http://aow.heavengames.com/downloads/showfile.php?fileid=1221

It's complete, and will presently be available from this link.

Ooo, shiny!

Having conducted tests, I believe there's some sort of gold limit involved in the auto-generation of dungeon defenders from the unit lists in the ruleset. In my ruleset musketeers are very cheap, and dungeons can have many of them, more than the two in the basic unit list.

On the other hand, when a t4 unit shows up, it rarely has any company. This isn't congruent with counting being done by unit level to fill such places - it must be gold.

Annoyingly, when you put a bunch of prisons on a map in the map editor, it looks like they tend to all read from the same unit list. There are about a dozen unit lists they have to select from, but each time fyou start a match on the map, they will all select from the same one. Except for the ones set to 'random' prisoner amount - they will all select from a shared second list.

I don't see a way to wriggle out of this with the simple modding tools at my disposal, so if I make another map with prisons, I'll manually set the defenders and guards. After determining what they are with my own random out-of-engine method maybe.

That's a weird Dark Elf advantage on the map. Faster ruin takeovers / initial unit positioning / capturing the "centre treasure vault" and then the ability to lock out other players by capturing the towers (plus the default nightvision advantage). Azracs don't start with wall crushing in TS136 and are unable to get past the towers that separate Tier one / two until maybe turn 7 when an elephant is ready (completely with the hope that no one else has fortified the vault at that point).

Even if played with a mod where the tunnelling worms have wall crushing, both are needed to open up the tunnels where dark elves can spare a shadow to explore the wizard towers and use boats to move the other one around as needed. Micro the turn-2 accessible walled (friendly) cities to not lose the shadow. More cities = more gold = faster buying spells from wizard towers & sooner mass tunnellers to get the Highmen escape route.

The distribution of spells is very clearly advantageous to go south for mobility, and maybe snag a Tier 1 spell from a different direction if you have time. A good way to fix this is by switch up the distribution of spells. And why not start with tier one being the least useful (situational) spells like town quake, etc. and then have all of the highest as the meta spells like wind walking / freemove / vaporize / entangle etc.

Goblins look like they have the steepest disadvantage by virtue of how many turns it takes to reach the ruined 3-block cities & teleporter and the amount of progress and gold growth lost as a result of that lull.

If you had all evil races for the wizard tower vault, you could have each player control a wraith (can't hurt eachother) to act as selectors for the magic. Right now all it takes is the dark elves getting a shadow and a priest or two, and you could likely micro the wall defences at the Tier divisions.

You have a typo on a teleporter down the BATTLE branch. It says 43-60-2 as the target (solid rock) which should be 43-50-2. Two of the teleporters are ruined where the others aren't.

It's a really interesting map, and I'm looking forward to the playthrough, but I won't be surprised to see dark elves destroy, especially when in the hands of a veteran player.

My understanding is that DEs have one less digger, and that might or not balance it out, but I share your concern Thereunto although I'm not as confident about it. Sending priests in in particular is a rather risky bet... Microing the cities is not without danger, I've gotten my leader down to 1hp and the priests are really needed.

On consequences, I don't think it's that easy to fortify the vault this early in the game, especially if all the payers go for it asap as they should. I'd rather be worried about the initial gold, I haven't checked if the other players have the same amount of gold, and the starting upkeep is pretty high so people might end up without the gold to rebuild the cities when they grab the ruins from the wraiths. That's a dead end, needs to be playtested.

Tip: you don't need to beat the wraith to send the builder in and start it working! (funny how those builders are calmly rebuilding a haunted city though)

I have just edited the map with regard to the Goblin and Dark Elf starts, the broken teleporter, and removing the inner six towers around the shrine of blood. And increasing all starting gold from 800 to 1000. the heavengames upload has the changes too.

Not that I want to dwell on changes when a PBEM has been started on the old version :p

The next thing i might edit in it is indeed the spell lists.

Idea for a new map design: a 3-player FFA, where each of 3 map levels is a different 1v1. IE, for players A,B,C -
Top level: A vs B
Middle Level: B vs C
Bottom Level: A vs C
With teleporters in some frequency to connect the levels.

Also, as far as map visuals are concerned, I want to do an 'oasis' type map with desert palms, grassland forest, and flowers mixed together around pools - or have the whole map be one huge oasis. Or have canyons with grassland inside and desert outside.

Also, I might have each map level be a mirror of the others - ie three version of the same oasis, but one level is flooded, one is dried out, and other is a 'normal' oasis.

The 3-player map shall be called ''Mirrored Nathyazik''.

I'm made four 5-player maps and one 2-player, so 3-player and 4-player are the next thing to cover. Even if 6+ player maps weren't challenged by playercount issues, I like them less for being slower.

Note to self so I don't forget - next map should feature ''Dwarven Builders' Guilds''. Meaning, saving the map last in a ruleset wherein builder's guilds train Rebuilders, Bombards, and Dwarven Balloons.

I'm now adding altered unit descriptions to the 'Sword & Sorcery' mod, to reflect the added abilities, along with general expansions and improvements of the 'lore'.

For example -
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SALAMANDER
Lizardmen are creatures of water, and view fire as a demonic and unnatural element. But once in a generation from a clutch of lizardman eggs, a creature of fire, a Salamander, is born. Burning bright with golden scales, the Salamander is seen as an omen of strife. Ordinary Lizardmen shun these creatures, but do not dare to kill them off.

