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Aggressive Castle Defense 5

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Singleplayer. Long playing time.
This bundle contains 2 maps: Aggressive Castle defence 4 and 5. Below is the description of new one then description of the original one.

Aggressive Castle Defence 5

Large defense map, where your hero not only helps defending your bases but also scouts the map and disturbs the enemies, slowing down their development.
There are many ways to level enemy base, including direct attack, air strike request, nuke or sabotage. However the later you find such base, the harder target it is.
Each enemy factory will produce units for attack waves, so you should keep number and size of enemy bases small so your defense can handle their attacks.
You will control single hero (standard Mountain King), but there will be 4 other ai-controlled allied heroes helping you. Map is not focused on hero development.


Gameplay details:
Your ally starts with big bases, but cannot build any new buildings (only train units).
Enemy starts from single building but can build and extend it's bases. It pays for buildings, but units are trained for free (for each attack wave)
Player starts from single hero and needs to protect allied bases
Player wins the game when all enemy buildings are destroyed or on timeout (all attack waves).
Player loses the game soon when HQ (Castle) is destroyed.


How to win this game:
Succesful players takes adventage of that hints:
  • Scout the whole map frequently, searching for enemy bases
  • Destroy enemy mines and new bases quickly and let no worker escape
  • Enemy bases visited more often (or longer), gradually attract more allied heroes to it
  • Recall air strike for early enemy bases (any allied hero inside enemy base will recall air strike automatically)
  • Nuke mature enemy bases (gather 2+ heroes near such base to recall a nuke)
  • Use special weapons in the right time to cripple all big enemy bases. Special weapons can be used only once in game each
  • The enemy is more persistant than in previous maps, however it's possible to bias it's development so it'll grow unevenly and finally collapse internally
  • Destroy all enemy buildings or survive until end of last wave to win the game

How to lose this game:
Losers often follow this pattern:
  • Spend too much time in single region of the map
  • Ignore some locations where enemy may develop for too long
  • Let enemy patrol forces move around the map unpunished
  • Stay away from bigger enemy bases
  • Avoid all places that are not safe for your hero
  • Let your secondary bases burn down after succesful enemy strikes
  • Keep your hero in or close to main base, helping in defense against almost every enemy wave
  • Don't use special weapons until it's too late or use them unefficiently, in a wrong time
  • Ignore heat gauges, making enemy warriors pissed off
  • Let enemy units outnumber your defense and destroy some production buildings
  • Watch your main base burn down and collapse under endless stream of enemy forces
  • When your castle is destroyed, the game is over soon.

Features:
  • Big and complex main base + 4 smaller bases to defend
  • All buildings destructible, affecting production speed and skills of defense units, coordination, cooling and more
  • Attack wave sizes depends on state of enemy development, which player can disrupt in several ways
  • High focus on scouting the map and searching for troubles
  • Five types of enemy bases: undead (defensive), human (basic offence units), orcs, night elves (ultimate offence units) and naga (heroes)
  • Random enemy base types, locations (independent from gold mines), attack targets
  • Multiboard showing number (12) of information about game status, including global heat indicators
  • Excessive heat level can make all enemy patrol forces join next attack wave
  • Fire spread system - heavily damaged allied buildings will burn down and damage nearby buildings and units
  • Dynamic hero inventory - extra items found by allied heroes are moved to base and then to the player when needed
  • Air strikes, nukes and special weapons - for use on various sizes of enemy bases
  • Last strike attack for finishing almost-done enemy
  • AI-controlled allied heroes - helps in map exploration, defense and attacks
  • Custom enemy AI, that can controll and develop several large bases and use number of gold mines
  • 3 Configurable difficulty parameters (waves size, gold in mines, number of waves)
Others:
  • Occasionally enemy base may partly collapse if it's built too ugly
  • Enemy is restricted not to train new workers in base that's under attack
  • Enemy patrol forces, if enough in number, may focus on single hero giving it little chance to escape
  • Enemy building requirements are local to each of it's bases -> enemy bases are mostly independent on each other
  • Level of enemy heroes depends on number of coral beds in naga base; unlike user hero, enemy heroes can exceed level 10
  • Enemy can have only one naga base, which will explode when destroyed
  • Use your hero to repair damaged ally buildings (get close to such building to start repairs)

