Posts from Dragon Eye

Map Name: Dragon's Eye
Map Name: Dragon's eye
Map Type: Multiplayer Arena
Two-level map: yes
Number of players: 1vs1
Map Size: Small
Map Author: LittleWing

Map Description: The map turned out to be very dynamic and versatile (for example, you can break through the shipyard's defenses and quickly rush the opponent through the Dungeon on day 121-131, or kite the opponent on the water, gradually exhausting his army and controlling resources). In the starting city, there are Guildhall level 3, creatures of levels 1-3, a magistrate, and a Stronghold. On the starting location, there is a Sphinx worth 25k gold/experience or Traveler's Boots. In the upper-left corner of the map, there is a Mentor. In the center of the map, on an island, is the main treasure. Underground, there is a mini-treasure, a shipyard, and 2 cities.
The map has 3 mini-quests, given in the Prophet's huts: 2 huts on the starting location, 1 in the center.
The following artifacts have been removed: clover, angel wings, boots of levitation, ring of speed, scrolls, magic wands.
The following spells have been removed: regeneration, antimagic, holy word, sorrow, unholy word, astral gate.
The following heroes have been removed: Crag, Wingael.
Map Scheme:



The arrows show the possible direction of movement.
G - Grail
11 - starting city of the first player
21 - starting city of the second player
12, 22 - secondary cities
p - one-way portal
mT - mini-treasure
T - main treasure

PvP version of the map:

Version of the map for playing against the bot:

upd: 19.10.19 - fixed a bug with the mini-quest

upd: 06.01.20
Happy Holidays!
I decided to release a small update for the map:
- shortened the path to the Ash: now it takes the same amount of time to get from the shipyard to the portal to the island with the Ash as it does to the opponent's island: 2 days.
- removed relic artifacts from the shipyard guards and in the central treasure (now relics are only with the seraphs guarding the Mentor, the artifact merchant, and in Utopia).
- removed underwater temples underground.
- the Capitol can now only be built in underground cities.

I made a version of the map for playing with the bot.
Since it is not interesting to play against the bot on equal terms - even on the "hero" difficulty level, the bot has little chance against a human, I decided to make a version of the map for playing with the bot.
- the bot initially has almost a fully built main castle and underground castle.
- quests on the starting location have been removed: no help in the form of elementals, no 25k experience.
- the guards have been slightly weakened compared to the PvP version.

Thank you, I liked the map, it has a good pace, and the landscape is well-designed!

Played it twice. It's not bad. But there's one thing: it's easier and faster to defeat the enemy than to reach Ashi's tear.

Thank you for your feedback! Regarding the Tear of Ash: it was intended to be difficult and often impractical to reach. It provides a huge advantage in itself, and it can also be turned in for a quest, earning you a dozen Phoenixes. This is too strong of an advantage at any stage of the game, so attempting to capture Ash will require significant sacrifices in macro-game play – controlling the map: giving up the center, mines, and cities. Let's call it a "high-stakes game."

P.S. If anyone has suggestions on how to rebalance the map, let's discuss it!

Regarding the Tear of Ash: it was designed so that it would be difficult and, often, not worthwhile to reach. It provides a huge advantage in itself, and it can also be turned in for a quest to receive a dozen phoenixes. This is too strong an advantage at any stage of the game, so trying to capture Ash will require significant sacrifices in macro-game play – control of the map: giving up the center, mines, and cities. Let's just say it's a "do-or-die" situation.

Exactly. And that's why the journey to it becomes simply not worthwhile. You have to build up the captured cities, develop a second hero-guardian, and gather an army for him. And at the same time, it's much easier to capture the Dungeon cities and then take the enemy's capital. In other words, the game would have to be artificially prolonged for the journey.
If the garrisons between players were strengthened, it would make the effort worthwhile.

If we were to strengthen the garrisons between players, it would need to be worthwhile.

