[Campaign] Lamentations of Azeroth: Part 0

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

STORY
This campaign covers alternative history about immediate after Frozen Throne.
(It's an independent story that I made, although there's a lot of reference to the background of Warcraft and WoW.)
You will lead of both Scourge of Northrend that are pursuing Illidari retreating and Thuzadin Cult, that is struck by Sylvanas' forces and to become in crisis at Lordaeron.

Features
n+ playable chapters and interludes: Currently, I am planning more than 20 playable chapters. In this alpha demo, you can play 8 chapters.
Unique Armory with StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty style: In addition to researching techs in-game, you can further upgrade your forces through unique Armory and its points.
Armory is allowed after a certain mission, and its points can be acquired by completing certain main quests, or optional quest, or finding secrets.
Grid hotkeys: All major shortcuts to units, structures and skills mapped to QWER-ASDF-ZXCV grid hotkeys for more intuitive gameplay (except A,S,M,P,H, and etc common button and some special cases)
Ex; Ability hotkeys of heroes' and units' are mapped to Z,X,C,V and Q,W,D,F / Hotkeys to train units, build structures, research techs are Q,W,E,R / A,S,D,F / Z,X,C,V.
Subdivision of game difficulty level: The player may choose Easy / Normal / Hard / Hard Level 2.
Playable newtype custom races, units, heroes, abilities and items: I tried to make various and unique newtype custom factions, heroes, units, abilities and items with Jass scripts.
In this campaign part, you will lead the both classical Undead Scourge and Cult of the Damned.
Attempting to reinterpret upkeep and food: - Upkeep in this campaign does not reduce harvesting gold. In addition to gathering resources, there is income that is additional and basic also, and upkeep reduces this value according to food used in realtime. (If you've played Company of Heroes, think about manpower and its upkeep. It'll be easy to understand.)
- In this campaign, defensive structures also spend food, and food cap is 200.

Requirements
Reforged HD 1.36+ version. I worked this map on Reforged HD latest version.
GTX1070+ or similar class of AMD VGA
or
GTX1070 or similar class of AMD VGA & lowest graphic quality option.
16GB+ of memory.

How to install
1. unzip the files, place the ".w3n Campaign File" in MyPC\MyDocuments\WarcraftIII\Campaigns\
2. Place the "unitacksounds.slk" file in the path of the "Your warcraft III folder, \retail\ui\soundinfo\" .
This is not essential, but it is about the sound quotes of custom units.
2a. If you are not playing this campaign, keep the "unitacksounds.slk" file in a different path or delete it.
customed slk files may cause desync in multiplay.
2b. Go to registry editor, add a Dword (32bit) in this path, rename it Allow Local Files, and set its number from 0 to 1
(References: Mr Ogre Man's Posts)

If you have ever used external WC3 mod installers, like Chronicles of the Second War or Quenching Mod, they may have already done that.

Main Characters

	Anub'arak, Crypt Lord Anub'arak is the Leader of Scourge Nerubian, those are capable workers and elite soldiers of Lich King. He and his army struggles to annihiliate Illidari being on the run from Icecrown.
	Heigan, Necrolyte The Scourge loyalist necromancy hero who degenerates vitality of enemies and uses corpses very skillfully.
	Vellariah, Shadow Ranger A dark ranger in Thuzadin cult. The shadow rangers are superior snipers specialized for counterattacking spellcasters.

	Illidari Commanders Kael and Vashj commands Illidari expedition army in chief After Illidan has been injured. They are running away from the Scourge.
	Sylvanas, Dark Ranger Sylvanas is the banshee queen, dark lady and supreme commander of Forsaken. After she got victorious in Lordaeron city against Legion's Dreadlords, she is trying to drive the momentum and launch grand offensive against Scourge in Eastern Kingdoms that is weakened by being divided during war in plaguelands, to revenge and completely eradicate them from there.

Unique Armory

You can upgrade your Scourge, Cult, and heroes more with unique armory.

Cult of the Damned Features
Spreads more plagues and blight: The Cult is better at generating blight and plagues than Scourge.
Can spread blights from the start to end of game with Cultist & Confessor. By doing this, The Cult combatants can regenerates HP in continuously by standing on blight.
By using Confessor's Comae Aura to support Disease Cloud, can accumulate damages over time more powerful.
Cult can also spreads Disease Cloud to air units.
Freely placing and spending corpses: Cultist or Confessor needs Some HP or a corpse to spread this blight. If you feel the burden to cost HP in the absence of a corpse, costs your resources to produce zombies.
You may use Necromancer's Raise Dead freely too.
Prevent much damage and spells, but there are no ways to heal injuries: The Cult can skillfully dispel magics since Tier 0, also reduce magic damage with Anti-Magic Shell, and reduce physical damage with Anti-Physic Shell. It is also possible to distribute damage by using the Spirit Link.
However, since Cult does not have Obsidian Statue, so, the recovery is very slow, which could lead to a surge in gold consumption to purchase healing items.


Progress
Chapter Prologue - Done
Chapter 01 - Done
Chapter 02 - Done
Chapter 03 - Done
Chapter 03 Interlude - Done
Chapter 04 - Done
Chapter 05 - Done
Chapter 06 - Done
Chapter 06 Interlude - Done
Chapter 07 - Done
Chapter 08 - Done
Chapter 09 - Done
Chapter 10 - Done
Chapter 11 - Done
Chapter 12 - Done
Chapter 13 - In Progress, Incomplete

Credits
I am trying to my best to credit the authors of every resource I am using in my campaign. However, there is a chance I might have missed someone. If you notice your resource being used without you being mentioned on the list below, just let me know and I will be more than happy to update it.

Spoiler: Credits: Custom Triggers

Blizzard Entertainment
vJass, TimerUtils - by Vexorian
TimerUtilsEx - by Vexorian, Bribe & Magtheridon96
Table - by Bribe
Alloc - by Sevion
TimedHandles - by TriggerHappy
RegisterPlayerUnitEvent & RegisterSpellEffectEvent: by Magtheridon96, Bannar
DamageEngine - by Bribe
GUI Unit Event - by Bribe
UnitMovingEngine - by Bribe
GetClosestWidget - by Bannar
Arcing Text Tag - by Maker, Bribe
CustomWaygate - by SpellBound
Common_v2.ai - by InsaneMonster
AI Behavior Controller - by Riki
Talent Kitchen - by The_Spellweaver
Reforged UI Designer - by NightKnight

Chopinski: Relativistic Missile System, Utilities, SpellEffectPlugin, DamageInterface, an originator most of custom spells in my maps.
Water: Fixed errors about save&load with Relativistic Missile System
Thompzon: struct guide
Moyack: struct guide, Jass AI guide
Icefrog & Neichus: originators of some custom spells
Derdan, somen00b: Guiding how to use DamageEngine
Uncle: Calculating Coordination
MindWorX: Calculating Coordination
Dr Super Good: Calculating Coordination
Planetary, Tristronic: Custom strings
Scripting AI Guide - by InsaneMonster, Nowow, Warseeker
UI Frame Guide: Tasyen, Uncle, HerlySQR, Hate

