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kix
February 19th, 2017, 21:17
Made for and tested on unofficial keeperFX 0.4.6 release.

UPDATE:
Try out my other, better campaign (https://keeperklan.com/threads/7050-CAMPAIGN-Assmist-isle-(2019)) instead.


Name
Dungeons And Keepers 21-map campaign 2017

Number of maps
21+2 bonus

Creation date
Feb 2017

Difficulty
Various. First half is of same difficulty as levels 15+ from original campaign.
Second half is usually harder than Skybird Trill. Overall: medium.

PLEASE DOWNLOAD FROM THIS LINK for the latest version:
2232

Some BRIEF hints, only use them if you get really stuck:

Bash
Dungeon Heart is located in north-west. Level 5 Avatar spawns after you destroy it.

The Four
Use the boulder you have to kill the Knight that is already in your dungeon. After 3 knights are dead a high level hero party with witches, fairies and 1 samurai will spawn.

Bugsquashers
Make sure to imprison the first wizard, convert as many heroes as possible. A hero on your side with rebound spell is a must as you will fight 2 "insect "keepers in possession.

Tomb Raid
Dig east a little bit over the lava then north along the dungeon until you find 3 creatures that will join you. Dig north to your dungeon heart for gold. You won't be able to claim prison and torture you find in the yellow dungeon. If you manage to do so, it is unintended and let me know. The Avatar is located in north west corner.

Exorcism
Pretty much clear what you need to do. Summon vampires and claim libraries. Some libraries have wizard surprise parties so be careful.

Trolls Stroll
The heroes will spawn on the first payday so you need to fortify asap - it helps a lot. You need to be a little lucky here: fortify north all the way along the white wall up to the map bounds but be careful because there's a vampire at the 1 gold tile. The other problem is the south. As you connect the portal you will be connected to hero room which can be used to by tunnellers to get into your dungeon. Simply dig all around the room and fortify it so the room is "inside" your dungeon. One party will also spawn inside of your dungeon so hurry up and create traps. There is steal hero special at the gem slots.

False God
Fortyify so the keepers cannot get into your dungeon, break into the room to the right and build guard post close to water so heroes cannot get into your dungeon. What you have to do is to break into hero castle room by room but let the keepers fight the heroes. Don't wait too long though: you won't defeat the keepers if they have no problems fighting the final wave(s).

Marshlands
The position of reveal map special is known to you but to get there you'll need to fight some tentacles first so build your dungeon asap and be careful not to break into water. You can use the trick with fortifying walls to see if theres anything behind or just save/load game. Avoid fighting the keeper until you have enough knights converted.

Schizo
Your heart generates ghosts (max 2) at time so you always have a creature with wind spell. This is useful because avatar is already walking towards your dungeon and while your task says you have to convert him you don't have prison to capture him. So what you need to do is blow him back behind lava when he's close to your dungeon heart. Doing this he has to retake the whole route giving you time. Possess one of your ghosts, leave your dungeon to the north and the first room to the left with guard post and lava has one neutral samurai which you need to find. Now when he's on your side he'll help you fight the constant hellhound attacks while you also have to push the northern hero dungeon to the north. Don't bother clearing all the heroes. What you need to do is get to the room or two after the lava room with guard posts with 2 boulders. To the west you'll find neutral wizards and to the right samurais. Make sure you have both groups. Now destroy hero dungeon heart, doing this grants all keepers bridge: finally imprison avatar and convert him. Be careful as keepers will try to take your newly claimed hero dungeon. Now you need to defeat them: the easiest way to do this is to get them fight eachother, claim dungeon of the one who lost and kill off the other one with boulders (or you can claim portal and do it the classic way instead of boulders).

Salvager
Drop reapers in library and your imps near to unclaimed portal, kill the flies and dig to the west 2 times. You'll find neutral avatar. Dont pick him - use him to clear the dungeon to the east. At the end you'll use call to arms spell to destroy the guard post setting your reapers free. You can use the trick with hand paying the reapers to save money. Use call to arms to defeat both keepers. They have army of mistresses but reapers are tough enough to handle them easily.

Ascension day
Notice you've warlocks but they're imprisoned. Wait until the keeper digs to the unclaimed portal, drop the imp there and then rush to the room to save your warlocks. You'll find one neutral in the room right north to them, use his wind spell to set them free. The hero party will soon destroy the blue keeper. You can dig to green keeper but the heroes will lose to him easily. The easiest way to defeat the green keeper is to destroy/steal his hatchery.

Echo Springs
Walk over the lava traps near to portal so the monks dont rush you. You cannot create skeletons or convert heroes but the trick is to collect them in prison and when you have enough of them drop them to blue keeper to fight them. There are 2 guarded gem faces available but if you make haste you won't need them.

Pyre
Drop your imps to the east bridge, dig 2 times and have fairies and the fly attack your dungeon heart. Claim temple and summon horny as you have imprisoned creatures. Claim scavenger room south to the temple, scavenge reapers. Possess imp and get to the central "room" where you'll find 2 neutral reapers. As you claim prison heroes will start appearing quickly. Dont let them attack the other keepers - convert as many as possible but be careful as having a skeleton, ghost or vampire is almost an instant LOSE.

Academy
Wait until the priestess has wind spell (the cooldown is used up at the beginning) and then use her to blow your wizard through the north-east corner. Destroy the room north of your lair, sell something to summon imp if you're short of money, claim the unclaimed path close to lair and you're in dungeon. Once you start using the the library in the centre of the map a huge hero party will spawn but keep researching until you've got temple. Now the trick is to trap them in water, scavenge more wizards, destroy dungeon heart to the north east and finish off the final wave. There are multiply creatures and increase level specials but I finished the map without them.

Flux
Suggestion for flux is to place your horned reaper (or creature that can survive the lightning traps) near hero dungeon heart while you do your stuff. This has one simple effect: the traps that are under some increase level specials disappear. Train your creatures and stack on increase levels. Remember you've got magic doors close to your treasure room so even if imps still prefer doing anything else rather than mining gems you can make them do it by locking the door and picking the creatures from portal manually. Also if I remember correctly the magic door close to workshop is attached to red fortified wall so you can just break the wall instead of doors getting workshop faster. Notice that there is bridge south-west attached to lava island, so you can get one party stuck if you claim the bridge which helps a little bit.

Jitters
Use the room corner to get the imps but dont pick them for now. Possess spider, break to the easter room, once more to the south, have the boulder kill knight, possibly the archers and start claiming. It is possible to get your vampire back: simply possess one of imps and dig south through the lava and then dig to the boulder so it rolls your direction. You can fight avatar any time you like - simply trap him on the bridge surrounded by lava. You should be experienced enough to get through the rest of the level. The final wave (the one after the door north-west of your dungeon heart) is not easy but if you manage to claim the bridge and sell it then the half of group is stuck. Don't forget the locate hidden world special it is in the room north-eastern to your dungeon heart!

Jynxed
Make sure the beetles stay alive so you summon a mistressess. You should be experienced enough to get through the rest of the level. The final wave of vampires is hard but doable if you don't fight too many at once.

Currents
Make haste so you free the samurais from the near prison. Don't worry if you cannot save the second ones. The waves stop once you destroy dungeon heart.

Tension
A harder version version of original Heart. I suggest you claim north-western and south-eastern reaper rooms.

Moth
Fortify so the blue keeper cannot get into your dungeon. You should be experienced enough to get through the rest of the level. Destroy both blue and hero dungeon hearts to win.

Silence
The same as above :) It is quite hard to get prison before the timer runs out but you don't need to convert heroes to win this.




1 Bash
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1724&stc=1


2 The Four
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1725&stc=1


3 Bugsquashers
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1726&stc=1


4 Tomb Raid
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1727&stc=1


5 Exorcism
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1728&stc=1


6 Trolls Stroll
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1729&stc=1


7 False God
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1730&stc=1


8 Marshlands
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1731&stc=1


9 Schizo
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1732&stc=1


10 Salvager
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1733&stc=1


11 Ascension Day
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1734&stc=1


12 Echo Springs
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1735&stc=1


13 Pyre
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1736&stc=1


14 Academy
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1737&stc=1


15 Flux
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1738&stc=1


16 Jitters
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1739&stc=1


17 Jynxed
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1740&stc=1


18 Currents
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1741&stc=1


19 Tension
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1742&stc=1


20 Moth
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1743&stc=1


21 Silence
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1744&stc=1



Bonus 1 Overture
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1746&stc=1


Bonus 2 Dawn To
http://keeperklan.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1745&stc=1

YourMaster
February 20th, 2017, 00:24
Thank you. Always happy to see new content.

I've played the first level of the campaign, and it's a bit unusual, but not bad. I'll play on. I never bothered to invade the east dungeon with all the lvl10 knights or the lava maze in the south, the creatures I got were enough to push through the enemy heart simple enough.
Some feedback:
1) I think you used the New Game+ config file as a basis, because you use the highscore file of that campaign. Best to use a separate one(just name it whatever), or the original one.
2) I felt a bit lost playing this level. I think an actual 'Objective' would help a lot, even if it is simply 'Find the hero heart and destroy it'.
3) It confused me when suddenly I heard the message 'The lord of the land approaches', while I did not think I was doing anything. When it kept happening I figured it was just random parties dropping in. For this reason it is best to not spawn parties with knights until it is the final one.
4) I think its a bit strange to already face the avatar on the first level of a campaign, call me traditional but I'd like to see one lord per level, and one avatar per campaign.

kix
February 20th, 2017, 05:36
The invading east dungeon with lvl 10 knights is a must if you want transfer creature. You aren't actually supposed to fight them with all those lvl 1 creatures, but you need to claim the prison (and then let them go) to get to the transfer special. Lava maze has mistress hidden in it, so it's good if you want to summon and transfer horny. Flying into the temple using vampire to claim monks was also optional. The gem slot is also kind of optional. In 5 out of 10 plays I needed to get to gems because I didn't have enough gold to cast destroy walls.
Btw some of the levels were inspired by maps/campaigns I found on this forum. See if you can spot the original one.

1) Yes you're right, didn't notice.
2) This was on purpose. I felt like just exploring / digging to random places and getting surprised by hero raids (but not overwhelmed) was a right way to start. Not sure if you agree but well
3) Honestly never thought this would bother someone haha. I guess you didn't like Knight Manouvers map ;)
4) :(

Duke Ragereaver
February 20th, 2017, 10:15
Thanks for going through the effort of creating a whopping 20+ campaign for Dungeon Keeper! Will I be fine using the GOG version or is this a KeeperFX exclusive?

