• 🏆 Texturing Contest #33 is OPEN! Contestants must re-texture a SD unit model found in-game (Warcraft 3 Classic), recreating the unit into a peaceful NPC version. 🔗Click here to enter!
  • It's time for the first HD Modeling Contest of 2024. Join the theme discussion for Hive's HD Modeling Contest #6! Click here to post your idea!

Erebus [Builder] vAI_2.0b

184112-albums3984-picture37368.jpg


Erebus
By Boris_Spider and Crabby_Spider


Object: Use your Hero to take control of the 5 Obelisks, unlocking the gate back to Azeroth, and escape.

Plot: You have been killed in battle on Azeroth and entered Erebus, a middle-world between the living and dead, and gateway to the Underworld. Neither here nor there, you are doomed to wander here for eternity ...unless you can escape.
There are 5 rivers which lead to the gateway: Styx, Phegethon, Cocytus, Acheron, and Lethe. Each of these rivers exploits a weakness within you and your units through a mist, affecting your ability to command and fight.

~Styx is the river of hate, and intensifies such hatred of enemies, your units’ attacks become reckless and less effective.
~Phegethon, the river of flame, takes what burns in the hearts of warriors and uses it to destroy flesh and metal alike.
~Cocytus is the river of lamentation, reminding all units of their regrets and failures, dulling their vitality.
~Acheron, the river of pain, corrodes the body and mind of your units until there is nothing left of them.
~Lethe is the river of oblivion, robbing your units of their memories, it leaves them standing with no knowledge of purpose.

The power of each river is focused through an Obelisk. To control each river and cast off the effects of its mist, you must control the river's Obelisk. Each is protected and you are not the only Hero planning to escape. You must raise an army to defeat the challenges which lie before you. Not until you conquer all of your weaknesses, shall the gateway from Erebus be revealed. Not until then, shall you escape ...Erebus.

AI:
-Erebus has a competitive AI, and the difficulty you select matters.
Easy AI: This difficulty will pit you against the original AI used
Normal AI: This difficulty receives +80 to base speed, 5% faster HP regeneration, 5% increased mana regeneration, and +5 base damage to all units & both attacking buildings. Normal gets Spiked Barricades for its buildings reflecting 5 damage
Insane AI: This difficulty receives +160 to base speed, 8% faster HP regeneration, 8% increased mana regeneration, and +10 base damage to all units & both attacking buildings. Insane gets Spiked Barricades for its buildings reflecting 10 damage. Insane is allied to Erebus and Eredar Warlocks it controls will summon Ker (1 per Eredar Warlock)

-Depending on your system abilities, we recommend that you use no more than 3 computer players if you're playing by yourself. It's best used for practice/testing or to fill an empty slots in multiplayer games. You can use more, but the frame rate may become an issue (especially if on your own) due to the sheer volume of AI commands to it's units on the map.
-In games with 4 or less players (including AI), all AI armies will spawn on the west-most island (Phegethon’ Island).
Note: Multiple (user) players with full armies do not cause this, just the AI micro.
-The AI is designed to destroy other bases; it will not capture Obelisks (This is Thanatos' task).
-The AI uses a full (100-soul) army.
-If the AI can make a Slave, it can make a base.

***New Players should never play against the Insane AI***

Save/Load:
For some reason, saving the game and loading it later will cause the game to glitch. This is assuming you can load the saved game at all. I do not know what causes this, as it's an issue with the save/load feature of WarCraft 3 itself. It is advised that you finish the game you're playing. However, you can save and view replays.

Gameplay:
-You begin the game as a Soul. Your first step is to find a slave and Possess it. You will then be given your Hero form and take control of the surrounding buildings. Next, use these buildings to create slaves which can build aditional buildings allowing you to create more complex/powerful armies. With enough power, and the use of Sky Barges, you should be able to take control of an Obelisk by defeating the Guardians and placing your Hero within the Circle of Power. Your Hero must survive for 45 secs (you will not be able to control him during this time) before the Obelisk falls under your control and the effects of the river channeling through it are removed from your units. By controlling adjacent obelisks, you open portals between them allowing you to quickly travel across the map. Be warned, your enemies can use these portals as well.
-Typing "-fastgame" will lead to a player vote. If enacted, the Obelisks will not be defended and Thanatos will never recapture obelisks lost to players
-If you hear a strange sound while playing the game, something happened. It was probably important.
-The islands are connected by bridges; these bridges are monitored by Charon. To cross them, a fee is automatically collected - failure to pay results in loss of whatever attempted to cross the bridge.

-Defeated players will be given a choice to fade into Erebus (become an observer that can see all but remains unable to interact the game or the players) or to take vengeance and become a Theratone that serves Thanatos (join Neutral Hostile and attempt to disrupt surviving players’ attempts to win).

Note: Erebus is a FFA.


To begin you must choose your hero class, a list/description is given to you on the loading screen.

184112-albums3984-picture47735.jpg


You begin as a Soul, and must wander around the map until you find a Slave and possess it.

184112-albums3984-picture47745.jpg


A neutral Slave must be captured to begin building your base. They are found near Shrines and Mausoleums.

184112-albums3984-picture47746.jpg


Raise Slaves from your recently acquired Shrine.

184112-albums3984-picture47744.jpg


Before you can build anything else you have to build your primary structure, the Fissure...

184112-albums3984-picture47732.jpg


...then you must build a Necronage.

184112-albums3984-picture47733.jpg


In order to build your army you need a Crypt.

184112-albums3984-picture47731.jpg


In the event your Hero (Your Incarnation in Erebus) is defeated, you can revive it at a Shrine you control or at a Temple of Vengeance.

184112-albums3984-picture47743.jpg




The more Shrines & Obelisks you have, the larger your income will be. The more Necronages and/or their upgrades that you have, the more food you’ll have available. The more Crypts that you have, and/or their upgrades, the faster you'll be able to rebuild your army. Upgrading your primary structure will allow you to upgrade your existing buildings as well as build specialty structures such as Soul Towers, Beacons, Altarsof the Forsaken, and Temples' of Vengeance.



There are a variety of methods for capturing Obelisks. You can wait to steal one just captured by another player or take it from Erebus.

In either case, you have to build a Sky Barge in order to reach the platforms.

184112-albums3984-picture47734.jpg


Now, you can take Obelisks by using Soul Towers and and steady stream of units to divert the Guardians' attention.

184112-albums3984-picture47741.jpg


In the event you don't like taking high-risk chances you can slowly advance walls and towers to remove the Guardians before you send your hero into the circle of power.

184112-albums3984-picture47742.jpg


Once you reach the platform, build a Necronage and protect it. Otherwise you'll have to fly more Slaves in from somewhere else.


There may be up to 12 challengers struggling for control of the Obelisks, and all 5 must be controlled by the same player to open the Gate to Azeroth and escape. Building a force sufficient to not only take control, but protect each Obelisk is necessary. If there are many challengers, it may be necessary to destroy them before pursuing the task of controlling the Obelisks. Once all 5 Obelisks are under your control, move your Hero to the Gate and send him through it.


Lich's ultimate.

184112-albums3984-picture47740.jpg


King's ultimate.

184112-albums3984-picture47739.jpg


DeadEye and Lich using ultimates while battling each other.

184112-albums3984-picture47736.jpg


Attacking a base.

184112-albums3984-picture47738.jpg


Destroying a base.

184112-albums3984-picture47737.jpg


Custom: Nearly everything in Erebus (terrain: tiles/cliffs, doodads, models, and icons) is custom and made by either a THW user, Crabby_Spider, or myself.



The following models can all be found on www.HiveWorkshop.com:

Unit Name -=|=- Model File -=|=- Author
Incarnation -=|=- Deadeye -=|=- jigrael
Warden -=|=- SkeletonLordX -=|=- levigeorge1617
Slave -=|=- SkeletonPeasant -=|=- Cavman
Avenger -=|=- SkeletonFireMage -=|=- HappyTauren
Preacher -=|=- SkeletonWarriorFireMage -=|=- HappyTauren
Marauder -=|=- BurningArcher -=|=- BlizzardEntertainment
Mist-Walker -=|=- ShadowInferno -=|=- Necromancer_187
Reaver -=|=- GhoulMurloc -=|=- DonDustin
Ghostrider -=|=- Skeletal Death Knight -UPDATED-=|=- Meteor-demon
Tomb Breaker -=|=- TombPharoah -=|=- Callahan
Thanatos -=|=- Wraith_Final -=|=- donut3.5
Ker -=|=- Destroyer -=|=- Dionesiist
SwordMaster -=|=- AngolmorTorturer -=|=- Ampharos_222
King -=|=- Diablo III:King Leoric -=|=- HappyTauren
Lich -=|=- Inquisitor Malendis -=|=- Sellenisko
Arachne -=|=- Lurker -=|=- -Grendel
Skorpius -=|=- Burrower -=|=- -Grendel
Crossbow -=|=- Crossbowman -=|=- -Grendel
Rebel -=|=- Fresh Shambler -=|=- -Grendel
Rebel -=|=- Calcium Terror -=|=- -Grendel


Building Name -=|=- Model File -=|=- Author
Fissure+upgrades -=|=- Chaos Citadel -=|=- HappyTauren
Crypt+upgrades -=|=- Cruel Cloister -=|=- Gottfrei
Necronage+upgrades -=|=- Necronage -=|=- BlizzardEntertainment
Temple of Vengence -=|=- ShrineoftheDeathWalker -=|=- Thrikodius
Beacon -=|=- DemonTower -=|=- HappyTauren
Wall -=|=- MishaWall+ -=|=- Misha
Altar of the Forsaken -=|=- LegionTeleporter -=|=- Mephestrial

The following models are used, but not found on www.HiveWorkshop.com:

Unit Name -=|=- Model File -=|=- Author
Footman -=|=- DefendSkeleton6 -=|=- Cavman
Wyrm -=|=- FrostWyrmV2 -=|=- Revilo



The following skins can all be found on www.HiveWorkshop.com:

Unit Name -=|=- Skin Name -=|=- Author
Eredar Warlock-=|=- skeletalwarlock -=|=- EvilYardGnome

The following tiles are used, but not found on www.HiveWorkshop.com:

Erebus_SkullTile (Overrides the Felwood Leaf Tile) -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Erebus_RoughDirt (Overrides the Icecrown RoughDirt Tile) -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Erebus_GDirt (Overides Underground Dirt) -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Erebus_Grass (Overrides DalaranRuins Grass) -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Erebus_Cliff0 (Overrides Underground Natural Cliff) -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Erebus_Dirt (Overrides Icecrown Dirt) -=|=- Crabby_Spider

The UI was created by Crabby_Spider, and currently is not available on www.HiveWorkshop.com.



