Techtree Contest #4 - Improved Melee Race

[Wazzz]

What is this obsession with having 4 heroes I've noticed everyone's been having lately?

 

[GhostThruster]

Yeah, I know right? I mean what was Wc3 thinking when it chose to give 4 heroes per melee race? Jeez, that was the reason why Wc3 failed and made no money and no one plays it and no one makes online contests for it.

Finished Items, Lumber System and half of hero spells. I realised there was a lack of anti-air units, so I think I'll give the Water Hounds a (very weak) ranged air attack.

 

[ADVRipper]

Why?

Seriously, why? The idea of the contest is to make one race and to do it well. Why are you announcing that you're going to make 20 different races that don't even follow the rules of the contest here?

Why?

Well, i'm not competing in the contest.


I made these custom races only for fun.

I'm sorry, but you got me all wrong.

 

[GhostThruster]

Sorry dude, this isn't the right forum to post this. This is only for the competitors, or anyone who posts topics relevant to this thread (although this is is a Techtree thread, it is not a "Randomly post 3 maps" thread).

 

[TriggerHappy]

ADVRipper, post your maps either in the Map Development forum or in the Maps section, this isn't the right place.

I've also removed your post.

 

[ADVRipper]

I thought this topic was like "Post here your Plains of Snow map with a custom race or custom races".


Sorry about that.

 

[Deolrin]

No, this is a contest. People submit their submissions and then the judges and community decide who has the best race and give them a prize.

 

[Fuzzyfury]

Just a question: where should I post my map when I finish it? My first time in the contest here...

 

[Wazzz]

Yeah, I know right? I mean what was Wc3 thinking when it chose to give 4 heroes per melee race? Jeez, that was the reason why Wc3 failed and made no money and no one plays it and no one makes online contests for it.

Finished Items, Lumber System and half of hero spells. I realised there was a lack of anti-air units, so I think I'll give the Water Hounds a (very weak) ranged air attack.

Stupid reply is stupid. Please do try to be more constructive next time you post.

For those who, for some reason, can't understand the simplicity of my question, why are people saying 'I HAVE to make 4 heroes' when there is no rule saying that you have to for your race? If you're running out of time, why not just have one really good one?

 

[Lich Prince]

I also want to add that 2 well balanced heroes who have supporting roles or other techniques are far more better than 4 independent heroes.

This isn't a Hero Contest nor a Texturing/Modeling Contest, it's a Race Contest.

 

[JokeMaster]

We can also use Game Ranger ot host it is better than GArena but just for hosting.

 

[Wraithling]

Just a question: where should I post my map when I finish it? My first time in the contest here...

Right on this thread. Once you're done, just attach the map to your post.

 

[Fuzzyfury]

Right on this thread. Once you're done, just attach the map to your post.

Thanks man!

BTW, more WIPs

 

[Pharaoh_]

Guys, please, avoid using pastebin for your submissions; attach them on your post instead, because no one would want an expired entry, right?

 

[Raven0]

shit I didn't know about this extension. Now I only have two days to do this in.

 

[Fuzzyfury]

shit I didn't know about this extension. Now I only have two days to do this in.

Good luck, I am struggling to get mine done too xD

 

[The World Is Flat]

Cant wait to arrange a testing time for all of these, do we know who's gonna participate?

 

[Raven0]

do we know who's gonna participate?

In the testing? I will, just PM when you guys are going to do it and be on BNet for it.

 

[The World Is Flat]

Sounds like more people have Garena.

 

[Raven0]

Sounds like more people have Garena.

I don't have Garena, do I have to download it?

 

[LordDz]

I don't have Garena, do I have to download it?

http://www.garena.com/~client/

 

[67chrome]

I'm having a lot of difficulty with my archer's abilities, is there any way to recognize when a artillery unit attacks a point on the ground? Issued order only seems to work if the icons are manually clicked, and not with hotkeys and mouse clicks :S

I also kind of wanted to set up there attack so it would apply damage when the projectiles strike the target rather than when they are launched, but I have no idea how to set that up for multiple units.

 

[The World Is Flat]

Its usually under attack animation back swing point/similar settings, for when damage is applied in accordance to damage... i think, although i am not sure what your getting at.

 

[Narogog]

I also kind of wanted to set up there attack so it would apply damage when the projectiles strike the target rather than when they are launched, but I have no idea how to set that up for multiple units.

i think what you mean is that you are adding triggered damage, right? anyway
try using

• Unit - unit Takes Damage

it will wait for the projectile to hit but it would have to be done for every unit.