A tip: to raise interest and (proudly) display the effort and quality of the maps, generate and post previews images.

YourMaster
February 20th, 2017, 10:23
You need keeperfx. Not only is that the easiest way to play custom campaigns, but this one in the very first level already used keeperfx custom script commands.

Woudo
February 20th, 2017, 10:56
Always remember to add lava effect to large pools of lava. It helps players listen through fog of war and the balls lighten up the area. Otherwise it's dark and very plain.

kix
February 20th, 2017, 16:41
Please redownload as somehow I missed script error in 2nd level. Probably made some last minute changes and didn't test it. Sorry about that

YourMaster
February 20th, 2017, 16:47
That's an invalid link. But I'm already partway into level 2,... what's the fix, because I rather not start over.

kix
February 20th, 2017, 17:17
The link is now valid within the main post.

I'm afraid it's actually the winning condition... for some reason it doesn't go down to WIN_GAME after quick objective. If you don't feel like playing it again just edit the script to win when player0 has 0 imps and then click continue campaign. Sorry about that. Pretty sure it's fine in other maps.

YourMaster
February 20th, 2017, 18:46
It's not possible to change the script of a map of a saved-game. The script is included in the saved-game in the original form,... but I'll consider the map won if I've killed 4 knights and use the cheat menu to 'win'.
That being said, looking at both scripts the original seems ok to me, while the updated version does have a mistake there. It's simply 'BRIDGE' not 'ROOM_BRIDGE'.

And I never meant I was stuck on the first map, eventually you'll come across the heart and you'll know on how to beat it. I was just giving a bit of feedback, as my initial impression of the first objective was 'yeah, now what', as I'm not going to let the computer play for me. I'd like an objective - the second map is perfect that way - but others might prefer it your way.
Plus I realized that I could get a mistress down south for a reaper, but I did not feel the need with all the bile demons and vampires I had. That's not criticism, that's just sharing my experiences as I can imagine you would find that interesting, how people are playing the maps. When I've got time to finish the second map I'll give feedback on that as well.

kix
February 20th, 2017, 20:03
While it's true that it is not possible to change the script of a map of a saved-game, what I meant was to click Continue in the main menu after the script is edited: you'll start the map again with new - edited script - sure you know that. I do not use the cheat menu so I do it that way :D
Now are you sure you didn't mix up the original and updated version?
The original had:

IF(PLAYER_GOOD,KNIGHT==0)
IF_AVAILABLE(PLAYER0,ROOM_BRIDGE==0)
QUICK_OBJECTIVE(2,"Congratulations, don't forget the transfer creature special!",PLAYER0)
ENDIF
WIN_GAME
ENDIF

Added this without testing because I thought it's correct. This did not work: as you said it's just BRIDGE. What was fatal however was the fact that the error caused the game to miss WIN_GAME. I quickly removed the error by removing the whole if available statement. The updated version does not have room_bridge, the original one has.
Quickly checked win conditions in other maps and they seem fine.
And you are right I find interesting how people play the maps and I am thankful for your feedback :) Did not want it to sound other way.

kix
February 20th, 2017, 20:48
Oh, I just realized why you thought I thought you were stuck on the first level. The hints I posted are not (just) for you. It's a mini walkthrough. I know you had no problems beating the level :)
But I don't know how other users are experienced. The maps stop being that much straightforward after the third level and on maps like Academy, Jitters or Ascension Day hints are pretty useful. However they are mostly also contained ingame.

YourMaster
February 21st, 2017, 00:07
You are right, I had the script files switched. The reason the victory condition did not work, is that the entire line is ignored with your script error, so the IF statement isn't there. And I found the beginning of lvl 2 quite difficult, I found out later that there was no need to try and save all those tortured creatures, but I did after several failed attempts so I did not want to redo that. Clicking continue does force me to redo the level. I've just now won the level, by clicking the 'win level' button in the cheat menu after I killed all 4 knights.

My suggestion is to just save up all the fixes, like the highscore thing (unless they are blocking like this one) and update once in a while when you've got a whole lot of feedback. Also, i think it is necessary to go through all your maps just once more - just quickly load them up - and check the log file after each one. You'll get warned of script errors. I just checked the log after loading up lvl 3, and this one for example says you made a mistake with the heal spell.(Error: command_magic_available(line 41): Unknown magic, 'POWER_HEAL'). Where there's one error there's bound to be more.
When making/testing your campaign the cheat menu is needed, it saves you so much time, especially because it allows you to jump to whatever level you want to go. Add the -Alex command line option to your shortcut to enable it. Use F10-F12 on the campaign selection menu to go to different levels, and use F12 while possessing a creature to bring up the most useful cheat menu in game.

I enjoyed the second level, after the beginning it was indeed quite easy, but that's not a problem in lvl2 of a campaign. The reduced training was a fun gimmick. However:
1) Are Monks supposed to train past lvl4?
2) The reveal map special allows you to take your warlocks for free as they walk on unclaimed path. Intended?
3) The reveal map special allows you to see where the final hero party is going to spawn, so I walled them in. I think it would be better to spawn that party somewhere you can't block.
4) I did not mind 4 knights in this level at all, as they are indeed the final goal of this level, and pre-spawned you won't get the voice messages. An quick message/objective whenever you kill one would be nice, as it helps the player keep track, but it works without. The avatar on this level adds nothing I think, you could just as easy easily have replaced that with a small group of heroes freeing the avatar for special occasions. (I'll stop giving feedback about the knight/avatar use for future levels, since it's not really important either way and you've got all the info you need about this.)

Edit: O, on lvl2 the transfer-special is hard to miss by the way. I guess it is technically possible to win the lvl without the bridge, but you have to go out of your way to do so. The player is unlikely to attempt the knight you can hardly reach without a bridge before the knight in the west dungeon since you get some vision there. Once you do, you'll get the reveal special and find the library to bridge into the east-knight and thus the special. Also, you need a bridge to get gems (which you don't need, the gold amount on the first to maps is very nicely balanced) so that's additional motivation for the library I took my lvl10 monk to the next lvl by the way, since I expect another difficult start and or training limitation.

kix
February 21st, 2017, 09:03
Hello, thanks for playing and to answer your questions:
I will check the logs and start using the cheat menu and I'll update the .rar + rename the rar so it's clear what version it is. I always forget it's power_heal with power_heal_creature. Just mass replaced all power_heal, with power_heal_creature, it was often computer players who had this error.
1) Will change.
2) Yes
3) I did realize that there is possibility of walling them out easily but I was undecided whether to keep it or not. I'll see.

On the gameplay:
The captured and tortured creatures are there for 2 reasons:
-To confuse player into thinking he's supposed to save them when he actually has a boulder trap :D sorry
-It's rare to hear the mentor speech when your creatures are being tortured. Purely 'aesthetic'.

Also, I'll update the map so you can only have 1 tile of bridge at the time and add 1 more tile of lava around gems. This way transfer creature will be reachable by bridge, but gems and the hero fortress to the east won't.

YourMaster
February 21st, 2017, 09:07
Perhaps it would be easier to make the bridge researchable once you've killed all knights. That way you'd still need the library and you won't get any help from the bridge beating the level.

kix
February 21st, 2017, 09:14
Perhaps it would be easier to make the bridge researchable once you've killed all knights. That way you'd still need the library and you won't get any help from the bridge beating the level.

Even better. Attachment now updated, no more heal_creature errors. Will upload updated lvl 2 and hiscores fix later.

YourMaster
February 21st, 2017, 11:00
Played the third level, another good and interesting map. So far so good.

You say in this lvl I would need to fight keepers in possession, but I do not see why. I converted so many heroes(I captured everything) and saved my increase level specials until last, so the 100 insects of the enemy keeper just melted away. Of course, when I breached the wall I first was attacked by his lvl 10 flies so I also had a set of lvl10 ghosts. But I could have done without that, as against an avatar, knight, reaper and a set of lvl 10 witches and fairies no amount of insects can become a problem. I simply bridged in and cast CTA onto their heart.
The level worked fine, although the hint about getting a hero with rebound is unneeded - in a level without a portal everybody is going to use the prison and torture room, and you can't avoid the heroes with rebound.
1) I would not make the 'You can make bridges now' an 'objective' message but an 'information' message instead.
2) I would make the initial objective more to the point: "Capture the hero dungeon to use for yourself, and build up an army to face your rivals". And when you've captured all rooms, or killed most heroes, or have the destroy walls spell replace the objective with one that states something like "Kill the keepers in the south'.

kix
February 21st, 2017, 11:46
Good job, will probably remake the objectives.

Updated the archive based on first 5 levels logs, will continue doing so tomorrow.Changes:
-fixed some power_heal spells,1st lvl if_available
-added much more lava effects
-2nd level slightly changed
-3rd level does not require breaking the lair to get the needed destroy walls
-hiscores changed. So you probably have to win skip some levels to continue campaign

YourMaster
February 21st, 2017, 13:02
Ok, no problem.
You don't need to 'win skip'. From the land view you can simply use F11 to go to the next level. I ended with 3, so I can start fresh with 4 if it gives me trouble.

EDIT:
I'm halfway through lvl4, I just killed the first Avatar attacking me. It's a long level, time for a little break to continue tomorrow. I'd say the start is a bit too difficult, I managed - not on my first attempt mind you - but I bet many people will get stuck here. You'll be drawn into the destroyed dungeon to the west to at least have some lair for your creatures, trying to push on before you're broke which will cause at least to mid-level knights to come and destroy you. There's nothing telling/hinting the player that going north-east first to get gold there and train up your first 3 to 4 creatures before doing so. At the very least, start the player out with some more gold and allow him to research sight a bit sooner to be able to explore. Possibly straight up tell the player to train up before venturing inside the blue dungeon.
And a small hint, when they bonus-level-time has run out, set it to '0' to remove the countdown timer from the screen.
EDIT2: Finished lvl4, straightforward enough when the parties stopped coming. I enjoyed it again but the difficulty can be toned down a bit I feel. I was lucky that the parties from the center could no reach me and I could kill them late in the game when I had the graveyard. Like I said, the player has no way to know which bits are save and which ones are dangerous, so progress is slow, which makes the hero parties come a bit to fast. I think increasing the time between the parties a bit would help here, plus making the heroes drop some gold would also make the map a bit more relaxing. I had to hand pay most of my creatures all the time.

