• 🏆 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!

Seven Forces vb6

This bundle is marked as useful / simple. Simplicity is bliss, low effort and/or may contain minor bugs.
Six Forces
Introducing a new altered melee map that takes out the original four races (HU, NE, UD, ORC) and replaces them with six custom made races with their own unique playstyles and techtrees. Race selection begins at the start of the game, and play begins when everyone has selected a race.

Each race only has three heroes. More heroes can be found at the tavern in the middle of the map which is the same that is used in normal melee.
The New Races:
1. The Cursed
"The souls of the deceased must wander the world to find the way to the afterlife; some never find it, becoming lost. The Cursed are made up of these lost souls. Doomed to never rest and to never feel, they simply exist in a tortured existence. The potential of these undead are not wasted though, as Spiritcallers and Mediums from the corners of the world make use of their foul magicks to bind these spirits to their will. With an army of the dead at their side, they threaten all life in the world."


Gameplay:

- The Cursed have two worker units: the Wanderer and the Lost. Wanderers may summon structures and harvest gold, and Lost can harvest lumber and turn into Pathfinders.

-
New resource: souls. A soul is gained every time a Lost is sacrifaced at a Lifetap. A soul is consumed each time a unit is trained as the Lost is forced to fight for their masters.

- All units, except the Wight Citadel, possess incredible health regeneration.


Early Defense:
Wanderers may be garrisoned inside a Tomb, letting them defend themselves from attackers while simultaneously protecting themselves from harm. Lost may be garrisoned inside Lifetaps, however they do not gain an attack.

True sight and invisible units:
- Pathfinders have True Sight, although they cannot attack. A Lost may be upgraded to a pathfinder after researching Beacon to the Lost from a Haunted Hold.

- Phantoms, the Cursed's supporting caster, can turn invisible using their ultimate ability Phantom Walk. While they are using Phantom Walk they become more vulnerable, so discretion is advised.

2. The Grey Guard
"Handpicked soldiers and brigands from across the world, the Grey Guard is the most sought after and successful mercenary group money can buy. While they were previously known as competent fighters, their reputation and infamy was reached during the Siege of Otega, where they successfully defended against three standing armies, aided only by a modest amount of city guards.
As a mercenary group, they frequently travel across the map. However, due to the sheer size of the Guard, they prefer to pitch their own tents and live like nomads than reside among towns during their travels. If one were to have the Grey Guards contracted against them, immediate surrender would be the wisest action."

Gameplay:
- Most Grey Guard units have 0 base armour, but make up for this with the shared ability United we Stand. When cast, United we Stand increases the armour of an allied non-hero unit for 12 seconds. Instead of having defense upgrades for both melee and ranged units, the Grey Guard instead upgrades the effect of United we Stand, causing all of their units to have a potentially equal amount of armour in a fight.

- As they are nomadic, some structures can "Pack Up" to turn into a mobile unit. This unit can use "Unpack" to quickly rebuild the structure in a different location. Ideal for moving across expansions or setting up foward bases for an attack.

- Virtually all of their combat units can be trained from the Foward Tent structure. The exceptions are: heroes, worker units, and flying units which have their own seperate building.

- Recruits harvest less lumber than the other races, but can be upgraded to harvest at a much faster rate later on.

- All their structures have a large amount of armour, but their armour type is medium.

- Cannot build farms. Instead, food is produced by Cattle which are fragile and slow units.

Early Defense:
Their worker unit, the Recruit, is a relatively strong in combat. They possess the United We Stand ability and a large amount of Recruits may find success against stopping - or even helping - rushes.

True sight and invisible units:
- The Sniper can be upgraded to see invisible units with the Excellent Perception upgrade.

- The Shadow Operative's Shadow Crow gains the true sight ability starting at level 2.

- Nighthands have permanent invisibility, even when attacking, and have a high damage output. However, they are fragile and cannot attack structures or air units.

3. Nature's Children
"According to myth, after Ceyla created the world she crafted the Ents to protect it from the Under Lords and the Elementals to help them. Ancient, and powerful, these steadfast guardians will not hesitate to fight against anybody that would threaten the goddess' realm."

