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Playing around with the D2k campaign

Fey

By Fey
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Cm_blast

Cm_blast

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  On 1/18/2017 at 1:21 AM, Fey said:

That issue with the Imperial construction yard was changed a while ago! About the same time I added the Atreides construction yard to the Ix.

They're also able to build High Tech Factories, they do so in S2V2, so I guess I must have inadvertently fixed that issue as well.

I don't plan on making all of the factions have the maximum tech level. Smugglers have capped their tech level since level 7 - they're not going to be able to build an Ordos Palace. Mercenaries are going to be the same way, cap at level 6.

I'm doing some work on S8V1 atm. Just three more levels and this campaign is complete :) Feelsgoodman.

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Good then. Remember, I destroyed that base quickly, so I didn't know what he will build it :P.

Fey

Fey

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Posted (edited)
  On 1/18/2017 at 1:47 AM, Cm_blast said:

Good then. Remember, I destroyed that base quickly, so I didn't know what he will build it :P.

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Right, right.

I just finished the first draft of S8V1. I still need to do some difficulty balancing, but I can give a map preview:

  Reveal hidden contents

The briefing:

  Reveal hidden contents

And some details:

  Reveal hidden contents

That's all I have for now. Hopefully I can release the map for testing soon.

Edited by Fey
Fey

Fey

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Well, I'm gonna do something a little different and release map 8 publicly rather than release it for testing.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/mlht6qzbvckeq22/Smugglers+Campaign(2).zip

Even with two allies, the enemy is perfectly capable of stomping you into the ground. Defend them well while they build up, and assist them in battle, and they'll carry you to victory.

There were also some changes to the AI on mission 7, and the mod has been updated. Several upgrades are less expensive, and the Deviator has gained another buff. Higher missile speed and slightly increased damage versus infantry, to be exact. Siege Tanks have also received a slight buff to damage against all targets, but mostly vehicles and turrets.

If you still need installation instructions, see below:

  Reveal hidden contents

Once again, and as always, if you give any maps a try, especially the new one, I'm looking for critique. Tell me how the maps or the mod could be improved! It'll help me ensure quality in future maps. Leave a comment here or PM me with whatever feedback you've got!

Thank you!

Edited by Fey
Cm_blast

Cm_blast

Posted
Posted (edited)
  On 1/21/2017 at 6:16 AM, Fey said:

Well, I'm gonna do something a little different and release map 8 publicly rather than release it for testing.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/n9p0gln7p2nr2bb/Smuggler+Campaign.zip

Even with two allies, the enemy is perfectly capable of stomping you into the ground. Defend them well while they build up, and assist them in battle, and they'll carry you to victory.

There were also some changes to the AI on mission 7, and the mod has been updated. Several upgrades are less expensive, and the Deviator has gained another buff. Higher missile speed and slightly increased damage versus infantry, to be exact. Siege Tanks have also received a slight buff to damage against all targets, but mostly vehicles and turrets.

If you still need installation instructions, see below:

  Reveal hidden contents

Once again, and as always, if you give any maps a try, especially the new one, I'm looking for critique. Tell me how the maps or the mod could be improved! It'll help me ensure quality in future maps. Leave a comment here or PM me with whatever feedback you've got!

Thank you!

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I think you uploaded the wrong file, this zip only contain the first 4 missions.

By the way, now that I read the instructions, you should advice that the game will change forever if you move those files, afecting other campaigns, so a backup of the originals are required.

You can add a folder "Back up" (or similar) with the original *.bin files, so even if someone is not aware of what will happen, he still can recover the game.

Edited by Cm_blast
Fey

Fey

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Posted (edited)
  On 1/21/2017 at 12:47 PM, Cm_blast said:

I think you uploaded the wrong file, this zip only contain the first 4 missions.

By the way, now that I read the instructions, you should advice that the game will change forever if you move those files, afecting other campaigns, so a backup of the originals are required.

You can add a folder "Back up" (or similar) with the original *.bin files, so even if someone is not aware of what will happen, he still can recover the game.