Onward to lvl 5, seems nice. Died straight away the first time because I dug into a library like you told me, it was empty but it spawned three high level wizards before I had my second creature. On my second attempt the initial party from the north did not dig towards me because the tunneler died in lava so I don't have the corpses for my graveyard. I think this requires some tweaking.

kix
February 22nd, 2017, 20:28
Updated the the archive:
-very minor lvl design changes in Tomb Raid
-very minor lvl design changes in Exorcism
-added one quick info to Exorcism (warning about empty libraries "traps")
-changed quick info in Bugsquashers
-very minor lvl design changes in Trolls Stroll
-very minor script change in Trolls Stroll
-removed start gold piles in Salvager to stop initial gold hand feeding

Just replayed Tomb Raid level and to be honest I found the difficulty fair. When I went broke I noticed just a few tiles north to my dungeon there's gold only guarded by 2 lvl 4 archers then a few of mountain dwarves. Nothing my horned reaper couldn't take on. There is sight of evil spell between yours and blue dungeon and even if I didn't notice it: thanks to the unclaimed path around the west portal you can drop imp through all the blue dungeon to see what's in there.
But thanks for the feedback, I updated the level design a little bit, removed one wandering lvl 4 knight. Also made the tunneler unable to drown in lava ;)

YourMaster
February 22nd, 2017, 22:29
On a second time I would more easily be able to do so yes, but realize the level for persons not being you is a big unknown, and I was in a big rush because of the message that said 'hero parties are already on the way'. I just scouted the west dungeons with my reaper, but simply assumed going north was not an option and thought I had to quickly take over the east dungeon before the parties would come. And a lvl2 reaper just can't take on two knights and all those other heroes.
Another option would be to just tweak the initial objective - don't talk about the hero parties just jet, but only give that information when the portal is claimed and the timer for the parties start. This will give the player more time to think about the level before starting out for real, making it more manageable. What I've seen so far is that you make good maps with lots going on, so players need time to take it all in.

EDIT:
Completed lvl5-Exorcism. Simple but fun map, it works. I went about it with little trouble, and it is a nice pallet cleanser after the last map. At the end I almost lost, as gold had been abundant but I suddenly found myself short on cash after the increasingly expensive paydays and I still had destroy walls to cast with no more gold available and the gems also behind the walls. Selling some rooms put me over the line towards the needed cash and an easy kill of the avatar.

kix
February 23rd, 2017, 20:47
Updated to v1.3. As hopefully all script errors (only one critical, in lvl 2 and one major in lvl 17) have been fixed, will update next time based on feedback.
-marshlands gold relocated
-salvager added lose condition
-false god no longer needed to convert knight
-fixed some typos
-minor lvl design change in pyre
-fixed script in jynxed
-party too big in silence fixed
-changed objectives in currents and tomb raid

YourMaster
February 24th, 2017, 01:24
I've played the 6th level, Trolls Stroll, still on the previous version. The first few times I died at the start, with a party spawning inside my dungeon before I claimed the portal or losing my troll to tentacles or whatever. Once I knew I had to rush to boulder traps and besides the tentacles it was safe to claim the portal I possessed my troll kill the tentacles to claim the portal, build a boulder trap and the rest of the map was very, very easy. Every payday the party that spawned inside my dungeon would die to boulders within 2 seconds, and the remote party would eventually die when they came close enough to die to boulders. With 16 trolls you have enough boulders to never see an enemy party. I mostly turtled until I had a troll with fireball to take out the archers defending the reveal map special when I noticed parties stopped coming.
Looking at the map revealed there was nothing left to do - some heroes defending stuff I did not need, but no avatar, heart or knight to kill. My objective still said 'don't build more workshop'. I looked at the script to find out on this map I had to kill all heroes for the avatar to spawn. My advice is to add another objective on what to do to win after the workshop one. I used boulders to take out all the other heroes when I got a timer and an objective to patiently wait for 8 minutes until the avatar would show up. Boring, used frameskip because now there really was nothing to do, the short path between where the avatar would spawn and my heart was already filled with traps and all my creatures lvl10. There was not a single unit left to kill. The avatar then spawned with some tunnelers, who died to the traps right away. Avatar being immune to boulder survived the path to my heart with half health, where it was sniped in seconds by my army.

This map has potential, but I think the boulders make it too easy. I'd say don't spawn the initial party inside the dungeon or not so soon, and take away the boulder traps. I also don't see the point in forcing the player to slowly take out all those heroes,.... why don't you spawn the avatar when the player builds the 36th tile of workshop?
And I think it's an accident that there are two speed spells on the map, and a destroy walls spell you get through the script and another on the map.

EDIT:
I just completed level 7 - False God. Very interesting level, and because of the reveal map special quite manageable. The first time I did not read the objective properly, and thought I only had to kill both keepers, so I did three suicide runs to free as many heroes as possible on both sides. This left me without creatures and both keepers death, and apparently a set of avatars to kill with just imps. On a restart I carefully killed the north keeper with just enough heroes so I could kill the remaining heroes and take over the north dungeon. I let my knight be the true hero and with speed and in possession I managed to free all avatars and other heroes to kill the south keeper easily. I might have been able to kill the remaining heroes at this point, but instead I let the avatars inside my dungeon one by one to convert them for an easy victory.

darkkingkongman
February 25th, 2017, 11:43
I've nearly managed to complete the first level of your campaign. I notice there is no training room so I have this question. How do you defeat the level 10 Monks and the two level 10 Knights that are in the prison to the east?

kix
February 25th, 2017, 12:25
YourMaster, Trolls Stroll objective says clear this land of any heroes to win. This of course is later replaced when you build workshop which I guess was unfortunate. Thinking of remaking this level to be able to collect boulder traps troughout the map, as the traps will not be enough to kill off the (new) heroes parties so you have to go both offensive and defensive. I'll see if I have time.
Well done on False God.


I've nearly managed to complete the first level of your campaign. I notice there is no training room so I have this question. How do you defeat the level 10 Monks and the two level 10 Knights that are in the prison to the east?
The whole "room" is a transfer creature mini puzzle. You need the prison to claim transfer creature - releasing max lvl heroes when claimed, but do you really need to defeat them ?

darkkingkongman
February 25th, 2017, 15:21
The whole "room" is a transfer creature mini puzzle. You need the prison to claim transfer creature - releasing max lvl heroes when claimed, but do you really need to defeat them?

Yes I think you do, because the level is scripted that way by the author of this campaign.

YourMaster
February 25th, 2017, 16:14
kix is the author of course. And you can complete this map by destroying the white heart and then the avatar that spawns. No need to kill all heroes.
So beat the map first, then if you want the transfer special go to that mini dungeon, capture the prison but don't fight those heroes. Wait for them to leave and before they kill you claim the special and use it.

darkkingkongman
February 25th, 2017, 18:01
kix is the author of course. And you can complete this map by destroying the white heart and then the avatar that spawns. No need to kill all heroes.
So beat the map first, then if you want the transfer special go to that mini dungeon, capture the prison but don't fight those heroes. Wait for them to leave and before they kill you claim the special and use it.

It took some working out but I managed to kill the heroes that were imprisoned by casting multiple bolts of lightning with the lightning spell at them and have them walk through a long corridor of about 50 poison gas traps. It was tough but I managed to beat the level eventually.

Woudo
February 26th, 2017, 06:48
What is the proposed solution to Salvager? The map where you start with 6 reapers.

On a related note, you didn't connect the portals to the AI keeper's dungeon so new creatures can't do anything when they arrive. Either connect with an open path, or make the portals neutral so the AI keeper will dig toward it.

- - -
What the hell dude, how does Currents not result in a pathing crash?

kix
February 26th, 2017, 11:04
What is the proposed solution to Salvager? The map where you start with 6 reapers.
On a related note, you didn't connect the portals to the AI keeper's dungeon so new creatures can't do anything when they arrive. Either connect with an open path, or make the portals neutral so the AI keeper will dig toward it.
- - -
What the hell dude, how does Currents not result in a pathing crash?

In Salvager you have to destroy the guard post that prevents your reapers from attacking the other keepers. The only thing you can do at this point is to drop your imps on an unclaimed path around portal and dig to the west so you find a neutral creature. Don't pick him up!
Will remove keepers' portals with next update - this will be only 'aesthetic' - the map is fully playable.

I don't know, out of 6 plays no crashes. Which is of course a good thing but still save once a while in water based levels.

YourMaster
February 28th, 2017, 00:16
Speaking of water based levels,.... I just played level 8 - Marshlands and my game froze due to the pathfinding bug. I was about ready to claim the torture rooms, and was enjoying the map before it hung. I'll skip it and continue with the next one. Unfortunately I think the best approach is to take it out and store it until the pathfinding bug is ever fixed.
On the level itself I liked the constant harassment by the tentacles, made playing the map chaotic and difficult to focus on maximizing the dungeon. I wouldn't drop the tentacles so close to the heart though, and perhaps the others not inside the rooms but in the water outside. Funny how you're so generous with the steal-hero specials that don't work on knights and only knights on the map until some tentacles spawn.

EDIT:
I've played a bit of level 9 - Schizo and I don't know how to proceed. The first time I did not notice the boulder traps so I was too late to take the avatar down. The second time I managed to spawn 3 vampires before he arrived and capture him, but that did not win the level. My objective still said 'slow the avatar down' while I already had him in prison, and I could build no new rooms and research no new spells. On my side of the lava there was nothing to do either.
At this point I cheated to see the entire map,... and still found nothing that would help me get any further. The keeper on the right was walled in tight, the keeper on the left still not. Theoretically I could possess one of my lvl 10 vampires (they got that level fighting the avatar) and slowly fly over the lava and then slowly take out those many, many heroes but that would take forever. I don't know if that's what you want, or there's another way to win. If it is, at least give the player some barracks so he can lead a group of vampires. For now I'll skip this one as well.

kix
March 1st, 2017, 07:43
Yes I always save steal hero specials until some high level tentacles spawn and then use them.

On Schizo: I'll change the level a little bit and make the description clearer. Will update the archive once I have feedback on more levels.
Moved hints into main post.

YourMaster
March 1st, 2017, 09:27
I saw your hints about Schizo, but that didn't make sense to me. Why would I level up my vampires on the scavenger when they quickly grow to level 10 fighting the avatar? What do I have to gain by blowing him away instead of fighting him? It's the 'progress north to kill the dungeon heart' that's the problematic bit, as is getting through the walls of the keepers when they wall in.

