World of Darkness v 1.31

[Moderator]

StoPCampinGn00b	23:15, 8th Feb 2015
[TD]

[/TD][TD]

Review Post - My Review​

Verdict - Approved, 3/5​

[TD]

[/TD][TD]

Map Moderated - World of Darkness (Version 1.21)​

[/TD] [tr]

[/TD]

 

[WhiteFang]

Please add screenshots

 

[rafa316]

Screens added, want any specific shots? I dont know what to use.

 

[Deleted member 237964]

It looks very interesting.Can i play this map in single player?

 

[rafa316]

yea you can do everything in single player. Its just not as fun.

 

[rafa316]

when will it be approved?

 

[StoPCampinGn00b]

I have used models from other people, will update credits when I find them

Map set to await update/needs fix. Once you update it will automatically be set back to pending.

 

[StoPCampinGn00b]

I couldn't survive in the map for enough time, until I started killing villagers for gold. Is this the intention?

 

[rafa316]

it is an option, but not for any long term survival, you should go out and hunt animals for their pelts, then sell them at market.

 

[Vinz]

Post will be updated as I progress through the map.

Abilities

(-) I suggest abilities have hotkeys based on their command card position.

Aestethics

(~) Nice attachments, but they should match the actual item icon.
(-) Small Gold Coins give as much as Gold Coins.
(-) Animal Pelts' models are dragon bones.
(-) Warrior wearing leather armor puts it high above his chest.
(-) Market is vulnerable. Yes, I know, why would one destroy it? But it still bothers me a bit. Because melee neutral buildings wouldn't be invulnerable if they were to be destroyed or something.
(-) Quest log informative quests break. About all of them, on the right side.

Gameplay

(-) Gameplay is a bit too slow in the beginning.
(-) I didn't know that the Mysterious Substance made me a Vampire. And that it's required to be used in a wide area, somewhere you can build the city before dying. Also some tips on why he constantly dies would be kind.
(-) Charged items don't stack (pelts, raw meat). Item Stack System
(-) No note about not being able to carry more than one weapon of one type, thus wasting my gold (50% sell price).
(-) Why is raw meat usable, if it does not have benefits?
(-) Contrary to what the quest log says, there is only one gold mine reachable in the map. If this were supposed to be exploratory, I suggest adding multiple mines.

Terrain

(-) Cliffs aren't done very well. I suggest you see this tutorial. Try using the plateau tool.
(-) Sharp Tiles in water. I've experienced that before for some reason, try increasing the shoreline a bit.

(-) The terrain is very plain. More tile variation could help, see the tutorial linked above.

The map is lacking and could use more features. More importantly, it should motivate the player to continue playing - be that by small rewards/achievements, or some rare drops even early on. No clear storyline, gameplay is below average - lots of grinding (even MMO grinding with quests is evil enough), lack of better weapons, and the path forward is unclear.

I suggest you use this for the map description: http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/tools-560/map-description-generator-1-2-a-224558/
Remember, most of these words are subjective.

 

[rafa316]

First off, thank you for the review

Abilities: I will add hot keys for the abilities

Aesthetics: I will fix the attachment issues, however I have not been able to adjust the armour to fit the characters properly. You can make your own market and intended for them to be vulnerable. I dont, however, know what you mean by "Quest log informative quests break".

Gameplay: Its slow in the beginning as it would otherwise be too easy in a group.You dont need to die in a wide area, you just have to use it at night. That is also why you keep dying. Daylight kills you really fast at first, either that or you are out of mana. Those items are meant not to stack so that you cant carry a bunch of them.
I will add note to inform players they cant carry more than one weapon of same type.
Raw meat is usable because if you are a werewolf you can eat it to regain hp, but as a human it poisons you. There are multiple mines, you have to build a dock and have ships in order to reach them on the other continents.

Terrain: will be fixed.

Thanks again for the feedback.

 

[Chaosy]

I am unable to test it. I am rocking 1.24

edit:
ahoy! changed to 1.26 yarr. Didn't help.

 

[rafa316]

I am unable to test it. I am rocking 1.24

edit:
ahoy! changed to 1.26 yarr. Didn't help.

Strange, I just tried running it with 1.26.0.6401 and it works just fine.
What are you having problems with? just won't start?

