Empires 1.1 - 2 new maps released!

[Blueblaze]

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Empires 1.1 released
Includes 2 new maps
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Hello everyone! Today I am announcing a new plan and with that a new scenario to go along with it. Starting today, every Friday of the week I will release a new MP game for 1.6.x. These games will be unique and fun multiplayer games which aim at providing a somewhat simple and fun map for players to enjoy. They will not be standard MP maps, but rather will feature non-standard gameplay. As of now, I am planning on using all default images/units for these games, therefore removing the need to actually download an extra file just to play the game. So check back every week for a new and fun MP scenario to play! With that said, here is the first multiplayer game of the week:


Empires
-version 1.0
-2-9 players
-includes map: Deep Island

Empires is a new multiplayer scenario that is inspired by the board game Risk. Players battle each other capturing villages and enabling new recruits. Your ability to forge temporary alliances is as important as your ability to raise an army and fight. You must be a skilled war leader as well as a skilled diplomat to have success on the battlefield. Upon initial 1.0 release, only one map is available, but look for more maps to be added later. In fact I encourage you to make your own maps for the game. At the bottom of this post is a "How To" on getting your map included in the next release.

Gameplay:
The goal is to defeat all non-leader units.
Capturing villages will add 5 income per village.
You can recruit units from the villages by right clicking on villages you own which are currently vacant.
Every type of village has its own custom recruit list.
Temporary alliances ("trucing") are allowed and highly encouraged in order to attack powerful enemies or finish off resilient foes.
Your leader selection is irrelevant and only serves as a token unit with no gameplay purpose.


During the testing phase of this game, I have had many inquires on adding new maps and how could someone include their own maps into the package. In the future, I may add an easy to use set of macros which will embed your map with the needed WML, but until then, just submit your maps to me on the forums and if they are at least reasonable quality, I'll feature them in the next release. There are some general requirements that must be satisfied before a map is added.

1. The map must feature an area where leaders are locked in (see how Deep Island positions the leaders).
2. Each type of village must have its own recruitment list.
3. You must include your own recruitment list and prices for each specific village (or specify that you want to use the default list).
Note: Be warned that the recruitment list for Deep Island is balanced for that specific map, and will more than likely be unbalanced in a map that does not share similar terrain features.
4. State the maximum players allowed to play the map. There must be at least 3x as many villages as maximum players. It is highly recommended that this number be closer to 4x as many villages to max. players.
5. Be conscientious in regarding map size. Deep Island is 30x30 and generally requires a lengthy amount of time. It's highly recommended that map sizes not exceed this. I'm particularly interested in maps that are much smaller than this to offer quicker gameplay periods.

One final note, if anyone is interested in creating a realistic world map (or map of specific regions, such as Europe) then please do so. I know one player created a world map some time ago. If anyone desires porting or creating such map, it would be greatly appreciated as there is a noticeable demand for it.

The map is now available on the 1.6.x add-on server. Leave any comments, questions, or suggestions. Enjoy the map and come back next Friday for the MP Game of the Week!

[Boucman]

that sounds great

you might want to do a single "weekly MP mappack" that you would update weekly with a new map, this way we would just have to update our addon to have all the new goodies instead of skimming the forum

[Blueblaze]

Well, I'm not a fan of using map packs if the maps are totally unrelated (which they will be). Whenever I add more maps for Empires though, I'll combine it as a map pack. The games themselves will be high quality stand alones, thus using a map pack doesn't justify the releases. As well, not everyone will want every map, nor do I want to force them to do so as it will unnecessarily clog the game lists. If I were to combine everything into a pack, within a couple months it would be too crowded with scenarios.

[PrinceBolkonsky]

I've played Empires once already and more importantly looked at the code you used, Great Fun, I look forward to using some of your ideas some day. I am avidly looking forward to next weeks submission!

[Blueblaze]

Uploaded new map: Broken River

This map offers a smaller battlefield for faster gameplay.

[Jean]

Playing around with your code, I ended up making two scenarios with different units to recruit, so the gameplay would be a little different from standard Empires. If you can check them up, tell me if you have any interest in using them, or if I should just insert them in a different category of Empires game.
Btw, you will find the name and descriptions of the maps quite unique , but feel free to change it, as I didnt come up with a decent name for them.

[Blueblaze]

Added both maps to the Empires package.

Empires 1.1 is now released. Please feel free to contribute more maps to the project.

[A Guy]

Wow, your scenario sounds like what we've been working on for quite a while.

Darn, beaten to it.

[SlowThinker]

I downloaded this add-on from the 1.6 add-on server, converted it to 1.10, and published on the 1.10 add-on server.
(Another conversion of Empires to 1.10 is here , but in place of random starting positions it uses preset starting positions.)

Version 1.2:
I added a possibility to adjust the number of starting Peasants (and therefore I changed the version of Empires to 1.2).
I also polished the code a little - for example Jean's maps could spawn units directly to villages, I prevented it.
Version 1.2.1:
Cost of Drake Fighter has been unified to 17. (depending on the map the cost was 17 or 18, sometimes 17 was adverstised but real cost was 18)
Version 1.2.3:
Players get vision from the very beginning, not only when their turn starts.
Version 1.2.4: (it is attached to this post)
only internal changes with no real effect: empires_broken_river.cfg represents a new simplified format for scenario files; utils.cfg contains to-do ideas

[IPS]

Well I give an hand to this old and underrated multpilayer scenario at creating a new version:

Version 1.2.5 -by IPS-
- I Made the maps: Twisted Lake I, Twisted Lake II and Crysland
- I Added new and a better balance system in my maps for more examples of balance.


And also I have plan for the next version, for more easier contribution for new coders:

Plan for the version 1.2.6 -by IPS-
- In map description it will show the creator of Empires (Always blueblaze indeed), Map by the creator of the map and Balance by the same map creator and/or by an assistant.
- I Will add a remake for the classic maps Fluffly cake I and Fluffly cake II because I feel that the price balance for each recruit does not coinside with the map design.
- Will add in this remake more recruit lists to mostly compense the great disbalance between the quantity of mele units and ranged ones.

With the price rebalance and the adition of more ranged units, it will add more balance and more playstyles and more strategy for countering units not by only one range. Soon, new coders will not need to make totally new(s) map(s) and code their own recruit(s) lists(s) to participate in the development of Empires, they will soon be allowed to contribute at making a rebalanced version of an older map (like mines) with their own recruit lists and price changes.

[SlowThinker]

IPS, did you download 1.2.4? It is really useful, including the to-do hints.

I noticed a bug in Deep Island: apparently Drake Slasher doesn't exist in BfW 1.10.