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Huh? Aww, man, how did that happen? I know I hit 'replace'!

Ah, well. I fixed the link now. It should contain all twelve complete levels so far, and the updated mod. I also changed the installation instructions.

Thanks, Cm. :P

Edited by Fey
  • 4 weeks later...
Fey

Fey

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Hey guys!

I've been busy, but I managed to construct S9V2. I did the second one first just 'cause. And boy, was this one difficult to build! At the maximum map size of 128x128 units, it was tough to figure out how to build the cliffs, place the spice, and place the enemy structures in such a way that the map didn't have too much empty space, accounted well for unit pathing, and was aesthetically pleasing. The last maps - levels 6, 7, and 8 - were all 110x110, and it's a bigger difference than it sounds.

Err, anyway, I've got some details for you:

  Reveal hidden contents

The mission briefing:

  Reveal hidden contents

And the map preview:

  Reveal hidden contents

I'll release this for testing after I do some, myself. Thanks for being patient, y'all! :)

@FedaYkin - On a side note, hey Feda! Didja get around to testing S7 or S8 yet? :D

Edit: Holy cow! Even on normal, this level kicks my ass. I'm gonna do some adjustment and see if I can't get it to a good state for testing. :P

Edit 2: Level has (painstakingly) been beaten on normal difficulty at maximum speed with a few saves, not very many reloads. Also without turrets. Could use more re-balancing and testing, but can release for testing to current testers. It is freakin' hard, though! And I forgot to add an Ix Research Centre for House Atreides, so while they are supposed to use Sonic Tanks, it didn't happen during my own test run. The file I uploaded and shared privately with testers also has this error. I'll fix it later and re-balance accordingly.

Edited by Fey
Fey

Fey

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S9V2 has been beaten on hard mode without saves and at maximum speed. I'll get around to S9V1 at some point, but for now S9V2 is being released.

It remains difficult, but is now more fair. As before, if anyone cares to leave feedback, I'd REALLY appreciate it! I read all comments and use them to improve my maps.

As always, you're gonna need gruntmods for the map, and here are instructions for the sake of keeping folks from needing to look through the rest of the thread:
INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Unzip folder.
2. Put all the stuff with "S9V2" in the name in data > missions.
3. Put all the other files in data > bin. Make backup copies of the stuff you replace to return the game to normal after you're done with this map, or any of the others!
4. Open map with mission launcher. It's for the Smugglers, obviously.

Here's a download link:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/72b9r6x3b6ipq5a/S9V2.zip

Have fun. :)

Edited by Fey
Cm_blast

Cm_blast

Posted
Posted (edited)
  On 2/17/2017 at 3:12 AM, Fey said:

As always, you're gonna need gruntmods for the map, and here are instructions for the sake of keeping folks from needing to look through the rest of the thread:

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Gruntmods isn't really a must have. As long as you have (or download) the lastests dune2000.exe, missionlauncher.exe and tiledata.bin custom campaigns works in the vanilla game too. I don't remember if any more files are needed.

 

Edited by Cm_blast
Fey

Fey

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  On 2/18/2017 at 10:06 PM, Cm_blast said:

Gruntmods isn't really a must have. As long as you have (or download) the lastests dune2000.exe, missionlauncher.exe and tiledata.bin custom campaigns works in the vanilla game too. I don't remember if any more files are needed.

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Oh, wow. Cool! Okay, so as long as that works then... good to know.

  • 3 weeks later...
Fey

Fey

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S9V1's done enough to be released for testing. It's significantly easier than S9V2, but it's still level 9. The enemy base has some unique weaknesses, so I hope you have fun destroying ALL the things on this map.

The mod's not included, so remember to check earlier posts for links with the mod if you don't have it!

I'm gonna make a thread for the entire campaign in a few. Enjoy this final single-map release :)
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ov6ncoys0dzl7sd/S9V1.zip

Fey

Fey

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Posted
  On 3/10/2017 at 6:25 PM, Cm_blast said:

How much violence.

Will try to play the map and see what surprises have you hidden this time.