Gameplay:
- Nature's Children have two workers: the Adaptive Elemental which harvests lumber and the Bounteous Elemental which harvests gold. Both workers can only harvest by casting the "gather" ability on a Nature's Blessing which will then generate their respective resource periodically at the expense of the Blessing's remaining gold.

- Basic combat units are created by the race's town hall, the Evertree, and are unlocked and upgraded by specific tech structures.


Early Defense:
The Evertree possesses a relatively decent attack against land units. If more defense is needed, though, the workers can be upgraded into a powerful ranged attacker to fight off against rushes.

True sight and invisible units:
- The Wise Willow's first ability, Place Watcher, puts down an invisible ward that can detect other invisible units. Also, the Wise Willow's third ability, Shelter, causes an allied unit to become invisible and gain health over time.

- Saplings can turn into an immobile and invisible tree with the Ceyla's Veil upgrade.

- An invisible Raccoon Scout can be purchased at a Druid's Den to keep track of the map.

4. The Forgotten
"Are they... chanting? No, they can't be. As part of his profession, Garrick had traveled to many lands and has learned even more tongues, but none of them sounded anything like the one his attackers were now speaking. Their words came out almost as growls with what Garrick could only think of as repressed screeches placed in awkwardly between words. Yet despite that, listening to them was oddly lulling. These savages must be pirates from overseas, he thought. But these men are strange, they attacked a caravan of scholars with little valuables. One of his ambushers removed the blinding mask that was placed on his face, and Garrick looked on with horror as he realised these were not pirates at all. They were fish, but with limbs and shapes like men. He was surrounded by others, purple skinned ones, who were jumping and singing in their surreal language. Directly ahead of him stood an orange skinned fish-man wearing some kind of skull mask over his long, misshapen head. Beside this one, was a stone illuminating an eerie green light with images quickly appearing and disappearing before one could make sense of any of them. Garrick tore his eyes away from the stone and searched for his companions, but couldn't see any signs of them. He raised his head to the sky and shouted out in desperation but the chorus around him drowned him completely. Then, lowering his head, he found the luminescent stone in front of him and found himself unable to tear his gaze away from what he saw. The images were now clear, and consistent but still Garrick could not comprehend it. He saw what was definitely alive but possessing the form and mass like nothing else. It had no skin and no scales, instead having exposed violet flesh that constantly twisted and unwound itself to wring out a vile gel that dripped down the being. Suddenly, a hole was ripped open from the thing to expose a large eye that stared at Garrick, and he could feel its intent. It was hungry, and he was food. The chants of the monsters around him grew louder and the scholar could feel himself being lifted up from the air by a force unseen and all powerful. The orange skinned fish man began to wave his arms in the air in an awkward and unnerving motion and the stone's light shined bright, almost blinding. Garrick struggled but was unable to move at all; he was completely at overpowered by this insane event. He tried to laugh, but not a sound could escape him as he was thrust through the flashing images in front of him - and Garrick was gone."


Gameplay:

- New resource: reverance. Reverance is gathered by Servants when they cast revere on the Broken God. It is consumed to build units, to build certain structures or cast certain abilities.

- The Broken God is a unique structure that cannot be built, but can be upgraded at the cost of Reverance. If the Broken God is killed, reverance cannot be gained or consumed. Scroll of Town Portal will only work on the Broken God but not on Forgotten Temples.

-Contains many powerful abilities to subvert enemy forces, including mana-breaking spells.

Early Defense:
While they don't have any early options to attack rushes, the Broken God can use a strong heal on surrounding allies at the cost of reverance, as well as dispel buffs or destroy summons.

True sight and invisible units:
- Basilisks have the Keen Perception ability, which allows them to see invisible units.

- Scrying Stones can cast scry which reveals a target area on the map and can detect invisible units.

- Winged Snakes can use the Hallow ability to turn invisible, but drains mana every second. Invisibility cannot be broken as long as Hallow is active.


5. The Under Lords
"Heralding from the realm known only as Pit, the Umbra Kin seek to expand into Ceyla's world and enslave or destroy all the lesser races in it. Using heretics and sycophants as their vanguard, the Under Lords seek to erect gateways and summoning cabals to be able to cross over and make the whole world brought to heel. If they are not stopped soon, they will succeed."

