- Joined
- Sep 24, 2009
- Messages
- 1,523
Actually, really impressive work. Too bad I don't have the latest version of the game to test your race.
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Shadow Covenant
- Author(s)
- ISL
- Size
- 22.01 MB
- Rating
- Downloads
- 1567
- Created
- Dec 26, 2020
- Updated
- Dec 28, 2020
- Resources
- 1
- State
Approved
This bundle is marked as recommended. It works and satisfies the submission rules.
Shadow Covenant
by ISL
Entry for the Techtree Contest #16 - Faith
(Latest patch, Classic graphics.)
About
Play as the dark elves of Drottomar, a mystical race from my fantasy world.
The Shadow Covenant is a faction of religious dark elves who worship a pantheon of four Dark Divines.
More details at Shadow Covenant Development Thread
Features
Their tech-tree is divided into four Cults.
Each Cult has its own set of units, technology and perks.
The player can produce a third racial resource called Faith,
which can be invested into one of these cults.
Faith is also spent on Divine Favor mechanic,
Which grants you access to powerful global spells at the cost of Faith.
Dark Invocation
Dark elven Disciples can pray at Shrines to produce Faith.
Faith is a third racial resource used to unlock new Cult technologies.
Divine Favor
Investing faith into one of four Cults increases favor with one of four elven deities.
This allows you to utilize the Divine Favor mechanic,
which lets you use powerful global abilities at the cost of Faith.
Artisanship
Dark elves have no regular shops.
Instead, they rely on talented Artisans to craft items for their heroes.
They also harvest a bit more lumber than usual.
Ritual of Evocation
Instead of upgrading their main building, the Shadow Covenant performs a
Ritual of Evocation to reach the next technology tier.
Their main building can still function while this is happening,
It can produce workers, attack and cast spells.
Teleportation Link
Dark elf main building - Nexus - can be linked to other Nexuses via a
Teleportation link, which allows you to teleport your units between bases.
Daemonic Invocation
Dark elves can initiate summoning rituals at Shrines and Nexuses.
This grants them a unique way of training additional units:
Imps are summoned at Shrines and spawn in pairs,
Incubi can be warped-in almost anywhere on the map,
etc.
Unit Promotions
Some units can be upgraded from one unit type to another.
Some promotions are meant to give you a smoother transition to later game,
Other promotions serve as the only way to acquire certain units,
And others are just straight up upgrades.
Shared Abilities
A lot of units share common passive abilities with each other.
These include Armor of Dread for Dread units, Manaburn for Demon units,
Shadow Strike for Shadow units, Baneful Poison and Spider Venom for Spider units,
etc.
The Cults
Cult of Dread
Cult of Darkness
Cult of Shadows
Cult of Spider
Hybrid Units
Cult of Dread
Followers of the Nightmare God, Xalanar,
are menacing warriors who inflict terror in the hearts of all who oppose them.
This cult provides powerful melee fighters capable of absorbing great amounts of
incoming damage while also negating enemy damage output.
Dread, Fear and Terror
Warriors of the Cult of Dread use fear as a weapon.
They strike fear into the hearts of their enemies,
enfeebling them and causing them to flee in terror.
Martial Prowess
Like all dark elves, members of the Cult of Dread strive for excellence in everything they do.
They strive to have the most powerful weapons and armor,
and spend most of their lifetimes perfecting their skills in combat.
Cult of Darkness
Devotees of the Goddess of Darkness, Setta,
are powerful spellcasters who can cast an array of devastating spells and summon demons into battle.
They provide magical support for other units and can unleash
tremendous amounts of magical damage upon their enemies.
Daemonic Invocation
Adepts of the Cult of Darkness use their daemonic familiars in battle.
Instead of being trained like other units, Daemons are summoned via rituals.
They feed on magic and can easily decimate enemy spellcasters.
Magic Supremacy
Like all dark elves, members of the Cult of Darkness strive to be the best at what they do.
This includes the magical arts - Dark elf skills in the arcane are unparalleled.
Cult of Shadows
Worshipers of the Abyssal Lord, Du’ragh,
are agile and dexterous assassins who excel at swift combat and assassination.
They also possess great mobility and are able to pass though the shadow realm,
allowing them to become invisible and quickly maneuver around the battlefield.
Shadow Walk
Assassins of the Cult of Shadows can shift in and out of the shadow realm.