Beginning:
  • Enemy starts with 12 destroyers for early defense, which will expire after 6 minutes
  • Player starts with summoned unit for early map exploration (5 minutes). Heroes will be available from 6th minute of the game.
Recommended configuration:
At the beginning of the game you need to select:
  • wave size - 65% recommended, the bigger the number, the more enemies will be in attack wave from the same enemy factories on map
  • gold in mines - 100% recommended - gold on map may end near the end of waves
  • number of waves - select full for full-featured map and try to survive or select shorter waves list and try to protect as many bases as you can
  • enter resize N to adjust scale of multiboard to your screen resolution, for example resize 135
  • optional "no hero" command at the beginning - for 0 players (observer) mode.

Aggressive Castle Defence 4

Large defense map, where your hero not only helps defending your bases but also scouts the map and disturbs the enemies, slowing down their development. There are many ways to level enemy base, including direct attack, air strike request or nuke. However the later you find such base, the harder target it is.
Each enemy factory will produce units for attack waves, so you should keep number and size of enemy bases small so your defense can handle their attacks. You will control single hero, but there will be 2 other AI-controlled allied heroes helping you. Map is not focused on hero development.



Gameplay details:
Your ally starts with big base, but cannot build any new buildings nor repair existing ones (units are trained automatically). Enemy starts from single worker but can build and extend it's bases. It pays for buildings, but units are trained for free (for each attack wave). One more enemy has 12 bases with graveyard and towers but cannot build anymore.
Player commands single hero and needs to protect allied base (temporary hero for scouting only for first few minutes)
Player wins the game when all enemy buildings are destroyed or on timeout (all attack waves).
Player loses the game when HQ (Fortress) is destroyed.


How to win this game (defencive approach):
  • When done properly, it prevents enemy for building a large army, but it may take more time to win the game
  • Scout the whole map frequently, searching for enemy bases
  • Destroy enemy mines and new bases quickly and let no worker escape
  • Ignore graveyards and it's towers
  • Recall air strike for early enemy bases (use Report ability when your hero is nearby)
  • Nuke mature enemy bases (use nuke ability of your hero on nearby unit and wait a few seconds)
  • Gold on map is limited, it's easier to wipe out enemy when most of the gold mines are depleted
  • Destroy all enemy buildings or survive until end of last wave to win the game
  • If it's not challenging enough, try surviving with as little buildings left as possible
How to win this game (offensive approach):
  • This allows for defeating the enemy in more predictible time, but if done too slow if may become too strong for your defence
  • Kill 4 creeps camps near main base to get some useful items
  • Find and destroy 12 randomly placed graveyards and it's towers to get powerups and a bonus ability
  • From this point, enemy will not build new bases, but it can extend existing ones
  • Find and destroy all enemy bases, starting from the weakest
  • Use airstrikes and ignite nearby forests to damage enemy bases, spare nuke for last ones
  • If it's not challenging enough, try surviving with as many buildings left as possible
Features:
  • Complex main base + 4 tiny bases to defend
  • All buildings destructible, including factories, altars, fountains and towers
  • Attack wave sizes depends on state of enemy development, which player can disrupt in several ways
  • High focus on scouting the map and searching for troubles
  • Multiboard showing more information about your base status and enemy unit counts
  • Air strikes and nukes - for use on enemy bases
  • Last strike attack - for finishing almost-done enemy
  • AI-controlled allied heroes - helps in map exploration, defense and attacks
  • Custom enemy AI, that can control and develop a few bases and use number of gold
  • 12 initial static enemy bases to destroy for bonuses
  • Ignite ability that can burn whole forest, leaving enemy without lumber - bonus for destroying all above static bases
  • Creeps occasionally randomly appear on map
  • Enemy buildings drops items - mines more powerful for advanced buildings
  • Configurable difficulty level