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Hehe, the steppe is a wide-open plain, so enemies are forced to use concrete walls to protect their bases :P There are plenty of cliffs, but they're not near the enemy base. They favor your own territory.

Also,

  Reveal hidden contents

Either way it's significantly easier than S9V2, but hopefully is still worthy of being level 9 version 1.

Cm_blast

Cm_blast

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Posted (edited)

Played this level. Well, the mercs were destroyed early.

I discovered the area were the mercs can expand the base too late, so the MCV went there, they build the wintrap and... that's it. he took too many minutes just to build the concrete, and since the mercs don't even had a carryall the harversters needs lots of minutes just to gather a bit of money.

Maybe the thing is about scouting the area as quick as possible, but the configuration of the map makes that terrain not to easy to find. My first task was to send the initial scouts to the 3 corners and to the middle of the top-left-right part (convering as much as possible).

I move the survivors around, but because the pathfinding of the game if you no click exactly in the area the units will just go around withouth entering too much (and thus not triggering the event).

By the time I had like 4 refs, barracks, heavy factory and was building another ref I send a couple of infantry to that area, but at that point that was too late. The mercs were too low to do anything.
Also, the Harkonnen in the "defensive stance" ended on the very main door of the mercs. They didn't destroy the buildings, but only because they were only the defensive units. Nothing I could do (and is worse if you try something, you will be calling even more units if you try to help). Then the only harverster available for the mercs were destroyed, and with that they just enter the Bersek mode, so more than destroyed they suicide themselves.

I think there is a bit of a problem in terms that "If you don't find the spot before 5 minutes in (2.5 at max speed), the mercs are just doom". The low starting money, the harverster that needs like 10 minutes just to travel once (and going through an area that the defensive units from Har-Atr and Emperor will going to be very easily at any moment any fight starts).

Anyway, even if you really want to let the game be like this (if you no scout quickly, you are making the level hard), but that area is really small and because the pathfinding from top to bottom/bottom to top the units will only ignore that area anyway.

Now, I don't know exactly how they will spawn, but I fell like even expanding their base they still will be useless. For the position of the concrete they were about to build more near the top-zone of the spice, so even with the ref their harversters still needs plenty of minutes just going and returning, not to mention that that area is used by the Harkonnen. I feel that actually the mercs are there just to died quickly Whether they expand the base or not.

By the way, No blooms to me. Those 5 on the early top-zone never appeared to me. I though that was intented but now I am checking with the editor and well, there are 5 but never spawn. The ones in the "supposed" merc zone appears and some in the Ordos top area, but not mine. Well, doesnt' really matter, but I think you needed to know.

The mission took me like 2 hours or so. Seems a bit more easy that the order version, but attacking is still hard. You can Initiate an attack but after a bit a thousand of imperial units appears forcing me to retreate or loose the units. But that's ok, I am used to that style of your campaign.

Edited by Cm_blast
Fey

Fey

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  On 3/11/2017 at 2:03 PM, Cm_blast said:

Played this level. Well, the mercs were destroyed early.

I discovered the area were the mercs can expand the base too late, so the MCV went there, they build the wintrap and... that's it. he took too many minutes just to build the concrete, and since the mercs don't even had a carryall the harversters needs lots of minutes just to gather a bit of money.

Maybe the thing is about scouting the area as quick as possible, but the configuration of the map makes that terrain not to easy to find. My first task was to send the initial scouts to the 3 corners and to the middle of the top-left-right part (convering as much as possible).

I move the survivors around, but because the pathfinding of the game if you no click exactly in the area the units will just go around withouth entering too much (and thus not triggering the event).

By the time I had like 4 refs, barracks, heavy factory and was building another ref I send a couple of infantry to that area, but at that point that was too late. The mercs were too low to do anything.
Also, the Harkonnen in the "defensive stance" ended on the very main door of the mercs. They didn't destroy the buildings, but only because they were only the defensive units. Nothing I could do (and is worse if you try something, you will be calling even more units if you try to help). Then the only harverster available for the mercs were destroyed, and with that they just enter the Bersek mode, so more than destroyed they suicide themselves.

