First Command - Eco/war scenario

Topic Subject: First Command - Eco/war scenario

Ouly
Archer

posted 03-06-09 16:26 EST (US)

I am pleased to announce my first map for SH2 after a long absense from the community.

First Command is a eco/war scenario that takes place in a river valley. The river has risen over it's banks in the spring flood and the valley is in desperate need. You, as Heir to the throne, have been given the task by your father, the King, to help the villagers and monks living in the valley as a test of your fitness to rule and a lesson on stewardship.

This is a large single mission map with 2 AI opponents, 3 quests and many estates. The map plays like an eco scenario at first but soon becomes combat oriented and should be considered a war scenario with a hard rating.

Some of you may recognize a similarity to my earlier map 'Flood Plain' for SH. Yes, I did revisit the idea but this map is exponentially better and by far the best I've done yet.

While still in the Beta stage, I feel it is complete enough to warrant playtesting.

Please let me know if you are interested in testing.

'markoulton@hotmail.com' or here is fine.

What's with the old saying, "Like having your cake and eating it too"? That's easy.
Now, eating your cake and still having it, that's a wee bit harder to do.

[This message has been edited by Ouly (edited 03-07-2009 @ 07:49 AM).]

Author

Replies:

Psycho Jester
Archer

posted 03-06-09 22:45 EST (US) 1 / 13

Ouly,
Please send it my way.
jkanan@yahoo.com

Here is what my random thought processes produced

FireFly T-Shirt Compitition winning concept

Ouly
Archer

posted 03-06-09 23:24 EST (US) 2 / 13

Hey PJ....The map is in the mail.

I forgot to fill in the subject line in the email so I hope it doesn't get trashed as junk.

I hope you like but let me know what you think regardless.

What's with the old saying, "Like having your cake and eating it too"? That's easy.
Now, eating your cake and still having it, that's a wee bit harder to do.

Ouly
Archer

posted 03-08-09 00:59 EST (US) 3 / 13

Sir_Vet and Psycho Jester.

The map you have will not play well once the invasions of Bardley are triggered. The timing and balance are off. I finished quests B and C simultaneously by accident (bad idea) and was swamped with attacks.

I'm having a tough time getting these attacks worked out. Increasing the # of estates for quest C may help but there is no way I can keep the player from saving Olaf as the last quest.

Maybe waiting too long will mean destruction by Olaf. Only thing I can think of right now.

I'm working on it though. I should have an update soon.

What's with the old saying, "Like having your cake and eating it too"? That's easy.
Now, eating your cake and still having it, that's a wee bit harder to do.

Ouly
Archer

posted 03-10-09 16:08 EST (US) 4 / 13

I have the worst luck. While doing some final testing on this map, my comp. starting shutting down from overheating and I lost about 4 hours of polishing work on the map. 10 more seconds and it would have been saved.
I was pissed.

This happens occasionally so I took it apart and cleaned all the fans of dust and grime. The only way to clean my CPU fan is to pull the CPU. When putting it back together I messed up and bent a few pins. While trying to straighten them, I broke 1. Now I'm in the market for a new CPU.

Needless to say, it will be a while before I get this map finished now.

What's with the old saying, "Like having your cake and eating it too"? That's easy.
Now, eating your cake and still having it, that's a wee bit harder to do.

Psycho Jester
Archer

posted 03-10-09 20:26 EST (US) 5 / 13

This map is very interesting!
still trying different strat

So far no issues

Peace Out
PJ

Here is what my random thought processes produced

FireFly T-Shirt Compitition winning concept

[This message has been edited by Psycho Jester (edited 03-10-2009 @ 09:14 PM).]

Odyss
Archer

posted 03-13-09 01:54 EST (US) 6 / 13

Ouly, have you almost finished the map . . . or do you want further opinions? (faust(at)faustreynolds(dot)com)

Wendell: It's a mess, ain't it, sheriff?
Ed Tom Bell: If it ain't, it'll do till the mess gets here.

Maps you need to play (partial list based on my preferences)= anything by: HorseArcher06, Sir MichaelP, SirWhiteWolf, Gordon Farrell, lord dredde, Psycho Jester, Stratego, Sir_Vet, TwoDie

Psycho Jester
Archer

posted 03-14-09 14:45 EST (US) 7 / 13

Sir Ouly,
This is one of the funnest maps I have ever played. By far it is one of the most original ideas I have ran into. It still has me starting over for the 3rd time but, I think I got it this time

Going right now to defeat thy map

Peace Out
PJ

Here is what my random thought processes produced

FireFly T-Shirt Compitition winning concept

Ouly
Archer

posted 03-14-09 17:57 EST (US) 8 / 13

Hi guys.