Others:
  • Enemy bases can be built anywhere, they don't need to be close to the gold mines
  • Enemy is restricted not to train new workers in base that's under attack
  • Enemy building requirements are local to each of it's bases, so enemy bases are independent on each other
  • Terrain may slowly change over time (bumps, tiles)
  • When calling air strike, only dedicated assault force will go to the attack, defence units will still stay to protect the base
  • Last strike feature can be used after hero achieve level 10 (Use "rush" command). It makes all allied units search for enemy and then move back to the hero to deal final strike. However it should not be used until enemy is almost done - as it will leave your base without defence for some time

Beginning:
  • Enemy starts with 12 destroyers for early defence, which will expire after 5 minutes
  • Player starts with summoned unit for early map exploration (4 minutes). Heroes will be available soon after that unit expires

Recommended configuration:
At the beginning of the game you need to select:
  • difficulty level - normal difficult level is recommended for first play (above normal for experienced players)
  • enter resize N to adjust scale of multiboard to your resolution, for example "resize 135"
  • optional "no hero" command at the beginning - for 0 players (observer) mode.
Changelog:
  • Version 1.1:
    • Added observation ward ability to early hero replacement (first 5 minutes)
    • Added gold and lumber bonus for killing enemy units and buildings
    • Added last strike feature - to help find last enemy survivors
    • Minor difficulty adjustment: (50, 70, 75, 80) -> (55, 65, 75, 85)
  • Version 1.2:
    • Added console commands to quest log
    • Added more starting gold for the enemy
  • Version 1.3:
    • Fixed a bug causing enemy to stop developing after some time
    • Added random spawn of hostile creeps every few minutes
    • Changed items in shops
    • Advanced enemy buildings drops powerful items on death
    • Many minor terrain changes
    • Changed minimum levels for hero abilities from 1/1/1/6 to 2/1/2/7
  • Version 1.4:
    • Added 12 static skeleton-summoning graveyards (with towers) to make the map less empty at the beginning
    • Bonus ability for destroying all above graveyards - allows to burn whole forest tree by tree, damaging nearby units and buildings
    • Bats are now visible on minimap as they move toward requested position
    • Added some permament items to shops
    • Removed some obsolete buildings and obsolete items from Arcane Vaults
    • Fixed green player name
    • Misha now follows Rexxar
    • Fixed nuclear strike ability; added error message explaining why it has failed
    • Fixed creeps spawning so they won't spawn between trees
    • Minor terrain changes
  • Version 1.5 (Current):
    • Added a new map: Aggressive Castle Defense 5 to this bundle
No credits - no external resources used.
Map is protected.
Contents

Aggressive Castle Defense 4 (Map)

Aggressive Castle Defense 5 (Map)

Reviews
deepstrasz
Generally, this map needs a lot more stuff going on, maybe even a mltiplayer version to spice things up. The AI stuff is the main ace of the whole thing, the rest is more on the work in progress side. It's more of a borderline substandard piece...

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 68
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,706
  1. How to place the camera back up?
  2. Where do you get gold from to buy items?
  3. Only the Troll Bat Riders come when I either use the Report ability or write attack. The rest are just circling around the main building.
  4. The hero should not be available anymore after summoning.
  5. Any way to upgrade your troops?

The map is pretty much the same as the one before it, the difference being two allied heroes who are moving around. The 5 first mins of the game are still dead.

Awaiting Update.