EDIT: Attached a W.I.P
View attachment KirinTor - Techtree #4.w3x
The only problem i need to fix is the Nether Gates, they tend to do weird things after you build more then 4 of them.

 

[67chrome]

Its usually under attack animation back swing point/similar settings, for when damage is applied in accordance to damage... i think, although i am not sure what your getting at.

Oh, my unit's projectiles should look pretty snazzy and come out at the right damage point and have the right amount of backswing to look great, I've changed the launch position of several units as well to make each attack look as smexy as possible.

i think what you mean is that you are adding triggered damage, right? anyway
try using

• Unit - unit Takes Damage

it will wait for the projectile to hit but it would have to be done for every unit.

That's cute, there is an otherwise incredibly useful function that can only be utilized on one specific unit. I hate it when I find stuff like that.

Thanks for the help though.

Basically what I want to do is set up my archers' so that they deal damage based on their distance to their target. As the distance to target is variable I can't just create a dummy spell to inflict it, or dummy unit. I know how to directly calculate the damage/distance thing, I just don't know how to set it up were a wait to inflict the damage would work basically at 1100 range the archer will do something like 60 damage, were at 100 range it will do something like 5). With it's current projectile speed of 1200 it will take almost 1 second for the projectile to travel from the point when "a unit is attacked" to when it actually gets hit. And 1 second is kind of noticeable in-game, though if I can't find another way to apply it I might go with. The other problems are that several archers can be active at the same time, so defining the attacker and attacked unit as an array doesn't seem to work to well

Also, I kind of want to have a miniature phoenix be used for the archer's projectile, sort of like their arrow is on fire but utilizes the in-game phoenix model. Problem is I can't figure out how to get it to work when the archer just attacks a certain spot on the ground (like mortar teams, catapults, meat wagons). With a small enough dummy model the phoenix should scale down to a believable projectile size rather than an enourmous unit, but I can't figure out how to get it to launch on attack the ground commands :/

 

[Narogog]

you could make a trigger

• Help
  • Events
    • Unit - A unit enters (Playable map area)
  • Conditions
  • Actions
    • Trigger - Add to Whatever Trigger the event (Unit - (Triggering unit) Takes damage)

this would make it work, but the trigger would get packed full of events for units that don't exist.
I don't thinks this would slow anything down or cause lag.

 

[Sage Chow]

^^ But, you cán make a dummy: Use a multiple level AoE attack (acid bomb), level the casting times at +0.1 and set the level to the distance. You could even mess with the AoE to mimic misses. You'll need another dummy for the art though.

On an side note: What is the deal with fragmentation shards? I thought i'd be cool to have my archer do bonus damage to unarmoured units, but it doesn't seem to do anything! And for some reason passive skills like lightning orb don't do anything on siege units aswell.. Nevermind, just had to take this off my chest =P

 

[Marcelo Hossomi]

In fact I intend to make only three heroes, I don't have any done so far xD

 

[67chrome]

^^ But, you cán make a dummy: Use a multiple level AoE attack (acid bomb), level the casting times at +0.1 and set the level to the distance. You could even mess with the AoE to mimic misses. You'll need another dummy for the art though.

On an side note: What is the deal with fragmentation shards? I thought i'd be cool to have my archer do bonus damage to unarmoured units, but it doesn't seem to do anything! And for some reason passive skills like lightning orb don't do anything on siege units aswell.. Nevermind, just had to take this off my chest =P

That casting time/levels idea might work, I'll look into it.

On the line of obnoxious things in the world editor, I had a lot of fun earlier getting berserker upgrades to work, ended up triggering the entire thing as the upgrade was almost completely worthless. I'm pretty sure undead are immune to disease cloud as well, regardless of what fields it's set to. Also, lightning orb/slow orb only proc their effect when manually ordered to attack a unit, so doing cool stuff like lurker-style attacks is better done with triggers. Abilities based off of frost arrows or cold arrows also seem to ignore whatever custom buffs I set for them and always display the cold arrows debuff.

I've found out a few cool things though, like cold arrows/slow poison/envenomed weapons/poison arrows have fields were you can get the damage, attack speed, and movement speed to stack with each unit that applies the same debuff. So, if you spawn a dummy with said debuff at each attack it will cause attacks to progressively worsen symptoms rather than flatly apply them.

