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Zyraen
July 4th, 2011, 04:56
The Return of the Keeper takes place after the Keepers have departed / slumbered for 100 years. You awaken to find the land suffering under the heavy yoke of the tyrannically good Avatar (Who simply refuses to stay dead), and become obliged to set things Right.

ROTK is considered by me as a "fix / tweak" to improve the challenge level of initial game, fixing exploits (boulder & lava traps, lightning spells, etc) and having limited numbers of Creatures. It is also meant to have some Nostalgia factor, like revisiting Dungeon Keeper 1 but as a very much different gaming experience.

The Heroes are not extremely tougher, but they have been tweaked somewhat and are more sensible. They generally come in Groups and stay in Groups, with more numbers. Plus they are now deployed by Enemy Keepers, who no longer share your (limited) Pool. You may also never convert them.

None of the levels are meant to be bone-bitingly hard, but they should keep you on your toes, rather than make you feel like a leisurely stroll / turtle. It is also good for the Keeper to plan ahead, value and deploy his Creatures wisely, because the Creatures are generally Irreplaceable. Limited Resources against many foes, with no simple exploits to quickly resolve it.

This is a currently a 3 level Campaign, will come up to about 6-8 levels in all. There are also more levels under consideration.

You can download it here. (http://keeperklan.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=92)

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http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/zyraen/Keeper/map00009.jpg
1) Moonbrush Wood
As a newly awakened Keeper, you search the Libraries for Lore and knowledge on harnessing the more powerful evil Creatures that have dwindled in number. It is also an in-game introduction for the Rules of the Campaign, and details how the creatures have been tweaked. You end by facing a few progressively tougher waves of Heroes, which you likely will have difficulty facing if you don't apply your new-found knowledge at the Temple.

http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/zyraen/Keeper/map00016.jpg
2) Tulipscent
Another familiar realm, you face your first Hero Keeper. Depending on how quickly you move, it can be hard or easy, but generally they will bring the fight to you, but make sure they don't let the Local Heroes (White) come to play against you. From here you will understand what Heroes they have and learn to deal with them Quickly.

http://i941.photobucket.com/albums/ad259/zyraen/Keeper/map00015.jpg
3) Woodly Rhyme
You face two enemy Hero Keepers and once you break out to claim your Gems, there will be constant local invaders. If you survive the break-out, your challenge will be to build up with Enemies knocking on your doorstep on two separate fronts. Meantime, the clock ticks as the local Heroes build up...

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Proper use of the Campaign involves using 4 .CFG Files (rules, magic, keepcompp, trapdoor) to be placed in FXData folder, and I have included Batch Files for you to install them and restore back without manually doing so. To Use it properly, please unzip with Folders into your KeeperFX folder.

If however you are familiar with manual changing of your CFG files, its best to do so Manually.

I will update this thread as new maps are Released, please feel free to comment also.

from the Readme on the Creature & Hero Changes / Tweaks
Changes / Tweaks to the Player Dungeon Keeper

Most levels start you with the following Creatures in the pool with a Portal Max of 20-24. Changes to the portal availability will generally be reflected in the game.

"Starting" Creatures
- 8 Demonspawn
- 8 Bile Demons
- 8 Warlocks
- 8 Orcs (5x5 Training Room Reqd)
- 4 Trolls (max level 4)
Demonspawn have an improved Training Value of 3.

"Later" Creatures
- 2 Dragons ( 1x1 Barracks )
- 2 Dark Mistresses (3x3 Torture Chamber)
- 2 Vampires ( 4x4 Graveyard)
- 4 Tentacles ( 4x4 Temple reqd )
All of them have Training Value of 3, except Tentacles have a Training Value of 5.

NONE of the creatures above will train automatically.
All Levels will have 1 Increase Level Special.
Note that IMPS can now be trained more easily (they have a training value of 2 up from 1).

Remember that throwing a Creature out the Portal is as good as killing it - they will NEVER return. So you can use this info to manage your game.

I'm currently also considering whether to reduce the number of Bile Demons from the Pool.

