolichs will require Chain Thunder Bolt and the Rainbow Shield of Blocking from the Labyrinth.)
And of course take advantage of the fact that Leora can cast a spell at almost every turn of her characters, including Wait turns. This is essential for the Labyrinth and the Killer Rabbet and some other battles.
The way I look at it (or perhaps rationalize it) is that if you are playing a standard Heroes scenario and find an enemy castle which is too strong for you to take, you do other things to build up your strength and then go back to fight the castle; and in a standard Heroes game, it is up to you to figure what those other things are. Which can be frustrating, but also satisying when you make a plan and it works.
I am sorry for the long post. Probably most of that was obvious, but different people may need different bits of it.
|
|
Salamandre
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
|
|
posted January 25, 2013 05:03 PM |
|
|
Ah ok, thanks. I thought that we have to go back to town as soon as one of characters gains a promotion, but you say is beneficial to go until 100 xp before taking first promotion? Because it takes 4 days to reach arena again, so 4 days for vames, 4 days for jalery, this for each promotion, no way I have 100 xp before second month, or is possible?
I totally forgot about double cast, would be maybe wise to recall about it on first battle round (if battle is not quick-I always put on quick the very first battle because casualties are higher).
|
|
alisapa1211
Famous Hero
|
|
posted January 25, 2013 05:31 PM |
|
|
|
Do I need to get the Moon Seed (do I spell it right?) instantly after getting the Sun Seed?! Ice Elementals destroy me instantly and are much harder than Fire Elementals.
|
|
JimV
Responsible
Supreme Hero
|
|
posted January 25, 2013 05:42 PM |
|
Edited by JimV at 06:33, 27 Jan 2013.
|
Not quite. You will need the benefits of the promotions to get through all the Arena events, but sometimes it might be better to get both might and magic promotions in the same visit and sometimes it might be better to get only one.
Summary of training promotion Experience Points:
Might: 30, 50 (Senior Warrior), 75, 100 (Elite Warrior), 135.
Magic: 35, 60 (High Mage), 90, 125. (Enchanter: whenever a High Mage returns with Tim's Ring.)
The deflection might-promotions apply to both characters. The mage learns Magic Arrow, Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Titan's Lightning Bolt, and Chain Titan's Lightning Bolt. [Edit--Chain Lighting was wrong, sorry.]
Some of the difficulty setting of Arena battles depends on creature type (Warrior, Senior Warrior, Elite Warrior, Mage, High Mage, Enchanter) of the stack-zero character.
So for example it might be easier to get through the Gauntlet with a Warrior as stack zero and a High Mage (more hit points than a Mage) in stack one. On the other hand, the Warrior promotion will also come with an increase in deflection which applies to both characters.
I usually get 35 EP before returning to Woodshire for both first promotions. I can get back to Woodshire in less than one day of travel, and back to the Arena in three of four days. Later, with movement bonuses I can get back in two to three days, and with Town Portal, there and back in the same day.
Anyway, it was about Month 1, Week 4, Day 5 when I completed all the Arena battles and had about 150 EP.
I think another post has arrived since I started composing and typing this reply - this is in response to Salamandre.
Edit - re Moon and Sun Seeds: yes, you should get them both at the same time, but you should not go south until you have Chain Titan's Thunder Bolt (hits five stacks, all at 600 HP damage). Thanks for playing. Do you have any general advice for other players?
Edit 2 - More variety for Hidden Spells: I am thinking of adding another Arena option to Hidden Spells, which might be a battle with Ice Cannon. It needs a lot of development, but my first stab at graphics are shown below:
The battlefield would be snow instead of sand, and there would be a puff of smoke coming out of the cannon. Where the ice ball hits there would be an Ice Bolt blast, and then a Frost Ring.
The cannons would not be able to hit stacks which are close to them, but random Quicksands would be placed at the start of the battle.
Edit 2 - Ice Cannons phase 2:
Edit 3 - Test script done, with animation and sound effects. The simplified gif below leaves out many frames but gives a rough idea.
I still have to merge this into the Hidden Spells Arena script and add increasing difficulty factors. I might make a custom battlefield for it.
|
|
Bersy
Honorable
Supreme Hero
|
|
posted January 27, 2013 01:12 PM |
|
|
|
How is shooting trajectory implemented?
|
|
Salamandre
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
|
|
posted January 27, 2013 01:19 PM |
|
|
Same style as Atlantis I think: battlefield obstacles added then removed? It is clearly not a projectile, no hit animation on impact.