*cough* As a completely unrelated not, I hope whoever is testing my map has a fast computer. *cough*

 

[Direfury]

I seem to need more melee units.

 

[Sage Chow]

xD I checked my spells immediatly after reading your post. Yeah, the disease cloud is messed up.. Dang. The orb is a minor problem too.. I guess i could go and fix it, but it will trigger a lot of unneccesary events.
I got the cold arrow event by combining 'unit is attacked' and 'attacking unit has custom value = x', setting the value to the hero upon (de)activating autocast. For custom buffs use poison arrows instead, the frost abilities have their settings under gameplay constants or something.

 

[GhostThruster]

You don't have to have 4 heroes, it's just easier to balance, because, if anyone has played a melee map in Wc3 TFT before, they'll know it already works well.

 

[Wazzz]

Still you somehow miss the point. I will try to explain one more time before I give up completely.
A) Balancing is not a key factor in this competition. The gameplay and strategy is. Of course, you wouldn't want there to be an overpowered unit you can spam, but if you want to really balance your race, you don't need to do it for this competition. Therefore, 4 heroes isn't necessary from that perspective.
B) Rushing 4 heroes as opposed to focusing your time and energy on one hero isn't a good idea when you're running out of time.
C) If you still say that 4 heroes is how the melee game is played [insert herpderps here], then don't say it here. You are obviously missing the point and you are wasting both our time and your time.

 

[Direfury]

Personally, I've went with a more strategic approach. For example, each Hero is one vital quarter of a successful team, but are all weak individually, being unique buffers or support fighters. The real muscle comes from Bishops, Skullbearers and Atramancers, who all gain unique abilities while heroes are in action.

In addition, these heroes are extremely dependant on items, but also invaluable once fully levelled. If you transmute items with the Atramancer and come up with a Staff of Reanimation, you can give this to the Exalted Caster, allowing him to raise the dead to then destroy for a mana and health boost. Another good mix with an Atramancer and Caster, is that they can turn a unit Undead and Ethereal, rendering them perfect targets for the Caster to drain.

Aswell, if an Atramancer uses the new Dominatus, he then traps a unit permanently, bonding it to him until his death. This can only be cast once on a unit, at close range, while dealing upto 500 damage to him upon casting.


The Fallen Knight aswell, has a counterpart in the Bishop, who shares four combat-based Light abilities, one mirroring a spell of his own. As these two work out like tanks, with slow attacks, movement speed or in the Knight's case, comparitively low damage, they are the muscle of the Alterac humans.


the Blasphemer also meshes well with the Skullbearer and Arcanist, or a party leader, relying on units for damage output, with his damage-increasing Grievance Aura. Until he is fully levelled or augmented by items, he cannot handle himself, especially not without Heresy.


I'm considering reworking the damage output of towers, or increasing their resource cost, aswell.

 

[Malcous]

@ Narogog ur race is too strong :O

I killed 2 armys with 12 Siege Breakers and 6 footmen , you should reduce the dmg(and duration) of elemental storm and blizzard

 

[GhostThruster]

I don't care how many heroes you have, I'm just telling you that a race that follows the structure of a melee one will probably be more balanced than a race with shit everywhere.
But, to respond to your points:
A) Uh uh. Balance comes above everything. If I were a judge and you submitted a stealth/speed race with every unit having Permanent Invisibility, Mass Teleport, and Divine Shield, I'd contact the admins and permaban you (not really). Thus, 4 heroes is a safe number if you do actually care about balance.
B) Der, of course it's easier to make 1 hero instead of 4 when you're skimming the deadline. So, I agree with you here, because this point establishes nothing against the addition of 4 heroes, except an obvious fact that can apply to nearly any other factor (eg. number of units/buildings/tiers etc.).
C) Through this conversation, I think you've been saying I've been saying "4 heroes MUST be included. Anything else WILL DESTROY YOUR BALANCE!!!", however I'm saying "4 heroes are used by the normal melee races, therefore it seems logical that if you included the same number of heroes, your race CAN become more balanced".

 

[The World Is Flat]

Basically: 4 heroes is good because thats how the 4 races you are balancing AGAINST are balanced. Blizzard has years of experience making the most balanced games ever constructed, Starcraft, Starcraft 2, Warcraft TFT, they are balanced to a incredible height, so going against something that is balanced for 'balance purposes' is kind of silly.

IE:

Balance your race against the existing races, compare DPS statistics, movment, the tech relationships, strategies, to determine what is imba and what isn't for your own race. if possible, get a friend, or tester, and play AGAINST your race. (I am open to testing)

 

[GhostThruster]

Nearly finished... just gotta trigger my last hero's Ultimate and optimize everything...

