[Campaign] Empire Wars (Beta Phase)

[Robotronic]

You beat all 10 levels of the campaign?

Were any of them challenging?  I believed them to be tougher than Brood War, but perhaps I was mistaken if you crushed all 10 maps that quickly.  I'm surprised you finished Z10 in 25 minutes.  Perhaps the timer should be reduced from 75 minutes to something more challenging, hum.

I haven't started a specific thread on these boards yet regarding the Terran campaign.  I'll probably do so once I get T10 in working order (I'm at the mapping stage of T8, but the framework of the map is already in place).

If you're still bored, here are the first 5 Terran maps: http://www.filefront.com/15779289/SCEWTerran1-5.zip/

T5 is a pretty good foreshadow of what's to come later on in the Terran campaign and for a good portion of the Protoss campaign.

If you have any difficulty/map layout/appearance/story suggestions feel free to toss 'em out here.  I'm looking to add polish to all of my maps in general before I go about releasing the campaign.  In the mean time I'll continue to chip away at making new levels.

[noname]

They could be harder than the BW campaign, but I`m an old, veteran, ex-competetive player.
The timer not definitely should be reduced, or the AI should be strenghted, it was just my example. Other players could play it out just fine, I don`t know. Thanks for uploading the Terran missions.

[Robotronic]

Ah, I was unaware of your strong background, heh.  In that case, you probably won't have too much trouble dismantling whatever challenge the computer throws at you, since computer opponents have glaring weaknesses from their AI scripts.

Hopefully you'll enjoy the Terran maps.  Right now I've just put the finishing touches on T8 and now it's ready for testing.  I'll upload the rest of the Terran maps when I finish T9 and T10.

I added you to MSN the other day if you still use it.  I can shoot you maps earlier than I upload them for faster testing since you so deftly handled the Zerg maps.

Time to get started on T9.  Luckily I've got a very good idea of what I'm going to do, so hopefully I can get it done in a day or two.

Oh, and here's a look at T8:

[imgwh 384x768]http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/9092/11903901.png[/imgwh]

[noname]

I finished the first 5 Terran mission, they were refreshing. I must admit some  maps were harder than the Zerg maps were, but I think the whole capmaign HAS a really good difficulity setting overall, sometimes pretty hard! It`s a good thing in my eyes for a map to be challanging. I really do like the thing that you must manage your economy well, becouse you can run out of minerals, and that`s it. You can lose or win - depening on you - another good point!

T1 an okay start, no problems with it.
When some inf. terrans ripped apart my army, with some micro I managed to kill all thing with the tank. I noticed, that from some parts ot the map the creep doesn`t disappears.

T2  I tried to make only mm (and it was kinda hard without vessels), but my hero got killed, so in the regame I just went metal, and finished it much easier that way.

T3 was a cool map. I made an instant CC to get scvs faster, then 5 rax mm, salvaging dumps, then cracking north zerg, expanding there, then killing south zerg, expo there. Then the eastern zerg.. (I tried this one 2 times) First time I just attacked north, killed it, then east, but couldn`t crack it, then I killed the south, but the minerals run out there, and my main army died, so without any income I tapped out.
I found a bug here, if your hero dies, you don`t lose the campaing.

T4 I found a major bug(?) here. You can get away with few dropships, d-matrix them, and flying through the Zerg lines at the left edge of the map, and finishing it without serious fights. I think you should correct it, making scourges, burrower or unburrower hydras at key points to force the player to fight through the Zerg defences.

T5 I tired this one 3 times. In the first 2 games hybrids killed my hero, when I managed the expos. In the 3rd one I went double FE, then mass metal with double upgrades, killed Z, then sloooowly cracking up p. I run out of minerals so I had to kill the whole base, to mine for 6 marines.

[Robotronic]

Ah, so there are some bugs!  Thanks for reporting them, I've fixed them now.

I'm not sure how to manage T4's objective.  I tossed in some extra Scourge and Hydralisks by the beacon, so hopefully that'll fix it.

I'm quite happy that you enjoyed the first half of the Terran campaign thus far.  I've just completed T9, so I'll be starting work on T10 very soon.

Hopefully I can figure out a good way to make T10 extremely difficult.

[noname]

T6  - I think a medic or two would be necesarry (imba psi storms, imba hybrids). I tried only once though, cause I do not like commando missions
T7 - I do not remember what did you told me about what map should I do (sorry). So a I completed the map, where you have +1 opponent. It is okay.
T8 - Pretty hard map, I couldn`t beat it from 2 tries.
T9  - At the center of the map there is a civilan who is invincible and is named Boxer. The blue controlled upper double gas base has a bug. You cannot harvest from the upper geyser (I mined the minerals too), because there is no space for scvs to return, they are getting stucked between the two Refinerys.

[Robotronic]

Balancing T6 was extremely difficult for me.  I found that with even 1 Medic throughout the entire map, it was just too easy.  The map pretty much forces you to abuse Ghosts to their limit as well as have very good micro.  The map will certainly take quite a few tries in order to get all of the micro down.  If you can deal with all the traps properly, you can take very minimal casualties every time, but the problem is if you let your guard down for a second at the wrong time, you'll lose over half of your men.  To make matters worse, the map has a lot of long, drawn out parts to it, where nothing much happens, so you might be caught unaware when a trap suddenly comes up.

I understand that you don't like commando type missions, though, so that's okay. =P

Since you beat T5 the "hard" way (killing purple), you were meant to play T7b, which had one less opponent and one more unguarded expo.  That's the only real difference between the missions.