EDIT:
I've played lvl10 - Salvager for a bit, and I guess this is another possession map. And one to tedious for my taste,.... having a lvl2 avatar face multiple lvl10 fairies is not something that looks fun to me. I tried a few times and gave up to continue to the next one.

Then lvl11 - Ascension day which I did not manage at all. Reading your hint - that I should wait until the neutral portal is claimed - but that did not happen. I've waited and waited - frame skipped, but it was never claimed. Retried 2 or 3 times. And I was completely walled in, so no way to proceed. Had to skip the level as well.

The lvl12 - Echo Springs, which I did manage to complete just fine. An enjoyable map, fun concept and well executed. At first I tried to immediately battle the blue keeper to the south for the prison, before I noticed I had my own prison. At that point I dug out to save my archers, which managed to get my reapers and when I found the show-map special I quickly mopped up the rest and filled my prison to kill blue.
It could do without the start with the monks however, there's no way the player can figure this out without dying a few times. I also don't know why the blue dungeon heart was behind a guardpost wall while you can't have a bridge yet. Didn't matter, I sniped it in possession with an archer.
I didn't manage to 'solve the puzzle' to get the transfer special, don't know how to do that.

kix
March 3rd, 2017, 08:49
Salvager: well if you manage to dodge the freeze spells fairies are killed in 4 hits even with lvl 2 avatar. Too bad you skipped it there's not much annoying fighting in possession farther.

Ascension Day: there is blue keeper next to neutral portal so I don't see any reason how he's not digging to it - and really, out of 20+ tries each one and every single time he dug to it in less than one minute. Are you using keeper fx 0.4.6u ? If yes what can be the reason your computer player behaves differently? Does computer player dig to portal in other maps ? I'll have a look at it when I come home but im 100% sure he dug there every time when tested. Has anybody else played the level and has same issue ?

Echo Springs: The heart was behind guard post so the player cannot win this easily just by rushing there with reaper multiple times attacking heart. I believe destroying the heart in possession was a bit too much work I simply drop all my range units there to do it. The transfer special is reachable using "bug" that allows you to free your creatures from prison. In case this is FX unique and is fixed in future, it doesn't matter as this is only a bonus feature. However when the blow through corner bug get fixed we have problem :D as one level(and both bonuses) expects you to do it.

YourMaster
March 3rd, 2017, 11:06
Yeah, but I believe 4 lightning-shots also killed me in one hit in salvager.

In Ascension day the blue keeper was placed far away and the neutral portal next to my hearth. I'm using 0.4.6u with some additional changes Mefisto recently made. I don't think those changes would matter in this though, but if you want I can try to see with the old version. Or if you describe it like this, perhaps there's a second neutral portal that I've missed.
Normally the computers dig to portals yes.

I assumed that the witch on Echo Springs is somehow relevant to get the special, but I don't know about any bug to get creatures out of prison. I've tried with the collapse spell, but that did not work.

EDIT: Yeah, revisiting Ascension Day, there was indeed another neutral portal up north I had not noticed. Of course you first look around your dungeon what the map looks like there, and by the time you've figured out you can't escape the northern portal is already claimed. I think most people will get stuck in this map if they don't read your hint.
When i freed my warlocks I first tried to kill the green keeper by digging around the map and freeing more heroes to kill green before I opened up my own dungeon. That did not work. I then was surprised when I lost my bridge and noticed I could do almost everything - except claim the blue dungeon - without the bridge. Your ingame message told me to take the hatchery, which was easy enough with the invisibility spell, so shortly after the avatars left him and I won the map.

EDIT2: I've played and completed 13 - Pyre. A bit of strange map, but again very interesting. Yet again the start is very complex to figure out what to do, how are you supposed to know there's a temple there to claim? Anyway, once I did I got to the gems just fine and managed to get past the knights to get the scavenger room. To the east I claimed the library, and thought I had to use the heroes to kill the keepers. I let them all out at the same time, but noticed that for some reason they did not want to attack the keepers even though I let them through. (I later found out you blocked the hearts again.)
Luckily you've got limitless gold so I used collapse to hoard the heroes away and capture several of them. Eventually the left keeper somehow died, and the right keeper decided to challenge the heroes, so I cast CTA besides the heart and have my 7 mistresses take the keeper out.
I never did figure out how to get that reveal map special or the destroy walls spell. What I found quite annoying is that at some point I had enough heroes to roll through the level and decided to take on the rest of the heroes and destroy the keeper in a frontal assault. During this I accidentally created a ghost, killing me, having to restart the level for quite a bit, again carefully capturing the heroes a few at a time.
What would help on this map is if you give some vision from the start,.... show a large area around the heart and show a bit of the temple you need to claim. (Can be done with either the REVEAL_MAP_LOCATION or REVEAL_MAP_RECT commands).

kix
March 3rd, 2017, 21:39
how are you supposed to know there's a temple there to claim?
The objective says it. It says you should go to temple to east and summon horny.
Anyway, well done beating the maps.
Updated the archive based on feedback:
-schizo level changed. Your heart generates 2 ghosts non stop, you need to convert avatar and kill both keepers to win but you dont have prison so the blowing away is a must. Removed vampires completely. This is a 'possession map' however you can simply rush to hero heart(claiming neutral creatures on your way!), kill the few wizards guarding and you've got bridge: no more possession.
-ascension day one more hero party added
-ascension day slightly changed objective
-echo springs magic doors near to monks added
-pyre minor level design changes
-pyre hero parties weakened
-pyre keepers now stronger
-currents neutral knight is now player0's imprisoned

YourMaster
March 8th, 2017, 00:33
Well, I've got to say these levels are getting too difficult for me.

On 14 - Academy you've got to get an enemy witch to blow your lvl 1 wizard through a corner, but she's got to aim perfectly, the knights guarding her can't kill you, can't get blown through the corner with you and she can't kill you with her lightning. And after this you've got to go on a first person adventure it seems, where you can't lose your wizard or you've got to do it again. I tried several times until I gave up and just moved to the next level.

Level 15 - Flux starts really fun, I like the chaos of the different parties, and I thought I was doing well pushing on towards the libraries, claiming the increase level specials, but heroes kept coming and coming, with no apparent way to turn the tide. Keeping up with the finances also seems impossible as the only thing allowing you to survive is to get a very big vampire army, and your imps are just running around not having time to mine enough. Even taking down the white heart did nothing in stopping the parties.
Eventually I was overwhelmed, not wanting to restart again I cheated and made my imps free, gave myself some new creatures, but even that did not allow me to keep up. I had to give myself many, many additional creatures to defeat all those knights, samurai, avatars and mistresses. Eventually the parties just stopped and 'I won', but can't really count it with the amount of cheating I had to do. I think it might be doable by massing vampires as soon as possible, get many of them and safe up all the increase level specials until the heroes start to overwhelm and you have loads of high level vampires, but respect for anybody managing to beat this level.

Woudo
March 8th, 2017, 07:40
With Academy, pick up one Wizard, slap and possess the other, then lead them through the traps around the dungeon heart. If you lure a knight out as soon as you destroy the door, he'll be dead by the time the witch and other knight begin moving toward the heart. If you don't let him into melee distance, he won't activate Rebound. After you've killed those three, you can buy two imps with the door you sold and dig into the dungeon through a tile to the north. I have no idea why the opening text references the priestess wind ability. It isn't relevant.

Looking at the map for Flux, I see a lot of guard posts connected with bridges. Presumably you'd treat the level like a tower defense. Drop all your ranged creatures on a guard post, let them fire off as the parties go by, and then move them to the next guard post until they're soft enough to kill outright. The final party; Samurai x1, Knight x4 should die rather easily to this method as the knights won't activate Rebound. Drop a tank to pull the Samurai lightning, and follow with your ranged creatures.

I haven't played it though so maybe it's harder than it seems.

kix
March 8th, 2017, 08:33
The objective mentions priestess' wind ability because the easier solution is to drop your wizard close to priestess and getting him blown through the corner rather than defeating knight with heal ability and rebound or walking him through the traps(the traps might save you later!). This is quite tricky but if you manage to save the game when she's in the good position it usually takes 3-4 attempts and under 3 minutes to get it done. In this first person adventure you only have to break 2 wooden doors and cast CTA on one room. You can dodge the giant or kill him.

Suggestion for flux is to place your horned reaper (or creature that can survive the lightning traps) near hero dungeon heart to destroy it while you do your stuff so the traps that are under some increase level specials disappear. I've never bothered to summon more than one vampire however this would also work if you managed to train them and then use increase specials as you say. Remember you've got magic doors close to your treasure room so even if imps still prefer doing anything else rather than mining gems I make them do it by locking the door and picking the creatures from portal manually. Also if I remember correctly the magic door close to workshop is attached to red fortified wall so you can just break the wall instead of doors getting workshop faster. Notice that there is bridge south-west attached to lava island, so you can get one party stuck if you claim and destroy the bridge which helps a little bit. Moving this text to hints.
EDIT: I also remember using disease spell a lot

Woudo
March 8th, 2017, 08:56
I don't understand then.

So you're saying the intended solution is to;
Get wizards blown through corner.
Fight off a level 4 Giant as a level 1 Wizard with no space for backpedalling.
CTA the Barracks or Hatchery with the zero gold the player has.
Have the wizards destroy a room tile so the reinforced wall reverts to dirt when the tile opposite is claimed.
Then deal with the Knights and Priestess that have been wailing on your dungeon heart the entire time.

