Desert Strike

LazZ · Apr 6, 2020

This map is out of the beta stage. Further updates will be posted here

This is a recreation of a popular map on StarCraft 2 called Desert Strike Euro. It's a 'tug of war' type of map with units from the melee game that are being sent in waves from each player. The goal is to destroy the opponents base. I couldn't find any maps that closely resembles this on Warcraft 3 (only with custom units) so I decided to make it myself.

How to play:

Choose your race in the lobby.
Build the units you want to send for your wave.
Build 'Gold Extractors' (haunted gold mines) for extra income, but be careful, your income will freeze for a period of time when building one.
Control the middle for extra income.

In-game Screenshots:

Just like in Desert Strike Euro, this map has AI for the units so they will cast spells like Rejuvenation, Lightning Shield, Healing Ward etc. from the melee game. The majority of the spells work but remember it's still a beta map so some things are missing/not working correctly.

Units are uncontrollable by the player (with the exception of some spells) so the player has to rely on his combination of units and upgrades to push the opposing side.

The game supports dynamic lobbies so e.g. 1v3 or 1v2 is possible (the lone player will send his units each wave while the others have to wait for each other).

Future plans:

I want to change the pathing of the units because sending them in a straight line makes everything a little clunky.
In-game scoreboard to show stuff like damage dealt and gold earned at the end of a game.
Bug fixes and balancing... lots of both...

LazZ · Apr 8, 2020

Patch 0.11

General:

Players can now adjust the camera distance by writing "-cam [number]".
The bases have been moved closer to each other.
If a player has more than 40 units they will split up into 3 groups.
Expiration timer on units has been increased to 150, up from 120.
Time elapsed is now displayed on the multiboard.
Control Magic research for human players has been added.
Mana Flare A.I. on the Faerie Dragon has been updated.
Priest A.I. has been updated.
The Raider's Ensnare ability has been removed.

Balance:

Gold Extractor now costs 100 gold, up from 30.
Footman cost reduced to 85, down from 90.
Rifleman cost increased to 130, up from 105.
Knight cost has been increased to 160, up from 150.
Flying Machine cost has ben reduced to 90, down from 190.
Headhunter cost reduced to 105, down from 135.
Gryphon Rider cost has been reduced to 220, down from 320.
Sorceress cost has been increased to 130, up from 110.
Spellbreaker cost has been reduced to 170, down from 205.
Siege Engine cost has been reduced to 250, down from 400.
Dragonhawk Rider cost has been reduced to 205, down from 235.
Headhunter cost has been reduced to 110, down from 135.
Raider cost has been reduced to 145, down from 150.
Demolisher cost has been reduced to 325, down from 375.
Wind Rider cost has been reduced to 265, down from 290.
Witch Doctor cost has been reduced to 120, down from 140.
Shaman cost has been reduced to 115, down from 150.
Spirit Walker cost has been reduced to 145, down from 190.
Ghoul cost has been increased to 150, up from 90, but now spawns 2 ghouls instead of 1.
Meat Wagon cost has been reduced to 275, down from 300.
Gargoyle cost has been reduced to 145, down from 165.
Banshee cost has been reduced to 105, down from 200.
Necromancer cost has been reduced to 100, down from 215.
Obsidian Statue cost has been reduced to 225, down from 275.
Frost Wyrm cost has been reduced to 350, down from 385.
Acher cost has been reduced to 90, down from 100.
Dryad cost has been reduced to 135, down from 150.
Glaive Thrower cost has been reduced to 240, down from 260.
Chimaera cost has been reduced to 300, down from 330.
Druid of the Talon cost has been reduced to 105, down from 175.
Mountain Giant cost has been reduced to 275, down from 300.
Faerie Dragon movement speed has been reduced to 290, down from 350.
Hippogryph Rider movement speed has been reduced to 300, down from 350.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug that could prevent units from spawning for a team if a player left.
Fixed a bug that could get the Mountain Giant stuck on the map.

LazZ · Apr 12, 2020

Patch 0.12

General:

A scoreboard will now appear at the end of a game.
The bases have been moved even closer to each other.
Movement speed for all units increased by 20%.
Some unit spawn orders have changed so tanky units will spawn earlier in the wave.
Druid of the Talon A.I. has been updated.
Druid of the Claw A.I. has been updated.
Mortar Team Flare ability can now be researched at the Blacksmith.
Ensnare has been added back and the A.I. now only casts it on air units.