In Some Detail
- Demonspawns now have Missile 3, Flame Breath 5, Heal 7, Speed 9. They also have 475 Life (up from 325) as adjusted to make them closer to Hellhounds. They take half the normal XP to advance from level 9 to 10, and the other half will turn them into level 5 Dragons.
- Trolls are now generally used for Sacrifice
- Dragons now match the Bile Demons in Movement Speed
- Warlocks gain Rebound instead of Sight at level 8
- Dark Mistresses have lost their Haste spell
- Vampires now resurrect from level 8 onwards. Their pay has been reduced. Vampires now need more XP for levels 8-10 only. (in the original game, they have Training Value 4 but a lot more XP required for levels 4-10)
- Horned Reapers are now exactly as healthy and tough as Bile Demons, and about 25-30% more effective than Samurai. Their pay has been reduced.

Note that the Temple cannot be gained by Research, so Tentacles will come in very late (usually after you sacrifice your Trolls).

NOTE : you may wish to plan how to select your Creatures for each level. With fewer creatures, less margin for error (tossing a creature ou means it never returns), some planning is probably a very Good idea.
For example, you may wish to have 8 Demonspawn to become 8 Dragons, but...
- will you run out of Gold before then?
- Will the Enemy become very Strong if you leave him alone?
- Will you be attacked and find it difficult to defend yourself?

Changes / Tweaks to the Heroes & Enemy Keeper

Most of your Enemy Keepers will use Heroes as their units, and naturally they are allied to the Hero Player (white).

On the Hero Keepers side, they generally have
- Barbarians (vs Orcs)
- Wizards (vs Warlocks)
- Giants (vs Bile Demons)
- Fairies (vs Warlocks / Dark Mistress)
Like Demonspawn, Barbarians have an improved Training Value of 3.

"Later" Creatures
- Samurai (req Barracks) (vs Horned Reaper, roughly 2:1)
- Knights (req Barracks) (vs Dragon)
- Monks (req Temple)
- Priestesses (req Temple)
The above 4 Creatures are all of Training Value 3.

To reduce AI inefficiency, all the Hero Creatures will Train automatically.

Note that when the Hero Keeper gains his Barracks, he loses access to Barbarians and Giants.
The Heroes do not research Prison, Torture Chamber, Graveyard. The Heroes can build Temple, and Scavenger Room. Left alone long enough, they will (theoretically) Scavenge the White Heroes (if any are present) to their side.

Unlike you, the Hero Keepers generally have a lot of creatures in their pool, more than enough for multiple, repeated skirmishes against you.

Most of the Heroes have not been changed much, except
- Barbarian now is closer to an Orc and has a faster movement rate. He gains Rebound at level 9.
- Giant has normal movement rate, 900 Life (up from 650), Armor at level 3 and Speed at level 8. They are less accurate than even Bile Demons, though.
- Wizards have their abilities adjusted to gain more useful ones at lower level. Their damage output still cannot match Warlocks at low levels, until they gain Hailstorm at level 7.
- Fairies now have similar Life to Priestesses but less Armor & Defence.
- Wizards & Fairies now get hungry less often. This addresses the "far-away Hatchery" AI problem
- Samurai have 800 Life (up from 700) and gain Haste at level 5. They have no Sight.
- Knights have their Defence adjusted to 50 (up from 30)
- Monks now have Rebound and are a ranged unit. They have similar Life as a Wizard but more Armor.
- Priestesses no longer use Poison Gas but use Drain. They gain Drain / Healing much earlier, and will still Wind when faced with Gas.
- Various Salaries and Training costs have been tweaked, generally using as reference the "vs" creature on the other side.

To account for the random portal attraction of the Heroes, Barbarians & Giants can now research, but poorly. They will still train on their own.

Overall, although initially they are not very strong, the Heroes are designed intentionally to OVERWHELM you if you should try and Turtle. They not only have a higher Portal Max (about 30-35) and significantly superior Ranged Firepower, they also have superior units in more numbers ( you can have 2 Dragons 2 Vampires 2 Mistresses, they can have potentially unlimited numbers of Knights, Samurai, etc)

from the Readme on other Changes to Rooms, Spells, Traps, Doors, Recipes

Room, Spell, Trap Changes

The following Rooms have been removed / changed
- Guardpost : only present on levels with little water and Bridges are not required
- Prison : removed
- Temple : you cannot research this, you can only find it. After finding it, you still CANNOT build it.
- Graveyard : you may no longer raise Vampires from it. Well actually you can, it just takes 100 bodies and each one takes a very very very very very long time to Decay.
- Scavenger Room : the Enemy may have it, but not you.

