[Strategy / Risk] Azeroth: Fires of War

[Budbuds]

Introduction:
Hello everyone. "Azeroth: Fires of War" is going to be a large scale strategy map with 12 factions, each with their own custom units and specialization paths. I'm creating this thread to see what other people think about my ideas and to get some ideas about unfinished parts of the map.

Map Information:
The game takes place in Azeroth during the Wrath of the Lich King time period. The game will include heros like The Lich King, King Varian Wrynn, Thrall and so on. there will be twelve factions, and they can ally freely with anyone else as long as its within the same Wow faction, like Alliance, Horde, & monsters, to prevent mass allying. There will be a unique specialization system (or one like I haven't seen before). There will be control points for gold and lumber will be harvested normally. Custom combat types for variety in armies, like spearmen will have piercing damage that Calvary units will be vulnerable to. If you'd like more information just ask, and comment if you have any ideas you'd like to share.

Progress:
Terrain - 70%

Screenshots

Silvermoon

Triggers - 10%
Upgrades & Abilities - 0%

Factions:
Faction 1 - Blood Elves or Sin'dorei 90%

Screenshots

These are just the base units. When I get to making specializations some units will change and new elite units will be available

Faction 2 - Humans of Stormwind 10%
Faction 3 - The Forsaken 90%

Screenshots

Faction 4 - The Undead Scourge 10%
Faction 5 - The Naga 0%
Faction 6 - The Horde 10%
Faction 7 - The Zandalari 50%

Screenshots

Faction 8 - Silithid 0%
Faction 9 - Argent Crusade or Scarlet Onslaught 0%
Faction 10 - Night Elves 90%
Faction 11 - Dwarves of Ironforge 20%
Faction 12 - Yogg-Saron's Forces 0%

Conclusion:
I have made some good progress with the help of "Razosh" and "apcrabnightlive" ill be releasing screenshots daily or every other day (depending on progress). I'll release a alpha version of the map in two or three weeks, (again, depending on progress) for testing. Until then thanks for the support and I'll be checking this thread constantly.
With the holidays around and me a little busy the map may take longer to finish and a alpha wont be available until I'm satisfied with the terrain and factions.

Survive & Conquer

 

[Budbuds]

if anyone has ideas for other factions please tell me.

 

[Razosh]

You might be interested to know it's spelled sin'dorei. As far as more races go you wouldn't want any one race to have monopoly on an entire continent so I'd strongly suggest you add at least one more race to Northrend. Earthen, vrykul, Drakkari, gurlocks, faceless ones, wolvar or kvaldir would all work. Since you already have humans vrykuls might feel a bit one dimensional though.

As for Kalimdor you could use tauren, furbolgs, silithid, Fakkari, Ogres or the Highbourne. As far as Eastern Kingdoms go it doesn't really need a new race right now since it got four already but Gurubashi, Amani, Scarlet Crusade or Blackhand's true Horde could work.

 

[Wasabee]

Easter Kingdoms

1 - Blood Elves
2 - Stormwind
3 - Forsaken
4 - Ironforge Dwarves

Kalimdor

5 - The Horde
6 - Night Elf
7 - Exodar
8 - Naga

Northrend

9 - Kirin Tor
10 - Undead Scourge
11 - Old God Minions (Faceless, Nerubians, etc.)
12 - Burning Legion

 

[Razosh]

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10: Already planned.

7 and 9: This takes place at the beginning of WoW's time line, Dalaran had yet not been moved to Crystalsong Forest and the Draenei had not yet crash-landed on Azeroth.

12: I don't know what part of Northrend you've found that is stuffed with the Legion. It could make sense to create the scarlet crusade that was led by Balnazaar at that time. But to have the Legion in Northrend makes little sense.

8: Could be interesting though the Naga wouldn't be a strong presence in any one region but would have a few spread out outposts in places like Ashenvale and Stranglethorn Vale.

11: Thanks I thought it was a good idea.

 

[Budbuds]

Thank you for the ideas, fixed the misspelling. I have outland on the map too but that would just add more fighting to the Eastern Kingdoms since the Dark Portal is right outside Stormwind's territory I could just make it based in Wraths time period to fix that and just make Illidan a boss or something. I'm thinking about having the game as a free for all or as two player teams like, Forsaken & Blood Elves vs. Stormwind and Ironforge.
I could do the Scarlet Onslaught as a base in Northred but has a small base in Tyrs Hand.

