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Author |
File Description |
Leif Ericson |
Posted on 03/21/10 @ 03:21 AM
File Details |
Version: |
The Conquerors 1.0c |
Mirkwood Forest - created by Leif Ericson for the future War of the Ring Mod - March 21, 2010
Note: There are two Mirkwood Forest maps contained in the zip file:
-Mirkwood Forest- This map is the standard map that includes outposts scattered along the road of Mirkwood.
-Mirkwood Forest (No Outposts)- This map is exactly the same as Mirkwood Forest, except that the outposts are removed.
Map Description:
This random map recreates the dark, treacherous, and bewitching forest of Mirkwood, home to giant spiders and beasts unimaginable, as well as the wood-dwelling Elves of J.R.R. Tolkien's world of Middle Earth. This map is similar in playing style to ES_Sherwood_Forest, but there are more surprises, clearings, and much better visual appeal. Bonus outposts can be found along the old roads of Mirkwood that meander through the forest. Multiple clearings are scattered throughout the map that contain bonus resources and relics. There are also multiple lookout points which are not only excellent places to build a fortress, but also contain stone mines. However, watch out! Numerous beasts roam the forests of Mirkwood, so adventurous explorers beware!
Game Setup Tips:
This random map separates players by teams, with the old road of Mirkwood running between team areas. Take this into account when creating your teams. All map sizes, from Tiny to Giant, work well, though placing a large number of players on a small map may cause problems.
General Strategies:
The biggest difference from standard random maps are the outposts that are placed along the road. These outposts are claimed by gaia at
the beginning of the game and a free for anyone to claim during the game. Computer players cannot claim these, so it might be best to play the "No Outposts" version for single player.
These outposts radically change the gameplay. Along with finding your resources, players should use their scouts to find as many outposts as they can. These outposts are excellent ways to detect enemy flushes as they approach your town. If you are flushing another player, try to find a break in your enemy's line of outposts. There are often occasional breaks.
These outposts also help in teamed play. Once your team finds all of the outposts next to your area of the map, both of you should try and defend your borders before enemy forces sneak through. Constant watching and communication is even more necessary.
At various locations on the map are large hills, often coated with dirt2 terrain. These hills are excellent places to build a defensive watch tower or castle. If you can find one next to your town, make sure you take advantage of it.
Resources are rich on this map. You will often find gold and stone mines - as well as relics and herds of deer - in most of the scattered clearings on the map. Several patches of forage bushes are located in many regions of the map. Find these resource nodes early. However, if you venture out too far you may encounter wolves, especially on larger map sizes.
Notes about AI behavior:
This map will pose no serious problems for the AI player. However, there is limited open space around the player start areas, so AIs may have a slower economic growth than usual. Take this into account if you make an AI for this map.
Download it and try it out! Any comments are welcome. I really want to know what your opinions are on this map and how I can make it better. |
Author | Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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Possidon
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 03/27/10 @ 07:13 AM
Theme: 5
The Theme is very creative. Mirkwood Forest is the first Lord of the Rings random Map I have seen. It a great idea and is very enjoyable to play. Mirkwood forest feels a lot like Lord of the Rings when playing so I think it meets its Theme Standards.
Visual Appeal: 4
Mirkwood Forest has two RM scripts: one with outposts and one without.
Without Outposts:
The Visual Appeal of the map without outposts is great. It has a lot of elevation, use of Different terrains and a lot of GAIA objects creating a big effect. There is also some terrain mixing. To make it better there could be a bit more terrain mixing and a bit more elevation.
With Outposts:
The Visual Appeal of the map with outposts is also great. It is all the same as the map without Outposts but in this one there are GAIA outposts spread along the large roads of Mirkwood Forest. Unfortunately the outposts are right in the middle of the road spoiling the cool appeal of the forest. They are also GAIA which means you can capture them this is great in a multiplayer map because everyone ahs to race to get the outposts but bad in a single player map because only you can capture them and it makes the game not as fun.
Playability: 5
Mirkwood Forest is a very enjoyable game. It is really fun to play, especially on Multiplayer. On single player it is just as good (apart from what I said before about the Outpost map) Mirkwood forest is a game you can play over and over and over again for hours and hours and hours.
