Posts from Reforms in Shipe.

Name: Reforms in Shipe
Map name: ShipReforms
Map type: Scenario
Two-level map: yes (But the dungeon is not accessible to the player)
Number of players: 2
Size: Medium
Map author: TymC
Map description: "Shipe is one of the most famous cities in the Griffin Empire. It gained fame due to the exceptional skill of the archers defending the city, and all because the city's inhabitants still worship Sipat, the dragon of air, and he guides the defenders' arrows directly to the target. Unfortunately, when this news reached the Inquisition, the church was very unhappy."

When creating the map, play as the "green" player.

This map is the first one I made, so I will be glad to receive constructive criticism.

Enjoy playing!

Let's see.
The game is 15 years old, and there are still people creating new maps, which is great! You're doing a great job, we're proud of you 🙂

Thank you! I've been a fan of the game for a long time, but I never had the time to create something of my own before.

Completed. Probably, for a first map, it’s okay (I’m not a mapmaker, I’m a player – I’ve never created maps myself and don’t know what specific difficulties and misunderstandings there are at the initial stage of mapmaking). Essentially, it’s an easy map. And this isn’t just my assessment – the red player thinks the same and refuses to attack, hiding in the Sanctuary. I was only able to finish it when I ran up without an army, the red player came out, and I deleted the Sanctuary using the console. So, something needs to be done about the enemy’s strength (army, artifacts, stats) and aggressiveness. Mines are generally unnecessary (although it’s cool and logical that they are in a mountainous area, far away, but running so far to take them is strategically pointless). There are enough resources without the mine – they are lying around, you can exchange them, and not everything can be built in the Castle. In terms of design, it could certainly be more aesthetically pleasing, but I think this comes with experience. What’s good is that the map isn’t cringeworthy at all, which gives reason to believe that the next ones will be better. Good luck with mastering mapmaking!

I finished it. Probably, it’s an okay map for a first attempt (a Chukchi isn’t a writer, a Chukchi is a reader – I’ve never created maps myself and don’t know what specific difficulties and misunderstandings arise at the initial stage of map creation). Essentially, it’s an easy map. And this isn’t just my assessment – the red player thinks so too and refuses to attack, hiding in Sanctuary. I was only able to finish it when I ran there without an army; the red player came out, and I used the console to delete Sanctuary. So, something needs to be done about the enemy’s strength (army, artifacts, stats) and aggressiveness. Mines are completely unnecessary (although it’s cool and logical that they are located in a mountainous area, far away, but running so far to take them is strategically pointless). There are enough resources without mines – they are lying around, you can exchange them, and not everything can be built in the castle. In terms of design, it could certainly be more aesthetically pleasing, but I think this comes with experience. What’s good is that the map isn’t cringeworthy at all, which gives reason to believe that the next ones will be better. Good luck in mastering map creation!

Thank you for the feedback! I haven’t encountered the problem with Sanctuary (probably I’m just not playing well enough to accumulate the necessary army), but I thank you for letting me know about it. Regarding the mines, yes, that was my mistake. I didn’t think it through. I’ll probably delete Sanctuary and re-upload the map now.

Well, for the last two, you definitely need to tweak their stats, add more troops, and maybe some artifacts (I'm not sure how this would be implemented, but it's common on other maps) so that they always attack the city. Otherwise, they'll just stand around or run away from the hero, and the whole point of the map will be missed. Also, when making it more difficult, you could add a couple of guarded mage huts with demonstrations of interesting remote locations. And having an artifact shop near the castle, when there's plenty of gold, seems like too much, in my opinion. I'm not a fan of extreme hardcore gameplay; I play some maps even on veteran difficulty. But to enjoy the game, you need at least some challenges to overcome heroically.

Well, the last two definitely need their stats tweaked, their armies expanded, and maybe some artifacts added (and I don't know how this would be implemented, but it's common on other maps) so that they always attack the city. Otherwise, they'll just stand around or run away from the hero, and the whole point of the map will be missed. Also, when making it more difficult, you could add a couple of guarded mage huts with demonstrations of interesting remote locations. And having an artifact shop near the castle, when there's plenty of gold, seems like overkill to me. I'm not a fan of hardcore difficulty; I play some maps even on Veteran. But to enjoy the game, you need at least some challenges to overcome heroically.

I added an army to them when I removed the monastery; the mage huts are an interesting idea. I'll do it as best I can. I tried to make him aggressive from the start by setting the highest priority, but apparently, even then, he doesn't go on a suicide mission. I'll probably also move the artifact shop further away.

The map seems a bit underdeveloped. I was playing Heroes, and on day 20, a hero with a good army appeared, so I killed him, and the game ended. Three-quarters of the map hadn't even been explored yet.

So, I was planning to play through the scenario for a video. But something didn't quite work out. As some of you know, I naturally play with my own mod. This means I need to check if the map is even playable with the mod. After checking its internals, I saw that there was interference with folders that are also modified by the mod, which means it's possible that the map is not passable with the mod. As I confirmed, everything plays perfectly.

I got a certain amount of enjoyment from the playthrough. But I think the map has more potential for a better gaming experience than it currently offers. If it were refined, it would be significantly better. A little further down, I'll describe with examples what didn't quite work for me, and if that's fixed, it will be much better.

1) Rutger eventually didn't attack me. He ran into the fog and found himself a friend there, another hero. I doubt that's what was intended, because "Grindan" appeared, and he's a hero from the non-existent Conflux city. As a result, I had to hunt down Rutger and his helper myself.
2) Vasiles or whatever his name is, also didn't attack me, but went around collecting everything. Since I had Eagle Eye, I checked his abilities and was unpleasantly surprised. He has the Light spell, but in battle, he just attacked with his hand against my archers. The AI doesn't use spells well, so I don't see the point in giving him something like that.
3) The final hero was really a pleasant surprise. He also played around with dodging... BUT at the same time, he also didn't shy away from using Divine Might, which is why I literally lost half of my archer stack right away. However, they managed to complete their task immediately; with their ability, they destroyed the catapult (~1060-1600 damage they could deal, and only 1000 was needed). As a result, the thought arises that: if it's assumed that there will be 3 sieges of the city by 3 heroes, it would be good to give them siege weapons and "Sulfur Rain" to make things more difficult for the player.
In general, the finale was good; Divine Might wiped out my archers and infantry, but luckily I had griffins and horses. It made me surprised and sit up straighter, otherwise I could have lost without my main stack 😂
My final hero looked like this (I was playing on hero difficulty):


And now, a few screenshots about the map. Throughout the game, I felt a shortage of stone and mercury. Of course, this wasn't too much of a problem, considering that I already had a fairly well-developed city at the start, but nevertheless.
The path to the stone mines is very long; by the time you manage to get to them, they are not needed anymore, just to upgrade horses and griffins.
It would be nice to replace one of the mines in the nearby location.

And secondly, as you can see from the screenshot, there is a real shortage of mercury. For this, I suggest again replacing one of the crystal mines.

And it would also be nice for comfort in clearing the map to receive some information about when an attack will occur, for example, to have a pop-up window appear 3 days in advance: "Scouts report the approach of an enemy army" (the moment when the enemy teleports to us).

In general, I don't see the point in playing through the scenario again for a video recording. But if the above-mentioned nuances are fixed, I think it will be good, and I can play it again.
The map is good, but it requires fixing some minor flaws.
Thank you for your work! 😇

All those who are not loyal to Sipa are forbidden to pass!