The following icons can all be found on www.HiveWorkshop.com:

Icon Used As -=|=- Icon Name -=|=- Icon Creator
Slave -=|=- SkeletonPeasant -=|=- Cavman
Avenger -=|=- SkeletonFireMage -=|=- HappyTauren
Preacher -=|=- SkeletonWarriorFireMage -=|=- HappyTauren
Fissure+upgrades -=|=- Chaos Citadel -=|=- HappyTauren
Beacon -=|=- DemonTower -=|=- HappyTauren
Evasion -=|=- Restlessness -=|=- 67chrome
Possession -=|=- Possess -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Bone-type Armor -=|=- BoneArmorA -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Cancel -=|=- BoneCancelmod -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Hold -=|=- BoneHoldmod -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Move -=|=- BoneMoveA -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Patrol -=|=- BonePatrolFinal -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Stop -=|=- BoneStopA -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Ignite -=|=- Fire_Siege -=|=- Boris_Spider
Fire-type Damage -=|=- Fire_WC3 -=|=- Boris_Spider
Fire-type Armor -=|=- FireShield -=|=- Boris_Spider
Demolish -=|=- Explode1 -=|=- Muoteck
Subvert -=|=- OrbPain -=|=- Big Dub
Lightning-type Attack -=|=- Electric Blast -=|=- The_Silent
Spiked armor-type -=|=- Shoulders -=|=- Mr.Goblin
Clad armor-type -=|=- SoulArmor -=|=- Mc_!
Tomb Breaker -=|=- TombPharoah -=|=- Callahan
Warden -=|=- GrimReaper -=|=- Dan van Ohllus
Thunderbolt -=|=- LightningStrike -=|=- -BerZeKeR-

The following icons are used, but not available on www.HiveWorkshop.com:

Icon Used As -=|=- Icon Name -=|=- Icon Creator
Guardian [armor type] -=|=- Guardian_Armor -=|=- Crabby Spider
Archer -=|=- Archer_Icon -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Ranger -=|=- Ranger_Icon -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Marauder -=|=- Assassin_Icon -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Reaver -=|=- Reaver_Icon -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Temple of Vengence -=|=- Temple_Icon -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Wall -=|=- Wall_Icon -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Crypt -=|=- Crypt_Icon -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Barracks -=|=- Barracks_Icon -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Fortress -=|=- Fortress_Icon -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Shift -=|=- CloudOfFog -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Pierce the Veil -=|=- PierceTheVeil -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Moros's Caress -=|=- Cleaving -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Eredar Warlock -=|=- EW_icon -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Hadian armor-type -=|=- HadianArmor_icon -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Mend -=|=- AvengerMend_Icon -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Swordmaster -=|=- Swordmaster_Icon -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Thunderwrand -=|=- Thunderang_Icon -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Crossbow -=|=- Crossbow_Icon -=|=- Crabby_Spider
King -=|=- King_Icon -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Lich -=|=- EvilLich_Icon -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Altar of the Forsaken -=|=- Altar_Icon -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Arachne -=|=- Spider_Icon -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Skorpius -=|=- Scorpion_Icon -=|=- Crabby_Spider
Gnosis -=|=- Gnosis_Icon -=|=- Crabby_Spider

The following icons were altered only in that a passive version was created. No change to the art was made.

Icon Used As -=|=- Icon Name
Souls [Icon] -=|=- ShadeTrueSight
Mist of the Phegethon -=|=- LightningShield
Mist of the Cocytus -=|=- DeathAndDecay
Mist of the Acheron -=|=- AntiMagicShell
Mist of the Styx -=|=- UnholyFrenzy
Mist of the Lethe -=|=- Banish
Cloak of the Phegethon -=|=- WallOfFire
Stun -=|=- Dizzy
Torch -=|=- SearingArrows
Lyssa's Rage -=|=- FireBlade



The following doodads/models can be found on www.HiveWorkshop.com:

Name -=|=- Author
Shadow Trap -=|=- JetBlackInferno
CloudOfFog -=|=- JetBlackInferno

The following models were found on the Ultimate Terraining Map v3.0 on www.HiveWorkshop.com:
Crystal -=|=- Celestea
DeadTree-DeadTree08 models -=|=- Unknown



The following spells can be found on www.HiveWorkshop.com:

In-game name -=|=- Spell name -=|=- Author
Deadman's Aura -=|=- Sparky Aura -=|=- Elainie
Lightning Nova -=|=- Lightning Nova -=|=- MortAr
Thunderbolt -=|=- LightningStrike -=|=- Paladon
Thunderwrang -=|=- Thunderwrath -=|=- Mr.Goblin
Wrath of Zues -=|=- Destructive Lightning -=|=- cyberkid
Lightning Speed -=|=- Lightning Speed -=|=- MortAr




vAI_2.0b_10/31/14:
~Refreshed the upload to commemorate the 5-year anniversary of this map.
~One more update is ready to go, I just need the 2 hours required to do it!

vAI_2.0b_09/07/14:
~Modified the experience-gained formula for heros to increase the experience required to reach max level (25)
~Activated an additional faction (NPC only) - Rebels will search for bases to destroy. Rebels are not friendly to anyone but Thanatos
~Modified the Lich's Dark Ritual to heal HP & mana
~Modified the trigger that concerning Lethe's affect to target units with buff as opposed to determining which players aren't the controlling player
~Fixed bad icon for the Buried Skorpius
~Fixed error where defeated AI players retain their names

vAI_2.0_08/23/14:
~Players can now play with Erebus upon defeat as Theratones or be an Observer
~Corrected several bad tooltips
~Consolidated redundant triggers
~Modified player selection in Pre-Game to indicate that Erebus is a FFA & no more than 3 AIs should be present
~Fixed gltich where main building was stolen, shutting the victim out of the game
~Renovated the Income system; a note of it is present on the player's primary structure. This should make gameplay more of an area-control
~Redid tree/mushroom placements on applicable islands; mostly to encourage attacks and allow for easier base builing
~Removed an obsolete trigger which provided a gaurenteed base of 50 Souls for all players; this encourages attacks on Necronages and their upgrades to limit enemy production
~Added Emissary; the only unit capable of capturing Shrines & Masoleums which are now invulnerable
~The Incarnation's "Smother" ability renamed "Conquer" as it now captures Shrines & Masoleums, though not as effectively as Emissarys do
~Reworked hero abilities to add extra levels and the addition of the Attribute Bonus ability; AI does not use the modifications
~Added Essence Transfer as a late-game research for Masoleums for added base defense
===========================
~AI difficulty levels incorporated:
Easy AI is the original AI
Normal AI receives +80 to base speed, 5% faster HP regeneration, 5% increased mana regeneration, and +5 base damage to all units & both attacking buildings. Normal gets Spiked Barricades for its buildings reflecting 5 damage
Insane AI receives +160 to base speed, 8% faster HP regeneration, 8% increased mana regeneration, and +10 base damage to all units & both attacking buildings. Insane gets Spiked Barricades for its buildings reflecting 10 damage. Insane is allied to Erebus and Eredar Warlocks it controls will summon Ker (1 per Eredar Warlock)

vAI_1.9_04/21/13:
~Food limit is 100, not 150. This should reduce lag due to too many units present and increase AI potency
~Unit levels and costs are more reasonable; the Crypt/Barracks/Fortress nowproduces the primary units for 5/10/15 (T1/T2/T3) costs
~Diversified AI armies to better suit the hero-type used
~AI now utilizes a tier system (Example: T1 uses Footmen, T3 uses Swordmasters)
~AI Ghouls will now clear large swaths of trees
~Disabled the ability for AI tocapture nuetral Shrines Masoleums (rarey used)
~Removed several AIstart locations due to base-construction problems
~Spirit Link now connects 10 units and distributes 100% of the damage across linked units
~Replaced Evasion with Moros's Caress for the Wyrm
~Ghost Rider gained 'Incinerate' abilitity; deals 100 damage to an enemy unit, structure, or tree. Has a 2-min. cooldown
~Now Warden is 2nd tier (T2) assualt and Tomb Breaker is T3 assault
~King base damage doubled to 10
~Assassin renamed to Marauder; now raised by Temple of Vengence
~Temple of Vengence only assembles fire-based units
~Marauder & Ghost Rider now have HP regeneration
~Added Temple of the Forsaken; a new building introducing new units. Also raises Eredar Warlocks
~Added Arachne; fastest ground unit in the game, can immobilize units for a short duration
~Added Skorpius; a powerful 'tank'
~Added Crossbow, now the tier-3 archer
~Ghost Rider & Tomb Breaker have a faster & notably faster attack rate, respectively
~King, Tomb Breaker, Lich, & Eredar Warlock now have AoE attack damage that can hit trees, structures, and units
~Buffed King's damage, HP regen, attack speed, and attack AoE
~King and Lich have new models
~Increased size of Footman
~A sound will play when a player loses
~Replaced sounds played when an obelisk is taken and when the game is won
~Increased the primary units' attack speed to better suit smaller armies
~New loading screen
~No longer use the 'King Leoric' model/icon

vAI_1.8_07/24/11:
~Swapped Deadeye's and King's Shock Therapy and Thunderang, respectively.
~Corrected Deadeye AI build error
~Decreased the Stun ability duration from 2 to 0.5 seconds
~Obelisks now have the Obelisk Mist ability as a defense against attacks.
~Nerfed Deadeye Lightning Nova to 50 D/T instead of 75 D/T
~Buffed Lich's Lightning Strike to 35 damage instead of 25
~Modified AI scripts to allow better defense when bases are severely damaged
~Removed the space in front of the name: King of Kjeldor

