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The Grand Citadel (Racial Issue 1.6)

Fight your way through the city ridden with racial conflicts and stop the Citadel Mages from taking control of your armies. To uphold command of your forces, you'll have to work together with your opponent and destroy the Grand Citadel before it's too late...


OVERVIEW
A Racial Issue is basically a melee-type map with a few tweaks. It can be played either as a 2v2 or FFA with unlocked teams, but in the end players will end up in a Free for All scenario, since in the game they will be portrayed as greedy generals who ultimately care only about themselves. Before you proceed to killing your opponents, however, you must get rid of the Citadel situated in the middle of the map or else the mages within it will seize control of everyone's forces, resulting in everybody losing. The only way of eradicating the structure is to kill the bosses located in the eastern and southern sides of the city. Once the Citadel falls, players turn against one another and eventually one of them defeats the rest and is granted the ultimate prize - victory.

The Bosses
The are four Bosses - two to the east and two to the west. Their souls sustain the massive Citadel which would otherwise collapse due to its ridiculous proportions. Each boss possesses unique and deadly abilities and drops powerful items needed to defeat the Citadel Mages and other players. It is advised to approach the bosses with an army able to take on a regular red camp with ease or with help of an ally. There are several runes scattered around the Citadel Guardians' locations containing information about the local boss.

Archbishop - located in the western human district, the cathedral's archbishop is protected by four Holy Knights. Though the priest himself is fragile and weak, his bodyguards are a force to be reckoned with. The best way to get rid of this boss is to nuke the Archbishop, take his item and escape before his honor guards unleash their wrath upon you. Is it inadvisable to kill the knights as the Archbishop's aura provides them with high health regeneration. After the boss dies, his former guardians become permanently immolated, dishing out even more damage than before.

• Elder Wildkin - inhabitant of the orc district, this formidable beast is able to call upon the forces of the moon to eradicate his enemies in a large area. The best way to kill him is to stun or silence him every time he is casting his ultimate ability or try to evade it.

• Arcane Guardian - an ancient wizard and the teacher of the Citadel Mages now inhabits the eastern human district. He spent centuries mastering illusion magic and is now able to create mirror images of himself that wield the same power as he does. The only way to distinguish him from his illusions is using dispels, so silencing him before he casts Mirror Image is the best option.

• Soul of the Forest - this embodiment of nature is located in the elven temple. It is said that when the Soul dies, so will the forest. As this boss regenerates its life very quickly and is immune to magic, nuking them is the only way to victory.

The Citadel Mages

The rulers of the Metropolis will be the fiercest foes you'll face during your conquest - they possess various destructive spells which will tear you to shreds if you aren't well equipped and don't have durable units. The best way to defeat them is to sneak up on them via Invisibility and silence them all at once. They'll still be able to dish out high amounts of damage ith their attacks, but the fight will become much easier to handle.

Warlock
Wielding powerful single-target, high-damage spells and an ability to summon an Infernal, Warlock is able to deliver death to any opponent who comes unprepared. Disabling and invulnerability potions will be necessary to avoid potential damage.

• Sorceress
Able to cast multiple area of effect spells, the Sorceress makes it necessary to disable her first if you bring along units with heavy armor or few hitpoints.

The Grandmaster

Most powerful of the trio, the Citadel's Grandmaster has access to most abilities of the previous Bosses which means he'll usually be the last mage standing. Every item and ability which disables or deals damage will prove invaluable during the fight with the Grandmaster.

The Metropolis
This city sports a wide range of enemies, varying from elven rogues and orc brutes to enormous beasts and ancient, powerful creatures. There is a heavily guarded gold mine in each of the ethnic gardens and four more in the gardens of the Citadel. Using all three heroes during the conquest is a viable decision since there are many neutral camps in the city granting lots of experience.
Citadel's Fall
When all the bosses are defeated or when the Citadel is somehow destroyed with brute force, three powerful mages will emerge from its ashes. They are no longer able to cast the mind control spell, but are yet to be killed. At that moment all players will turn against one other as the mages shall no longer pose any immeadiate threat and thus the game becomes a classic Free for All with an addition of powerful boss items.


The treasures of The Metropolis await you, warrior...