Gameplay:

- Structures demand lots of space and only train one unit type, forcing the player to pick carefully which buildings they need or risk leaving them exposed to raids.

- Both Heretics and Tricksters can erect structures.


- An Under Lord's army is small, but frightening. Units are very expensive and food-intensive but also very powerful.

- Gateways can transfer units between each other starting at tier 2.

- Only two units are available at tier 1.


Early Defense:

The Under lords have a very weak early game while they are unable to create cabals. Their only combat unit at the start is the Heretic; a frail and weak combat unit that can be upgraded at a Sanctum.

True sight and invisible units:

- The Heretic can be upgraded into a Forsaken Heretic to detect invisible units.

- The Under Lords do not have any invisible units.


6. The Crimson Tide
"Half-demon, half-man, The Crimson Tide marches in legion to claim the blood of their enemies to appease their god: a Blood Demon. If their own warriors are killed in battle or sacrificed for the glory of their god, they can be raised anew as skeletal warriors to continue on their red crusade. For their ruler will always desire blood, and the Crimson Tide will always deliver."


Gameplay:
- Very basic tech-tree. Runs much like a vanilla race.

- Possesses the only transport unit in the game: the Carrier.

- Risen units do not benefit from normal armour upgrades, but can have their armour upgraded by Ritualism at the Magi Hall.

Early Defense:
Weaklings can run to a Dwelling to become skeletal warriors and defend their base for a brief period of time.

True sight and invisible units:
- The Predator's ability, Summon Companion, summons a wolf that can detect invisible units.


7. Dusk Barons
"For centuries, the vampire lords known as the Dusk Barons have been expanding their influence across the lands. They use their thralls and slaves as fodder and food for their own luxury while they sit and wait for nightfall. And when the night does come, they begin their search for a fresh meal."


Gameplay:

- Can only regenerate during night time, but most units can be upgraded to learn Feast which allows them to recover life by eating corpses.

- Only Witchcarts can mine gold, and only one Witchcart may be trained per town hall.

- Bloodfarms periodically produce and store corpses, and do so faster during the night.

- Some units are more effective during the night than the day. For example, the Dusk Barons' ultimate unit, the Perfect Gargoyle, can only be active during the night and turns into an immobile form during the day.

- Very straight-foward techtree.


True sight and invisible units
- Dukes can turn invisible using Shroud. However, they can only cast this ability during the night.

- Stalkers are fast and invisible units that also have true sight. Excellent for scouting or guiding armies.


Early Defense
Witchcarts can be "activated" by loading a Moroi. When activated, they gain the ability to attack enemies.

The map used is Siberian Wilderness, created by SWAGSCALIBUR and used without permission.
Contents

Seven Forces vb7 (Map)

Reviews
deepstrasz
Looks like there are some credits to be given: Resources in Use by Seven Forces vb6 | HIVE Generally, nice ideas. Needs more thought and less Warcraft III material. Could try some custom spells: Spells | HIVE and custom resources in general: icons...
deepstrasz
Not sure if that's balanced. I mean in the original game and with some factions in your map, you can start over with somewhere else with every race, not here though. For one. I had two gates built at the time. Aesthetically, only. Maybe you could...
Level 7
Joined
Mar 19, 2019
Messages
18
I hope you like my map, because that is a very creative and interesting way of using it. Not the way I hoped to inspire people for their own work, but it's a nice surprise! Keep up the good work! With your edit, this map might even be more awesome by using its full potential!
 