vAI_1.7_07/17/11:
~Added -FASTGAME information in the |cffffcc00Info|r tab in-game
~Buffed King's Ultimate (20 DPI instead of 10 DPI)
~Buffed DeadEye's ultimate (5% DR/B instead of 20%, 75 D/T instead of 10, 10 bounces instead of 5)
~Nerfed Lich's ultimate (-10% DR/B instead of -20%)
~Corrected trigger which failed to show the name of the player who opened the gate to Azeroth
~Swapped base buildings to prevent glitch that makes heroes unreviveable:
---Temple of Vengeance is now based off of the Altar of Kings instead of the human Barracks
---Shrine is now based off of the Altar of Darkness instead of the Dranai Haven
~Player names are displayed properly after a victory occurs
~The victorious player is no longer "killed" during the closing cinematic
~Buffed starting mana for the Deadeye/King; 150/200 instead of 100/100, respectively

vAI_1.6_07/09/11:
~Corrected the trigger which determines when a player is defeated to prevent players from having no units and remain in game blind
~Corrected Interface statement referring to Farms when unit production is maxed

vAI_1.5_07/03/11:
~Added the FastGame Option
~Walls are no longer counted as units to prevent a player from being defeated
~Increased Swordmaster model scale from 0.5 to 0.8

vAI_1.4a, 06/20/11:
~Corrected Tomb Breaker and Peon animations when attacking trees
~Decreased Volcano upgrade time from 140 to 60 seconds
~Decreased Inferno upgrade time from 140 to 120 seconds
~Increased Reaver model scale from 0.8 to 1.3
~Corrected several interface typos
~Updated/removed all Incarnation references
~Dimmed the brightest crystals on Acheron's island to ease strain on eyes
~Decreased Sky Barge minimum height from 90 to 50 to allow easier visibility of it while passing over tall trees
~Buffed movement speed of all units (includes Neutral Hostile) +30 to allow quicker traversing of the map

vAI_1.4, 06/19/11:
~Erebus now has a custom interface designed specifically for it
~Corrected interface typos
~Kings, Liches, Peons, and Tomb Breakers can attack trees; however, Ghouls are still the most effective tree removal

vAI_1.3b, 02/07/11:
~Nerfed Ker HP regeneration (5HP/S to 1HP/S)
~Nerfed Mist Walker HP regeneration (5HP/S to 2HP/S)
~Switched to Heavy Green Fog for weather effect
~Added a linear Black Fog to darken Erebus moderately
~Replaced Thunderang icon
~Hades Pathrazers will only attack heroes and structures
~Nerfed the chance that Thanatos will recapture a lost Obelisk (50% instead of 60%)
~Fixed targeting issue preventing Slaves from being healed by the Avenger's Mend ability
~Buffed Thunderbolt's (Lich spell) cast range (500/700/900 instead of 200/400/600)
~Footmen are raised with Defend active
~Changed the Bone - Decay time to 10 seconds (Prevents confusion as to whether certain units are still alive)
~Corrected hotkey conflict for the Avenger (Enter the Veil and Subvert no longer collide)
~Repositioned a Shrine to prevent the AI from getting stuck trying to build a Fissure
~All players will be alerted when a player's hero is destroyed in battle (They'll know who killed and who got killed)
~All players will be alerted when a player's primary structure is destroyed (They'll know who crippled and who got cripled)
~The AI will build and attack with Reavers
~Buffed the King with 10 starting armor
~Corrected selection circle size for the Mausoleum and Shrine
~Gave Lightning Towers a small AoE attack

vAI_1.3, 01/05/11:
~Added modified GDirt tileset (Base: Underground-Dirt)
~Added modified Dirt tileset (Base: Icecrown-Dirt)
~Added modified cliff tileset (Base: Underground-Natural Walls)
~Added modified grass tileset (Base: DalarenRuins-Grass)
~Added modified vines tileset (Base: Felwood Vines)
~Swordmaster has new model and icon
~Corrected Credits lists
~Added New 'Toll' bridges between the 5 islands
~Players can choose 1 of 3 possible hero types
~Added Paladon's Lightning Strike Spell
~Corrected Incarnation ultimate, now chain lightning is casted.
~Incarnation renamed to Deadeye
~Players can choose one of three hero types [Strength, Agility, Intelligence] to play
~Players are renamed to their chosen hero's proper name
~Smother now only targets Slaves
~Added a new loading screen, with hero-class information

vAI_1.2b, 12/19/10:
~Corrected ability names on unit tooltips
~Added new Bone Tileset
~Added modified Rough-Dirt (Base: Icecrown) Tileset
~Terrain has been improved:
---Acheron's island has a variety of crystal models and colors
---The eastern half of Styx's island has more variety of trees present
---Phegethon's island has been redesigned to allow better use by players and AI as well as to improve terrain art
~The Incarnation now gains XP for killing Guardians from level 5 on
~Corrected movement animation speeds for the Incarnation, Tomb Breaker, Warden, and all archer units
~Fixed Reaver icon glitch (It would disappear if repeatedly clicked)
~Reset Tomb Breaker tint
~Avenger can now cast Mend
~AI can now build and use Avengers
~AI will now research Preacher and Avenger upgrades

vAI_1.2, 12/12/10:
~AI script improved (if it can build a Slave, it can re/build a base)
~Removed all unit/tree shadows
~Added 3 realistic tree models
~Added 6 new crystal varieties
~Necropolis can now attack
~Altered tree minimap colors (no longer all green...)

vAI_1.1, 12/05/10:
~Replaced Tauren Chieftan with Tomb Breaker
~In games with 4 or less players, any AI players will start on the SE island. Human players may travel there if desired
~Warden model and icon replaced
~Starting buildings remodeled and renamed (Village Center is now Shrine, Village Stable is now Mausoleum)
~Repositioned building icon locations (Slave's build menu is now tiered in appearance)
~Added Thanatos and Guardians to retake Obelisks for Neutral Hostile
~Comp controlled Heroes take control of nuetral Slave units
~Demolish and Subvert now have special effects
~Thanatos (Guardian Hero) will now try to recapture lost Obelisks
~Warrior's Grace renamed to Mania's Dexterity
~Double Strike renamed to Lyssa's Rage
~Cleave renamed to Moros's Caress
~Reaper renamed to Ker
~Removed unused variables

vAI_1.0, 11/27/10:
~Added AI script to combat bases (can't capture Obelisks)
~Wardens, Footman, Swordmasters, Archers, and Preachers have new soundsets
~Theme music will be played whenever an Obelisk is captured, or the Gate to Azeroth is revealed
~If Obelisk taken from Player controling 5 Obelisks, Gate to Azeroth is hidden again
~Removed Obelisk Reaper script (Reaper patrols still occur)
~Avenger must now research all upgrades for it's abilities

V1.3b, 11/25/10:
~Added Hadian armor type icon
~Set hero icon position back to 0,0 to prevent the inability to resurrect him
~Buildings under construction were immune to damage due to Normal armor type edit. Now these buildings can be destroyed.
~Corrected typos in Hero's fade ability
~Corrected various grammar/typo errors in all abilities; removed unused World Editor abilities

V1.3, 11/21/10:
~Major balancing corrections made, includes:
-New armor types (Hadian, Clad, and Spiked) and attack type (Lightning)
-2 new abilities (Spirit Link and Enter the Veil) [ for Avenger ]
-Introduction of a general "Rock, Paper, Scissors" concept;
(Melee>Ranged>Assault>Melee)
~Replaced Soul Tower with Lightning Tower
~Avenger is now a support caster
~Added a new caster: Eredar Warlock

V1.2b, 11/16/10:
~Removed unit-group leak from Headcount trigger
~Replaced Cinematic actions from Defeat triggers with Visibility modifiers
~Fixed PlayerLeaves trigger (it turned off after the 1st use)

V1.2, 11/14/10:
~Simplified Player Leaves and Limit Bases triggers
~Simplified the Income trigger via turning it into a loop
~Removed about 40-50 leaks, most of them Location leaks
~Corrected misspelled name (Temple of Veangeance)
~Added a creep patrol system
~Elaborated Obelisk Mist abilities (i.e. Phegethon reduces armor by 5)
~Hid map playable boundaries with tree walls and cliffs
~Fixed Soul Tower's misplaced Attack icon
~Nerfed Mist-Walkers (HP now 100 instead of 1,000)
~Replaced Subvert and Demolish icon art

V1.1, 11/07/10:
~Corrected Possession tooltip
~Modified unit tooltips to more accurately suggest strategies
~Buffed Footman speed (now 300 instead of 270)
~Gave Peons the Stun ability
~Gave Tauren the Cleave ability; corrected Tauren's selection circle size
~Gave Archers the Double Strike ability
~Corrected icon art (passive abilities now have passive icons)
~Added 'Slave Radar' and ping Obelisk locations
~Starting buildings are now repairable
~Added an Observer mode when a player no longer has any units
~Added Subvert hotkey
~Added terrain to Obelisk platforms

V1.0, 10/31/10:
~Initial map upload


How you can help:
~We need testers. If you find terrain issues, bad/miss-spelled tooltips, unit imbalances, ability imbalances, leaks in code/inefficient coding, or anything else you find worthy of mention, please do so. Or, you can simply provide suggestions for improving the game.
~I'm aware some users prefer fancy descriptions. If they think this description is inadequate, then they can make what they feel to be the best design and PM it to me. I may not use it, but I will thank you for your efforts.
~Regarding our AI scripts, if you have suggestions for priorities, conditions (to optimize performance), or any other changes then feel free to contact one of us.
~We're looking for Skeleton Models/Skins. If you have recommendations for a particular model post a link to it. If you'd like to make one for Erebus let us know and we'll tell you what we're looking for.

NOTICE: Erebus [Builder] is open source. We first learned how to map by starting with an unprotected CastleBuilder map, and do not wish to inhibit others from doing the same. Other users may NOT upload versions of this map, on this site or any other, without permission from both myself and Crabby_Spider. Since we can't ensure that others won't upload rigged versions of this map, we strongly recommend that you only download from www.HiveWorkshop.com for the most recent and balanced version.

//\\oo//\\ //\\òó//\\


Keywords:
build, builder, Erebus, altered, melee, dead, skeletal, skeleton, bone, undead, dark, escape, underworld, AI, risk
Contents

Erebus [Builder] vAI_2.0b (Map)

Reviews
22:42, 24th Jun 2011 -Kobas-: Status: Approved Comment
Level 14
Joined
Dec 12, 2009
Messages
1,027
amazing game! very creative 5/5

A very great game, It was fast-paced and action filled.
I played with 3 other friends and they also say the same.
The only thing missing were items. It would be better with some.

