A Treasure Chest of Maps

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Angelspit
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A Treasure Chest of Maps

Unread postby Angelspit » 13 Oct 2006, 19:30

If you would like to take a look at the original page visit this link:
https://www.celestialheavens.com/1160767835

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Justice
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A Treasure Chest of Maps

Unread postby Justice » 13 Oct 2006, 19:40

Could you also pull up your sleeves regarding MM X :p looks great :)
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Lady Farquad
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A Treasure Chest of Maps

Unread postby Lady Farquad » 13 Oct 2006, 20:24

Thanks AS, the weekend looks more promising now
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Romanov77
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A Treasure Chest of Maps

Unread postby Romanov77 » 13 Oct 2006, 21:13

Cool, I got somewhat mentioned in a CH news update by angelspit!!
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vulnevia
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A Treasure Chest of Maps

Unread postby vulnevia » 13 Oct 2006, 22:00

I'm gonna playtest those new small maps, don't have time for bigger, have othjer games that eat up all my time ;)

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Sir_Toejam
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Unread postby Sir_Toejam » 14 Oct 2006, 06:49

The Keymasters (H5) by Rocco D. Giordano: another singleplayer map, this time with an underground. The mapmaker tried to make it challenging enough.
just tried this out...

YIKES! challenging indeed!

you're outnumbered 3 haven towns and 3 times the mines vs. your 1 town (of whatever type you choose) and single mines of each type.

Moreover, you don't even get to start off with a hero - you must build a tavern and hire one (so don't bother going for the random artifact as a bonus - highly suggest the random resource bonus).

the design of the map is very interesting, and i like the layout quite a bit.

you are on one side of a river with a bridge that is out, and you have to figure out how to get to the other side to attack the AI towns.

no boats. (No phones, no lights, no motor cars, not a single luxury :p)

by the end of the third week, the AI has figured out how to get to your side of the river (no you can't do it - it's a one way portal from his side to yours), and you are forced to fight off a near endless stream of heroes with either a handful or one weeks worth of creatures.

the only way for you to get to the AI side lies underground, but to accomplish your task, you have to fight through some MASSIVE neutral stacks, progressively getting larger up to 100-200 wraiths or 30-50 black dragons.

so.. to have any possibility of success, it seems you have to build two strong armies, one to fight off the ever intruding AI, and one to slowly build up enough strength to take on the underground neutrals.

the underground areas have some lighting effects i haven't seen before, making them considerably brighter and more colorful.

the design of this map works great as a normal sized map, so users like me with not so uber puters will have no problems with it.

suggestions for the author:

-allow the player to choose a hero to start with.
-make sure the grail spawns on the player's side of the river
-knock down the size of the final underground stacks by 30-50%
-put the gold mine farther from the two-way portal on the player's side
-put a couple more buildings already constructed in the starting town - a mage guild and maybe the tavern in addition to the fort already added would be good, so the player can build a couple of level 9 structures by EOW.

that should tip the balance to make it a little more doable.

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Orfinn
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A Treasure Chest of Maps

Unread postby Orfinn » 14 Oct 2006, 09:38

Ok, its very looong since I have played H5 or touched anything about it so ehem....how do I use the fan made H5 maps, do I extract them to the data folder as with the mods???

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alavris
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Unread postby alavris » 14 Oct 2006, 10:20

Extract them to folder named "Maps" (in your Heroes V directory). If you don't have one, then create it.
.

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Orfinn
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A Treasure Chest of Maps

Unread postby Orfinn » 14 Oct 2006, 11:05

Should have known, thanks :)

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Unread postby margie414 » 14 Oct 2006, 14:17

Sir_Toejam wrote:
The Keymasters (H5) by Rocco D. Giordano: another singleplayer map, this time with an underground. The mapmaker tried to make it challenging enough.
just tried this out...

YIKES! challenging indeed!
I Agree! Enjoyed very much!

you are on one side of a river with a bridge that is out, and you have to figure out how to get to the other side to attack the AI towns.
no boats. (No phones, no lights, no motor cars, not a single luxury :p)

You need the Speed Travel spell that works like a teleporter to get to other side.


suggestions for the author:

-make sure the grail spawns on the player's side of the river

It is south near necromancer area which can be accessed in many ways Use teleporters and you will get there if you have a built up army. Only problem is, I couldn.t find the last oblelisk, but with puzzle I had, I just kept digging all around until Voila! :creative: This is when I took the Necromancer town and had some time to do this before Yellow came and interrupted me. :devil: Don't want to spoil the map by giving away exact position of Grail.