In that case;
- Why does the player start with zero gold if they're supposed to be casting CTA on enemy turf?
- Why does the player start with a heart surrounded by traps if the traps aren't supposed to kill the Knights and Priestess? Are they supposed to sell the traps for gold?
- What's the purpose of the resurrect creature? What roles does the ghost play?
- If the player isn't supposed to be able to dig the walls, why are they owned by the player?

kix
March 8th, 2017, 09:34
It is not an easy level and the player has lots of things to figure out by himself:
-the use of :priestess: wind spell (as suggested by ingame objective)
-if the corridor isn't enough for backpedalling he can just run away from the giant
-the need to use CTA
-that he has to sell one or two lair tiles to cast it
-that he can claim dungeon rooms this way
-that he needs to let the tunneller dig to the multiply creatures special (tested without using it though)
-that he needs to defeat the tunneller party (or any party he likes) using either the wizards or using the traps (as suggested by ingame objective that party is going to spawn)
-that he needs to research temple so he can trap the huge party that spawns he cannot defeat with the few :wizard: he has. And quick enough so he doesn't get his wizards killed (as suggested by ingame objective that much bigger party is going to appear)
-that he needs to train the 4 :wizard: using :avatar: (or 5 if used the ressurect creature used) and scavenge the rest
-that he needs to slap boulders through the water so the guard posts get destroyed and he can reach the hero dungeon heart

YourMaster
March 8th, 2017, 16:48
I've retried Level 15 - Flux, fair and square, and I managed to defeat it now without too much trouble. The first time I did not expect it to draw out so long, so I rushed towards the specials. This time I hunkered down for the end game and made sure I was powerful enough for that. I even lost some of my increase level specials to the lava, which is a shame, but a vampire army was sufficient.

darkkingkongman
March 9th, 2017, 12:28
How are you supposed to beat level 2- The Four? The small hero fortress to the south-east which is surrounded by water is inaccessible because the entrance is blocked by a guard post. There is no bridge and no destroy walls spell to enter that fort.

kix
March 9th, 2017, 12:49
Get a flying creature that you can possess, fly behind the guard post and let the boulder destroy the guard post.

darkkingkongman
March 10th, 2017, 09:25
ah, now I see what I was doing wrong...

YourMaster
March 10th, 2017, 11:31
Level 16 -Jitters is another level that in my view can only be won with lots of patience and/or excessive save-game abuse. And I'm not a patient man. Died the first few times against the heroes on either side of your heart, then past the monks I found out I couldn't go past the lvl10 vampire so had to try the other side. Managed to kill the night with boulders without losing stuff, managed to kill the archer with my spider, was I killed by several more archers. Restart again, managed to kill those archers off again with my other bolder - accidentally killed my vampire with the next boulder. Next time managed to free my vampire, went to use it to free my other creatures, they all die to hidden gas traps when I blow them free. Then they all get killed by a boulder. Then manage to get everything free without gassing them, progress, do I free lvl10 wizards that destroy me,.... gave up because taking those out with a vampire in possession is really tedious, next level.

Now level 17 - Jynxed is much more up my alley. I see you've got to be smart with the temple to beat this level and sleep-experience to win this level. I don't know if it's intended - I think so - but I won without accessing the large central area. I had my dragons sleep in a lava lair, warlocks in a gold lair and lvl 2 bile demons through the temple. Also lvled my spiders up in possession one level to get a bit stronger mistresses, and found the trolls to get 3 reapers. With those I killed the wizard for two increase-level specials and released the avatar. Taking him down was difficult with the low level army, but on defeat I won. The white heart was still intact. I did not find the 'keeper' the objective mentioned, I guess you mean the hero fortress with this.

kix
March 10th, 2017, 13:28
At Jynxed: Yes, going to the central area was optional and would change the level gameplay and also the objective - killing avatar would not be enough. The objective said "north-west, Keeper" , not "north-west keeper" :D
At Jitters: It is good to save before a important decision in maps where one minor mistake can cause defeat. I wouldn't call it a save-game abuse. There's your imprisoned knight right next to the library - I didn't put a door there so the player sees the oppoturnity to take either the knight or reaper. Now slapped knight with rebound would clear these wizards easily.

YourMaster
March 10th, 2017, 14:32
Yeah, in retrospect I could have gone for the other prison first (over the samurai) before taking out the wizards. But I did not know the wizards were there, nor that going for the prison was save, and I needed to research a treasure room to pay my creatures.

EDIT:
On level 18, is there some way you can research?

kix
March 11th, 2017, 11:34
You don't need to research anything to win but if I remember correctly there should be at least one library that isn't full. The 2 samurais you free and some other creatures you get while making progress are sufficient to win the level. Don't forget to pick either from knight or horned reaper at the beginning on the map(i suggest knight because of wizards). Collect libraries for spells. You can get speed monster before the first waves appear which helps a lot. Multiply creatures cannot be reached and is only a teaser. It's a very intense level.

YourMaster
March 11th, 2017, 11:55
Yeah, when I asked I had already come far, but was eventually overwhelmed by the party with the knights and samurai. I'll try again later from before I breached that final door, and attempt to work my workshop a bit which I've ignored so far and get some more skeletons. I did not find a library yet with room to spare and believed I looked everywhere, but I realize perhaps I can make some doors that help. I want to research some rooms.
I did pick the knight because it seems like a level where it is a big ask to keep a reaper happy. It worked out because I used rebound to instantly train my knight to lvl10.

kix
March 11th, 2017, 18:14
This was one of my first maps I made long time ago and I almost forgot: there are no "free" libraries however you cam make one: the 3x3 can produce 3 or 4 empty spots if you sell it at right places. It's a late level and player that got here surely knows to play cunningly. It's ineffective, unrequired, but possible to research in this level. Never bothered to while testing though.

YourMaster
March 11th, 2017, 18:34
I'm not sure it is,... the lair and garden research very quickly and help you create a bigger army. Graveyard is also available for research, which is effective in a map with limitless enemies. And 5 enemy samurai and a knight every 90 seconds is a bit much for my 3 samurai(I lost one) and single knight to survive and heal from within the time frame.

EDIT: the guardpost is not producing anything, but indeed the 3x3 library could be used to research the rooms. I like that since now my skeletons sleep next to where one of the parties spawn. The vampires at level one are pretty useless though, and I don't know yet how to push on, killing 5 hero parties every 90 seconds is a lot, and I still have o make progress. I liked the level until this point, but right now I find it a bit frustrating.

I did notice you configured a moon-level in your campaign file, but did not actually make a moon-level.

kix
March 11th, 2017, 19:48
I'll describe the way I played it maybe you can use one or two hints:
-level the knight to lvl 10 in a few seconds the same way as you: using rebound and the wizards
-make sure you walk on the barrack rooms. The blue helps a little
-you've got 2 boulders available: if you release a huge party like the 4 knights let the boulder do its job
-i build treasure rooms under big piles of gold this way I have around 20k
-you can find lighting bolt and chicken? in the room west to your dungeon heart
-and also one steal hero special which you can use to summon a lvl 10 horny - huge help
-i train my samurais on the avatar so they can all freeze
-you can find one orc and one ressurect creature in the pillar maze - the ressurect can be used to revive the samurai that died in the farther prison
-the scavenger room is ineffective, as its not complete and to build a big hatchery you have to break through the southern door, but can scavenge 2 more samurais (possibly hornies and vampires)
-i slap and haste my knight often, especially at the guard posts witch archers
-i keep my imps behind the lava so they dont get themselvs killed
-2 more steal heroes near the farther prisons = 2 more hornies
-careful as the fortress near tentacles have boulder traps
-you find one more boulder trap, however carrying it all the way to workshop is quite a challenge
-break through to dungeon heart for 1 more steal hero but dont destroy it as it will release 10+ hornies from the southern rooms, clear them first
-destroying the dungeon heart stops the waves

Hope at least one hint helps. I'll remove the moon config.

YourMaster
March 11th, 2017, 22:34
I've got the lightning and chicken spell, and plenty of gold. I've made more treasure rooms that are filled up. I still got lvl10 imps and a few lvl 1 imps. I loaded a save from before I lost a samurai and resurrected one from the prison to have 5 samurai again. I used the increase level specials early on to get through the early waves, so my samurai are also lvl 9/10. I've got an Orc but that hardly matters against the samurai+knight or vampire+samurai party.
The steal hero special gave me a Witch,... and even that with a bit of save game abuse, not a reaper.
I only found one boulder trap and used that to break a blue guard post. I though I would get something nice, but it was just the blue dungeon heart, and I've looked but do not see an advantage in killing him. I do have all 3 blue barracks spawning creatures for me.

Where I struggle is that I don't have time to do anything,... the 5 parties spawn every 90 seconds and my creatures can just about kill them all without dying if I pay close attention, but then the time is up and it starts anew. I can't get past all the archers in the center on the guard posts,... I want to possess my knight with rebound, but the time that would take away from managing the upcoming parties would kill my other creatures. I want to kill the heart, but that is too far away.

Hades
March 12th, 2017, 21:22
Level 1 is virtually impossible. I mean, without a Training room and stable revenue, how the hell am I supposed to beat the hero waves, when my vampires will just desert?

kix
March 12th, 2017, 21:39
Just replayed lvl 18 - Currents.
Had:
2 :knight:
5 :samurai:
2 :skeleton:
1 :orc:
1 :horny:

5 parties spawn frequently, but 2 of them are so low level that blue tends to wipe them out. Other 3 go down in about 15 seconds. Thats 45 seconds to push. The party with lvl 7 samurais is difficult but i always drop knights between them so they don't range me - this way they do little damage.

Got 1 more samurai from steal hero near the guard posts. Didn't take the other one. Pushed to dungeon heart but let the blue fight the tentacles. Defeating the 2 avatars I released was easy with 6 :samurai: and got to dungeon heart but didn't destroy it, just used hero special once that summoned 1 more horny. Cleared the rooms with reapers, destroyed heart, waves stopped coming, eliminated all heroes and won.


Level 1 is virtually impossible. I mean, without a Training room and stable revenue, how the hell am I supposed to beat the hero waves, when my vampires will just desert?

the creatures I got were enough to push through the enemy heart simple enough
The CTA with 15+ wizards make solid damage.

YourMaster
March 12th, 2017, 23:05
Level 1 is virtually impossible. I mean, without a Training room and stable revenue, how the hell am I supposed to beat the hero waves, when my vampires will just desert?

I did not have any vampire dessert. You've got to push on a bit so you don't run out of gold. The first few levels of this campaign I found relatively easy, especially compared to some of the later ones.


Just replayed lvl 18 - Currents.
Could very well be that you're just better then me at this. I like the dungeon-building maps. Perhaps I'll try again later, because I tried again yesterday without success and have had enough for now.

darkkingkongman
March 16th, 2017, 08:35
Hello, Kix. Which editor did you use for creating this campaign. If so could you provide some thumbnail maps of your levels. I'm sure that would be a great help.

kix
March 16th, 2017, 08:55
It was made using official editor with some features that are unavailable in the editor simply being copy-pasted from another maps.
You make these map thumbnails using addikted editor right?

darkkingkongman
March 16th, 2017, 09:31
Yes. My Campaign Thumbnails were made using ADikted. To create one press crtl + b once your map is created while in the editor.

kix
March 24th, 2017, 23:14
Map miniatures/thumbnails added to original post.

