Age of Heresy Overview

[Ghost765]

Age of Heresy

It is the year 1451 ER, 1451 years after the God-Emperor brought humanity out from the brink of exctinction and into a glorious age of expansion and might. At the front of the Emperor's armies are the Legio's, thousand strong armies. Each Legionnaire is capable of holding his own against several regular men, as he has been blessed by the Emperor to enact his will. Behind the crusading Legio's come the Imperial Guard, volunteers and conscripts alike, these regular men are ready to die for the Emperor need it be, and often do.

All seems well in this Golden Age, but inside the Empire itself lies a tumor. Dark Cultists from all over the Empire are coming from the shadows, and preparing to summon Daemons from the Warp. At every turn, there seems to be heretics plotting to overthrow Emperor for their Dark Gods... As the Emperor is extraordinarily gifted with psychic abilities, he senses this disruption, and orders Imperial cities to prepare for this invasion. This is the Age of Heresy.

The Age of Heresy map focuses on a confrontation of Chaos and Imperial forces in the Reick province, a province bordering the province in which the Imperial City lies.

What is Age of Heresy?
Age of Heresy (AoH) is a 3v3 altered melee map that brings several new addons to Warcraft III, ranging from different methods of resource gathering, to bases.

When is it going to be released?
Right now, it's hard to say. I try to work on it a little bit every day, either terraining, unit editting, or spells/triggering. I'll be posting progress reports every now and then, with screenshots of course.

What is the Objective of AoH?
To destroy all of the opponent's Outposts and Citadels

How many playable races are there?
Two, Empire and Chaos. However, Within each techtree, lies a few more techtrees. For example, Chaos has the choice to align itself with one of several different Chaos Gods, giving them unique bonuses and different mid-late tier units.

What has AoH drawn inspiration from?
Battle for Middle Earth - The resource gathering in AoH is very similar to BFME. Also, the building plot system is similar aswell.
Warhammer 40k/Fantasy - I'm a huge fan of Warhammer 40k/Fantasy, and quite abit of lore is drawn from them. However, I've added my own things as well.

How do you collect resources?
Gold is gained from Farms (Empire) and Warp Beacons (Chaos). They can be built on most building plots, and periodically give gold to the owning player.
Lumber is gained from Lumbermills (Empire and Chaos). They can only be built on specific building plots, and periodically give wood to the owning player.

What are Building Plots?
Building plots are certain areas where you can construct structures. There are some building plots where you can only build lumber mills or farms. On others you can build defensive emplacements. They are represented by Circles on the ground. You can only construct buildings on these plots, it is impossible to construct buildings else where.

Will there be AI?
As far as I know of, no. I have no experience in creating AI, and it seems a bit hard.

Will you be able to do Empire vs Empire or Chaos vs Chaos battles?
Possibly, I might make a free-for-all game mode. However, this might be abit imbalanced for certain players due to the terrain.

What Chaos Gods will Chaos players be able to align themselves with?
I'm planning on 4 Chaos Gods at the moment:
1. Khorne, God of Blood. Khorne units will have high damage and attack speed, and their abilities will usually focus on increasing damage and attack speed. (Yes, Warhammer Rip)
2. Ignatus, God of Fire. Ignatus units will have alot of DPS/AoE damage, as they believe in "Cleansing" the world
3. Mortis, God of Sadism and Death. Mortis units are much like commandos, they have high damage and good casters. However, they suffer from low hp and armor.
4. Plagus, God of Plague and Disease. Almost all Plagus units will have a DPS Plague cloud around them, causing damage to any nearby enemy units. Plagus units focus on slowing down the enemy. They also focus on melee rather than range.

What kind of Imperial armies will Imperial players be able to command?
3 Armies will be able to players who choose to be Empire:
1. Legio, Strong Infantry, Mediocre range, Mediocre-Strong commanders, mediocre late game units. Just a well rounded race.
2. Imperial Guard, Weak and Massed Infantry, fairly strong commanders, Very good late game units.
3. Inquisitoral Levy, Strong Infantry, Lots of offensive abilities, weak ranged, very strong commanders.
Feel free to ask any questions here, and I'll try to answer them.

 

[Mechanical Man]

Will be there an AI?

You can play against the same faction (like in CoH you couldn't)?

It will combat system will be changed too?

