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Map Name: Hell Rift
Map Type: Multiplayer / Singleplayer
Two-level map: Yes
Number of players: 5 (4 players + 1 AI)
Map Size: Extra Large (216x216)
Map Author: LifeForm



Map description.

For a hundred years now, four kings had been quietly and peacefully warring with each other, not bothering anyone else.
But just the other day, on Friday the 13th, the ground turned black, heaved up, and streams of lava burst forth from beneath the earth,
followed by streams of demons that began fighting everyone indiscriminately.
"Those red-faced fiends will ruin our whole war!" cried the kings. "Where has it ever been seen that an army
is summoned to the battlefield and appears right under your nose! No tactics whatsoever, no strategy.
Unfair! We don't fight like that!" they protested.
The kings wanted to form a temporary alliance against the demons, but it turned out that their diplomatic
skills had been completely lost over the last hundred years of war. An envoy comes to you — load him into a catapult
and send him back; that's all the diplomacy there is.
In short, they simply couldn't come to an agreement with each other, and so they went on fighting as usual,
the old-fashioned way — all against all.

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Made some tweaks to the map.

New version (1.4)

List of changes:

• Moved all distant sawmills closer to the starting towns.

• Moved one of the most remote resource dwellings for each player closer to the starting town.

• The nearest level-1 dwellings now generate the same race as the starting town.

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Version (1.4.1)

• Made taverns in castles pre-built.

• Some minor landscape design fixes.

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Version (1.4.2)

List of changes:

• Demons buffed (demons start with a half-built town + the nearest dwelling changed from skeletons to imps).

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preview - a work of art

The preview is a work of art.

Come on, don't be like that. I'm just drawing these pictures for fun; they won't make the map any worse.

The description is also decent

Let's give it a try!

The description isn't bad either

Thanks. I just wrote a bit

I played as the human faction (red) and completed the game in 5 months. What can I say? It's a serious undertaking, and it's impressive. It's a shame, though, that the buildings that increase creature production don't seem to match the castles, and the lumber mills and mines are placed too far away and with inadequate protection for the first week of the game. Perhaps that's why (plus the uneven terrain) the AI develops slowly, and in the end, the game boils down to simple chases and bullying weaker opponents. However, as they say, a good meal is best enjoyed when you're hungry, so thank you to the author for their work.

Added after 14 hours and 17 minutes
By the way, if you're going to continue working on the map, it would be good if the castles in the dungeon, located in the corners, matched the castles outside. Then the AI will be well-equipped and quite dangerous. If you fix all the mistakes mentioned here and above, I think the map will be excellent, I would even say it will be eventful. Creative success to the author (without "complaining").

Antik, thank you very much for your feedback and kind words about my map.

It's a pity that the creature dwellings somehow don't match the castles.

This is already the second map of mine that has been criticized for the dwellings not matching the castles. I place the dwellings randomly, meaning that there may or may not be a match, it's just luck. I play through my maps several times myself, and that's why I make it so that on a repeat playthrough, everything on the map changes randomly.

The lumber mills and mines are placed too far away and are protected in a way that is inadequate for the first week of the game.

And this is the second time I've been criticized for this . Inadequate for the first week of the game? Are you saying that the player must capture some kind of resource dwelling in the first week of the game, and if they can't, then that's bad? But why? As I already wrote in the thread for my previous map, "Fertile Lands," I like a slow start with a shortage of resources, and that's why I place some of the resource-producing dwellings far from the starting city. But you are already the second person who thinks this is a flaw in the map. I, however, consider it not a flaw, but simply a feature. It's like: one person likes borscht, and another likes ramen, but that doesn't make either of these dishes bad.

By the way, if you are going to refine the map, it would be good if the castles in the Dungeon also matched the castles outside, in terms of their location in the corners.

That's a good suggestion. From a gameplay point of view, it would probably be better. But if I do that, then some of the castles in the Dungeon might not match the underground terrain they are on, and I try to take such things into account. So, I don't even know if it's worth doing.

and in the end, the game boils down to banal chases and beating up weak players.

I've played through this map several times, and the AI has played differently each time. Sometimes I beat up weak players . And sometimes the AI plays quite well. So, I'm not sure if the AI's stupidity is related to the map configuration. Although, maybe it is, I don't know, who can figure out what's going on in the code of this AI.

Now I'll wait for other reviews with criticism, and then I'll see if I should change anything on the map and in what direction.