 

[Chaosy]

this is how it looks.

img

version =

 

[rafa316]

Hmm I have had this issue before with other maps. What I have found to fix it is to delete it from the folder it was put in. Re run the game, quit, paste it back. re run again and see if it works, if not try changing the directory you have it saved to, I find some maps don't work unless they are in the frozen throne downloads folder.Don't know the reasons behind any of this but It has fixed it in the past.

 

[Chaosy]

I tried moving it to the Download map. After doing that, I started the game went to check if I could play it. Then I closed it, > removed the map > ran the game again > quit > put the map back.

Didn't help. I can't open the map with my editor either, but it might be because it's protected.

 

[rafa316]

i will reupload maybe it didn't go up properly. Works fine for me.

EDIT: Done, hope it works

 

[StoPCampinGn00b]

NOTE: Check the map changelog to see if this review is outdated.

Review finished.

[TD]

OVERVIEW World of Darkness isn't a generic RPG map, but at the same time it wouldn't be considered unique. The map's features consists of a mash of the author's own versions of features from other maps but they do string together smoothly. World of Darkness could be enjoyable with friends if the group of friends would enjoy a team survival type of RPG along side with fair terrain and aesthetics. But, there are a few problems that affect the map heavily. ​ GAMEPLAY The gameplay doesn't start off very self explanatory as players start off with one unit in the corner of the map, but with the presence of a quest log containing straight-to-the-point information, players would know what to do. The map isn't a breeze to go through, but it's not a bad thing for that to be the case. I'm not sure if more players equals easier in this map. Having more players causes recourses (food, pellets) to be spread throughout the players more which makes it harder for individuals to survive. I'm not saying it's easier in single player, but it's something to look out for. Perhaps it may be a good idea if more players were detected, more creeps will be spawned OR more items will be dropped. Moving forward throughout the map, players must expand and try to become stronger. Some buildings are oversized for a map with pathing like this. It causes crowdedness in the map. What could be done is to add a note saying to build in open spaces or decrease the size of huge buildings. Another annoyance may be that some buildings can be built on some tiles while others don't. Is there enough to do in this map? Well, yes. Players can explore the map, unlock mysteries, and build up to pass time. Sometimes, however, there is a lack of quantity and variation though. More things like unique creeps to hunt down and more items (ahem, boots of speed?) would help add more flavor to your map. But please, don't add more zombies. It lags over time after more are spawned. The zombies may or not be the cause of the lag. Since your map is protected, what I suggest is for you to read this and this. A few favorable features such as marked hotkeys and a save load system cease to exist in this map. Overall, I'd rate the gameplay fair (without the lag) due to it possibly being a fun grind without any major errors, but it doesn't have much uniqueness as well as a few minor problems and missed opportunities. With the lag I wouldn't find the gameplay acceptable. ​ TERRAIN & AESTHETICS Although most of the terrain isn't created by you, I'd still review it. The tile usage was great in most areas of the map. They matched other tiles around it and matched the environment around it; except in the bottom left fourth of the map. Try to replicate how the other parts of the map is done. The same goes for doodad placement. The bottom left fourth of the map is very undecorative. As for the cliffs and height leveling, it was okay. Some coastlines were ragged, and some height leveling looked extremely stretched. Overall, the map visually looks okay. Sure, there are a few unfitting icons such as the raw meat being a... ruby like thing, but I wouldn't count any of those type of things as faults. ​ MISCELLANEOUS I highly recommend a version number be added to your maps. It will help downloaders keep track of different versions. And so I realized, after typing all of the above text, that you didn't give credit to the few custom models you used in the map. Please, give credit to the creators, it's in the rules. Once you do that and fix at least the lag, the map will be approved. The map will be set to await update / needs fix in day or two if it isn't updated. ​

[/TD][/TR]

 

[rafa316]

Thank you for the review.

I do have a quest log with instructions. Should it be done differently?

Yes more players would mean less resources to share but it would also mean more man power to hunt animals down when you start alone. I dont want to increase the resources because this way, if you are playing with other players you will be pushed to fight each other as your population grows, which is what I intended.

I know what you mean with the over sized buildings I wanted to make the buildings have a realistic size compared to the players but I think I will make them smaller. In terms of the build pathing, I made campfires buildable anywhere on purpose, seems more realistic. But I will look over the others and fix as needed.