Last edited:

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 68
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,706
Looks like there are some credits to be given: Resources in Use by Seven Forces vb6 | HIVE

  1. Some descriptions could really use more details like damage and stuff instead of "allows the obelisk to attack."
  2. The Obelisk has an "invisible" selection circle.
  3. You don't actually need souls to train units if you click a third time. Also, this seems a bit radical, to train a unit, then consume it to be able to train another.
  4. The race selector should appear where the player base appears.
  5. Heroes should have glow. You can simply add it: How to add Hero Glow without Modeling
  6. Orb of Rot=Orb of Slow. No difference except for the icon and name.
  7. Scroll of Necros=Scroll of Regeneration. Be more creative.
  8. You could make a leaderboard with the souls for easier view.
  9. Death Aura's deactivate icon is different and looks passive. It's the same as Mystic Strike's and this ability research's icon also looks passive. You can make them look active/proper with this: Button Manager v1.8.2
  10. Abolish Magic? Well, nothing original or creative about that.
  11. Break doesn't do anything.
  12. The problem with ghosts flying is that they don't change flying height which means they are hard to target when going through doodads/things.
  13. Dark Spire can't be built anymore if you upgrade the hold. Can't train Raise Vessel anymore either.
  14. Dark Thirst and Share the Pain have the same icon.
  15. I suggest QWERTY style ability hotkeys for faster gameplay and casting. Memorizing letters is useless.
  16. Summon Wraith's icon=Rampage's.
  17. Rampage is not autocast. You should base the spell on Frenzy instead. Its cooldown is too quick.
  18. Dispirit same icon as Orb of Rot.
  19. It's redundant to have the Divided We Fall ability since all units have 0 initial armour anyway. This seems like a weak faction considering the time they need to waste on casting armour buffs. Well, at least they have permanent invisible units and that Wallbreaker. And the Basher. Some units seem to have too much damage compared to how much food they take but yes, they don't have so much HP or armour.
  20. Spikes deal how much damage?
  21. Wrecker's icon=Divided We Fall.
  22. Weird that a campfire can provide such long distance visibility.
  23. Sorcerers don't have the Divided We Fall passive ability.
  24. Adjust Altitude shouldn't cost mana but only have cooldown.
  25. Got a crash when clicking the Nature Children mine. After restarting the game and trying again, the mine was not "corrupted" anymore and without doing anything quickly got a crash.
  26. Why does the Servant have mana?
  27. Sacrifice Research has a passive icon.
  28. Reverence should appear in a leaderboard for easier following.
  29. Upgrading to Awakened Serpent Shrine doesn't take any mana points from the main building. It takes from the revering Servants?
  30. Why is the Catcher named so?
  31. Brine=Web.
  32. Eye of the Ancient One's icon=Rampage's. Same with Whisper of Madness. I mean, there are a multitude of icons in the game and even more so on the site.
  33. Abyssal Blessing's icon=Activated Blessed Madness'.
  34. Rough Skin research has a passive icon.
  35. Evolve into Executioner says -20 gold. I mean since it's a price anyway, why the minus sign?
  36. The map seems to be lagging. You may have leaks that need fixing. Things That Leak
  37. Why place Terrortide on the second row and not the first if it's the only unit in there?
  38. What happens if the god building is destroyed?
  39. Saboteur's icon=Divided We Fall's.
  40. Arcane Touch's icon=god building's ability.
  41. Shrine of the Underlord's icon=Orb of Rot's.
  42. Pillars have the obelisk icon.
  43. Once you use a gate, you can't transfer anymore.
  44. All unit training buildings look alike and they take a lot of space, not to mention cost and time to build. Microing them is a pain.
  45. Expunge and Explosive Blow have the same icon.
  46. This faction seems rushed, not really playable. Units don't have roles, they're pretty much the same thing but stronger taking more food.
  47. Tyrant's spell has an icon that many other spells have. Also, the unit uses a hero model which not only has glow but will leave the body on the ground for a long time.
  48. Remove Skeletal Shell doesn't work because it says it can't find any Dwellings.
  49. Hero positions in the "altar" are not typical to three. Some factions have them one after another while this one has one above, one below and one after the one below.
  50. Orb of Chaos=Orb of Corruption.
  51. Flex's icon is a joke.
  52. Maim doesn't exactly say what it does. No values.
  53. Searing Blade's buff is Slow Poison, icon and all. Also, this spell's icon=Greater Cleaving's.
  54. Heightened Resistance's icon=some other spell.
  55. The Market has no orb.
  56. Feast=Cannibalize.
  57. Tear's icon=Maim's.
  58. Shroud's icon=Ghost ability's. Many units seem to have a Wind Walk based ability.
  59. Cultivation seems like a useless spell especially when it requires master training.
  60. Satisfactory Accomodations has the icon of Expunge.
  61. Daylight Aversion should have a passive icon.
  62. Gods and myths, how did you place so many regions? Is it a protection thing?

