Helms Deep Total War v2.0

[sniper23]

Yeah , I like it

 

[Banefull]

Just an update: I was able to get priority upload for makemehost.com and put Helms Deep Total War V2.0 BETA 11 on the website.

In my account page was quite interesting to see the huge number of times that Helms Deep Total War 1.7c got hosted.

Here is a screenshot from the first game I played on makemehost (fullhouse game)

Uruk Victory

Uruks won with 1:30 left. Everyone had a blast.

 

[Dj0z]

Hey hey, looks like your Helm's Deep has improved quite a bit since last time. I wish i could manage my time like you, being able to keep RL under control without giving up on w3 mapping.

So how is it going now? How do you host it, keep track of plays or amount of players joining, are there any new tricks/tools that came since a year ago? I'd like to play it myself one of those days. It's been so long.

 

[Banefull]

Long time, no see Dj0z from when I worked on A V A T A R, all is going well.
These days, most people use http://makemehost.com/. It gives anyone the ability to host maps as they please on bots. If you are a mapmaker, you can contact them to request mapper access which allows you to upload maps to their website. Once you have an account you can see how many times your map has been hosted on makemehost. As far as tools/tricks go, I recommend you check out this and this, two heavily utilized features in my map.

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Here is BETA 12: not much has changed but I tried to solve the issues involving desyncs. There are a few minor balance changes based on feedback and I also reworked Gimli. If you experience issues with desyncs still, plz try to inform me of what was happening during the game while the desync occurred. This my #1 priority to fix.

 

[Dj0z]

Okay so that's the current meta. Bookmarked all of those links.
That alpha tile thing looks just like what i've used back then for the Hallelujah flying-stone-paths, except apparently extended to the map as a whole. I remember you were using that technique aswell, to make those straight, realistic walls in this map right here. Looks like there's some refinement tips in there compared to how i did it in Avatar, seems very promising. And so is that damage display system.

Thanks for the update, i'm gonna take a look at MakeMeHost now.

 

[leeko]

So after playing a couple of games these are the issues I found.

1. When I played as green the whole castle was my color and got confusing where my units were on the mini map. Update I guess its with any color player? the whole castle on the mini map is white.

2. Great design of map looks like the movie helms deep though still getting used to the layout. Kinda disappointed in no side gate but I guess it was replaced with the keep gate.

3. LB hero has a glitch when he uses his level 6 ability, he becomes immune to everything this needs to be fixed ASAP. Update playing as LB I have yet to get the immunity so I don't know how the other player got it last game. He said it was from his level 6 ability.

4. Allowing as many ladders as orcs want may be OP this needs further testing. I do prefer the other way where it had places to put them. With the ladders being smaller maybe you can put it upto 20 ladders on the wall 10 on each side.

5. No info on opening all the gates in the map info tab in the gate section. I had to figure out how to open the hornburg gate though it wasn't hard. It should be listed with all other gate commands. Only 2 were there with 5 gates.

6. Gamling special says repairs Dike gate but with the side gate no longer there I guess its the Hornburg gate?

7. No celebrate music after victory!?

So far those are my issues at the moment will be playing more later and bring back more feedback.

 

[Banefull]

So after playing a couple of games these are the issues I found.

1. When I played as green the whole castle was my color and got confusing where my units were on the mini map. Update I guess its with any color player? the whole castle on the mini map is white.

2. Great design of map looks like the movie helms deep though still getting used to the layout. Kinda disappointed in no side gate but I guess it was replaced with the keep gate.

3. LB hero has a glitch when he uses his level 6 ability, he becomes immune to everything this needs to be fixed ASAP. Update playing as LB I have yet to get the immunity so I don't know how the other player got it last game. He said it was from his level 6 ability.

4. Allowing as many ladders as orcs want may be OP this needs further testing. I do prefer the other way where it had places to put them. With the ladders being smaller maybe you can put it upto 20 ladders on the wall 10 on each side.

5. No info on opening all the gates in the map info tab in the gate section. I had to figure out how to open the hornburg gate though it wasn't hard. It should be listed with all other gate commands. Only 2 were there with 5 gates.

6. Gamling special says repairs Dike gate but with the side gate no longer there I guess its the Hornburg gate?

7. No celebrate music after victory!?

So far those are my issues at the moment will be playing more later and bring back more feedback.

Thanks for the feedback.

1). This is an issue that can only be solved by importing a custom minimap. I am already in the process of photo editing one.

2). The side gate was replaced with the keep gate because it was the actual layout in the movie.

3). I have only seen this bug once but if lb kills his target before the duration of the ult spell ends, he will be invulnerable for an additional few seconds only. This will be fixed shortly in BETA 15.

4). Ladders are smaller and can fit only 1 unit at a time instead of two in ver 1.7c. The ladder's hp is greatly reduced but more of them can be massed. I tried to encourage Rohan to focus fire ladders more too. I'm not sure a cap would be best but I can try reducing the hp even further.

