[H3SW 0.8.1] Arna Road

Hello!

I'd like to share my maps I've created for H3SW. Due to time constraints, I only play H3SW cooperatively with my gf, but because random maps lack challenge and sense, I've decided long time ago to make few maps.

Today, I'd like to share them. The maps do not have any plot, they are basically 2 humans vs 6 AI skirmishes. We've completed all of these maps on impossible difficulty.

You can download the all maps here:
https://gitlab.com/nullptr128/h3sw-maps/tree/master

Arna Road
Players must travel long road that connects to all kingdoms in order to reach final enemy.
Inspiration: Arnika Road from Wizardry 8, a location that connected most of the game vital locations.



Download: https://gitlab.com/nullptr128/h3sw-maps/blob/master/Arna-Road/Arna-Road.h3m



I'll post screenshots from maps in the second post to avoid mess.

I'm adding some screnshoots from maps. I've done it in second post for better readability.

Hey, this is great, thanks for sharing!  I recently wasted a measurable percentage of my remaining life finished playing through every single map that this mod came with on impossible level.  Was starting to look for some more maps and you posted this just in time!

Just~Another~Lemming wrote:

Hey, this is great, thanks for sharing!  I recently wasted a measurable percentage of my remaining life finished playing through every single map that this mod came with on impossible level.  Was starting to look for some more maps and you posted this just in time!

Wauw, that is quite the accomplishment! I didn't think anyone would play through all the maps
Since you are clearly glad to play the mod I would like to ask you if there is a map from H1, H2 or H3 that you would like to see converted to H3SW for the next release?

Very nice job. I'd like to see each map as a separate topic there though, because it will be easier for searching and sorting out.

GodRage has recently started developing the map system for Lands of Enroth website, so there is also hope for a safe place for the maps to be uploaded and accessible to everyone.

Orzie wrote:

GodRage has recently started developing the map system for Lands of Enroth website, so there is also hope for a safe place for the maps to be uploaded and accessible to everyone.

Yeah, it's still under construction http://homm2.free.fr/enroth.php?p=bestmaps

Sir Albe wrote:

Just~Another~Lemming wrote:

Hey, this is great, thanks for sharing!  I recently wasted a measurable percentage of my remaining life finished playing through every single map that this mod came with on impossible level.  Was starting to look for some more maps and you posted this just in time!

Wauw, that is quite the accomplishment! I didn't think anyone would play through all the maps
Since you are clearly glad to  play the mod I would like to ask you if there is a map from H1, H2 or H3 that you would like to see converted to H3SW for the next release?

I can't say that I have any favorites from the prior games. The game in general is my favorite, thought Master of Orion 2 was a great game back in my teen years and now as well. I looks forwards to the newest release though. I probably should have kept a bug report spreadsheet as I played through them, but I figured I'd wait until the next update to do that. Who knows how many you have fixed since the current version came out.

Great work to all involved and a huge thank you as well!

Orzie wrote:

Very nice job. I'd like to see each map as a separate topic there though, because it will be easier for searching and sorting out.

GodRage has recently started developing the map system for Lands of Enroth website, so there is also hope for a safe place for the maps to be uploaded and accessible to everyone.

Do we have an ETA to the next version of the mod? I could run through many of the maps again and relate any bugs I encounter. Though that would be easier to do if I had a hotfix for that oh so irritating Necromancer bug!

Sure we can find some solution. I will reply to you via private message in the following couple of days, to avoid flooding the topic.

Concerning the maps and your playing experience, we would highly appreciate if you played some user-created maps here on the forum and maybe left an opinion in the topic. Just in case you have the mood of playing H3SW once more

Also, a list of inconsistencies is more useful for us than it might seem. I'll proceed with that discussion via PM too.

I just played a game on "Arna Road" by author number128.  I played on Impossible level as Barbarian (ally was Witch) and chose Finbros as my primary hero.  I almost always default to him if possible for the movement speed that such a large map rewards.

Be prepared for the largest possible map plus a pretty expansive and segmented underground.  I usually do my best to speed run maps and it took me 83 days.  To put that into perspective, the next longest map for me was Sea Breeze at 58 days.  So this map took me by far the longest to finish of any recently played maps.  That being said, it never really got boring or too long!  Now, the caveat to that is that I did not get the Town Portal, Fly (no cloak either), or Dimension Door spells until quite late in the game (not for lack of trying!).  It's possible those would have sped things along nicely, but, at the same time, I needed that much time to build the troops levels I needed to conquer the AI's.

The AI's, other than your partner, are well supplied with mines, gold, towns, and quite a few dwellings (those places you can hire creatures that are not in the towns).  This means they will provide a very stiff challenge throughout and have large armies built up by the time you arrive. Diplomacy on your hero might not be a bad choice this time around if you don't normally use it to help build up a large enough force.