 

[Wasabee]

7 and 9: This takes place at the beginning of WoW's time line, Dalaran had yet not been moved to Crystalsong Forest and the Draenei had not yet crash-landed on Azeroth.

12: I don't know what part of Northrend you've found that is stuffed with the Legion. It could make sense to create the scarlet crusade that was led by Balnazaar at that time. But to have the Legion in Northrend makes little sense.

I thought it would make the game balanced for each continent must have 4 factions.

8: Could be interesting though the Naga wouldn't be a strong presence in any one region but would have a few spread out outposts in places like Ashenvale and Stranglethorn Vale.

11: Thanks I thought it was a good idea.

Naga must be a forbidding faction to compensate with a widely spread faction.

Old God Minions is a must.

Thank you for the ideas, fixed the misspelling. I have outland on the map too but that would just add more fighting to the Eastern Kingdoms since the Dark Portal is right outside Stormwind's territory I could just make it based in Wraths time period to fix that and just make Illidan a boss or something. I'm thinking about having the game as a free for all or as two player teams like, Forsaken & Blood Elves vs. Stormwind and Ironforge.

You could add both game modes to make it more dynamic but I guess it would be difficult to implement?

 

[Budbuds]

I'm thinking two large scale factions that have bases on multiple continents to fill in space in empty areas but will not have any allies if I go for teams. They would start with more territory then other players and would have a larger starting income to make up for two fronts.

 

[Wasabee]

I'm thinking two large scale factions that have bases on multiple continents to fill in space in empty areas but will not have any allies if I go for teams.

Dealing with two fronts would be difficult to manage but it still depends on strategy of the player.

 

[Budbuds]

The Scarlet Onslaught could be one of these factions based in Northred but with a large presence in Lordaeron to give Forsaken and Blood Elves a starting enemy plus Undead and whatever ally I give them (im thinking Azul'Nerub) there would be another enemy in northred for the second faction of the scourge to fight.

 

[Razosh]

I think the best solution to this problem is to create an ally system so I can type in lets say "-ally teal" and let the players decide for themselves who they want to ally. One replacement for Outland would be the islands and to add the Zandalari as a playable faction who has to rival the nage for control of the islands. It would be fun to finally see Rastakhan and it would make more sense than to have an open Dark Portal if the game will take place at the begining of WoW.

Also Why are we not discussing Gurlocks and Vrykul but simply Scarlet Crusade?

 

[Wasabee]

Please merge your post, double posting are not allowed.

Trolls vs. Naga

 

[Budbuds]

Please merge your post, double posting are not allowed.

Trolls vs. Naga

Sorry i'm still getting used to the system this site has ill fix it.

I don't know much about the Gurlocks? and the Vrykul could be the other enemy for the scourge in Northred. Ill do the Zandalari as a playable faction and make them able to unite the troll kingdoms.

 

[Razosh]

I think Gurlocks are the best choice since we have no force yet that has a main base in western Northrend and in the warCraft lore the Gurlocks live in Borean Tundra and Scholazar Basin you could start as High Oracle Soo-Say's tribe and have the first goal being to unite all the other Gurlock tribes and then go for expansion. The contering objective would probably be to slay as many of the other tribes as possible and lock the Gurlocks inside Scholazar Basin since the area can only be exited through Borean Tundra.

 

[Budbuds]

I think Gurlocks are the best choice since we have no force yet that has a main base in western Northrend and in the warCraft lore the Gurlocks live in Borean Tundra and Scholazar Basin you could start as High Oracle Soo-Say's tribe and have the first goal being to unite all the other Gurlock tribes and then go for expansion. The contering objective would probably be to slay as many of the other tribes as possible and lock the Gurlocks inside Scholazar Basin since the area can only be exited through Borean Tundra.

Would the Gurlocks work if they were part of a Naga faction based on the islands? Or enslavable by the Naga.

 

[Razosh]

Would the Gurlocks work if they were part of a Naga faction based on the islands? Or enslavable by the Naga.

That would be one way to solve it to have Nagas be able to force the gurlocks into their fold. So with that in mind it seems like the optimal choice in my opinion would have to be these races.

