Space Hulk: Brood Wars

[dragon_kid]

It is the 41st Millenium, and there is only WAR

------------------------------

In the ages of the conception of the Imperium of Man, many vessels have been wrecked, damaged, or otherwise lost for ages, before located again by Imperium fleets. Often, these hulks have both hidden foes and valuable relics. When the Imperium decides to search these so-called 'Space Hulks,' they call in thier personal soldiers- the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines. The loyal, biologicly enhanced warriors of the Imortal Emporer of Mankind. No matter the mission, the Space Marines will do all they can to do what the Emporer commands.

However, Space Hulks are not only searched by the Imperium. Many Tyranid splinter fleets find the hulks a great way to travel and prepare assaults against the worlds on thier quest for biomass to fuel the immersurable Hive Mind. The most common Tyranid found in Space Hulks, strangely enough, seems to be Genestealers- Vanguards to the Tyranid Swarm, often seen months and even years before a full Tyranid invasion.

And then there is the Imperium's shame, and it's most hated foes. Ages ago, an event known as the Hourus Herasy split the Imperium in two, many loyal Space Marines, and even thier Primearchs, the first Space Marines, turned against the Emporor, brother fighting brother until, finally, the Emporer struck down the traitor Hourus, though it doomed him to a slow, painful decay in the holds of the Golden Throne. The surviving traitors, known now as the Traitor Leigons, or Chaos Space Marines, still comb the worlds of the Imperium when they are not hiding in the great warpstorm known as the Eye of Terror.

It is in the Hulk of one of the most infamous ships to sail the stars- the remains are roumored to be of the flagship Hourus and the Emporer fought the last battle of the Hourus Herasy- that this contest takes form. The Space Marines seeks out a hidden artifact that may bring the Emporer back to his former glory. The Traitor Leigons seek to regain thier lost Warmaster's ship, so as to eliminate the Imperium. And the Genestealers just want to have some lunch...

------------------------------

Space Hulk- Brood Wars is a teamplay map, where players take the part as either the Space Marines, the Chaos Space Marines, or three Broodlords of the Tyranid Genestealers.

There are two goals for this map: The first is a uniqe play style. Both Space Marine teams must beat the other team to the objectives of the mission, while surviving waves upon waves of Genestealers and thier nefarious leaders, the Broodlords.

The second goal of the map is to referance as much about the 40K universse as possible. Many abilities will be based off the standard (or above standard) options for that unit, with the teams comprising codex standards. Also, in the 'Quest Log' section, will be small sections giving brief looks at the various mentioned 40K items of note.

-----Current Information-----

-HEROES-

Each side comprises of four player slots: 4 for the Imperium, 4 for the forces of Chaos, and 4 for the Genestealer Brood. The final slot of Chaos and Imperium is the armored support- Dreadnoughts for Imperium, and the Defiler for Chaos. There are other troop choices for those two sides as well, though only Chaos currently has three of it's troops ready: Night Lords Raptors, Thousand Sons Sorcerors, and Death Guard Terminators. Each unit comes with an array of special skills, and while several skills may overlap, it usually has to do with consistency of the units (It makes sence for both a Venerable Dreadnought and a Furioso Dreadnought to both have the Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon ability, for example.)

In the case of the Tyranid players, they only have one choice of hero- a single Broodlord, a fragile but devastating hero who is both completely stealthy and boosts the power of nearby Genestealers. As he's mainly geared as a support hero, the goal of the Genestealer is to use it's Flesh Hooks to drag targets into the horde, and to assist in any form they wish using it's other abilities:

Infiltrate- Cloaking similar to the Dranai. Can hide no matter the time of day or night. This is most useful in earlier levels, when the Broodlord doesn't have all it's abilities. This is an innate ability, and it starts with this.
Synapse- Synapse boosts the movement speed and health regeneration of nearby Genestealers considerably. As the main goal of the Broodlord is to use it's mydrid allies as a shield in comparison to elite Terminators and heavy weapons, Synapse means that the Genestealers can survive a little bit longer. This is an innate ability, and it starts with this.
Flesh Hook (CreditzyramidHe@d's Broodlord Test Map)- A spell that deals damage and drags the target to the Broodlord. Effective at dragging the enemy Terminators into crowds or where you can sink your Rending Claws into them. Each level increases damage exponentially.
Nom Nom Nom- The Broodlord regains some health by eating at a nearby corpse. Greater points in this skill lessens the time wasted on recovering, so you can eat at the Terminators instead.
Rending Claws- Gives a likelyhood of the Broodlord to rip into it's target with Rending Claws, dealing a extra damage bonus.
Hivemind Spores- Hivemind Spores deal severe damage over the course of 10 minutes. If the target dies, several Rippers will spawn in the area, swiftly biting at thier enemies.

