[Campaign] Warcraft 3 Altershift

[DwarfBoy]

So, this is a thread for a series inspired by Xetanth87's Warcraft 3 Alternate. The concept for this is the same, but in reverse. So, for his series, the race shifting is Human → Orc → Night Elf → Undead → Human. In this version, it's Human → Undead → Night Elf → Orc → Human.
As such, many of the race's and their tech trees get altered heavily depending on their position. I have a few things planned out ahead of time, such as the big bad of the series, as well as certain character alternations made because of the race shift.
Also, character names are kept generally the same, but certain locations have their names changed.

Racial Changes

Thank Yous

Screen Shots

Night Elf

Orc

Human

Undead

Creeps

The Huntress, Dryad, Mountain Giant, Hippogriff, Faerie Dragon, and Chimera have been ripped out.
Taking their place are the new Furbolg Brawler, Furbolg Shaman, Watcher, and Worgen Hunter.

Not too many chanced TBH. I decided that the Tauren are the dwarves and the Trolls are high elves in this universe. So, the headhunters are replaced with gun weilding Plainshunters, and the kodos are ridden by Tauren. Also, the wyverns are ridden by trolls, and bat riders are gone.

The humans are primarily human focused, with the elves completely removed. Also, the dwarven presence is there, due to troggs being the neurbians of this setting.

To Be Worked On. Plan on removing Nerubians from the tech tree, as living Nerubians take the role of Furbolgs in this universe.

Elementals are going to be more of a thing. So far, I've made Earth and Fire Elementals. I've also made some custom bandits to serve as "stray undead" and Rock Giants to serve as ogre replacements. Also, stupid kobolds are their ice witch, sacrificing all those innocent bears.

Note that this list will be updates as this series is worked on

Models & Skins

Icons

System

Ujimasa Hojo for a variety of models
Ilya Alaric for a handful of models
PROXY for the Treant worker model
johnwar for the Grunt and Furbolg models
jordan10 for the Druid of the Talon model
Mister_Haudrauf for the Worgen Hunter model
apaka for the Plainshunter and Kodo Rider models
Epsilon for the Bruteguard model
Khazmo for the Cannon model used
loktar for the Blood Altar model
Norinrad for the Earth Elemental model
Mc1 for the Fire Elemental model
Bleeq for all the Kobold models
Chainsaw for the Rock Giants' skin
DREADMAN for the various bandit models
biridius & stan0033 for a handful of aura effects
Vadim 647 for the Lifeblood Aura effect
doom_sheep for the Spore Cloud models
Kenathorn for various item models
republicola for the Ring of Protection models

Ilya Alaric for a handful of icons
Kuhneghetz for the Druid of the Talon icon
Xetanth87 for the Bruteguard icon
r.ace613 for the custom ancient icons
NFWar for the Earth Elemental icons
Artork312 for the Fire Elemental icons
WRM for the Spore Cloud icon
PrinceYaser for the Mana Berries icons

Bribe for the Damage Engine

 

[Macielos]

My main objection to all those race swapped campaigns is that they make very little sense story-wise, which completely breaks immersion and hence the urge to continue playing, even if they are well made gameplay-wise. I mean, of course the story will be inconsistent with the original, but it should feel consistent internally. E.g. you play as humans, but your heroes are named Thrall and Grom and talk/behave in a very orcish way. They sail to Kalimdor which is Draenor, but you still get there by ships, etc, etc. Burning Legion was replaced by the Void, which was a very cool concept, but Mannoroth was a big Draenei and Archimonde was a big makrur or something, rather then some Old God or other Void creature. Everything just felt... odd.

So my advice is this: make this make sense. Make alterations to the plot and maps that would make these swapped races and their heroes behave realistically. Change dialog lines or create some parts from scratch if necessary, you can now do this more easily with Elevenlabs.

There is one project that made race-swapping right, and it's race-swapped Brood War campaign I once watched on Executor Nral's channel. You can watch it for inspirations.

Of course, feel free to ignore my suggestions, and whatever choices you'll make, good luck and have fun .