I'm glad you both like it. I'd apprciate it if you'd take some time to give me a more elaborate review on the game.

//\\oo//\\
 
Level 31
Joined
Jun 27, 2008
Messages
2,555
Map Description said:
Plot: You have been killed in battle on Azeroth and entered Erebus, a middleworld between the living and dead, and gateway to the Underworld.
As I know, and I'm sure about it, Erebus is the name of darkness God in the greek mythology, why place is being called like that, or is there something I do not know?
 
Level 31
Joined
Jun 27, 2008
Messages
2,555
Review, about Erebus [Builder] first release, by APproject

I rate this resource by 2/5 and I suggest it to stay pending for now, due to it's lacking.

1. Credits in the map description of The Hiveworkshop has not been given.
2. It is a bug, or an important fact which was forgotten to be mentioned: I cannot load a saved game. It drops and Error and game is being closed. I couldn't find anywhere & anything mentioned that game cannot be saved and loaded, so probably it is an error, or in others words, a vast bug.
3. Demolish ability of a building has no Hotkey notice.
4. Subvert also has no hotkeys notice.
5. Slave's sound do not match the model. How a skeleton can sound like a human? Quite weird, how about a basic skeleton sound?
6. The terrain and environment art seemed quite basic and not fancy at all. It is out of doodads I would say. At the beginning, when the sight distance is so small, it is fine in my opinion, but when it is getting larger, terrain and environment seemed quite blunt. You should add more stones, bushes, animated grass, it would look much better this way. You also should hide the edge of the map, put trees or stones, maybe rise a cliff in order to hide it, since it looks bad I would say. Art around Obelisks seemed bad, please improve terrain and environemt there.
7. It is obviously not an Altered Melee map. Please fix the category.
8. Im not sure how am I supposed to claim up these cliffs to the Obelisk, should I use Shift ability to appear there? Or I don't know how to do it because I play single player? If Shift ability, then how people are supposed to know where it is?
9. Pierce the Veil ability of an Obelisk is inactive, but it has an active icon form. It also should be in the right X; Y position. Not enough that, it is missing a hotkey notice.
10. How to appear in another island? I couldn't manage to, maybe because it was a single player mode either?
11. Is there any defeat conditions? All my forces, including hero, died and were destroyed, somewhy the game is still on and I cannot be counted as defeated. At Info, there is nothing mentioned about defeat, what not to do in order not to lose?
12. Archer, Peon and Footman, summoned by Crypt, has wrong names and sound tracks. Ranger and Assassin has wrong sound tracks aswell.
13. Archer's / Ranger's ability Stun in inactive, but it has active ability's icon.
14. Tauren Chieftain unit, summoned by Crypt, has wrongly set unit selection scale size.
15. Soul Tower's Attack command has wrongly set X; Y positions.
16. Summon Avenger and the upgrade Avenger Adept Training's hotkeys are confusing each other.
17. Double Strike / Cloak of the Phegethon / Torch / Ignite are also inactive abilities, but it all has active icons.

Generally, it is fresh and could be nice beginning of an excellent map, but it is quite lacking in, basically, everything.
 
Level 14
Joined
Dec 12, 2009
Messages
1,027
I rate this resource by 2/5 and I suggest it to stay pending for now, due to it's lacking.

1. Credits in the map description of The Hiveworkshop has not been given.
2. It is a bug, or an important fact which was forgotten to be mentioned: I cannot load a saved game. It drops and Error and game is being closed. I couldn't find anywhere & anything mentioned that game cannot be saved and loaded, so probably it is an error, or in others words, a vast bug.
3. Demolish ability of a building has no Hotkey notice.
4. Subvert also has no hotkeys notice.
5. Slave's sound do not match the model. How a skeleton can sound like a human? Quite weird, how about a basic skeleton sound?
6. The terrain and environment art seemed quite basic and not fancy at all. It is out of doodads I would say. At the beginning, when the sight distance is so small, it is fine in my opinion, but when it is getting larger, terrain and environment seemed quite blunt. You should add more stones, bushes, animated grass, it would look much better this way. You also should hide the edge of the map, put trees or stones, maybe rise a cliff in order to hide it, since it looks bad I would say. Art around Obelisks seemed bad, please improve terrain and environemt there.
7. It is obviously not an Altered Melee map. Please fix the category.
8. Im not sure how am I supposed to claim up these cliffs to the Obelisk, should I use Shift ability to appear there? Or I don't know how to do it because I play single player? If Shift ability, then how people are supposed to know where it is?
9. Pierce the Veil ability of an Obelisk is inactive, but it has an active icon form. It also should be in the right X; Y position. Not enough that, it is missing a hotkey notice.
10. How to appear in another island? I couldn't manage to, maybe because it was a single player mode either?
11. Is there any defeat conditions? All my forces, including hero, died and were destroyed, somewhy the game is still on and I cannot be counted as defeated. At Info, there is nothing mentioned about defeat, what not to do in order not to lose?
12. Archer, Peon and Footman, summoned by Crypt, has wrong names and sound tracks. Ranger and Assassin has wrong sound tracks aswell.
13. Archer's / Ranger's ability Stun in inactive, but it has active ability's icon.
14. Tauren Chieftain unit, summoned by Crypt, has wrongly set unit selection scale size.
15. Soul Tower's Attack command has wrongly set X; Y positions.
16. Summon Avenger and the upgrade Avenger Adept Training's hotkeys are confusing each other.
17. Double Strike / Cloak of the Phegethon / Torch / Ignite are also inactive abilities, but it all has active icons.

Generally, it is fresh and could be nice beginning of an excellent map, but it is quite lacking in, basically, everything.

1) Credits are in the game, under the info (Quest) tab. There is no requirement to list them in the map description that I can find. I even took the time to break them down into models (units), icons, spells, and models (doodads/effects). There are alot of them...

2) I'll look into the save/load bug

3,4) Demolish and Subvert do not have hotkey abilities. Since they kill the unit that has them, I don't want accidental uses. I may give Subvert a hotkey, but not Demolish due to the time it takes to rebuild/upgrade.

5) I followed the warcraft game to an extent. All of the units you use have 'fallen' in battle. In Erebus, they still maintain the voices they had when they were among the living.

Also, under Etymology:
The perceived meaning of Erebus is "darkness", but the first recorded instance of it was "place of darkness between earth and Hades".

Hades is also the greek name for the underworld. So the dead are simply rotting spirits with a sense of a corporeal form. It gets dull hearing bones rattling time and time again, so I added some flavor.

6) Terrain basic? Which island were you on? (NW, NE, E, S, W) As for 'filling it in' I have 4487/6144 destructibles and 3856/8192 doodads. The only region with some touching up to do is the W island (only trees currently). The Obelisk regions weren't finished yet either. We haven't come up with a theme we agreed on.

7) If it's not an altered melee, then what is it? All of the builder style maps I looked up on THW were listed as Altered Melee. Erebus was inspired by the Castlebuilder maps done by Funness. The only difference between Erebus and other builders is that conquering all enemies is not the victory condition. Also, none of the builder games I've played had victory conditions, just defeat.

8) Shift can get your hero up to the cliffs, but to get your army you need to build Sky Barges (made by the Slave). I'll be sure to post pics of reaching/assaulting the obelisk next update (a day or two)

9, 13, 17) I noted that not all of the proper icons have been made yet. Those are just temporary stand-ins. The game is functional, but some of the asthetics are still missing.

10) You reach other islands by using the Sky Barge. (made by Slave)

11) The defeat condition is only done when a player escapes. Once you control all 5 Obelisks, the Gateway to Azeroth is revealed to all players. If the player with 5 Obelisks reaches the gate (steps into it), that player wins and all the others lose. Ideally, if a player has no units left, that player would be forced into an Observer mode where they can still watch, but not interact with anyone. I haven't found a way to do this yet.

12) What do you mean by 'wrong names'? Their sound tracks are intentional, for the same reasons explained earlier (5).

14) I'll double check that.

15) Damn, that's the result of me fighting icon priorities. I'll check into that.

16) Those will be fixed in the next update.

Thank you for your review. Erebus is actually nearly completed, which is the only reason I released it. If you find it lacking in 'basically everything' then the theme and application of it that I chose may not appeal to you.

I would appreciate it if you did another run-through to see if you can't find issues on other islands.

Wow dude that's very good i played it with my bro and we said only that:Epic map!

5/5+rep

Innovative idea. Inspiring!

I'm glad you both enjoyed it. I'd appreciate it if you'd review it.

//\\oo//\\
 
Level 16
Joined
Nov 30, 2009
Messages
2,073
Looks promising enough from AP's review. Will check in Singleplayer.

As a note: If APproject pointed out something wrong, seek and fix it. His reviews are like, 100% accurate.

But... "Doc Holiday" and "Waco Kid"...?

...D:
 
Level 5
Joined
Apr 19, 2009
Messages
165
let bug wave #2 come :grin: this wont be as large as the last

1: gaurdians seam too powerful, i sent 50 troops + a level 2 hero (49 swordmen to be correct) and they all died and didnt kill any of the enemies, am i doing something wrong or is there a balance issue?
2: towers are too powerful and too easy to mass. you could just wall the edge of islands with them and consider yourself invulnerable, since any would be army would have to beat through or run through it giving you plenty of warning and allowing you to easily destroy it
3: the starting structures are unrepairable and cannot be rebuilt
4: there is no (clear) way of knowing which oblisk controls which river without controling it
5: rookies have trouble finding the sky barge transport, suggest making hints and that being one of them
6: the food (soul) limit is not clearly known
7: sky barges fire so slowly that they have allmost no use for thier firepower, since it takes 2 or more to ignite a building and thats if you coordinate them well

that concludes my wave of bugs :)

i do not want to nor will i give a review
 
Level 31
Joined
Jun 27, 2008
Messages
2,555
1) Credits are in the game, under the info (Quest) tab. There is no requirement to list them in the map description that I can find. I even took the time to break them down into models (units), icons, spells, and models (doodads/effects). There are alot of them...
If you do not wish to list it all in the map desription, that's fine, since rules do not require it, but almost every map on THW has credits listed in the description, it's like a tradition or a habit.
3,4) Demolish and Subvert do not have hotkey abilities. Since they kill the unit that has them, I don't want accidental uses. I may give Subvert a hotkey, but not Demolish due to the time it takes to rebuild/upgrade.
I realised your point before I posted my review, but only from my priciples I would like to see a hotkey notice there. Or you could make a hotkey which would be way far from others in order to avoid an accident.
5) I followed the warcraft game to an extent. All of the units you use have 'fallen' in battle. In Erebus, they still maintain the voices they had when they were among the living.
Very well, keep it that way, I will not argue, but this do not add any attraction at all. I just manipulate a skeletan that has a sweet girl's voice and it makes me wrinkle. Brr..
Also, under Etymology:
The perceived meaning of Erebus is "darkness", but the first recorded instance of it was "place of darkness between earth and Hades".