I will continue to add more unique items, I agree it is lacking in this regard. Only two unique weapons so far. Also a definite yes to more variety of creeps. Have you tried playing as a vampire thou? It is by far what I put the most work into so far, the clans and the different levels of them. I think it adds a whole new mechanic to the game.
In terms of lag I had already fixed memory leaks(the ones i saw) so I don't know why it lags. I replaced the zombies that replace at night with vampires that will die when the sun comes out, so this should decrease lag if it is caused by too many npcs.

I will be adding hotkeys but I don't thinks a save/load system would work very well for this map, unless you can save everything somehow.

Terrain will be fixed with next update.

Thanks again for the review, will update soon.

 

[StoPCampinGn00b]

I do have a quest log with instructions. Should it be done differently?

Sorry if my statement was a little confusing. I was stating that the map would be difficult to learn without the useful quest logs you included. Your quest logs are fine the way they are except that the optional quests get cut off.

Yes more players would mean less resources to share but it would also mean more man power to hunt animals down when you start alone. I dont want to increase the resources because this way, if you are playing with other players you will be pushed to fight each other as your population grows, which is what I intended.

Fair point. It might be, however, helpful for downloaders to read so they know it isn't purely cooperative and so any future comments regarding this feature wouldn't be necessary.

I will be adding hotkeys but I don't thinks a save/load system would work very well for this map, unless you can save everything somehow.

Ah right, I wasn't thinking here. The standard Warcraft 3 save option would be better.

Make sure to add credits to the models you used. If you can't find every single one it's fine.

EDIT: About if I tried the vampire. No, I haven't, but I did state the map has mysteries and there is enough to do in the map. Those are good points

 

[rafa316]

Working on it now, thanks for prompt reply.

EDIT: Added all credits I could find and made some changes to game, see change log for details.

 

[StoPCampinGn00b]

Map is now approved with a three star rating. I do recommend also adding the version number to the map title itself instead of only in the loading screen and file.

 

[Kibougamine]

I just got back from school, go to Hiveworkshop right away, and saw this map.
The description is very interesting, will test the map and give some suggestion or maybe bug report if i can ._.)

 

[Devlain]

We need changelings and proteans! =D

 

[Kibougamine]

I just realized, the terrain is similar to the map "A Time for A Hero".
What's up with that? ._.)

 

[rafa316]

I just got back from school, go to Hiveworkshop right away, and saw this map.
The description is very interesting, will test the map and give some suggestion or maybe bug report if i can ._.)

Eager to hear back.

We need changelings and proteans! =D

Proteans will be coming soon, the scripting for them is kinda complicated but I'm working on it. Changelings are in the plans but Vampires, werewolfs and mages are coming first.

I just realized, the terrain is similar to the map "A Time for A Hero".
What's up with that? ._.)

I used a map template from the hive here so maybe that person did too.

 

[yoww89]

Hey I just want to point out some things that I think need improvements/fixes. My goal with this is not to depreciate your work so if I sound rude or anything I'm sorry but english isn't my first language.

1. First the need for an axe to gather resources (not only lumber but gold too, despite making no sense) together with the only axe spawn on the map makes it practicaly impossible to play multiplayer (Should probably be added to the market or something).

2. With update 1.3 you no longer need to worry about feeding kids, they just grow up before their hp drop to 0. So you just need to go berserk on that "sexy time" ability to create an endless army of Young Lords since your trigger doesn't check for food limit at all. This way you can storm the map without actually building anything or gathering any resource.

3. I got so excited when I saw the "re-enabled xp-gain from combat". I thought "alright time to hunt the crap out of those wolfs!" but it turns out it only works at level 1. I don't know if that's intended or not. Also the wolf over hunt trigger is quite strange since even when I don't hunt wolfs at all they get extinct.

4. Kids are always turning into Lords, never commoners. Also the Lady has the peasent sound set which is kind of funny.

5. When units level up something strange happens to their mana, I'm not sure if it's reseting completely or what but the point is I played for around 1 hour and a half and couldn't get an old guy to build an academy.

6. Getting people inside houses or boats make them immortal since no hp or mana is lost there.

7. There's something strange with the Raw Meet item, sometimes it just dissapears. Happened twice, once when I dropped it for a momment and the other when I built a campfire nerby.