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Shuyssar
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Unread postby Shuyssar » 14 Oct 2006, 17:43

So many maps! :-D
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Metathron
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A Treasure Chest of Maps

Unread postby Metathron » 14 Oct 2006, 18:48

Judging by Sir_Toejam's description, it seems that this map is a real challenge. 30-50 blackies? Oh, my, is it even feasible to defeat that with only your one castle's worth of an army and meagre resources I suppose?



Well, I'm off to play and see for myself!
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Sir_Toejam
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Unread postby Sir_Toejam » 14 Oct 2006, 19:56

You need the Speed Travel spell that works like a teleporter to get to other side.
nope. the instant travel spell is intentionally disabled on this map (or at least it's supposed to be, as I looked at the map in the editor and it is).

I think you are speaking of a different map, based on your descriptions.
Oh, my, is it even feasible to defeat that with only your one castle's worth of an army and meagre resources I suppose?
I'm sure it is, I haven't finished yet, but I can tell it's just gonna take patience, and hoping the AI doesn't try to attack me with a combined army.

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Metathron
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A Treasure Chest of Maps

Unread postby Metathron » 14 Oct 2006, 21:03

I've played several months into the game, and the map is certainly challenging, but I feel it comes at the cost of enjoyment. The AI must have some sort of insight into your territory, because as soon as your main hero strays from the immediate vicinity of your castle, the AI launches a head-on attack, so you need to keep coming back with your hero, which becomes tiresome. Also, the quantity of the wights in the underground steadily increases, and you can come out of battling them casualty-free only until a certain point, and the further warring starts to gnaw at your forces, slowly but surely, and I can only imagine what would be left of your army by the end of the underground.



Not my kind of map, I guess, but certainly fun to try.
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Sir_Toejam
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Unread postby Sir_Toejam » 15 Oct 2006, 00:26

yeah, you pretty much have to create a second army in order to fend off the AI attacks, while you gradually increase the size of your primary army to deal with the neutral stacks underground.

it starts off very exciting, and then becomes a grind.

to move the pace along a bit, i still recommend (to the author) decreasing the size of the larger underground stacks considerably (or at least the last stack - about 30% or so should do).
Last edited by Sir_Toejam on 15 Oct 2006, 04:16, edited 1 time in total.

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Sir_Toejam
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Unread postby Sir_Toejam » 15 Oct 2006, 04:13

OK, I just finished it.

you will have to deal with a couple of attacks of several hundred marksman and 2 weeks or so of other troops from the AI in the second month. if you can handle those, it smooths out after that.

you will need about 1 months full growth (depending on what you are playing) from your castle, and around a level 15-20 hero to defeat the last stack of wights underground (I had to fight about 130). You can, but do not have to take on the dragons underground (I didn't even try).

once you make it to the other side, you will have one or two more tough battles to take whichever is the AI's best castle, and then it's pretty much over.

there is a bug where even though the instant travel spell is disabled on the map, it still shows up in the mage guild.

To stick to the authors intented usage, I chose not to use it once i got it.

I'd rate it about an 8 overall. it was pretty fun, if trying at times.

I think if the changes i suggested are adopted, there would be a few weeks less tedium fighting off the constant AI invasions before you could defeat the stacks underground.

IOW, the challenge would still be the same, but the pace would pick up a bit.

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Caradoc
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A Treasure Chest of Maps

Unread postby Caradoc » 16 Oct 2006, 02:40

I'm sorry to report that Control of the Oceanfront should not have made it out of testing. There are a great many objects that cannot be visited. The map itself is simplistic and poorly decorated. With some more work it could turn out OK, but at present it is not ready for prime time.
Before you criticize someone, first walk a mile in their shoes. If they get mad, you'll be a mile away. And you'll have their shoes.

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Sir_Toejam
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Unread postby Sir_Toejam » 16 Oct 2006, 02:59

just tried it today myself, and have to say i agree 100% with your assessment of it.

it is however, slightly better than a previous version that was absolutely flat as well.

so the author is working to improve it by degrees.

I just think new mapmakers for H5 are facing a bit of a steep learning curve, so it will be some time until the kinks are worked out.


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