Fladian's Footman Wars
Rarely does one who fights in a war win alone. Even armies alone are often not enough to win a war against hunderds, if not thousands of enemies. Be honest with yourself, do you truly believe that the citizens of the area would just sit back and let them selves and their surroundings get slaughtered? I believe not; besides, why would you slaughter them if they can fight with you? Join forces with residents of the city and crush your enemies.
All creatures of the city have their own ability. Where the quick and dangerous fire minions carry a permanent immolation, the fierce skeleton warriors are able to regenerate at a speedy rate and even reincarnate to their bone-body when necessary.
This very basic project was set up by the help of Mavus and Fladian Lince. The original concept was from myself, Fladian, as is the terrain and most things comes to think of it. But after not touching the Warcraft editor for a long time, being rusty as I was, any help as appreciated and Mavus was kind enough to offer it. All credits of the heroes and any trigger related to the heroes goes to Mavus. Again, my thanks for it.
The Footman Wars map is a very basic one, lacking many features that other Footman War maps do have, such as able to switch from the basic unit. Only the Footman is available with only a few upgrades ready to research. Nonetheless, the Footmen will probably not be the decisive factor in winning the game. The powerful other races that already come to life much earlier than your hero or units are far more powerful and not even a match for your own soldiers because of their special abilities.
Other powerful abilities they carry are the shocking and trampling ability of the lizards who are able to cast a powerful storm that may shock the enemy while the flooding water minions stock them selves in their health and a good way to defend them selves.
In order to make the citizens of the city the ability to defend themselves, they all have gotten a special ability which makes them far more superior than the weak footman soldiers. Besides their ability, three of the four citizen races use a ranged attack which makes them dangerous in every possible way. Besides that, all four races are nicely balanced and they should fight each other quite equally. Do know that they cannot be controlled by the player and they do whatever they please.
In order to let them fight among your forces, simply enter their circle of power and they are more than willingly to stop attacking you... if you fight with them against their rival race. The fire minions will automaticly attack the water minions, while the undead would immediately face the lizards in hand to hand combat. There is no way[/i] to stop the spawning of these creatures. You will easily be overwhelmed if you are not able to join forces with them.
Are you willing to make one of the citizen races your enemy? They spawn twice as fast as your own units. With a boss of their kind every two minutes which equal the player's hero more than their own unit kin.
The has been barely to no tinkering to the existing heroes with only one custom hero into the game. That hero can be admired on one of the screen shots under the name of Fladian Lince which has ridiculous spells and is therefore only available in merely one way. Just like the Ward, this hero's only purpose was testing. The wards pleased me more than they probably should have and stayed in the game. These Wards are probably next to the hero, the footmen's worst enemy. Heroes, however, are completely immune to their puny attacks. These creatures spawn every 60 seconds at a random point in the map. It once happened to me in a test that they spawned next to my footmen, forcing my hero to come back to take care of it. Be very careful if you want to make use of them instead of kill them. There are four of these when the game starts in order to give the citizen races a head start.
However, after saying that there was no tinkering, there has been a little. These do not overbuff the existing heroes, they are just implented to make better use of it. In a map without trees (or at least, not many) there is little use of the Keeper of the Grove. He gained an other ability instead.
Every race has a powerful boss ready to fight with their kin and their allies. Where the lizards gain a giant lizard, the water minions gain an elemental. The skeletons gain a champion and the fire minions spawn even faster.
There are a few custom spells in the game. One of these is my personal favorite: Storm Lightning, a powerful spell the lizards can use as well, which might make them a tiny bit stronger than the other citizen races. This is a weaker kind of Chain Lightning (however the hero version of it is stronger than the Chain Lightning) but bounces three times as much, making it the complete amount of sixteen times.
Don't you love new spells? Storm Lightning! It strikes sixteen times!When used in the right combination with the right spell, it can take out armies of enemies in a single hit. But then again, so can most ultimate spells.
Some of the unfinished features that are still in their is the centre of the game for example. The planning was to spawn something big there once in a while, but I figured that the heroes of the citizen creatures would be more than enough to handle. Later on, the hero-feature was removed too, leaving it quite... open.
The three (not four) buildings of the citizen creatures are there for no purpose at all. I noticed that those creatures start to defend it when they are assigned to them regardless of what orders you gave them. Not that it has any further importance, but otherwise it looks so empty.
A powerful creature spawns after every amount of dead and living units. This creature is in, however, but works in a different way. When there are too many units in the game, four of these creatures spawn (assigned to the citizen races) that are easily much stronger than the average low leveled hero.
Because of a tremendous use of the same heroes in many (old) Footman Wars (nowadays only Frenzy exists, as far as I know) they had plans of being seriously adjusted. This never got through next to the Blademaster who is slightly changed.
The Infernal would gain a specific role in the game, yet it never has been touched. The Infernal is without a doubt, the strongest summon in the game, making the Dreadlord very attractive.
The main building was supposed to be a Tree of Eternity at the start, capable of rooting up and fighting with you, being of a tremendous assist with an aura that increases your attack rate by 200%. This didn't get through because of a revival problem (something we never figured out how it occured). The aura is still in the game, making it much harder to attack the enemy building.
The Wards around the map (spawns at a random point every 60 seconds) might be a tad strange but was actually used for testing (yet not one of the spells of Fladian Lince). I was pleased about the ward, however and it kept it in. I'm not sure which ward I editted, so it might be one of the first three levels, making the creatue very attractive.