I think there is a bit of a problem in terms that "If you don't find the spot before 5 minutes in (2.5 at max speed), the mercs are just doom". The low starting money, the harverster that needs like 10 minutes just to travel once (and going through an area that the defensive units from Har-Atr and Emperor will going to be very easily at any moment any fight starts).

Anyway, even if you really want to let the game be like this (if you no scout quickly, you are making the level hard), but that area is really small and because the pathfinding from top to bottom/bottom to top the units will only ignore that area anyway.

Now, I don't know exactly how they will spawn, but I fell like even expanding their base they still will be useless. For the position of the concrete they were about to build more near the top-zone of the spice, so even with the ref their harversters still needs plenty of minutes just going and returning, not to mention that that area is used by the Harkonnen. I feel that actually the mercs are there just to died quickly Whether they expand the base or not.

By the way, No blooms to me. Those 5 on the early top-zone never appeared to me. I though that was intented but now I am checking with the editor and well, there are 5 but never spawn. The ones in the "supposed" merc zone appears and some in the Ordos top area, but not mine. Well, doesnt' really matter, but I think you needed to know.

The mission took me like 2 hours or so. Seems a bit more easy that the order version, but attacking is still hard. You can Initiate an attack but after a bit a thousand of imperial units appears forcing me to retreate or loose the units. But that's ok, I am used to that style of your campaign.

Expand  

What? The mercs have a carryall! I just checked the map I uploaded, it does indeed have a carryall. Maybe it was destroyed, or you didn't notice it...?

The danger zone should end north of the cliff north of the Mercenary base, and it should be an Imperial location, not Harkonnen. They tend to defend that area and then retreat - as intended. During testing they never pressed into the base with anything but an attacking force, and I was able to defend against that a-okay. I wonder what changed...

I should put a reveal-map or something at some important location. I'll take care of that in a few and re-upload the campaign. :)

No blooms either?? Something is really wrong. Even on S9V2, where the blooms supposedly went over the cap, it was fine, stuff spawned! I don't get it.

I finished the mission in a shorter time than I did S9V2, with significantly less tries. Less than an hour, even. I tried to attack with my allies, defend the mercs, and spearhead the assault into enemy territory and take out obvious weaknesses - like the Harkonnen Heavy Factory is very close to where you'll initiate your attack, and the Imperial forward base is poorly defended.

I'll have another look at the map and see if I can't add some more hints for the first part. Thanks for testing, Cm :)

Cm_blast

Cm_blast

Posted
Posted
  On 3/11/2017 at 2:27 PM, Fey said:

What? The mercs have a carryall! I just checked the map I uploaded, it does indeed have a carryall. Maybe it was destroyed, or you didn't notice it...?

The danger zone should end north of the cliff north of the Mercenary base, and it should be an Imperial location, not Harkonnen. They tend to defend that area and then retreat - as intended. During testing they never pressed into the base with anything but an attacking force, and I was able to defend against that a-okay. I wonder what changed...

I should put a reveal-map or something at some important location. I'll take care of that in a few and re-upload the campaign. :)

No blooms either?? Something is really wrong. Even on S9V2, where the blooms supposedly went over the cap, it was fine, stuff spawned! I don't get it.

I finished the mission in a shorter time than I did S9V2, with significantly less tries. Less than an hour, even. I tried to attack with my allies, defend the mercs, and spearhead the assault into enemy territory and take out obvious weaknesses - like the Harkonnen Heavy Factory is very close to where you'll initiate your attack, and the Imperial forward base is poorly defended.

I'll have another look at the map and see if I can't add some more hints for the first part. Thanks for testing, Cm :)

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I just test it as mercs and definitely they have a carryall. Probably were destroyed because those defending Harkonnen units (since they are just guarding the area and not attacking buildings or marching, they just kill the plane). By the way, there is a tile wrong in the down rift on the merc's ref.