Instead they are taken into the care of the Shamans, and raised as sacred warriors. Whether they are freaks of nature or otherworldly creatures mimicking the feral Lizardmen, Salamaders will always answer the call of Lizardmen in times of need. But as outcasts incapable of entering water, they spend much of their time doing mercenary work for the lords of the land-bound races.

Salamanders are superbly skilled and swift swordsmen, and can set enemies aflame with their swords or with blood spilled from their wounds. The most powerful salamanders can call flame to life at range.
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LURKER
The Lurker is a large flat-bodied monster which resembles a giant frog. This creature lives in swamps, cave-lake, and other murky waters from which it sets out to hunt. Though the Lurker is strong and has a poisonous bite, the creature's gaze is more dangerous.

Peering down from two long eyestalks, the Lurker has the power to dominate mortal minds, rendering them biddable until feeding time. Sometimes its tadpoles will be laid in a living captive. Despite this, the Lurker is not an evil creature, but merely a predator beast. As intelligent as dogs, they are sometimes trained by the Lizardmen to guard territory and seize prisoners for interrogation, ransom, or feeding Basilisks.
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GREEN WYVERN
The Green Wyvern is a serpentine creature resembling a dragon in form, though not in wits or power. Dimwitted and rejected by other dragonkind as inferior, these creatures angrily assert their strength over those weaker than themselves. Green Wyverns live in swamps, and the Lizardmen have had to learn to flatter these monsters.

Green Wyverns generally do not eat the Lizardmen, and take on a role as their patrons when appeased by gifts. When the offerings are deemed unsatisfactory, they only eat a couple Lizardmen (often decoys dressed up as shamans or leaders) to set an example. For all their flaws, the Wyverns are not cowardly, and are feared allies of the Lizardman race. The great fangs of a Green Wyvern drip with venom, but only the most ancient can muster a vitriol breath to rival that of true dragons. Their scales are not nearly as strong as armor.
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BASILISK
Basilisks are landbound swampland Turtle-Dragons with monstruous appetites. The Lizardmen have learned the hard way to satisfy their hunger with a constant supply of meat. Cattle, cripples, and prisoners of war gathered by Lurkers are all sacrificed alike. In Lizardman society it is considered an honor to be be consumed by a Basilisk. The Shamans teach that the soul of the victim lives on within the great monsters: at any rate, the oldest of the beasts grow cunning, and can conceal themselves while swimming even despite their great size.

Heavily armored and amphibious, the Basilisk is strong enough to tunnel through the earth and demolish city walls. It attacks with a broad maw lined with daggers of ivory, and its hideous gaze can slay on sight alone. Legends claim the creature turns its victims to stone, but the truth is no less terrible. With a glance it strikes death into the hearts of its victims, and then consumes the warm flesh before it can become rigid as stony death.
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ELVEN LONGBOWMAN
Despite lacking the strength of other races, Elven archers somehow wield big longbows tirelessly. The baffled archers of other races, who train years to develop strength in their arms, claim that it must be magic. They are correct, for the bow of an Elf is not dead wood, but retains the heart of the tree whence it came. An Elf's bow aids its wielder in drawing it, and only the accuracy of Elven Archers testifies to their skill.

In a world where Elven numbers have dwindled, the ability to fight at range has become more important. Archery combined with summoned vines has become the classic Elven tactic. Elves feel most at home in the forests and are able to move easily through heavily wooded areas; the most experienced can conceal themselves in foliage.
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I especially like the last one, since otherwise the idea that a physically weak race would be good archers really pisses me off for being illogical.

New map - ''Mirrored Oasis'' - a 3 player map with 3 map levels, each of which is its own 1v1. The download link will work soon, once the submission is approved at aowheaven.

https://aow.heavengames.com/downloads/showfile.php?fileid=1223
Just need to remember to start the map with a ''dwarven builder's guild'' ruleset, not that it would matter too much.

Updated Maugogom

I'm trying to come up with a new map. One where, like Maugogom, you don't have spell spheres and get them from Wizards' Towers. This time, I'm thinking of giving everyone the same set of spells at the start. The question is - which would be the interesting ones? Remote storn spells and other remote attacks? Elemental summons, Cloud of Ashes?

Both in terms of theme and gameplay.

Frostling Shaman has Magic Bolt and Frost Bolt

magic bolt is better 7 At / 3 Dmg, thats way Im always using it over Frost 6 At / 3 Dmg.

which is very anti-thematic for Frostilng shaman, because he should use Frost bolt

plus it seems to me Cold Protection is more common than magic protection

hard counters are part of the AoW1 design. f.ex. you cannot hit flying units without range attack. But nobody presume to soften it with adding to swordsman "throwing swords" ability.

you mention its to give edge for Air Elements and Wraith. Maybe then switch this units immune to protections? & Wraith is not flying so melee enchants are enough (and common).

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I would consider removing:
Physical protection costing 40, and Flying 70
for the sake of removing bloat options.

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the costing of skill is very nice, I always think what to take.
archer nerf & swordmans boost is great. archer is now dying quick in melee, so his no retaliate archery attack matter less. And swordsman has high chance to not die from first attack. Also very good that spearman do not has increased def, the first strike already make up for it.