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[Pyramid Siege v0.1.5e]

======Go to bottom of description for version CHANGES and UPDATES for v0.1.5e======

Pyramid Siege!


Summary
This brand new map pits the angered and powerful Desert Creatures against the intruders of their sacred pyramid -- the innocent but determined Explorers -- in a nice, simple, strategic, and fast-paced game. Pyramid Siege is sure to please fans of The Alamo as well as a diversity of other players. It combines the mass-control, attack/defend gamestyle with more in-depth gameplay and strategy.

Objectives



The Desert Creatures:

They are furious about the invasion of their pyramid grounds. To win as the Desert Creatures, you must siege the pyramid and reclaim it as your own by destroying the Explorers' Camp Headquarters.​

The Explorers:

Fighting for your life, you must defend the pyramid and your Camp Headquarters at all costs. You must attempt to survive for 20 minutes against the onslaught of the Desert Creatures.​


Gameplay



Combining the attack/defend, mass-control, Alamo-type game style with the strategic StrongholdTD aspect of 'more expensive units = more kills = more money = more $ to spend on even better units, so on and so on,' Pyramid Siege is a simple, fast-paced game with a healthy strategic twist.​

Desert Creatures

What the paragraph above basically meant is that spamming units isn't the only thing to this game, unlike many other mass-control maps. You, as the Desert Creatures, must be able to figure out how to spam enough units to make a proper amount of money through kills, yet at the same time, not giving the Explorers too many kills, and in turn giving them too much money. You have an array of creatures that get more expensive with their strength/power. Your job is to breach the pyramid using ARMIES (not single units) to break through their defenses, and hopefully reach the Camp Headquarters and take it down.​

Explorers

As defenders of the pyramid, you are to figure what is the best way to spend and ration your money so that your defense is most effective -- should you spend it on upgrades? more expensive defense units? towers? The choice is yours. Cooperation with your fellow players is absolutely key to your survival.​


Cooperation



Cooperation is KEY!!!

Communication with your fellow Desert Creatures or Explorers will ensure higher chances of victory. For example, let's say the Pyramid's north entrance is falling and the Explorers' defense is thinning. At that moment, it would be wise for the top left (red) and top right (blue) Desert Creatures to decide to launch a massive coordinated strike against that entrance, thus overwhelming and opening an entrance, forcing the Explorers to commit more troops to the North entrance, which in-turn forces them to pull troops from the East, South, and West entrances, which makes it easier for the other Desert Creatures to push through their respective entrances. This tactic of cooperation and coordination applies just as well to the Explorers -- ordering all your teammates to send mass reinforcementes to the North/West/East/South entrance. I'm gonna say it again. Cooperation is KEY!!!​


Variation of Gameplay/strategies



With all the various strategies of play, Pyramid Siege is a map that definitely has replay value.​

Desert Creatures

You can all decide to save and pool gold from the start to try to get a Pharoah early on, or perhaps one team member can summon ranged units while his partner summons melee units, thus making their attacks complement eachother. Maybe everyone can decide to play a cut-to-the-chase sort-of gameplay, where everyone goes straight to the HQ, ignoring as much in their path as possible. Or maybe everyone candecide to take as much time as possbile, killing everything in their way in an effort to rack up as much gold as possible. The possibilies are endless.​

Explorers

You can have one person focus on upgrading his units, another focus on building defense towers, and another saving for a nuke tower. Or maybe you could all focus on upgrading various units, so one player has insanely buff melee units, and another player has insanely strong towers. Maybe everyone can each claim their "own" Pyramid entrance, so each player has their specific entrance to defend instead of sharing with another player. As I said before, the possibilites are endless.​


Different Game-mode suggestions



Getting bored of playing straightforward games? Try out these interesting variations on the game rules!​

Variations


1) 1v1? 2v2? 3v3? 1v3 just for fun? Completely up to you.
2) Make one or a few of the entrances to the Pyramid off-limits, and see how well the Desert Creatures can do without them.
3) Make it so that the Desert Creatures have, let's say only 15 minutes to destroy the HQ -- they have until the 5 min mark to win.
4) Play without using ultimate-weapons, then see which side comes out on top.
5) Play with the first tier of the pyramid off-limits so that the Explorers have to stay bunched up on the second and third tiers.
6) Play with a certain unit of each side off-limits. Then you can see how much you rely on that particular unit.
7) Use your own rule! Let your creativity decide how you want to play!​


Tips and Other Info (IMPORTANT)



Players often remark about the game's unbalanced sides. READ ON, I will explain why this is not true. Sooo many times, people will be like [wow this game sucks, look how overpowered your <unit> is.] [The <explorers/desert creatures> are WAY to powerful...] However, they say that based on their experience with Pyramid Siege in ONE game. Pyramid Siege was meant to be game in which it could easily sway to either side's favor in a matter of minutes, all depending on a multitude of different factors. Sometimes, a game will be dominated by the Explorers, other times the Creatures, however this is part of the cycle of the game. The delicate balance of power between the two sides is equally shared in the beginning of the game, and can quickly shift to one side based on players' decisions. In addition, some players may be better or more experienced than others, and may command their team to victory in a near shut-out game. ***This is why I urge all of you who think that the game is unfair to play 1 or 2 more games, and see whether or not you still feel the same way. Chances are that those 1 or 2 more games will be significantly different than the first.***


For each side, (Explorers, Desert Creatures) there are a variety of different strategies for you to start out with. I am not going to list them all, because there are so many that one could use. In addition, part of the game is for you to figure out your own strategy or method to deal with the crucial beginning of Pyramid Siege. Because your actions in the beginning are so vital, since it will affect how you and your team will stand for the rest of the game, it is up to you to discover the strategy you most feel comfortable with.