PossessMePlease
September 17th, 2017, 20:54
good one not flawless indeed,felt good after ancient keep camp

level 10 => narrator is misleading you only need the avatar to destroy the obstacle,put the flag on the guard post after you posses him and move him there jumping from temple.so you dont need to fight the level level 1 guys,reapers fairies and ninjas.6 reaper easily kills both keepers with flag spell as long as you posses one and kill 2-3 mistress

bonus 1 => magnificent level however,you are giving acces to libary before you give me gold to build it so i thought witch will die as soon as i get my next creature just like warlock did and i sold all the lair since i thought id only have 1 creature just to build the library.also the place where you find wizard is also weird the long path under wizard has water+guard post so after i get acces to bridge i obviously thought the next item would be there turns out there is nothing at all i only needed the orc to destroy walls making training room also useless since you get to keep the witch and you dont actually need to fight the knight after you release him by just using witches wind on knight to the training room,graveyard is also confusing and useless.despite all these this level was one of the best levels ive played so far(and i played all of the maps in keeperfx website)

map named flux => boring and confusing i thought having 8 reapers would do fine since i got unlimied gold and also more training room tiles than narrator says as action timers come to an end i see spider and bug combos followed by mistress troll and bile demon combos this made me think i was about to face 10 avatars from each spawning point because making 20+ reapers was possible

Klinsk
September 19th, 2017, 09:10
So is this campaign playable? I didn't read through the entire thread but I thought I saw some people making remarks about scripting :)

YourMaster
September 19th, 2017, 09:37
Yes it is. Some maps are quite difficult or require lots of patience, but many of them are very good. And everything works.

Klinsk
September 19th, 2017, 18:28
Thanks for the quick reply :) I have to try that out!

kix
September 30th, 2017, 22:35
good one not flawless indeed,felt good after ancient keep camp

level 10 => narrator is misleading you only need the avatar to destroy the obstacle,put the flag on the guard post after you posses him and move him there jumping from temple.so you dont need to fight the level level 1 guys,reapers fairies and ninjas.6 reaper easily kills both keepers with flag spell as long as you posses one and kill 2-3 mistress
Hello, thanks for playing!
Indeed, Avatar is only needed to destroy the guard post which can be done going through the hero dungeon.
I have to admit: I fogot about building temple close to it and then jumping from it, good job discovering this.



...despite all these this level was one of the best levels ive played so far(and i played all of the maps in keeperfx website)
Thanks, if I ever update the campaign I'll have a look at the the issue with gold and library and will clear it up. Also second bonus needs some gold tweaking. Correct, :orc: is just there to destroy walls, training room & barracks to attract him. Graveyard really was not needed to be taken and the easiest way to get rid of knight was to blow him behind lava.


i see spider and bug combos followed by mistress troll and bile demon combos this made me think i was about to face 10 avatars from each spawning point because making 20+ reapers was possible
:D
You got that far? nicely done

Sarevok
July 6th, 2018, 17:04
Hello,

I'm lost on level 9, schizo.

I managed to get avatar into prision with ghots. But now?

How can I destroy the heart?

I have all ninja and wizards, but i don't know what to do :D

Can you give me a hint?

kix
July 6th, 2018, 17:56
Hello,

I'm lost on level 9, schizo.

I managed to get avatar into prision with ghots. But now?

How can I destroy the heart?

I have all ninja and wizards, but i don't know what to do :D

Can you give me a hint?

Possess one of your :samurai: and lead him into into hero dungeon heart. Careful as rooms close to the dungeon heart are full of traps and enemies.
Now as soon as it is destroyed, use bridge to capture the hero castle => claim torture chamber, convert the avatar. The easiest way to defeat the two other keepers is to make them fight eachother.
Good luck!

Sarevok
July 6th, 2018, 18:41
Possess one of your :samurai: and lead him into into hero dungeon heart. Careful as rooms close to the dungeon heart are full of traps and enemies.
Now as soon as it is destroyed, use bridge to capture the hero castle => claim torture chamber, convert the avatar. The easiest way to defeat the two other keepers is to make them fight eachother.
Good luck!


Hi,

Thanks for the fast answer. So, need i kill all npcs to go into Dungeon hearth? Because there is no other way hehe

kix
July 7th, 2018, 11:16
Hi,

Thanks for the fast answer. So, need i kill all npcs to go into Dungeon hearth? Because there is no other way hehe

Not completely all of them, but some will bother you while you take time to destroy magic doors and dungeon heart.

YourMaster
July 7th, 2018, 18:45
Not completely all of them, but some will bother you while you take time to destroy magic doors and dungeon heart.

When I played a bit of the map a while ago, I simply couldn't get anywhere because the were walled in tight and I could not find a way inside. Has the map been updated since, or did I simply miss something?

kix
July 7th, 2018, 20:59
When I played a bit of the map a while ago, I simply couldn't get anywhere because the were walled in tight and I could not find a way inside. Has the map been updated since, or did I simply miss something?

Just replayed the map and though it was not easy, I did not notice any problems and completed it in one hour. Which keeper is walled in?

hint: there are 2 hidden extra samurais behind the lava! They can be claimed even before you get bridge (by possession walking another samurai or ghost). Can make the map a little easier. Also level your samurais on avatar if you have time
1849

YourMaster
July 7th, 2018, 21:12
Both of them did, same way too. For the most part they reinforced the wall the map starts out with along the lava.

kix
July 7th, 2018, 21:15
Both of them did, same way too. For the most part they reinforced the wall the map starts out with along the lava.

Yes but once everyone got bridge, they came out almost instantly every time I have played it

YourMaster
July 7th, 2018, 21:24
OK, than it's safe to assume I just didn't play the map for long enough.

Valour549
January 10th, 2019, 20:09
Gonna report some silly bugs:

Pyre: There's no way of getting the specials (increase lvl/reveal map) since you're never allowed to build a bridge. Acquiring the destroy walls is also not possible, since the middle contains the only library.

Flux: Level didn't end when heart was destroyed. I even waited a few more waves. Got bored then skipped.

All the other levels so far have been okay with everything working including all transfer specials.

kix
January 11th, 2019, 10:58
Helllo, good job getting that far

Gonna report some silly bugs:Pyre: There's no way of getting the specials (increase lvl/reveal map) since you're never allowed to build a bridge. Acquiring the destroy walls is also not possible, since the middle contains the only library.
If I remember correctly theres one more small library to the west of your dungeon heart. You can get the spell to appear there


Flux: Level didn't end when heart was destroyed. I even waited a few more waves. Got bored then skipped.
It is not supposed to. It just destroys the white tiles so you dont have to worry about traps and doors. The level ends when the last wave is defeated AND heart is destroyed.

also: both bonuses require some gold tweaking. they are doable, just easier than they should have been

Valour549
January 12th, 2019, 01:46
No, good job to you for making such an amazing campaign, the ideas that went into these maps are really next-level. BTW I said "silly" bugs to match your alleged "silly" campaign name ;)

I'm currently on Level 19. Some feedback.

Tensions: It says the "north-western room grants one lava trap", but in fact it's a boulder trap, as seen by the Reveal-Map special available right at the start.

Pyre: Haha I forgot that was a white library because I took over it so early in the game. But the problem is with the design.

- The player has a bridge there and is meant to explore the west of the map, so right away he sees the white library, and also an Increase-level special over one block of lava.

- The Increase-level special makes the player think he will get the bridge at some point. Possibly after taking over the west library, or maybe after killing the first keeper's heart. On the map "Currents" you also intentionally had a Multiply-Creature special that couldn't be reached, which is understandable since it'd make the level too easy. But I think it's just better to remove it altogether, or state it in the objective, because the player has no way of knowing.

- The player has no way of knowing that the "middle room" contains another white library with the Destroy Walls until much later in the game when he goes exploring. By then it's too late.

- The Reveal-Map special is pretty useless anyways, since the player has Horny with conceal monster spell, so he can easily scout both keepers' dungeons easily.

1881

Flux: The objective states verbatim "don't forget also destroy the dungeon heart to win map", which clearly means map is won when heart is destroyed (reminding the player to not just keep defending). I think you should add that the player must destroy all waves, or simply make the final/hardest wave spawn as a trigger when the heart is destroyed.

Echo Springs: Contrary to what YourMaster said, casting the Cave-In spell on the prison does work, as it momentarily allows the Priestess to be free, then Call-to-Arms to destroy enemy building and access Transfer special. Also possible to transfer over a level 10 Knight and in possession mode use it to kill all of blue's fifteen lvl-10 creatures XD

Schizo:The "hardest" map I found so far, and by that I mean tedious.

- Constantly dealing with two level 10 hellhounds with a level 6 samurai, and training the samurai on the avatar with the free ghosts as meatshield. I only read later that there are supposed to be two samurais you can claim? Because the objective only mentioned one so that's what I went with.

- Having to rambo with a ghost in possession mode was okay. But later on possessing a Wizard to clear traps/kill heroes/destroy heart was really tedious. Using meteor from a distance you can kill all the heroes guarding the heart and also the heart itself, it just takes forever. Thinking back, I should've left one samurai (don't think it pick), and used that to kill heart to make it faster.

- All the meanwhile making sure to leave possession and blowing the avatar every X number of seconds.

- Finally when heart is destroyed, a large number of fairies/priestess/vampires/hornys rush over to kill you because you didn't bother to clear the dungeon slowly before killing the heart. Hard, but it can be defended with 4 samurais and 3 wizards with some micro.

- I like the idea and how it forces you to multitask between first-person (possession) and third-person (god mode). But I really think the number of heroes guarding the fortress needs to be decreased. I think your idea is to use the row of boulder traps to kill most of those heroes, but the problem is you can't pick up your wizards/samurai and they start wandering around getting killed by those boulders.

False Gods: Honorable mention. You gave the keeper's a level 3 horny and two mistresses to stop us from rushing them, but if you train the knight and your own horny fast, and then micro in possession mode with speed spell, it's possible to actually kill their entire army (~10 creatures by the time you rush them) without ever releasing the heroes in the middle. Hard but doable.

kix
January 13th, 2019, 19:04
Tensions: It says the "north-western room grants one lava trap", but in fact it's a boulder trap, as seen by the Reveal-Map special available right at the start.

Boulder trap is there, yes, however walking into that room grants you one lava trap instantly - can be used to block one path. Quite useful



Flux: The objective states verbatim "don't forget also destroy the dungeon heart to win map", which clearly means map is won when heart is destroyed (reminding the player to not just keep defending). I think you should add that the player must destroy all waves, or simply make the final/hardest wave spawn as a trigger when the heart is destroyed.