Keep in mind that they defend when you (or anyone) attack, but they don't retreat instatly, they stay for a couple of minutes. If the Ordos are attacking they defend against the raiders and stay, then the quads approach so the Harkonnen move a bit farther to defend, then combat tanks approach, they move farther, then the siege tanks-troopers, they move farther... by then they are already near the mercs, which thinks that they are under attack, so the Harkonnen move farther and of course, until no more mercs units there are (runs out of money) they will stay there. 

With this image I want to show you where a Devastator in defensive stance went. The turret were destroyed and the wintraps ignored, but still, the Harkonnen defend that area with a devastator for a while. This can tell you how far they went, mostly because the Ordos (at first I was trying to help, but I noticed that those were defending units and retreat, just to avoid dragging more attention).

defend.PNG

Also keep in mind that the enemy usually has I'll said over 9 tiles around the base in their defensive state. Count 9 tiles from the Harkonnen base and 9 for the mercs, you will find that they both could enter a "I need to defensive" because they are both considering the fight as an attack for the other player.

About the scouting, maybe you can just change a bit the layout of the map. For example, that expanding area has a only-soldier type of entry. That entry doesn't not lead anywhere. I mean. The Harkonnen are not going to use it to attack or move around, and the mercs aren't using it either. The player can enter from there, but at the end both soldiers and tanks need to go to the right side anyway, since there isn't any path to the left that the soldiers could use as a shortcut.

You can change that entrance for a 1 tile wide entrance for example, although then the merc harverster can use it too to go into your area, so I don't know what exactly you want.

Remember this I said to you when I played the second version of level 9.

  Quote

Maybe the worst thing was the absence of blooms in the main central mine field. I don't know if that's intended or not, but that force me to send everyone to another part, not only myself but my allies.

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This is only a conjeture, but I think the way the game determine which blooms will reappear and which not, is by the same order as defining the primary building.

If you have 3 heavy factories (AI or player, doesn't matter), the one on the top will be the one being primary building by default (and to the left if they area 2 at the same position). Probably the blooms works in the same order and only the first 32 blooms (If that is the maximum) from top to bottom will appears.

Maybe when those blooms on top appears and explode they enter the "no bloom here" until the spice on that square is harverster; meanwhile blooms of the bottom may reappear (although this is only conjecture, I have no proof of this).
Not only my area, but also the bottom right area of the Ordos base don't have blooms either, so maybe I am right on the "from top to bottom" first blooms appearing.

After 2 hours of game the top-right spice (Atreides area) still have plenty of spice. Also the left area (very big area that contain 6 blooms) still had half of that big area covered with thick spice. You can retire those for example. The AI will need to play over 2 more hours just to depleted all of that.
The area with the spice to the right-down of the mini-imperial base wasn't even touched by the enemy, only my harversters ended there, so you can even remove those blooms to ensure that others may spawn (you can let 1 or 2 per area, but at least removing most of them will make other blooms to have a chance.

Fey

Fey

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Posted (edited)
  On 3/11/2017 at 3:31 PM, Cm_blast said:

snip

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Damn it, I thought I fixed all those graphical errors. Thanks - it's fixed now. I also gave the mercs another carryall, another harvester, put some reveal map triggers in, and adjusted the Spice so the merc expansion will never send its harvester to the Harkonnen field first. They'll also be a little bit more conscious of their cash. Just a little. Oh, yeah, and I gave them and the Ordos some starting raiders to make them scout your own territory faster, and the mercs have ten more Light Infantry scattered around their area.

Oh, yeah, they do overlap. Well, that's okay - I wanted there to be a lot of skirmishing around that general area, so it works okay. The Harkonnen ended up using so many units in small skirmishes, it became easier to puncture their base, and that helped a lot with kick-starting player momentum to the point of victory. It's not so greatly overlapping that there is ALWAYS a fight going on there, at least! Fair enough, right?

I think I had a few Harkonnen units end up pretty far south, like around where you marked the Devastator's location, but in general it was just a few units and I was able to defend easily enough.

The reason I put infantry-only entrances in areas like that is for the player's infantry to get there faster. While light vehicles and tanks would need to head around to the east, infantry can arrive at a similar time thanks to the cliff wall. This also helps the AI's infantry pathing so they attack with infantry and vehicles, though not in that area.

