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Scenarios » Lord of the Rings in the Third Age - War of the Ring v1.3
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Lord of the Rings in the Third Age - War of the Ring v1.3
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| Author |
File Description |
| BlackRose |
Posted on 01/18/04 @ 06:39 PM (updated 06/12/04)
| File Details |
|---|
| Ruleset: |
AoW: SM - TS Standard Rules |
| Map Size: |
XL |
| Levels: |
2 |
| Single Player?: |
Yes |
| Co-Op vs. AI?: |
Yes |
| PBEM/Hotseat?: |
Yes |
| Multiplayer Online?: |
Yes |
| # of Wizards: |
8 |
| # of players: |
5 |
| Skill Level: |
Expert |
| Password Protected: |
No |
Surface Minimap:
 |
Cavern Minimap:
 |
Quick Note v1.31 February 10th 2004
MrFrumpkins pointed out a slight installation error, the LordoftheRingsResource Folder was missing, its been re added (It still works however but to avoid installation difficulties i changed it!)
LordoftheRingsv1.3 Map had one slight error, Orcist was wearable on the head, this was a minor glitch and i'm really not sure how it got there! It has been fixed.
Sorry to have to do another mini update!
Update February 9th 2004
Final Version 1.3
If you've played v1.1 it was but a taste of what this map/mod pack has to offer. Get the definitive version!
If your skeptical about Mod Packs, Installation and Removal is easy, you owe it to yourself to try this. No other LoTR Scenario will offer quite what this one is!
Nearly a 100 Custom LoTR Units with descriptions and
unique abilites and statistics.
*30 More than 1.1*
Almost All Heroes now have Portraits
Brand New and Revitalized Map, very detailed!
1300 Events to make this Scenario unfold very much like the War of The Ring and Beyond. Should Play differently every time!
*More than Double 1.1 versions total events*
120 LoTR Items, More than 1/2 With unique scripted descriptions. (Pick the Item up to find out!)
(You can put it down and pick it back up if you already are in possession of the item!)
*Nearly Triple versions 1.1's Item Count*
5 Playable Sides Difficulty **** is hardest.
Denethor *
Theoden **
Elrond ***
Galadriel ***1/2
Dain Ironfoot ****
All sides are difficult however, this map is very challenging!
Active Cpu controlling Harad.
New Interaction with Sauron and the map (The game will play a little slower at the begining but not nearly as slow in the end game)
A fine and rousing single player experience, and also set up for multi player. The Fellowship is split in such a way as to allow 3 or 4 players to take on Sauron's Alliance. Provides a challenge for even all 5!
This should be the final version unless any bugs are found (its been thoroughly tested) or if an update is needed for AoWSM v1.3.
Remember to support your local Map and Mod Makers by adding ratings and comments (not just for mine!) as feedback makes the process all worthwhile and encourages more maps and mods to be released!
Special Thanks to Beren V, MicahGoodman, ripcarr, PawelS and iceman for all your help!
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| Pages: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 » Last » | | Author | Comments & Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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| MicahGoodman |
Posted on 01/30/04 @ 09:29 PM
You have the choice of five realms. Each with custom made units! Lord of the Rings Grognards will be burning the midnight candle on this one.
Balance: 3
This scenario was not designed for balance; it was designed for a good challenge. Balance was not meant to be a factor and isn’t.
Creativity: 5
The author inserted loads of events that occurred in the book. For example, if you want the Ents to join your side, then you have to get BOTH Marry and Pippin to Entmoot to activate that event. Gandalf or Gimli won’t do.
Map Design: 4
The map seems a tad bit short on its north south axis to me but its still a very well done map.
Story/Instructions: 5
Game instructions are fantastic, but be warned the installation instructions are a bit confusing. A quick search of the forums clears the problem up so it’s no big deal.
Additional Comments:
This will put all other Lord of the Rings scenarios to shame. While other Lord of the Rings scenarios might have great maps this one has the custom units, spells and events that bring the Books to life more than any other LotR scenario I have ever played. Great Job BlackRose.
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| ricparr |
Posted on 02/04/04 @ 06:42 PM
brilliant, very challenging indeed but never so difficult that it seemed pointless carrying on, or trying different tactics. frequently unexpected discoveries and events add to this feeling, there were plenty of times when bleak moments were filled with hope as i found new allies, or dismay as the enemy found their own.
if i had to pick faults.. it would be nice sometimes to let lose and play with Sauron himself, but you cant have everything!