Spoiler: Credits: Custom Unit Models & Icons:

Blizzard Entertainment
Optimized Farm Model - by Mr Ogre Man
Cow - by Symphoneum
Blood Elf Golem - by Rukhmar
Blood Elf Paladin "Rinassa Sunchaser" - by liptonite
Blood Elf Paladin "Rinassa Sunchaser"s icon - by FlorianGeyerVonGiebelstadt (This was not included in the original pack, so I made arbitrarily this without the original author's consent. Please contact me if there are any problems.)
Silvermoon Town Hall/Keep/Castle - by Darious, Liebanas_dn, Tamplier
High/Blood Elven Blacksmith - by Darious, Tamplier
High/Blood Elven Altar of Heroes - by Darious, Liebanas_dn, Superfrycook, Tamplier
High Elven Lumber Mill Reforged - by Tamplier
Ancient of Depths - by Mr Ogre Man
UPG icon edited by FlorianGeyerVonGiebelstadt (There was a minor problem with the icon, so I edited it arbitrarily. Please contact me if there are any problems.)
Naga lord "Naj'entus" - by Mr Ogre Man
SharkRay HD: couldn't find the original posts. Please contact me.
Death Knight Mounted - by Vulfar
Undead Restless Spirit - by Raddazong
Cult of the Damned Bandits Re-Reforged - by BurnedSmackdown, InsaneMonster, Mr Ogre Man
Bat(reforged) - by Mr Ogre Man
Ember Wyrm - by Mr Ogre Man
Gargoyle Spire Reforged with Fixed animations - by VictorZ
Grain Wagon Re-Reforged - by Mr Ogre Man
Forsaken Necromancer / Apothecary - by handclaw
Reforged Second War Orc Deathknight - by Tamplier
Lordaeron Royal Guard - by Fugrim
Grand Inquisitor Isillien/Scarlet Crusade Priest - by Rolland
All effects of Revenants - by Blizzard, DepRa
Troll Dragonhawks - by Mr Ogre Man
Dark Horde-Ogre Bundle - by Raddazong
WC2 Altar of Storms Reforged - by Tamplier
Orc Tower Tier 3 Reforged - by Tamplier
Orc Temple of the Damned Reforged - by Tamplier
Goblin Alchemist Lab Reforged - by Tamplier
Troll Lumber Mill Reforged - by Tamplier
Ogre Mound and Derivatives Reforged - by Tamplier
Orc Blacksmith Reforged - by Tamplier
Hero Forest Troll Shadow Hunter - by Bagysta
RoC mechanical units Reforged - by Tamplier
Eye of Kilrogg - by Mr Ogre Man
Gan'arg - by Mr Ogre Man
Ravager Battleship - by Kam, Raddazong
CaptainHec's Naga Building Pack - by CaptainHec
Skeletal Worker - by Archaos

Dwarf Miners/Workers - by Barorque, ShadiHD, Tamplier, Trolldaeron
Ironforge Footman - by Barorque, ShadiHD, Tamplier, Trolldaeron
Dwarf Buildings - by Barorque, CSW Team
Ironforge Priest - by Barorque, ShadiHD, Tamplier, Trolldaeron
Ironforge Mage - by Barorque, ShadiHD, Tamplier, Trolldaeron
Vrykul/trapper Assets Re-Reforged - by Mr Ogre man, handclaw

Spoiler: Credits: Custom Sounds & Musics

Militant Squad quotes - from Command and Conquer 3; Electronic Arts
Confessor Cabal quotes - from Command and Conquer 3; Electronic Arts
Awakened quotes - from Command and Conquer 3; Electronic Arts
Ascendant quotes - from StarCraft II; Blizzard Entertainment

Assault on New Avalon - from World of Warcraft; Blizzard Entertainment
zerg4 - from StarCraft; Blizzard Entertainment
Act on Instinct - from Command and Conquer 3; Electronic Arts
The Zenith - from Command and Conquer 3; Electronic Arts
Convoy - from Company of Heroes; Relic Entertainment
Combat07 - from Company of Heroes 2; Relic Entertainment
Western Front Armies Track 14 - from Company of Heroes 2; Relic Entertainment
Sturmpioneer Quotes - from Company of Heroes 2; Relic Entertainment
Western Front Armies Track 7, 8, 12, 13 - from Company of Heroes 2; Relic Entertainment
Frostpunk - from Frostpunk; 11 bit studios
Grommash Hellscream - World of Warcraft; Blizzard Entertainment
Rise to the Dark - World of Warcraft; Blizzard Entertainment

These custom sounds are purely my taste and fanheart. When the original authors raise an issue through copyright or Hive admins warn me, these are very likely to be changed through updates.

Spoiler: +Credits: Custom Models & Sounds & Musics & Triggers: (version 24.05.28~

+Credits: Custom Models & Sounds & Musics & Triggers: (version 24.05.28~)
Guldan Quotes - Heroes of the Storm; Blizzard Entertainment
Selection circle -Optimised - by Mr Ogre Man
Shandris Feathermoon Re-Ranger Version - by liptonite
Warden Ranger - by liptonite
Kastie Moonsong (Sponsored by Missing Shadowsong) - by vindorei, Missing Shadowsong
Bleak Twilight - Command and Conquer 3; Electronic Arts
Thor Modan(Northrend Dwarves) - World of Warcraft; Blizzard Entertainment
Thorim and Loken(Storm Peaks) - World of Warcraft; Blizzard Entertainment
Twilight’s Hammer - World of Warcraft; Blizzard Entertainment
Twilight Vale - World of Warcraft; Blizzard Entertainment
A Death Knight Arise (Ebon Hold Acherus) - World of Warcraft; Blizzard Entertainment
RegisterEvents - by Magtheridon96, Bannar, Bribe
MapBounds - by Adiktuz
Detecting Spell Steal - by Tasyen
Check Walkability - by PurgeandFire

Frost Golem - by Vulfar
Ironforge Captain - by Barorque, ShadiHD, Tamplier, Trolldaeron
Ironforge Ram Rider - by Barorque, ShadiHD, Tamplier, Trolldaeron
Dark Ironforge/Thaurissan's Reach - World of Warcraft; Blizzard Entertainment
Hero Warrior Dwarf - by ZoomMan
Goblin Laborer - by Symphoneum
The Blood Knights of Kor'Khornas: Heroes - by BurnedSmackdown
Forsaken Dread Guard (Reforged) - by Superfrycook
MUS_Goblin_UU - World of Warcraft; Blizzard Entertainment
ZSwarm_Music_Kaldir3_Ambient - StarCraft II; Blizzard Entertainment
The_Rescue_FULL - StarCraft II; Blizzard Entertainment
P01CinePart01 - StarCraft II; Blizzard Entertainment
The Dark Voice - StarCraft II; Blizzard Entertainment
Space_1_FULL - StarCraft II; Blizzard Entertainment
Space_2_FULL - StarCraft II; Blizzard Entertainment
Space_Battle_2_FULL - StarCraft II; Blizzard Entertainment
ZSWARM_MUSIC_Titan_Suspended - StarCraft II; Blizzard Entertainment
Overdrive - StarCraft II; Blizzard Entertainment

Spoiler: Feedbacks during development:

SENMON
Mavcik

Disclaimer
As possible, do not use cheat codes. I didn't make this map on the premise of using cheat codes.
I am not responsible for errors caused by the use of cheat codes.
Please do not edit the campaign and the maps without my permission. Do not rip assets from campaign file and respect the authors of them. If you don't know who made asset you want to take, feel free to ask.
Some utility scripts have been arbitrarily modified by me for in-map compatibility and leakage troubleshooting.