8. On a previous version, playing with the mage (the only immortal human character, since it can drain life to prevent dying from hunger and mana to prevent dying from mortality) I noticed that you added both abilities based on the same Hardcoded ability so the order strings got messed up and he would always cast Life Drain no matter what. The only way to use Mana Drain would be having Life Drain on cooldown first.

Was the enginner removed from the game? So farms got removed too?

What's the point of that Computer base in that island to the south with two gold mines?

Is there an end to the map? Because I killed that big Dreadlord on a previous version and nothing happended. Same thing with that big Cenarius fella.

I think that's about it

 

[Kibougamine]

Alright, i might be late ._.)
First off, the terrain. I would suggest to make your own terrain, even if it's bad, you could always improve.
Second, make some items stackable, like raw meat.
Third, i would suggest change the hunger system, separate it from the hitpoint system, like if the hunger gets too low, you start losing hitpoint slowly. Not like losing hitpoint every second, it's like you're having a curse or something.
One more thing, i don't understand the aging system, i would recommend to change that into a stamina system instead.

 

[rafa316]

Alright, i might be late ._.)
First off, the terrain. I would suggest to make your own terrain, even if it's bad, you could always improve.
Second, make some items stackable, like raw meat.
Third, i would suggest change the hunger system, separate it from the hitpoint system, like if the hunger gets too low, you start losing hitpoint slowly. Not like losing hitpoint every second, it's like you're having a curse or something.
One more thing, i don't understand the aging system, i would recommend to change that into a stamina system instead.

I'm not going to make my own terrain, I have always hated doing so but I will probably make more changes to it.

The raw meat suggestion was already discussed, the game would be made easier if you could stack these items. But will be considered if more people ask for it.

A new hunger system is already in the works.

The aging system is central to the way the map works, removing it would make a lot of my features obsolete, it may be improved upon if I find a way but it won't be removed.

 

[rafa316]

Hey I just want to point out some things that I think need improvements/fixes. My goal with this is not to depreciate your work so if I sound rude or anything I'm sorry but english isn't my first language.

Your English is good

1. First the need for an axe to gather resources (not only lumber but gold too, despite making no sense) together with the only axe spawn on the map makes it practicaly impossible to play multiplayer (Should probably be added to the market or something).

This was a testing oversight, it will be in the smithy along with a pick axe.

2. With update 1.3 you no longer need to worry about feeding kids, they just grow up before their hp drop to 0. So you just need to go berserk on that "sexy time" ability to create an endless army of Young Lords since your trigger doesn't check for food limit at all. This way you can storm the map without actually building anything or gathering any resource.

children hp will be reduced with next update

3. I got so excited when I saw the "re-enabled xp-gain from combat". I thought "alright time to hunt the crap out of those wolfs!" but it turns out it only works at level 1. I don't know if that's intended or not. Also the wolf over hunt trigger is quite strange since even when I don't hunt wolfs at all they get extinct.

yea I dont know why thats happening with the xp, i'll have to look into it.
and lol the wolf extinction is on a timer, I will either give them life stages and they get offspring when they reach adulthood that way if you kill them all thats it, gone. Or I will make a kill count so that if you kill a certain number of them they will stop spawning. Suggestions?

4. Kids are always turning into Lords, never commoners. Also the Lady has the peasent sound set which is kind of funny.

commoners come from commoners not from the lord, although maybe i could make it so if commoner and noble mix they get commoner. The voice killed me also, will fix.

5. When units level up something strange happens to their mana, I'm not sure if it's reseting completely or what but the point is I played for around 1 hour and a half and couldn't get an old guy to build an academy.

hmmm, that has something to do with the built in level up for WCIII I will have to find a way around it.

6. Getting people inside houses or boats make them immortal since no hp or mana is lost there.

Thats one of the secrets its a house of immortality muahahaha, no not really, I will try to see if there is a way around that but might just end with not having boats and enterable houses then.

7. There's something strange with the Raw Meet item, sometimes it just dissapears. Happened twice, once when I dropped it for a momment and the other when I built a campfire nerby.

I made a trigger to clean up raw meat every 2 minutes I believe, to prevent cluttering and lagg when it is left unattended. Cooked meat will not disappear or you can store the raw in the tents/fire pit. I will add a trigger to warn users 15 seconds before this happens so you can store it if needed.

8. On a previous version, playing with the mage (the only immortal human character, since it can drain life to prevent dying from hunger and mana to prevent dying from mortality) I noticed that you added both abilities based on the same Hardcoded ability so the order strings got messed up and he would always cast Life Drain no matter what. The only way to use Mana Drain would be having Life Drain on cooldown first.