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If you're not satisfied with the review and wish another opinion, contact the other reviewers or use the staff contact:
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Level 6
Joined
Nov 9, 2011
Messages
33
Thank you deepstrasz for review:

1. How to place the camera back up?

Use "h800" console command (added info at the beginning of the game)

2. Where do you get gold from to buy items?

I've added gold and lumber bonus for killing enemy units. Lumber is only for some higher units.

3. Only the Troll Bat Riders come when I either use the Report ability or write attack. The rest are just circling around the main building.


Offence and defence units are separated - there are up to 12 bat riders for attack (you can see green percentage on the multiboard showing how many of them are ready)
Defence units stays to protect the base. Try to level enemy base early enough, so that 12 bat riders will be enough for that.
If that fails, use nuke ability to deal with mature enemy base. You can also wait until enemy will consume most of the gold on map so it won't rebuild destroyed buildings.


I've added "rush" command that engages all allied units, leaving base unprotected for some time. It requires 10 hero level as it would be too easy to use it earlier.


4. The hero should not be available any more after summoning.


I don't know why it stays here (I'm using "limit hero to 1 per hero type" action from melee game), however
now you won't be able to train 2nd hero.

5. Any way to upgrade your troops?

No, in this map you start with fully develop base that only can get damaged and your enemy will get stronger - until most of the gold will be depleted on map, then it will be easier to destroy it.

The map is pretty much the same as the one before it, the difference being two allied heroes who are moving around. The 5 first mins of the game are still dead.

There are more enemy unit types (whole human tech tree + half elves), allied base is bigger and more complex, assault is separated from defence and you can use nukes.

Now trent (used for first 5 minutes instead hero) can summon sentry wards, which makes it very useful: place wards on map to discover where enemy is hiding while avoiding being spotted.

Please let me know if the first 5 minutes is ok now and what else should be fixed.
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 68
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,706
Use "h800" console command (added info at the beginning of the game)
Could be added in the quest log in case somebody forgets the exact wording. Same could be done for other things like the multiboard size chat command.

Where are those 100 enemy waves counted?
Would be nice for the player to have a wider range of heroes to choose from.

Tried it again, and chose normal this time, not easy and there was only one haunted gold mine and one Necropolis which didn't train any Acolytes.
 
Level 6
Joined
Nov 9, 2011
Messages
33
I've added console commands to the quest log, including one that describes items on the multiboard.
Waves are counted on the top-left corner of the multiboard.

I didn't plan to add more heroes nor custom abilities - map was not expected to focus on hero development (Please let me know how important it is - I may add some standard or slightly customized heroes if necessary).

Difficulty level affects size of attack waves, not much speed of enemy development (I've added small initial gold bonus for higher difficulties).
There may be little enemy buildings just after your primary hero is ready, but you still need some time to find them and level.
During this time enemy may build new bases and haunt more gold mines, first few waves are often small or empty, next ones are bigger.
Their bases should be strong enough to worry about before your hero reach level 10 - otherwise you can use rush ability to finish the enemy.

If you still find it too easy to wipe-out the enemy early on top difficulty level, please let me know and I'll try to adjust enemy development speed.
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 68
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,706
I just think it needs more variety. You can experiment with heroes, unit upgrades, items, enemy races/units, I don't know, neutral creeps, some randomization in what gold mine/creeps/shops/whatnot placement is concerned.
 
Level 12
Joined
Mar 4, 2014
Messages
204
Tested the map and here are my thoughts:

-why is this single player? the map is huge, i think it should be multiplayer.

-the map is also quite empty, needs to be more creeps and enemy bases/units all over the place!

-I like the idea with the bats, how you can call them for aid to destroy enemy bases! there is a small bug tho, when i tell the bats to come, the bats for some reason change teams from 1 to 10, and i cannot see them anymore on the minimap, when they get to their destination they change teams back to 1.

-there are constant fps drops, it happens after the 5 minutes of the game.(might be because of the enemy A.I? not sure)

-I like how the map looks, the middle of the map looks unique, with all the units going in a circle, like they are in a ritual hmm.