Balance:

Raider HP increased to to 160, up from 150.
Demolisher, Kodo Beast, Meat Wagon, Glaive Thrower and Mountain Giant movement speed has been increased in addition to the general 20% increase.
All catapult-like units no longer damages friendly units.
Faerie Dragon cost has been reduced to 115, down from 200.
Polymorph duration has been reduced to 7 seconds, down from 60.
Stasis Trap ward now lasts 50 seconds, down from 150.
Stasis Trap HP reduced to 20, down from 100.
Sentry Ward now lasts 50 seconds, down from 600.

Bug fixes:

Fixed a bug where summoned units (including wards) would count as units controlling the middle.
Fixed a bug where stun effects like Cyclone and Stasis Trap didn't stun the targeted units.
Fixed a bug where the Siege engine couldn't attack ground units when Barrage was researched.
Fixed a bug that would increase the Siege Engine's health when Barrage was researched.
Fixed a bug where the Shade couldn't spawn.

LazZ · Apr 12, 2020

Patch 0.12.1 (Hotfix)

Bug fixes:

Units had timed life to prevent huge armies from piling up on either side. A side effect of this was they could be targeted by the priest's dispel spell and instantly killed. Units no longer have timed life.
Fixed a bug where trying to build a gold extractor while income was freezed would subtract gold.
Fixed a bug where some units would take up food and trigger upkeep, which would decrease income.

LazZ · Apr 14, 2020

Patch 0.13

General:

Camera zoom buttons have been added to the top-left of the UI, but players are still able to use the "-cam" command.
Building a Gold Extractor will now increase income by 2 instead of 1.
The scoreboard now also shows total damage dealt.
Gold Mines and Gold Extractors no longer display default gold numbers from the melee game.
Shaman A.I. has been updated.
Spirit Walker A.I. has been updated.
Ethereal Form has been removed from the Spirit Walker.

Balance:

Fortress and Watch Tower damage has been increased.
Rifleman HP reduced to 60, down from 104.
Mortar Team splash area has been reduced.
Wind Rider cost reduced to 200, down from 265.
Burning Oil upgrade for Demolishers no longer damages friendly units.
Raise Dead unit duration has been reduced to 10 seconds, down from 40.
Skeletal Longevity duration bonus on summoned skeletons has been reduced to 10 seconds, down from 15.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug that would decrease the movement speed of the Siege Engine once Barrage was researched.
Fixed a bug where the Spirit Walker, when revived, would activate Ethereal Form and mindlessly run towards the enemy base (Ethereal Form removed lul).

LazZ · Apr 17, 2020

Patch 0.14

General:

The income system has been reworked and now more closely matches the same system from Desert Strike Euro.
Gold Extractor cooldown is now a fixed 120 seconds instead of the income freeze time.
Controlling the middle now counts as having an additional gold mine.
Watch Tower HP has been reduced to 1200, down from 1500.
Players can now order their units to hold position, but doing so will start a 30 second death timer for the unit. This is so players can control the middle very early on by making theirs unit hold position, while at the same time preventing armies from snowballing.

Balance:

Gryphon cost increased to 230, up from 220.
Tauren cost increased to 200, up from 185.
Tauren's Pulverize full damage radius has been reduced to 125, down from 250. Half damage radius has been reduced to 175, down from 350. This is due to almost all unit's radius are halved.
Abomination is now a Tier 3 unit.
Obsidian Statue is now a Tier 2 unit.
Raise Dead cooldown increased to 15 seconds, up from 8.
Druid of the Talon cost increased to 125, up from 105.
Chimaera cost increased to 335, up from 300.
Corrosive Breath upgrade increased to 125 up from 25.
Mana Flare range has been reduced to 500, down from 750.

Patch 0.14.1 (Hotfix)

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where if a player left the game after having just sent his wave, the next player's wave would stop spawning altogether and only spawn the other player's wave.
Fixed a bug where you could build more than 1 gold extractor if you built them fast enough.
Fixed a bug where cancelling a gold extractor under construction would destroy the gold mine.

Planetary · Apr 18, 2020

Progress so far looks good. Little victory score screen at the end was a nice touch. Will you be hosting any testing sessions?

My only feedback is the swap to gold extractor functionality wasn't obvious at first. It's one of those things you get once you figure it out but new players will probably have to play the fiddle-with-it game like I did.

I wonder if it'd be worth turning the gold mines into units and changing the gold extractor into an upgrade? I do get that the idea is to mimic the refinery construction in the SC2 version, but food for thought.