That mage character is no longer in game so dont worry about it.

Was the enginner removed from the game? So farms got removed too?

He was, but the academy now has an item that can build all the structures he did.

What's the point of that Computer base in that island to the south with two gold mines?

something to fight off if you want the gold mines.

Is there an end to the map? Because I killed that big Dreadlord on a previous version and nothing happended. Same thing with that big Cenarius fella.

the dread lord drops a special item and more content will be added in regards to the well the ghost protects. But no there really is no end, if played with other people you can keep building a story endlessly.


Thanks for the review man, most these things will be fixed today.

 

[Emisariusz]

I don't seem to be able to buy the advanced book from my academy or those stakes from my blacksmith. Everytime I try the "No valid patron nearby." appears and I can't really get it to work.

 

[Shotwells]

Looks cool

 

[Peaces]

I have some suggestions...
Could you make animals respawn or even able to create axes on smithys'

 

[rafa316]

I have some suggestions...
Could you make animals respawn or even able to create axes on smithys'

the wolfs respawn for a certain time, Im going to implement a breeding system for all animals on map. ill add axes to smithy sure, its already in market thou.

 

[crawlers]

I like the idea of the map but some things just make it unplayable for me.

Please reduce the grind in getting food, it doesnt last that long and with anything larger than a few people it becomes a nonstop grinding of creeps for food.

I suggest to make it last longer and have more charges (maybe heal a little less per second too)

I think the meat removal trigger is a bit overzealos and fires too often; clutter does not build up that quickly, please make it fire less often.

Also, how do you make farms? I never found out (maybe this is why i had so much trouble with food)


Putting people in "cold storage" in houses is pretty funny, I would like this "feature" to remain

Suggestion for the animal overhunting/etc:
a "buffer", where each time a creature of that type dies it decreases it by 1, gradualy increases to max again, and if it gets to 0, they stop respawning (migrate away from the area) untill buffer gets to max again (or some percent).

 

[rafa316]

I like the idea of the map but some things just make it unplayable for me.

Please reduce the grind in getting food, it doesnt last that long and with anything larger than a few people it becomes a nonstop grinding of creeps for food.

I suggest to make it last longer and have more charges (maybe heal a little less per second too)

I think the meat removal trigger is a bit overzealos and fires too often; clutter does not build up that quickly, please make it fire less often.

Also, how do you make farms? I never found out (maybe this is why i had so much trouble with food)


Putting people in "cold storage" in houses is pretty funny, I would like this "feature" to remain

Suggestion for the animal overhunting/etc:
a "buffer", where each time a creature of that type dies it decreases it by 1, gradualy increases to max again, and if it gets to 0, they stop respawning (migrate away from the area) untill buffer gets to max again (or some percent).

I have some big changes in mind.
Dealing with hunger will be easier.
I like the your creature respawn idea, I will add something similar.
In the mean time if you want to play with the current version the farms are buildable via advanced schematics which you buy from the academy.

 

[Emisariusz]

Hello again.
I tried the new version and could buy the stakes and the schematics, but the only thing I could build from the book was a shrine (there were 4 buildings, but clicking on any of them just made the shrine building thing).
Aside from that, the item that turns you into Caine can be replicated, if a non-hero unit uses it. The item will reappear after a while on the spot where your unit 'died'.
Okay, bugs done. Time for suggestions

Vampires:
-Make Caine appear for the player who used the item, instead of brown.
-Maybe make vamp's generation a passive ability. The higher its level, the higher the generation would be. I think you can use JASS to detect that and give abilities based on that. The 9th+ generations could have a separate Caitiff hero. (It might lessen the map's size, if there's a lot less heroes in it)
-Instead of having just feral vampires, make Forces of Evil have units based around the 'evil clans' from VtM. Tzimisce, Baali, Followers of Set and Lasombra seem to have potential here.

Garou:
-After some time, all NPC Garous will just starve to death. Make a migration event, after which they will disappear. After a few minutes another migration event to make them reappear.
-Make them be able to shapeshift into all 5 forms.
-Add female Garou and Metis, Lupus and Homid 'breeds'.

General:
-Make the AI stuff have events. Maybe give a chance to ally with the Empire or those Wildlings for certain benefits? Maybe even ally with Forces of Evil?