Hades is also the greek name for the underworld. So the dead are simply rotting spirits with a sense of a corporeal form. It gets dull hearing bones rattling time and time again, so I added some flavor.
Alright, maybe that's why I found it called as a place not only here in your wc3 map only.
I will repeat meself, a skeleton + pure human's voice = something nasty, scary and way too weird. I would like to hear those bones rattling or some kind of other demonic voice, than something really creepy like this. But it is your choice, leave it like that if you are willing to. Even if this has an influance to my rate, it is small enough, so it can be ignored, whatever.
6) Terrain basic? Which island were you on? (NW, NE, E, S, W) As for 'filling it in' I have 4487/6144 destructibles and 3856/8192 doodads. The only region with some touching up to do is the W island (only trees currently). The Obelisk regions weren't finished yet either. We haven't come up with a theme we agreed on.
Yes, it is basic everywhere. I must agree that with this size of map it is not only really hard to make a great environment art, but it is also extreamly exhausting. I did not exact an island, I looked at it as overall. But I see you have enough spots to be used, numbers are far away from the limit. As I said, add more stones, bushes, animated grass. Try to remove fog of war and take a deep look at it, it is not that beautiful, is it? These trees spammed in a spot doesn't look that good either. Terrain and environamt art is actually fine, it just could be better, because when I saw these people giving 5/5 without a reason, just saying *cool*, I am willing to require something more than that.
7) If it's not an altered melee, then what is it? All of the builder style maps I looked up on THW were listed as Altered Melee. Erebus was inspired by the Castlebuilder maps done by Funness. The only difference between Erebus and other builders is that conquering all enemies is not the victory condition. Also, none of the builder games I've played had victory conditions, just defeat.
I wouldn't call it an Altered Melee at all, because it is not a melee. As you said, it is Builder, if there is no category as that, make it Other. Maybe I do not know anything about builder / altered melee, but it is different. This map is different, it has something that others don't, that makes me think that it is not an altered melee.
8) Shift can get your hero up to the cliffs, but to get your army you need to build Sky Barges (made by the Slave). I'll be sure to post pics of reaching/assaulting the obelisk next update (a day or two)
I think you should text it in the gameplay description, also you should make these locations of Obelisks visible or noticeable in order to people know where it is. It's not fair if people would wander around their spot and find nothing while those who appeared closer to it, would find it way easier.
9, 13, 17) I noted that not all of the proper icons have been made yet. Those are just temporary stand-ins. The game is functional, but some of the asthetics are still missing.
You obviously rushed with uploading the map, if you know well what's wrong, why you uploaded? As I understand phrase *not fully dont yet* I understand it as not something that would influence the gameplay itself. Icons, that are part of gameplay, should function well, because it is a gameplay and I'm sure it has nothing to do with not finished work that could be uploaded here. Not fully made map can expand terrain art, maybe variaty of units, enemies, forces, new systems, change gameplay, but not lacking gameplay that is being finished. It is quite hard to express meself at this point, hope you understood me.
10) You reach other islands by using the Sky Barge. (made by Slave)
I'm sure you should notice this in the gameplay description of map itself. I had that Barge, but somewhy I didn't realise I can transport units to other island. Some people rarely dive deep into map and aware of everything.
11) The defeat condition is only done when a player escapes. Once you control all 5 Obelisks, the Gateway to Azeroth is revealed to all players. If the player with 5 Obelisks reaches the gate (steps into it), that player wins and all the others lose. Ideally, if a player has no units left, that player would be forced into an Observer mode where they can still watch, but not interact with anyone. I haven't found a way to do this yet.
You are saying that if one of players loses his troops and is being counted as defeated and leaves game, he interacts others, disturbs them?
I urge you to add defeat conditions, as always, you can leave it your way, but in my opinion, it's not that good idea to leave map without defeat conditions.
12) What do you mean by 'wrong names'? Their sound tracks are intentional, for the same reasons explained earlier (5).
It looks very cheap. Look, a unit called Peon has the sound of true Peon, orc constructor, Footman is also as real footman's sound. It looks like you just grabbed a Peon or a Footman and changed model, added abilities and set it to building, so it can be trainable. Reminds me a simple melee map's units, just cheap remakes.
Thank you for your review. Erebus is actually nearly completed, which is the only reason I released it. If you find it lacking in 'basically everything' then the theme and application of it that I chose may not appeal to you.
I find it lacking because it is undone resource, as you said, it is not finished. That makes me say, it is lacking. I advice you not to upload undone projects, are you so impatient and cannot wait any day longer? :)
Looks promising enough from AP's review. Will check in Singleplayer.

As a note: If APproject pointed out something wrong, seek and fix it. His reviews are like, 100% accurate.

But... "Doc Holiday" and "Waco Kid"...?

...D:
Thank you for a compliment. :)
 
Level 9
Joined
Sep 18, 2010
Messages
585
Quote:
10) You reach other islands by using the Sky Barge. (made by Slave)

I'm sure you should notice this in the gameplay description of map itself. I had
that Barge, but somewhy I didn't realise I can transport units to other island. Some people rarely dive deep into map and aware of everything.

Suggestion : Adding Hints to the game should solve these kind of problems. :wink:
 
Level 14
Joined
Dec 12, 2009
Messages
1,027
I just manipulate a skeletan that has a sweet girl's voice and it makes me wrinkle. Brr...

...I will repeat meself, a skeleton + pure human's voice = something nasty, scary and way too weird. I would like to hear those bones rattling or some kind of other demonic voice, than something really creepy like this. But it is your choice, leave it like that if you are willing to. Even if this has an influance to my rate, it is small enough, so it can be ignored, whatever...

...It looks very cheap. Look, a unit called Peon has the sound of true Peon, orc constructor, Footman is also as real footman's sound. It looks like you just grabbed a Peon or a Footman and changed model, added abilities and set it to building, so it can be trainable. Reminds me a simple melee map's units, just cheap remakes...

I succeeded if it makes you wrinkle. Erebus is supposed to be a realm consisting of nasty/scary/doomed things. I didn't want it to consist of typical demonic voices, and with all of the units being skeletal bone sounds would get old and dull quick. If the Erebus natives creep you out then that's good. I didn't want to portray them as 'evil' since they consist of souls of other fallen warriors who failed to escape Erebus and haven't been captured by the Guardians. As for the unit names, I named them as such because that's what they are. Apparently I failed to make it known that you and all of the units you have access to are from Azeroth. Even the players are. "You have fallen in battle on Azeroth..." (paraphrased).

Yes, it is basic everywhere. I must agree that with this size of map it is not only really hard to make a great environment art, but it is also extreamly exhausting. I did not exact an island, I looked at it as overall. But I see you have enough spots to be used, numbers are far away from the limit. As I said, add more stones, bushes, animated grass. Try to remove fog of war and take a deep look at it, it is not that beautiful, is it? These trees spammed in a spot doesn't look that good either. Terrain and environamt art is actually fine, it just could be better, because when I saw these people giving 5/5 without a reason, just saying *cool*, I am willing to require something more than that.

Erebus was never intended to be 'beautiful', it's the realm between the living and the dead. I imagined Erebus as somewhat barren, but not empty - if that makes any sense. I was looking into animated doodads, but when massed (as they would be in a map this size) they can create considerable lag. I'm already pushing it with the food limit. I didn't really view Erebus as a place with much motion. As for the others giving approving, but useless, comments I agree with you. I'm glad people enjoy it, but I can't locate/find/fix things that are missing/broken without feedback.

I wouldn't call it an Altered Melee at all, because it is not a melee. As you said, it is Builder, if there is no category as that, make it Other. Maybe I do not know anything about builder / altered melee, but it is different. This map is different, it has something that others don't, that makes me think that it is not an altered melee.

I'll just list it as Altered Melee/Other in update. From what I understand both are accurate.

I think you should text it in the gameplay description, also you should make these locations of Obelisks visible or noticeable in order to people know where it is. It's not fair if people would wander around their spot and find nothing while those who appeared closer to it, would find it way easier.

Will do. We are adding a 'radar' for finding peasants in the beginning. We'll also ping the location of each Obelisk and mention that a Sky Barge is needed to reach them.

You obviously rushed with uploading the map, if you know well what's wrong, why you uploaded? As I understand phrase *not fully dont yet* I understand it as not something that would influence the gameplay itself. Icons, that are part of gameplay, should function well, because it is a gameplay and I'm sure it has nothing to do with not finished work that could be uploaded here. Not fully made map can expand terrain art, maybe variaty of units, enemies, forces, new systems, change gameplay, but not lacking gameplay that is being finished. It is quite hard to express meself at this point, hope you understood me..

From my PoV, icons are more asthetics than anything else. Which is why I uploaded the map when I did. The abilities were in place, the units were complete, the triggers were complete, and the terrain was essentially complete. I hadn't thought of them in the manner you did. They may not all be complete in the next update, but will be in the one following. As for rushing, I've spent a little over a year and a half preparing Erebus. I intended for it to be released last month, but found a number of missing things. The units are set, and only changes will be balancing, as is the gameplay. The only incomplete terrains were around the Obelisks themselves, as Crabby and I haven't decided what to do yet. I think I understood you.

I'm sure you should notice this in the gameplay description of map itself. I had that Barge, but somewhy I didn't realise I can transport units to other island. Some people rarely dive deep into map and aware of everything.

I'll see if I can't make its purpose more obvious for new players.

You are saying that if one of players loses his troops and is being counted as defeated and leaves game, he interacts others, disturbs them?
I urge you to add defeat conditions, as always, you can leave it your way, but in my opinion, it's not that good idea to leave map without defeat conditions..

