[Mod] A Tinker's Tale

[handclaw]

Welcome to Warcraft 3: A Tinker's Tale, a mod introducing a fifth faction on the battlefield. The Goblin Cartels! The once neutral Cartels decided to take part in the various fights between the Horde, the Alliance, the Scourge and the Sentinels. Lead the goblin armies under the command of old known heroes or new rising legends to fight your sworn enemy, hire your own special mercenaries to turn the tide of battle or utilize new gears of war to destroy those who oppose you. And while the service of the goblins is gone, the gnomes provide new technology allowing new tactics on the battle field.

This mod was started by me on the 20th July 2006. It's mostly a one-man project, but several people liked it and helped me in various ways. So I'd like to thanks especially Xaran Alamas and Norinrad who helped in this project. Also I'd like to thank my friends who gave me their feedback and helped me with some ideas. But altough I received some help, the mod is still in development.

Here a quick overview over the features:

Features:
- A new fifth race: The Goblin Cartels
- A Singleplayer Campaign featuring the new Race and Blizzard.
- New neutral gnome units and structures replacing the old neutral goblins
- 2 new neutral heroes replacing the old goblin heroes of the tavern: Scarlet Crusader and (Bloodsail) Buccaneer

Altough several maps were already made terrainwise, they are scrapped for a better story line and better mission design. Since this mod takes more than I'm capable of, I will make a recruitment thread later in the corresponding forum.

Now, below you will see screenshots of the goblin techtree and 4 models already made by Norinrad for this mod. In a later post I will post the big batch of concept art made by me to give you a better insight what to expect.

edit:

I'd like to add that the name of the Scoundrel mercenary will be changed and that the tier 1 townhall will have the ability to lift off, but more about this later

 

[The_wand_mirror]

lol, this sounds really good ^^

 

[Callahan]

The bombardier actualy look like a gnome more than a goblin.Shen need more greenish skin.

 

[<Offspring>]

Something to look forward to

 

[ragingspeedhorn]

A Project I've been looking forward to for a long time, good to see you are still actively working on it.

 

[Kwaliti]

Damn, this is awesome! Any way I can help? I can model/skin.

 

[~Void~]

Sounds really good. If I can do anything for it, that would be awesome.

 

[Zovc]

Wow, I'm really excited to hear about this.

I'm anxiously waiting to see what progress you make, as goblins are by far my favorite race in the Warcraft universe.

...Now I just need to get better at Warcraft Melee so I can at least beat an easy computer by the time this comes out!

 

[Gilles]

This looks promising! I really hope you can get the help required to finish it!

 

[Hawkwing]

WoW.. This looks awsome! Goblin Cartels.. That is an interesting race idea!

 

[daw_guy]

This Definetly seems alsome. Grats on how far you've goten.

 

[handclaw]

Thanks for the comments And a warning already, I'm someone who rarely posts on a forum, hence my responses might be delayed... But I check the thread often!

And now, as promised: the Concept Art! ^^

In the next post: The Info about all the units, including several planned abilities! ;P

 

[Kwaliti]

Wow, since you didn't post any info about the Hobgoblin and the Trade Prince, I have some crazy ideas for them!

 

[handclaw]

Wow, since you didn't post any info about the Hobgoblin and the Trade Prince, I have some crazy ideas for them!

Look at my unit info first... And another note, the Trade Prince is a Supporting Hero.

Tier 1 Units

Servant
Worker/Gatherer[1]
Goblin Peon

These Goblins only started recently their career and serve their boss with high zeal by gathering ressources, building needed structures and maintaining the constructions.

Hobgoblin
Melee[1]
Hobgoblin Assaulter

The hobgoblins are chemically enhanced goblins, whose life span was reduced to 3 years. Besides that, the chemicals made the goblins bigger and stronger but also purpler and dumber. Because of their life span and their strenght, hobgoblins are used as shocktroopers and form the first line of the goblin armies.