 

[Zelda.Alex]

>What is the story?
>Name of some Gods which you are planning to use.
>Does the plots mean that we will not be able to build them just anywhere other then these places?
>How many players?

 

[Ghost765]

Check the first post for your answers.

@Mechanical Man, what do you mean by combat system?
Units still attack one another, its all real time.

 

[Mechanical Man]

I mean squad systems, more relevant damage types, experience gaining, passive ordering for masses of units, etc

Oh, and still I suggest you that you change the god name Khorne.

 

[Ghost765]

No squad systems, interferes too much with the walkable castle walls im using, and other pathing issues.
Damage Types will eventually be modified so theyre more map appropriate, but that will be near the end.
There will be heroes, and i'm thinking about letting units get expierence through kills are time alive.

GW cant really do anything about me using Khorne as a name. And i dont really think they mind either :\

 

[Zelda.Alex]

Will there be AI?
As far as I know of, no. I have no expierence in creating AI, and it seems abit hard.

>expierence & abit need spelling correction
>Try to have someone help you with AI because otherwise most maps' gameplay becomes less fun.

A suggestion
A talent tree of the races like this
http://www.spooncraft.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/dk-talent-tree.jpg
will be nice.

 

[Linaze]

Sounds interesting. I will stay tuned for any eventual updates.

 

[Ghost765]

spell mistakes fixed. I dont see how AI would make this map boring. It's a 3v3 Player vs Player map. No computer players are involved, other than creeps.

 

[Wazzz]

You say that a squad system would interfere with walkable gateways, but I'm not sure I see how. I've used a squad system extensively now (have a couple of projects using it), and the units walk as if they were all selected by the player. With that said, they'd be able to go through the gateway as if they were just a group of units all selected at the same time. Or is that the problem?

 

[Ghost765]

not gateways, castle walls. If there are too many units in a squad, and you order them onto a castle wall, then some of them will go infront of the wall, and instead of ontop of it. it's hard to explain. Also, if you build a barracks next to a raised cliff with pathing blocks, units from a trained squad can sometimes spawn in the boxed off area. i've had expierence in this before in my old old maps.

 

[Wazzz]

You say it's hard to explain, but I understand what you mean perfectly

Yeah, it's a shame, but at the same time would probably have just been for show if you included it. I think the best thing about your idea is conquering actual towns. However, there is one thing that gets me about most Warcraft 3 maps. The units are considerably bigger than the doorway on the buildings. Perhaps, as an idea, you could make all the units a little smaller so they seem more realistic? It would definitely be a worthy addition to an already great idea.

Also, I noticed in a screeny four Zealots charging a gate. It's somewhat unrealistic that units would be able to destroy a gate on their own, yet it's implemented in so many games . Will this be changed?

 

[Ghost765]

that gate starts destroyed. The units are smaller than regular wc3 scaling, but they arent excessively tiny, since i hate that.

However, gates will have high amounts of hp, so it would be a tactical mistake to use regular units to attack a gate since they would be slaughtered by the defenders. Siege weapons will be used, and each race will have 2 or 3 siege units.

 

[Wazzz]

Not a bad system for that. I too hate it when units are excessively tiny, but hate it more when they're too big

Also, do you have any plans of including other races, perhaps after a Beta release sporting the two main races? Would be cool to have a great range of variety in the final product

 

[Ghost765]

like other playable races? the map at the moment can barely support 6 people, i might have to completely redo the terrain if i plan to add more races in.

 

[Wazzz]

Well, that's what I meant (playable races), but I don't want you to feel as though you have to redo the entire terrain O_O

Are you planning on making it that the castles are pre-set races? Cause it would be awesome if you made it that you could choose your race

 

[Ghost765]

all races are preset, and castles are preset. I'm thinking about not giving Chaos castles, just because they have so much more cheaper units.

 

[Wazzz]

Hm... well, what I'd like to see would be a map where there are many different Castles and you start with one. After that, you have to capture and enslave them. That way, you'd be able to add more races, perhaps like Orcs and such.

Anyway, your idea is also good, so it depends on the style of gameplay. As long as I know what style you've chosen, I'm pretty happy.

Also read your story. Veery Warhammer like Still, I like it

 

[wereguy2]

Sounds interesting, Ill keep an eye on this.