The following Spells have been removed / changed
- Speed Monster : removed. Your Enemies may have this spell.
- Must Obey : available on earlier levels (tentatively)
- Hold Audience : removed
- Conceal : removed. abusable as the AI can't handle it.
- Lightning : removed. Yes I've taken PAINS that not even your Enemies may use it
- Cave In : removed
- Chicken : removed. Your Enemies may have this spell.
- Disease : removed. On occasions, your enemies may have it
- Armageddon : removed
- Destroy Walls : removed. sometimes available on the Map

The following Doors / Traps are removed / changed
- Braced Doors : removed. You can use Wooden Doors for your own Dungeon, Steel Doors for defence.
- Magic Doors : generally not available to you. the enemy may have it.
- Alarm Traps : removed
- Boulder Traps : removed
- Lava Traps : removed
- Word of Power : sometimes present, sometimes not
Note that all Traps / Doors have been reduced to 10 Gold for selling, except Magic Door remains at 1500.

Temple Recipes

The following Recipes are notified to you in the first Campaign Level, but just for completeness.
- Troll + Orc : Dark Mistress
- Troll + Demonspawn : Vampire
You will probably NEED to use these Recipes, especially in the Tougher Levels.

The following Recipe has been Removed
- Imp Sacrifice : Cheaper Imps
Abusable to spam 255 Creature limit. However, Imps are now more easy to Train.

Zyraen
July 13th, 2011, 05:26
Just wondering, how is this Forum / the DK1 Map Releases forum being organised?

It seems that unlike the other forums, the later posts are actually on the last page rather than the first page... Or is it supposed to be sorted in order of oldest Topic first and Latest Topic last?

Mothrayas
July 13th, 2011, 10:58
It's currently organized by thread rating (descending).

Zyraen
July 13th, 2011, 15:21
Cool, someone rated 2 stars :) any feedback on the levels?

Ninja
August 2nd, 2011, 23:38
Very nice campaing!

When the full version will be available? ;)

Zyraen
August 3rd, 2011, 09:22
Thank you for your kind words. I hope the planned revision to make Demonspawns enter only on a 5x5 Treasure Room will improve it (so that you don't have to keep watching out for them)

I estimate it should be finished by end of August in a "complete" release of 6 levels.

Level 4 Korros Tor is already completed, and its pretty difficult. If you like I can just send it to you via PM or sth, or just put it up as an attachment on this thread.

I was sorta Stuck on Batezek for a few reasons.
To be fair though, Batezek probably resembles the original Batezek only in the shape and form of the dungeon, caverns, and gold patches. You're really up against 3 Hero Keepers with No Gems of your own, as well as Hero Invasions, and they've each got a pair of your creatures to Scavenge from you. (each pair of creatures represents approx 1/3 of your force, not counting Demonspawn... ouch!)

The pairings are Orcs + Dark Mistress, Warlock + Vampire, Bile Demon + Dragon.
( Hint : Dragons are a very special premium unit in this map... that's why they're not with Sorcerer)

I'm changing it slightly so that the normal creatures (orc, sorceror, bile demon) will instead be neutral, and if you wait long enough (actually only a short while), they will claim these creatures and start scavenging your creatures.

I also took a pause playtesting Batezek, which is level 5, due to some problems with the way Scavenging works. Firstly, none of the creatures Scavenge by default, making them take forever to do so. Secondly, once they start scavenging, they deplete your Pool even before you have a chance to research to that point.
My "fix" for that is to alter all the creatures to have Scavenging as a Primary or Secondary Task, and then not to add Premium Creatures to the Creature Pool until you can actually access them.