Eastern Kingdoms:
Dwarves
Humans
Forsaken
Sin'dorei

Kalimdor:
Night Elves
Horde
C'Thun's forces (Silithid)

Northrend:
Vrykul
Scourge
Yogg-Saron's forces (Faceless ones and Nerubians)

Island factions:
Zandalari
Naga

This would make it a total of twelve races now for their capitals:
Ironforge: Dwarves
Stormwind: Humans
Undercity: Forsaken
Silvermoon City: Sin'dorei
Darnassus: Kal'dorei
Thunder Bluff or Orgrimmar: Horde
Ahn'Qiraj: Silithid
Utgarde Keep: Vrykul
Icecrown Citadel: Scourge
Yogg-Saron's forces: Inner Kingdom
Zandalar: Zuldazar
Naga: Nazjatar

It would be really strange however to make premade-teams out of these races as it would be really strange, I think it would be better to let the players pick their own paths.

 

[Budbuds]

I think allies should be optional but factions are limited to who they can ally. like stormwind can only ally with alliance nations and the same would go for horde like nations. Also each city will have a capital structure like Sunfury Spire or Stormwind Keep, that will be capture able (they will be were your specialization paths can be chosen or upgrade) so if your capital is taken you are able to get it back and continue researching your specializations.

As well for Monster factions. It will also help prevent mass allying.

 

[Razosh]

As well for Monster factions. It will also help prevent mass allying.

Considering that I just played a game of EUIV where half of the Holy Roman Empire allied against me with only one of the countries actually having a legitimate reason to attack I'd be happy to stop people to form huge alliances especially when there are only 12 players in total.

 

[Budbuds]

Considering that I just played a game of EUIV where half of the Holy Roman Empire allied against me with only one of the countries actually having a legitimate reason to attack I'd be happy to stop people to form huge alliances especially when there are only 12 players in total.

Yea that happened to me in Azeroth Wars. It's even worse when your just playing well and the person that's loosing doesn't like it and makes a deal with a faction that in lore is there worse enemy to win.

I've spent the last week just working on the blood elves just so I can try to figure out how much units should cost and to work out unit scaling but now that you helped me get more ideas ill be able to work on other factions faster.

 

[Wasabee]

I think Gurlocks are the best choice since we have no force yet that has a main base in western Northrend and in the warCraft lore the Gurlocks live in Borean Tundra and Scholazar Basin you could start as High Oracle Soo-Say's tribe and have the first goal being to unite all the other Gurlock tribes and then go for expansion. The contering objective would probably be to slay as many of the other tribes as possible and lock the Gurlocks inside Scholazar Basin since the area can only be exited through Borean Tundra.

What are gurlocks? I can't research about it.

 

[Budbuds]

I think they are the murloc race in Scholazar Basin in Northrend but Razosh knows more.

Also instead of Vrykul I could put the Blue Dragon flight out of the Nexus and then I could put undead Vrykul into the Scourge.

 

[Razosh]

Good to hear my tips are appreciated at least. ^^ I'd like to give yome tips for heroes at least.

Naga: Queen Azshara, Lestharia Vashj and N'Zoth.
Faceless ones: Yogg-Saron, General Vezax and Herald Volazj
Silithid: C'Thun, Prophet Skeram, Emperor Vek'lor and Vek'nilash
(The Old Gods could also work as the capital structure being able to cast spells with increased power as well as perform normal function)
Dwarves: Falstad, Magni Bronzebeard and Moira Thaurissan.
Humans: Jaina Proudmore, Varian Wrynn and Rhonin.
Forsaken: Sylvanas Windrunner, Varimartharas and Nathanos.
Sin'dorei: Lor'Themar Theron, Zendarin Windrunner and Aethas Sunreaver.
Zandalari: King Rastakhan, Zul and Jin'Rokh.
Horde: Thrall, Cairne Bloodhoof and Varok Saurfang.
Kal'Dorei: Tyrande Whisperwind, Malfurion Stormrage and Shandris Feathermoon.
Scourge: The Lich King, Sapphiron and Kel'Thuzad.
Vrykul: King Ymiron, Syreian the Bonecarver and Skadi the Ruthless.

As far as the blue dragonflight goes the Nexus War had not yet begun and the dragons very rarely dabbled in mortal affairs. Plus it would be hard to involve Malygos without also involving at least Alexstrasza.

Gorlocs are the ancestors of Murlocs who still inhabit Northrend to put it simply. Here's one. Sorry for misspellling it a bit in my previous post.

 

[Budbuds]

Cool I was about to look up Heros. im split between Vrykul and Blue Dragonflight, they both would be unique and both have enough lore to make a faction out of them in warcraft 3. and the Old gods being bases was my idea to.