 

[DwarfBoy]

Made an update to the prologue. Might be the last before I official upload it. Anyways, I've managed to clean up quite a bit of the campaign, such as making the kobolds spawn on chapter 5 and changed some texts around. Feel free to let me know if anything should be fixed up.

 

[DwarfBoy]

The first campaign has officially been posted to Hive!

Altershift: Exodus of the Sentinel

Iinspired by Xetanth87's Warcraft 3 Alternate. The concept for this is the same, but in reverse. So, for his series, the race shifting is Human → Orc → Night Elf → Undead → Human. In this version, it's Human → Undead → Night Elf → Orc → Human. In this campaign, Shan-Do Thrall must gather the...

www.hiveworkshop.com

 

[DwarfBoy]

I have offically started work on the next part of the seires; The Invasion of Blackrock. So far, the first two chapters, as well as the first interlude, are ready to go. I will post to keep you updated.

 

[DwarfBoy]

Hi! How are you all this fine day? I got Chapters 3 and 4 ready to go. I had to adjust a few things to, but nothing super major. Also, have a screencap that's fairly humorous.

 

[Daffa]

Is this considered complete? Or any qualifiers like Alpha I need to use if I cover these campaigns for Youtube?

 

[DwarfBoy]

Is this considered complete? Or any qualifiers like Alpha I need to use if I cover these campaigns for Youtube?

If it's posted here, it's still a WIP. When I feel it's ready and considered "complete", I'll post it official to as a new map.

 

[DwarfBoy]

Well, this was a trip. I thought Chapter 6 would give me the most mental strain, but it's Chapter 5 and it's dumb caravan shenanigans that made this hell. Anyways, Chapters 5 and 6, alongside their respective interludes, are ready to go.
I should point this out; Mal'Ganis AI is weird, and I don't know if it's a quark of Warcraft or if I did something stupid, but occasionally Mal'Ganis's forces will just... abandon him.
Anyways, I made a minor adjustment to the human tech tree, which you might see in the unit showcase on the first post

 

[DwarfBoy]

Hey guys! I'm still working on the last few chapters of the Orc Campaign. However, I realized I never really made the goblin replacements. So... here are the Ethereal Units one can acquire at an Ethereal Foundry.

From Left to Right, we have the Mystic Detonator, the Ethereal Portaller, and the Mystic Pillager.
The Mystic Detonator is a self-destructing ball of energy. Much like the sapper, it's explosion can deal some hefty damage and destroy trees. Unlike the sapper, however, it's damage is focused on spellcasters instead of buildings, as they deal extra damage to summoned creature and drain 50 mana from units.
The Ethereal Portaller is a unit that can't fight or survive for long. They also cannot fly. They, however, make up for it by summoning two portals; one at it's location, and the other at a location of your choosing (within range). The portals are linked to each other and last for a minute and a half, allowing you to teleport your units between two separate points.
The Mystic Pillager is a big melee unit that can do some series damage. However, it's main ability is that, when it deals damage to a target enemy unit, it's own gains gold and lumber equal to 10% of the damage it deals.

 

[Ardenaso]

wow so the cult of the damned is now a human supremacist crusade? malganis better be garithos

I'm going to assume:

Native races: Orcs, Trolls, Taurens, Nerubians, etc.
Invader races: Humans, Elves, Furbolgs, Dwarves, etc.
Demons are the Naaru?

 

[DwarfBoy]

I'm going to assume:

Native races: Orcs, Trolls, Taurens, Nerubians, etc.
Invader races: Humans, Elves, Furbolgs, Dwarves, etc.
Demons are the Naaru?

Orc, Trolls, and Tauren are native. Furbolgs and Nerubians are also native.
Kaldorei (which is what everyone calls night elves) and Humans are an invading species.
Also, no. Titans and Demons swap roles in this.

 

[The Nightmare Book]

Maybe you will find it useful

 

[DwarfBoy]

Maybe you will find it useful

It helps to note what need changing/adjusting. I'm just surprised you're doing the orc campaign since it's still early access atm.