Supporting Localization
English; My English is not perfect, if you accurately point out the problems about typos, grammar, vocabulary and characters' accent, I will be happy to update them.
Korean (Will support in the future)

Issues I recognized:
Insufficient Custom Models. Especially in Naga; Tier Hall, Shop, War Mill, etc's have to been changed.
Inaccurate rough maps of loading screen.

If there are any other problems, please tell me. There could be more problems that I haven't found.

This work is very inspired by WarCraft III official campaigns and other many custom campaigns, StarCraft, Command & Conquer 3 and Company of Heroes.


Videos

Playing Demo
After playing the videos or demo games, please leave feedback and evaluation in various parts such as error reporting and memory leaks, scripting, terraining, and level design, etc.. It will be a great help!

Version 2024-08-17 (up to Chapter11)
Demo (mega.nz)

 

[SENMON]

when troops clean gnoll main base and go left, the game will crash. I think that it is a bug.

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

when troops clean gnoll main base and go left, the game will crash. I think that it is a bug.

Thank you for the error report. Crash occurred when you destroyed gnoll base and completed the optional quest?
If it so, I found a simillar accident from Blue Cult AI in Chapter 03, If custom-made common.ai script run it to the computer player, not the basic races provided by Warcraft 3, I guess it cause an infinite thread loop error inside AI when AI Bases are completely destroyed.
In Chapter 03 I solved this problem by removing the Blue Cult Player immediately from the game when it lose all Peasants and Town Halls. I'll do this the same for Chapter 01.

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

Chapter03, Chapter03Interlude, Chapter04 is completed.
Play the Demo version that fixed some errors and included new chapters!
Player can use Unique Armory.

• If Heigan learned Advanced Necromancy, player can use it to workers and play other races although limited.
• If you've played a previous version of the demo, you can use the following cheat code for quick progress.

• warpten
• whosyourdaddy
• greedisgood

 

[Mavcik]

Hey this looks like an amazing work and intresting concept.
If you'd be looking for testers I'd be more than up for it.
Augements of units and changes and intresting combinations is completly my jam.
It's great to see custom tech trees with story telling and well done gameplay.
Looking forward to see how it will continue.

 

[Mavcik]

I have encountered a game breaking bug?
On mission 2, the one with Caravans. The game randomly rashes.
I think it might be because I stopped the blue player establishing new base. Instead i created my own?
Maybe that causes a crash? I defend 2nd caravan run and game suddenly... shuts down?
Ideas?

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

I have encountered a game breaking bug?
On mission 2, the one with Caravans. The game randomly rashes.
I think it might be because I stopped the blue player establishing new base. Instead i created my own?
Maybe that causes a crash? I defend 2nd caravan run and game suddenly... shuts down?
Ideas?

thank you for error report!
To be honest, I've never tested a game based on when blocking AI trying to expand. I tested it only catching caravans.

For now, I have urgently fixed and re-uploaded that is the suspected parts of the AI scripts in that chapter.
If you're bothered to download files again, or if you're focusing on complete all chapters quickly, don't touch AI's bases in chapter 02.

The error may still be unresolved because I still lack techniques and skills to script AI accurately without errors...

 

[Mavcik]

Hello!
Tried without taking that map. Still error crashed so it might not be connected to it (It happend later tho when I cleared it so maybe? I'm not sure)
I have couple of questions.
Whats the point of skeleton warriors when we have zombies?
Zombies are cheaper relatively, made from building that is neccesary for the gameplay,
have same stats and don't take queue for other range units that might be needed.
Giving every unit ressurecction on mission 2 is... bold, altho makes fights easier.
Much MUCH easier. as you can have 30 zombies as front line + backline as assasins and skeleton mages and preety much onward on the siege.
The graveyard that you get for free in the mission doesn't count as greaveyard for building spirit towers.
Revive of all minions on tier 1 is also very strong.
Unless you give some AOE powers to the enemeis so they can counter all the endlessly reviving units .

The audio-file that you've created. I don't for example, have the fodler that you want the file to be put in.
So maybe lack of it is what causes the crashes.
Just an idea and possibility.
I'd take the "acolytes" from building unit. They can build buildings sure, but if you use them as fighting units for now mostly, they are annoying as the pop-up for free worker. PLus they don't have auto-attack becuase they are workers.
So that might be something worth checking?

Anyway. not sure about at which point is the armory points being chosen,
When are they added? Maybe after mission 2? I didnt have any choices so far and since it's crashing for now it's hard to check more.

Either way,
intresting concept and abilities.
I'm very curios to see the progress of this campaign and your work.

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

thx for your sincere feedbacks!

Tried without taking that map. Still error crashed so it might not be connected to it (It happend later tho when I cleared it so maybe? I'm not sure)

In addition to my big mistake in writing the script for that chapter, Reforged's own problems may also overlap.
I'm making and testing maps with I set all options to low/off in graphic quality options. Nevertheless, even without triggers and AI, crashes often occur, mostly when Townhall is being built or upgraded.
I thought about using MrOgreMan's Kultiras Townhall temporarily instead of basic townhall model, but I gave up because its didn't have Castle's model.

Whats the point of skeleton warriors when we have zombies?
Zombies are cheaper relatively, made from building that is neccesary for the gameplay,
have same stats and don't take queue for other range units that might be needed.

Actually, Grainhouse units except Cultist may have no meaning of existence. They are meaningful in being mass-produced quickly and cheaply in early time, but they are also difficult to highlight in campaigns.
However, Tier 0 units are bonus-type units that are not included in the 11 of combatant unit rosters to be provided for races by races.

The graveyard that you get for free in the mission doesn't count as greaveyard for building spirit towers.

This is because the data of the units and buildings used by Cult and the data of the units and buildings used by Scourge exist separately.
If you want to upgrade Cult's ziggurat, you need to build Cult's Graveyard.
This may be a designing error, but it's not a technical error.

Giving every unit ressurecction on mission 2 is... bold, altho makes fights easier.
Much MUCH easier. as you can have 30 zombies as front line + backline as assasins and skeleton mages and preety much onward on the siege.
The graveyard that you get for free in the mission doesn't count as greaveyard for building spirit towers.
Revive of all minions on tier 1 is also very strong.
Unless you give some AOE powers to the enemeis so they can counter all the endlessly reviving units

Yes, I am watching their resurrection. I don't seriously care about the difficulty drop in the early chapters, but in later chapters, I'm designing to make AIs use AOEs and dispels more actively.

The audio-file that you've created. I don't for example, have the fodler that you want the file to be put in.
So maybe lack of it is what causes the crashes.