Im thinking 2-4 heros per faction and some of them would be acquired through conquest or taking a hero to a certain location. like to get Muradin bring Magni to the storm peaks and find him alive, and so on.

 

[Wasabee]

What about the Goblins in Bilgewater Cartel for South Kalimdor?
I was hoping to see Loken in Ulduar.

Involving the Old God's Forces is a better idea than the Burning Legion.


Cool I didn't know there are more badass murlocs, I mean gurlocs.

 

[Razosh]

I think it's a pretty good idea too to add the keepers of Ulduar and set them as a challenge to overcome either for the Faceless ones if you'd like to increase Yogg-Sarron's power or as any other race if you want to be able to finish of Yogg-Sarron.

As for the goblins I think it would have been nice to see them if more players could be added but seing as there can only be twelve races I'd prefer it if the game focused on other races.

 

[Wasabee]

Yogg-Sarron could have the option to unfold the Titanic Watchers to increase his forces.

Why no goblins? We will have our revenge.

 

[Razosh]

He could always make mercenary building where the main force is goblins, that seems more than good. Few goblins have ever sought to expand their domain into an empire they just care about finding as safe a way as possible to get huge piles of money.

 

[Budbuds]

For spacing in northrend I'm doing Vrykul Yogg-Saron in Ulduar (i could have Loken as a boss in a separate room) and Undead in Icecrown. Heros for scourge are The Lick King, Kel'Thuzad, and Sapphiron (wouldn't Sindrigosa be better since she is the frost queen?). I'm going to have to get all the "faceless ones" models for Yogg-Saron's forces. and Vrykul will be a little more simple but will have hardy and strong units.

I'm going to be off for a hour or so bye.

PS i'll put Booty bay and the town in Tanaris as neutral villages for special shops and maybe mercenaries.

 

[Wasabee]

The Loremaster is here.

Okay okay I think it's a better idea. Mercenary buildings: Goblins, Bandits and Ogres.

 

[Razosh]

For spacing in northrend I'm doing Vrykul Yogg-Saron in Ulduar (i could have Loekn as a boss in a separate room)

If you have time you could also add Freja, Hodir and Mimiron.

and Undead in Icecrown. Heros for scourge are The Lick King, Kel'Thuzad, and Sapphiron (wouldn't Sindrigosa be better since she is the frost queen?).

Well I go under the assumption that you follow Vanilla lore and by that point in time Sindragosa would not have been awakened. Also if we were to speak realistically Sindragosa would be more powerful than anyone else in the scourge. I'm sorry but no matter how much faith you have in Arthas he is no match for one of the most powerful dragons of all time who was the mate Malygos, a dragon had a height of approximately 200 meters based on the description in War of the Ancients.

I'm going to have to get all the "faceless ones" models for Yogg-Saron's forces. and Vrykul will be a little more simple but will have hardy and strong units.

Seems nice they should all be stronger than humans but more costly to maintain since they are literally larger humans.

I'm going to be off for a hour or so bye.

See you soon.

PS i'll put Booty bay and the town in Tanaris as neutral villages for special shops and maybe mercenaries.

You're heeding my advice. <3

 

[Wasabee]

Sindragosa>Arthas
<3

There are good faceless ones and excellent vrykul models here.

 

[Razosh]

Sindragosa>Arthas
<3

We can't really use the in-game health pool to determine the cannon power of a character because frankly in that case a regular imp that you find on Draenor would be more powerful than Malygos a character who wielded the power to break the world ten times over.

There are good faceless ones and excellent vrykul models here.

I agree if you can't find it on Hive then it probably doesn't exist.

 

[Wasabee]

How could an imp be more powerful than Malygos?

 

[Razosh]

How could an imp be more powerful than Malygos?

That's what I'm saying, it couldn't possibly be more powerful than Malygos, for the same reason it would be illogical to claim the Lich King is more powerful than Sindragosa based on their compared in-game health pools.

 

[Wasabee]

Ohhhh okay.

 

[Budbuds]

I'm back. I am almost done with the Blood Elven Units. I'll put a screenshot of the units and heros when I'm done.

 

[Razosh]

I'm back. I am almost done with the Blood Elven Units. I'll put a screenshot of the units and heros when I'm done.

If you haven't already I'd recommend you to browse the Hive for models as it has quite a vast library. This is just one of my favorite.