 

[Narogog]

@ Narogog ur race is too strong :O

I killed 2 armys with 12 Siege Breakers and 6 footmen , you should reduce the dmg(and duration) of elemental storm and blizzard

oops, forgot to make the Elemental storm Require a unit. changing blizzards damage against buildings to 4.5 * 7
thanks for the feed back. Anything else you think is to powerful?
Haven't had much time to balance.

View attachment KirinTor - Techtree #4.w3x

 

[Fuzzyfury]

I like munchkinpies and things... I'm just sayin...

 

[GhostThruster]

Well, it's finally done. I present, GhosT's Naga.

I've noticed the amount of innovation and uniqueness put into everyone else's work, and that's what makes this race unique. This race focuses on using the known formula of Wc3 races and making it into a new one, whereas the others I've seen so far have included a more 'different' approach (eg. Wraithling's Air Humans). So, basically, I made this race to purposely try to 'blend' in with the melee ones.
If you find any bugs/mistakes, or would like to suggest something, I'm all ears

I might update later with some pics and lore, but I've got that shit in my WIPs already anyways.

 

[Wraithling]

Testing time!

 

[MogulKahn]

Testing time!

 

[Fuzzyfury]

This is my entry... The Forsaken. I had 4 days to do it, and I am happy with it... Credits are in the triggers.

 

[Lich Prince]

Here's my final submission:

Pics

Extra Race Information.

Old Horde:

Units:
-Peon: This may look like the normal game peon, but the only similarity is that they are both able to build. The Old Horde Peon only gathers gold through excavating and using Gold Mines. They are NOT able to gather lumber.
-Ogre Slave: Two-headed Ogres who serve as basic ranged warriors and lumber harvesters for the Orcs.
-Grunt: No Orcish race is complete without these classic brutish warriors.
-War Station: Ranged Siege Weapon, has the ability to load Grunts for extra attack speed.
-Baticist: More or less a retarded Orc acting like a bat. Can shift between fly and ground forms, his attacks can cause units to bleed if upgraded.
-Ogre Destroyer: Huge dumbass ogres, basically walking siege engines, high damage, huger attack cooldown. They can also restore health by resting.
-Ogre Drummer: One man rock-band. Has War Drums and Doom Pitch.
-Shaman: Storm, Earth, and...yeah whatever. A bit more shamanistic than the Classic Shaman, has Healing Wave, Lightning Shield and Feral Spirits.
-Ogre Magus: A somewhat smart ogre, can cast Abolish Magic, Blizzard and yes, Bloodlust.
-Spirit Wyvern: Too shamanistic, eh? Can learn Wind Flight and Aerial Shackles.
-Avatar of Storms: The Monument of Storms can come to "life" in the form of this Avatar. It is advised you research Thunder Burst before morphing.
-Axemaster (Agility Hero): Cunning Hero, adept at ravaging through enemy groups as he swiftly slays unit by unit using his axe. Can learn Axestorm, Rage, Onslaught Aura and Fatal Strike.
-Elementalist (Intelligence Hero): Mystical Hero, effective at ranged attacks and spells. Can learn Stormballs, Flame Shield, Earthen Curse, and Lightning Storm.
-Gladiator (Strength Hero): Warrior Hero, exceptional at absorbing damage and decimating significant amounts of enemies. Can learn Rock Barrage, Slam, Cleaving Attack and Reincarnation.

Buildings:
-Great Hall: Similar the original one; Trains Peons and contains some unit upgrades.
-Excavated Gold Mine: Peons gather gold through this building. A Gold Mine must be excavated by a Peon before use.
-Barracks: Trains basic warriors for the Old Horde. Additionally, Attack and Defense Upgrades for the Orcish army are researched here.
-Altar of Elements: Trains Heroes, revives slain ones.
-Lumber Mill: Serves as a drop-off point for harvested lumber, contains some upgrades and trains War Stations.
-Burrow: Provides food, Peons can still garrison inside to attack enemy units.
-Scout --> Bomb/Spear Tower: Scout Towers cannot attack but are able to be upgraded into either Bomb Towers (Heavy) or Spear Towers (Fast n' Sweet).
-Ogre Camp: Trains Ogre Destroyers, Drummers and has their upgrades.
-Spirit Lodge: Spellcaster production building, trains Shamans, Ogre Magi, and Spirit Wyvers. Contains spell upgrades.
-Monument of Storms: A monument in dedication of the Storms, can morph into the Avatar of Storms.
-Foundry: Shop with purchasable items. Buy the Orb of Earth, it hand kewl hand effx.