That won't be the cause of the crash. I had an experience of testing it without that slk file.
Its installation path is here.

I'd take the "acolytes" from building unit. They can build buildings sure, but if you use them as fighting units for now mostly, they are annoying as the pop-up for free worker. PLus they don't have auto-attack becuase they are workers.
So that might be something worth checking?

Anyway. not sure about at which point is the armory points being chosen,
When are they added? Maybe after mission 2? I didnt have any choices so far and since it's crashing for now it's hard to check more.

There is a story related to the running of AI that gave the Worker attribute to the Cultist. Because AI gives only "Workers Properties units " orders to build construct.

But your point is very just. the Idle worker showing of the unit that has no gathering resource is definitely intrusive.
I will test by removing the basic Worker properties of the Cultist and add it to only cpu's cultist by using triggers.

Players can access armory in chapter 03+.

 

[Mavcik]

It might be town-hall related actually you're right. in both cases it happend just after i finished town-hall.
just in 2 diffrent places.
So yeah it migh be that.
About zombies and other tier 0 units.
Okay thats good to know . So there is much more to comin before we even know? That's so cool! .
Anyway.
Cant wait to continue trying the mod and seeing more episodes you can come up with.
For the Caravan mission I'd add a number of how many caravans are left. Just an idea, if you want to leave it vague that can probably work too.

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

It might be town-hall related actually you're right. in both cases it happend just after i finished town-hall.
just in 2 diffrent places.
So yeah it migh be that.
About zombies and other tier 0 units.
Okay thats good to know . So there is much more to comin before we even know? That's so cool! .
Anyway.
Cant wait to continue trying the mod and seeing more episodes you can come up with.
For the Caravan mission I'd add a number of how many caravans are left. Just an idea, if you want to leave it vague that can probably work too.

For now, I will replace the model of the Basic Town Hall with the Elf's Town Hall to sort of solve the crash problem right away. This would be absurd and reduce immersion, but it would be better than a crash.
I want to solve this problems about Town Hall/Keep/Castle model even if I pay for it. (within what I can afford)

It would be very unkind about the quest and its progress. This is a device to prevent spoilers, to give you the feeling of dealing with unidentifed enemies, and to highlight the elements of adventuring.

Re-uploaded a demo version that replaced the model of town hall with an elf town hall.
Even so, if a similar accident occurs in a similar situation, I will cry.

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

Spoiler: Screenshot 1

Spoiler: Screenshot 2

Spoiler: Screenshot 3

Progress of chapter 05 is nearing end... I am going to start making Chapter 06 soon.

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

I think I noticed the wrong fact, so I correct it. Crashes in the latest version of HD is with pkb files(special visual effects) problem and shifting camera-view (such as clicking mini-map). HD model designers pointed this out.

I really want to reduce the probability of crash even if I modify pkb files to blank myself, but I have no knowledge and experience with 3d models at all...

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

I've prepared a gameplay shortclip of Chapter 05.
I hope you like the macros and combat styles of this campaign.

Note: Recorded after installing quenching mod v2.2

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

Developing Chapter 06.
Its main theme is a fierce battle for Siege of ruined Stratholme.

Spoiler: Screenshot 1

Spoiler: Screenshot 2

 

[SENMON]

One part agrees with the previous point.
Overpowered 0 food zombies, which makes a lot of troop types non-existent, except for the obligatory siege units. In fact in chapter 3, just making zombies all the time and 100 population siege units can easily bulldoze through everything.
I think the positioning of zombies overlaps completely with that of skeleton warriors, and the fact that zombies are produced by barns is a design of unclear significance. I think having the barn have an instantaneous zombie production feature might help alleviate the early pressure when the enemy is attacking more aggressively in the early stages. Otherwise, if the focus is too much on tech, then the opponent's waves with heroes in the early stages will easily destroy our bases, and these limit the use of Tier 1 level troops. I guess instantaneous zombie production with duration based on the number of barns might be a better idea?

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

One part agrees with the previous point.
Overpowered 0 food zombies, which makes a lot of troop types non-existent, except for the obligatory siege units. In fact in chapter 3, just making zombies all the time and 100 population siege units can easily bulldoze through everything.
I think the positioning of zombies overlaps completely with that of skeleton warriors, and the fact that zombies are produced by barns is a design of unclear significance. I think having the barn have an instantaneous zombie production feature might help alleviate the early pressure when the enemy is attacking more aggressively in the early stages. Otherwise, if the focus is too much on tech, then the opponent's waves with heroes in the early stages will easily destroy our bases, and these limit the use of Tier 1 level troops. I guess instantaneous zombie production with duration based on the number of barns might be a better idea?

You're right. In common RTS game, the unit with 0 food and no timed life is a design error. my obvious mistake.

I tried to differentiate zombies from Skeleton Warrior by giving them the option to help Necromancers and Necrolyte, and not be constrained by maintenance costs, but instead sacrifice durability with light armor and researching advancements by consuming a lot of lumbers.

But I've verified that there's a problem with it more than I intended.
In addition to you point out the rapid decline in campaign difficulty due to zombies, the zombies revived through Reproduction are not detected by necromancer's Raise Dead.
This will prove to be a failure both by design intent and by actual gameplay.

I don't know the exact meaning of "instantaneous zombie production with duration based on the number of barns" you mentioned. Am I correct in suggesting that reworking zombie with something similar to the timed-life off-map support abilities like other RTS campaigns?

First, I'm going to change the zombie like the following.

Costs Food 1
Reduce build time & reduce resource costs very little
Trains at warehouse
Unaffected by Reproduction. (Completely eliminate confusing the player; Raise Dead is not able to recognize zombie's corpse that already revived by Reproduction even though the zombie's corpse exist clearly. & Blue AI's offensive difficulty in Chapter 02 will naturally decrease)

There are also some pointed out that the efficiency of reproduction is very good, so I will test the reducing the amount of HP recovery of units that have been revived by the reproduction.

 

[SENMON]

You're right. In common RTS game, the unit with 0 food and no timed life is a design error. my obvious mistake.

I tried to differentiate zombies from Skeleton Warrior by giving them the option to help Necromancers and Necrolyte, and not be constrained by maintenance costs, but instead sacrifice durability with light armor and researching advancements by consuming a lot of lumbers.

But I've verified that there's a problem with it more than I intended.
In addition to you point out the rapid decline in campaign difficulty due to zombies, the zombies revived through Reproduction are not detected by necromancer's Raise Dead.
This will prove to be a failure both by design intent and by actual gameplay.

I don't know the exact meaning of "instantaneous zombie production with duration based on the number of barns" you mentioned. Am I correct in suggesting that reworking zombie with something similar to the timed-life off-map support abilities like other RTS campaigns?

First, I'm going to change the zombie like the following.

Costs Food 1
Reduce build time & reduce resource costs very little
Trains at warehouse
Unaffected by Reproduction. (Completely eliminate confusing the player; Raise Dead is not able to recognize zombie's corpse that already revived by Reproduction even though the zombie's corpse exist clearly. & Blue AI's offensive difficulty in Chapter 02 will naturally decrease)

There are also some pointed out that the efficiency of reproduction is very good, so I will test the reducing the amount of HP recovery of units that have been revived by the reproduction.