Balance: 5
exceedingly unbalanced, but perfectly so! this map is based on Lotr and player balance certainly isnt an issue in the book. an added bonus is depending which good race you pick the game difficulty can vary tremendously - but never expect any race to be easy.
Creativity: 4
well the story and all its charactors belong to Tolkien so its a bit hard to score on that front. however the way both the books and the film have been seamlessly intigrated into an AOW map is amazing. So much effort has been put in not just to make this map fun to play, but to provide as accurate representation of the war of the ring as possible. To sum it up i have learnt alot obout lotr just by playing this mod, and the incorporation of the material is so impressive that as a result i have more appreciation of the books themselves. - cant wait for 1.2!
Map Design: 4
Designwise this map is goodlooking, and easily does the job of providing a vision of middle earth. When the map design is good, it really is outstanding - see the central sections of the map, eg Rohan rivendel and Mordor, with special credit going to the area around the Misty mountains. Unfortunetly the extreams of the map, south Gondor and the far North are far less detailed, perhaps reflecting the lack of source material in the books. Despite this issue the AI intereacts very well with the map - just wait till you see the black gate open!
Story/Instructions: 5
the story telling is very good here, with gandalfs frequent commentary really helping mentain a superb, warring atmosphere. to be blunt i've nver been so absorbed in a scenerio - and i know whats supposed to happen.
installation is a little time consuming but well worth it and straightforward enough, had a few problems with the resources section but soon sorted that out. dont let this diswade you!
Additional Comments:
to be honest playing this scenerio has been the most fun i've had playing age of wonders and i highly recommend it to everyone. yes precious. |
| sendorange |
Posted on 02/15/04 @ 03:24 PM
This is all for Version 1.1, although I have downloaded 1.3 and will play that shortly. I did find this scenario very playable indeed, units contrast and complement each other nicely, lots of great tactical battles and exploration.
Balance: 4
Feels pretty much perfect, I did find Morder to be a little underpowered before the opening of the Black Gate and Saruman's offensive forces to be a lot weaker than his tower guard. I also found the Nazgul were revived and back in action within 1 turn, I think after a combat defeat they should be knocked out for slightly longer than that.
Creativity: 5
This feels a lot like Lord of The Rings, but with enough adaptation to fit the game system. Kudos!
Map Design: 5
I'm no Map expert, but I thought this was an excellent one. Perhaps a few too many special things put in the corners and on the edges, but I suppose that's fair enough.
Story/Instructions: 4
I did find some of the event triggering to be quite difficult to get my head around. Like having to go back to the bridge in Moria to find Gandalf. A few more ingame hints would be ok, but possibly that would make it too straightforward.
Additional Comments:
Superb, presentation is excellent, game is exciting and challenging and just essential to play. I'm looking forward to 1.3 which I'm sure will be even better. Many congratulations on a great effort and you deserve all the praise for this. |
| JeffJonson |
Posted on 02/15/04 @ 05:38 PM
This is the most fun i've had playing a lord of the rings type game for Age of Wonders or anything else. There is so much to explore and its very challenging!
Balance: 5
Well I played version 1 and I have to say it was very hard but most of the fight was in mordor. I just took my army (i was galedrial) to Mordor and then hordes of Goblins and Orcs started spewing out of the caves! (This is after a long fight in the rest of the map!) Just at the moment of victory! I've never had so much fun while losing!
Creativity: 5
What can you say, its not original but just look around at what else is out there. The sheer attention to detail is what gets this a 5. Everything is lord of the rings, you dont have to look the other way while playing this map like you do all the others! Everything... phew! I love it!
Map Design: 5
This version is much better than the last. Although i loved the last version as well. You've put so much time and effort into this its amazing. I found lots of new stuff in this version as well. Good Work!
Story/Instructions: 5
This has been covered by the other reviewers but, wow! The number of text events with images and Gandalf's frequent updates realy blend to make this just perfect. Unless i'm mistaken you've added a whole bunch of new events in this version. Ripped right from the pages of the Lord of The Rings!
Additional Comments:
This is my favourite all time map no doubt. Will the maker be making any more? I have to admit i was unsure about downloading a mod, and seeing all the forum comments made me even more afraid. But when i did it it really wasnt that hard, just had to read and do exactly what was written! It was well worth it, i've been playing non stop since it came out and i'm going to start a game with the hopes of winning this time! I think i'll be Gondor!
