|
Author |
File Description |
Mirneth |
Posted on 07/31/04 @ 12:00 AM
File Details |
Map Size: |
400x400 (Large) |
Difficulty: |
Normal |
Minimap:
|
It is the second map that I post; it's a LoTR map, It is a poor simulation of Minas ithil( a human fortress in the shadow mountains). The city is sieged by naz-gul and the elite troops of mordor. It is an easy and fun map on ataking because there is a serious lack of crossbowman in the fortres, if you see it too hard in the defence you can put more crossbowman with the editor.
P.S: i'm Spanish and I don't know much english and there are many faults |
Author | Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
---|
Quesi |
Posted on 08/05/04 @ 12:00 AM
This was overall an enjoyable map. I started off by assaulting the stronghold first. This was as you point out quite easy, especially if you use the mountain pass gate and simply bash through the walls to get to the keep. I used my imagination a bit and opened up two fronts of attack so I had a lot of fun doing it :) I really like large scale maps and battles. The second time around I defended, this presented a bit more of a challenge, but with well timed retreats to the 2nd and 3rd line of defence, it is possible. Unfortunately the computer refuses to attack the mountain pass :( which I was looking forward to defending. Once I defeated it both ways, however, there's little incentive to play again. Maybe you should try adding some laddermen true to the LotR idea, some variance so there are different ways of attacking. Also try putting some pre built siege engines in, or the computer will not use the engineers.
Playability: 4
I give it a 4 because it is alot of fun to play with large scale battles, if you are for that sort of thing. Just add a little more variance for the attack as noted above.
Balance: 3
A bit too easy to attack maybe, try fortifying the mountain pass a little more, or add some pikemen around that area :) and more wall on that side of the keep/more archers that side of the keep to stop me bashing through them.
Creativity: 4
Nice nice nice. Exciting looking fortress and nicely added ruins/buildings etc giving it that 'real city' feel. I liked the big tower on the hill!
Map Design: 3
One of the small niggles about this scenario. Generally it is ok, the bridge looks a little strange. The trees etc are quite good when used, but I didn't like the huge barren plain beyond the mountain pass. Try adding some tress, or ruins, or something.
Story: 3
I'm not a huge fan of LotR, but this introduction was ok. Maybe you could add a little more detail e.g. previous victories, what this will mean for the human defenders if they lose, etc etc. I'm sure LotR fans would go nuts for that sort of thing :) |
docweasel |
Posted on 09/10/04 @ 12:00 AM
On playability: The Castle is pretty strongly built and well-manned, so even on Very Hard it was not especially hard to defend. I pulled my ground forces back inside and didn't need them until the end, and placed a bunch of archers on the plateaus so when the first wall was breached the invaders were slaughtered in droves as they marched in. I even broke down another gatehouse to hurry them in.
On Attack there are a lot of 'blind spots' and attack points that the AI of the game engine can't cope with so it wasn't too extremely difficult to assault either, although I screwed up and had to restart once.
On design: its evident that on a lot of landscape work you used the large brush, see the big, squared off rectangles of high ground and marsh? For a more realistic looking map try using a smaller brush to give more detail. Also, if you are going to use a big map size, make the large, blank areas more interesting, or try to incorporate them into the gameplay, or else you should probably use a smaller map size. Try making alternate roads to the castle through all that wasteland perhaps, or put some necessary resources like Stone or Pitch or even flat farmland in these areas so the defender is forced to defend outlying areas to keep food on the table or supply Pitch Ditches or Oil or Stone for repairs of Towers and Gates.
The Castle itself is imaginative and well done, I like the combination of wood and stone. I'm a bit of a purist myself on the use of stone textures- of you have a Stone Quarry floored with Stone, it seems incongruous to surface your roads with large stone. If you are going to use textures in non-traditional ways you should at least be consistant, in my book. Try using the smaller stones for roads to differentiate between a Quarry and a road, plus it makes your map more diverse and interesting.
You don't have to fill up blank areas with Trees, in fact that's kind of a cop-out. How about a lake, nicely landscaped, or a ruins, or change the elevations to a more interesting 'rolling' pattern that looks more natural than all plateaus. Rocks, rivers with pools and lakes, all kinds of things can make the map more interesting than the large blank areas, but its even better if you can incorporate those areas into the gameplay, else why use such a big map at all? Maybe locate the Granaries or Stockpile (since you are providing Stone which may be used for repairs, even if you don't allow new structures) or other essential buildings in a remote area? As your map is, there is really no reason to defend the small room with the Knights and Swordmen in it, why not put your Granaries or something defendable in there so there's a reason to keep soldiers there? I pulled all the archers from that Gate and put them on the plateau and used the Knights and Swordsmen to easily dispose of the arrow-weakened stragglers who didn't walk into the archer trap directly.
A suggestion about free-standing bridges: make them from a neutral (I usually use Black) color's badge in the editor, so that neither side will destroy them. The AI usually won't attack other 'enemy' colored structures and the defender can't knock down the steps, for example, to hinder the attackers. This is especially true for steps that are essential to lead to an area. Its always a good idea to also make a land ramp along with eye-candy stairs so all areas are always acceassable. In your bridge you could still cross of course, but if part of it were destroyed the AI forces would have a hard time getting across and figuring out the blockage.
The map was fun to play, I'd maybe make it a bit more competitive by putting some flaws in the Castle design that make it harder to defend and make the defender make choices on how to disperse his forces. |
Fearalex |
Posted on 01/15/05 @ 12:00 AM
Not very detailed map, u could at least add a few bushes on the hills or something. There are loots of map mistakes like walls are on wrong hight and strange placed hills. When i played it the siege engineers didnt siege anything and when the enemie destroyed the north-east gate they could run in to the town even when i attacked with the horses (but i didnt really defend it so well). When i play siege maps i always take every infantary to the castle so when the enemie destroyed the last gate they didnt have a chance so it was to easy even on very hard. I dont know what else to say about it but i am wondering how u know how Minas Ithil looks like (if this IS how it looks like). |
HGDL v0.8.2 |
Rating |
---|
3.1 | Breakdown |
---|
Playability | 3.3 | Balance | 2.7 | Creativity | 3.7 | Map Design | 2.7 | Story/Instructions | 3.3 |
Statistics |
Downloads: | 2,042 |
Favorites: [] | 0 |
Size: | 637.97 KB |
Added: | 07/31/04 |
|