This allows them to become invisible at will and maneuver around the battlefield unseen.
Elusiveness
Members of the Cult of Shadows possess great mobility,
which allows them to excel at skirmishes, harassment and hit-and-run tactics.
Cult of Spider
Children of the Spider God, Ra’Gath,
are monstrous arachnids who are worshiped by some dark elves as sacred beasts.
This cult provides access to various specialized units, each possessing their own
unique abilities and providing access to new strategies.
The Swarming Brood
Ra'Gathian spiders can easily outnumber any foe.
Their swarms ravage through the battlefield, leaving devastation in their wake.
Baneful Venom
While most of the arachnids used by the Cult of Spider do not boast much strength,
Their poison can severely weaken any foe before delivering the final blow.
Hybrid Units
Dread+Darkness
Dread+Shadows
Dread+Spider
Darkness+Shadows
Darkness+Spider
Shadows+Spider
The Cults make the Shadow Covenant's tech-tree progression unique.
Instead of having a usual linear tech-tree,
they have a fluid non-linear one which resembles a Talent tree.
Your choice of cults defines your starting units, your advanced technologies,
and what unit will be your ultimate end-game option.
Every new game is a new strategy,
Every new strategy - A new talent build to try.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Variety and Replayability
A major feature of the race is how much playable content it packs.
You might need to play it a couple of times in order to experience it in its entirety.
Decision Making
Unlocking new technologies requires a lot of time and resources.
Poor decisions or lacking resource management can easily lead to defeat.
The race might also be taxing on your micro-control.
Prosperity
Dark elf buildings provide high amount of supply,
Allowing you to forget about the food limitations.
Vulnerability
Any damage done to your buildings or workers can easily cripple you and your power growth.
3 out of 4 cults lack early base defenses besides their Shrines and Nexuses.
Power Growth
In addition to having high early game potential, the race growths more powerful as the game progresses.
Every new upgrade or unlocked technology is meant to give you an incredible sense of growth in power.
OP
The race has been made intentionally overpowered upon its release.
Certain features and abilities are more powerful than they are meant to be.
Screenshots
Credits
Inspiration:
-Nightmare2077 and his Warhammer: Eternal Strife project have been a great inspiration to me.
-A lot of inspiration also comes from the Heroes of Might and Magic, Spellforce, Warhammer Fantasy, and Warlords Battlecry.
Systems:
-Everything in this map functions only because of Bribe's damage engine and unit indexer.
Models:
-A.R.
-Alfredx_sotn
-AndrewOverload519
-Boogles
-Callahan
-CeDiL
-Champara Bros
-Dionesiist
-Elenai
-Garfield
-General Frank
-HerrDave
-JetFangInferno
-Mr Ogre Man
-Mythic
-Novart (PeeKay)
-Retera
-Sellenisko
-Sven
-Tranquil
-USETHEFORKS
-Ujimasa Hojo
-Vortigon
-Will the Almighty
-Zephyrius2412
-nGy
-paulH
-sPy
-Cuore and Tuwnew
Textures:
-67chrome
-A.R.
-Daenar7
-Dionesiist
-HerrDave
-Kuhneghetz
-nightelfbuilder
-Sharkarsh
-TheReaper
-Deleted Member - Rilrae Thraele.BLP
Icons:
-67chrome
-A.R.
-Arowanna
-Artork312
-Berz-
-Darkfang
-Deathclaw24
-Eagle XI
-Hellx-Magnus
-Kuhneghetz
-Loktar
-Marcos DAB
-Mad
-Marshmalo
-Murlocologist
-nightelfbuilder
-NFWar
-Scias
-World of Warcraft
Music:
-Homm 5 Dungeon town theme
-Homm 6 Snow theme
-Homm 6 Inferno town theme
-Homm 7 Dungeon town theme
Author's Notes
I poured my heart and soul into this project.
There has been a lot of thoughts put into it.
I started working on this race on the exact day the contest was announced.
I've been developing and perfecting it every day since.
I've enjoyed every second of those countless hours spent on this project.
Thanks to the Hiveworkshop for the amazing contest.
-For some reason, damage dealt with triggers acts like damage dealt with a melee attack.
Some ranged units and casters can be affected by abilities such as Frost Armor or Spiked Barricades.
The reason might be the fact that I used the old Bribe's damage engine on a 1.32+ patch.
-When a Shrine is destroyed, all Disciples who have been praying at it will still play the animation.