Make more maps please!!
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BlackRose
File Author |
Posted on 02/15/04 @ 07:00 PM
to Sendorange :
About balance, Mordor and Saruman for 1.3 : This has been altered quite a bit, You'll be fighting Saruman and if your Dain Ironfoot, Harad exlusively until around day 30. Saruman's Power has been increased with some tough new units and abilites. He attacks later but he has a lot to work with now :) Saruman also has a much larger domain in v1.3, should be fun and good luck!
You'll find in 1.3 that the Nazgul will take a while longer to work there way into the fight, although that was pretty much the case in 1.1 as well. They do come back to life imediately but depending where you are it will take them some time to get back into things.
About the Gandalf trigger that was a bit of a tough one to work out :) In my first version I just had him sitting in Fangorn, but where is the fun in that!! There are a few more 'clues' floating around the map now than there was before, and lots of new things to find :))
Thank you very much for your review sendorange!
To JeffJonson
Top Marks, thanks! You liked that 'cave' did you ? :) Its quite difficult in 1.3 to take the fight into Mordor, but its the way i like to do things so I made sure it was possible, if not easy!
I'm glad you found the mod installation fairly straightforward, that has been and still is my biggest concern :( As far as more maps go? Well, the feedback on this one is starting to shape up and i'm feeling my creative juices working :)
Yesterday I started The Lord of the Rings: Battle of Azanulbizar, War of the Dwarves And Orcs. It takes place around 2799 (roughly 220 years before the War of the Ring) in and around Moria. Its a Single Player map currently and uses the same mod pack realeased with The Lord of the Rings - Third Age v1.3.
Thanks again guys! |
BlackRose
File Author |
Posted on 02/23/04 @ 04:36 PM
Hello folks I just wanted to clear something up this is quoted directly from the review guidelines! Essentially Balance Rating is not what most people think it is and its covered in the Review Guidelines as such! The Balance rating that most people use is considered for rating MP maps only!
"Most perfectly balanced scenarios should not be able to be completed without the player losing a few times. If a player is able to complete the entire scenario the first time, then it's probably too easy for their level of play. On the other hand, a player should not need to reload 15 times to get by a certain part of a scenario. The ideal scenario balance happens when a player gets stuck, but she knows it's possible to complete the objective if only she did something a little differently. A player should not win by luck; the scenario should be constructed so that a player can learn from mistakes and use her skill to complete the objective.
Multi-player scenarios are reviewed a bit differently in terms of balance. Each human player should start out in an equal position with equal starting resources and equal starting units. Obviously, the set-ups don't have to match exactly, but they should be balanced. There are many creative techniques scenario designers can use to make each player's experience different, yet still balanced. If you choose to review multiplayer scenarios, it's your job to ensure that each starting position is balanced with every other starting position.
Note that non-playable sides may have been deliberately boosted to add challenge and thrill to the gameplay and are not usually considered when assessing balance. Also keep in mind the designer may also have specifically made one of the playable positions more difficult than the others. If so, the designer should state this somewhere in the scenario's description or instructions."
You can check the Review Guidelines for further info! |
| Cherusker |
Posted on 02/27/04 @ 10:29 AM
(Insert Playability analysis here)
It is very playable. A lot of surprises. It is very entertaining (especially for LotR players) but everyone will enjoy this scenario very much. One the one hand, there is enough available at the beginning and on the other, there are a lot more heroes to come and a lot of things to develop during this war.
Balance: 5
(Insert Balance analysis here)
Well balanced. It is not easy but also not impossible to win. Both sides have their advantages and weaknesses.
Creativity: 5
(Insert Creativity analysis here)
The best LotR map I have played so far. The story is known, but Black Rose made a great scenario out of the story of the century. A lot of interesting ideas and I like that you do not have all heroes from the beginning. It is a great feeling ... Yeah, now Arwen joins us. She did not go to the undying lands but joins us. Great motivation and greatly implemented in this scenario. I love all the scanned pictures from the movie. This makes you feel home from the first second.
Map Design: 5
(Insert Map Design analysis here)
Great! Middle earth has been greatly designed here. I felt home from the first minute and I like the map.
Story/Instructions: 5
(Insert Story/Instructions analysis here)
Story is known and implemented excellent.
