[Strategy / Risk] Medieval Knights IV

[Accname]

Medieval Knights IV
By Accname

Introduction:
This is the fourth and final installment of my Medieval Knights map series. (of which I havent published all)

Medieval Knights has always been an RTS map with heavy focus on (more or less) realistic combat and base construction, as well as army composition and positioning.

I started working on this map exactly 3 days ago and I worked for, probably about 12 hours on it. Its not final yet, but its playable.

Features:

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• Customized resource gathering:
  • Gold can be gathered at villages which need to be conquered.
  • You can invest gold at the market to get more gold back later.
  • Gold can be exchanged for Lumber.
  • Lumber can be harvested from rocks, trees and farms which you can build.
• Customized base construction:
  • There are fixed towns with indestructible walls around them.
  • Each town has room for 16 buildings.
  • Each town can have up to 3 gates which can be opened and closed at your will.
  • Military buildings and farms can be build outside of town.
• Balanced and specialized combat units:
  • Archers can miss moving targets or hit a different unit if several are moving close together.
  • Archers deal very little damage to structures.
  • Cavalry is faster then all other units but less powerful.
  • Catapults need to set up before they can attack. While set up they can not move.
• Air travel via zeppelin.
• Sea travel via transport ships.
• When a player is defeated he becomes allied with the opponent who destroyed his last town. The defeated player gets to play a hero and has no longer the chance to conquer a town for himself.

Screenshots: (they are large, sorry)
(A medium sized town with some units stationed inside.)

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(A neutral village. A village can be conquered to collect gold from it)

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(Farmland: Farms can produce crops which can be harvested for lumber.)

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Credits:

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• Kitabatake:
  • Current catapult model
  • House model
• Ujimasa Hojo:
  • Goblin Laboratory model with animations
  • Mercenary model with animations
  • Tavern model with animations
• MassiveMaster:
  • Fortification Wall model
  • Fortification Wall Outer Edge model
  • Fortification Tower model
• AndrewOverload519:
  • Female Mage
• Shiv
  • Human Airship
• olofmoleman
  • Trebuchet

• 
  

Changelog:

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• Version 1.1
  • Changed tooltips of various units.
  • Fixed the blight in 2 towns which were bugged.
• Version 1.2
  • Decreased Catapult attack damage.
  • Increased building defense against normal attacks.
  • Removed Shop.
  • Added Warlord Hideout.
• Version 1.3
  • Changed tooltip of Trebuchet.
  • Walls can now be build instead of gates.
  • When debris is upgraded into a building it can now be attacked.
  • When wall pieces are now upgraded into walls or gates they can be attacked.
• Version 1.4
  • Fixed hotkeys and tooltips of siege units.
  • Fixed a bug with gates and walls not belonging to the right player.
  • Some minor visual fixes.
  • Some changes to collision sizes. (workers smaller / horseback units bigger)
• Version 1.5
  • 2 villages which were previously missing on the map were added.
  • A village has been moved slightly to balance the positions more.
  • Villages now have a maximum of 1500 gold instead of 500.
  • Villages do NO longer respawn. If a village is gone, it is permanently removed from the game.
  • Villages heal allied units around them twice as fast now.
  • Towns can now be destroyed permanently.
  • Warlords now start with 100 mana.
  • All items do now need mana to be used.
  • All items now have a cooldown of 0.25.
  • Warlords will now get 50 mana and 100 hitpoints per level up.
  • Warlords do now get +10 food capacity per level up.
  • Warlord experience rates customized.
  • Regeneration item now heals 250 hitpoints instead of 500.
  • Warlord Hideouts can now train builders.
• Version 1.6
  • Changed some ability hotkeys and tooltips.
  • Changed some unit costs.
  • Changed the spies invisibility cooldown duration from 3.0 to 1.0 seconds.
  • Forges can now be build since tech-level 1.
  • Changed the duration of upgrades.
  • Builders can now gather lumber.
  • Some visual and balance improvements on the terrain.
  • Changed model of watchtower to differentiate it from scout towers.
  • Town buildings which get damaged below 25% of their max health will become neutral if the townhall has been destroyed.
• Version 1.7
  • Added an island with a village in the center of the lake.
  • Some terrain improvements.
  • Added wizard ability "Sky Strike", an AoE DoT ability.
  • Added pikeman ability "Defensive Stance" which slows down their movement speed but increases their hitpoints.
  • Knights will dismount now (and become swordman) when their hitpoints go below 25%.
  • Changed unit priorities.
  • Added information about attack and armor types.
  • Added custom model for trebuchet.
  • Added custom model for zeppelin.
  • Added custom model for sorceress.

