Posts from [HL] "Lost Artifacts"

Name: Lost Artefacts
Map name: Lost artefacts
Two-level map: no
Number of players: 6
Size: XL
Map difficulty: Normal
Map author: Slonikkuala
Map description: Ancient, powerful artefacts are hidden in the inaccessible mountain valleys. Who will be able to seize them? Because it won't be that easy.

The map is very unfinished, with large empty areas. It would be better to make a smaller map and fill it to the maximum. I didn't play it.

Slonikkuala, I tried playing your map, but I didn't finish it. What I liked: 1) There are many beautiful, hand-made locations (although there are some oddities – for example, grassy mountains in the middle of a volcanic area... maybe this is the author's idea, but I didn't understand it). Overall, I found the map to be beautiful. 2) I liked the shop where you can buy different potions every day. Although it's useless on this map, the idea itself is good. What I didn't like: 1) I didn't understand what the goal of the game is – to capture all the cities or find artifacts? If it's artifacts, then which ones? 2) I easily managed to destroy three opponents with a single thief, while also collecting a huge amount of resources and artifacts and completely building up a castle... after which I didn't feel like playing any further. I was playing as Chaos on Master difficulty. So, the balance on the map is clearly off. General ZeT, what voids are you referring to? It seemed to me rather the opposite, that there are too many objects, which sometimes gets a little tiring...

The map is more suitable for player-versus-player games, as I also noticed that the AI plays very poorly. The goal of a game between players is to become the strongest and defeat all opponents, and artifacts play an important role in the hero's and army's stats. The variety of artifacts on the map is quite large; players have a chance to collect one of the sets to get additional bonuses for their hero. Regarding the mountains, I'm not quite sure where they are...
As for the resources, I completely agree with you, Larisa; the number of resources on the map should be reduced, and a fix will be implemented in the near future.
Regarding the density of objects on the map: initially, there were fewer of them; there were significant empty spaces in the desert and on the seas, but I followed the advice of General ZeT and improved the landscape, after which the map took on its current form; in my opinion, it turned out to be more beautiful than it was before.

Thank you all for your feedback and for pointing out the errors, and I ask that you continue to report them in the future.

This map is better suited for player-versus-player games.

I thought the same thing right away. Maybe we should move it to the section with maps for online games? As for the resources: perhaps they should be reduced, but, in my opinion, it is more important to make some paths impassable for thieves. Otherwise, the latter will have time to plunder a significant part of the map in the early stages of the game, collect those very sets of artifacts, and, again, gather significantly more resources than other players. Castles that do not have thieves at their disposal will find it difficult to counter this. However, I don't have much experience playing online, so I might be wrong.

I just can't figure out where the mountains are...

The coordinates of the green mountain are (146, 164). Here are some other oddities:

(50, 127) - flowering water lilies in a mountain river with snow-covered banks. Although, maybe they are magical?...

(196, 185) - a brown lava (or mud?) lake surrounded by small pools of bright orange color. It turns out that the temperature in the lake is lower than in the pools, although, logically, it should be the other way around. It's a small detail, but it immediately caught my eye.

(142, 271) - I don't know if this is a bug or a feature, but it looks like the texture of the coastal sand is randomly mixed with the texture of the water.

(232, 151) and (97, 135) - the water mill is not located along the river flow, but perpendicular to it, and, despite this, its wheel spins perfectly, drawing water from an unknown source. By the way, can I use this mind-blowing idea for something?

I also noticed a very sharp transition between the autumn and summer forest in the upper left part of the map. This is unlikely to occur in nature. However, there could be an explanation for this: someone decided to poison the mosquitoes in the swamp and overdid it with the chemicals. :D However, then not only the trees but also the grass should have turned yellow prematurely...