5). Already fixed in BETA 14

6). Correct, I will change the tooltip to reflect this in BETA 15.

7). No, but I can add it if people really like it. (Mustytoaster wanted to more serious tone for the ending)

 

[leeko]

Here is some more feedback

1. When all orc players leave it doesn't give humans automatic victory.

2. Some heroes special abilities requirements don't work like hama's. He can use it with the main gate at full HP.

3. Maybe barricades can be salvaged? I have seen a few times where people misplace the barricades and then just destroy them. Is it possible to have it be salvaged but get 50% money back.

4. Make Retreat Horn automatic at a certain HP maybe 300 or whenever it turns red. I think you stated you wanted to do this already. So I don't have to be typing in caps to players who are oblivious in using the horn and letting their hero die.

5. LOTR music throughout the game will make this more epic like the intro!

6. Orc base looks too plain (not a big deal just want more numbers).

 

[Banefull]

Here is some more feedback

1. When all orc players leave it doesn't give humans automatic victory.

2. Some heroes special abilities requirements don't work like hama's. He can use it with the main gate at full HP.

3. Maybe barricades can be salvaged? I have seen a few times where people misplace the barricades and then just destroy them. Is it possible to have it be salvaged but get 50% money back.

4. Make Retreat Horn automatic at a certain HP maybe 300 or whenever it turns red. I think you stated you wanted to do this already. So I don't have to be typing in caps to players who are oblivious in using the horn and letting their hero die.

5. LOTR music throughout the game will make this more epic like the intro!

6. Orc base looks too plain (not a big deal just want more numbers).

1). Good idea. I might even take this further and make it so that a rohan player could swap to a leaver uruk slot.

2). Thanks for pointing this out, I will fix this for BETA 15.

3). Good idea.

4). Mustytoaster and I have discussed this (him being in favor and me being against). I need to think this over because there are certain situations where I as an Uruk player have purposely tried to prevent heroes from using their horns by stunning or doing burst damage when they are at low hp. I could as a compromise make an automatic message if a player chooses to turn tips on.

5). Easily doable but there's always the map size concern. The map is currently 5.6 MB. If I add LOTR music, the filesize would probably increase to around 7.5 MB. Do you think people would see this as an acceptable trade-off?
(If implemented, you would not see it until the official 2.0 release since there is no point in redownloading music each time for many beta versions.)

6). This is someone I've considered but its low on my list of things to do.

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If you could tell me, how does the game's balance play out? Is the map weighted more towards Uruk-hai or Rohan? and why?
Are any heroes too powerful?
Is there any spot in the castle which needs fixing for balance reasons?

 

[leeko]

Yeah I would think putting LOTR music would be a good trade-off. Most people that play helm's deep maps are fans of the movies/books.

For the retreat horns is it possible to have it automatically used at a certain HP but still be able to stop it with a stun attack? For example if the retreat horn automatically teleports the hero when he reaches 300 hp and a orc hero with a stun attack stuns him when his at 350 HP, it cancels the automatic trigger.

Also so far the balance is pretty good it honestly depends on the players and teamwork. Sometimes orcs think defenders are OP but its really their fault for attacking 1 area the whole game. Same thing with defenders if orcs attack multiple places at once, they think orcs are OP its just really how you spread out the defense.

For the other 2 questions I haven't really seen anything game breaking beside the immunity that light blue's hero got.

 

[Radagast]

This actually looks decent... Great for a helms deep map, the best I've seen so far.

 

[Banefull]

Just a quick update, I am still working on BETA 15 but I am also working on a new project that is well under way too.

Supar Sekret Projekt

Anyone who has played Island Defense might know what this is.....

 

[Banefull]

Just an update:

Beta 15 is out. Includes custom music, a fixed minimap, fixed lb invulnerability bug, and other minor changes. Things are starting to come together completely. Despite the increase in filesize, people like the music. There are an additional 6 LOTR tracks added (in addition to the existing intro-cinematic track).

 

[JaednHowlar]

My Thoughts...

Hi There! I Host Helms Deep Total War 2.0 Constantly, in the last week at least 50 times. So far I've glimpsed into every colour, and especially focused on brown, purple, and Green, who I consider the most crucial players due to heroes and for brown, position.

Balance: Impeccable. I usually win with a skilled team vs an unskilled team, as far as teamwork and tactics goes, and vice versa. 2 Well skilled teams most often leads to a fight that very close either way. no unit, hero, or strikepoint/chokepoint cannot be countered or effectively delayed/minimized.

Issues: LB invuln bug is still around based on his stealthing and unstealthing.

What about that autospawn system? at the very least a masser, which would eliminate clogs of units on siege ladders caused by multiple players units, latency, and ranged units stopping to fire and never continuing.