-Some tooltips might be slightly inconsistent.
-Some minor leaks are possible.
-(Resource bundle) Changed the description a bit; Added "Strengths and Weaknesses" and "Known bugs" paragraphs.
-Fixed a bug that prevented Dark Priestess hero from using her W.
Contents
Reviews
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2009
- Messages
- 4,556
Following.
From the pictures so far, and all the details given, I'm looking forward to judging this in the contest. Very nice presentation so far
From the pictures so far, and all the details given, I'm looking forward to judging this in the contest. Very nice presentation so far
- Joined
- May 23, 2015
- Messages
- 142
Looks good, wish you would make a map based on it, just the altered melee race is kinda out of place facing vanilla races.
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2014
- Messages
- 238
Despite being made for the contest, the race has always been intended to be a part of a bigger project
The Fading World | HIVE
- Joined
- May 23, 2015
- Messages
- 142
Nice, looking forward to it. Love Dark Elves in most lores, yours look dope.Despite being made for the contest, the race has always been intended to be a part of a bigger project
The Fading World | HIVE
Map Reviewer
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2009
- Messages
- 18,801
Approved based on Techtree Contest #16 - Results
- Joined
- May 18, 2013
- Messages
- 105
This was the most fun I'd had in a long time playing a custom race. The race is both visually appealing and has intriguing mechanics.
The only thing I believe needs to be fixed is the Nexus's crowded command panel. It took me until my third match to learn how to ignore it. It might be beneficia to relocate the demonic upgrades to the vault or create a new demonic structure.
Some possible improvements:
Your tooltips are good in my opinion. The only thing I believe should be included is a space before and after the dash when listing. The absence of space brings emphasis to the panel's side.
You could customize the interface, health/XP bars, and selection for some additional aesthetics. The UI Skin section contains plenty to play with.
Introducing new maps with more players/computers might improve the faction's replayability. Enabling you to get more out of certain faction features.
Continue your wonderful work. I'm looking forward to seeing your future projects.
The only thing I believe needs to be fixed is the Nexus's crowded command panel. It took me until my third match to learn how to ignore it. It might be beneficia to relocate the demonic upgrades to the vault or create a new demonic structure.
Some possible improvements:
Your tooltips are good in my opinion. The only thing I believe should be included is a space before and after the dash when listing. The absence of space brings emphasis to the panel's side.
You could customize the interface, health/XP bars, and selection for some additional aesthetics. The UI Skin section contains plenty to play with.
Introducing new maps with more players/computers might improve the faction's replayability. Enabling you to get more out of certain faction features.
Continue your wonderful work. I'm looking forward to seeing your future projects.
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2014
- Messages
- 238
Thank you for the review! A quick question: have you experienced any bugs or performance issues while playing?
A few months ago, I wanted to give this map a quick patch, but when I launched it on the newest version of Reforged, I ran into numerous visual bugs and fps drops that were not present back in 2020–2021.
I intended to release the patch on December 27, 2022, but I put it on hold because I lacked the time to give it a proper polish.
The work on said patch will resume by the time I'm done with my final certification work, or maybe even earlier.
I will make sure to include your suggestions.
Here is the patch preview in case anyone is curious - Flat piston shrimp
P.S All feedback and suggestions are appreciated.
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- Joined
- May 18, 2013
- Messages
- 105
I'll have to play it again to find out. Yet there was nothing I recall. One thing I neglected to mention in my review is that the tower gargoyles sometimes become caught behind trees. You might convert them to a flying movement.
I went over the patch preview, and those are some intriguing additions. Five tech trees seems like an awful lot; don't be overwhelmed and take your time. I've given up on more than a few projects due to burnout from attempting to accomplish too much at once. Your inventiveness makes me want to revisit my Iruxi Confederation race and elaborate on the triblism.
This is not a criticism of your grammar, but rather a tip I learnt for myself and wanted to offer.
Because I don't have the best grammar, I write tooltips in a word document and run them through https://quillbot.com/grammar-check to detect any typos before running them through https://quillbot.com under fluency to get a more readable result.
Here are some resources I found that you could make use of:
For a potential hybrid Hero: HeroDarkWidow
For a new unit: Drow Royal Guard
New UI interface; Not an exact match but it could work for your race: SpellAreaEffectVoidspawn512.blp
Health Bars: Health Bars v1.30
Selection Circles: Selection Circles v1.50
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