Generally, nice ideas. Needs more thought and less Warcraft III material. Could try some custom spells: Spells | HIVE and custom resources in general: icons, models etc.

Awaiting Update.


If you want more reviews, you should participate in the The Grand Review Exchange!

R U L E S

Site Rules
Map Submission Rules


M A P - D E S C R I P T I O N
BB CODES
BB Codes | HIVE

MELEE MAPS
Description Guide - Melee Maps
Describing Your Melee Map
Melee Map Description Generator v1.3


MAPS IN GENERAL
The importance of a Description
Description Guide - Maps
Map Thread Guide
Map Description Making: Good & Bad
Map Description - Templates
Map Description Generator [1.2]

How to Add a Screenshot to your Map Description


ADDITIONAL NECESSARY INFORMATION
  • A credits list in the map thread description is required where the names of the resource (models, skins, icons, spells, sound etc.) authors are mentioned along with the specific resource. It would be a luxury to have links leading to the used resources. Credits in the Quest Log would be appreciated too.
  • A detailed changelog in the first post would be helpful to reviewers and notify fans about the newest implementations to your map.
  • Map thread tags are important. Please use those that fit and not more or none.

If you're not satisfied with the review and wish another opinion, contact the other reviewers or use the staff contact:
Paillan
twojstaryjakcie
Daffa the Mage
https://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/staff-contact.692/
 
Level 14
Joined
Jul 3, 2015
Messages
61
I've updated the map to give credits to both infrenus' and AndrewOverload's models in the quest log. If either of you are reading this, sorry for the oversight. ^^;

Other touches are below:

The Cursed

2. The Obelisk has an "invisible" selection circle.

Fixed.

3. You don't actually need souls to train units if you click a third time.

Fixed.

4. The race selector should appear where the player base appears.

This shouldn’t be a problem. Having all players select their races in the same area makes race selection feel more like selecting with a menu option.

5. Heroes should have glow. You can simply add it: How to add Hero Glow without Modeling

Added glows to all heroes using non-hero models.

6. Orb of Rot=Orb of Slow. + 7. Scroll of Necros=Scroll of Regeneration.

I changed both of the item's abilities a little.

9. Death Aura's deactivate icon is different and looks passive. It's the same as Mystic Strike's and this ability research's icon also looks passive. You can make them look active/proper with this: Button Manager v1.8.2

This was very helpful! But I don't want to go overboard with imports and custom buttons.

10. Abolish Magic? Well, nothing original or creative about that.

Removed Abolish Magic from Phantoms and replaced it with a new ability: Sever Binds. The new ability should help with the race's generally weak heals.

11. Break doesn't do anything.

Fixed.

12. The problem with ghosts flying is that they don't change flying height which means they are hard to target when going through doodads/things.

Hard to see, yes, but I want to refrain from giving them too much flying height as they are still treated as land units. It would be weird to see a flying unit be damaged by a grunt swinging at nothing.

13. Dark Spire can't be built anymore if you upgrade the hold. Can't train Raise Vessel anymore either.

Fixed.

Grey Guard
19. Some units seem to have too much damage compared to how much food they take but yes, they don't have so much HP or armour.

The Sorcerer has an ability to add to units’ health pool and United We Stand grants a very large amount of armour relative to the other races (assuming you upgrade it as you advance the tech-tree).


22. Weird that a campfire can provide such long distance visibility.

They double up as scouting structures that provide good vision of the map, especially during the night, at the cost of draining your lumber resource.

23. Sorcerers don't have the Divided We Fall passive ability.

Divided We Fall is used in tandem with United We Stand which is why neither Nighthands nor Sorceror’s have it.

Nature's Children

25. Got a crash when clicking the Nature Children mine. After restarting the game and trying again, the mine was not "corrupted" anymore and without doing anything quickly got a crash.

Fixed.