I mean - give townhall an ability to produce zombies based on the number of barns, so that this can be a defend strategy when upgrading the tech instead of producing a large tier 0 troop to defend the opponent's early attack. In fact, it's easy to die suddenly in the early stages for players who like to make high-tech troops.
Of course, this is just advice, the decision is yours. I really like your campaign and think it has a good potential, Please keep up your good work! Thank you!

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

I've prepared a gameplay shortclip of Chapter 06 in development.
I came up with and applied a different game-level design.
CPUs will try to expand their bases at new gold mines periodically, Player can also competes for that goldmine or interrupt their expanding.
I hope this design will be compensation for the players for their aggressive activities even though their don't have a lot of troops.

I'd like to continue to utilize this level design.

Note: Recorded with Kokr installing option

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

I'd like to ask Hivers for opinions on whether or not to introduce naval battle.
The stage in the background of chapter 07 is Arthas' landing site. (TFT UndeadX04)

I don't have any experience writing AI scripts about naval battle yet, so I don't know how big the technical issues will be, nor am I sure this will be a fun factor of gameplay.
Therefore, if I actively refer to the map of the corresponding that chapter of the official campaign, it should include naval combat, but because of these issues, I am considering whether to change the design.

Here's what I'm considering.

Introducing naval battle (if there is no technical problem):
Method A: Active naval battle. There are many island areas and the use of ships is required.
Method B: Auxiliary naval combat. All the main roads will eventually be connected by ground, and the transport ship and seaways will be a time-saving device to be used instead of a remote land route. Even if the player skips the production of the ship altogether, there is no obstacle to completing the mission, and the enemy CPUs naval power will be only used to disperse the player's concentration.

If you oppose the introduction of naval combat, why?
A: It's difficult to write scripts and attackwave and buildorder AI using ships and shipyards, not Naga, can cause frequent errors.
B: It's much more fun to focus on the land combat.
C: It's still too early to introduce naval combat. We don't have any attacker flyer units yet that we can use to counter ships when we're losing in control of the sea.
etc...:

I am waiting for your feedback!

 

[Mavcik]

Hey!

From my Experience Full Naval missions are usually...
Boring?
It looks mostly like just waiting forever until you make enough baltteships so you can take enemy in one big sweep since they don't cost food.
I like the idea of having map with posibilities of water where transport ships can be useful and drops can be danger to you as well from enemy side.
I have 0 knowledge about scripting and programming taht so I cannot help with that.

But I'm more than curious to check it out.
Mavcik

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

Hey!

From my Experience Full Naval missions are usually...
Boring?
It looks mostly like just waiting forever until you make enough baltteships so you can take enemy in one big sweep since they don't cost food.
I like the idea of having map with posibilities of water where transport ships can be useful and drops can be danger to you as well from enemy side.
I have 0 knowledge about scripting and programming taht so I cannot help with that.

But I'm more than curious to check it out.
Mavcik

Yes. I agree with your experience. In most campaigns (including user-made), ships do not cost food, so they are guaranteed to complete missions in exchange for boredom by spamming as much as resources allows.
And the busyness of the land units' transportation process amplifies my boredom when continuing the battles in the island area.

This is a draft of a detailed game design if the naval combat is introduced.

1: All ships costs food (ex: Tanker-1, Transport-1, Frigate-2, Battleship-4)
2a: Shipyard construction by purchasing Tiny Shipyard items from Race shops (because workers' spare construction command bars are not sufficient)
2b: Shipyards are constructed free of charge when a worker is entered into a pre-positioned circle of power on the map (similar to the territory occupation style arcade map method)
3: Similar to the Warcraft 2, Tanker exists, which can gather resources. - There are some goldmines and trees in the sea and on small isles, and we can gather them with Tanker (traditionally it's right to gather oil, but it becomes too complicated)

These are just some ideas that has not even started making yet, and if there are many negative opinions about naval battle, I will continue to design games focusing on land battle.

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

Spoiler: Screenshot

Do you like Undead versus Orc match-ups? or Old Horde of WarCraft I~II?
Old Horde is another custom faction in this campaign, and for now, you'll be able to meet them as enemies soon.
Right now, you can only control these limitedly in a special way, but as the campaign series progresses, I'd like to offer you the opportunity to enjoy all the other new custom factions that I've prepared if possible.
Chapter 07 is under development and I would like to update and distribute a demo version that can be played up to Chapter 07 as soon as it is completed.
And I thank you for continuing to share feedback and opinions!

 

[Mavcik]

Looks intresting,

Altho some of those spells looks just.... "slightly" overpowered but for single-player might be intresting to play against and with them .

Any idea when chapter 7 Demo will be available?

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

Looks intresting,

Altho some of those spells looks just.... "slightly" overpowered but for single-player might be intresting to play against and with them .

Any idea when chapter 7 Demo will be available?

The first draft of this project that I originally planned was Altered Melee which have 12 playable races.
Since this is a shifting in development direction to the campaign series in consideration of the crash issues after the official update and popular accessibility, I will continue to keep a close eye on the gameplay balance(Considering the possibility of creating a map with Altered Melee in the future(excepts unique armory)). I don't like that are too focused on specific units or spells.
I made the Old Horde's units and spells by actively referring to the original Warcraft 1&2 and modifying them .
They consist of very aggressive abilities, but their healing means are very limited, their debuff magics are rare, and their dispels are very unstable.
Of course, it doesn't always mean that the design works as the creator intended, so I will watch and adjust them.

I'm aiming to complete developing of Chapter 07 and distribute its demo version within a month, but I have to constantly check the AI scripts of naval battle until they do not cause any problems, and the direction of AI's active base expanding is written with many detailed trigger scripts, so it's likely to cause a lot of problems and lengthen the development period. It may take a month or two month longer from the scheduled date.

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

Uploaded a demo of version 23.11.28 ! (linked to Playing Demo of the first thread)
You can play it up to Chapter 07!

In addition, the following are some of the major changes.
Tier 0 units nerfed (their Reincarnation recovers HP by 42% only, Zombie is trained at Grainhouse and not affected by their Reincarnation upgrade)
Fixed trigger errors that cause a crash in Chapter 01 (checking shipyard's HP).
Reworked enemy AI's attackwave in Chapter 03.

Please play this demo version, and leave your thoughts, reviews or feedbacks. Your interest is a great help to development!

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

Spoiler: scrnsht

Developing chapter 08.
It's back to Anub'arak's and Scourge's point of view.
Inspired by another custom campaign in Hive, I am working on environment and terraining in a new way.
However, I just hope that this way of working in the HD version not cause excessive memory usage and frame drops.

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

Re-uploaded Demo version, it can be played it up to chapter 08.

Major changes:
- I reviewed AI Scripts and AI Signals triggers in all chapters:
I recently learned that if AI players running the AdvSuicideOnPlayer function of Common_v2.ai are eliminated, it causes a crash. Therefore, I fixed it so as to AI Players immediately receiving the DEFEAT signal and end the execution of AdvSuicideOnPlayer function when they are eliminated.
I apologize for the inconvenience caused by this crash issue.