I played the map, chose the knights in the yellow castle. The landscape design is impressive – it’s both beautiful and very intricate. However, the gameplay isn’t very interesting. The AI opponents were noticeably weaker than my main hero, and the computer generally avoided engaging with him. I had to fight with secondary and tertiary heroes. Even in this mode, I rarely let the battles play out automatically – the development advantage was too significant. For the AI, processing maps with such complex paths and large sizes is always a difficult task. Organizing hero logistics is a perpetual and unsolvable problem for the AI. The map isn’t well-suited for playing against a human opponent. The lumber mills and quarries placed in remote locations and heavily guarded create extremely uneven starting conditions for different castles. In some cases, it’s impossible to leave the castle grounds. Random dwellings also provide bonuses that don’t benefit every castle. I can hardly imagine how to develop dwarves on this map. Changing the underground castles to those native to the player won’t add much to the game’s interest. The AI won’t gain any strength from these castles; it won’t rush to capture them, and it will spread its troops among three or four of its heroes. In one case, the AI controlled such a pair of castles, and there were a total of five identical castles under the computer’s control on the map – the result was negligible. This map turned out to be a good exploration map; it’s interesting to wander around and look at the surroundings, but it wasn’t possible to organize a compelling combat experience.

Thanks for the feedback, 13ga.
Yeah… Judging by the reviews, the AI really doesn’t know how to play on my map. I tried to make the landscape interesting and diverse, but in the end, the dumb AI ruined everything.
I don’t think there are any mazes on my map. Is navigating a winding path too difficult a task for the AI? Although, when I played on my own map, the computer attacked my cities even with not-so-powerful armies.
By the way, what difficulty level did you play on, “veteran” or “hero”? I think on “hero,” the AI should pose a threat; it cheats on that difficulty.
Okay, maybe I’ll think about what I can do to make the AI less stupid. But I definitely won’t redo the landscape; that would only ruin my whole concept. It’s easier to just create a new map from scratch. However, I will think about the placement of resource houses, guards, dwellings, and neutral castles.

What difficulty level did you play on, “Veteran” or “Hero”? It seems that on “Hero,” the AI should pose a threat, as it cheats at that difficulty.

I play on “Hero.” At this difficulty, the AI has roughly the same amount of resources as the player on “Warrior.” It also starts with a slightly larger army. This isn’t cheating; it’s compensation for its less advanced intelligence. The larger the map (the longer the time it takes to reach the player’s castles), the less noticeable the AI bonus will be, as it sends its heroes when it realizes its superiority over the player, without considering the time it takes to reach the final destination. By assessing the threat that the AI’s main hero poses to your hero, you can draw conclusions about whether you are developing your castle correctly. Suvorov’s “science of winning” cannot be canceled, even in virtual battles.

I'm playing on the "Hero" difficulty. On this difficulty, the AI has roughly the same amount of resources as the player on "Warrior" difficulty. From the start, it also gets a slightly larger army. This isn't cheating; it's a compensation for its less advanced intelligence. The larger the map (the longer the time it takes to reach the player's castles), the less noticeable the AI's bonus will be, as it sends its heroes when it realizes its superiority over the player, without considering the travel time to the final destination. By assessing the threat that the AI's main hero poses to your hero, you can draw conclusions about whether you are developing your Castle correctly or not. Suvorov's "science of winning" cannot be overridden, even in virtual battles.

I understand. I haven't analyzed the AI's workings in such detail.
I've just had a couple of situations where the computer amassed such large armies that the cities simply couldn't physically generate that many soldiers to buy within the time that had passed in the game.
I thought it was an AI cheat, but it might just be some kind of bug.

In my opinion, if you move and weaken the mines and sawmills, tie the creature buildings and underground castles to the castles outside, plus remove the blocking units around the castle and add more chests with experience, the map will become much more interesting, and the stated problems with the AI will be somewhat mitigated. Try it, and we'll see.

I played on a map from version 1.4. It seems that in v1.4, the AI plays noticeably better. To test the map, I didn't choose the "hero" difficulty, but even on "veteran," the AI
gives me some problems.
Regarding your suggestion, Antik, if I do as you wrote, the map will have too easy of a start. The player will quickly explore everything, quickly capture everything, gather a large army in
dwellings, and quickly build a town.
This is not what I wanted. I wanted to create a challenging early-game development. I've already made several adjustments. In the initial version of the map, which I didn't even upload here, everything was very difficult. Even on "veteran," in the first week of the game, there was nowhere to break through. Then, seeing the reaction to my "Fertile Lands" map, I realized that such a hardcore experience isn't to everyone's taste, and in "Hell's Rift," I made some adjustments and released version 1.3. Then, in version 1.4, I weakened it even further. So, for now, I won't simplify it any further. I'll test version 1.4 a bit more, and then I'll see if anything needs to be changed.

“Адском разломе” made some adjustments and released version 1.3. Then, in version 1.4, I made it even easier. So, for now, I won't simplify it further. I'll test version 1.4 and then see if anything needs to be changed.

PLEASE don't do this! You are all (mapmakers) only ruining your own maps by doing this. Difficulty levels exist for making adjustments.