There is a THREAD in df2 about codes making a stack run any animation (BM:G[negative integer]), I tested it once and it worked.
|
|
JimV
Responsible
Supreme Hero
|
|
posted January 27, 2013 02:41 PM |
|
Edited by JimV at 18:33, 27 Jan 2013.
|
If the iceball hits a stack directly, there is an Ice Bolt animation (which was done incorrectly in the above gif - I used an Ice Maiden to cast it - now I self-cast on the target stack).
A moving obstacle would leave a trail of invisible obstacles which would be impassible. (Good comment, though, thanks.) I calculate a parabolic trajectory and plot it using XFiles.dll. Example (wonkish):
!!FU7028:P637/182; fire top cannon
* top covers r0-r5, c1-c8
!!VRv1:S0 R5; select random row
!!VRv2:S1 R7; select random col
!!FU7041:P637/182/v1/v2; calc. parabola and launch iceball
!!FU7028:P637/350; fire bottom cannon
* bottom covers r5-r10, c1-c8
!!VRv1:S5 R5; select random row
!!VRv2:S1 R7; select random col
!!FU7041:P637/350/v1/v2; calc. parabola and launch iceball
...
!?FU7028; fire cannon at x1/x2
!!VRz3:S^Mods/HiddenSpells/Data/screen.bmp^;
!!SN:Ev38/1/z3/0/0/800/556; call CaptureScreen(left=0,top=0,width=800,height=556)
!!VRz2:S^Mask.bmp^;
!!VRy1:Sx1-36;
!!VRy2:Sx2-36;
!!VRz1:S^blast.82m^;
!!SN:Pz1;
!!UN:R6/500;
!!DO7029/1/6/1:Py1/y2;
!!BU:R;
!?FU7029; plot SnoBalSx16
!!VRz1:S^Mods/HiddenSpells/Data/SnoBal%X16S.bmp^;
!!SN:Ev43/1/z3/z1/z2/x1/x2/72/72; call SaveCaptMask(left=x1,top=x2,width=72,height=72)
!!SN:Ev39/1/z2/x1/x2/72/72/100/0; call DrawBmp(left=x1,top=x2,width=72,height=72,Delay=0.1 sec.,IfKey=0)
!?FU7041; x1=cannon x, x2=cannon y, x3=target row, x4=target col (tc)
!!VRy1:Sx3*17+x4; target hex
* for even r, x=44tc+58, for odd r, x=44(tc-1/2)+58 = 44tc+36; y=42r+112
!!VRe-50:S1:2; e-50=0.5 for rounding
!!VRe-1:Sx1; x0 (cannon mouth)
!!VRe-2:Sx2; y0
!!VRy2:Sx3%2; odd row, 1 even 0
!!VRe-3:Sx4*44+36;
!!VRe-3&y2<1:+22; xT (target hex)
!!VRe-4:Sx3*42+112; yT
!!VRe-5:S25; cannon h
!!VRe-6:S79; cannon w
!!VRe-7:S82861:1000; cannon L
!!VRe-8:Se-1-e-3; dx
!!VRe-9:Se-2-e-4; dy
!!VRe-10:Se-8*e-6; dx*w
!!VRe-11:Se-9*e-5; dy*h
!!VRe-12:Se-10+e-11:e-7; (dx*w+dy*h)/L = tT
!!VRe-13:Se-8*e-7; dx*L
!!VRe-14:Se-6*e-12; w*tT
!!VRe-15:Se-13-e-14:e-5:e-12:e-12; a=(dx*L-w*tT)/h/tT^2
!!VRe-16:Se-12:5+e-50; N=# of iceball moves along u-axis)(dt=5 pixels)
!!VRy16:Se-16-1; N-1
*!IF:M^Thex=%Y1, xT=%E-3, yT=%E-4, tT=%E-12, a=%E-15, N=%E-16, N-1=%Y16^;
!!VRz4:S^Bombaway.82m^;
!!SN:Pz4;
!!DO7042/1/y16/1:P-1/-2/-5/-6/-7/5/-15/-50; move iceball N-1 times (do last time here:)
!!VRy3:Se-3-30; icball is off-center in 72x72 by (-6,-2)
!!VRy4:Se-4-34;
!!SN:Ev43/1/z3/z1/z2/y3/y4/72/72; call SaveCaptMask(left=y3,top=y4,width=72,height=72)
!!SN:Ev39/1/z2/y3/y4/72/72/0/0; call DrawBmp(left=y3,top=y4,width=72,height=72,Delay=0 sec.,IfKey=0)
!!DO7029/1/5/1:Py3/y4; plot splat
!!BU:R;
!!BU:Ey1/?y5;
!!BMy5&y5>-1:C16/y1/3/3/1; cast Ice Bolt on target if living stack there
!!BMv1337:C20/y1/3/3/0; cast Frost Ring
...
