Battle: Lost Fortress (Updated to v1.1.1)

[Rannepear]

My first map, Lost Fortress. It's incredibly simple and balanced (in theory).

(Note, while actual layout and basic look of map is still the same, updates have changed a few things you might see in the picture, nothing drastic though.)

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-Red: Boundaries
-Black: Spawn zones
-Yellow: Ideal Cavalry path
-Purple: Small hill and the ideal archer zone. Likely the second area the final melee battles will take place.
-Blue: Dense forest. Protection against archers and cavalry, and fantastic for the main melee battle of a match.

Each location is balanced out by another. If you chose cavalry, you will be able to enjoy all the cav-madness that comes with that in a large open runway. Players vulnerable to cavalry will have the option to take the hill-top (which has a tower on it), or take cover in the forest; both offer protection from the madness. Players aiming to avoid incoming projectiles will fare well in the forest, as it is dense in trees and foliage. Most players will appreciate simplicity and the melee friendly outcome of the finale of the matches that could be played here, while archers and horsemen can still get their kicks as well.

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Hill tower from forest edge.

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Team 1 spawn from Forest edge.

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Forest/Hill tower from Team 1 spawn.

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Team 1 spawn/Forest from Hill

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Hill and Forest from Team 2 spawn.

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I started off just fucking around, but all in all I think I did pretty good. Especially for my first time using the Warband world edit tools (which suck). Please download and give me feedback, or if I royally screwed something up...lemme know. Thanks!

-Rannepear.

http://www.mbrepository.com/file.php?id=2857


Updated 5/4/11
*v1.1
Changes:
-Aesthetic changes (removal of "blood", addition of paths, etc.)
-Mechanic changes (addressed concerns about players being able to camp on rooftops back in spawns by not completely blocking off villages, but blocking access to their rooftops and ideal camping locations)
-Reduction and substitution of foliage props around edge

Updated 5/5/11
*v1.1.1
Changes:
Further reduction of aesthetic foliage

[Zergmar]

Feedback:
Looks good, looks fairly balanced... and yeah the 'editor' is pretty bad
By the way, the red stuff on the ground looks kind of unnatural, I'd use it less often

[Rannepear]

Yea...the fake blood looks strange...but I think the aerial view exaggerates that.. Probably would look better on the ground. Thanks though.

I'll probably remove that.

[Ozin]

Looks good man, but one more tip: If you could thin out/optimize the number of trees on the map, especially on the edges, a lot of players with medium/bad computers would be happy. Trees have quite an impact on fps sadly.

One method I seem to use a lot is to increase the size of the outer trees quite a lot and then lower them. This makes the forest seem more dense and helps hide the background  without using too many trees to do it. And yes, creating forests in M&B can be a bitch.

[Bjarky]

It looks good, but i sense that this map could unwantendly make people camp to much, since the "spawn villages" look like good camp spots, maybe you could make them inaccessible for ladders by adding borders on the houses and by this force people to get moving to the middle of the map to use the made spots over there and get alot more action on.
Just my 5 cents, i could be wrong off course 

[Rannepear]

Looks good man, but one more tip: If you could thin out/optimize the number of trees on the map, especially on the edges, a lot of players with medium/bad computers would be happy. Trees have quite an impact on fps sadly.

One method I seem to use a lot is to increase the size of the outer trees quite a lot and then lower them. This makes the forest seem more dense and helps hide the background  without using too many trees to do it. And yes, creating forests in M&B can be a bitch.

Freakin' outdated sons of bitches...
You're right though... I'll see what I can do. It's just a pain since you can only edit on thing at a time with this stupid editor (I hope I'm wrong?!). I'll try to reduce the trees though..at least the border ones.

It looks good, but i sense that this map could unwantendly make people camp to much, since the "spawn villages" look like good camp spots, maybe you could make them inaccessible for ladders by adding borders on the houses and by this force people to get moving to the middle of the map to use the made spots over there and get alot more action on.
Just my 5 cents, i could be wrong off course 

Ah, good idea. I will definitely do that. I think I will just shut off entrance into them all together... Thanks!

[Rannepear]

Both concerns have been addressed. Thanks for the suggestions, let me know how it runs for you and if you like it please!

[Peasant_Woman]

It's just a pain since you can only edit one thing at a time with this stupid editor (I hope I'm wrong?!). I'll try to reduce the trees though..at least the border ones.

Actually I'm pretty sure you can hold control and select multiple objects and then resize them or move them or whatever in the normal way. This makes editing repetitive stuff like trees/grass etc at least bearable.
Nice looking map too 

[Rannepear]

Actually I'm pretty sure you can hold control and select multiple objects and then resize them or move them or whatever in the normal way. This makes editing repetitive stuff like trees/grass etc at least bearable.
Nice looking map too 

Thanks!

And I tried that. Selecting a bunch of the same prop and editing their XYZ values...Only changed one. But I think I was doing it with barriers, and that was when I didn't understand them very well. I just change values of starting prop and then it saves those values for the next prop you want to place, which is nice. It didn't take me as long as I was expecting to fix all that.

Also, is there a way to edit values faster before you lay the prop? I have to do that B+x/y/z thing, and it takes FOREVER. It won't let me enter the values manually.

[Peasant_Woman]

Thanks!

And I tried that. Selecting a bunch of the same prop and editing their XYZ values...Only changed one. But I think I was doing it with barriers, and that was when I didn't understand them very well. I just change values of starting prop and then it saves those values for the next prop you want to place, which is nice. It didn't take me as long as I was expecting to fix all that.

My bad, I just checked myself and the control+rightclick multiselect lets you move or rotate multiple objects along the x/y/z but resizing will only affect the last object you selected.

Also, is there a way to edit values faster before you lay the prop? I have to do that B+x/y/z thing, and it takes FOREVER. It won't let me enter the values manually.

I dont think you can edit the values before you place the prop. The only thing I've found which does similar is to first enter add object mode for the object (like wheat in a wheat field) rezize it before placing it using the B/B+X/Y/Z commands to get it as close as you can to what you want and then every object of that kind you place will be the exact same size. As far as I know you can only enter specific scale values after the object is placed, hope this helps a little.

[Rannepear]

Yea I got that. I was hoping there'd be a faster way. The B+X/Y/Z scaling method is so slow. Is there maybe a way to speed it up?

[Ozin]

Delete the trees you want to resize, and enter the size before you place new ones, that way all the new trees are the new size. Quicker that way.

[Rannepear]

That's what I did. I placed a few normal tall trees, then found wider ones with thick foliage...lowered their Z a bit and made them fat...looks good. Thanks.

[Ronan]

now heres another one concerning trees for ya: when making trees bigger watch out for the 'invisible walls' surrounding the tree. "Screaming Trees" got knocked down because people got annoyed with arrows and what-nots getting stuck in mid air around the enlarged trees. Do some testing and make sure theyre at least not noticeable. 

[Rannepear]

Care to elaborate a bit? Do all tree models function this way? All the enlarged trees are on the edge of the map for purely aesthetic purposes, all the other trees (where players will battle) are their original sizes. Thanks for the info though, I'll keep that in mind in the future.

Also, putting updated and new pictures up.