Currently, players with no units aren't defeated, but have no vision either. Players who've left the game are 'consumed' by Erebus, making all of their units neutral hostile. Since the goal is to escape, not conquer all opponents, this defeat doesn't make sense to me. If a player escapes, all others are defeated.

I find it lacking because it is undone resource, as you said, it is not finished. That makes me say, it is lacking. I advice you not to upload undone projects, are you so impatient and cannot wait any day longer? :)

Erebus is very close to completion. On the upload rules, maps nearly complete are allowed. The only major systems missing aren't essential for completing the game. For example, I'd like a few creeps to spawn and randomly wander the map periodically, but they aren't essential to gameplay. As for patience, I'm probably too patient with most things. I was at a point where I needed feedback to progress further.

I did say Erebus wasn't finished, but only in that a couple of what I viewed as minor issues remained.

let bug wave #2 come :grin: this wont be as large as the last

1: gaurdians seam too powerful, i sent 50 troops + a level 2 hero (49 swordmen to be correct) and they all died and didnt kill any of the enemies, am i doing something wrong or is there a balance issue?
2: towers are too powerful and too easy to mass. you could just wall the edge of islands with them and consider yourself invulnerable, since any would be army would have to beat through or run through it giving you plenty of warning and allowing you to easily destroy it
3: the starting structures are unrepairable and cannot be rebuilt
4: there is no (clear) way of knowing which oblisk controls which river without controling it
5: rookies have trouble finding the sky barge transport, suggest making hints and that being one of them
6: the food (soul) limit is not clearly known
7: sky barges fire so slowly that they have almost no use for thier firepower, since it takes 2 or more to ignite a building and thats if you coordinate them well

that concludes my wave of bugs :)

i do not want to nor will i give a review

1) I'll nerf the gaurdians slightly, but the towers are better for dealing with them
2) Mass towers are the strategy of a soon dead player. Assassins, Sky Barges, and Footman all excel at tearing down towers.
3) The starting structures should be repairable, I'll fix that. They shouldn't be rebuilt, as they're not essential, just a useful addition.
4) I'm not sure why you need to know which obelisk is which (they're named via the accompaning Circle of Power). Usually you capture the one on your starting island first, and then proceed to the others
5) Under the info tab, there is a section called 'gameplay'. It's the hints for new players. It's apparently missing the note about Sky Barges. That'll be corrected.
6) The food limit maxes at 200.
7) Sky Barges are transport units, not offense. Their attack/ability is just something to help when assaulting another player's base.

Thanks for the review *ahem bugs-found* ::p

Suggestion : Adding Hints to the game should solve these kind of problems. :wink:

The hints are under Info (Quest tab) and listed as Gameplay.

//\\oo//\\

Edit: I didn't have the unsavable issue you did AP, but I did notice that the file became corrupted after several saves. I'm not sure what causes this. I searched THW and found nothing related to it.

But... "Doc Holiday" and "Waco Kid"...?

...D:

Since I can't get the heroes' names to match their players, I named them after gunslingers from the old wild-west movies. I'm open to suggestions regarding any changes, especially this one.
 
Last edited:
Level 31
Joined
Jun 27, 2008
Messages
2,555
Erebus was never intended to be 'beautiful', it's the realm between the living and the dead. I imagined Erebus as somewhat barren, but not empty - if that makes any sense. I was looking into animated doodads, but when massed (as they would be in a map this size) they can create considerable lag. I'm already pushing it with the food limit. I didn't really view Erebus as a place with much motion. As for the others giving approving, but useless, comments I agree with you. I'm glad people enjoy it, but I can't locate/find/fix things that are missing/broken without feedback.
I didn't mean that your map has to contain pretty flowers, happy villagers, everywhere sunny and green in order to look beautiful. I'm talking about the tileset combination. If a map has to be dark and evil, it can look beautiful too. Basically, I was talking about number of doodads / destructibles in arena of screen view sight. Well, lag depends on the possibilities of gamer's computer, if you want people not to suffer lag, then you are right at this point. But adding more fog, stones, critters, bushes or grass as doodads, maybe walkable water somewhere. I mean each island could contain something original like in the middle of it - some kind of ruins of destroyed temple, or a slaughter leavings, maybe set fog in a specific spot with wandering passive souls, maybe not even clickable. That's what I would do, since nowdays people cares more how it looks than how it is played. You shall say that Erebus can't contain such places and materials. Why not? Add your own ideas, it shouldn't be a copy of something. Purpose of this reply is to tell you that just a plain field with some trees and few random rocks is not something that would make people say *Wow! That's amazing!* or simply attract their attention to your work. Don't understand this as something negative, I am trying to help, but the choice is always yours. I demand nothing.

About the feedback, my feedback is very minor, I just require things that firstly would attract player's eye, that's why I review map in 10-15 minutes of gameplay, sometimes it takes even less. Due to my problems of connectivity, I cannot play it Online and test it on full volue.
As for rushing, I've spent a little over a year and a half preparing Erebus.
As for patience, I'm probably too patient with most things.
I guess I was wrong about you then, because from the first look, it didn't seem to be a work of an year and half. It is clear that you have predicted the most of issues and had time to deal with it, meaning you will be able to improve your work. And I like it, because I always wanted to have such patience as you do have, since because of that I refused many good projects of mine.
Currently, players with no units aren't defeated, but have no vision either. Players who've left the game are 'consumed' by Erebus, making all of their units neutral hostile. Since the goal is to escape, not conquer all opponents, this defeat doesn't make sense to me. If a player escapes, all others are defeated.
You could at least add something like a notification via text to all players about your current state, that you lost all your troops and now you are being as a spectator who is not pernament in the game and is able to leave, because from now on you can't do a thing. Well, adding a full visibility to the player who is out of game and being as spectator is really in need, because how to observe the action of other players, if everything is under the fog?
 
Level 7
Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Messages
61
Well, figured it was time to jump in. First off, thanks for the comments. I want everyone to know we are addressing the issues that have come up so far, and we will post the update soon. We uploaded the map as a playable map, but knew we would have things to add or change that can only be found through gameplay. While we appreciate the compliments, it's the critiques that are going to allow us to truly make this map reach it's potential, so fire away! I especially appreciate the efforts by AP to help us improve this. More critical views like his will only help us, and in the end make a better map for everyone.

...that's why I review map in 10-15 minutes of gameplay, sometimes it takes even less. Due to my problems of connectivity, I cannot play it Online and test it on full volue.

This explains your focus on the aesthetics of the game. Keep in mind the game isn't supposed to be appealing visually without the fog of war, or seen overall, but have an effect on the player during gameplay. The dense trees/doodads are deliberate in certain areas to temporarily control units/base development, and Ghouls can be used to change them as the game progresses. We have seen terrain done extensively in other builder games (some versions of CastleBuilder) that may look appealing but can interfere with gameplay. Ours was designed with the gameplay as priority over eye candy. Any specific suggestions will be considered, but I don't think we would add/change something if it isn't going to improve the gameplay or doesn't fit the theme of Erebus (like ruined cities?). We won't do anything that will interfere with it. Some of the things we consider are the ability to place buildings, room for battles, and directing units either towards or away from locations. I'm not saying we can't improve it, just that this is the point of view we are coming from. For example, we're making changes to the Obelisk platforms for the next update.

You could at least add something like a notification via text to all players about your current state, that you lost all your troops and now you are being as a spectator who is not pernament in the game and is able to leave, because from now on you can't do a thing. Well, adding a full visibility to the player who is out of game and being as spectator is really in need, because how to observe the action of other players, if everything is under the fog?

This one has been a little challenging, as we want the player to stay in the story. I think we found a way to do this that should keep them from spamming players still engaged with eachother, but allow them full access to the map so they can learn more for the next time.

We are making a Trigger folder called NoobAssist in the next update that will have ways to help new players get started and another for the players that lose all units, which brings me to my next point. Any of you taking the time to open this in WE, please look over the triggers and let us know what you think.
 
Level 5
Joined
Apr 19, 2009
Messages
165
Any of you taking the time to open this in WE, please look over the triggers and let us know what you think.

will do and post feedback once done

edit: nice coding (and since it is in gui i can understand it :DD) but there is a problem

shift and hold position colide
 
Last edited:
Level 16
Joined
Nov 30, 2009
Messages
2,073
Since I can't get the heroes' names to match their players, I named them after gunslingers from the old wild-west movies. I'm open to suggestions regarding any changes, especially this one.
Roman-ish? Greek-ish? The possibilities are limitless. Just combine twelve "sounds cool" random names somehow connected with death from mythologies around the world.

Hell, you can even use Mesoamerican and Nordic names for this. Its up to you. This is your Map. People who didn't like it has two choices. Leave it or help it.

P.S.: Haven't tested the Map yet. Sorry for my snail-slow speed. Y'know. 9th grade.
 
Level 22
Joined
Jul 25, 2009
Messages
3,091
Roman-ish? Greek-ish? The possibilities are limitless. Just combine twelve "sounds cool" random names somehow connected with death from mythologies around the world.

Hell, you can even use Mesoamerican and Nordic names for this. Its up to you. This is your Map. People who didn't like it has two choices. Leave it or help it.

P.S.: Haven't tested the Map yet. Sorry for my snail-slow speed. Y'know. 9th grade.


Latin and Greek related names would be suitable for a game of this type. Especially being named Erebus. Haephastus Thanatos, use some names of Greek gods and demigods like Thanatos.
 
Level 7
Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Messages
61
Originally Posted by dead-man-walking
Roman-ish? Greek-ish? The possibilities are limitless. Just combine twelve "sounds cool" random names somehow connected with death from mythologies around the world.

Hell, you can even use Mesoamerican and Nordic names for this. Its up to you. This is your Map. People who didn't like it has two choices. Leave it or help it.

Originally Posted by xRiotZx
Latin and Greek related names would be suitable for a game of this type. Especially being named Erebus. Haephastus Thanatos, use some names of Greek gods and demigods like Thanatos.

The names in the first release were temp names. In the update, we used names from Warcraft lore (not any specific character) to represent those fallen in battle on Azeroth. We are obviously themeing the map off Greek mythology (with a few liberties taken), but this is still a Warcraft game. Keep the ideas coming though, we're more than happy to respond to the feedback we get.