How You can contribute to the project:

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If you like this project you might want to help me improve it! I am always looking for some help from people who love wc3 and RTS games in general just as much as I do.
Here is a list of a few things which you could do:

• Please test the map and give me feedback and bug reports!
• I am still looking for spell ideas for healers and wizards
• I am still looking for item/spell ideas for warlords
• I am still looking for a good way to give players an opportunity to make their own unique race over time. In example upgrades for new unit types, etc.
• I am still looking for various models for some eye candy: http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/requests-341/models-medieval-rts-game-242911/
• If you are interested in improving the terrain of the map, just let me know. (I am probably not going to update the terrain much)
• If you are interested in making an AI for computer players let me know. (I am definitely not going to do that.)

Comments criticism and testing is very much appreciated.

 

[matt5556]

Can you add ai

can you add ai and many races such as bandits,nomads and such just suggesting/

 

[Awsan]

I have tested your map and here's my review:

Bugs/problems
Trees change color (from normal to blighted) when they are harvested from
Town halls can't be built inside the cities to capture them (it says it can only be built on blight)
The standard melee unit tooltip says "Plunderer" but the actual unit says "Marauder"

Good things:
Original concept
High importance of micro-management
Good gameplay


Bad things:
Still pretty basic
Not much variety in races (only humans, that's it)

Suggestions:
Give each player an option at the start of the game for a bonus (unit power,economy, buildings etc.)
Add a new race (orcs for example)
Add mercenary camps throughout the map where you can buy mercenary units (very expensive, but very tactical and they become more powerful with each kill)
Improve the terrains (it's OK as it is, but it can still improve)

Good luck on your map C:

 

[Accname]

Trees change color (from normal to blighted) when they are harvested from

Yes, thats an unfortunate problem with wc3. The workers need to be undead units in order to use the haunted mines (villages). However, once they are undead they will automatically change the trees. There is no real way to circumvent this except maybe to use a custom tree model.

Town halls can't be built inside the cities to capture them (it says it can only be built on blight)

This is a very curious bug because it works fine for me 99% of the time. I have seen it myself that this happened once or twice but I just dont know why. The center of all towns is blighted area, I just change the terrain type via triggers which does not remove the blight.
I dont know yet what is causing this.

The standard melee unit tooltip says "Plunderer" but the actual unit says "Marauder"

Thanks, fixed. The unit was called plunderer before but I thought that sounded rather dull.

Still pretty basic

I dont like to over-complicate things. If I want something more complex I wouldnt use wc3 but program everything in a "real" programming language.

Not much variety in races (only humans, that's it)

Add a new race (orcs for example)

can you add ai and many races such as bandits,nomads and such just suggesting/

I would rather not add other races. Every player should have the very same possibilities. The difference is how you play them.
I might, however, add various tech trees which are expensive and take their time. This way you could focus on certain unit types and make them more powerful.
For example a focus on archers, cavalry, magic, etc. Each of these focuses would give you access to new unit types and stronger units of that type.

Add mercenary camps throughout the map where you can buy mercenary units (very expensive, but very tactical and they become more powerful with each kill)

I think those units would just be more of the same. There is already plenty of units in the game and I dont really see what else I could put in that wouldnt just be a more costly copy of an already existent unit.
But maybe I will make special units for the warlords (players who lost their last city).

Improve the terrains (it's OK as it is, but it can still improve)

What exactly do you have in mind? Like small flowers, rocks, etc littered all over the map?

Thanks so far for the feedback.

 

[RoaminG]

This project looks good. Do more updates and Good Luck !
Testing It
+Rep
RoaminG

 

[Accname]

Big update to version 1.5.
The game has now become more brutal in the way that villages and towns can be destroyed permanently to starve out your opponents. However, in order to destroy a town permanently you have to conquer it first. Destroying a town of your own is a huge loss for you as well but will not allow your opponents the opportunity to take the town back.

Criticism and comments are very much appreciated, thank you all.

I would also like to get some suggestions for abilities for healers and wizards as well as some more items for the warlord.

 

[Assassins-Creed]

Offtopic: I'm assuming you've played Celtic Kings or Nemesis of the Roman Empire.

 

[Accname]

I have played neither of those. These names dont even sound familiar to me.

 

[Assassins-Creed]

My bad, some of the features in this game remind me of them. They're great games.

 

[Accname]

Well, I hope you like where this project is going.
I am not quite satisfied yet, there is much to be done about this.

I was mainly thinking about adding some kind of civilisation-like race building, but in a smaller dimension. Players could get special "upgrades" which unlock unique unit-types and buildings. But getting one of these upgrades would lock other upgrades of the same kind. So everybody had to choose in which direction he wants to develope his country.

This is, however, only an idea at this point in time. I dont have enough material yet to make it happen.
I would really need some more custom models for this map, especially for buildings. These would improve the atmosphere greatly.

 

[Awsan]

Big update to version 1.5.

I would also like to get some suggestions for abilities for healers and wizards as well as some more items for the warlord.