All heroes were supposed to gain a fifth spell, alas the higher level limit, but this never got through because of a lack of time.
These many buildings were originally there for a reason. They were supposed to spawn bandits/thieves every few seconds, if not minutes. This never got through because of the many buildings.
There were four other citizen races that didn't get in because of a lack of room good space to place them in. These are the Naga, Knights, Bandits and those Bird-like-walking creatures. I forgot their name. Owlbears were they called before the patch. None of them got in, except the Naga. They were replaced by the elementals at a later notice.
Test-hero Fladian Lince (me) was originally planned to spawn every very, very, very long period. But I didn't really feel like being killed. Just joking. He didn't get in because I powered up his spells heavily in order to test some things out. I saw no reason to balance him out. You can still Summon Fladian but you will have to say something very specific to call upon him. If you can summon him, the game is over.
FAQ
Why would I play this map? What makes it so different from the average Footman War map?
There isn't one, actually. This map was originally made when I was supposed to be studying for some upcoming exams but didn't feel like it (guess what: I failed). The only exiciting feature I can offer is that you don't have to fight alone and this is a completely different area than any other Footman War map I've ever played. Hide behind a building if you need.
What are these four citizen races you spoke of and what can they do to aid me in the war?
Those would be the Fire Minions which spawn the fastest of all four races but are also most fragile and have the lowest health. Their permanent immolation that does minor damage makes a lot up for it. Every 120 seconds they gain a boost and five more spawn, nearly equaling them to the boss of any other race.
Next in line would be Water Minions which can use Feedback, making it hard for heroes to fight them. They are probably the weakest of all heroes, but their boss makes a lot up for it. The creature boosts the defense of all its allies and has without a doubt, most health of everything in the game besides heroes.
The next one would be the Skeleton Orcs which are definitely the hardest to balance because of their ability to reincarnate. They equal the Fire Minions in their health and armor but are harder to destroy because they all have a way to recover in one or way or another. They are no match for their nemisis, the lightning lizards. Their boss if a champion which spawns every 120 seconds, which is very similar to their normal units only three times as strong, which makes it equal the powerful lizards boss.
The lizards are my masterpiece and when given the necessary time, without a second of hesitation, far stronger than all others. In opposite of all citizen race units, these lizards have mana and are able to cast one spell: Storm Lightning. Yes, the spell that bounces sixteen times. This spell casts a lot of mana, however, and the lizards are quite slow and do not last long. Their boss, the Storm Lizard, is able to cast Storm Lightning twice from the start though. Storm Lightning is probably the only thing that makes the lizards a good challenge.
Do the citizen races have heroes and are player-heroes capable of working with them in a way? If so, which heroes would work well?
No, they do not have their own heroes. This feature was cut out at the last minute. The bosses got a little boost as a result.
Heroes that work well with them are none in particular. Though I would recommend an undead hero when going for the skeletons, the Orcs when taking the lizards and the humans or Night Elves for the Elementals.
You mentioned Storm Lightning multiple times. Could you name other custom spells and what heroes have them?
You will have to find out on your own what spells heroes have. Do know that they are mostly the usual. Some of thespells that have been removed are Summon Water Elemental, Earthquake, Summon Treants, Summon Phoenix, Mass Teleport and more. One of the custom spells is a new version of Monsoon and a new version of Blizzard, which both have a far bigger range. The new version of Blizzard might be a bit too strong.
What heroes would you use when playing the map?
As myself of course. Fladian Lince, the Game Master. No, just joking. There are no heroes I would take in particular. I am personally quite fond on the Far Seer for his Chain Lightning (and Feral Spirit), the Keeper of the Grove for his Thorn Aura (and Tranquility) or the Blood Mage for his Flame Strike (and Cloud of Fire... uh... oops).
How are you sure they are so balanced?
I tested the game numerous of times on my own and noticed that the result between the citizen races always seemed to varry. Sometimes the fire minions overwhelmed the water minions and sometimes it was the otherway around.
If I notice any problems can we report it? Or can I expect a new version?
Yes, you can report it here and maybe I'll open up a new email for it. But don't get your hopes up for a new version or an improved version. This was made out of pure boredom and I am a busy man... normally. Especially now that my father is trying to poisen me (or it feels like that, anyone who can cook well is by these invited to my home!).
As a few last words I would like to give:
I would like to thank Mavus yet again for both his support and work on the map. Thanks, you were a great help. Also thank you for stopping me from studying and failing my law-exam. =P (Haven't heard anyone getting a decent score, so I'm not too disappointed yet)
Before you ask where you can download the map, read this: The map is NOT finished yet. You could say it is about 98% finished as there are only three things that need to be done and can be done in a few seconds. One of them is locking the map to prevent it from stealing. There are numerous of people that don't like me, after all. Another one is adding Mavus and my name to the game (credits). The last one is the most simple of all: I need to test it online but haven't ahd the time for it just yet. Considering my scheldue, it should be done by either the end of next week or at the start of Februari. Whichever one comes faster, actually.
EDIT: The map was finished in a single day of time (12 - 16 hours). I spent two days (about six hours in total) to fix some bugs and balance it out. You could say it took me about 24 hours to finish the map completely.
Any comments would be appreciated.
-Fladian Lince
