Hi, I would like to playtest, and (off topic) thx for the AI! Worked excellent!

I'll take a look. Email in the sig.

Hmm I was wondering why the general would go to all that trouble just to deliver a message that would get him kicked out of the army.

What I thought would be cool is that the player wouldn't know what the message was until it was delivered. That way, they'll be so intrigued they'll keep playing.

Also the message could be something that the general had done wrong maybe in the past, and the ghost (possibly of someone killed by his wrongdoing) would convince him to confess his sin to none less than the King, who kicks him out the army for it. Just a few ideas... you got my imagination going damn you.

Hmm... guess you're right about the message. I think, I'll change it.

Have a good idea for scenario #5 now... I think it's really good, actually. But I still need an enemy to fight there.

I was wondering... 1200 is about when Ghenghis Khan was ruling half the world. I'd say he's a worthy enemy, don't you think?

By the way, I don't think I'm sending anything yet to the playtesters. I want to finish as much as possible on my own hand first so you don't have to play through a kazillion times.
EDIT: Scenario 1&2 now shipped

@MMT, glad the AI is working.

[This message has been edited by steffenlaursen (edited 03-27-2006 @ 04:37 PM).]

I have nothing to do, so I might as well playtest.

Email is: sharrkmaster AT gmail.com

EDIT: Genghis Khan would be a good last enemy.

For scenario titles, what about, the Message from the Past, or The Messenger or something like that? And for scenario four, you could do something similar to: Always Winter?

[This message has been edited by sharrkmaster (edited 03-27-2006 @ 05:44 PM).]

I think I'll wear a spiderman suit at the mall.

OT: has anyone ever made a potato explode?

Thanks for the scens, I'll take a look now since I'm not in the mood for sleep.

Both titles you sugested for scn 1 are clichés. Though "Forging an Empire" is a bigger one.

I vote for "The Prophecy".

BTW, sorry, but I got no time to test it. But I'll surely check it out in the Blacksmith.

Rightio... I couldn't really play much of the 1st scenario because instead of creating a transport ship for me, the dockman gave me a trade cart by the water. Easy mistake to make I guess, what with the mbeing so close on the units list, but this meant I couldn't cross the river.

Map design was kinda plain and lacking, definately more attention needed. I prescribe a heady dose of Ulio by Ingo van Thiel, followed by a good hard look at all the winners of previous Pretty town contest winners which can be downloaded from the blacksmith. Remember: you can't become a good writer if you don't read, so you can't become a good designer if you don't play other peoples' scenarios.

You definately need to stray from the very plain terrain techniques you're using. The constant grass 1 makes me feel very aggropohbic.

I'd recommend replacing the teutonic knights with huskarls for the following reasons:

1. My god they're slow!
2. You don't actually need them. I just left them at base for reason 1. and went around killing people without them.
3. Huskarls are easier to kill and therefore harder to keep alive. This'll make it slightly more challenging.

You should also add more or stronger enemies between the villages, they don't really pose much of a problem at all, and that was without my TK's as well.

On the plus side, I thought you had some quite cool sidequests, which did keep it quite interesting. You also had some little patches of decent map design, such as the swamp that the raider leads you to in the 2nd scenario, but this isn't consistent throughout. If you can bring your whole map up to that standard it will definately be worth playing.

Free roaming scenarios are good, but the 2nd might be a little too free-roaming to the point of tedium... I guess that's down to personal preference though, and I wouldn;t just rely on my testimony there.

Basically , a nice scenario which contains various interesting sidequests and nice puzzles, but lacks in map design, difficulty and contains some large, game crippling bugs. I'm still up to give it another look anytime you want, just give me a whirl and I'll do my best to get on it. Also if you want me to take a closer look at anything in the versions I have, just say and I'll have another look.

Well done, and keep up the work, I look forward to this when it's finished.

Thanks for the feedback.

I can see how it becomes a cliché, and might consider a new name for it.

Is anyone else experiencing the transport bug? It worked for me yesterday, so I don't really understand it. The trade cart should actually be there. (You drive a cart with wood to the port, transport + empty cart are created).
[EDIT: MMT got the transport spawned as it should.]

If you think the teutonic knights are slow, you should have tried the beta version of that scn
Anyway, consider them replaced. Good suggestion, btw.

I don't want to overdo eye-candying, but maybe I overdid not overdoing it... I will mix in some terrain X + flowers +paths etc. to spice it up a bit.

Heh... scenario 4 could be named: "Scandinavia: The land beyond the wardrobe" or something to that effect.

@Shark: I will mail you the next version.

[This message has been edited by steffenlaursen (edited 03-28-2006 @ 03:41 PM).]

Hehe good idea. I will replay and see if i still get the transport bug.

What about my suggestion for the first scenario? The Message from the Past or something to that effect.

Yeah... or just The Message. I think that suits it well... The Message it is then

Get us some screenshots.

Hmm.. for scenario 2 maybe "Across the Bridge" or something cooler. I'll ponder upon it for a while.

Oh yes, have you sent me the file yet? Because I have yet to receive it.

I got myself some spare time... I'll have a look.

caesarsalad@uol.com.br

(that's UOL not AOL!)

As for the second map's name, perhaps I could think of something if I had a look at it (when you get it done, obviously)...

@Surge: I'm not too technically skilled, but I'll try to get some screenshots uploaded. Pretty busy right now, though, so it might not be until Saturday.

@sharrkmaster: No, I haven't sent you anything yet. There were a few things that I wanted to improve after Paul and Fredrik (MMT) commented on the scenarios.

@Cesar Bernadi: Same thing. You'll get the next version.