Changelog:

- updated tavern not offering all heroes
- increased main objective time from 20 minutes to 30 minutes
- added a few doodads in garden areas (near fountains) and edited terrain throughout the map
- secret merchant selling less common items is now available near green racial camps on either top or bottom part of the map
- made the city much more lively; the number of citizens on the streets greatly increased
- added towers around the Citadel
- fixed a few textbox and pathing issues
- Citadel Mages drop Chaos Orbs when killed; upon picking an orb, a hero turns into a powerful Avatar of Greed, retaining former levels and items, but changing abilities as well as increasing damage and health drastically
- Powerlust: Increases target unit's attack speed at the cost of life (a stronger version of Unholy Frenzy)
- Bloodwave: A stream of blood healing multiple targets (more powerful Healing Wave)
- Teleportation: Teleports a caster to an explored area after a short delay
- Blood Pact: Kills any unit or building and deals damage to caster equal to damage dealt; if the damage dealt to the caster is high enough to kill them, the target remains unharmed

REVAMPED:
- DIFFICULTY LEVELS (Normal, Hard and Godlike) which will allow the player to adjust the game's tempo to their own preferences (Normal difficulty has timer set on 30 minutes, all bosses remain unchanged, Hard grants 25 minutes to destroy the Citadel and makes bosses slightly more durable and Godlike gives only 20 minutes to kill the bosses, which deal much more damage and are very durable <killing bosses on Godlike difficulty will require buying specific items, powerful armies and cooperation of all players>
- FOUR METROPOLIS FACTIONS added (Metropolis Militia, University Wizards, Elvish Guardians and Orcish Sentinels); units from these factions are scattered across the map and are initially neutral, but when a player attacks them or neutral passive units corresponding the factions' races, they will retaliate
- added even more city inhabitants (some of them will give quests in the future)
- changed secret merchants' items; some of them will be very helpful in fighting the bosses (Sleeping Powder, Gem of Negation and Null Crystal)
- slightly nerfed Avatar of Greed so that it won't be able to single-handedly kill everything in its path
- heroes can now creep and gain experience even after level 5
- certain creep camps have been balanced
- more doodads added in order to make the city look prettier
- the University now offers Stone Token and Inferno Stone
- certain abilities of heroes buffed (Blademaster's illusions now deal minor damage, Paladin grants greater armor bonus, Mountain King's Thunder Clap deals more damage and has greater attack speed reduction and Far Seer's Chain Lightning has shorter cooldown with each level and Far Sight lasts longer and costs 50 mana at all times)
1.1:
- changed the camera angle of the Citadel's Fall as the previous one didn't really work (thanks to JesusHipster for pointing that out)
- Forest's Essence now makes the hero transparent and green, so that it's easier to see recognize which hero is Magic Immune
- added detailed in-game tips on how to fight the bosses efficiently
1.2:
- changed the icons and models of items dropped by the bosses and made them droppable on death (this includes Forest's Essence) so that the power struggle is more entertaining
- added special animations to all boss items, so that they're easy to spot on a hero
- the timer now stops at the exact moment when all the bosses die instead of having a delay
- added visible hotkeys to the Avatar of Greed
- changed the models of Night Elf Rogue and Assassin creeps to Sentries, so that they don't like like the Wardens controlled by the Elvish Sentinels
- modified the price of some items dropped by the Citadel Mages
- fixed position of the Spell Immunity granted by Sprit of the Forest; now it's always next to Hero Skills button
1.3:
- Night Elf Rogue and Assassin are now Satyrs instead with new custom models and fight in melee combat
- The starting Gold Mine only has 10000 gold now, the natural expansions in ethnic gardens yield 15000 gold and the gold mines in Citadel gardens contain 17500 gold; this way, players are rewarded for sacrificing their time and units in order to expand
- added two new items which are sold by the secret merchants - Throwing Knives (deals 100 damage upon use, 3 charges) and Scroll of Arcane Bolt (deals 250 damage and stuns for 3 seconds, one-time use)
- added Night Elf Villagers to the Night Elf District (new custom models)
- Removed units not supposed to be where they were (Medicine Men on the bottom part of the map)
- changed the terrain so that it's not so flat in the expansions
- fixed minor issues such as creeps not dropping right items
The Grandmaster Update (1.4):
- drastically changed the Citadel Mages; each mage is now a different unit with a different model and unique abilities; they are now the most powerful units in Metropolis
- added two new items which are dropped by Warlock and Sorceress - Doom Rod (doubles damage dealt by targeted abilities) and Fel Scepter (launches a Felball that deals 300 damage and additional 200 damage in a small area while stunning the target for 3 seconds; 15 second cooldown and 150 mana cost); these are items, just like Boss items, are dropped upon carrier's death
- fixed Blood Pact ability which now works with spell immunity and can't be cast on self (previously Avatar of Greed didn't lose hitpoints if it was spell immune (thanks to deepstrasz for pointing that out)
- improved animations and effects of several items and abilities such as the animation of Holy Tablet or Forest's Essence pickup effect
- changed icons of various spells and abilities, so that they are easier to recognize and look nicer
- fixed certain creep camps not behaving properly (Elvish Guardians attacking Furbolgs)
- sorted triggers into categories in order to allow easier editing and grant more information to the user
- changed colors of tooltip runes so that they look nicer and fit the theme of each region better
- minor terrain tweaks
1.5:
-
fixed a bug where whenever an illusion of the Grandmaster died, a notification of a completed quest appeared
- fixed a problem where the Avatar of Greed would shrink after consuming Forest's Essence
- fixed a problem where the Avatar of Greed would shrink after being revived
- added special effects and buffs to the bosses so that it's easier for players to see what they do without necessarily having to read detailed tips
- changed Arcane Guradians and Ageless Mirror's animation
1.6:
- the creeps at the Fountains now drop a random level 4 item
- changed icons for Throwing Knives and the Arcane Scroll
- changed the missile model of the Arcane Scroll
- fixed a problem where Orcish Sentinels would attack neutrals
- fixed a few text tweaks in Boss tips
- changed map name to The Grand Citadel as Racial Issue failed to depict the map's nature