Odyss, sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. The 2 comps in this house have been giving me serious headaches the last 4 days.

I was nearly done with the scenario when this all started. I lost about 4 hours of polishing work that has to be redone when I finally get my new machine up and running. (I'm waiting on my video driver that I need to dl on a high speed connection.) Then I'll need to run at least 1 test first since I made a lot of changes from the version you have. It should only be another day or 2 before it's done. I had to resolve a few serious issues I had encountered.

I'll send it to all of you when it's done if you want. It will play much better and be a little more challenging.

PJ, I'm glad you're enjoying it!

I was hoping that this map would be a little unusual.

What's with the old saying, "Like having your cake and eating it too"? That's easy.
Now, eating your cake and still having it, that's a wee bit harder to do.

Ouly
Archer

posted 04-21-09 08:54 EST (US) 9 / 13

Hi all. I seriously underestimated the time it would take to tweak the gameplay in this senario. After a ton of playtesting I think I've finally got this map playing the way I want. Testing and re-testing the end-game of a long scenario can be a royal pain.

I want to thank Sir_Vet and Psycho Jester for their feedback on the basic premise of this map. Confirmation that the idea was workable and fun was a big help.

I made a few minor changes in the first half but the second half has been overhauled several times. The mission is now quite challenging and will test your castle defending abilities. This is no longer a relaxing play where you can sit back, build up and outlast the AI's attacks. This tactic will likely cost you. You will find yourself needing to assault Barclay's outer defences in stages during the breaks between his attacks on you. I just hope I didn't make it too difficult.

I hope one of you is willing to give it another try before I submit it. As I said, it may now be a little too hard.

I'm off to give it a final test, wish me luck!

ps...Figures...Ran into a strange glitch. 2 triggers that used to work were ignored for some reason last run. Something else to fix and test again. Grrrr...

What's with the old saying, "Like having your cake and eating it too"? That's easy.
Now, eating your cake and still having it, that's a wee bit harder to do.

[This message has been edited by Ouly (edited 04-21-2009 @ 06:30 PM).]

Ouly
Archer

posted 04-23-09 07:48 EST (US) 10 / 13

Success!! Everything works as intended and I'm reasonably happy with the endgame.

I'm afraid to make any more changes for fear of having something else go wacky on me. This will just have to do.

This version is certainly harder than the one I originally offered up for testing. Olaf breached my defences twice on my last run! I just wish I could have gotten Barclay to attack as visciously.

I will wait a while to upload until I get some feedback from testers but I think this will be the final version.

What's with the old saying, "Like having your cake and eating it too"? That's easy.
Now, eating your cake and still having it, that's a wee bit harder to do.

Ouly
Archer

posted 05-19-09 18:57 EST (US) 11 / 13

Finally! I have just finished uploading 'First Command' and it should be available for dl very soon. I hope you enjoy playing it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Included in the dl is an AI castle pack that replaces the somewhat lame, weak, inefficient and poorly designed castles that AI's use in Kingmaker mode.(no offense Firefly, but 10 bowmen (Edwin) are not enough to defend the walls of a castle) While I usually couldn't do anything about the number of troops on the walls, I did make most designs stronger with more traps and siege engines. Each AI will now have at least 3 different size designs to choose from. Only 3 or 4 castles were originals that I edited. The rest were designed by me from the ground up. Edwin is still the weakest opponent with the weakest castles while opponents like Barclay and the Queen are quite tough. Olaf I left alone.

A lot of time and effort went into the making and testing of this scenario and the AI castle pack so I hope someone does me the honor of reviewing this map sometime in the near future. It would be much appreciated.

Until my next project....Game on...and enjoy!!

What's with the old saying, "Like having your cake and eating it too"? That's easy.
Now, eating your cake and still having it, that's a wee bit harder to do.

[This message has been edited by Ouly (edited 05-20-2009 @ 08:24 AM).]

WL_D Arthus
Master Illuminator

posted 05-20-09 01:40 EST (US) 12 / 13

Approved

Truth is authority, authority is not truth!

Ouly
Archer

posted 05-20-09 08:39 EST (US) 13 / 13

Cool...that was fast!

What's with the old saying, "Like having your cake and eating it too"? That's easy.
Now, eating your cake and still having it, that's a wee bit harder to do.

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