 

[Yoga WP]

I see why the elves completely removed in Human tech tree in Altershift because the elves are the counterpart of dreadlords, such Mal'Ganis is a Quel'dorei Blood Mage.

The humans are primarily human focused, with the elves completely removed. Also, the dwarven presence is there, due to troggs being the nerubians of this setting.
View attachment 527557

 

[The Nightmare Book]

It helps to note what need changing/adjusting. I'm just surprised you're doing the orc campaign since it's still early access atm.

Well, I saw that it's mostly playable(?,) so I decided - why not?

 

[DwarfBoy]

Wow... it's been a while, huh? Like, two weeks since I posted an update.
Anyways, all the chapters should be finished right now. I kinda wanna do something special before I publish this, but if you just want the nine human missions, but you play as orcs, then it's as good as it gets.

 

[DwarfBoy]

So... turns out that version had some funny errors. Those errors have been corrected. I've also added a new mission that takes place at the end of the campaign.

 

[Daffa]

This one is still a WIP for the Lordaeron campaign, no? Just want to confirm

 

[DwarfBoy]

This one is still a WIP for the Lordaeron campaign, no? Just want to confirm

Until it's posted in the map section of the website, the answer is yes.

 

[DwarfBoy]

So... I've made some adjustments here and there. Mainly bug fixing and retooling the final boss. This might be the last update before I officially post it.

 

[DwarfBoy]

Oh hey, I actually released it. Anyways, the final version involves some bug fixing, some audio errors that I couldn't be asked to fix until now, and some text errors that flew under the radar. Much like the previous campaign, there's probably some errors still in this, but I'll squash those as they show up.

Altershift: Invasion of Blackrock

Iinspired by Xetanth87's Warcraft 3 Alternate. The concept for this is the same, but in reverse. So, for his series, the race shifting is Human → Orc → Night Elf → Undead → Human. In this version, it's Human → Undead → Night Elf → Orc → Human. In this campaign, the son of Warchief Teranas...

www.hiveworkshop.com

With this said, I wanna take a small break. I've been kinda burnt out lately and want to relax a little bit. I will still pick this up, but don't expect me to post the next campaign until later on.

 

[DwarfBoy]

I was hoping to wait, like, a couple weeks before I would start posting updates. Anyways, it might be a while before I start working on compiling the campaigns. In the meantime, here's some progress on things.

First things first; the trolls. As is blatant from the previous campaigns, the Darkspear Trolls are the stand-ins for the high elves. So far, I've managed to get the tech-tree kind there, though they still need the upgrades. Right now, we have the units, which are, from left to right; The Gatherer, the Slayer, the Headhunter, the Demolisher, the Shadow Priestess, the Witch Doctor, the Plunderer, and the Wind Rider.
All trolls start with being able to regenerate a third of a hit point per second, and with an upgrade can be boosted to 1 hit point per second.

I also managed to get the demon replacements done. I've gotten as far as the demons that show up in Reign of Chaos, which are the Felhounds, he Doom Guards, and the Infernals.
Felhounds are replaced with some tough Mogus. The two mogu on the left are the Mogu Shocktrooper and Mogu Shieldbreaker. Both are hardy melee units, with the Shieldbreaker having a Frenzy effect.
The Mogu Annihilator is the stand-in for the Doom Guard, and has the same brutal strength. However, his abilities are Cripple, Purge, Breath of Arcane, and Slam.
Finally, the Astral. Naturally, the stand-in for the Infernal, it trades the permanent immolation for Feedback, which drains mana from casters and burns them for additional damage.