- Immortality Phoenix Glitch
Fixed a glitch that the phoenix never dies when it takes fatal damage during crowd control. 1 HP remains like before, but it transform to egg normally when it takes fatal direct damage.

- Display Armory Points rewards when each chapters are cleared.

 

[SENMON]

Crazy... How to avoid crashes in this campaign? I almost cannot stand this. I played this many times and always crashed in chapter 1 and 3.

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

Crazy... How to avoid crashes in this campaign? I almost cannot stand this. I played this many times and always crashed in chapter 1 and 3.

Did you play the demo version latest reuploaded? Can you tell me when the crash occurred or time elapsed?
What is the difficulty level you chose? (I'm asking because the ai files that apply to each those are different, and the amount of work I do alone is so much and there could be enough to make mistakes.)

I replay the entire chapter every time I update common.ai , and the last time I tested it, there was no problem. That's why I updated the demo version...
However, the fact that you reported these errors is that I still haven't caught my mistakes and errors, so I'll examine them more clearly. I'm so sorry for the inconvenience.

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

Crazy... How to avoid crashes in this campaign? I almost cannot stand this. I played this many times and always crashed in chapter 1 and 3.

I found the suspicious parts in Chapters 01 and 03 that you mentioned. In Chapter 01, CPU was receiving the wrong AI Command when eliminated, and in Chapter 03, there was a wrong script in Human's Hard Level 2.ai.
Did the crash happen shortly after human is eliminated in hard level 2 of chapter 03?

Have you played Chapter 02 and other chapters? Were there any problems in 02 and other chapters?
I will reupload files again as soon as they are fixed.

 

[Mavcik]

That's funny

Crazy... How to avoid crashes in this campaign? I almost cannot stand this. I played this many times and always crashed in chapter 1 and 3.

I crash literally only on 2nd Chapter I crash and can't really figure out why ;D.
But besides that all seem playable.
BTW the mission 4 I think, where you are supported by the Lich army,
Maaaybe tone down a bit amount of bases that spawn enemies?

4 Bases that attack on 3 different places (the one camp where necrolyte Hero is defending is never attacked)
Is just too much to multi task around.
Unless you make notes and timers.
But even then the attacks are random a bit, so I'd say tone it down slightly?
But maybe tahts the idea on Hard 2

Anyway,
looking forward for more,

Mav

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

That's funny

I crash literally only on 2nd Chapter I crash and can't really figure out why ;D.
But besides that all seem playable.
BTW the mission 4 I think, where you are supported by the Lich army,
Maaaybe tone down a bit amount of bases that spawn enemies?

4 Bases that attack on 3 different places (the one camp where necrolyte Hero is defending is never attacked)
Is just too much to multi task around.
Unless you make notes and timers.
But even then the attacks are random a bit, so I'd say tone it down slightly?
But maybe tahts the idea on Hard 2

Anyway,
looking forward for more,

Mav

I also checked the issue in Chapter 2. Player05(Undead of 2nd goldmine) must receive AI Command "turn on/off" but its trigger is checking Player01(Samsa the Deathguard)'s Units. sorry.

For hard level 2, I made it considering level of 1~1.5 higher difficulty than official campaign difficulty, and campaign experienced or Warcraft 3 experts. so if you're having a hard time dealing with it, I think my intended difficulty design is working well (It might not be!)

In my case, I am distributing troops in two habitats in advance and reinforce them little by little. so I don't think too much micro-control is required.
Of course, it is quite difficult because of the pressure to eliminate the 2 outpost bases sequentially in time before the offensive of the 4 bases becomes too strong, but I think it is not impossible to clear.

 

[SENMON]

I also checked the issue in Chapter 2. Player05(Undead of 2nd goldmine) must receive AI Command "turn on/off" but its trigger is checking Player01(Samsa the Deathguard)'s Units. sorry.

For hard level 2, I made it considering level of 1~1.5 higher difficulty than official campaign difficulty, and campaign experienced or Warcraft 3 experts. so if you're having a hard time dealing with it, I think my intended difficulty design is working well (It might not be!)

In my case, I am distributing troops in two habitats in advance and reinforce them little by little. so I don't think too much micro-control is required.
Of course, it is quite difficult because of the pressure to eliminate the 2 outpost bases sequentially in time before the offensive of the 4 bases becomes too strong, but I think it is not impossible to clear.

actually I crash in c1 when I clear the enemy outpost, and c3 when the reinforce come and attack the red base. But there is no crash in c2 when i play.
Btw, I think every wave of meat wagon should have a tip, not only the first wave.

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

actually I crash in c1 when I clear the enemy outpost, and c3 when the reinforce come and attack the red base. But there is no crash in c2 when i play.
Btw, I think every wave of meat wagon should have a tip, not only the first wave.

Thanks for your error report! Fixed the Gnoll's AI signal in Chapter 01, in version 24.02.04.
The crash in chapter 3 is a bit of a mystery, because I haven't found any script writing mistakes or signal receiving setup mistakes yet, other than human AI of Hard Level 2.
If you experienced crash after eliminated Human, I hope this is fixed in version 24.02.04, and if not, I have to rewrite the AI script altogether.

I guess the game has stabilized a lot in the latest patch, so at least the crash in this campaign series is entirely my fault, mistake and responsibility.
What I knew for sure as I completed the development up to Chapter 08 is that crashes are likely to occur frequently in missions or sections where the AI of the computer is running.

As I wrote earlier, when the function AdvSuicideOnPlayer that calls executing attack launch is running after CPU is eliminated, a crash occurs. (So it constantly check for signals through loops, and when it receives a defeat signal, it immediately shut it down. Also, usually prints a save checkpoint at that time.)

When reporting crash error, If you could explain in more detail what kind of CPUs bases you eliminated, whether the crash occurred even though you didn't, and what the difficulty you chose, I think I can deal with it faster and more accurately.

Also, thanks for your comments about caravan notifications, I'll do work the notification of the caravans appearance and where it's located. It will be displayed in Easy and Normal Difficulty.

Thank you always for your interest and your devotion.

 

[SENMON]

I have finished all the chapters the demo patch have and I really like the fight in this game. But I think there are some disadvantages I want to mention.
1. Too overpowered tier 0 units(or too weak tier 1 units?), especially mage. only 35 gold it has 230hp and magic attack, can counter the footman, but the archer is really trash in hard 2 and it costs 40. compared with mage, the two units trained by crypt cost much and are very weak too. btw the meat magon can heal the skeleton and there is no worry about healing skeleton.
my advice: 50 gold mage and improve the trained time of tier 0 units.
2. Too weak hero magic(at least in chapter 1-7) except summoning ghoul and black arrow.
my advice: strengthen other magic especially ultimate.
That's my little bit of advice, the decision is up to you. I hope you are living each day to the fullest.