-OTHER UNITS-

Most of the rest of the map is taken over by the other units, mainly Genestealers on the side of the Broodlord players. However, I'm also toying at the idea of doing periotic spawnings of Imperial Guard and Chaos Cultists to assist in the capture of the team's goals, on the same player slot as the Dreadnought/Defiler slot, which may mean more work for the player, but also the fact he'll get resources faster, allowing him to 'Update' his machine quicker, though the fact that these players are the backbone of the others may lead to much covetment for those slots.

-LAYOUT-

The map takes place in tight corridors and siderooms, as players seek out the required artifact, while attempting to survive the hordes of genestealers. A camera-down setup positions the player's view over thier hero of choice, as every so often, minimap pings pick up the enemy Stealers. However, the Broodlords will not show up in these pings. On the side of the Broodlords, they must rely on thier Genestealers to keep them alive.

The game lasts until either one of the Terminator sides have gained thier objective, or the Genestealers have run all the players out of lives.

-CURRENT STAGE OF CONTRUCTION-

Finding information on doing what I'm working on, balencing heroes, creating terrain. Any assistance or ideas are apreciated!

 

[wereguy2]

.

 

[Pyramidhe@d]

excellent

oh and the flesh hook, i think you should look for someone that knows how the Meat Hook spell from dota works. mine was just an improvised spell

oh and good idea to put guards and cultists. in the real game, marines/termies are real hard to kill and there wont be enough corpse for the cannibalise ability to be useful if there were only termies.
guards and cultists are more of a bait than real defence against genestealers.
i'll ask burning_dragoon5 if i can reskin the guards into cultists

and the spore thing
you shouldnt have the unit infected to take damage over time. that will make it obvious that the unit is infected and the players will simply ditcch that unit or just send it on a suicide mission. instead a more interesting thing could be that when the broodlord performs the spell, there is a 50% of successful infection. whether ot not the unit is infected or not does not show. and after a random amount of time, the unit will explode and then rippers will come out. these random variables will make the game really interesting

also note worthy, in the original game, the genestealers know exactly where everyone is, even where the termies are. however this would be too much of an advantage and should only be represented maybe by a more frequent ping

bit of a geek talk but in table top and also in the new Space Hulk, broodlords have "Inhuman Strength" attribute which means it ignores armour completely.

and in the computer version (which is no longer available under its original name), there are ventilation ducts. genestelers and broodlords can seen and go through ventilations while marines cannot shoot nor see into them. (i think flamers can make a blind shot though. cant remember)

relics include a piece of technology(eg. a servo skull), a chapter relic(eg. a golden goblet), body of a fallen chapter hero.

just giving you ideas. you pick the goods from the garbage
will put more input. i just gotta re-read the rule book again

 

[wereguy2]

I dont think reskinned marines would look very good as cultists... Now, reskinned Dranai...

 

[Pyramidhe@d]

reskinned guards, not marines, as traiter guards.

ref

dranei would actually work quite nice though. good idea

 

[Ghost765]

never really was a fan of single corridor combat. but i might play this. are you gonna have a run-and-gun system somehow?

 

[dragon_kid]

never really was a fan of single corridor combat. but i might play this. are you gonna have a run-and-gun system somehow?

Not quite sure how I'm gonna run it, but I'm picturing more of a 'teamwork' game, sorta like DotA in the sence one side has hordes of spawn while the others are mostly heroes. May even have variable mission types like Deathmatch or Relic Capture even.

oh and the flesh hook, i think you should look for someone that knows how the Meat Hook spell from dota works. mine was just an improvised spell

Will do, any ideas who may have that? I'm not too good with Jass, so I just copied yours for a test of my Skillset.

you shouldnt have the unit infected to take damage over time. that will make it obvious that the unit is infected and the players will simply ditcch that unit or just send it on a suicide mission. instead a more interesting thing could be that when the broodlord performs the spell, there is a 50% of successful infection. whether ot not the unit is infected or not does not show. and after a random amount of time, the unit will explode and then rippers will come out. these random variables will make the game really interesting

I'll see what I can do, that has merit

also note worthy, in the original game, the genestealers know exactly where everyone is, even where the termies are. however this would be too much of an advantage and should only be represented maybe by a more frequent ping

bit of a geek talk but in table top and also in the new Space Hulk, broodlords have "Inhuman Strength" attribute which means it ignores armour completely.