If you are the Desert Creatures, and no matter what, you and your team just cannot breach the pyramid, don't lose all hope. At the 5-minute mark, all Desert Creatures receive an Attack Bonus to help them with a last final push into the pyramid. And Explorers, you may think that this is unfair, but if there is only 5 minutes left and the Creatures aren't really able to breakk through your defenses, then they probably wont be able to for the remaining 5 minutes. Hence, the Attack bonus. And besides, it adds a last-minute twist of fun and variety at the end which spices things up, and could perhaps turn the tide of battle.


A core aspect of Pyramid Siege is the, I guess you can call it the, Ultimate-Weapon of each side. Both the Explorers and the Desert Creatures each have a superpowerful unit/tower that will usually decide who is the victor when the match comes close. To answer a very common complaint, NO, they are not overpowered. If you think they are, then in short,your team wasn't ready to handle the other team's ultimate weapon, and therefore deserved to lose. Sometimes, the game ends up being a race to see which team can get their ultimate weapon first. Sometimes, not. But a key thing to remember about the ultimate weapons is that they are NOT invincible, even though they may seem nearly unstoppable at first. Read the next paragraph to discover how to survive the other team's ultimate weapons.


All that is required to fend off the Desert Creatures' ultimate, the pharoah, is the proper use of Pack Camels (and their abilities), a mass of troops to slow down its progress through the pyramid, and a heavily concentrated, constant attack on it (Nuke Towers certainly help). To combat the Explorers' ultimate, the Nuke Tower, just requires a simple charge straight to it with some decent units (so they dont get killed in one hit from it), an attack command, and voila. Of course, this sounds much easier then taking care of the pharoah, but if the Explorers are smart enough to defend their valuable Nuke towers, they could easily clog up on the chokepoints with units, making it difficult to reach the Nuke Tower. And obviously, the attacking units will experience a truckload of concentrated attack fire from the Nuke-tower-owner's units, making it even harder for them to survive long enough to reduce its HP to 0. As you can see, they both kinda weight each other out.



VERSION UPDATES/CHANGES


======v0.1.5e======



1)Two (2) new units

a) Desert Zeppelin - flying air-transport for Desert Creatures allows for ambushes over the pyramid walls
b) Ancient Sand Temple - new building which summons only 'special' units (Dessert Zeppelin, Aura Scorpion, etc), leaving all the normal units for the Haunted Summoning Pit. Basically makes the HSP less crowded with unit choices.

2) Hotkey fix

a) Two overlapping hotkeys on the HSP have been fixed and reassigned




1) 'Pack-Camel limit' has been created

a) you may now have only two camels in play at once. If a Pharoah is summoned, you can have up to four at once.




1) Leaderboard

a) There is now a leaderboard displaying to all players the Camp-HQ's current hp.

2) More help/info text

a) help/info text phrases will now display when one team summons their ultimate-weapon. It hints at the ult-weap's weaknesses, serves as an alert that trouble is on its way, and most importantly REMINDS the team that all hope is not lost and the game is not over 'til its over.



Keywords:
Pyramid Siege, siege, pyramid, mass control, maskedmafishin, desert creatures, desert, explorers, defense, attack/defend, the Alamo, Stronghold TD, He
Contents

[Pyramid Siege v0.1.5e] (Map)

Reviews
23:48, 7th Aug 2010 ap0calypse: Approved
Level 4
Joined
Dec 11, 2008
Messages
104
To be honest,
I don't really like hero maps etc..
But thanks to your AWESOME and good description I am going to dl this and have so much fun with it I guess... :D
If the description is true, your map is awesome.. ill test it :)
 
Level 5
Joined
Apr 19, 2009
Messages
165
this stratagy needs counter:
get mass grenadeers while upgrading range
when range is maxed replace gernadeers with cryptologists
when you have 150 food spend extra gold for fortifacation upgrades

mainly, what needs counter is upgrading and massing range units like crypts :p
 
Level 2
Joined
Nov 29, 2009
Messages
6
this stratagy needs counter:
get mass grenadeers while upgrading range
when range is maxed replace gernadeers with cryptologists
when you have 150 food spend extra gold for fortifacation upgrades

mainly, what needs counter is upgrading and massing range units like crypts :p

hmm, i see why that might be a problem sometimes. but i assume you were playing against not-too-great desert creatures who couldn't break through in the early-game? idk, i'll definitely look into it if i get the time again.
Thanks for your feedback though!
 