This race's most efficient strategy can be entirely summarized using 3 words: Buffs, buffs, buffs.

Fore info regarding the History of the Horde, and more specifically at this period, check this.

Credits (these are included in the map aswell)

Special thanks to Ramza for testing.

Darkfang: BTNFireShield
CRAZYRUSSIAN: BTNCRGreenMcopy
&BTNCRGreenagcopy
Amigurumi: Spinning Knife
Bogrim: BTNLightningChain
,BTNPotionAntimagic
&BTNPotionHealing
shamanyouranus: Orb of Earth
L_Lawliet: BTNEarthLance
Hellx-Magnus: BTNThunderGlobe
bigapple90: BTNAxeSlam2
Stanakin Skywalker: BTNOgreClubs2
&BTNOgreClubs3
kola: BTNGemofTeleportation
The D3ath: BTNFireAxe
Mephestrial: BTNGnollFort
,Orc Blacksmith&Race Selection Triggers
DonDustin: BTNBatOrc,Volcano Shield Target&Bat Orcs
Mr.Goblin: BTNGaulishDrum&BTNLumbermill
Norinrad: BTNGladiator& Gladiator
Palaslayer: BTNAnkhofRebirth&BTNBladeStorm
JetFanInferno: Black Chakra Explosion&Explosive Tornado
kingbdogz: BTNBloodletv9
HappyCockroach: BTNAvatarofStorm&Altar of Storms
Suselishe: Cyclon Explosion
frostwolf: HeroShaman
supertoinkz: Altar of some sorts
Burning_Dragoon5: Goblin Barracks
Lord T.: Ogre Drummer
Nirvendor: Orc War Station
Red XIII: WCII Orc War Tower
Kitabatake: Ogre Stone Thrower
The_Silent: BTNOrbofEarth2

Other Info:
- I will remove the sfx/animation/doodad alterations before submitting the final thing, so no smartass comments about them please.
- The Orb of Earth effect does not appear on the Gladiator hero, blame the modeler.
- The Spiked Barricade upgrade does not appear on the Barracks and Ogre Camp, blame the modelers.
- The Ogre Drummer does not have a portrait, blame Lord_T.
- That's probably it, you shouldn't encounter any annoying bugs since this race has gone through intensive testing. However, if you do, either notify me or blame the modeler.

P.S.: It is advised you choose "orc" as your race in the menu for UI and Race sound issues.
Oh and Random Hero is fully functional in the Advaned Options menu if you plan to tick it.

 

[67chrome]

Gah, Map uploaded. Hopefully everything is play-worthy, didn't get much time to test it.

-edit- woops, fixed set player settings. Now this is my final submission, hope this still counts.

-edit edit- that should fix the demon hunter dependencies

-edit edit edit- ok, removed some target dummies I forgot to get rid of. Now this is my final version I swear.

 

[JokeMaster]

I'm making the last stand. I have to do 5 upgrades finish 4 escriptions and make 7 spells.

 

[Malcous]

@ Lich Prince pretty cool and balanced race ! I like that Avatar of Storm idea

@ Chrome , wow awesome race ! But u need Tree of Elders to summon Illidan u should fix that

I love that ground texture and the unit spells !

EDIT: Oh and shouldnt the water thingy disappear when the building is finished?

 

[67chrome]

@ Lich Prince pretty cool and balanced race ! I like that Avatar of Storm idea

@ Chrome , wow awesome race ! But u need Tree of Elders to summon Illidan u should fix that

I love that ground texture and the unit spells !

EDIT: Oh and shouldnt the water thingy disappear when the building is finished?

Arg. OK, demon hunter dependencies should be fixed. The water effect is set on a countdown timer, so if you cancel construction it will just sit there, but the timer is set to the same time as the build time so it should disappear when the building is done.

-Edit-
In my rush to get things done I forgot to add any placeholder bonuses for the Naga Warlord's aura ability, so it does absolutly nothing right now
(The other three heroes should be complete though

 

[JokeMaster]

READY!
So here are my High Elfs. Not too original but there is a touch of me. You have 2 types of workers and your start resurouces are enough to build a farm an altar and the woodworks ( there you train your lumber harvesters)
Screenies come later.