Well been playing it for the last few hours and won
But in terms of the map there is a fair amount of stuff needed to sort out. I'll take it step by step.
Review by Red-Baron per request of Sumallo2
Terrain:
It has issues - for a large scale map the terrain is in fashion decent, that is if the rest of the map/gameplay supports and increases the enjoyment - the problem is that its not the case. Everything seems a bit bland and if it weren't for the map in the bottom you would be unsure where you were.
I can see attempts to place some meaning in the terrain, but sadly it confuses more than it helps - which is due to a fetal flaw: There is such a small amount of doodads that those there is in the map attract unwanted attention, meaning both in a literal sense and in connection with the gameplay.
Why? Well, for that I will have to go into
information or lack thereof:
The player does not know how to play it and the only given information is in regards how to capture certain buildings/points. Since you don't know how those points look you might assume that its actually points - which for me meant going to places that were marked differently in the terrain = wasted time. Even after discovering this I still sent a peasant to look at the goldmines located behind the castles - as gold equals money right? No.. Its doodad with no meaning. In fact huge amount of the map is meaningless and could be removed. So add more doodads, variation and avoid those single spots of slightly more terrain.. More about the terrain follows:
Layout:
The layout of a map of this type matters, it is in fact essential. Problem is that it appears far too random. Certain positions has a clear advantage over others, the terrain conflicts in building placement due to rock patterns - but a pattern that is not consistent. Holes in fenced of areas allowing for tactics I don't assume was intended and worst of all: Illogical placed resources. While this being what it is: A capture map, the
capture points have to be equally hard to get for both players. Problems is that its not the case. Also in case of the saltpeter vats (more about those later) the terrain/layout also features a clear advantage for one of them over the other.
Units:
The units - well while is nice to have a good selection of units and while I like the feature of training multiple units at the same time, it has some rather large flaws.
For one thing you only ever need to train one single unit type: The Light Cavalry. Simply put it is way way overpowered with its 40% chance of miss chance. 6 units of the type can clear the way to a saltpeter vat and training 4x6 pretty much allows you to net whatever cleaning you want. They work against any type of unit - hence also building and they are cheap, fast and easy to get.
The other unit types suffer from various flaws that makes them less versatile.
For instance: The heavy cavalry: Pounded by shooters in seconds - Good damage though.
Or the mounted shooters: Can't hit buildings
Or mortar men: Way to slow given how hard they should be to obtain.
Unit Bugs: Most extra updates to the units doesn't apply - the game doesn't register that you updated to a certain level and therefor never unlocks the buildings/units/upgrade corresponding to it.
Also there is some sort of issue with selection of the units (mostly those with custom models), where they can't be selected in certain spots - quite odd and fairly annoying.
Unit Sounds: Should be placed in relation to the unit, for instance: Light cavalry should not sound like orcs - it gets somewhat annoying given that I am assuming I am playing as human.
Lag: Unlike other reviewers I did not suffer from lag issues nor did my co-tester. Both of us were using fairly powerful computers though.
Information flow:
This is a critical flaw to the map, how little information you give. Basically one do not know to capture the vats, the location of them - what points have been captured - which type of point is which (hard to do. but would help a lot - custom minimap would be the solution), add some more information about goals, suggestion of unit use in the quest menu - its there for a reason other than to add credits.
As an example a nice information would be how much the different points generate - Why? Because it would allow for some more tactical planning as to goals and uses.
Gameplay:
What most of the above comes down to is gameplay - does it work? Not really. It has some good intentions and I can see potential - but with the above problems and the ones I am going to say it doesn't work. And it comes under a false title: Fast paced.
This map is not fast paced - not even close. It clocks down to a speed almost equal to a normal melee map - And that might just be the worst part of it. If ones soldiers, fortune and battles happened faster, minor things as terrain appearance wouldn't matter as much, but part of the gameplay is the things I have mentioned above, since all of those elements add to it, moves it along - make it work.
So yea you asked for a critical review that could give you pointers on how to improve it, and now you got it. I do like the idea of the map and minor things you included such as the back access to the vats.
You just need to think primarily more in terms of balance. Both in regards to units and in regards to map layout.
Good work and have fun with it.
Oh and yea: the healing thing is still there - If I were you I would just go with the night elves healing fountain idea, just with a better healing and faster rate.
4/10 - Fair
Approved
Rules