//\\òó//\\
 
Level 31
Joined
Jun 27, 2008
Messages
2,555
The resource had been updated. Most of my points were fixed, now map is way more clear.
Just one more thing, I really don't like seeing the edge of map, that black fog boundaries. If you could hide it with trees, doodads, cliffs maybe, it would look better in my opinion.
Afterall, map is in good hands and it will be improved even more with time. Effort had been poured into this project.
My rating changes to 4/5 and I suggest it to be Recommended.
 
Last edited:
Level 7
Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Messages
61
The resource had been updated. Most of my points were fixed, now map is way more clear.
Just one more thing, I really don't like seeing the edge of map, that black fog boundaries. If you could hide it with trees, doodads, cliffs maybe, it would look better in my opinion.
Afterall, map is in good hands and it will be improved even more with time. Effort had been poured into this project.
My rating changes to 4/5 and I suggest it to be Recommended.

Now I know exactly what you mean by edge of map. We will take care of it in the next update. You've been a tremendous help AP. Thanks again!

And thanks for the rating!
 
Last edited:
Level 22
Joined
Jul 25, 2009
Messages
3,091
Review:

Cons: The obelisk guardians are OP. There is only one race of Undead, each slave camp should produce a different race, or at least there should be different races for each slave camp. There are some grammar errors and the terrain isn't bad but isn't great. The spells don't seem as nice as they do in the screenshots.

Pros: Fun gameplay. Good tech trees. Nice over all presentation.

I'd say it's about a 3\5.
 
Level 14
Joined
Dec 12, 2009
Messages
1,027
Review:

Cons: The obelisk guardians are OP. There is only one race of Undead, each slave camp should produce a different race, or at least there should be different races for each slave camp. There are some grammar errors and the terrain isn't bad but isn't great. The spells don't seem as nice as they do in the screenshots.

Pros: Fun gameplay. Good tech trees. Nice over all presentation.

I'd say it's about a 3\5.

Where are the grammar errors (I hate reading through grammar mistakes)? Did you play this on your own?

As for the Mist-Walkers, I'm probably going to have to nerf them in the next update. We're introducing a more elaborate creep system (Reapers will actually spawn and patrol the map).

Different races, hmm... I'm considering adding another race for sure, maybe two. It all depends whether I can add them and remain true to the theme.

//\\oo//\\
 
Level 22
Joined
Jul 25, 2009
Messages
3,091
Where are the grammar errors (I hate reading through grammar mistakes)? Did you play this on your own?

As for the Mist-Walkers, I'm probably going to have to nerf them in the next update. We're introducing a more elaborate creep system (Reapers will actually spawn and patrol the map).

Different races, hmm... I'm considering adding another race for sure, maybe two. It all depends whether I can add them and remain true to the theme.

//\\oo//\\

I love the map's idea nonetheless though, so keep working on it.
 
Level 37
Joined
Mar 6, 2006
Messages
9,240
I took a look at the triggers. There are some leaks. And you could use loops.

Income trigger could be like this.


  • Income
    • Events
      • Time - IncomeTimer expires
    • Conditions
    • Actions
  • Income
    • Events
      • Time - IncomeTimer expires
    • Conditions
    • Actions
      • For each (Integer loopA) from 1 to 12, do (Actions)
        • Loop - Actions
          • Set TempPlayer = (Player(loopA))
          • Set TempInteger = (loopA - 1)
          • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
            • If - Conditions
              • (TempPlayer slot status) Equal to Is playing
            • Then - Actions
              • Set Necronage[TempInteger] = (10 x ((Number of living Necronage units owned by TempPlayer) + (Number of living Village Center units owned by TempPlayer)))
              • Set Necsramp[TempInteger] = ((Number of living Nec'sramp units owned by TempPlayer) x 20)
              • Set Necropolis[TempInteger] = ((Number of living Necropolis units owned by TempPlayer) x 30)
              • Set Income[TempInteger] = (0.70 x ((Real(Necronage[TempInteger])) + ((Real(Necsramp[TempInteger])) + (Real(Necropolis[TempInteger])))))
              • Player - Add (Integer(Income[TempInteger])) to TempPlayer Current gold
            • Else - Actions

All those "number of units in..." leak.

SlaveLocator:
  • Set WanderingSoul01 = (Random unit from (Units owned by Player 1 (Red) of type Soul))
  • Cinematic - Ping minimap for Player Group - Player 1 (Red) at (Position of (Picked unit)) for 2.00 seconds, using a Simple ping of color (50.00%, 0.00%, 50.00%)
^Leaks.

PingObelisks has location leak.

Every trigger in Possession folder has location leak:
  • Unit - Move Incarnation 0060 <gen> instantly to (Position of (Ownership-changed unit))
You could combine triggers in LimitBases folder:
  • BaseBuilt01
    • Events
      • Unit - A unit owned by Player 1 (Red) Begins construction
      • Unit - A unit owned by Player 2 (Blue) Begins construction
      • Unit - A unit owned by Player 3 (Teal) Begins construction
      • ...
    • Conditions
      • (Unit-type of (Triggering unit)) Equal to Fissure
    • Actions
      • Player - Make Fissure Unavailable for training/construction by (Triggering player)
Player Leaves triggers can be combined.

Head count has leak:
  • (Number of units in (Units in (Playable map area) owned by Player 1 (Red))) Equal to 0
You could make the trigger not do the check every 2 seconds, use unit dies as the event.

Obelisk Busy triggers have leaks:
  • Unit - Move Hero01red instantly to (Center of Ob0111 <gen>), facing 90.00 degrees
Sparky aura could use equations to reduce the amount of lines of code.
 
Level 14
Joined
Dec 12, 2009
Messages
1,027
I took a look at the triggers. There are some leaks. And you could use loops.

Income trigger could be like this.


  • Income
    • Events
      • Time - IncomeTimer expires
    • Conditions
    • Actions
  • Income
    • Events
      • Time - IncomeTimer expires
    • Conditions
    • Actions
      • For each (Integer loopA) from 1 to 12, do (Actions)
        • Loop - Actions
          • Set TempPlayer = (Player(loopA))
          • Set TempInteger = (loopA - 1)
          • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
            • If - Conditions
              • (TempPlayer slot status) Equal to Is playing
            • Then - Actions
              • Set Necronage[TempInteger] = (10 x ((Number of living Necronage units owned by TempPlayer) + (Number of living Village Center units owned by TempPlayer)))
              • Set Necsramp[TempInteger] = ((Number of living Nec'sramp units owned by TempPlayer) x 20)
              • Set Necropolis[TempInteger] = ((Number of living Necropolis units owned by TempPlayer) x 30)
              • Set Income[TempInteger] = (0.70 x ((Real(Necronage[TempInteger])) + ((Real(Necsramp[TempInteger])) + (Real(Necropolis[TempInteger])))))
              • Player - Add (Integer(Income[TempInteger])) to TempPlayer Current gold
            • Else - Actions

All those "number of units in..." leak.

SlaveLocator:
  • Set WanderingSoul01 = (Random unit from (Units owned by Player 1 (Red) of type Soul))
  • Cinematic - Ping minimap for Player Group - Player 1 (Red) at (Position of (Picked unit)) for 2.00 seconds, using a Simple ping of color (50.00%, 0.00%, 50.00%)
^Leaks.

PingObelisks has location leak.

Every trigger in Possession folder has location leak:
  • Unit - Move Incarnation 0060 <gen> instantly to (Position of (Ownership-changed unit))
You could combine triggers in LimitBases folder:
  • BaseBuilt01
    • Events
      • Unit - A unit owned by Player 1 (Red) Begins construction
      • Unit - A unit owned by Player 2 (Blue) Begins construction
      • Unit - A unit owned by Player 3 (Teal) Begins construction
      • ...
    • Conditions
      • (Unit-type of (Triggering unit)) Equal to Fissure
    • Actions
      • Player - Make Fissure Unavailable for training/construction by (Triggering player)
Player Leaves triggers can be combined.

Head count has leak:
  • (Number of units in (Units in (Playable map area) owned by Player 1 (Red))) Equal to 0
You could make the trigger not do the check every 2 seconds, use unit dies as the event.

Obelisk Busy triggers have leaks:
  • Unit - Move Hero01red instantly to (Center of Ob0111 <gen>), facing 90.00 degrees
Sparky aura could use equations to reduce the amount of lines of code.

Thanks, they'll all be fixed before the next update. (Should be this Saturday or Sunday)

//\\oo//\\
 
Level 5
Joined
Nov 2, 2009
Messages
114
While testing this, I found some balance mistakes you should fix.
-2x Tauren Chieftains can kill the incarnation.
-Some things like hero respawn/fissure build are VERY fast.
-Some unit`s skills (can`t remember name, it`s avenger if I remember well) can damage allies/own units.
-In general all heavy assault units trained in the barracks are very strong in my opinion.
-Archers/Rangers/Assasins are very weak in my opinion.

That`s all I have to say. The map is fast paced and full of action. It has unique stuff ( I really liked the preacher idea).

Good job and keep updating :)

-FibSaSk
 
Level 23
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
1,608
Okay i cant believe that this map got such a high rating.
becoz it sucks. Hard.

Basicly u start as this shade just wandering around when -boom- all the sudden the whole map gets explored and u see everything, also the slaves, to which u will hover then and posess.
Then the gameplay is basicly just spamming those necrogen-producing crypts, upgrading ur main building and then i guess u gotta to something with that obeliscs or stuff, never came that far, due to the fact i wasnt alone on my island.
And thats good, because u need an enemy, but other players didnt, they were alone on their island and good evolve just right away, while i had to fight another player.
Also the balance rly sucks, just buy the expensive units and ure done, the others are crap.
Additionally there are towers and walls. So explain for what would i need these damn small walls if there are no gates? You can close some entrys of ur base amybe, but most the times there is a small gap because the walls are so small.
Then there are towers. Tho u need Volcano to build them, which means they arent avaible that early, they are just imba. You cant kill a tower because they have an insane dps and high hp, build 4 towers at any spot and no1 can kill them, if u add some walls in front melee untis gotta walk around them and will never even reach the towers.
Due to the fact there is not a single siege unit and archers cant shoot longer than a tower its the ultimate and imbalanced weapon.