The Forgotten

26. Why does the Servant have mana?

Revere was based off siphon mana, which requires the caster to have mana. With the change to the Reverance mechanic, I have removed the mana from Servants.

27. Upgrading to Awakened Serpent Shrine doesn't take any mana points from the main building. It takes from the revering Servants?

Odd. That shouldn't happen anymore with the new Reverance system though.

36. The map seems to be lagging. You may have leaks that need fixing. Things That Leak

Not sure about leaks, but the map now has significantly less lag.

37. Why place Terrortide on the second row and not the first if it's the only unit in there?

Fixed.

38. What happens if the god building is destroyed?

If the God is destroyed, the Reverance resource cannot be gathered and the Forgotten player practically outright loses.

Under Lords

43. Once you use a gate, you can't transfer anymore

I can’t recreate this bug. Did using Transfer with one gate remove the ability for others too or just for itself?

44. All unit training buildings look alike and they take a lot of space, not to mention cost and time to build. Microing them is a pain.

I tried to resolve this issue by having them colour coded. :p I’ll see if I can grab some models from the hive.

47. Tyrant's spell has an icon that many other spells have. Also, the unit uses a hero model which not only has glow but will leave the body on the ground for a long time.

Fixed Tyrant’s corpse persisting instead of decaying. Is glow a problem?

Crimson Tide

48. Remove Skeletal Shell doesn't work because it says it can't find any Dwellings.

Fixed.

49. Hero positions in the "altar" are not typical to three. Some factions have them one after another while this one has one above, one below and one after the one below.

Fixed.

50. Orb of Chaos=Orb of Corruption.

Changed Orb of Chaos' effect a little.

51. Flex's icon is a joke.

The spell itself was supposed to be a little humorous, but I guess Sammy’s face is too much. I swapped it out for something more suitable.

52. Searing Blade's buff is Slow Poison, icon and all.

Replaced the Slow Poison buff.

Dusk Barons

54. The Market has no orb.

Fixed.

57. Shroud's icon=Ghost ability's. Many units seem to have a Wind Walk based ability.

The invisible units were added to make gameplay more dynamic, and each one for the races (Nighthands, Saplings, Dukes, Phantoms, Winged Snakes) have varied ways of becoming invisible.

58. Cultivation seems like a useless spell especially when it requires master training.

Bloodpets are a sort of disposable support unit. After a single cast of Dark Destiny, they most likely won’t have the health to effectively cast it again. So after just one spell they only take up food and are easy to kill for experience. That would make them a pretty useless unit, but using Cultivation after Dark Destiny prevents that.

General

I swapped out some icons and messed with the Shadow Daemon's button manager for some others (such as turning Daylight Aversion into a passive icon). The icons are separated in each individual race's categories such as items/spells/units so there should be no confusion. Frenzy and Vex shared the same icon, but I've swapped out the icon for Frenzy.

I've added more values to various tooltips as well.

61. Gods and myths, how did you place so many regions? Is it a protection thing?

It's purely for flavour.
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 68
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,706
If the God is destroyed, the Reverance resource cannot be gathered and the Forgotten player practically outright loses.
Not sure if that's balanced. I mean in the original game and with some factions in your map, you can start over with somewhere else with every race, not here though.
I can’t recreate this bug. Did using Transfer with one gate remove the ability for others too or just for itself?
For one. I had two gates built at the time.
Is glow a problem?
Aesthetically, only.
Bloodpets are a sort of disposable support unit.
Maybe you could make that spell also work on other player owned units so that liberating food slots would be useful and the player might also get some resources back.
t's purely for flavour.
So it is, because I can't open it in the editor for further testing.


EDIT:
  1. The problem with the Nature Children is that they convert gold to lumber which means they'll consume their mines much faster than anyone thus having less gold and lumber than any other faction.
  2. Lumber and gold floating texts should appear when the elemental finish a channel cycle like the acolytes and wisps.
  3. Altar of the Forest: there's a space between the first and the second hero icon positions.
  4. Only one unit for tier 1!? You're forced to upgrade the main building fast.
  5. Game crashed when pressing the greater elemental ability morph.
Awaiting Update.

(previous comments: Seven Forces vb6)
 
Last edited:
Top