Any way to implement a share unit command? sort of like lordaeron tactics, just to standardize it for new players, who often refuse to turn it on and clog my ladders to death.

Aragorns Ability is rarely able to be used. the time limit is small and it is unlikely wall can handle its 2 main tankers to go to the gate, which does not require anymore help to stay alive if the gatemen use commands right.

Siege ladders allow troop movement after there destruction.

The map is prone to Desyncing players

There is no swap in game as mentioned earlier as a possibility. This would help greatly, especially if a pro good team realizes orcs simply cannot challenge them, they can swap instead of the constant time drain of remaking.

at current ladder hp, if good side actually aims ladders, evil will lose all its starting ladders and any extra it buys by the time next income arrives. This makes the only options against a competent good team a quick lighter by pooling. As haldir alone ive managed to aim ladders for my whole team and completely leave the orcs dry, who were then forced to send up no more than 3 easily killed ladders at a time(admittedly they werent using heroes well). Do not debuff their hitpoints anymore please. Its hard to tell if this is imbalancing as i find my skill level allows me to break the wall b4 it becomes an issue in most games. The biggest concern is that a pooling for lighter become necessary every game. If so, an orc should start with no resources, with one player having a lighter to start.

Some sort of slight bonus to healing in hall. Just to account for the mass of aoe and arrows flying in, good should be able to squeeze an extra minute out if they are wise enough to switch out injured troops. maybe an aura generator near the throne?

Is ballista working? it seems i aim it and then i cant really see much of an effect... or perhaps it cant hit the hall, in which case its use is limited unless your brown and grey are averse to using there aoe's. Its presence is also very hidden from most players.

Hire archers from armory plz? rohanian ones of course. Thats not a big one, though.

Overall I love this map, and the changes to the keep increase the challenge level and the reward for playing it. With good players, every battle is new. Every hero has a good role.I have personally used and enjoyed every troop type, although admittedly wargs are rarely useful unless good likes to hang out in open areas.

Play with me sometime! Eowyn on East or West. Ciao!

 

[Banefull]

Hi There! I Host Helms Deep Total War 2.0 Constantly, in the last week at least 50 times. So far I've glimpsed into every colour, and especially focused on brown, purple, and Green, who I consider the most crucial players due to heroes and for brown, position.

Balance: Impeccable. I usually win with a skilled team vs an unskilled team, as far as teamwork and tactics goes, and vice versa. 2 Well skilled teams most often leads to a fight that very close either way. no unit, hero, or strikepoint/chokepoint cannot be countered or effectively delayed/minimized.

Issues: LB invuln bug is still around based on his stealthing and unstealthing.

What about that autospawn system? at the very least a masser, which would eliminate clogs of units on siege ladders caused by multiple players units, latency, and ranged units stopping to fire and never continuing.

Any way to implement a share unit command? sort of like lordaeron tactics, just to standardize it for new players, who often refuse to turn it on and clog my ladders to death.

Aragorns Ability is rarely able to be used. the time limit is small and it is unlikely wall can handle its 2 main tankers to go to the gate, which does not require anymore help to stay alive if the gatemen use commands right.

Siege ladders allow troop movement after there destruction.

The map is prone to Desyncing players

There is no swap in game as mentioned earlier as a possibility. This would help greatly, especially if a pro good team realizes orcs simply cannot challenge them, they can swap instead of the constant time drain of remaking.

at current ladder hp, if good side actually aims ladders, evil will lose all its starting ladders and any extra it buys by the time next income arrives. This makes the only options against a competent good team a quick lighter by pooling. As haldir alone ive managed to aim ladders for my whole team and completely leave the orcs dry, who were then forced to send up no more than 3 easily killed ladders at a time(admittedly they werent using heroes well). Do not debuff their hitpoints anymore please. Its hard to tell if this is imbalancing as i find my skill level allows me to break the wall b4 it becomes an issue in most games. The biggest concern is that a pooling for lighter become necessary every game. If so, an orc should start with no resources, with one player having a lighter to start.

Some sort of slight bonus to healing in hall. Just to account for the mass of aoe and arrows flying in, good should be able to squeeze an extra minute out if they are wise enough to switch out injured troops. maybe an aura generator near the throne?

Is ballista working? it seems i aim it and then i cant really see much of an effect... or perhaps it cant hit the hall, in which case its use is limited unless your brown and grey are averse to using there aoe's. Its presence is also very hidden from most players.

Hire archers from armory plz? rohanian ones of course. Thats not a big one, though.

Overall I love this map, and the changes to the keep increase the challenge level and the reward for playing it. With good players, every battle is new. Every hero has a good role.I have personally used and enjoyed every troop type, although admittedly wargs are rarely useful unless good likes to hang out in open areas.

Play with me sometime! Eowyn on East or West. Ciao!

Very helpful feedback!

I've been on a long hiatus from warcraft 3 since electrical engineering in college took up so much of my time. I may start working on it again.