In Mirkwood Forest you start off with a reasonable amount of resources. You get sheep, deer, forage bushes, gold, stone and of course a lot of trees. I think the only problem is that you start off with too many resources.
Additional Comments:
A very enjoyable Random map which is great fun to play. A highly recommended download.
|
offwo200 |
Posted on 12/27/10 @ 01:32 PM
Theme: 5
This map has a very good and enchanting theme, which is explored in the map well. Objects are added to the map as eye candy which are fully related to the theme, such intergration is good. The map also has a road going through it which executes the theme well.
Visual Appeal: 5
As said in theme, there is various good bits of eye candy that make the map good. Also, the author has made good use of the trees A-J in the map, where other scripters, espically ones confined to the rms editor, do not use.
Playability: 4
I have deducted a point here because the no outpost version of the map appears to be bugged (game crashes at start) and that in singleplyer, the outposts give you an unfair advantage. However, this is in fact a minor issue, and the map itself is very fun indeed. If you play extreme map-player ratios, you may find there are no forests. However, it is a bad idea to play this anyway and the author has done a good job on creating this fun map
Additional Comments:Highly recommended download.
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aidenpons |
Posted on 03/28/16 @ 07:46 PM
Theme: 4
A very well done rendition of Mirkwood, but not quite scary enough. It's a forest with a road running through it. While the road has outposts (which apparently can be captured by the UP AI), the AI got to the Castle Age and meticulously destroyed each and every one of the outposts, giving me a long time to inspect their army & build up my counter. The road just doesn't DO enough.
But I can't think of what could be added...
Visual Appeal: 4
Perhaps a bit sparse for the great forest of Mirkwood. You do feel hemmed in by the trees, especially at the start. However, once those lumber camps are spammed you're set to go.
Playability: 4
Quite a pleasure to play. I like to play my maps on Large/Giant even with only 4 players, so much of the map was repetitive. Not necessarily bland, just repetitive.
Additional Comments:
Trees. Mirkwood, despite being a forest, has simultaneously 1) not easily choppable wood and 2) not much space to build. This is because the script either generates objects or small patches of forest, probably both. In the Castle Age I was building houses at about the same rate as lumbercamps! Once you've created vast hordes of lumbercamps ready to take over the world (well, at least they give you line of sight), that problem largely goes away. But it just feels a little empty of dense groves of trees....
This also does have an effect on the pathfinding. I had amassed hordes of siege weaponry (mods) and they took a while to navigate around the trees. While I can cut them down, some can't - I told my Siege Onagers to move, accidentally clicked on an indestructible tree where my army was gathering, and 15 siege weapons lost :( Still, that can't be helped.
Most of the tree problems were my end though and others will probably not have a problem. The AI had enough space to build fine, which is good.
Can I suggest large clumps of trees exist & also the occasional (maybe about 20 on a Giant map) large forests, about the size in normal random maps.
Suggestions:
Trees, as above.
Perhaps somewhere in the map; randomly or not; you could create a small-ish Dol Guldur. This could maybe be a player start point (would probably introduce balancing issues), or its entire function could be scenic. There is plenty of space on the map and all the AI does is build mining camps on it. A ruined fortress would make the script more aesthetically pleasing.
You added small rather useless ponds, primarily for aesthetic value. Perhaps you could create larger swamps, full of shallows? There is - again - plenty of space on the map. These don't have to fit much of a purpose, but they could make traversing the repetitive terrain a little more interesting.
Elevation has been used quite well.
No cliffs at all, but cliffs are rather sporadic & that's understandable.
I've been rather critical but nothing in this script is bad (except the road forking to accommodate multiple teams, but I don't think much can be done of that). It just feels a little devoid of... interesting things, and I've tried to suggest some.
I'd give this the solid 4/5 the autogenerator should give it. If more interesting... STUFF was added it would probably go to a 5. |
HGDL v0.8.2 |
Rating |
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4.4 | Breakdown |
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Theme | 4.7 | Visual Appeal | 4.3 | Playability | 4.3 |
Statistics |
Downloads: | 5,394 |
Favorites: [] | 3 |
Size: | 6.26 KB |
Added: | 03/21/10 |
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