Abilities
Enrage
When hit, the hobgoblin might be enraged when been hit in combat increasing his attack rate but also increasing damage income.

Shooter
Ranged[1]
Goblin Soldier

While Goblins are weak in melee, they can still attack from distance! The Shooters mastered the guns and help their fellow goblins by assist them from behind.

Abilities
*needs passive ability*

Tier 2 Units

Technomage
Shop Caster
Goblin Anti-Spellcaster

The arts of magic and arts of technology don't mix up well. But there exist those, who still master both arts. Altough they aren't popular by normal mages or normal engineers, they try to proove their worth with their hybrid arts.

Spells
*needs an autocast tier 1 spell*

Arcane Conductor
Places a conductor which will drain the mana of surrounding casters.

Mechanize
Transforms the target for a short duration into a machine, making it immune against certain spells

Potion Doc
Offensive Caster
Goblin Alchemist

Potion Docs are trained in the arts of Alchemy. With their potions they make your enemy's life difficult and yours easier.

Spells
Sleepy-Potion (auto)
The Potion Doc throws a flask at the target releasing a drowsy gas, making the target fight worse.

Fog-O-Poison
Creates a Fog at the targeted area which slowly drains the life of all insde the fog

Trans-Goo-Mation
Transforms the target into Goo with an disgusting aura, shattering the moral of the enemy and decreasing their fight power.

Mechanic
Machine Support Caster
Goblin Engineer

To prove their mastery of engineering the goblins train mechanics to maintain the machines. The more experienced mechanics are heard to be able to even improve the capabilty of those machines, even when it's just for a short time!

Spells
Repair (auto)
Repairs the targeted mechanic unit

*needs a tier 2 spell*

Tuning
The Machine's speed and attack rate is improved for a short duration.

Zeppelin
Flying Transporter/ Shopflyer
Goblin Airship

Since the 2nd Great War, the Goblins are famous for their Zeppelins. Altough in the beginning only used as scouts, now they were improved so they are able to transport troops and goods.

Abilities
Load/ Unload
Loads/ Unloads a unit

Shredder
Gatherer[2]/Melee[2]
Goblin Gatherer Mech

When Goblin technology advanced, they invented the steam powered mechs. The Shredder was designed for lumbering purposes but because of it's solid construction and the saw it's a great war machine, too.

Bombtrike
Siege
Goblin Biker

The Bombtrike is one of the newest inventions. The Bombtrike was designed to be a siege weapon, but because of it's design, the weapon is weaker than others. But on the other hand, the trike is much faster than the siege weapons of the other factions.

Battle Balloon
Flyer
Goblin Battle Airship

To go further with their zeppelin technology, the goblins started to design airships ready for war. The Battle Balloon is currently the most effective one. But because the balloon aren't the most robust machines, the safety method allow the pilot to survive and rebuild his machine somewhere else.

Ability
Safety Measures (passive)
When destroyed, the pilot has a chance to survive and it gives him the chance to rebuild his machine in a safe area.

Tier 3 Units

Warship
Ownage Device
Goblin Siege Airship

The Warship is the ultimate vessel in the Goblin Army. Its balloon is enhanced by Adamantine Plates and the vessel is full with cannons and bombs. It is said that in dire situations crew members snap the rockets onboard and ride them into the enemy fliers.

Abilities
Rocket Release
Releases a Rocket Rider which will sap a near enemy air unit

Steam Warrior
Meatshield/Melee[3]
Goblin Battle Mech

The Steam Warrior is an more advanced steam suit, built for the battle field. It's strong enough to smash most obstacles with ease and if someone dares to fight back, they might be hit by a stream of steam.

Abilities
Steam Leak (passive)
When hit, the Steam Warrior might get a Steam Leak which causes damage to surrounding units.

Mercenaries

Day Laborer
Cheap Ressource Gatherer
Goblin Worker

There are those Goblins, who end up in debts and can't pay them off. Those often end up as Day Laborers working for a minimal wage. But they know only how to gather ressources and are unable to build structures nor repair.