I changed the mine field and the energy cost for the Ghost abilities in T8.  It's essentially another commando-type level, as you're forced to abuse the hero Ghosts, taking out the enemy base entirely with Nukes.  Again, since you hate commando, I can see why you didn't play it too much. =P

T9 - The Civilian at the middle of the map was my attempt at a little Easter Egg.  I put him there because that compound with all the yellow units is meant to represent the "palace" or capital building of New Augestgrad, where the Terran Emperor lives, so I threw in that Civilian.  Thanks for pointing out that pathing bug with the Refinery.  I've fixed that up.

Time to get to work on T10.  Don't worry, it won't have any commando elements; it'll be a pure standard RTS level.  I'll post it and the cinematic map that follows it here once I've completed them.

[noname]

I thought about why I don`t like commando missions. I think because the chances for corrigations are very limited, I mean if you lose a whole bunch of units, you can`t win or come back into the game, so after 10-15 minutes is really frustrating to restart the game.
But I do like the semi commando-missions, like what you did in the final zerg level. That is awesome.

[Robotronic]

That makes sense.  Basically, the best way to go about those type of missions is to save extremely often.

That's the problem with that particular brand of mission; since the whole RTS elements of building/defending bases, expanding, and going for objectives/cracking enemy bases are out of the picture, all that's really left is a microfest in which every last Marine counts.

I'm only having about 2 of those type of missions per 10 level set, though.  Looking at what I've got planned out for Protoss, it will be missions 2 and 6.  The others should be more standard mission types.

Anyway, back to T10.  With any luck it should be done sometime today (not sure how long the following cinematic level will take though).  The majority of the terrain has been completed, so now I'm approaching the phase of the map where I drop enemies everywhere.  Then after that it's doodads/triggers, yay.

[Robotronic]

Shameless double post, but it's relevant.

The original post has been updated with the ENTIRE Terran campaign!

That's right, not just the 5 levels I had in a random post in the thread.  This is the full 10 level campaign along with 2 cinematic maps.

[noname]

Beating T10.

Because of the strength of the hybrids and the computers you can`t afford to make m&m, because of  their damage output is too low in this case, and they`re die too fast. It isn`t cost effective at all. Instead you have to go for a mechanical  ground army.
First of all scout ahead with Jack, while making nonstop scvs, creating a little wall, and making a Factory (start siege upgrade) and 2 bunkers. Start to produce tanks.
[imgwh 640x480]http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/6870/91854373.jpg[/imgwh]
You`ll find a free island expansion, and a land expansion at the bottom of the map. Choose the land expansion, make a cc there with 4 rines, make a bunker, additional wall, and a Factory. Make some Tanks (3-4) and gols (4-5) to kill of the cannons, to make a refinery there too.
Make a second factory and make a starport and 2 armories. Start upgrading.  
With a dropship make a cc at  the island expansion. (3 gols + 2scvs in it)
[imgwh 640x480]http://kepfeltoltes.hu/100323/2_www.kep ... es.hu_.jpg[/imgwh]
Start harvesting gas first. While doing this make a sci fac for the 2-2 upgrade (This is really important.)
[imgwh 640x480]http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/2711/18831785.jpg[/imgwh]
Produce a science vessel for detection when you`ll push. Make a lot of goliaths and tanks while doing these actions, because you main base is the most vulnerable at this point. Also you should make extra goliaths at the bottom base.
Make factory number up to 6-8.
When you feel confindent you can push to the base below you (1-2 group of tanks 1-2 group of goliaths+(if you have) vultures. Don`t reinforce with your spawning units, because you`ll need to be protected against attacks from the left base, just in case reinforce your slow tank push if you have enough defence at your main (~6 tanks, ~6 gols). Expand there, 2 gas base, great! You will have a lot of gas at this point. Make science vessels, use them dmatrix+emp+(irra).
[imgwh 640x480]http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/8853/26203386.jpg[/imgwh]
Kill of the left base with this kind of slow push. Expand. Then assault the temple base. gg

[Robotronic]

Great guide!

That will be one of the most challenging missions you'll face until deep into the Protoss campaign.

Speaking of which, I've got some mapping to do...

[noname]

If you complete a map, you can send me for testing purposes.

[Robotronic]

Sure thing.  I'll give you P2 and 3 once P3 is finished.  I'm gonna give you 2 maps at once this time because P2 is another dreaded commando map. =P

[Robotronic]

Update: release draws near!

Overall Campaign Progress (estimate): 98%.

My testers have been quite MIA for the past couple of weeks, which really hurts, but I'm proceeding with the project nonetheless.

So far I've completed 9 Protoss maps plus 1 Cinematics, leaving only the last Cinematic of the campaign (it will obviously be the ending) and P10 which is nearing the end of the Alpha phase in terms of terrain.

Here's what I've got so far:

[imgwh 640x640]http://i40.tinypic.com/acy6h3.png[/imgwh]

I'm getting to work on a few of the essential triggers that make all of the main events tick.  Once I've got those tested, I can get on with the doodads and enemy unit placement.  I don't predict that it will take an overly long time to get those things done, since placing units for a "hard" base isn't too challenging and the Ashworld tileset has little to no doodads.  The majority of the detailing with that tileset is by throwing other tiles on top of dirt, which is very easy.  That's probably why only 3 of 30 maps use this specific tileset.

Also, here's an editor shot of P9 (completed):

[imgwh 640x640]http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/4815/74547352.png[/imgwh]

Both of these maps are extremely challenging.  While they have expos, you're pitted against 3 hard mode AI in mixed bases (1 of each race), so you will always be triple attacked by the widest array of units the game can throw at you (plus attacking them means they have up to 600 food to defend with + static defenses), not to mention the strong hero units that the enemy sends your way.