Well, regardless of what you add or remove, I like this map so far. Keep up the good work.

 

[rafa316]

Hello again.
I tried the new version and could buy the stakes and the schematics, but the only thing I could build from the book was a shrine (there were 4 buildings, but clicking on any of them just made the shrine building thing).
Aside from that, the item that turns you into Caine can be replicated, if a non-hero unit uses it. The item will reappear after a while on the spot where your unit 'died'.
Okay, bugs done. Time for suggestions

Let me look into this. :O

Vampires:
-Make Caine appear for the player who used the item, instead of brown.

I did this for roleplay purposes, so that player 1 could be a sort of game master and play as two factions. I plan on making it difficult to become Caine, so maybe ill make it so he belongs to that player.

-Maybe make vamp's generation a passive ability. The higher its level, the higher the generation would be. I think you can use JASS to detect that and give abilities based on that. The 9th+ generations could have a separate Caitiff hero. (It might lessen the map's size, if there's a lot less heroes in it)

I really like this idea, unfortunately school is keeping me busy with other programing languages and I have yet to get around to learning JASS

-Instead of having just feral vampires, make Forces of Evil have units based around the 'evil clans' from VtM. Tzimisce, Baali, Followers of Set and Lasombra seem to have potential here.

A fellow VtM fan I see I certainly plan on adding this, I just want to work on werewolves a bit more before adding these clans.

Garou:
-After some time, all NPC Garous will just starve to death. Make a migration event, after which they will disappear. After a few minutes another migration event to make them reappear.
-Make them be able to shapeshift into all 5 forms.
-Add female Garou and Metis, Lupus and Homid 'breeds'.

This is all in the works too

General:
-Make the AI stuff have events. Maybe give a chance to ally with the Empire or those Wildlings for certain benefits? Maybe even ally with Forces of Evil?

Well, regardless of what you add or remove, I like this map so far. Keep up the good work.

Interesting suggestions, I hadn't thought of that. I plan on making it so that the aging and hunger is slower.

 

[crawlers]

The advanced blueprints seems broken; it just seems to make shrines for free but not any other building.

Edit, also, vamps have rediculously high blood demands at low levels (they need spend around a third to half of thier time feeding) but they seem to not need to feed upon blood ever if they only remain on blight (they can just fall into and get out of topor untill they are high level).

 

[rafa316]

The advanced blueprints seems broken; it just seems to make shrines for free but not any other building.

Edit, also, vamps have rediculously high blood demands at low levels (they need spend around a third to half of thier time feeding) but they seem to not need to feed upon blood ever if they only remain on blight (they can just fall into and get out of topor untill they are high level).

first issue is fixed, just need to update new version.
High blood demand at first is on purpose, since fledglings need to feed more often. Blight glitch is fixed also, just need to update new version here.

 

[Strenon]

Well I don't know if I'm doing anything wrong, but the moment I drink the stuff that turns you into Caine, he instantaneously "dies"

 

[Emisariusz]

Maybe you had your char drink it during day? If so, then daylight kind of knocks the vampires out in this map.

 

[Strenon]

Thanks, also, how do you create another generation. I mean you get Caine, but then what?

 

[Emisariusz]

You need to use the 'give blood' ability on one of your units that has very low health. I think 20 hp will do the trick.

 

[IsaiahEsquivel]

same Q. okay so Getting Caine is great in all but how do I stabilize his mana...it drains so rapidly and I have no clue what to do about it. Also his mana is basically his health and i don't know what to supply him to make it go back up and every time it drains he dies. I figured out keeping him on blight brings him back rather than him being dead forever and his corpse never rotting. I don't know how to continue his generation either. I cant find any button that says 'give blood' unless its deep with in the levels in which case I cant keep him alive long enough to get that ability.. how do I go about all of this???

 

[rafa316]

Hey man, been out of the scene for a while since I lost all my data and originals of this map, i'm starting over again. Yes to get his mana back up he needs to feed from other units, the "mana" consumption changes depending on the level of the feed ability I believe, I cant remember exactly but it does slow down as you level up and are no longer a fledgling. In terms of further generations, you just have to reduce a units health to below 20 then feed them cains blood and they will turn into a vampire. I wish I could recover the work I had done up to this point but alas. will take some time to get back to event his point again.