Well description isn't so awesome, why, well you write 10 word pages of text, lol I need 10 min to read all!

Please use hidden tags, boxes, tables etc etc to make groups like: Features, Map Info etc etc!

Add screenshots or even video!

Colorize your text, resize some words like: :p

Use these BB Codes to help you make a nice description.
 
Level 9
Joined
Dec 8, 2009
Messages
654
Review by ACdestinydream



Score system

your map would be given points as in the following criterias. The number at the side are the total score you can get from that aspect.

Description [10]
Creativity [15]
Triggering [15]
Playability [5]
Object Managing [10]
Terrain [15]

Overall [70]



description


Description [10]
This aspect determines how much work you have put into your map's description.

1~3 You did not put enough work into it.
4~7 It looks good, but it lacks screenshots etc.
8~10 It is just that perfect! Keep it up!

Creativity [15]
This aspect determines how much creatvity you have put into your map.

1~5 This map is obviously copied.
6~10 This map lacks some creativity.
11~15 You have thought of many ideas and it is quite creative with many different things which others do not have. Good job!

Triggering [15]
This aspect determines how much triggering work you have put into your map.

1~5 This map is full of leaks and it have many bad triggers.
6~10 This map have quite alot of leaks yet it is still playable.
11~15 This map have little leaks and uses good triggers.

Playability [5]
This aspect determines whether your map is fun to play or not.

1~2 Boring game with little/no help given.
3~4 Quite a fun game yet the playability is not there yet.
5 This map is fun and enjoyable.

Object Managing [10]
This aspect determines how well you have put in custom models/icons to fit your map.

1~3 Wrong usage of custom models/icons and bad tooltips/missing tooltips.
4~7 Custom models were used correctly but there are still some bad tooltips.
8~10 Little/no mistake in tooltips or icons.

Terrain [15]
This aspect determines how well did you terrain your map.

1~5 Bland terrain/doodad spammage/bad looking places/wrong usage of tiles
6~10 Some of the doodads were used correctly and some of the terrains were bad looking.
11~15 Great usage of doodads with good placement of different buildings etc.



Overall:
1~10 1/5 map rating with a Reject. [No rep]
11~20 2/5 map rating with a Reject. [No rep]
21~30 2/5 map rating with an Approve. [No rep]
31~40 3/5 map rating with an Approve. [No rep]
41~50 3/5 map rating with an Approve. [+rep]
51~60 4/5 map rating with an Approve. [+rep]
61~70 5/5 map rating with an Approve. [+rep]




My review of Pyramid Seige v0.1.5e


Description [9/10]

Its filled with description, however, you need to add in colors.

Creativity [13/15]

Hardly saw any of these maps around here.

Triggering [10/15]

This can definitely be improved. By adding a mass attack function and even showing other player's money in multiboard.

Playability [4/5]

Its fun yet somehow boring after a few rounds.

Object managing [7/10]

No custom models? No loading screen?

Terrain [8/15]

Terrain is very lacking, you can definitely add more doodads.

personal comment:
This map isnt near imbalanced, i won all rounds by alternating between creatures and explorers. Its kinda fun, yet somehow boring.


Overall = 9 + 13 + 10 + 4 + 7 + 8 = 51/70 (4/5 rating with approve and rep)


Final rating: 51/70 (4/5 map rating + approve + rep)

Reviewed by ACdestinydream. Please contact me if you disagree with my review or you want me to review your map again.
Actually wanted to give you 48/70, but i guess 51/70 would be more appropriate.
 
Level 2
Joined
Nov 29, 2009
Messages
6
Thank you all for the awesome constructive feedback, guys! In future versions if i get the chance i will definitely tweak the terrain and triggering and make them better. And I'm even thinking about adding a whole new concept to the game to make it even more strategic and eliminate the straightforwardness of the game. And I made the description a LOT more organized and appealing. but THANK YOU all!
 
Level 22
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
Messages
3,292
Information:
Reviews from Above Marked.

As a Reviewer of the Map Reviewers Group, I joined the THW Cleaning Event.
I
end up writing a fast review, or just posting the end state of the map, rating is not always included!


Current State for this map: Approved


I will contact the moderator to Approve/Reject the map, depending on what you recieved.

 
Level 13
Joined
Jun 1, 2008
Messages
360
Well how to best describe this game?
Click on the 1st unit in ur spawn every second until you have 200 gold.
Then build the best unit and own the place (both as attacker and defender).

All the units are basically the same.. ranged/meele with more or less hp/dmg and maybe AoE.
Haven't noticed any usefull spells.

The only thing I like is the terrain.

1/5

So you should add different units that allow for certain strategies, like siege towers/transporters and spell casters (who don't just raise more useless units).
Maybe limit food max to 100 so people don't just spam the free units (or make them cost more food).
Maybe barricades...
be creative
 
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