LazZ · Apr 18, 2020

Yeah I did toy with the idea that people could research/upgrade the income in some way, but having them as gold mines is ideal because you can see what your teammates are doing in terms of economy and play around their decision if you feel like they made a mistake. And yes, I should probably make it clearer in the description what the swap button does.

In terms of playtesting, I usually just host the map randomly every now and then to find bugs and see how balancing is. It's relatively easy to find people.

Thx for your feedback ^^

SerenityInFire · Apr 19, 2020

LazZ said:
In terms of playtesting, I usually just host the map randomly every now and then to find bugs and see how balancing is. It's relatively easy to find people.

Damn, you're lucky! I've had a really hard time finding people willing to play my map online. What server do you play on?

LazZ · Apr 19, 2020

SerenityInFire said:
Damn, you're lucky! I've had a really hard time finding people willing to play my map online. What server do you play on?

I'm on EU. It's usually best to host maps around 17:00-21:00 CET.

LazZ · Apr 20, 2020

Patch 0.15

NOTE: There's a version of this map floating around called Desert Strike V0.15.0, which is a guy who deprotected the map and conveniently put his own name "Jackar" as author and changed my discord link to Rick Roll. I didn't find any significant modifications to it and it looks like it's actually just based off of version 0.14.1. Don't play that map please

it's filled with bugs.

General:

Improved performance.
Freezing Breath research is now available for Undead.
Fortress and Watch Tower can now detect invisible units.
Tier 2 and 3 upgrade time reduced to 45 seconds, down from 60.
Sorceress A.I. has been updated.
Raider's Ensnare is now more consistent.

Balance:

All melee unit's HP increased by 25%. This is to compensate for the initial advantage that ranged units have, given the HP of all units is reduced.
Druid of the Talon upgrade now only has one tier since Storm Crow form isn't available for the unit.
Witch Doctor upgrade now only has one tier. Stasis Trap is available from the beginning. This is because he had very little utility before the first research.
Dispel Magic and Disenchant now have a 10 second cooldown.
Priest cost increased to 135, up from 120.
Priest's Heal cooldown increased to 1.2, up from 1.
Knight cost increased to 170, up from 160.
Knight is now a Tier 3 unit.
Dragonhawk Rider is now a Tier 2 unit.
Dragonhawk Rider's Aerial Shackles duration reduced to 10 seconds, down from 40.
Sorceress is now a Tier 1 unit.
Sorceress cost increased to 155, up from 130.
Sorceress's Slow cooldown increased to 5 seconds, up from 1.
Sorceress's Polymorph mana cost reduced to 30, down from 220.
Stasis Trap HP increased to 60, up from 20.
Tauren cost increased to 215, up from 200.
Possession no longer costs mana. Range increased to 500, up from 200. Removed cast time.
Possession range increased to 500, up from 200.
Raise Dead cooldown increased to 20 seconds, up from 15.
Crypt Fiend cost increased to 155, up from 125.
Necromancer cost increased to 145, up from 100.
Banshee cost increased to 155, up from 105.
Shaman cost increased to 130, up from 115.
Witch Doctor cost increased to 145, up from 120.
Chimaera splash area reduced to half.
Dryad is now a Tier 1 unit.
Glaive Thrower is now a Tier 2 unit.
Huntress cost increased to 145, up from 135.
Druid of the Claw's Bear Form movement speed increased to 324, up from 270.
Bear Form no longer costs mana.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where several unit types could become stuck/idle.
Fixed a bug where the Priest's Dispel Magic and the Spirit Walker's Disenchant abilities wouldn't be cast automatically.
Fixed a bug where units under the effect of Aerial Shackles wouldn't be stunned.
Fixed a bug where Dragonhawk Riders would cancel Aerial Shackles one second after casting.
Fixed a bug where the Kodo Beast's Devour wouldn't be cast.
Fixed a bug where the Huntress would become stuck after researching Sentinel.

LazZ · Apr 27, 2020

Patch 0.16

General:

Vastly improved performance.
A detailed description for every unit has been added.
Attack speed on all units increased by 100% (twice as fast).
Units no longer split into three groups when more than 40 units are spawned, but now they gradually seperate across the middle.
Watch Tower attack speed reduced to 0.15 seconds, down from 0.30
Watch Tower HP increased to 2000, up from 1200.
Fortress now deals splash damage.
Crypt Fiends can now use burrow.
Updated Priest, Spellbreaker, Spirit Walker and Obsidian Statue A.I.