The map begins with you in your base and the only land exit to that area being the Arna Road.  A dirt road that has connections into most of the AI domains, as well as offshoots into neutral domains that you can take over to bolster your troop levels.  However, you probably won't have the gold to run more than one-two towns flat out, so try to use those other towns as money sources for the towns that are your troop producers. The other possible avenue of egress lies in the sea, a sort of side avenue down which you might find some treasure and interesting rewards.

As you go down the road, there is the occasional teleporter and at least one underground gate.   Every AI has a base that you'll need to seek out and then come up with a large enough army to take out.  The one way teleporters located near AI's that allow them to come to you, but not you to them, adds an extra layer of complexity in that you need to have a strong front hero and protection at home.  Town Portal and Advanced Earth Magic would a great choice, that is, it would be if the dice roll at the mages guild would give you the spell!

Number128, the author, says this in his original post : "Players must travel long road that connects to all kingdoms in order to reach final enemy."  I can guarantee that the final enemy does not dissapoint.  As that enemy slaughtered my best army at 75 days with ease.  How did I win in 83 days then?  Well, we all know the right combination to whittle down an oversized army, don't we?  Which gives you at least one clue as to which faction the final enemy isn't.

My one nit picky complaint?  I really was hoping to find a hill fort, but no dice!  Not sure if I missed it, or if there really isn't one.

So, why don't you all go have a trip down Arna Road and find out for yourselves whether number128 did put in a hill fort somewhere.  And, at the ene, please say hello to that final enemy for me while your there.  By the time you make the trip, he should have recovered enough to put the hurt on you as well.  

Download : https://gitlab.com/nullptr128/h3sw-maps/blob/master/Arna-Road/Arna-Road.h3m

where are other maps by number128?

YhyJasne wrote:

where are other maps by number128?

He has them all posted on at this link, four of them :

https://gitlab.com/nullptr128/h3sw-maps/tree/master

Thank you very much for your review! I will take a better read later.

It breaks my heart, however, that the maps are not posted separately and it is not convenient to keep track of comments and updates on each. Now we have topics like these which should have been parts of the map discussion itself.
I think that I will need to do some splitting and merging work myself today, so please be ready for a little change in this section.

I encourage every mapmaker reading this message to make a separate thread for each posted map. This will make life much easier.

Orzie wrote:

Thank you very much for your review! I will take a better read later.

It breaks my heart, however, that the maps are not posted separately and it is not convenient to keep track of comments and updates on each. Now we have topics like these which should have been parts of the map discussion itself.
I think that I will need to do some splitting and merging work myself today, so please be ready for a little change in this section.

I encourage every mapmaker reading this message to make a separate thread for each posted map. This will make life much easier.

Yeah, I agree. I posted this separate from the maps post since all four were in there. I would also like to single topics per map!

Orzie wrote:

Thank you very much for your review! I will take a better read later.

It breaks my heart, however, that the maps are not posted separately and it is not convenient to keep track of comments and updates on each. Now we have topics like these which should have been parts of the map discussion itself.
I think that I will need to do some splitting and merging work myself today, so please be ready for a little change in this section.

I encourage every mapmaker reading this message to make a separate thread for each posted map. This will make life much easier.

I apologize for messing up this one. Now I wont be able to fix this as there is some work related to "splitting and merging" needed, but I promise to not make that mistake again. For now I'd like to ask Orzie for splitting the maps and discussions related to separate topics.

Since this forum engine is far from perfect, no splitting can occur. Would you be so kind to create several new empty topics for the maps (except Arna Road)? I can fill them myself if you don't have time. I thought about contacting you via email, but fortunately, I see you active here.

The current common topic could become the Arna Road topic itself.

Orzie wrote:

Since this forum engine is far from perfect, no splitting can occur. Would you be so kind to create several new empty topics for the maps (except Arna Road)? I can fill them myself if you don't have time. I thought about contacting you via email, but fortunately, I see you active here.

The current common topic could become the Arna Road topic itself.

I've did it, not sure if I understood correctly what to do.

number128 wrote:

Orzie wrote:

Since this forum engine is far from perfect, no splitting can occur. Would you be so kind to create several new empty topics for the maps (except Arna Road)? I can fill them myself if you don't have time. I thought about contacting you via email, but fortunately, I see you active here.

The current common topic could become the Arna Road topic itself.

I've did it, not sure if I understood correctly what to do.

And I went ahead and retitled my review post so it matches your map posts.

Thank you. Also thanks for your review, it was very nice read. As of map, it is not true that you have only one exit from "base" You can also travel to secondary location via docks, water and then underground exit. As for the final enemy, I remember we beat it as 2 players without dragons+armageddon cheese, but one of us had to sacrifice main hero to weaken enemy, and main hero from 2nd player then could take a win.

I assume you have played on impossible difficulty? Because maps were balanced around this difficulty as we are not playing any other (game seems to be less balanced on lower difficulties).

Yep, played Impossible, that is all I play as well. That's true, you could take to the water, guess I was just thinking the walking routes when I said that, I'll go back and do a quick edit of the review! Thanks for pointing that out.

Topics merged as requested.
I also deleted infos about others maps from 1st post as they have now their own topics.