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

I have finished all the chapters the demo patch have and I really like the fight in this game. But I think there are some disadvantages I want to mention.
1. Too overpowered tier 0 units(or too weak tier 1 units?), especially mage. only 35 gold it has 230hp and magic attack, can counter the footman, but the archer is really trash in hard 2 and it costs 40. compared with mage, the two units trained by crypt cost much and are very weak too. btw the meat magon can heal the skeleton and there is no worry about healing skeleton.
my advice: 50 gold mage and improve the trained time of tier 0 units.
2. Too weak hero magic(at least in chapter 1-7) except summoning ghoul and black arrow.
my advice: strengthen other magic especially ultimate.
That's my little bit of advice, the decision is up to you. I hope you are living each day to the fullest.

Thank you for your earnest and detailed feedback!

In the case of Fanatic, that will be a baseline for balancing because I made it with reference to Grunt's stats.
Can I understand that "Crypt units are weak" as Tier 0 units are overwhelming?
I will fix some of the imbalances in Tier 0 units.

I sympathize with the weakness of Vellariah and Heigan's abilities, especially in the case of Banshee's Scream and Degen Aura and Corpse Explosion, I felt some regret while continuing the test alone. I will adjust it a little bit.
But for Necrosis Zone and Wailing Arrow, I'm cautious because they do a percentage calculation and I'm worried about if they will be overwhelming when they are invested more ability levels. (Necrosis Zone's healing multiplier is 0.45 for 1 level, and 0.2025 for 2 levels:0.45*0.45.)
In the case of Snipe, I'm careful to up certain figures because one ability contains multiple effects.

Didn't you experience crashes in recent updated demo version? I hope not(Because it's very painful to review ai scripts from chapters I've already finished), but if you had any inconvenience, you can give me honest feedback.

 

[SENMON]

Thank you for your earnest and detailed feedback!

In the case of Fanatic, that will be a baseline for balancing because I made it with reference to Grunt's stats.
Can I understand that "Crypt units are weak" as Tier 0 units are overwhelming?
I will fix some of the imbalances in Tier 0 units.

I sympathize with the weakness of Vellariah and Heigan's abilities, especially in the case of Banshee's Scream and Degen Aura and Corpse Explosion, I felt some regret while continuing the test alone. I will adjust it a little bit.
But for Necrosis Zone and Wailing Arrow, I'm cautious because they do a percentage calculation and I'm worried about if they will be overwhelming when they are invested more ability levels. (Necrosis Zone's healing multiplier is 0.45 for 1 level, and 0.2025 for 2 levels:0.45*0.45.)
In the case of Snipe, I'm careful to up certain figures because one ability contains multiple effects.

Didn't you experience crashes in recent updated demo version? I hope not(Because it's very painful to review ai scripts from chapters I've already finished), but if you had any inconvenience, you can give me honest feedback.

in subsequent chapters there are no crashes, thanks for your patient check.
i think the main imbalance point in tier 0 units is that they are really cheap and can produce in a very short time. in fact, Aoe in this campaign is enough to limit skeleton but the number of the troops is limitless.
About ult abilities, i think that there is no damage so they will never be overwhelming.

 

[SENMON]

I have a question: how can I get through c7 very easily?

I've actually finished it and I think this chapter is crazy!
The blue heroes have powerful AOE abilities and replies, which means that going head-to-head with blue is quite difficult.
In addition, purple will frequently launch Warlord-Death Knight combo attacks, where Warlord can transform and Death Knight can protect his soldiers from dying, which is devastating when our side doesn't have troops with excellent blood.
On top of that, there's only one type of anti-stealth unit with the highest hate value, which makes dealing with turtles on the surface nearly impossible (especially if you're dealing with a combination of blue and purple attacks and the initial gold mine doesn't last very long). Additionally, the dock is non-renewable, which means that once the sea is lost, then only flying units can attack purple.

My personal approach is to place the transport ship in the bottom right corner and completely abandon the sea, while immediately sending out a large number of bats to knock out the purple zeppelin before it hits the ground, preventing it from landing on land, and pulling out all the troops to destroy the blue base as soon as the blue's second wave of attack is over and using the meat wagons to destroy the blue's dock in the top right corner from the shore. After that, the transport ship dodges the enemy troops to get there and sends the two heroes across the shore, wait for the purple's main force to attack and then force their way in to destroy the fortress and kill all the peasants. Abandon the original base while forcing the wave by jamming the enemy position at the gold mine above (there is a wave of two blimps that the bats can't shoot down early because of the island in the middle). However, this style of play is very demanding and difficult to do with multiple lines of operation. Also, since the main mine has very little economy, I don't think it's practical to rely only on defence towers for defence.
Such a play style can be victorious, but I don't think it is your intention. So I would like to know how the author himself got through Chapter 7 of Hard 2?

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

I have a question: how can I get through c7 very easily?

I've actually finished it and I think this chapter is crazy!
The blue heroes have powerful AOE abilities and replies, which means that going head-to-head with blue is quite difficult.
In addition, purple will frequently launch Warlord-Death Knight combo attacks, where Warlord can transform and Death Knight can protect his soldiers from dying, which is devastating when our side doesn't have troops with excellent blood.
On top of that, there's only one type of anti-stealth unit with the highest hate value, which makes dealing with turtles on the surface nearly impossible (especially if you're dealing with a combination of blue and purple attacks and the initial gold mine doesn't last very long). Additionally, the dock is non-renewable, which means that once the sea is lost, then only flying units can attack purple.

My personal approach is to place the transport ship in the bottom right corner and completely abandon the sea, while immediately sending out a large number of bats to knock out the purple zeppelin before it hits the ground, preventing it from landing on land, and pulling out all the troops to destroy the blue base as soon as the blue's second wave of attack is over and using the meat wagons to destroy the blue's dock in the top right corner from the shore. After that, the transport ship dodges the enemy troops to get there and sends the two heroes across the shore, wait for the purple's main force to attack and then force their way in to destroy the fortress and kill all the peasants. Abandon the original base while forcing the wave by jamming the enemy position at the gold mine above (there is a wave of two blimps that the bats can't shoot down early because of the island in the middle). However, this style of play is very demanding and difficult to do with multiple lines of operation. Also, since the main mine has very little economy, I don't think it's practical to rely only on defence towers for defence.
Such a play style can be victorious, but I don't think it is your intention. So I would like to know how the author himself got through Chapter 7 of Hard 2?

Tiny Shipyard is sold by Tomb of Relics. Is there an error that you can't buy it?

I also had a hard time completing Chapter 07 and had a lot of retries and it took me an hour and 10 minutes on average.
In my case, I have a lot of mental exhaustion in the landings for the final attack. In the development of this chapter and the re-experience of Warcraft 2, I found out why many RTS games prefer ground warfare to the naval...