If we strengthen the defenses, it will create an imbalance between the races, because there are two ways to strengthen outposts between players: add more "living units," which will not affect the races using Dungeon, but rather give them an advantage in experience, or make the garrisons out of undead – which can be easily broken through with summons.
Currently, in my opinion, breaking through the defenses of outposts on the island is about the same difficulty for all races around weeks 3-4. The shipyard defense in Dungeon is easier to break through with summons, from which you can go for Ascha or directly to the enemy capital around weeks 2-3. The races that rely on summons are Mages, Necropolis, and the League. The first two rarely get Logistics, which makes them easy prey for the other races in the late game, but having good magic stats gives them an advantage at the beginning, which can be used to rush the center or Ascha. The League has too little mana for Ascha when relying on summons – it's too risky, but they have a lot of magic for rushing the opponent. So, Mages and Necropolis can capture Ascha early on, while all other races can do it later, when they have gathered enough units and stats.
Of course, all of the above applies only to PvP. Against bots, it's easy in any case. Although, if you play with bots, you can skip the wolf quest – you will slow down your development by 1-2 weeks, and the bot will take over most of the map and attack you from all sides :smile15:.

It would be good to replace the rewards for completing quests with a unit of the corresponding faction, rather than elementals. And giving phoenixes as a reward for achieving Ash status doesn't seem appropriate.

It would be good to replace the rewards for completing quests with a unit of the faction's race, rather than elementals. And phoenixes as a reward for Ash are not very fitting.

I had an idea about using units of the faction's race, but it's impossible to implement in the map editor without using scripts. Elementals don't have a morale penalty with either good or evil races, which makes them ideal as a reward. Besides, if instead of elementals, there was a level 4 faction unit stack, some races or heroes would gain an advantage, while in the current version, this stack is just a disposable unit for the early game.
Regarding the "lack of seriousness" of phoenixes: I'm even a bit confused, as I initially thought that this alternative was even too advantageous compared to Ash. What do you suggest replacing the phoenixes with?

LittleWing I suggest replacing the quest with the Asylum with another one. Because by the time you get there, you might already win or lose.

LittleWing I suggest replacing the quest with the Asylum with another one. Because by the time you get there, you can either win or lose.

Let's see, I don't have any ideas on what to replace it with yet, so maybe I'll just remove the 3rd mini-quest and the island.

The map turned out to be quite good. I didn't particularly like the explosive nature of experience gain, where you get almost to level 20 in just a couple of days. This is a strong nod towards the magic factions. If you're lucky with spells, the Warlocks won't be able to lose. People were right to point out the uselessness of the Tears of Ash. I'll add to that. It's much easier to get to the shipyard than to go through the bridge guard, and accordingly, all the movement goes along that path. Besides, there's an underwater temple along the way and the possibility of being either on the surface of the map or underground: logistics and profit lead to the boat. The bridges and central garrisons are pointless. The game lasts no more than a month; no one will bother with a huge, pointless guard on the bridge and walking in circles.

Merry Christmas to everyone!
I decided to release a small update for the map:
- shortened the path to the Asylum: now it takes the same amount of time to get from the Fortress to the portal on the island with the Asylum as it does to the opponent's island: 2 days.
- removed relic artifacts from the guards of the Fortress and in the central treasury (now relics are only found with the Seraphs guarding the Mentor, the artifact merchant, and in Utopia).
- removed the underwater temples underground.
- the Capitol can now only be built in underground cities.

I made a version of the map for playing against the bot.
Since it's not interesting to play against the bot on equal terms - even on the "hero" difficulty level, the bot has little chance against a human, I decided to make a version of the map for playing against the bot.
- the bot initially has almost a fully built main Castle and an underground Castle.
- quests on the Reserve have been removed: no help in the form of elementals, and no 25k experience.
- the guards have been slightly weakened compared to the PvP version.
Expect the bot to visit in weeks 4-5))) :smile17:.