As usual, there was an unexpected problem which taught me something new about WoG. The cannons fire at the end of an Ice Maiden's turn (BG1)(defender side). Meanwhile, the next stack of the attacking side has been selected and highlighted. If that stack is killed, it still gets a turn! And then its sprite stays upright on the battlefield until the end of the battle. I had to use FU77006 and some other tricks to prevent this.
Thanks to Era (WoG 3.59, plugins, SN:E, FU77xxx, etc.), almost anything can be done. I could not have done this with WoG 3.58f.
(Of course, Bersy and OxFEA and others would have written a custom plugin to do the same thing more elegantly.)
P.S. to Teslaptak, if you are still active here: I replied to your message as soon as I saw it (it arrived while I was sleeping), but it has remained undelivered for three days now.
P.P.S. I have uploaded my most current play-test game (SNDPT2.GM1 - second play-test of Era version) to the box.com link (here) so that people can see that the game isn't too difficult once you figure out a good strategy - because I think half the problem is having confidence that a new problem is solvable. (People here have solved much harder problems.) In fact, I worried that it was too easy.
P.P.P.S. The preceeding comment was about SND (Swords of Night and Day), whereas most of this post has been about adding an Ice Cannon battle to the Arena of the sequal, Hidden Spells. The battle has been added:
and the updated Era mod (HiddenSpells.exe) is at the same link. (It hasn't been tested a lot.)
|
|
Salamandre
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
|
|
posted January 27, 2013 07:33 PM |
|
|
IMO, the problem isn't that the game is hard or easy, it is rather about the transition between possible and impossible. If you fight once one regular creature then the next level of fight is not yet accessible thus you have to re-fight the same creature more than once in order to prepare for next level, then it becomes a problem. I am a standard Heroes player and not at all comfortable with entirely scripted maps, so the problem is also due to my prejudices and habits, I know this.
Other will say they don't see the point of daily having to build towns, fight thousand of mobs on your way, destroy AI heros, flag mines, creature banks, build mage guilds, slowly conquer the map, develop several heroes to high levels, while all those actions can be minimized to a lesser extent. The question is how much can we minimize them and still keep the game original feeling.
Thanks for update, I will give it a try and think for a better strategy than first time.
____________
Era II mods and utilities
|
|
JimV
Responsible
Supreme Hero
|
|
posted January 27, 2013 07:56 PM |
|
Edited by JimV at 03:18, 29 Jan 2013.
|
A' chacun son gout. (Sorry for my terrible French.)
________________________________________________________
New Post (via Edit Post):
1) I made some small changes to the Ice Cannon battle in Hidden Spells late last night:
a) The Frost Ring animation is not centered on the actual target hex, so I made a version which is (C07SPW1) and redirect C07SPW0 to it at the start of the battle.
b) If the last Ice Maiden is killed right after its turn, BG0 may take place while the end-of-battle dialog is being shown, so that exploding iceballs shoot across that dialog. I have added an end-of-battle check (BU:C?) so that will not happen.
c) I had forgotten to use Bersy's method to restore the hex shading and have added that.
2) I have another idea for making long battles easier in both SND and HS: hotkeys for spells which are used many times (Quicksand and Cure), as well as others which used in almost every battle. For example:
F5 - Quicksand
F6 - (mass) Cure
F7 - (mass) Bless
F8 - Shield on Warrior
F9 - Shield on Mage
F10 P - Precision on Mage [Edit--F10 doesn't work]
The list of hotkeys could be displayed by right-clicking the Cast Spell icon, or even listed in billboards at the top of the battlefield picture. Example:
(Speaking of billboards, if any commercial entities want to sponsor the game in exchange for "Brought to you by ____" signs, that could be negotiated.)
_________________________________________________________
Combat spell hotkeys (keyboard shortcuts) have been added to both SND and HS. It turns out that F5-F7 are already used by Heroes to toggle battlefield settings (e.g., hex grid on and off) so I used the number keys 5-9 instead of F5-F9. Jan. 28, 2013, 9:17 PM, EST
|
|
Alustor
Famous Hero
ooo da :)
|
|
posted January 29, 2013 07:45 PM |
|
|
|
i can t seem to find that serpinski gasket.i though it was an abou 8 o clock but guess i was wrong, some hints?
|
|
JimV
Responsible
Supreme Hero
|
|
posted January 29, 2013 09:47 PM |
|
Edited by JimV at 21:50, 29 Jan 2013.
|
Do you know what it looks like? If not, google it, and then it should be easy to spot if it isn't under darkness.