Though units in Terminator armor will have Fortified armor (may edit armor type variables later) the Broodlord has Chaos and Divine stats for it's attack and armor respectively. Even though it only has 1600 HP in the current set, it's still a tough little bugger, specially if it's going to work with hordes. As I said though, this map is going to be a big learning experience for me, so I'm gonna basicly try to do all I can to make it awesome ^^ I'll definately add a 'ping' system for basic Stealers, though the broodlords are pretty much invisible (don't even show as Heros on the map).

I dont think reskinned marines would look very good as cultists... Now, reskinned Dranai...

I dunno if I can both reskin the Gaurdsman model and also use the Gaurdsmen themselves, unless I make a seperate import/export for the two models (could be possible, but with the way my craptop has been recently, could get infuriating).

As for progress, not so much, besides adding more abilities to who I got, though I am working the kinks out of the Ultimate spell for the Thousand Sons Sorcerer, the Spire of Tzeentch. On the plus, it's a powerful varient of the Volcano spell, with a 'Crystal' barrier that's non-pathable, making it good to temporarily seal off some smaller corridors. Plan on doing much of the terraining next time I get the chance, including adding some custom textures in. Promise some WE screens next I post!

 

[wereguy2]

Whoops, I mean guards...
And by cultists I thought you meant DoW-esque cultists, not traitor marines.

 

[dragon_kid]

well, on retrospect, both ideas would work. I actually decided on a tried and true method for recruits anyway: Each team will have either a Dropship or a Spore Chimney for gathering spare recruits, with spawns giving marginal resources. It will be the Terminators and Broodlords who give the big bucks.

Each side will probably have 3-4 different recruits, going from whimps (Ripper Swarm/Lasgun Guardsmen/Light Cultists) to heavyweights (Combat Dreadnought/Carnifex/Chaos Marine). The units purchaseable, of course, will be a bit discussive as the map develops.

On a semi-related note, my laptop is going to the repairshop in a few days. I allready backed up the Hulk and probably will work on it from the drive off my Sister's computer (she has War3 as well) when I get the chance, as my models are on it as well. Perhaps by then a proper update ^^;

 

[wereguy2]

Carinfexes and Dreadnoughts on Space Hulks? D:

 

[Ghost765]

thats not gonna be pretty. so this is more like an AoS or a slash n hack dungeon?

 

[dragon_kid]

It was an idea, cut me some slack for at least panning first D:

Besides, did you guys miss the fact that both Chaos and Imperium would have the last player spot be a Heavy Support choice? The biggy with those is to give at least 1 player who's Mechanical tendencies would give the Broodlords a slight harder disadvantage. The Imperium being a choice of 3 Dreadnought types and the Defiler for Chaos in the current setup. Though limiting it to one slot also sets it so players don't do a massive Dreadnought rush on the Stealers.

Another thing to pre-empted the odvious 'OMG you're using Defiler for Chaos!?! That's HS and Dreads are only Elite omgwtfbbqhax!' ravings. True, the Defiler is a tad more powerful then the Dreadnought, but it also has to contend with:

-Most of the current Chaos build doesn't have Terminator Armor (Only the Death Guard Terminator has that boon) making Chaos actually slightly WEAKER in the defense department.
-The Defiler is a HUGE target as well, and slow moving. It's literally the 'moving wall' for the Chaos player.
-A fully leveled Broodlord or two can STILL kill off a fully-leveled Defiler or Dreadnought in a few blows.
-I have also seen user-made edits to the Space Hulk rules that allows Dreadnoughts, usually in larger campains, plus the fact that War3 is not the best way to do a paced game like Hulk accurately. Heavy Support is actually a good move, even for the Imperium, and I needed a Chaosy substitute for them.

If anyone's got a better idea, I'm all ears, but for now, they stay.

As for Ghost's comment, not quite sure. You got the Genestealers with the one AI continuous spawning, and the three player controled Broodlords, and you got two semi-identical teams against each other with whatever mission is done and the only income being the constant throng from said Genestealers.

Probably closer to a more direct, insane, player-based Battletanks, I think o,O;

 

[wereguy2]

Broodlords own vehicles anyway, 2D6 Penetration.

 

[dragon_kid]

And the Brood War rendition can currently do 420 damage each half second with a not so lucky Rending Claw at level 10. Though the Defiler has 5000 HP (the highest of all the units thus far) in the current setup, it's still enough that a few Broodlords can sneak close and cause some havock, even with the Defiler being a heavy assault machine in itself.