 

[Ghost765]

Ok, pretty big gameplay update. For the Empire, you MUST choose one of three different armies. If you dont, you'll be stuck with milita and yeomen for the rest of the game.
1. Imperial Legio
2. Inquisitoral Levy
3. Imperial Guard

Ok so basically, each of the 3 have unique units, except for Inquisitoral Levy. Levy is basically a mixture of it's own units and Imperial Guard, led by an Inquisitor. All players can get only 1 hero, including Chaos. Chaos heroes are determined by what Chaos God they choose. As of know, here are the heroes:
Legio - Company Captain
Imperial Guard - Governor Militant
Inquisitoral Levy - Inquisitor (High Inquisitor?)
Khorne(Chaos) - Chosen of Khorne
Plagus(Chaos) - Chosen of Plagus
Mortis(Chaos) - Chosen of Mortis
Ignatus(Chaos) - Chosen of Ignatus

I'll also probably add an extra hero for each race, thats just a generic second hero you can choose no matter what path you choose.

How you choose your army/god affiliation will be through an upgrade found at your HQ building. If you happen not to upgrade, as i said before, you will be stuck with very very bad units. Chaos however, could possibly go without upgrading I guess, since it has general Chaos Warriors which are quite strong, but it'll get boring.

 

[Wazzz]

Interesting addition, that'll be good for a variety of races, definitely

Well, thinking back on what you originally said would be the units in the game, it doesn't sound like a lot. Well, it is quite a bit, but could there possibly be more? I for one would love to see huge tech-trees lol.

Perhaps make it that the standard units for each race get different capabilities with different race choices? That would be interesting also.

 

[Ghost765]

problem with big techtrees is that certain units dont get used at all. I have planned out new units for each sub-race. Theres no real "standard" units. Those Legionnaires are actually now part of the Legio sub-race.
However, Chaos has some standard units, I'll probably have it so they gain an ability unique to their God.

 

[Wazzz]

Yeah, mind you, I'm worried about the balancing of the two key races. I mean, if the Chaos can probably go on without choosing a path while the Empire only gets two piss weak units, I think that the Empire should probably be given a couple extra units. Perhaps a unit that would be some form of competition against the Chaos units.

And you say that there would be units that would not be used later ingame? What about the Yeomen and Militia? Why use them if you have the later game units?

 

[Ghost765]

why WOULDNT you choose a path? hell, if you dont, you'll be stuck in level 1 tier. like level 0 tier for humans.

Milita (now Conscripts) and Yeomen are essentially just human shields and units you use early on to capture points and such. Yeomen are also the Imperial Guards ranged unit for about 1 and half tiers, until they get tanks (yes, tanks) and Rangers.
Militia and yeomen are NOT meant to be used against late level 3 tier units.
Theyre just easily massed, cheap, and fast units that you can pump out almost continuously if you're low on money.
Chaos really cant go without choosing a Path. If they dont they dont get a hero. Same with Empire. And anyways, choosing a path costs 0 gold, and takes 1 second.

 

[Wazzz]

Tanks? Is this like the Empire in the Warhammer Fantasy game? Lol

Also, you could make the path choosing take 0 seconds. Do you know about getting negative integers? You just have to go to preferences in the File directory of your World Editor and make it that you can have negative numbers. I can't remember much more than that, but once you've done that, you just have to go Shift + Double Click or Shift + Enter in order to be able to change it to a number that is otherwise not allowed.

If you do change it to 0 seconds, the bar won't appear, making it slightly mess-free.

 

[Ghost765]

hm, good point. This is the Imperial Guard from wh40k my friend, but in medievalish form. For now theyll be using the RoC steam tank, General Frank's Steam Fortress, and Anarchianbedlams Kronous.

I just figure tanks will help balance out the Imperial Guard, since they have the weakest infantry out of all the races/sub-races

 

[Ghost765]

okey dokey, first thread updated. Got rid of one of the Chaos Gods, added a new one. Listed all the Subraces.

 

[Mechanical Man]

For the blood god, you could choose a name like Sanguis or Cruoris instead of Khorne, if you are using so many latin names.

 

[Ghost765]

Khorne sounds warlike though D:

 

[Mechanical Man]

But is somehow unfitting comparing to other names.

 

[Ghost765]

err...well, i might think of something.