Interesting theory about the Spice blooms. I guess that makes sense, but I'd love to test it. I'll see about reducing the number of blooms to the north.

Edit: Fixed. Spice bloom count on S9V1 and S9V2 reduced to 30 each, if I counted correctly, and Giraud's taunt on S9V1 comes after less casualties are suffered.

Edited by Fey
Cm_blast

Cm_blast

Posted
Posted (edited)
  On 3/11/2017 at 3:47 PM, Fey said:

The reason I put infantry-only entrances in areas like that is for the player's infantry to get there faster. While light vehicles and tanks would need to head around to the east, infantry can arrive at a similar time thanks to the cliff wall. This also helps the AI's infantry pathing so they attack with infantry and vehicles, though not in that area.

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Yeah, but those paths can be blocked by some of the patrolling merc units, or you blocking him. Then the buildings (how they are placed) can make that route impossible to go with. I remember having lots of trouble in the version 2 while I was sending vehicles through the ally base. I remember having like 6 tanks stucked between some buildings and ally units.

And yes, maybe they both arrive at the same time, but if the Harkonnen are going to attack, you probably will fight them outside the base (the entrance is too narrow and the last thing you need is to block the area stopping your allies to expand the base), so at the end the troopers will go to the east anyway (or trying to go for the only-trooper area, get blocked but buildings/units, going to the only-trooper area again and going to the east in a long way.

Anyway, I am talking about 1 tile of wide, so sending 1 vehicle is possible, but if you try to go with 3 or 4 they gonna to block each other, so you can't use that path to send lots of vehicles anyway and place around that tile only-infantry type of tile, so the infantry units still can move over that area.

  On 3/11/2017 at 3:47 PM, Fey said:

Edit: Fixed. Spice bloom count on S9V1 and S9V2 reduced to 30 each, if I counted correctly, and Giraud's taunt on S9V1 comes after less casualties are suffered.

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Oh yes, I forgot to tell that I didn't trigger the casualties line :P.

Agree, maybe was too much. Right now until you don't kill 300 imperial units (and killing more units that being killed) the event is not going to trigger.

By the way, don't forget to reupdate the main post (the other thread). I will redownload the whole campaign when ready.

Edited by Cm_blast
Fey

Fey

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Posted

Oh, yeah. Guess I could add some rocks or something to help with tank pathing in S9V2.

  On 3/11/2017 at 5:19 PM, Cm_blast said:

 trigger the casualties line :P.

Agree, maybe was too much. Right now until you don't kill 300 imperial units (and killing more units that being killed) the event is not going to trigger.

Expand  

The number's 225 now. Should be enough to have it trigger at a better time, if my own testing was any indication.

Cm_blast

Cm_blast

Posted
Posted (edited)
  On 3/11/2017 at 5:23 PM, Fey said:

Oh, yeah. Guess I could add some rocks or something to help with tank pathing in S9V2.

The number's 225 now. Should be enough to have it trigger at a better time, if my own testing was any indication.

Expand  

Being killed by other factions afects that? I rembermer doing a test long time ago, but I already forgot.

By the way, remember to reupdate the main post (the other thread). I will redownload the whole campaign when ready.

Also maybe you may add a couple of images to the thread making it a bit more visual. I mean a couple of ingame images, not need to show spoilers.

Edited by Cm_blast
Fey

Fey

Posted
  • Author
Posted
  On 3/11/2017 at 5:31 PM, Cm_blast said:

Being killed by other factions afects that? I rembermer doing a test long time ago, but I already forgot.

By the way, remember to reupdate the main post (the other thread). I will redownload the whole campaign when ready.

Also maybe you may add a couple of images to the thread making it a bit more visual. I mean a couple of ingame images, not need to show spoilers.

Expand  

I already re-uploaded it with the fixes to S9V1, that should work out. S9V2 is the same, except with the Spice Blooms fixed. I like that idea though, so I guess I'll take some in-game screenies and post them to the thread. Thanks Cm!

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