There are Wyrms too, i guess for scouting, but what for scouting if the whole map is revealed?
Also the collision of the units sucks. They dont walk to their destination but stop like every damn second, stuck up again with other units and are just like handicaped.

The Terrain is bad.

Also there are all these useless units.
nearby everything except for the dk in that altar kinda thing is useless and dies on command.
You got a town center and another town building whatsoever, in the 1st one u can build ghoul and wyrm ind the 2nd one only workers, just the fact that there are 2 buildings for 3 units is overdone, but it evenmore is useless (one of them) because if u trained 1 builder u dont need any of them anymore.
The barracks do better units and ur main building (that is built in like 2 secs, jumps out of the ground) trains builders and stuff.

I could go on like this for another 5 minutes i think but ill stop it here and rate it 1/5.
This needs _definitively_ MUCH more work.
 
Level 31
Joined
Jun 27, 2008
Messages
2,555
Okay i cant believe that this map got such a high rating.
becoz it sucks. Hard.
... and the rest of this nonsense ...

I believe you are trying to be harsh and look like someone who is way more experienced than others in maps. Well, few things that would bother me..
1. Read what you just typed, you cannot even type properly, mistakes in every sentence.
2. You just described the way how map works, described what you realised with your tiny brains. This should be accepted as criticism? Hey, look, I got some criticism too: Your house was built with bricks.
3. Basically, you have no idea how rating system works, right? If a resource did not amase you, you cerntainly rate it 1/5, of course you will, since you are that awesome.
4. Please do not ever review a resource, for your own good. So far you don't even understand how to do it properly, so please, never open Map Section again.

By the way, this was a typical downrate of a resource without any proper reason. I suggest the creators not to even response to his review..
 
Level 23
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
1,608
Im really sorry, you fully misinterpretated my opinion of this map.
I dont want to higher myself with my writingstyle, nor my harshness, I just wanted to give a sentence-based review and not just some bullet points in Pos/Cons or whatsoever.

You know, when I read a (btw well done) discription like this one, everything sounds fine and pretends me an at least decent gameplay,
what the map (imo) doesnt provide.
Instead of hiding the bare truth behind a well formed, mystic story, I wanted to show the reader what the game really is about.
So "You begin the game as a Soul. Your first step is to find a slave and Possess him. You will then be given your Hero form and take control of the buildings around you." this,
turned out to be a random wandering, followed by just getting a hero and 2 plain buildings.
As far as i see nowhere(in the gameplay preview, tho i dont look through all Screens before i play a map) is said that its a "dumb" income map, dumb is ment as just "spam necrogen-producing buildings".

If you have just a little bit of imagination (which I suppose you do) you can
firstly read the criticism in my, as you called it, "discription"
and secondly see, if this kinda gameplay and/or map is what you want to play.

Thats what I am awaiting from a review, not just 2 points pros or cons because that is imo no criticism.( Im not imputing this statement to you )
Tho it of course helps, but you dont get to know what the map is really about and how it is played with a direct opinion/statement.

And still remeber, of course my rating has some influence of what I like and what not and surely isnt 100% objective,
but I am just dissapointed from what the discription tells me and what the map provides me and I think next to the balancing issues I meant several other proper reasons to rate this map at least 2/5.
But in relativity to my words above its a clear 1/5 for me.

So what are u awaiting from me, rating this map 2/5 because it has a decent preview pic and decent tooltips?

You mean by properly reviewing the tabled styled mod-review?
Well it wasnt ment to be like that but more my experience and report of bugged/imbalanced things.

I didnt want to insult you in any way, tho it might happened because you didnt understand me right.
I hope this explains it to you.
 
Level 31
Joined
Jun 27, 2008
Messages
2,555
Check my review, it contains no major colors, no tables, no pros / no cons and my review actually helped, yours - don't, since you just blew some random sentences about gameplay, *that works that way and another works other way*. If you make a review - help the creator to improve the resource.
So far I did not change my opinion about you and the quality of your review, since I understood you well from your first post, you didn't explain anything new.
If you say *That is bad*, be precise and tell what's exacly bad, because that *detailed* criticism is not an excuse to rate it 1/5.
 
Level 23
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
1,608
I think you till didnt get it.
I am not responsible for you understanding my explain i just made for you.
Also I dont wanna repeat myself, as you should be able to read my posts.
If you dont understand it nor get the criticism in it its not my fault if its not *detailed* enogh for you.
Its my statement and I wont change my rating just coz of an arriviste like you.
Thx
 
Level 14
Joined
Dec 12, 2009
Messages
1,027
While testing this, I found some balance mistakes you should fix.
-2x Tauren Chieftains can kill the incarnation.
-Some things like hero respawn/fissure build are VERY fast.
-Some unit`s skills (can`t remember name, it`s avenger if I remember well) can damage allies/own units.
-In general all heavy assault units trained in the barracks are very strong in my opinion.
-Archers/Rangers/Assasins are very weak in my opinion.

That`s all I have to say. The map is fast paced and full of action. It has unique stuff ( I really liked the preacher idea).

Good job and keep updating :)

-FibSaSk

~The TC are supposed to be able to kill the hero (They're anti-hero/tanks), but it should take much more then two. What level was your hero? The TC's may need to be slower moving/attacking. Hmm...

~All units take 5 sec to make. I'll double check the hero rebuild time though. The fissure is the main building, and is needed to do everything else. Hence the quick build time. (Plus, this was also inspired by CastleBuilder 2.4 North No Myth)

~The Avengers are the only units in the game with AoE abilties dealing friendly fire. I may or may not keep it like that. Depends on the feedback from other users.

~Your last two points are interesting. Usually, mass Rangers/Assassins wipe out TC and Wardens easily. TC and Warden are intended to be assault/siege, hence high damage and slow attack. As for the ranged units being too weak, how would you buff them? In most builder games ranged is OP.

Basicly u start as this shade just wandering around when -boom- all the sudden the whole map gets explored and u see everything, also the slaves, to which u will hover then and posess.

What do you mean the whole map gets explored? Do you mean you see the entire thing (no Fog)? Were you defeated?

Then the gameplay is basicly just spamming those necrogen-producing crypts, upgrading ur main building and then i guess u gotta to something with that obeliscs or stuff,

Spamming them won't make you win. They are necessary however, as they're the source of your Souls [food].

And thats good, because u need an enemy, but other players didnt, they were alone on their island and good evolve just right away, while i had to fight another player.
Also the balance rly sucks, just buy the expensive units and ure done, the others are crap.

Massing T3 shouldn't guarentee you the game, in fact, it could very well cost you it. Footman, T1 units with Defend active are extremely resilient against all Fire and Arrow attacks, typical of T2 and T3 units.

Additionally there are towers and walls. So explain for what would i need these damn small walls if there are no gates? You can close some entrys of ur base amybe, but most the times there is a small gap because the walls are so small.
Then there are towers. Tho u need Volcano to build them, which means they arent avaible that early, they are just imba. You cant kill a tower because they have an insane dps and high hp, build 4 towers at any spot and no1 can kill them, if u add some walls in front melee untis gotta walk around them and will never even reach the towers.
Due to the fact there is not a single siege unit and archers cant shoot longer than a tower its the ultimate and imbalanced weapon.

Walls are to delay/redirect enemy forces. Gates are unnecessary, due to the Sky Barge.

Mass towers is the best way to get defeated. Assassins and Footmen (with Defend) will easily overwhelm towers when comboed. The assassins' Torch ability is essentially the orc's Burning Oil. Siege Units are always OP in builder games (it's why I didn't use them) and the archers' shorter range is to ensure the towers get used.

There are Wyrms too, i guess for scouting, but what for scouting if the whole map is revealed?
Also the collision of the units sucks. They dont walk to their destination but stop like every damn second, stuck up again with other units and are just like handicaped.

Map is NOT supposed to be revealed. That's a major bug I'm now looking into. Units are more likely stopping because you don't control Lethe. (It orders all enemy units to stop every few minutes) How far into the game were you when the map was revealed?

Also there are all these useless units.
nearby everything except for the dk in that altar kinda thing is useless and dies on command.
You got a town center and another town building whatsoever, in the 1st one u can build ghoul and wyrm ind the 2nd one only workers, just the fact that there are 2 buildings for 3 units is overdone, but it evenmore is useless (one of them) because if u trained 1 builder u dont need any of them anymore.
The barracks do better units and ur main building (that is built in like 2 secs, jumps out of the ground) trains builders and stuff.

Those are the starting buildings. If you don't need/want them, then use their Demolish ability.

I never came that far, due to the fact i wasnt alone on my island.

This sums up most of the frustration posted in your review. You're coming across as someone who's upset they got beat (I think that's what AP is getting at). However, if everyone could see the entire map, then that's bad. It's not supposed to do that. Either your game was hacked, or worse, I didn't get rid of a bug I thought I did.

Has anyone else had this happen? (The whole map is revealed randomly).

//\\o0//\\

Edit: Ap0calypse said this when I inquired about this visibility glitch:

The only thing I can think of is the use of cinematic( / letterbox) mode, which can cause the entire map to be revealed :/

I do use this under the Player Defeated conditions, but I'm not sure why it would trigger. It should be fixed soon.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE:
We believe we corrected the visibility bug for Erebus this time. If the problem persists, PLEASE TELL US.

We did take some more screenshots, but those will be uploaded later. It's midnight and I have to wake up for work in about 6 hrs...

//\\==//\\
 
Last edited:
Level 7
Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Messages
61
I just wanted to clarify what the issue was with the v1.2.

I added some Cinematic actions to the Defeat triggers to create a segue from player mode to a sort of observer mode. We're still not entirely sure, but we think they bugged the map and caused it to randomly reveal to all players. Boris and I played a quick game after I changed the triggers to use visibility modifiers instead. It's not as artistic looking, but has a similar effect.

The Headcount, which is the trigger I use to determine if a player still has units, also had a unit-group leak mentioned by Maker (and is running every 2 secs). I believe I corrected all of the leaks he identified now.

The feedback and constructive criticism has been wonderful (except for one case). We appreciate anything that helps us develop the map and allows us to improve.

//\\òó//\\
 
Level 5
Joined
Apr 19, 2009
Messages
165
nice patch, you finaly managed to nerf the mist walkers!

the problem with towers is that they cost so little, its only 50 necro and 1 soul, meening it can be massed very easily.
 
Top