Personally, what I'm seeing in development is actually pretty ironic- the Space Marines are a very flexible and variable setup, ensuring that at least someone can do A. Crowd control, B. Assaults, and C. Ability Mastery quite easily, while Chaos has to rely on thier soldiers following a 'class' system, with mystical Sorcerers, assassin Raptors, and the heavy Terminators. Hopefully some more models for Space Marines will come bout the time I finally get done balencing the Chaos and Broodlord sides and finish the terrain so I can work on them more ^^;

 

[wereguy2]

Defilers are actually weaker than Dreadnoughts. Their main asset is their Battle Cannon, which is artillery. In fact, they only have 2 WS, not very good for melee combat..

 

[dragon_kid]

Hmm, all the info I know is they're more of a CC unit, specially with twin Close Combat weapons added. What ruleset you quoting?

 

[wereguy2]

The one before the newest one.
I remember reading a battle report in which an Emperors Champion killed a Defiler in one turn.

 

[dragon_kid]

Ah, I see. well, the newest codex has them informed now as a Vehicle, Walker, so they're actually more survivable (damage being done as one would be to a Predator now), and add the Strength 6 and Attack 3, that means lighter armed armies would be hurt by a twin CCW-uped Defiler. Add in the main rule's major vehicle update making them slightly more difficult to destroy the vehicles, it can get difficult.

That and the standard attack animation on the Defiler model I'm using is the melee weapons, so there don't worry, all the other bells and whistles will be included too, including Flamer, autocannon, battlecannon, and even a ground smash to get the pesky Stealers off your hull.

 

[wereguy2]

Well changing the default animation would be pretty easy, but okay.

 

[dragon_kid]

Well, snuck onto the computer today, and have begun working for the day, but I figured I'd toss up a quick ingame of how some of the heroes. In the screenie you see the Venerable Dreadnought, Defiler, Thousand Sons Sorcerer, Death Gaurd Terminator, Night Lords Raptor, and the ever-infallable Broodlord, selected. High on the list today is to start mapwork and importation of terrain textures.

 

[wereguy2]

Why is the broodlord red tinted? :<

 

[dragon_kid]

Why is the broodlord red tinted? :<

Akama-style-Shadowmeld+Teamcolor

 

[wereguy2]

Oh. I hate that...

 

[dragon_kid]

And yet it's a common problem with custom models --;

 

[dragon_kid]

Double Toast, but have more screenies to show off.

Also, running into a tiny snag. It seems I misplaced my terrain path 'guide' I had running around, and beings I downloaded the Prophet before War3, I don't have my model pathing that way ^^; I hate it when I screw myself over.

On the bright side, I can at least start map building. I did a lot of my basis off of media of Imperium ships, until I realized I may need to add more to the sides of each map. Aw well, more mazey halls means more ambush tactics, amiright?

I'm also thinking of setting view permenently over the hero's head, at about 1000 up. That good?

Another thing: I'm also gonna set up some 'secret heros' off other races, based off other races. The goal is one uniqe hero unlockable on each side.

I am hitting a problem with an idea for a special ability for the Hellfire and Venerable for a ultimate skill that isn't too farfetched, thus I'm asking any Ultrasmurfs out there for a hand

 

[Pyramidhe@d]

hellfire-empty out its missles in one single move. cooldown time=damn loooooong

oh and i think there shouldnt be a defiler just for the fact that the setting is in a space hulk, a very confined space, and a defiler is just too damn big. an obliterator maybe? then again, someone has to make the model...-_- and i dont want to make an obliterator...i hate organic...

 

[dragon_kid]

hellfire-empty out its missles in one single move. cooldown time=damn loooooong

oh and i think there shouldnt be a defiler just for the fact that the setting is in a space hulk, a very confined space, and a defiler is just too damn big. an obliterator maybe? then again, someone has to make the model...-_- and i dont want to make an obliterator...i hate organic...

Sadly, there isn't that many 40K models that goes into the 'elites' and 'heavy support' choices much besides the tanks D: That was the main hand-forcer for the defiler being the HS, but I also don't wanna force hands and beg for someone to do models of more sutible- or wanted- choices of troops and units (Chaos Dreadnought, Obliterators, Assault Terminators, etc.), as that goes against my 'wish to not bug people' clause, as that's one of the reasons I haven't started Space Marine's side that much either.

BTW, Hellfire Missiles are allready up for a tiered ability for the Hellfire Dreadnought, beat ya to that lol

 

[wereguy2]

Locked cameras swerve extremely unpredictably, and are not a wise choice. They make gameplay a lot harder.

 

[Pyramidhe@d]

they are really frustrating in fact. one of many things that piss me off
also, locked cameras make me motion sick

 

[dragon_kid]

Ok then, no fixed camera ^^;

 

[wereguy2]

Ohh, whoops, misread. I thought you said you would fix the camera behind the player. No, having it over the player is a good idea, it makes using hotkeys a lot easier.