What I'm looking for in regard to clock numbers is:
12 = straight north of the center of the map,
1 = north-north-east (NNE)
2 = ENE
3 = straight east of the center of the map
4 = ESE
5 = SSE
6 = straight south of the center of the map
etc.
So 8 would mean if you were at the center of the map, you should walk WSW (west-south-west) to reach the center of the gasket. Which is incorrect. Maybe it isn't visible to you yet.
Thanks for playing.
|
|
Alustor
Famous Hero
ooo da :)
|
|
posted January 30, 2013 09:20 AM |
|
|
well i know how it looks,i revealed almost the whole map on surface, now i have to start up the generator somehow(releasing the peasents didn t helped, i guess).it is an great map by the way, even if the ogre fights in the arena may take some time(too much if u ask me), but congratulations overall 
|
|
JimV
Responsible
Supreme Hero
|
|
posted January 30, 2013 02:13 PM |
|
Edited by JimV at 20:31, 30 Jan 2013.
|
Thanks very much for the encouragement.
Remember what Tim the Enchanter said about about starting up the turbine and generator: fuel for the turbine, and cleaning the Bugs out of the generator. Once the turbine and generator have started producing power, the Portals will be active and you can get a couple of items which you will need underground. Then you will have to shut the turbine down in order to enter the warp.
There is another way to visit a certain part of the underground though. That other way is the quickest way to find the gasket. It would be useful to enter it before shutting off the turbine, since there is a Portal near Knu Knu. (Actual now there are three ways, since the recent changes, but the third way is not useful.) If the turbine has been shut down and you want to restart it you will need more Electrum.
______________________________________________
New Post - Erratum Department
I am doing another play-test of Hidden Spells and found a bad error. At some point I deleted the current ZOBJCTS.txt from Data because there was a copy in h3sprite.pac, but in fact the one in the .pac was an old version, which I had forgotten to update. So if you have a recent download of HiddenSpells.exe which does not have ZOBJCTS.txt in its Data folder, some of the objects are mis-labeled, and one of them, the Temple of Fire, is unusable, which makes it impossible to get the Chain of Fire spell. I have just re-uploaded the .exe file with the latest ZOBJCTS in its .pac file.
I apologize for this error. Deleting the Mods/Hidden Spells subfolder and installing the latest version (or just replacing the h3sprite.pac file) will make saved games playable if the player has not already found the Fire Temple. If the Fire Temple has been found, I will fix saved games to make it usable if people email the saved games to me or give me a link to download them.
|
|
Alustor
Famous Hero
ooo da :)
|
|
posted January 31, 2013 06:28 PM |
|
|
well i was having hard time to find the gasket cause i missed imhotep s tomb entrance.anyway i hoped that solving this will help me to advance but no.i can t seem to find the fuel(damn giants are hiding good) and untraceable bugs also give me headaches.i circle around the map but i can t find any portal or place that i haven t visited yet.i m in month 7(i searched alot for smth  )
|
|
JimV
Responsible
Supreme Hero
|
|
posted January 31, 2013 07:03 PM |
|
|
The Storm Giants live up on snow-covered mountains. They are in Local Events so you don't see them until you step on a LE while climbing up the mountain. The mountain trail isn't obvious either - maybe I should mark it in some way, or just make the Storm Giants visible.
I don't know what smth means, sorry. There are smiths in "The King in Yellow" and in "Hidden Spells" but not in SND.
I hope that by bugs you mean the Bugs in the Generator. Once you have cleaned them out, you could either start up the turbine (if it has fuel) or go through the warp field in the Generator into Xanadu (but you will need the Moon and Sun Seeds before you can accomplish the quests in Xanadu).
|
|
Alustor
Famous Hero
ooo da :)
|
|
posted February 01, 2013 12:18 AM |
|
|
|
well i don t know about the other player who played this map but i can t spot that trail in the mountains and i walked twice every cell in the snow area, it may be just me.also i don t know where are the bugs in the generator(even though i may find them after i take the electrum?) and by smth i mean something
|
|
JimV
Responsible
Supreme Hero
|
|
posted February 01, 2013 04:47 AM |
|
Edited by JimV at 04:52, 01 Feb 2013.
|
Sorry, I have been away from my computer at a movie for several hours so I have not replied immediately. Thank you for your patience, if you have any left.