-All the shops seem to have only consumables and no permanent items, and all the items are too expensive, make them cost less or like i said put more creeps on the map so the player can get the gold, i only saw 4 creeps on the whole map, which is very strange.
And add permanent items to the shops, like boots of speed.
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 68
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,706
There are items in the Arcane Vault that cannot be accessed as they require a Castle.
The Taverns have heroes that cannot be hired.
The Mercenary Camps don't serve any purpose as there's no free food slots to hire any mercenaries.
The dark green player is named Gracz II.
Rexxar leaves Misha around far from where he wanders.
Nuclear Strike icon changes position in the learn ability menu as you learn the other spells.
Enemy units seem to appear out of nowhere, not being trained from buildings. A group of Riflemen just appeared and the enemy had only one Barracks.
Nuclear Strike's buff is called Soul Burn. The spell doesn't work. Nothing happens but a change of unit colour and the Soul Burn buff on that disappears after a while.
One creep spawned between trees and Cairne got blocked near the trees trying to reach it.
anima.png

It's still a wild goose chase that doesn't really make for a fun game but a tiresome one. You play a lot of time and little happens. 23 mins and just level 4.
 
Level 6
Joined
Nov 9, 2011
Messages
33
Thank you Blasterixx for your comments and review. I've added some initial enemy buildings (graveyards and towers) to make the map less empty at the beginning.
Graveyards spawns skeletons and leaves powerups when destroyed (+ powerful bonuses when all are destroyed).
I've updated map description to show alternate ways to win this game.

I've also added some permament items and made bats visible on the minimap. Unfortunately I couldn't fix FPS drops nor made map multiplayer.
There are only 4 initial creeps but more creeps will be spawned during the game.

Thank you deepstrasz for comments:
There are items in the Arcane Vault that cannot be accessed as they require a Castle.
The Taverns have heroes that cannot be hired.
The Mercenary Camps don't serve any purpose as there's no free food slots to hire any mercenaries.
The dark green player is named Gracz II.
Rexxar leaves Misha around far from where he wanders.
Nuclear Strike icon changes position in the learn ability menu as you learn the other spells.
Fixed / removed
Enemy units seem to appear out of nowhere, not being trained from buildings. A group of Riflemen just appeared and the enemy had only one Barracks.
Riflemans are trained only in Barracks (may be a bit faster but there is a limited number of unit trained from each barracks per wave).
However not all units goes to attack - some may stay in base and attack in the next wave.
Nuclear Strike's buff is called Soul Burn. The spell doesn't work. Nothing happens but a change of unit colour and the Soul Burn buff on that disappears after a while.
Nuclear strike requires a nuclear missile ready in the Castle (100% Castle's mana). I've added error messages explaining that missile is not ready yet.
When airstrike is ready, blue percentage on the multiboard shows nuke build progress.
Nuclear missile requires targeted unit to stay alive until missile arrives (about 20s). It's a bit difficult to use precisely, but very powerful.
One creep spawned between trees and Cairne got blocked near the trees trying to reach it.
Fixed.
It's still a wild goose chase that doesn't really make for a fun game but a tiresome one. You play a lot of time and little happens. 23 mins and just level 4.
For players that are tired chasing a wild goose, there's alternate way to done the enemy, by destroying all graveyards. However focusing on this goal instead of keeping main enemy at bay is risky - enemy may develop more powerfull assault forces over time, however it won't be able to build new bases after all graveyards are destroyed. Powerful powerups from destroyed graveyards will also make your hero somewhat stronger.
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 68
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,706
Generally, this map needs a lot more stuff going on, maybe even a mltiplayer version to spice things up.
The AI stuff is the main ace of the whole thing, the rest is more on the work in progress side.
It's more of a borderline substandard piece, however, it might prove fun to people and it has some innovative gameplay mechanics going on.

Approved.
 
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