Next version will probably be finished tomorrow or Saturday, but if not, I might not have it ready until Wednesday. Got a paper on "Influence in the political system" to finish for tomorrow, and a pretty busy week before the Easter holiday (where I'll not be able to work on it either).

EDIT: New version shipped.

[This message has been edited by steffenlaursen (edited 04-01-2006 @ 03:36 PM).]

===UPDATE===

To let you know, that I added some screenies from the first scn...

And I decide to do a little extra work on scn-1. I have now re-done the eastern bank (forest-area) but still need to get the western bank done.

I want a meadowy autumn landscape, any good advice?

I looked at your screenshots, and overall it looks pretty good. May I suggest a little more terrain blending?

Anyways, its looking good, keep it up.

Thanks... I guess I should have known. Everybody has told me that since the first version.

Designing the map is probably the hardest thing for me... but in a way it's also the one, that I like the best .

What do you think about the Ghengis Khan map? I'm kinda curious about that one. I tried making it interesting without making it lag, as there might be up to 600 units in it. Well, maybe you can't really tell much from the two shots... I'll try to upload more.

[This message has been edited by steffenlaursen (edited 04-22-2006 @ 12:40 PM).]

Great. I'm looking forward to seeing your other screenshots...

Hey Steffen, for the names, I might be able to help you out. Just give me a little bit of information about the scenario, and your considered names, and I might be able to come up with a name.

Just a few suggestions that came to my mind:

Scenario four-
A Viking Summer
Summer of the Vikings
Vengeance upon the Vikings
King Wilhelm and the Vikings
King Wilhelm's Revenge on the Vikings

As I said, just a few ideas.

For the Ghengis map, I haven't seen enough of it to form an opinion. From what I have seen of it(the two screenshots), it looks like a typical B&D.

[This message has been edited by Super_Cell_51 (edited 04-26-2006 @ 04:45 PM).]

How 'bout "Delivering the Goods"?

(damn, I listen to too much Judas Priest)

Sorry, I have put this on hold until Wednesday, or so. I'm pretty busy by now. Screenshots will come then.

The story: KW has now conquered first England and then the rest of Briton, but quickly finds out, that Viking raiders are attacking English trade boats. He decides to statuate an example and sails a bunch of warriors close to a Viking (Goth) village. The player must annihilate men and women alike, and burn down every building. The Vikings train a lot of infantry (I have now found out how to make barracks-huskarls), and attack often.

Yes, Ghengis is pretty much a B&D. You get reinforcements now and then, but it's basically about pumping out a lot of soldiers and destroying a large mongol army (two actually). You must defend the tow TC's, and your armies won't be able to meet until you reach Ghengis. I saved some eye-candy for aforementioned reasons. But I think it looks relatively good. Well, screenshots to come.

@CB: I don't think that name fits too well... but thanks anyway.

[This message has been edited by steffenlaursen (edited 04-29-2006 @ 06:22 PM).]

How about 'A Viking Massacre'? Or maybe 'Viking Massacre', or 'The Viking's Slaughter'? Again, these are just suggestions, some ideas.

Btw, I am looking forward to seeing your screenshots.

I did a little work on scn-1 yesterday, but no screenshots yet...

I'm going to pick up my new laptop in half an hour, so I won't upload them now anyway. Maybe Wednesday or tomorrow.

I think I'll adopt at least "Massacre", or at least something like it.

Btw. I'm adding a bit RPG to the first scn. You can buy useless stuff and infomation with your gold.

[This message has been edited by steffenlaursen (edited 05-01-2006 @ 09:48 AM).]

Grr... I just made a talk system, where you buy information from a guy in scn-1. It involved about 20 triggers and tributes between 3 players, it was very complex to say the least.

The game crashed and I have... nothing.

*always save at least every 5 minutes*

That's why using AI is much safer.

Two of my playtesters never responded, so I guess they didn't want to playtest anyway.

I am therefore accepting new playtesters, I have two already: Paul and Caesar. That is, if they still want to...

I have done some major changes over the last couple of weeks. Oh, and I'll go edit some stuff in the title post

Come on! You have seen my playtest report! If I wasn't interested I wouldn't bother to write all that much in my buggish webmail (I need to get Mozilla Thunderbird!).

That means: of course I'm interested.

Hey. Yes, I am officially playtesting for you, but exams are coming up in 2-3 weeks so I hope you can appreciate my lack of time at this juncture. If you want you can take me off the official playtesters list and just send me the new versions of the scenario. I can't promise to get back to you quickly, but I will take a look.

I'll playtest it for you.

Wonderful! So there are three playtesters by now...

I know what you mean, Paul. I have exams too, in a short while, so I might actually postpone the whole thing a bit.

Well, here's the plan:
I'll play through the first scenario to check for bugs, and then I'll send it to you all. I'll do that today, if I get the time. SENT

Then I'll have to look a bit deeper into the second scenario and in perhaps a week, you'll have it. I honestly don't know how much I have to change there...

Scenario 3 only needs minor changes, so I'll probably send it along with #2.

So... keep an eye on your inboxes!

Btw. Caesar, you really should try gmail, it's much better than anything I've ever tried (hotmail, Thunderbird, Outlook). Plus, you can acces your mail from any computer. Let me know if you're interested.

[This message has been edited by steffenlaursen (edited 05-05-2006 @ 02:47 PM).]

I used to have Gmail, but I didn't used it at all, and I'm to lazy to get a new one.

So... I improved my Loch Ness monster even further (I don't think anyone used the trick before), and I have begun re-making most of scn-2. It was waaay too hard before.

Now, I don't really know what to do about the Ghengis Khan map, because it looks kind of boring. But I don't want it to lag too much either.

Anyway, just a status report. I'm still accepting playtesters, and hope to hear from my current ones soon