Balance:

All units now have the same movement speed.
All catapult-like units have their range reduced to 800, down from 1150.
Mortar Team, Demolisher, and Meat Wagon damage reduced by 20%. Glaive Thrower stays the same.
Shaman and Banshee are now tier 1 units.
Raider and Gargoyle are now tier 2 units.
Footman Defend movement speed reduction reduced to 10%, down from 30%.
Priest Heal cooldown increased to 1.50 seconds, up from 1.20, but now heals for 37 HP, up from 25.
Dispel Magic and Disenchant now deals 45 damage to summoned units, down from 200.
Purge now drains 200 mana.
Stasis Trap stun duration reduced to 4 seconds, down from 6.
Cyclone duration reduced to 10 seconds, down from 20.
Witch Doctor Master Training now requires the Fortress upgrade.
Skeletal Longevity upgrade now increases summoned skeleton's duration by 15 seconds, up from 10.
Faerie Dragon Mana Flare damage per mana point reduced to 1, down from 3.
Raider HP reduced to 153, down from 175.
Headhunter gold cost increased to 120, up from 105.
Shaman gold cost increased to 145, up from 130.
Spirit Walker gold cost increased to 185, up from 145.
Tauren gold cost increased to 245, up from 215.
Raise Dead cooldown reduced to 8 seconds, down from 20.
Crypt Fiend gold cost reduced to 145, down from 155.
Frost Wyrm gold cost reduced to 330, down from 350.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where the Fortress and Watch Tower couldn't detect invisible units.

LazZ · May 3, 2020

Patch 0.17

General:

A custom loading screen has been added.
The scoreboard now also shows total stats for both teams.
The Undead can now build Destroyers.
Banshee Possession is now more consistent.

Balance:

Fortress attack speed increased to 0.40, up from 0.30.
All catapult-like units have their damage further reduced by 25%.
All catapult-like units have their range reduced so Fortress and Watch Tower can target them.
Watch Tower HP has been reduced back to 1200, down from 2000, and HP regeneration has been reduced to 3, down from 5.
Ensnare duration reduced to 9 seconds, down from 12.
Disease Cloud damage per second has been increased to 3, up from 1, and duration has been reduced to 20 seconds, down from 120.
Web duration reduced to 9 seconds, down from 12.
Rifleman attack speed increased to 0.90, up from 0.75.
Tauren gold cost has been increased to 270, up from 245.
Druid of the Talon gold cost increased to 145, up from 125.
Dryad Abolish Magic now has a 5 second cooldown and deals 50 damage to summoned units, down from 300.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a rare bug that could occur when two players built a gold extractor within the same second. The first player to build it would have his gold extractor cooldown reset.

LazZ · May 15, 2020

Patch 1.0

General:

The game now has an automatic save/load system. Players can view wins and total games for each race.
Players can now obtain skins to their builder by winning games.
Wave spawn timer has been reduced to 25 seconds, down from 30.
The bases have been moved even closer to each other (again).
Druid of the Claw A.I. has been updated.
Batrider A.I. has been updated.
Dryad A.I. has been updated.
Players can no longer order their units to attack buildings when there are enemy units nearby.

Balance:

All unit costs have changed and now follow a balance formular that calculates cost based on HP, damage, attack speed and more.
All unit HP has been increased by 40%.
All melee units have their range increased to 130, up from 100.
Fortress and Watch Tower range reduced to 600, down from 800.
Watch Tower attack speed increased to 0.20, up from 0.15.
All abilities that do damage to summoned units have their damage increased to 120, up from 45.
Riflemen now shoot projectiles instead of dealing instant damage.
Priest Heal now heals for 74, up from 37, and cooldown has been increased to 3 seconds, up from 1.50.
Unstable Concoction radius reduced to 100, down from 200. Primary damage reduced to 120, down from 600 and splash damage reduced to 28, down from 140.
Ancestral Spirit mana cost increased to 350, up from 250 and now resurrects Taurens with 50% HP, down from 100%.
Brute Strength upgrade now increases Grunt HP by 28, up from 20.
Raise Dead summoned unit count reduced to 1, down from 2. Cooldown increased to 25 seconds, up from 8. Duration has been reduced to 5 seconds, down from 10.
Skeletal Longevity now extends the skeleton's life by 5 seconds, down from 15.
Bear Form is now instant.
Mana Flare now lasts for 8 seconds, down from 30.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed multiple performance issues.
Fixed a bug where units could become controllable after crossing the middle.
Fixed a bug where the Shade didn't spawn.
Animal War Training no longer requires a Knight.

Desert Strike

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