Bruiser
Mercenary
Goblin Sheriff

Goblin Bruisers are those who keep order in Goblin Towns. They enforce the goblin law and should someone dare to attack from the air, they pack out their netguns!

Abilities
Netgun
Shots a net at the target forcing it down to the ground

Scoundrel
Special Gatherer/Spy
Goblin Thief

The Scoundrels are special mercenaries and so they don't work at a backwater base. They are trained in the arts of stealth and thievery and used mostly to steal enemy plans and gold.

Abilities
Stealth (passive)
The thief can't be seen, unless he attacks.

Thievery (passive)
When attacking a unit, the goblin steals gold for his boss.

 

[Kwaliti]

Awesome! I, on the other hand connected this hobgoblin to the hobgoblin from Spider-man xD

The Trade Prince idea was meant to be a goblin on a donkey wearing some wicker bins.

 

[handclaw]

Totally forgot this guy:

 

[Kwaliti]

Looks nice! I can help you out with models.

 

[frostwhisper]

Some of the best goblin concept art I've seen.
Great job.

 

[Rizz_Boomer]

I would like to help you with this project.
Problem is that you got already so many modelers.

 

[handclaw]

Weeeell... Time to play necromancer and bring this thread back to life! :9

You see, A Tinker's Tale will feature two new Tilesets.

For one we have:

Isle of Kezan - It's a tropical island in the South Sea with several volcanoes in the southern parts. It's nature is lush and many tropical animals live there. The Isle of Kezan is also home to the goblins, who drived away the jungle trolls living on the island from their homes. But besides the animals, also a lot of goblin experiments run through the woods, providing new dangers to adventurers daring to go through the jungle.

This tileset will be a mix of jungle and volcanic terrain. I was thinking about having the palms have a brown trunk, unlike the yellowish trunk of the Sunken Island. But I'm not very far with the design here.

Caverns - Another type of underground tileset. While we had already the red Dungeon tileset and the blueish Underground tileset, the Caverns will have a brownish/yellowish color theme and is hence going to be a more classical tileset. Unlike the other tilesets, this one will not feature water or lava, it will feature just an abyss, similar to the outland one. You will explore natural caves, goblin mining shafts and of course, goblin dungeons in these new land.


These new tilesets will of course feature a bunch of new creeps. So far planned are:

Jungle Trolls - Hey, we have Frost ones, Forest ones, but no Jungle ones!
Pirates - Yarr!
Mutant Plant - uses werewulf's plant trap model. ^^
Mimics - Don't mistake these for treasures. These chests are dangerous and will attack those nimble-fingered heroes running around.
Coatl - The wild variant.
Snapdragon - The wild variant.
Naga - Undecided yet, if they will become creeps.
Monster Rats - Every adventurer must fight rats... though, these are BIG rats... found in the caverns, mostly.
Ogre Hound - A mutated big dog. Strong, violent and has a second one-eyed head. Because of their similarities to ogres, they were named after them. It was inspired by Callahan's bulky dog. ^^
Ruin Golems - Will be used on the Sunken Ruins because... Well, they fit so well and I like the idea of having them there! ^^

Others may follow.

So, next thing I gonna tell you, the hobgoblin model has been finished! Norinrad made a wonderful job and he began also on something new... the Battle Balloon!

I also updated the techtree... I scrapped the Scoundrel and replaced him with the Ogre Overseer Mercenary. He is able to detect invisible units (atm it's a simply true sight ability) Also, he is able to organize Day Laborers to work faster. (ONLY Day Laborers)

Current Techtree of the Goblins[/thumbnail]

Here are a few concept pics of the Overseer... The design will be improved though, besides the head. :9







And here is the newest pic of the Potion Doc



So, if you have any questions about the techtree or about some abilities, just ask here. =]

Oh, and sorry for my long absence, but that's normal.

 

[Khazmo]

Mmm, love the update. The models are great, as are the concepts. Seems you are progressing nicely!