Imho the 'also' implies that's not the only thing that needs to be done. But ok, noted, will make it more clear.



- Constantly dealing with two level 10 hellhounds with a level 6 samurai, and training the samurai on the avatar with the free ghosts as meatshield. I only read later that there are supposed to be two samurais you can claim? Because the objective only mentioned one so that's what I went with.

There are actually 3 wizards, 4(+2 'hidden') samurais you can claim.



- Having to rambo with a ghost in possession mode was okay. But later on possessing a Wizard to clear traps/kill heroes/destroy heart was really tedious. Using meteor from a distance you can kill all the heroes guarding the heart and also the heart itself, it just takes forever. Thinking back, I should've left one samurai (don't think it pick), and used that to kill heart to make it faster.

Yeah use samurais for that. Wizards and ghosts are too low hp and terribly slow. I use boulder traps to clear the knights, samurais can deal with the rest relatively easily.

Glad to hear you liked it, also check out my other map (https://keeperklan.com/threads/6980-Grail-Run-(2018)).

Valour549
January 15th, 2019, 08:13
I must say I was rather disappointed with the last two maps, Moth and Silence. Did you run out of ideas or something? XD

They are really really easy and boring, and I prepared a massive army for the finale only to instantly crush the tiny parties. The AI keepers are also next to useless (on the last map, the blue keeper died to his own lvl 10 horny when he ran out of gold and it went berserk) the reason being that the player has access to dragons, and it's likely the player has MORE dragons than the AI keepers, especially on the last map Silence.

Some suggestions follow the reviews.

Moth:

After the tense invasions on Flux/Currents/Tension, the attacks on Moth seems like child-play. By the time high level hero parties came I already trained to level 7 creatures, not to mention because of the path you let them walk through, any amount of lightning traps and pretty much the only hero that comes through are knights. The number of heroes guarding the heart is also laughably small. The keeper the north gets walled in super easily, and likely has less dragons than you, meaning an easy win against him. The player also has access to plenty of gold.

- Remove player ability to attract dragons, so he has to play with disadvantaged creature pool.
- Make the imprisoned creatures something like dark mistresses (no heal), so the player has to hurry and rescue them.
- Make the hero invasion harder and more frequent.
- Limit the amount of gold player has access to, I'd say reduce it to 2/3 of current gold.
- Do not allow the player to wall-in the AI keeper, you can make it so it takes a long time for the AI to dig into the player's dungeon, but walling off should not exist on the last levels.
- Disable lightning traps.

Silence:

It takes the AI keepers a while before they have 25 tiles of treasure room and 15 tiles of lair, by which time I've attracted 8 dragons, and they ended up with none or 1 (if you build only treasure room and lair, you'll basically attract only dragons). There's also a massive amount of gold, I had lvl 8 dragons before I moved east, but there is so little resistance taking the east library, you might as well make it unguarded... As mentioned, the blue keeper got wiped out by his own horny, which then left his dungeon for the taking. Having access to temple, I made a few dark mistresses from my beetle and spiders, researched everything, and proceeded to stomp the green keeper who had mostly orcs, bile demons and some mistresses and wizards, all of which clumped up and disappeared to the meteor from dragons. The only interesting thing is his avatar, which my 8 dragons and 2 mistresses took out. The rest is just slow mopping of the hero castle, and dealing with occasional party spawns.

- Again, remove player ability to attract dragons, so he has to play with disadvantaged creature pool.
- Give the AI keepers a well setup dungeon right from the start (but no library for the blue keeper obviously).
- Give the blue keeper gems, or better yet don't allow player to wall him in. He has a level 10 horny so allow some time (winding passages) before he breaks into the player's dungeon, but again walling off in the last level seems too easy.
- Again limit the amount of gold player has access to, I'd say reduce it to 1/2 of current gold.
- Disable boulder traps.

* * *

I'll be honest, those suggestions don't really fix the levels. Their design just pales in comparison with the rest of the campaign. I haven't played Grail Run or the moon levels, but maybe you can move the maps around and replace Moth and Silence with something more worthy.

kix
January 15th, 2019, 14:49
(on the last map, the blue keeper died to his own lvl 10 horny when he ran out of gold and it went berserk)
That's the expected way to defeat him, wall him in and let his :horny: do the work at the beginning.


I'll be honest, those suggestions don't really fix the levels. Their design just pales in comparison with the rest of the campaign. I haven't played Grail Run or the moon levels, but maybe you can move the maps around and replace Moth and Silence with something more worthy.
I agree, I wanted the last levels to be some kind of classic non special levels. They seemed pretty difficult to me though

My other maps:
Grail Run (https://keeperklan.com/threads/6980-Grail-Run-(2018))
Temple Deal (https://keeperklan.com/threads/6973-Temple-Deal-(2018))

Robertus
May 10th, 2019, 23:54
im stuck in the map <Bonus 1 Overture> after release the mage :wizard: , you can build bridges and
and the 4 orcs :orc: arrive:

how can I go through the wall?
I have 5 days trying to decipher it

thank you

kix
May 11th, 2019, 11:33
im stuck in the map <Bonus 1 Overture> after release the mage :wizard: , you can build bridges and
and the 4 orcs :orc: arrive:

how can I go through the wall?
I have 5 days trying to decipher it

thank you

I don't remember the map so take it as a guess:
Build a room west to your portal, near the wall separating you from the dungeon heart. Drop your orc there, the orc must be angry to the maximum. He will destroy the room leaving unclaimed path. Claim the path and the reinforced wall disappears.
Again I'm not sure, I'm just guessing since you got orcs that's what you're supposed to do at some point.

I also recommend switching to my better second campaign (https://keeperklan.com/threads/7050-CAMPAIGN-Assmist-isle-(2019)).

Robertus
May 11th, 2019, 22:54
thank you

YourMaster
November 9th, 2020, 17:32
The feedback I get is that this campaign is - even though you recommend people play Assmist instead - still one of the very best campaigns out there. And I don't think they are wrong. Could you see this campaign ending up in the next full version of KeeperFX, or would you rather rework the maps into something new instead? And if we will include this, are there still changes you want to make, or just take it as is?

kix
November 10th, 2020, 21:11
The feedback I get is that this campaign is - even though you recommend people play Assmist instead - still one of the very best campaigns out there. And I don't think they are wrong. Could you see this campaign ending up in the next full version of KeeperFX, or would you rather rework the maps into something new instead? And if we will include this, are there still changes you want to make, or just take it as is?

Not any time soon. What I'm going to do with this campaign is to playtest it once more. Then I'll decide between these two options:
1. Perform some simple changes and finalize it so it can be included
2. Rework/recycle the best maps and include them in a new campaign

YourMaster
November 10th, 2020, 22:37
Sounds good, thanks.

Treebeard
November 11th, 2020, 23:17
Just my two cents, but I played this campaign on I think it was the 0.4.7 version of keeperfx and found it to have no bugs and is enjoyable. So I think it would be an excellent addition!

Treebeard
November 24th, 2020, 04:32
While I'm remembering, if you're updating this campaign.. when I played the final level, Silence, I was able to wall off the Blue keeper to the NW with no issues and the keeper to the South I was able to dig out the hero reapers which just went over and killed them. I'm not sure if that's something you would like to change because it feels as though in the final level you shouldn't be able to deal with 2 keepers within the first 5 minutes :P

kix
November 25th, 2020, 22:31
While I'm remembering, if you're updating this campaign.. when I played the final level, Silence, I was able to wall off the Blue keeper to the NW with no issues and the keeper to the South I was able to dig out the hero reapers which just went over and killed them. I'm not sure if that's something you would like to change because it feels as though in the final level you shouldn't be able to deal with 2 keepers within the first 5 minutes :P

Hi, thanks, I remember walling off the blue keeper was intentional but I'm not sure about the other one. Good job beating the campaign

doanhmarket
January 6th, 2021, 03:49
The game is quite logic.

kix
October 23rd, 2021, 13:04
Updated the campaign:
removed some pre-placed spellbooks and scripted the spells instead

Spatulade
January 5th, 2022, 23:29
I finally played this all the way through and some levels were some of the best I've ever played and were incredibly fun and engaging. However some seemed incredibly obtuse and full of puzzles I either didn't understand or wanted me to kill several level 10 Avatars which didn't seem very fun to me. I really enjoyed some of the campaign but can't recommend playing all the way through without cheats handy, as some levels were no fun at all. Overall some really good stuff and despite the levels I didn't like, this is one of the best campaigns I've played. The levels looked nice and had some incredibly clever concepts and ideas, and it's rare to see. Very good work!

kix
January 10th, 2022, 18:18
It's a set of my very first levels of various quality. I plan on reusing some concepts of the best maps into a new campaign which I'll try my best to make it enjoyable for everyone. Do you remember any specific maps you liked or hated?

kix
April 3rd, 2022, 16:09
Updated salvager map so you can no longer just jump to the guard post youre supposed to destroy

Quuz
March 5th, 2023, 23:09
I'm going through the campaign after assmist isle. I can say that this campaign is not at all worse. Yes, in terms of level design it is not as detailed and complex, and the campaign has some questionable levels, but it makes the brain think and look for solutions. The levels, though simpler, are no less exciting. Almost every map is a challenge for the player. High difficulty, interesting level mechanics, puzzles - all very interesting gameplay.
Thank you, for them. Really very cool.

Quuz
March 5th, 2023, 23:23
Bash. Simple and very boring. It was enough to close the wall of the northern portal and then no problems in passing.

The Four. Interesting start with the knight attacking the heart - otherwise average.

Bugsquashers. Going through the rooms, gathering heroes, killing the keepers. Nothing special.

In fact, the first three maps in this campaign are pretty average quality, they definitely have things for improvement, and the campaign seems to be pretty typical, but after level 4, the maps start giving surprises.

Tomb Raid. Oh, this map is great. My favorite. Intriguing beginning, really well detailed level design. The atmosphere of the abandoned keepers bases. Good gold balance.
The first time I captured a blue keeper base, I was surprised to find that there was woefully insufficient gold to train and fight off fairly strong waves of heroes. I noticed that if you do not capture the blue base, and the heroes do not touch you. I did not capture the portal. As a result, the second time I passed the map exclusively with 3 creatures, holding imps. Horny, bile demon and orc. And gold just enough. Later still resurrected a vampire from the graveyard. And scrubbed the whole map and captured the gems, have already started to train quietly fighters to cope with the avatar.

