Inner City

Moderator · Jul 3, 2015

01:42, 4th Jul 2015
Shadow Fury: A very good melee map adapted for epic 6v6 clashes. The item drops are mostly appropriate, the terrain looks attractive enough and the gameplay can be really challenging. For those reasons, the map is approved with a rating of 4/5.

Shadow Fury · Jul 4, 2015

TERRAIN

The terrain was generally mediocre. The tile variation was used quite efficiently and some zones really look great because of the variety of tiles but some areas could really use of different/more tiles. I'd suggest letting the starting locations and the inner expansion gold mines be made of Dirt, Rough Dirt and Grass instead of Grass Trim and Round Marbles which actually give a monotonous and dull feeling in that context. For the rest, the tiles are fine. Let's talk about doodads now. As the tiles, they were utilized pretty well yet some places can be enhanced. A lot of areas consist merely of trees so I'd recommend placing some flowers and shrubs around them. Only trees just look repetitive. However, the city itself is definitely awesome and well-decorated, great job for that!

CREEP CAMPS AND ITEM DROPS

I'll tell you now, this is where there are some of the crucial issues. Some creep camps are just too overpowered even if there are 12 players. The central camp has a summed level of 48 with six powerful red dragons which are really tough to kill. Another absurd creep camp is the one of the demons guarding the Fountain of Mana at the left (total level 35). The Deceivers can curse my whole army, the Doom Guard can prosper with all his spells and the Heretic can spam Carrion Swarm because of that fountain. That creep camp is just insane. Furthermore, your item drops are quite peculiar because they have a percentage change of dropping nothing, which is wrong. Let's retake the central creep camp of total level 48. The three level 10 dragons have two item sets each with a 70% chance to drop an item and 30% chance to drop nothing. Well, nobody would like to tackle those dragons if not for a 100% guaranteed reward. It is a very tough creep camp which would not be worth combating if not for a great treasure. Same thing goes to the other creep camps with these erroneous probabilities because they may also cause some unbalances. Some players can be lucky enough to find the big booty while others would receive nothing but some wounds to heal (and if we talk about high-levelled items, it's really critical). Unfair, isn't it? Another point on item drops is that they are too strong. If you have a creep of level 5, don't give it a level 5 item. Ironic, but you have to give it an item of 1 to 3 levels lower for proper balance. Additionally, I checked out the Item Tables and I found something weird about them. Lvl 7, for example, has a 50% to drop a level 7 item and a 50% chance to drop a damn level 2 Power Up. How can you even match these items? If you get the level 7 item, it's 100 times better than the level 2 Power Up. I'd strongly recommend setting the levels of the items such that they don't have too large differences between one another.

LAYOUT OF THE MAP

Here lies the gravest of all issues. The map is extremely restricted and too tiny to support 12 players, not even 2 players... The pathways themselves do not even allow my army to move properly and the excessive use of cliffs really cuts down heavily the playable area. Some parts are so restricted that a few troops can scarcely pass successfully. Even the way you put the fences limit the playable zone. Venturing in the city would only ensure a boring battle, especially if it's a 6vs6. Players would get blocked by other players, the armies cannot clash completely; it would be a one by one. A soldier dies, the other takes his place. Repeat this operation for the remaining 11 players and it will be a catastrophe. What are even more catastrophic are the islands with the gold mines. I tried to put a Town Hall to each and the only way I managed to put them causes the way to be blocked. To be concise, peasants are stuck at the gold mine with no escape. I cannot even build other structures due to the extremely minute area. I'd suggest removing the gold mines and putting stronger creeps.

OVERALL RESULT

In conclusion, the map needs much more work and efforts. It has some potential therefore I shall give a 3/5 but set it to needs fix.

GoldDannsp · Jul 4, 2015

Okay, tried my best to fix the issues, hope you like it, also added credits

Arad MNK · Jul 6, 2015

The Map seems Cool, I'll check it out!

Sunreaver · Jul 6, 2015

Nice melee

Shadow Fury · Jul 6, 2015

The melee map improved a lot. However, the item drops are still too overpowered. Again there are creeps which drop items that are equal to their levels along with probabilities to drop nothing. In addition, the central creep camp is even more absurd now. How come all creeps drop an item? I don't even think it is a good idea to keep 6 red dragons like that. I suggest removing one Red Drake and one Red Dragon and limit the item drops to two only.
Fix the item drops and the map will be approved.

GoldDannsp · Jul 6, 2015

Map updated

Shadow Fury · Jul 7, 2015

Perfect! Map approved with a rating of 4/5. Excellent job.
Just those damn Bandit Lords that have a 50% to drop a level 7 or 8 item seem a bit fishy and overpowered; mind lowering the level of those items too?

GoldDannsp · Jul 7, 2015

I overlooked that camp when i was fixing it xD, done

Eagle XI · Jul 7, 2015

Gazing on the screenshot i can tell the map is asymetrical, the difference may appear insignificant to you yet do know that this creates inequality of opportunity in the long run, and being an high playercount map this is going to take long enough for it to get noticed.
If you wanted the map to be symetrical then actually do so.

Deleted member 238589 · Jul 7, 2015

This map still has a lot of problems. First of all, the item drops are chaotic. Not a single creep camp has fixed item classification, just the level. You can't have a creep dropping some campaign item or something that shouldn't be in melee.
Since I already started talking about the creep camps, you shouldn't place two creep camps too close to each other, to avoid them assisting each other while the player is farming.

Also, some of the expansion sites are still too restrictive and should definitely be expanded.
One of the roads is too tight and should also be expanded, as it restricts movement of the armies too much.

The last thing I'd like to point out is that you should never place creeps in front of the Tavern. The way from the tavern to the player's base should always be clear.

Aside from that, you did a pretty decent job. Keep it up.

Ujimasa Hojo · Jul 9, 2015

Imperator said:
One of the roads is too tight and should also be expanded, as it restricts movement of the armies too much.

Could serve as some strategic choke point actually. Imagine Mortar Teams/Demolishers/Meat Wagons raining death on entire armies.

Agree with everything else.

Remixer · Jul 11, 2015

All the screenshots look so flat!

Houston · Mar 15, 2016

Nice. I've played it with AMAI bots and it was ok. Vast and interesting map, played there several times

edwinELV · Apr 22, 2017

Nice job!

Jason Roman · Apr 3, 2019

I played this map twice in free for all and it crashed both times about 1 hour in, with much activity on screen. A shame because I love the map design. A tooltip in the Human Blacksmith also seems incomplete.

ToastedThirdyy · Dec 22, 2022

Made an account to comment, NOICE. First game on it went for 2hours and 30+ minutes, although lumber was pretty scarce at times was a totally fun map.

Inner City

Inner City (Map)

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