|
|
| Author |
File Description |
| Esus_ |
Posted on 11/27/04 @ 04:47 PM
| File Details |
|---|
| # of Players: |
4 |
| Version: |
AoM: The Titans |
The Forgotten Lands v2
Welcome, to the next evolution of multiplayer maps.
Instead of racking up the kills in a symmetrical, boring, no eye candy arena, this map is set in the heart of Greece, surrounding the ruined city of Oranthos.
Oranthos was once a prosperous and great Greek city, rivaling even the fabled Messenia, but the day came when the larger city state of Sparta would no loner watch Oranthos grow and prosper. Sparta acted, and the burned the city to the ground, along with the surrounding villages and vineyards.
Four seperate groups, each allied to one other, are fighting over the lands near Oranthos, for they want to rebuild the city alone, and in peace.
The Forgotten Lands is a revolutionary Age of Mythology: The Titans multiplayer scenario where players must battle each other across the environment in order to take control of the lands and producing high quantities of food.
The objective is to gather EIGHTY food before your opponents. The first player with 80 food wins the game. To get food, you must control flagged points on the map.
These points include:
The city of Oranthos - grants you 5 food every 5 minutes
The villlage of Pelian - grants you 3 food every 5 minutes
Ferraply Bridge - grants you 3 food every 5 minutes
The Vineyards - grants you 5 food every 5 minutes
Red Deaths Hill - grants you 2 food every 5 minutes
Sanfaya Road - grants you 2 food every 5 minutes
Across the treacherous map lies a high number of hidden areas - some of which grant you god powers, some of which grant you valuable resources - exploration of the map is the key.
Teams are automatically concocted through triggers within the game, so fear not who you are allied to before a game starts.
Features:
- Realistic and Eye-candy enriched Greek environment
- A number of strategic map features, such as chokepoints, rivers and cliffs in order for the most tactical mind to come on top in any battle
- Realistic greek hoplite and peltast warfare, each unit modified in order to balance the game
- Usage of civilisation bonuses: Oranos is granted faster soliders whilst Odin is blessed with regeneration)
- A scenario where speed is not the answer - spend ten minutes reading the Objectives, hints and spotlight and still find yourself with a great chance of victory
- Individually named heroes for each player who can along call for reinforcements in certain parts of the land
-
Screenshots
http://oddworldjunkie.com/screen22.jpg – note, contains editor features such as invisible walls.
http://oddworldjunkie.com/screen122228.jpg
A special thanks goes out to SilencedDisciple, the Ambition Designs playtesting team: The Ambitious, AoMPlayer000 and Mythos_Ruler.
Updated for v2:
- Rebalanced hoplites and peltasts
- Introduced heroes into the fray
- Cavalry reinforcements can now be found in the map
- You can no longer wipe out the opponents spawn units
- Spawn units named to reveal their cost
- Spotlight title and picture fixed/added
- Hints and objectives fixed so they all comfortably fit into their area
Notes: Waiting approximately five seconds for the map to fully load into scenario gaming time will equal to maximum performance. Certain triggers require that long or we will be damned with out of sync.
Please review. |
| Author | Comments & Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
|---|
| Anastasoulis |
Posted on 11/29/04 @ 02:56 AM
will play it tonight (GMT+2 time) and post tommorrow |
Esus_
File Author |
Posted on 12/05/04 @ 12:31 PM |
| Gaurdian_112 |
Posted on 01/21/05 @ 02:28 PM
Playability: 4
The Forgotten Lands is, simply put, one of the best mp scns I have ever seen. The scenario gives a great first impression with its unique map design, various bridges and other strategic points, and its multiple features, including gold for spawning and several bonuses spread out accross the map.
However, the food comes in pretty slow. In most games one team might end up only holding one or two checkpoints and that would mean a lengthy wait before they get any food worth any mention. This I guess is made to increase realism and tension but it does tend to get too lengthy at times.
Balance: 5
This scenario is perfectly balanced. Each team gets a good amount of units (equally balanced) and can mix between ranged and melee units (hoplites and velites). In addition, you can gain several reinforcments and god powers spread accross the map that could turn the tide of battle in your favor.
I espiacally liked the bridges and walls near the control points which really add to the flavor and tactical element of this scenario. Well done!
Creativity: 5
In terms of creativity, this scenario is standard. Collect a certain recource, spawn a certain unit and take over certain control points. However, this scenario was well done- its map design, different extra bonuses and the excellent positions for the control points adds to the creativity rating.
Map Design: 5
The map in this scenario has recieved a great level of attention I've never seen in Esus. I must admit I didn't like your last map Esus, it was really boring with its great use of Grass A etc.. but this is really great. There are tons of bridges, cliffs, mixed terrain, objects, dead bodies, broken buildings, fires, etc.. spread out accross the map that really makes this stand out amongst other maps! I really wish more mplayer designers would put this kind of attention into their work.
Story/Instructions: 4
The instructions were well laid out in the objectives box. It took me some time to understand and I feel that this could be a slight disadvantage to new players, but all around after reading the objectives I got a pretty good idea on what to do.
