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Author |
File Description |
Bultro |
Posted on 11/26/03 @ 12:00 AM (updated 02/05/06)
File Details |
Version: |
The Conquerors 1.0c |
There's an european-like continent at north, an african-like one at south, and sea in the middle, with many isles peninsulas and narrows.
Players may start on either continent, which may be connected or not, or sometimes even on an isle.
Computers can play too.
Thanks to BB of BD for the idea :)
The file has been updated and now contains 2 maps:
- the original one, which also features relics hidden inside forests, some differences in starting stuff, and more mines in desert/snow.
- the one with the ".1" tag, which has more standarized units and resources. |
Author | Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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Maximus_ll |
Posted on 07/22/04 @ 12:00 AM
one of my favorite maps, just the right balance between the water and the land, good eye candy, and varied terrain, also for some reason this map seems so much bigger in sheer size, is it just me? this map is so much better than any stock mediteranean type maps that come with rts games, why couldnt the professional designers make a realistic looking map such as this one?
Great map in all areas |
RF_Gandalf
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 07/21/05 @ 04:09 PM
Real Mediterranean
This is a very interesting, nicely done map, one of the better maps to be released in recent years, in my opinion. The author has taken a new idea – making a ‘mediterranean’ style map, and added more geographic variety and in addition an interesting northern / southern terrain difference.
THEME: 5 The idea for this map is fresh, different, and the way the author scripted the map provides for a lot of variety. The map does not always look exactly like the Mediterranean sea but the variation in the coastline, islands, terrain is interesting. The players may or may not be connected around the border of the map, or even more centrally. The author has put work into getting this geographic variation to work out well.
VISUAL APPEAL: 5 This is a fairly nice looking map. Varied, realistic geography is one of the main goals of a scripter, and the author has achieved that with this script. Occasionally there is an odd looking feature such as an abrupt transition from snow to forest in the ‘northern’ continent, or the scripted ‘flower bed’ appears directly on a shoreline, or a ‘desert’ appearing island appearing toward the north side, but it does not mar the overall appearance of the map. I found no real flaws in the map appearance (but would have accurately scored it a 4.5 if I could give fractional scores).
PLAYABILITY: 3 I enjoyed many features of gameplay on this map. However, the map has a few flaws that detract from gameplay and make the game less enjoyable. First, combining the increased number of wolves with a change in the starting units from a scout to 2 militia really is a damper on any player’s game, and even more so for the AI. Militia cannot outrun the many wolves. Even scouting with both militia together, the multiple gangs of 2 wolves fairly quickly will overwhelm the militia leaving you without scouting units. I guess if you only played on “All Visible” setting you could avoid some of the wolves, but that is NOT the way most experienced players play. The standard scouts are faster than the militia or wolves and quickly get away and out of sight of wolves, avoiding the relentless pursuit that dooms the militia. The author does not describe this change from the standard starting units, and most serious players would not really appreciate this change.
Another significant problem I found in gameplay had to do with the placement of relics. The author does mention in his writeup that the relics are locked into forests, but this basically just removes them from play. Unless you wait until Imperial and use Siege Onagers to clear the forests, they are hard to retrieve; you would have to move a small army of lumberjacks a third of the way around the map to get the nearest relic. Most players would just ignore the relics completely, I feel, focusing instead on economy and military. This takes away a small but fun part of the game. In addition, the number of relics scripted (six) does not always appear – In numerous tests I found 2-6 relics, averaging 4, depending on size of map and on luck. If a player were to want to try for a relic victory he would have no idea how many he would have to get to control them all. A variation from the normal number of relics should always be mentioned in a writeup since relic collection is a pathway to victory under standard conditions.
Another flaw is related to the small pockets the author created in forests to place the relics in – sometimes other resources such as sheep, gold or boar end up in these pockets.
Space to build is sometimes a little sparse around the player’s bases, more of a problem in the ‘north’ where there is more forest and ice than there is forest and shallows in the ‘south’; this gives a slight imbalance between players in the north and south of the map.
There can also be a little of an imbalance in the lakes placed around the map – there are more of these lakes created in the south, and since these generally have good fishing, some players may have less access to them.
Some of the extra gold and stone are placed only on snow(in the north) and desert(in the south and on some islands) – this leaves possibly less available to players located to the east and west – an imbalance.
On higher player numbers especially, sometimes an edge or partial circumference of the player bases can be very exposed, leaving them susceptible to naval fire.
There are a few other deviations from standard starting conditions, such as the elimination of the start area trees, changes in the starting berries, gold and stone, and the increased amount of sheep, deer and boar from normal. Some players object to any difference from the standard in these features, so variation should in general be described in the writeup, but I have not detracted from the score for these minor things-just trying to point out things that should be done for the best description of a map.
The AI seems to do appreciably less well than normal on this map, which I attribute to the following: the loss of scouting militia and a number of vills to the increased predators and the removal of the start trees(surprisingly, this does significantly affect the AI-I have seen this on other maps without trees near the TC).
Additional Comments:
Looking under the hood…the author clearly understands how to make random maps, no errors in the use of the scripting language.
I suggest that you try this map, I think you will enjoy it despite the small flaws described above.
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russoft |
Posted on 02/17/09 @ 01:26 PM
Theme: 5
This map's theme is as the title says, "Mediterranean". I've always been bugged by the simplicity of existing random maps for ocean maps, but this one lives up to my expectations. Not only will you get the great Medditerranean sea in the middle of the map, but sometimes there will be other relatively major lakes and seas in other parts of the map.
Visual Appeal: 5
While I generally don't actually like much eye candy (I feel it's an excuse to put less effort into the map design), this map uses eye candy quite effectively, and the map design itself is solid.
Playability: 5
Original version:
Resources are well placed, for the most part. There are some glaring exceptions, such as gold being placed sandwiched between water and trees. There are a few too many wolves for my liking, and for some weird reason, the creator decided 2 militia explore the map more effectively than one scout cavalry. Despite these few problems, the playability is far above most Random Map scripts I've played. As far as fun is concerned, it's a lot more fun than it's predecessor "Mediterranean" that comes with the game.
New ".1" version:
The playability has been increased through more intelligent resource placement. There are a few occasions where resources will be jammed in funny places, but these occurrences are rarer than before. A scout replaces the 2 militia, making exploration much more pleasant. One still has be cautious of the wolf packs, but that's just part of the game. While I would say there are a few tweaks which could be made, I certainly can't nit pick. This random map is head and shoulders above any RMS or regular random map I've played to date!
Additional Comments:
After three very long 3-6 hour games on this map with a friend, I can say that this is the best Random Map Script I've played to date! The map is rarely identical, and there are always awesome strategic positions which can be exploited.[Edited on 02/18/09 @ 01:46 PM]
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HGDL v0.8.2 |
Rating |
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4.8 | Breakdown |
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Theme | 5.0 | Visual Appeal | 5.0 | Playability | 4.3 |
Statistics |
Downloads: | 12,452 |
Favorites: [] | 3 |
Size: | 4.18 KB |
Added: | 11/26/03 |
Updated: | 02/05/06 |
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