 

[Kai'Sa]

I was hoping to wait, like, a couple weeks before I would start posting updates. Anyways, it might be a while before I start working on compiling the campaigns. In the meantime, here's some progress on things.
View attachment 532464
First things first; the trolls. As is blatant from the previous campaigns, the Darkspear Trolls are the stand-ins for the high elves. So far, I've managed to get the tech-tree kind there, though they still need the upgrades. Right now, we have the units, which are, from left to right; The Gatherer, the Slayer, the Headhunter, the Demolisher, the Shadow Priestess, the Witch Doctor, the Plunderer, and the Wind Rider.
All trolls start with being able to regenerate a third of a hit point per second, and with an upgrade can be boosted to 1 hit point per second.
View attachment 532467
I also managed to get the demon replacements done. I've gotten as far as the demons that show up in Reign of Chaos, which are the Felhounds, he Doom Guards, and the Infernals.
Felhounds are replaced with some tough Mogus. The two mogu on the left are the Mogu Shocktrooper and Mogu Shieldbreaker. Both are hardy melee units, with the Shieldbreaker having a Frenzy effect.
The Mogu Annihilator is the stand-in for the Doom Guard, and has the same brutal strength. However, his abilities are Cripple, Purge, Breath of Arcane, and Slam.
Finally, the Astral. Naturally, the stand-in for the Infernal, it trades the permanent immolation for Feedback, which drains mana from casters and burns them for additional damage.

nice work

 

[DwarfBoy]

So, I've been working on this for a while. I don't know how I'd translate this into a Melee Map due to how funky the triggers are, but I present: The Arrakoan Heretic. This hero takes the place of the Pandaren Brewmaster, and makes some appearances here and there.

 

[Yoga WP]

So, I've been working on this for a while. I don't know how I'd translate this into a Melee Map due to how funky the triggers are, but I present: The Arrakoan Heretic. This hero takes the place of the Pandaren Brewmaster, and makes some appearances here and there.
View attachment 534093

So, it means Arrakoa replaces Pandaren, with Pit Lords are Pandaren Brewmasters. Pandaren being a mentor of mogu titans sounds good to me.

 

[DwarfBoy]

So, it means Arrakoa replaces Pandaren, with Pit Lords are Pandaren Brewmasters. Pandaren being a mentor of mogu titans sounds good to me.

I never said Pandaren replace the Pit Lords.

 

[DwarfBoy]

It's been a while, hasn't it? Anyways, I managed to get the first 2 chapters and interlude done and ready to go. I plan on releasing new updates in chunks, rather then two chapters at a time. So, the next chunk will be ready when I get done with the 3 missions involving Guru'Danas and the interlude where Kel'Thuzad and Arthas talk about the legion.
Also, have this image I drew with the intention of replacing the Panda and Cub filter in the game proper. It was suppose to appear the Arrakoan Relaxation Vault, but I didn't know how to replace it or make a new filter.

 

[Yoga WP]

It's been a while, hasn't it? Anyways, I managed to get the first 2 chapters and interlude done and ready to go. I plan on releasing new updates in chunks, rather then two chapters at a time. So, the next chunk will be ready when I get done with the 3 missions involving Guru'Danas and the interlude where Kel'Thuzad and Arthas talk about the legion.
Also, have this image I drew with the intention of replacing the Panda and Cub filter in the game proper. It was suppose to appear the Arrakoan Relaxation Vault, but I didn't know how to replace it or make a new filter.
View attachment 534954

The Paladin Arthas' mission during the conquest of Guru'Danas, the Darkspear Troll town was initiated by the Queldorei Magistrix aka Blood Mage Tichondrius who tasked Arthas to revive Kel'Thuzad.

 

[DwarfBoy]

Hi! Sorry for a lack of updates. I got held up by stuff. Anyways, I do still want to work on getting the next chunk out but I've hit a snag and am unsure how to get around it, and that's the fact that Acid Bomb, and by extension Arthas's Exorism ability, is bugged.
I don't know why, but when using the ability, the game just... has a stroke when using it, as if the game needs to process the ability. The effect ranges from a slight, but noticeable, lag spike to the game completely freezing up, with one guy even telling me the game crashed. So, I can do a couple of things: recreate the ability using triggers, which is kind of a hassle since the one projectile system I liked is a bit iffy nowadays, or replace the ability entirely. Some ideas I have include giving Arthas Divine Shield again (which is boring), a recreation of the D&D spell Spirit Guardians, or giving Arthas the ability to bless his warriors for a time. Not sure, but it depends on what I decide on when I get around to it.