I think healers should be a normal support unit, and wizards should be very micro-intensive, but very rewarding.

Possible priest spells:
Healing Touch: A rapid heal at near-melee range (range 300 or such, kind of line a Medic's heal in Starcraft)
Holy Rune: Summon a rune at an area that heals all units (enemies as well) that stand near it.
Consecration: Increases the damage and attackspeed of a friendly unit.
Resurrection: Revives up to 5 nearby units at the cost of the Priest's life.

Possible Wizard spells:
Fireball: Launches fire at a small area, dealing very high damage to all units there.
Tornado: Summons a tornado that slowly moves to the target location, dealing damage to all units in its way, as well as picking some up in the air.
Summon Elemental: Summons an elemental based on these factors (from 1 to 4):
1-If a Tornado (Tornado spell) is nearby, an Air Elemental is summoned (low health, high speed, medium damage, can fly)
2-If water is nearby, a Water Elemental is summoned (medium health, speed and damage, can travel over water)
3-If the caster is on earth (not grass), an Earth Elemental is summoned (high health, very low speed, high damage, more armor than other elementals)
4-If all above are false, a Fire Elemental is summoned (low health, medium speed, medium damage, explodes on death)
Invisibility: Turns the wizard invisible. While invisible, spells can not be cast while invisible. Towers can detect invisible units.
Polymorph: Turns an enemy into a random critter for a short time.
Lightning Storm: Summons lightning in a large area around the Wizard to damage all enemies and the wizard himself. Costs lots of mana to cast.
Evocation: Restores a lot of mana over a 10 second period, but in that period the Wizard cannot cast spells.

 

[Accname]

The Healer has the following abilities:
- Protection: Grants 50% damage reduction against all forms of attacks.
- Invisibility: Grants invisibility for up to 120 seconds. The use of abilities or attacking breaks invisibility.

I know, the "healer" does not have a "heal" ability. This is because I dont want players to be able to heal on the battle field. They should be forced to retreat to either villages or towns in order to heal their units.
This will give towns a much more important part in positioning.
The 50% damage reduction is a very powerful support ability though.

The Wizard has the following abilities:
- Confusion: Stuns all enemies in an area of effect for 15 seconds.
- Sky Strike: Makes magic missles rain down from the sky dealing damage to all units within an area of effect. Lasts up to 45 seconds.

This way the wizard becomes a unit to punish big numbers of weak units. Wizards have very powerful abilities but they can all miss targets since they rely on missles.
The range is also not that great which puts wizards in danger of getting sniped.


Stay tuned, the next update is on its way.

 

[danasius]

A very nice map you have here, keep up the good work.

Possible Healer spells (as suggestion):
1.Extreme Unction:
-Single Target (short duration buff):
When the target dies, restore X mana to the Healer / Priest / Holy Dude / Cleric.

2.Salvation:
-Single Target + Channel:
As long as it is channeled , the target is healed / reduce damage / invulnerable.

3.Spiritual Shell:
-Single Target + Buff + Autocastable:
Target unit reduces X damage from all kinds of attack.
OR
Gives X armor, and X health regeneration (good ol' Inner Fire).



Off topic:
This also reminds me of a project i was working on long time ago.
Something like Age of Empires III, the only "race" avalible is human, but each player
chose a "faction" and each faction had its own playstyle and special units.
For example a faction with strong start and very squishy mobile units, another with very balanced units and economy, another with slow start and vulnerable early but good economy, etc.
I also made (putting emphasis on realistic combat) a shield system, in which basically (because it was very complex), units wielding a shield (ie. swordsman) have some chance to block frontal damage (so positioning becomes relevant)... etc.
(You can take it as a suggestion).

I also hope you have understood, cuz my ENGLISH is awful.

 

[Accname]

Thank you for the support.

I will think about abilities, but I dont want to have too many.

units wielding a shield (ie. swordsman) have some chance to block frontal damage (so positioning becomes relevant)... etc.

Although I like games with this kind of system I dont think I will implement it for this map. Wc3 is not supposed to work with such a system, everything would need to be triggered and this might potentially drop the fps. We are talking about a 12 player map with several hundred units on the field at a time.

But I was thinking about maybe reducing archer damage against units with shields.

 

[Accname]

Another update with some small improvements and additions of new content.

I plan to implement "races" soon as a way to add some diversity to the gameplay. The "races" will mostly be the same humans but the players will have the option to select special unit types, upgrades and buildings which will become available to them.

 

[danasius]

Thank you for the support.

I will think about abilities, but I dont want to have too many.


Although I like games with this kind of system I dont think I will implement it for this map. Wc3 is not supposed to work with such a system, everything would need to be triggered and this might potentially drop the fps. We are talking about a 12 player map with several hundred units on the field at a time.

But I was thinking about maybe reducing archer damage against units with shields.