Spoiler: Here's how I did it

Hero Abilities: Summon Ghouls Lv4, Necrosis Zone / Snipe Lv4, Wailing Arrow
Talents: Summoned Ghoul+, Heigan Potion, Vellariah Critical Strike.
Training Worker Doubles, Spirit Tower's Attack Damage+, Fanatic's Defense+, Confessor's Regeneration

Before the blue's first attackwave comes, I send Vellariah forward to hit both Blademaster and Hexlord with Wailing Arrow at the same time.(This is the most important in future combat with enemy heroes.) And uses Necrosis Zone to reduce the healing effects they receive.
Trains workers a lot and hurry as possible, construct additional forward graveyard to harvest lumber efficiently. All units except the wounded are used to hunt nearby Tuskars at goldmines and interrupt Blue's expanding.
Intercepts Blue's expanding unit groups much as possible, and I construct additional Townhall. It aims to have two goldmines are being mined at the same time.
Builds Spirit Towers as soon as resources is gathered and continue to train Fanatics and Assassins, and research high tiers and prepare to train higher tier units. Spirit towers have to built in two places, near the Halls of the Dead and on the coastal. When constructing Spirit Towers, they have to be spacing in two pixels to minimize the damage from Sapper's Kaboom!
Leave the coast defense to Spirit Towers, and Our top priority is to remove Blue from the game as soon as possible.
Once you've stopped Purple's Destruction Warlock and Pionier General, you have a good chance to attack Blue. I use all units except the wounded and recruits to attack at this point, and I quickly destroy the core base of the blue.
The wounded and recruits are used to deal with small-scale enemy units that come later.
When the Blue is disabled, invests resources in naval power in earnest. Maintains a small number of Spectres and positions them in the rear of the main force and defenseline, focusing only on catching turtles safely.
Build additional town halls on the blue main base, and build spirit towers, deploy cultists and a handful of troops.
When all the Navy upgrades are completed and the transports and battleships are fully prepared, I pack one emergency Town Portral Scroll and subdue the purple base heading for 6-7 o'clock immediately after blocking Purple Heroes' attack.
Afterwards all the sea routes are safely secured, block the attack of Purple Heroes one more, land all units(Include workers and cultist) on the peninsula where the purple expanding base located and near blue main base. Build production facilities on that landing site and all forces focus on smashing the purple expansion base. Continuing to train the units on the production facilities built on the landing site. And when they gather again, attack the purple main base.

p.s: I intended Chapter 08 have as much difficulty as 07, but I made the mistake of not giving resources to computer players. However, it is not an urgent matter, so it will be fixed in a later version.

 

[SENMON]

Yes, our strategy is pretty close, which is to speed attack the blue and make it hard for him to be a threat.
I haven't built Tomb of Relics because I can't buy Orb of Corruption. I think that should have a tip.

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

Yes, our strategy is pretty close, which is to speed attack the blue and make it hard for him to be a threat.
I haven't built Tomb of Relics because I can't buy Orb of Corruption. I think that should have a tip.

I made to display hint message about it when shipyard is destroyed or player clicks shipyard. Was that message not printed in the demo by any chance?

 

[SENMON]

I made to display hint message about it when shipyard is destroyed or player clicks shipyard. Was that message not printed in the demo by any chance?

maybe I dont see it because the early game pressure is too big.

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

Greetings all! I am still working on chapter 09, and have finished terraining work.
Currently, I am in the process of conceiving and experimenting with new ways of gameplay.

In chapter 09, Allied CPU will be in charge of player's productions and player will only control combat units. I am also aiming to improve the quest diversities by setting the capturing territories as this chapter's main goal, like RTS games produced by Relic Entertainment.

Spoiler: scrnsht1

Spoiler: capturing territory

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

Greetings all! Development Chapter 09 is done, I think I've managed to get a decent result with it.
But there's some bad news. Triggers in each maps are in bad optimization.

When loading maps, most of triggers are initialized at once, which burdens to computing. And a lot of custom spells burdens to computing and cause framedrops when the combat begins.

Since I will review all triggers and optimize them for all chapters, the development period will be considerably longer.

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

Greetings all! Sorry for late news.
I am currently working on the optimization triggers.
Integrating triggers with the same event into one library and rewriting all scripts those are spaghetti coded is done.

Only the process remains that:
Using the Testing Melee Map to check if each new factions or modified basic factions have critical errors in normal gameplay,
Importing this campaign public script library into each chapters and then fixing and reviewing their triggers.

I am now in the process of checking there are no issues with this public library.

Spoiler: Testing a new subfaction

 

[SENMON]

Could you update the version of the campaign and let us try the optimization triggers?
btw, chapter 9 has already been finished 4 months ago but nobody has tested it.

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

Could you update the version of the campaign and let us try the optimization triggers?
btw, chapter 9 has already been finished 4 months ago but nobody has tested it.

Yes, I will upload its demo and notices right after removing the unfinished chapters and the testing maps soon.

In addition to optimization, other updates are also ready.
Increasing efficiency of some Talents and Hero Abilities that are expected to have low effect, and reducing basic stats of units that are expected to have much.
I put some safety work on AIs and once I ran it all myself up to chapter 09 with hard level 2, in my experience, there was no crashes during in gameplay even if I destroyed all AI bases(on the basis of no use cheat code and its practically possible). I hope other people will experience the same thing as me.

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

Uploaded recent Demo version including Chapter 09.

Major Changes:

- Unit Quotes (unitacksounds.slk)
Old Horde Warlock uses Guldan(HotS) Quotes instead of Ascendant(SC2).

- Heroes
Increased effects of Heigan's and Vellariah's X,C abilities.

- Unit
Cult: Grainhouse Skeletal Mage's cost is changed to 60/15.
Scourge: Obsidian Statue's life is reduced to 600 from 850.

- Hero Talents
Anub'arak C: Bonus HP is increased to 180 from 170.
Anub'arak V: Bonus HP regeneration duration is increased to 30s from 20s.
Heigan's V: Reduction rate is increased to 85% from 80%, and also reduces attack speed by the half rate too.

- Scourge Talents
Scourge Structures A: The rate of damage reduction has increased.
Obsidian Statue A: Increases its life by 250 too.
Meat Wagon A: Bonus damage duration is increased to 17s from 13s.

- Cult Talents
Cult Structures A: Increases effects of Servant's and Cultist's Repair too.
Cult Structures B: Increases life of Cult's buildings more.
Fanatic B: bonus damage rate has increased.
Vampire Bat A: Increased evasion chance.
Vampire Bat B: Increases movement speed too, but bonus life regen and sight are reduced slightly.
Necromancer A: restoring HP and MP rate is increased to 0.25 from 0.22.
Confessor A: Channeling duration is increased to 15s from 10s.

- Chapters
all custom scripts in each chapters are optimized and rewritten.
05: Moved The Light Blue Human's front towers back a little bit.
06: Moved The Holy Orders(White)' towers back a little bit.

Notice:
I maybe no longer change demo file name from "LoAPart0Demo". (For convenience of cache storage)

There were many script changes for optimization, and heroes and talents cache storage is also included within this task.
So if anyone who has played this demo before and wants to play only new demo chapters, please play campaign again from beginning but clear the chapters quickly by using cheat codes whosyourdaddy and warpten, greedisgood).

 

[FlorianGeyerGiebelstadt]

Greetings all! I inform you development of Chapter 10 has been completed.
Do you like dungeon expedition and boss fight?
In chapter 10, we will face the bosses that imitated WoW's.
It will also be given a powerful single elite unit for the convenience of micro-control in boss fight.
As our unit has become stronger, so are the minions of the enemy.

Spoiler: scrnsht