Exorcism. Weak level design, but very complex and with interesting mechanics of battle through the vampires. Vampires certainly eat a lot of money, I remember how I did not have enough production even with a gems, and eventually exhausted all the gold, and with a bunch of angry vampires because they were not paid, before the second payment - decided to go for an avatar. The temple I carelessly sold at the beginning itself.

Trolls Stroll. Weak level design. Warnings that the workshop is big can do a lot of damage - of course it's scary. It was interesting to try fight by army of trolls) However, it is a failure. Once it comes to the stones, the game gets a little boring. The heroes can no longer offer any serious challenge. The army coming out of the northern portal is very weak and dies instantly, the player has only to build up the corridors with tons of stones and doors, waiting for the avatar to come out. The army of which feels like it should be 4-5 times larger.

False God. Another great map. The design is excellent.
After discovering horny in the first time, I decided to restart the level. Super fast pumped the knight and horny to 4 levels, I dug straight to the portal green, opening the tunnel 10 lvl skeletons, while green fought with them i grabbed his portal and successfully killed all his creatures. I fully captured the base of the green. After pumping the troops rushed to the blue, but steadily losing. Blue had too much advantage in troops.
In the absence of the green keeper heroes from the fortress in the center are all going on the blue. I let them all out, but he was easily defended, still luring the heroes to his side.
Loaded, and i decided immediately after the capture of the green, to open the all doors of the heroes fortress. I ran from one part of the fortress to the other breaking every door i have seen. Now, the heroes were killing blue keeper but were strong enough to kill me right after that. Had to tinker to find a balance )
Score: Super. Impressions: Ocean.

Marshlands. Quite a pleasant map. Swamps, unexpected tentacles, catching knights for the torture chamber and the threat that the enemy can get to you. Good in one word )

Quuz
March 8th, 2023, 17:55
Schizo. In this map is the end of the joke.)
I didn't realize that the avatar had to be drop out into the lava. I dumped an imp on him and ran out from him to the beginning of the trail, and the avatar followed him back, which gave extra time.
Next, the ghost travels. I found the Samurai on the right immediately, he helped fight off the Cerbers. In the first room in front of the bridge, you must successfully to kill all the samurai with a stone to fly further. I blew the vampires into the corners with a wind spell.
For some reason I only found 3 samurai in the prison, and immediately dropped them at the base, as more powerful cerbers start coming in, and 1 samurai was no longer able to hold them off. In the end, the entire army of heart heroes had to be lured out and killed with stones in a long corridor, it's good that there are enough of them. The heart of the heroes destroyed in the end, one ghost. Then it was a matter of technology, captured the center of the fortress, tortured 2 reepers. Keepers no longer posed a threat.
Extremely fun map. My respect to the creator)

Salvager.
Very interesting beginning of the map. Makes the brain strain, what do I have to do? The first serious obstacle is a room with fairies and spiders, but there is nothing difficult. Enough to use spell speed on the avatar, dodge freezing shots and kill spiders, and then wait for the fairies around the corner, they die with a few blows.
Taking the fortress is inevitable. The second part of the map, on the other hand, I didn't like much. After releasing from the imprisonment, it seems that you're strong enough to attack the enemy keepers, but that's a mistake. The enemies already have a crowd of 10 lvl mistress, and attacking head-on with all the reapers ends in defeat. Had to run around the lava by avatar, from afar kill all the mistress one at a time. This is very slow and exhausting. In addition, the map is not enough gold catastrophically, so I had to keep the reapers on the flag all the time. In general, the second part of the map is exhausting and boring. Maybe i had to go faster the first part of the Guardians did not have time to pump their troops to level 10.

Ascension Day.
Surprisingly not a difficult map after the previous ones. The beginning of the map is a bit confusing, but the understanding that you are trapped, makes you look at the map more carefully and restart the level. Dropping imps on the blue keeper portal is not a difficult puzzle. The attacking waves of heroes here are not strong, and the pace of the map is very measured. The enemy keeper ended up smashed in a head-on battle by simply digging a passageway to it. The hardest thing on the map is to kill 4 avatars by limited creatures.

Echo Springs.
The first part of the map is not difficult. We defend attacks, grab lands, pump creatures.
I lost a few times trying to attack the blue keeper in a direct encounter. However, the clue about the imps with invisibility was very helpful. I didn't even know that i could do that before.) After capturing all of the keeper's rooms with imps, smashing him won't be difficult.

Pyre
Another map with unconventional mechanics. Base on the lava! Original )
YourMaster wrote that on this map is difficult to find the temple, but it's not true. The player, one way or another, will be looking for a way out of his base, the more captured lands hints that the imps need to explore the surroundings. The first time I dug a passage to the blue keeper, and all the heroes went to attack him, but they are not able to cause him significant damage. I had to replay the level, and grab myself all the heroes from the portal. Next, a huge army of heroes under your control will have no problem dealing with the enemy.

Quuz
March 8th, 2023, 18:02
Academy
Oooh, this map literally made my brain explode. Great map. ))
The walkthrough came out epic.
In the beginning I sold the door, hired an imp and dug a passage to the library, then it's important to wait the fairy to the corner of the dungeon heart with mages, distracting the knights so she dies on the traps. And then just run imp around in a circle, the knights are excellent to die on the traps.
Next, there were a lot of loads. I captured every area except the central fortress and the area around the heart of the heroes, which you can't get into without traps of stone.
There is no training room. I pumped some mages on the bile demon. However, there is a very limited number of them. So what do we have? Four 4-5 lvl mages, 1 ghost resurrected from special, and 1 reaper level 3. This is the maximum i could get.
I didn't think to wait for the dwarves to dig through the wall to special that give creatures. Which made it very difficult for me to get through.
As soon as I captured a room in the middle of the fortress, a passageway opened and an army of 13 orcs, 2 reapers, and 6 archers came at me, and they are all level 10!
Overpowering them seemed impossible! Next, I began to think. The map creator didn't give a ghost for nothing, I thought, and flying through the doors I pulled 2 trolls out of the central room. However, my disappointment was overflowing when I realized that my workshop was too small to create stone traps.
There was only one thing left to do. While the army marches to my dungeon heart, capture the workshops in the center of the fortress quickly and have time to set up stone traps. I noticed that my opponents' goal was to kill my creatures, not to destroy my heart. I ended up creating small areas all over the map with treasures and imps digging for gold. An army of heroes ran all over the map destroying them and the mages coming from the portal, while I dropped trolls from one workshop to another, frantically producing and setting traps. An hour of agony and the enemy army was crushed by rocks. ))
Heart of Heroes i ended up storming through with the help of one reaper.
Ugh, that wasn't easy. ))

Quuz
March 8th, 2023, 18:10
Flux
Super dynamic map. Reminded me of the tower defense in warcraft 3. I immediately knew that the waves of heroes will be amplified and the only correct decision is to focus on the vampires. The final waves are very dangerous, but the map is passable.
The amplifying waves of heroes create the illusion that you won't be able to deal with them at some point, and the only sure way to end this battle is to destroy the heart of heroes.

The pass to the heart of heroes would of course be good to open after the death of the avatar, because it confuses the player. There are a lot of traps in there, and you spend a lot of energy and attention to destroy it and finish the waves, which don't really end after the heroes heart dies.

Jitters
After the dynamic Flux is a very measured beginning. The creature rescue and gradual capture of the central fortress is very interesting. In fact, this is the only map where I got stuck and had to turn to the forum hints, I could not find the imps in the stash and did not know how to capture the fortress.
My goal was to keep the vampire in the cage alive so I could pump the mistress to lightning on him later. In terms of design, there's a strong divergence here. The center part is well detailed, but the rest of it is not. Just squares with lots of lava and water.
I couldn't solve the puzzle that would open passages the specials on the right.
I destroyed all the heroes in the rooms before the last wave, leaving only the room with the reapers to lure them with a steal hero, then doubling the creatures afterwards. 2 vampires, 2 mistresses, a bunch of samurai, and about 6 reapers. The central portal is completely filled with lightning traps, and one single stone trap placed on the bridge on the left so that it destroys the advancing reapers. While the battle is going on in the center, the doors can be used to divide the enemy army into weaker segments.
The final battle is very interesting.

Jynxed .
The map starts easy enough and it seems like there won't be any surprises, but the final vampire attack is something ) Damn huge army of vampires. To get through the final battle I had to build up all the passages with doors, absolutely every tunnel. Interesting idea with the cursed land and the sudden vampires in the middle. Great map!

Currents
Another unconventional level, and again reminded me of maps from warcraft 3 on the type of castle fight. Dynamic and interesting.

Tension
Nothing much to say in particular. The main thing is to survive at all costs, which is not too easy.

Moth
On the second time I guessed that it's necessary to protect yourself from the enemy keeper of the Great Wall of China. The map is woefully short of money. The balance is very broken. Troops need to pump, the heroes are constantly going stronger and stronger, and the source of money is near the heart of the heroes, which is not so easy to get through. I've tried many times to pass honestly - but failed. I have to admit that here I used cheats for the gold. Shame on me (

Silence
Began the level with the monk level 10 transferred from the bonus level. The first thing I broke through to the blue keeper and while the reaper ran after the imps, destroyed the blue heart. Then captured the library, and trained an army of mistress. The 1 square bridge mechanic of course slows it down, but the mistress are great at killing anything living in the central fortress.

Bonus 1 Overture.
Super interesting level. The only thing is that when I got the enchantress, I immediately sold some rooms and built a library, eventually when I got to the gold and reaper, the triggers seemed to break, as the enchantress felt like it should have died when the player got the reaper. I, however, got both of them alive.
Another map where I couldn't figure out how to open the passage to the right. Used a cheat to turn the wall into my own. In my opinion this is the super hard part about using evil orcs to bring down walls... How do you get to that with your mind? No answer.

Bonus 2 Dawn To.
Small and simple. Stole a monk with steal hero, captured a troll, killed an enemy Guardian without much trouble. 2 tentacles, a monk and a troll easily kill an avatar.

Quuz
March 8th, 2023, 18:11
Thank you for your hard work. It's a very interesting campaign.

kix
March 9th, 2023, 18:44
Thanks for the extensive feedback, I've read every word of it. Useful stuff, especially now, when I work on my 3rd and final campaign.
I have noticed there are people who love puzzle levels, while others like to build a dungeon freely. The levels you described as your favourite I've seen described as tedious and unenjoyable by others. I'm somewhere in between and I believe balance between those two map types is the right way. Which is not exactly the case for this campaign.