Resources used:
D2SorceressV2 by: Apheraz Lucent
Female Satyr by: PROXY
Night Elf Villager by: Sin'dorei300

DarknessBomb by: nGy
BTNKnives by: -Berz
BTNLawOfBloodScroll by: PeeKay
Bloodelf Mage by: General Frank
Bloodelf Wizard by: General Frank
Ancient Explosion SFX by: WILL THE ALMIGHTY
DivineBarrier by: JesusHipster
GreatElderHydraAcidSpewV.153 by: kellym0
BTNINV_Wand_06 and BTNINV_Wand_04 by: Blizzard Entertainment
BTNPCIFireball by: Palaslayer
BTNFireStaff by: kola
BTNVortexOfUnreal by: JollyD
orb_big03 (Defensive Barrier)
by: EdwardSwolenToe



I'd be delighted to hear your opinions on my first Hive Workshop map and would greatly appreciate reports of any bugs or problems with the map!
Contents

The Grand Citadel aRI1.6 (Map)

Reviews
deepstrasz
Not all heroes are in the Tavern. Starting space is awfully small for building. Terrain could be of higher quality in some parts where doodads are scarce and tiles are only of few to one variations. I consider this a simple edit. Plus, the fact that...
deepstrasz
From a gameplay's perspective this is still difficult. Being time pressed, you have little space to build and scarce lumber (unless you're Night Elf, of course). Neutral units seem to be few for four players to gain proper experience. They are also...

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 68
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,706
Not all heroes are in the Tavern.
Starting space is awfully small for building.
Terrain could be of higher quality in some parts where doodads are scarce and tiles are only of few to one variations.

I consider this a simple edit. Plus, the fact that the players will have to battle one another after killing units on the map is not that fun. The challenge is not there from the start. There is no real championship. Players are forced to strictly do the objectives in an order else they fail.

Set to Substandard.

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Level 8
Joined
Feb 4, 2017
Messages
111
@deepstrasz Thank you for the review.
Firstly, Tavern has been updated. Not sure why there were heroes missing, but that's not a problem anymore.

Secondly, I removed some trees from the starting areas, but stopped at that, since I have a point in making the starting location of such size. It's small enough to prevent early pushes successfully, but also make turtling in your base and developing to tier 3 problematic. This means you are bound to take an expansion and become more dynamic in order to progress, which is probably for the better, since you have to be on the move anyway, creeping and killing bosses.