Additional Comments:
Black Rose, you did a great job with this. Please continue providing the best scenarios which are available for AoW:SM.
Only one thing, the scenario ran slow for me, but with changing from Simulatanous Turns to Classic, it worked fine. |
BlackRose
File Author |
Posted on 02/28/04 @ 09:01 PM |
| Horza666 |
Posted on 02/29/04 @ 04:27 AM
Too bad that the reviews are not related to the download. I would prefer that everyone who downloads a file would receive a reviewrequestmail some days later. |
| Celeborn |
Posted on 03/01/04 @ 10:59 PM
Eventually, as my intrest had long since past for this game, I had moved onto other things. Then one day my roomate approached me exitedly 'You've got to see this, finnally! I think you'll like this, they've been talking about it!!' Anyhow lo and behold yet another 'Lord of the Rings' map. Oh god. Well we got ourselves 1.0 and like the others who got it we got the bugs and the crashes. Yet I must say my curiosity was more than piqued. Here was something that had more than potential, here was something that could actually sate my appetite for things LoTR. Anxiously we, (by this time I was far more into it than my roomate, go figure) awaited the next version. This time I was the one awake when it showed up and... wow. We played through Multi Player and I was engaged from the get go, reliving fond memories, and to my delight, discovering things that I was not aware of. Our home was transformed. Over the coming week we were very heavily into this game. Pondering over strategies at dinner and discussing the advance of Mordor after work. Again, wow. Now as I said my roomate isnt nearly as much a LoTR fanatic as I am, he just loves the game. Now I think he is fully converted. He has borrowed the books and is now busily pouring over them searching for reference and strategies. Very Impressive.
Then 1.3 came out. Talk about dessert after an amazing meal. The icing on the cake. Although I take a bit of issue with the terrain types and doodads in locations where none are mentioned I can't help but admitting the landscape is much improved. I really enjoyed the additional units and more importantly, the plot lines and stories. They may not all be 'cannon' but there is reference on the subject and most importantly they allow the 'War of the Ring' to progress naturally in many different directions.
In short I've been playing this solidly from the begining, I've played every side, I've both Won and Lost, and Loved every minute of it.
And I was not going to comment or review it.
Well I do feel a bit ashamed now, and I feel better that I've done it. I am encouraged actually, my roomate has said that you are getting some response now on the forums (I don't bother with them, sorry). That is great news. I dont have much to say about the other Lord of the Rings maps I've played (other than the second age one, which is now dated) and I am not going to run around and review them all either. As I said I had all but given up the game and this brought me back. I will be back if I see your name on any LoTR type scenarios. I will be reviewing Azanulbizar within the next few days, (I'm on turn 90 now) you've earned my respect with this and its only fair that I show it. So thank you Blackrose, thank you for this wonderful slice of Tolkien's world and keep up the amazing work. I for one will always download them.
Playability: 5
(Insert Playability analysis here)
Balance: 5
(Insert Balance analysis here)
Creativity: 5
(Insert Creativity analysis here)
Map Design: 5
(Insert Map Design analysis here)
Story/Instructions: 5
(Insert Story/Instructions analysis here)
Additional Comments: Well I took up so much time with all my other comments that this is turning into a book. I reviewed the guidelines as I was not sure how the system works. I feel confident giving out all fives as this scenario earned a lot of bonus points with me. There are a few slight (very slight) things that I may have moved a tad or expanded upon but tha would be splitting hairs. I dont want to detract from this work in any way. My roomate will also be reviewing the map later, I hope that is allowed as we share an ISP. He has a lot to say on the game side of things that you may find interesting, if not so much on the LoTR side of things.
Again, Thank you very much. My roomate found your email address so I sent you some detailed feedback about the many amazing things I found and enjoyed within your masterpiece. I did not want to take up any more time here. I hope you continue to get the feedback you deserve.
Celeborn
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| Pages: [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 » Last » |
HGDL v0.8.2 |
| Rating |
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| 4.8 | | Breakdown |
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| Playability | 4.9 | | Balance | 4.6 | | Creativity | 4.9 | | Map Design | 4.8 | | Story/Instructions | 4.9 |
| Statistics |
| Downloads: | 27,635 |
| Favorites: [] | 1 |
| Size: | 5.02 MB |
| Added: | 01/18/04 |
| Updated: | 06/12/04 |
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