The downside of going for these creatures, is that each Enemy Keeper has a Gate nearby spawning forces approximately just over 2/3 of the previous Batezek. That means if you open up all the 3 enemy Keepers, you have to deal with 3 Keepers and x2 the Batezek Invasion forces. (the main exception is the wave of Barbarians and Monks in Batezek. Those spawn in all 3 hero gates, effectively x3 the force of Batezek)

So basically you can limit your tactical choices to 2x creatures + Demonspawn, or more practically 4x creatures + Demonspawn. While the advantage is obvious, so is the disadvantage - you have to contend with more enemy invasions.

In short, Batezek is devilishly hard and amidst the playtesting I (almost) gave up.
(well part of the reason for stopping was also being unsure about the level of interest in the campaign)

Once done, I will move on to Skybird Trill, level 6 and probably the last level.

Meantime, ehm, any more specific feedback other than Very Nice Campaign? :)

You can also suggest levels that you would like to be remade, I will do my level best.
Although tentatively Batezek and Skybird Trill are what I plan to be the "last" levels, as in, the most difficult.

`ETCH
September 6th, 2011, 04:17
"I estimate it should be finished by end of August in a "complete" release of 6 levels."
Its the 6th of Sept Mr.
Where's my campaign?!

Metal Gear Rex
September 6th, 2011, 04:56
"I estimate it should be finished by end of August in a "complete" release of 6 levels."
Its the 6th of Sept Mr.
Where's my campaign?!

No need to get all pushy and demanding. Only six days passed since "the end of August", and he said he should have it finished, meaning something came up or the task was more difficult than he expected it to be and he wasn't able to finish it in time. (Or he wasn't working on it because he didn't feel like it, but something like this is to be done on his free time when he wants to anyways)

Lastly, he did say it was an estimate.

Zyraen
September 6th, 2011, 06:32
Lol thanks for the interest and the defence :)

I just finished Batezek (5) actually, I have to get home to play it.
Yes, I actually play through all my levels to make sure they're not frustratingly difficult (well... at least for me.)
(and when I have a bad day at work, sometimes I just play Moonbrush Wood 1 as its a relaxing yet satisfying level)
I'll post the map screenshot soon, but it has quite significant changes so don't be upset if its unrecognisable ^^;.

To date, it is probably the most difficult level... The last level Skybird Trill will probably be easier than Batezek.

I'm considering adding a 7th level between Woodly Rhyme (3) and Korros Tor (4), because Korros Tor IS that difficult, and it'll just be a lighthearted level that shouldn't be too difficult compared to Woodly Rhyme.
However, I'll only work on it after I'm done with Skybird Trill (6). Tentatively, I think I'm aiming for Pladitz, not because I like that level exceptionally, but because it has an interesting "pain-in-the-ass" positioning for a certain asset class :)

@ETCH` (and anyone else who has played the 3 levels so far)
If you like, I can send you Korros Tor and Batezek (the latter for playtesting... ), or would anyone else like it if I just released it (so total comes to 5 levels) and 2 more levels to complete the Campaign?
Oh, and any other feedback would be most welcome :)

Zyraen
September 6th, 2011, 15:05
http://keeperklan.com/threads/1994-Tweaked-Keeper-Campaign?p=35214#post35214
<== well, this is the Batezek Summary :) if you like it.

Zyraen
May 17th, 2012, 02:26
I'll be having a short Term Break next month, so I'll try to wrap up and release Korros-Tor, Batezek and maybe one more level... or maybe not.
That should be the final version of this Campaign.

Duke Ragereaver
May 17th, 2012, 08:01
I would love to see this project being finished up. :)

Zyraen
May 21st, 2012, 13:14
Wow thanks, wasn't sure if anyone tried this. Any feedback ?
I found the levels progressively harder, but in a fun (masochistic?) way.

Enker-Zan
May 22nd, 2012, 11:53
Wow thanks, wasn't sure if anyone tried this. Any feedback ?
I found the levels progressively harder, but in a fun (masochistic?) way.

I would try it out, but the PC I/the crew were using to play the game and finish the Dungeon Master MOD died a couple weeks back. >.<

Zyraen
May 23rd, 2012, 03:01
Lol its definitely not as hard as Dungeon Master. Gold might be scarce in some levels, but at least you can train up a few levels before you run out...

Quuz
March 18th, 2023, 21:30
I didn't like the first three levels. The execution of the levels is simple. The levels are difficult, but not interesting.