Thirdly, I added a small portion of doodads in the expansion region. It may seem a bit simplistic, but I think it feels more esthetic that way. Regions which require more doodads do have them, but I don't feel comfortable putting additional stuff where it doesn't seem necessary.

Finally, the gameplay issue. I understand you played the game from start to finish with three other players and didn't find the game challenging or fun. I'm not sure what the real problem was. I would be grateful if you could clarify that part. For now, I assume that you aren't satisfied with the necessity of killing the bosses first and I can see the problem here. I extended the timer to 30 minutes, which should be more than enough to end the game the traditional way, by simply eradicating your opponent - that way, the game will not be dragging for hours. There aren't many areas where you can construct you buildings, so finding the fleeing opponent is a matter of minutes. Of course, you may just dislike the whole concept from the start and I can respect that too, but that's the way I want this map to be - quick, intense and putting pressure on players.

Summing it all up, I'm thankful for the review - the map has been more or less fixed and right now I impatiently await your further opinion on the map (boss difficulty, item drop balance, tooltip quality, stuff like that).
 
Last edited:
Level 19
Joined
Jan 22, 2011
Messages
3,968
I'm calling the team for other opinions: @Paillan, @A Void, what's your take on this map?

Set to Pending.

I haven't looked at this map as I primarely focus on maps that can be dismissed withouth having to play them (I was alone and there were a lot of maps, so...).
I will check this as soon as I get to proper internet. Though I tell you now that gameplay alone (or mostly gameplay) is not enough reason to substandard a map (unless it's a bleak copy of something).
Also cheers to @twojstaryjakcie for such a nice and postive response. If only half of the authors were like you...
 
Level 19
Joined
Jan 22, 2011
Messages
3,968
My view so far:
I feel like there's a lot of empty space right now. It really feels like a ghost town of sorts more than a real town.
The fact that the races have nothing new makes this map just a melee with a timer and then back too melee.
Also, a lot of places are too square like. Add more terrain variation, and some more natural doodads in the natural sections.
Overall I think the areas that need more work are the areas of all the 4 bosses, the expansions both top and bot, and the middle of the map. Also, you speak of generals betraying their city, but I see no generals, I just see normal melee heros. Maybe you should also change that.
Maybe you should add more time as well.

That is all I can say for now. Awaiting update until you fix at least one of those things.
 
Last edited:
Level 8
Joined
Feb 4, 2017
Messages
111
@Paillan Thank you for the feedback!
The ghost town issue is probably fixed now - there are now plants and animals in the garden areas and the whole city has gained a considerable number of citizens. It should feel way more lively now.

As for the races having nothing new - I'm afraid the race editing wasn't the point of this map, but in order to make the races inhabiting the city a bit more interesting and enhance the gameplay value I added four secret shops located either above or below yout starting location. These offer six items, three of which are the same and other three depend on the region (orc merchant sells offensive items, night elf trader grants better survivability, high elf grants more magic-related options and the human one offers a diversity of products). I think it'll add some flavour to the map.

The square-ish look of the map probably can't be helped to much without remaking the map completely, but I did add some doodads to the natural areas so it looks at least a tad better.

I'm afraid that there has been a little misunderstanding regarding the generals. I was referring to players as generals in the description, showing the nature of the gameplay at the same time - there no place for friendship where such great wealth is at hand.

Finally, the time part. I've playtested the map quite a few times with my friends and I can safely say that the Citadel can be easily destroyed in about 25 minutes with no help from other players. The record time was 14 minutes. I understand giving a player 20 minutes would be unfair especially at the first try, but adding more time than 30 minutes would take away the exciting part of the gameplay (it was my main idea while making the map and though I'm sure some may not like it, I just want it to stay that way).

Once again, huge thanks for the feedback and I hope that the updated version of the map is much more enjoyable to play.
 