 

[Budbuds]

I'm posting the screenshot right now and almost all the units for the Blood Elves have custom models.

The screenshot is there. sorry it took so long but the hidden tag glitched on me.

 

[Razosh]

Screenshot

[/COLOR]

Yes, that are some beautiful models, I'm hoping the terrain looks equaly as awesome. ^^ I'm guessing the three in the front are the heroes, on the look though I'd guess you went with Rommath, Lor'Themar and the dark haired one, don't know who that's supposed to be, Halduron?

 

[Budbuds]

We can't really use the in-game health pool to determine the cannon power of a character because frankly in that case a regular imp that you find on Draenor would be more powerful than Malygos a character who wielded the power to break the world ten times over

I like how at level 100 you can solo great beings like Sindrigosa and Deathwing, but can easily be killed by a elite wolf on Draenor.

Yea I couldn't find a model that matched the Ranger General but I went with the 3 leaders that led Silvermoon during Wrath. The Sunreaver guy would make a good hero for the Kirin Tor but there is no room for more factions. Maybe as another neutral town with shops. And the terrain is just a island in the middle of the map that I made just for room to show all the units neatly.

 

[Razosh]

I like how at level 100 you can solo great beings like Sindrigosa and Deathwing, but can easily be killed by a elite wolf on Draenor.

Yea I couldn't find a model that matched the Ranger General but I went with the 3 leaders that led Silvermoon during Wrath. The Sunreaver guy would make a good hero for the Kirin Tor but there is no room for more factions. Maybe as another neutral town with shops.

That is a fun thing about playing as a blood death knight you just enter a Pandaria 10 man HC raid that all your friends die missreably in and you just shout at the top of your lungs, "Come hell, come high water, never stop!"

Yep either Aethas or Lady Liadrin would have been great but what can you do, also don't forget to consider Lillian Voss for the Forsaken she could easily take the place of Nathanos, I think most would agree she's a better character since she's the only one who has actually seen in-game development of the two.

 

[Budbuds]

What faction should I focus on next?

 

[Razosh]

What faction should I focus on next?

On behalf of my Scandinavian roots I'll have to say Vrykul.

 

[Budbuds]

On behalf of my Scandinavian roots I'll have to say Vrykul.

Ok and i just uploaded a screenshot of the Blood Elf buildings.

 

[Razosh]

Ok and i just uploaded a screenshot of the Blood Elf buildings.

Fabulous, I assume the three buildings in the back are all different stages of the capital building? Anyhow the three of them in particular really look pristine.

Remember when making the Vrykul building that they were inspired by vikings so don't give me no stone houses, all wood please.

 

[Budbuds]

I downloaded the Vrykul pack and I'm not sure about how the building will look but there are only a few of them so... I'm going to have to use some other building like maybe the mercenary building for barracks and so on.

 

[Razosh]

I downloaded the Vrykul pack and I'm not sure about how the building will look but there are only a few of them so... I'm going to have to use some other building like maybe the mercenary building for barracks and so on.

Yeah, I did imagine that the Vrykul, Silithid and Faceless ones buildings would all be rather difficult to make. Look at it on the bright side, it will be great when you're done with them.

 

[Budbuds]

I'm not a modeler... but there are plenty of building on hive that can match the theme.

 

[Razosh]

I'm not a modeler... but there are plenty of building on hive that can match the theme.

That's good at least, I hope that they'll be as good as the sin'dorei buildings. But to be fair anyone who knows my post history knows that I'm the biggest sin'dorei fanboy that has ever walked the face of the earth so that's the most important race in my eyes. ^^ 5.1 was like Christmas for me.

"That human witch! When will they learn, when will they see that the Horde exists because of the Alliance, because of their prejudice and their bigotry! They force us ever closer to Hellscreams Horde. We sin'dorei will take our future into our own hands. Bring me my blades, the next move is mine!" - Lor'Themar Theron

 

[Budbuds]

I found those building on Wc3.net The author was never able to finish them all because he lost the files in a computer change. I've been planning how the Vrykul will work since there isn't that much to do. They can specialize in navel raiding type combat, beastial focused (like mammoths and wolves), or some kind of special magical specialization.

I think they will work as a raiding faction. They raid towns and villages (using Pillage) so there units will be good but it will be hard to obtain a large amount of them. But to make up for there lack of armies they will have the best defensive structures.

What do you think? Any ideas?