 

[Wazzz]

Hi! Sorry for a lack of updates. I got held up by stuff. Anyways, I do still want to work on getting the next chunk out but I've hit a snag and am unsure how to get around it, and that's the fact that Acid Bomb, and by extension Arthas's Exorism ability, is bugged.
I don't know why, but when using the ability, the game just... has a stroke when using it, as if the game needs to process the ability. The effect ranges from a slight, but noticeable, lag spike to the game completely freezing up, with one guy even telling me the game crashed. So, I can do a couple of things: recreate the ability using triggers, which is kind of a hassle since the one projectile system I liked is a bit iffy nowadays, or replace the ability entirely. Some ideas I have include giving Arthas Divine Shield again (which is boring), a recreation of the D&D spell Spirit Guardians, or giving Arthas the ability to bless his warriors for a time. Not sure, but it depends on what I decide on when I get around to it.

That sounds very unusual for Acid Bomb, is this the default Acid Bomb ability that's causing these issues, or is it only the Exorcism ability?

I've had some issues when using Acid Bomb before in combination with Damage Detection Systems, and have had to finagle it a bit to get it to behave appropriately. But from what you're describing, it sounds like it's something more than that? Are you currently using any triggers with the ability? I'm wondering if there's an instance of it causing a partially infinite loop of some kind.

 

[Chaosium]

What does your acid bomb settings look like? If you have a damage interval of something like 0.01 + some heavy triggering with damage taken I can see the game having a stroke dealing with that amount of procs

 

[DwarfBoy]

That sounds very unusual for Acid Bomb, is this the default Acid Bomb ability that's causing these issues, or is it only the Exorcism ability?

I've had some issues when using Acid Bomb before in combination with Damage Detection Systems, and have had to finagle it a bit to get it to behave appropriately. But from what you're describing, it sounds like it's something more than that? Are you currently using any triggers with the ability? I'm wondering if there's an instance of it causing a partially infinite loop of some kind.

I did adjust some stats for the ability to be different from Acid Bomb. Here are the adjustments made. While I did use custom models for the missile and effect, it persisted even after changingit to the default buff.

 

[Chaosium]

You might want to test with the default 1.00 damage interval, since there's no damage dealt it shouldn't change anything

BTW one quirk about acid bomb: the attack and movement speed are actually bonuses, so right now they increase by 20/40/60% So you need to specify -0.20 etc. Don't ask me why they did it that way (it's reported here)

 

[DwarfBoy]

So, I think I know what went wrong. I still had the old trigger that was used for Thrall's Auras, which, every 0.03 seconds, removes an ability from everyone and then added it if it had a certain buff. I did test it and it seems like the lag is over. So, exorism gets to stay in the game again!

BTW one quirk about acid bomb: the attack and movement speed are actually bonuses, so right now they increase by 20/40/60% So you need to specify -0.20 etc. Don't ask me why they did it that way (it's reported here)

I find it really funny how that's true, but now I have to figure out how to make the tool tip show it inverted (AKA, display a positive number on the tooltip when it's negative).

 

[Wazzz]

I did adjust some stats for the ability to be different from Acid Bomb. Here are the adjustments made. While I did use custom models for the missile and effect, it persisted even after changingit to the default buff.View attachment 538816

Ah yeah, I think Chaosium is right, the Damage Interval being 0.000 would mean it's trying to do 0 damage every 0 seconds, I'm glad that seems to have worked properly!

For the tooltip, you might have to plug the numbers in manually. Acid Bomb is a hilariously bizarre ability, although I suppose in fairness we are the ones to use it in a way it wasn't originally used for (although it is allegedly designed for it, but we cannot expect too much from a small indie company)

 

[Chaosium]

I concur about manually typing the tooltip, it's 100% failproof and with only 3 levels to handle it's no biggie