However, the lack of cinematics makes this slightly confusing at first. I was a little confused as to what I had to do and I was really hoping for some sort of explanation besides the 'Control Checkpoints' in the objectives window. However, you can get the hang of it pretty easily.
Additional Comments:
ADD INTRO CINEMATICS! That's about it, and keep up the great map design, IMO best I've seen in an mplayer scn yet.[Edited on 01/21/05 @ 02:32 PM]
|
Auron_
(id: auron 2) |
Posted on 01/22/05 @ 11:20 AM |
Esus_
File Author |
Posted on 01/22/05 @ 12:42 PM
Thanks for the review, Guardian! |
| Gaurdian_112 |
Posted on 01/22/05 @ 03:31 PM
Downloads are going up btw Auron, don't see why you needed to comment on the no. of d/ws.
Should go to 500 in no time:) |
| Archaeopterix |
Posted on 01/22/05 @ 06:40 PM
The main goal of this scenario is similar to the regular random maps (where securing gold piles is often the key to success), but it doesn't involve too much boring civilian management: it's just non-stop military action, and that makes The Forgotten Lands have a great playability. In this rating I also include the uber-replayability that this scenario has.
Why a 4 and not a 5? It took me quite long for each game to win or lose, since the food comes in very slowly. Even if you control like all the points (nearly impossible, unless if your enemies don't know how the spawning system works), it takes uh... heck I'm not calculating this. But the real reason for this rating being 'only' a 4/5 is that there isn't any scenario that could have a perfect playability. Each scenario has some minor things that could've been done better - in map design, balance, creativity and instructions - but since I can't give a 4.9 or 4.8 instead of a 5.0 in those categories, I'll balance it out by giving a 4.0 here.
Balance: 5
Great. I played it quite often and I really can't find the perfect army-distribution to occupy as many key points as possible and win the game. Each game is totally different, but each game is balanced.
I really like the historically accurate armies: ultra-strong hoplites as a meat shield(making the battles last long, yumm!) and ranged but relatively weak peltasts. Although this may seem pretty basic to some, it is everything you need for hyper-strategic gameplay. Both units are modified to balance it, and I must say you did an excellent job. You can't win with 100% hoplites and you can't win with 100% peltast. In fact, it is so balanced that there is no such thing as "the ideal army", since the army you need is totally dependent on the area you're going to fight in, and since you constantly hve to adjust to your enemy's behaviour.
Creativity: 5
The Forgotten Lands offers gameplay that has never been seen before - or at least not in this perfect shape. All right, scenarios where you have to control key points to win have been created before, and the goal in supremacy is globally the same as well (controling gold piles), but as challenging, balanced, interesting, replayable, eyecandied and fast-paced as TFL... that's unique.
Map Design: 5
I can't think of any map that suits this type of gameplay better than the map you created. The distribution of cliffs, forests and water creates perfect places for ambushes, big battles, sneak attacks and raids. Although in the big, ruined city it is sometimes kind of hard to micromanage your armies, this counts for both the defender and the attacker, which balances it, and it's realistic. Also, the gates to this city are cool bottlenecks, and next to that, the whole city just looks cool. :)
The eyecandy is very good. The little towns look just like someone's actually living in them, market stalls, donkeys and pottery can be found all over the map, as well as the bloody or sometimes already boney remains of fought battles. There are ancient shrines that hold some divine gifts, there's a vinyard, a bridge... Yumm. Both the basic map layout and the eyecandy greatly increase the replayability.
Story/Instructions: 4
The instructions could've been better, and sometimes this causes "noobs" to quit simply because they can't figure out how to spawn units. The in game messages are all very clear (although somehow when I take or lose a keypoint, it tells me twice)...
Additional Comments:
This scenario offers IMO the best replayability I've ever seen in AoM, which is a great achievement because so much originality has been put into it (very weird, original scenarios tend to become boring after a while).
Oh, one little bug: Atlanteans start with +75 food, meaning that they've nearly won already just when the game starts... |
| Gaurdian_112 |
Posted on 01/23/05 @ 03:28 AM |
Esus_
File Author |
Posted on 01/23/05 @ 03:33 AM
Yeah, that Atlantean bug is a recurring bug that I removed in earlier versions (v1 and testing ones) but randomly appears again in later versions (i.e. v2).
By my reckoning, if you hold every single point on the map from 0 seconds to the end, the game should last around 20 minutes.
Of course, it is impossible to actually hold every point from the word Go, and almost impossible to continuously hold any point throughout an entire game.[Edited on 01/23/05 @ 04:17 PM]
|
 
HGDL v0.8.2 |
| Rating |
|---|
| 4.6 | | Breakdown |
|---|
| Playability | 4.0 | | Balance | 5.0 | | Creativity | 5.0 | | Map Design | 5.0 | | Story/Instructions | 4.0 |
| Statistics |
| Downloads: | 1,227 |
| Favorites: [] | 2 |
| Size: | 268.80 KB |
| Added: | 11/27/04 |
|