 

[dragon_kid]

Nonononono, definately a Overhead, not a FPS. FPS cams only add lag IMO.

Well, if I can find a replacement for the Defiler, I'll replace it with that for the Chaos side and make the Defiler a secret hero then, though if not, I'll haveta leave it there. Going to work on finishing the Chaos side hopefully today, as well as final tweaking at the halls.

 

[dragon_kid]

Newest Changes, quite a lot today:

-Added Several new spells: Sight of Chaos and Bolts of Chaos for the Sorceror, Activate Jumpack for the Raptor, Nurgle's Rot to the Terminator, Ground Smash for the Defiler
-Only thing left for the map is doodading it and custom texturing, or is it good as it is with the Black Citidel?
-Changed the armor/attack system quite a bit. Not only is attack names different (Piercing is now Bolter, for example) we now also have a new 'chart' of defensework.
-Began planning out three 'questable' heroes- Necron Warrior, Tau XV15 Stealthsuit, and Eldar Autarch. These units are strong, but hidden, needing special items in order to get to them, plus they replace your current heros.

Armor/Damage Ratios
[Damage][Blade][Bolter][Chaos][Rending][Power][Hero][Spells]
[Tyranid][0.50][0.75][1.00][1.00][2.00][1.00][1.00]
[Metal][1.00][1.00][1.00][1.00][2.50][1.75][1.75]
[Flak][1.00][1.00][1.00][1.00][2.00][1.50][1.50]
[Carapace][1.00][1.00][1.00][1.00][1.50][1.25][1.25]
[Power][0.75][0.75][0.95][1.00][1.25][0.90][0.75]
[Terminator][0.50][0.50][0.90][1.00][1.00][0.75][0.50]
[Hero][0.85][0.85][0.85][1.00][1.00][1.00][0.85]
[Vehicle][0.25][0.50][1.00][1.00][1.50][0.75][0.50]

Understandibly, the armor used now depends on the unit. Tyranid armor is globaly the Tyranid side, and is useful because only smaller strains are used anyway. Power and Terminator armor is reserved for Space and Chaos Marines respectively, and currently, only 4 units will have the uber Vehicle armor, the three Dreadnoughts and the Defiler.

C&C as usual, but I hit another confusing idea. What would be a good way to represent throwing an explosive? I'm currently using Flame Strike, but it doesn't show the projectile and it don't look as good IMO

 

[Pyramidhe@d]

umm i am sure you can just change missile art then change projectile speed
or cluster rockets.

 

[Ghost765]

make the bolters stronger. seriously, theyre EXPLOSIVE bullets.

 

[wereguy2]

Flak, what?

 

[Pyramidhe@d]

flak is what the imperial guards wear
and please. oh by dear god, dont make the bolter a rapid fire weapon like an smg. its a burst fire weapon that shoots heavy slugs

 

[wereguy2]

Oh, it is also an anti-air cannon. D:

 

[dragon_kid]

The attack/armor chart is how I'm setting up the basic attacks, not the speed on how they work, trust me. I'm still tweaking as I go, give me a benifit.

 

[dragon_kid]

umm i am sure you can just change missile art then change projectile speed
or cluster rockets.

tried that, missile art's a no-show. And I allready have two different cluster rocket spells DX

 

[Pyramidhe@d]

i know that. i was just reminding you to PLEASE NOT DO A RAPID FIRE BOLTER!!

 

[dragon_kid]

First I have to have a unit WITH Bolters. The only thing close is the Assault Cannons and the Inferno Bolter on the Sorceror. Autocannons and Assault Cannons are pretty rapid though, right?

 

[wereguy2]

The Sorcerer has an Inferno Bolter? Looked like a plasma pistol to me...

 

[dragon_kid]

Technically, plasma is the model, but this is a tad artistic liscence. It also allows the Chaos side to have a hero with Chaos attacks.

 

[Pyramidhe@d]

its meant to be a combi plasma/bolter
:\ i failed

 

[dragon_kid]

its meant to be a combi plasma/bolter
:\ i failed

Hey, people take different points on a model different ways. I say Inferno Bolts, you say Combi-Plasma

 

[wereguy2]

But it glows!

 

[dragon_kid]

So does magic.. most of the time?

Btw, updated first post a few days ago of some newer screenies to those who didn't notice

 

[wereguy2]

Hmm, the camera looks weird.
Also, use some imported icons.

 

[dragon_kid]

Hmm, the camera looks weird.
Also, use some imported icons.

When I actually get to the point where system doesn't need to be as important as the art...