Level 8
Joined
Feb 4, 2017
Messages
111
@Paillan I was thinking about what I could do with the idea of a general being a custom hero and I came up with an idea. The Citadel Mages will now drop Chaos Orbs which transform the hero into an Avatar of Greed. It's a demon with immeasurable power and is meant to wrap up the game after completing the main objective. The demon retains the level and items of the hero who picked the orb, but has four new abilities:
- Powerlust: Increases target unit's attack speed at the cost of life (a stronger version of Unholy Frenzy)
- Bloodwave: A stream of blood healing multiple targets (more powerful Healing Wave)
- Teleportation: Teleports a caster to an explored area after a short period of channeling
- Blood Pact: Kills any unit or building and deals damage to caster equal to damage dealt; if the damage dealt to the caster is high enough to kill them, the target remains unharmed
 
Level 19
Joined
Jan 22, 2011
Messages
3,968
@Paillan I was thinking about what I could do with the idea of a general being a custom hero and I came up with an idea. The Citadel Mages will now drop Chaos Orbs which transform the hero into an Avatar of Greed. It's a demon with immeasurable power and is meant to wrap up the game after completing the main objective. The demon retains the level and items of the hero who picked the orb, but has four new abilities:
- Powerlust: Increases target unit's attack speed at the cost of life (a stronger version of Unholy Frenzy)
- Bloodwave: A stream of blood healing multiple targets (more powerful Healing Wave)
- Teleportation: Teleports a caster to an explored area after a short period of channeling
- Blood Pact: Kills any unit or building and deals damage to caster equal to damage dealt; if the damage dealt to the caster is high enough to kill them, the target remains unharmed

That sound actually quite interesting.
 

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 68
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,706
Some more feedback:
-the citadel can be destroyed without killing the guardians.
-picking a Chaos Orb will replace the already turned demon hero into another same demon with a different name
-the demon's spell icons could be different than Warcraft III spell icons
-not all players are near the same type of shops; shops look like units that can be found on the map which are units that can be trained by the player (looks weird altogether)
-some players are nearer to more powerful units than others; I'm referring to the ones in the south being closer to the bosses
 
Level 8
Joined
Feb 4, 2017
Messages
111
- Destroying the citadel the hard way was always an option, it's even mentioned in the description fyi.
- I will be trying to fix the Orb issue and I have a few ideas on how to change it though it'll not happen soon, since I don't have enough time on my hands right now.
- I don't have any expertise in that field, though I'd be more than grateful if someone could instruct me on how to do it (I once tried changing icons, but it always resulted in green squares).
- I'll exchange the ones which look like other units appearing on the map or that can be trained though I still want them to be units and not buildings (they are secret merchants, after all) + I think that different options in shops may affect your playstyle and make the game a bit more interesting (you can always leave an opinion whether certain items are visibly overpowering others if this is a case).
- The northern bosses are indeed further away from players, but they are easier to exploit at the same time. Hence, it's harder to get to them to balance things out a bit.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll try to make some changes in the foreseeable future.
 
Last edited:

deepstrasz

Map Reviewer
Level 68
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
18,706
  1. From a gameplay's perspective this is still difficult. Being time pressed, you have little space to build and scarce lumber (unless you're Night Elf, of course).
  2. Neutral units seem to be few for four players to gain proper experience. They are also amidst neutral passive units. Try avoiding using the same unit for neutral passive and hostile players.
  3. Could make some parts of the terrain not be flat.
  4. I suggest using custom models for units that aren't under the control of any of the four races (players).
  5. You could even increase the range of the citadel towers even more to avoid the gates near them being destroyed with range units.
  6. Custom icons for custom items, why not?
  7. Use the other Play Music trigger to avoid it being played through the sound channel.
  8. You could make the Citadel Mages different, each with its look and abilities.
  9. Spell Immunity's (from the wisp boss) position isn't right. It should be somewhere above the other four spells.
  10. Blood Pact can be used on the caster. It doesn't seem to hurt the avatar when it conjures the lightning on other units.
  11. Avatar of Greed's spells have not hotkeys, at least visible ones.
  12. Bloodwave=Healing Wave....

Anyways... the main issue is solved,
Approved.
 
Level 6
Joined
Sep 27, 2010
Messages
51
Good idea,. only what the mines have creeps ¨dragons¨ only that to kill the dragons you have to have air attack.
and your main gold mine does not have much gold. you should change the creeps in the mines.
otherwise everything is fine, nice map.. and the time increase anys 20 minuts more jeje.
 
Level 7
Joined
Dec 19, 2014
Messages
300
Nice idea and design. I also like the gameplay with the bosses, the items and the timelimit for the mind control spell. It all seemed to work properly. You could add some more buildings and constructions here and there and expand the city a bit.
 
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