You have a point here, but is not that hard and expensive to make a system like that. Also the fps will be experimented rather for having too many units in that case, something you should be aware of.

Is not that all must to be triggered, you need instead an efficient Damage Detection System and just make ONE trigger to achieve this (my own experience)
Depending on the system you pick (because there are some very efficient systems in the Spell section of this page) you will achieve this effect with more or less fps drops.

Hope you understood me and good luck.

 

[Accname]

Well, I would say, for every attack calculate the facing of the attacked unit and the attacking unit and see if the angles match in between a certain threshold. If they do increase the damage.
That could potentially be a lot of extra calculations and it would need a damage detection system as you said.

Oh well, lets see. But for now I wont implement it.

 

[Accname]

I have a plan for the "races" in the game and I would like to get some feedback on this before I implement it.

When you are at tech-level 1 (townhall) you can not upgrade to the next tech-level until you selected your tech-tree.
The tech-tree consists of the following options:

• Valverian Royalists [Alliance]
  • You can not train any swordman.
  • You get access to the Royal Knight unit (strong melee unit with high defense).
  • You get additional Upgrades for infantry units in your forge.
• Nybian Alliance [Alliance]
  • You can not train any archers.
  • You get access to the Ranger unit (ranged fighting unit with cloak).
  • You get additional Upgrades for ranged units in your forge.
• Nodrian Raiders [Alliance]
  • You can not train any swordman or pikeman.
  • You get access to the Berserker unit (melee fighter with charge ability).
  • You get access to the Immortal unit (semi-ranged fighter).
  • You get additional Upgrades to raise the defense of your troops in your forge.
• Trading Union [Economy]
  • Investments in the market place take less time to complete.
• Pereponian Architects [Economy]
  • All buildings get additional hitpoints.
  • All houses give more supply.
• Warrior Culture [Specialization]
  • All tech-level 1 units (Marauder, Bandit, Raider) train faster.
  • All civillian units get additional hitpoints and attack power.
• Shamanism [Specialization]
  • You can not train any wizards.
  • You get access to the Shaman unit (more powerful wizard).
  • Your mage units start with 50 mana after being trained.
• Engineering Genius [Specialization]
  • You get access to the Siege Golem unit (powerful melee siege unit).
  • You can research more upgrades for siege units in your workshops.
• Arcadian Assassins [Specialization]
  • You get access to the Assassin unit (permanently invisible and blink).
  • You can research more upgrades for spies and assassins in your laboratory.

You have to take a combination of Alliance, Economy and Specialization.
When you select one of either Alliance, Economy or Specialization all other options of this part of your tech-tree become unavailable to you.

What do you guys say?
Any suggestions for further Economy techs?

 

[Awsan]

The "races" are a good way to add minor bonuses to the players c: In my experience, "races" add an extreme amount of replayability in a game, which is amazing.
Here's some of my suggestions for "races"
The Black Armada
-No Frigates and Battleships can be trained
-Access to the Corsair (replaces the Frigate, is faster and has more health)
-Access to the Destroyer (replaces the Battleship, has more health and the Cannon Ship ability, which passively fires a cannon at a random enemy every few seconds.)
-Ships get a speed bonus when near your harbors.

Magic Citadel
-No Watch Towers and Guard Towers can be trained (or whatever the towers are called)
-Access to the Spire of Magic (A magical defense tower)
-Access to the Spire of Wizardry (an improved version of the Spire of Magic)
-Instantly finishes all tier 1 and 2 researches for Wizards

Dwarven Miners
-Grants three Dwarven Miners and two Dwarven Constructors at your main building. These units cannot be controlled.
-Dwarven Miners and Constructors respawn at a main building a short time after theyre killed.
-Dwarven Miners automatically seek for nearby rocks to mine from.
-Dwarven Constructors automatically seek for nearby buildings to repair.

Trading Union (an addition to your "trading union")
-Investments in marketplace take shorter to complete
-Access to the Trade Ship (built at the Harbor, can carry and trade items, also provides a small amount of income)

Craftsmen's Guild
-Harvesters and upgrades at the Forge cost less
-Grants a larger selection of items for Heroes to buy

Altar of Storms
-No Wizards can be trained
-Access to the Seer (replaces Wizard, a powerful caster which uses the power of storm to fight)
-Towers and ranged units can see further.

A Dark Pact
-No Priests can be trained.
-Access to the Dark Heretic (replaces Priest, a necromantic caster with powerful spells)
-Grants an upgrade at the Wizard training building that gives melee units a chance to spawn a skeleton on death.

 

[Accname]

Maybe I will use some of them. Thank you.

However, I do need some more feedback on the map overall. I would really appreciate any comments on balancing and gameplay.

 

[Accname]

Bump.
Still looking for more feedback. I would really appreciate your help.

 

[Accname]

Bump

 

[Accname]

Bumpity bump... Would really appreciate feedback.