What Makes a Strategy/Skilled type map

[fotie]

Please post ideas on your thoughts of What makes a map have Strategy, Critical thinking, and Micro skills.

 

[warman45]

strategy is a word you rarely hear in warcraft3. (soldiers and generals campaighn being one of a few) the only way to add strategy is to bend the game and come up with completely new ideas so that it is not simply a "mass and kill" a few things i thought added strategy were.

1. there is a map where you get "base points" and resources spawn at points throughout the area and move to your "base point" you only get the resources when they arrive. i liked how this allowed for siege tactics.

2. there should be "special resources" that are required to build units (like saltpeter for gun units.)

3. someone needs to do a morale trigger where if a units "moral" (probably mana) drops to 0 then it runs to the nearest unit/building of type (like a fort or city.)

4. hiding. nothing says strategy like a small band of guys being ambushed and destroyed by an even smaller amount of guys.

5. terrain bonus. you could have a terrain bonus (like more attack from hills less move on rivers etc.) by having an aura that covers a specific area. this would be really good if your beinging besieged as this means that your walls mean that they can't attack you and vice versa.

6.bottlenecks. the reason that the 300 spartans killed so many of xerxes persians wast that the persians tried stuffing so many units through a small hole (weak units individually.) this meant that only a few of the units could attack each time and the spartans could not be overwhelmed.

 

[twotonedbeat]

Thanks for the terrain bonus idea, I'm going to place locations on my map where you get defensive and offensive bonuses/reductions for high ground, rock walls, fences, shallow water.

Unit of 12 units are crossing a wide stream, that wide stream location has a trigger which slows their speed 20%, defenses 30%....etc.

Or units on high ground have a similar bonus both offensively and defensively.

Also allowing sharpshooters to hide and take a shot from afar, with a dice roll of 0-100 (simulating a shot). 100 being a kill, 0 being a miss. A cooldown then activates in the hide in which the opponent can locate the sharpshooter and take him out.

I'm working on a morale system based upon the number of units nearby another unit, if the unit doesn't have enough units by him, he runs to the HQ area. Its not refined yet, but the basic concept is working.

Also thinking about a possible bonus/detriment for being closer/farther away from the target your unit it shooting, but the major issue with this is that each unit tends to want to attack at the maximum possible range. Maybe adding a "Fire" ability would fix this issue. Forcing the player to manually give the order to his 12 units to fire.

That said... forcing the player to manually give fire commands in big battles is an extremely daunting task unless you're some crazy guy who can cycle through hotkeys like a madman and is adept at making a ton of control groups.

Should add a lot more incentive to make strategic moves on the battlefield and simulate the real battle.

Thanks again! +rep

 

[fotie]

Thanks for the posts, i would have to mention "bounty" as such strategy related games as like risks.

 

[fotie]

What other elements make a map involve critical thinking and micro uses?