Also, before I signed on I finished making and testing an update to show the Storm Giants on the map:
The SG are in the same locations at the ends of the same trails but now the pathfinding mechanism of Heroes will show you the path. It took a bit of map editing to make them appear on top of several over-lapping mountain objects, which is probably why I used the Local Events when I first made the map.
Without an object to find a path for, you must move the cursor slowly around the base of the mountains until the horse pointer appears to show you a square you can walk to (a walking horse, not a rearing horse - a Local Event trigger will not show a rearing horse). I have seen this done on many maps, but find it a bit frustrating myself, so I think the visible SG is an improvement. (It has been uploaded to the box.com link.)
The Generator has a yellow square (event trigger) between the two lightning symbols:
If you trigger the event while the turbine is shut down, you will get this message there:
Then if you click the check mark, you will have to fight the Bugs.
|
|
alisapa1211
Famous Hero
|
|
posted February 01, 2013 08:36 AM |
|
|
I have nearly finished the map, and these are just some opinions about your map (and King of Yellow because I think there are some similarities):
I love the fact that each stack of your Hero feel like an individual being rather than generic creeps, this is definitely the strongest point of your maps. I also think the events and hints are unique and interesting (although not everyone is good enough at English so there are some troubles understanding some of the important hints).
However I feel like your maps lack replay value. Take TEW or ToP for example, thanks to the School of Sorcery, sometime I want to upgrade my Archangels first because they are the strongest unit in my army, but sometime I want to focus on my Lava Sharpshooters because they deal the most damage in early and mid game states. Even if your set of skills are the same, the order you upgrade them can also be game changing in certain battles. And thus it's possible to replay multiple times to try different set of skills and upgrade orders. In this map, you just grind enough EXP and upgrade your Warrior and Mage in exact orders (50 EP-> Senior Warrior, 100 EP -> Elite Warrior,...) and the skills are already decided. The solution is easy as you can give the players the options to upgrade his army, and multiple classes to choose. For example I can upgrade Mage to Battle Mage, who loses the ability to cast Chain Titan Lightning, but have much higher damage/health, chain shots, death cloud/fire ball, double shots, no range/melee penalty,etc. Of course High Mage is still very strong with CTL, but Battle Mage is much more useful against immunity, cursed ground, fights in Arena, etc. Or you can upgrade Mage to Warlock, who not only can cast offensive spell (of course weaker than CTL) but also curses (mass slow for example) to debuff the enemies. The options are endless.
Then it also feels quite lonely playing your map. In most of Salamandre maps you have multiple secondary heroes(some even have strong specialties on their own), who are essential to do things like farming creature banks, upgrading/transferring troops, managing resources, visiting bonus places, doing minor quests that doesn't need the main hero, giving bonus (Estates), etc etc. Here it's just Leora and her Warrior + Mage doing almost everything from the begin to end, thus making it become boring fast if you want to replay multiple times.
In the end I actually enjoy the map a lot, but I would enjoy it even more if you improve these issues. But if it's your style making maps like these, then feel free to continue.
|
|
JimV
Responsible
Supreme Hero
|
|
posted February 01, 2013 03:11 PM |
|
|
Thanks very much for the interesting comments. I completely agree that the map would be better with the new options which you describe. In the sequel, Hidden Spells, there is a lot for one Hero to do so I added Leora's nephew, Calladan of Greenholme. However, otherwise the map is similar in structure to SND (although it is not necessary to get all four Hidden Spells to win and maybe different combinations could be used). I wish I had thought of giving choices of battle skills and spells (maybe the Warrior could learn some simple spells also) at promotions, but I didn't. Once I have a basic plan for a map I am in a hurry to get the map finished, and it takes prodding from other players to get me to go back to a finished map and try to improve it. It has been a day-dream of mine to make a map which could be played over and over in many different ways, but I have never had the patience to keep working on a map after my main ideas are scripted and it is playable. (The same character flaw, plus lack of artistic vision, keeps me from improving the landscape as much as I should.) As it is, a map takes me several months (typically three or four) to finish, during which I have played it five or six times for testing. Near the end of that time I begin to be tired of it and wonder why I am spending so much time on something that only a few people will probably use.
My source model for the mage fighters was Steven Erickson's series of Malazan novels, which has cadre mages and high mages, who accompany armies to launch powerful spells in battle, but are protected by ordinary soldiers. I think a map based on his "Chain of Dogs" battles in "Deadhouse Gates" could be great (if done by a great map-maker - not me).
Anyway, if I make any more maps I will use your suggestions, as best I can. Thanks again for them.
|
| |
|
|
