What is The Protectors?

The Protectors (in short TPC) is a stand-alone mod of the game Warlords Battlecry 3, produced by Infinite Interactive. Stand-alone means that it can be run without having the original game installed.

Visit homepage and download: http://www.moddb.com/games/the-protectors

Currently, TPC is under development (since 2010) and has not reached a stable version. However, there are beta versions available for download for the public at The Protectors official website. All users are encouraged to report bugs and suggest improvements on TPC forum, as they are considered beta testers. Also, by becoming a member of the site you will receive email updates on new patches and important dev-blog entries. Becoming a member of the site will also ensure your name's (or nickname's) appearance in the credits list once the mod is fully developed.
The mod has bought a lot of changes to the original game in the past few years. The most important ones which are fully implemented as of today are:

-New campaign/ New storyline. The Protectors has a new story-driven exciting campaign full of memorable scenarios, cutscenes, locations and adventures. (approximately 90 new scenarios currently)
-Modified unit/ building/ tech tree in order to make a fun and balanced game.
-New campaign mode: Chapters. Along the normal wbc3 campaign style, there are also short campaigns with preset heroes in a preset universe.These are called chapters and give flavor to TPC storyline. There are 18 chapters, one for each race + a prologue, all happening around the same Etheria, some interacting with each other, some happening in a different time-line.
-Special characters/ companions. TPC revives the old Warlords Battlecry 1 characters like Robert, Setroth, Paridian etc. and brings new ones into the game. These units are persistent in campaign mode (xp gained in battle is saved for the next one) and spawn next to your hero (in most scenarios) regardless of army setup points. They have unique powers and dialogues and their presence affect many things, including story outcome.
-Improved editor. The in game editor is now easier to use because of features like: right-clicking to decrement selection, more control over scene events, ability to add item chests, create random terrain and more.
-Improved scene events. Now have the ability to make dialogue choices, change terrain, orchestrate units and buildings, add special effects (visual and audio), control player camera, change units/buildings owners, etc.
-Racial control panels. Each race has a suiting control panel. Some from the original series, some TPC made.
-Music collection. All from Steve Fawkner and co. Total soundtrack number currently is of 67, each fitting to the fantasy-travelling-battle style of the game.
-New interface. The TPC menu gives a better first impresion due to its new button layout, intro clips and short hint movies randomly shown from time to time. The hero creation screen in particular has suffered a lot of useful changes.
-New units and buildings. All fitting original wbc graphics.
-Racial synergy bonus (in short RSB). When the hero leads his own race he has a powerful racial special spell, unique for every race. This can change the tides of a battle, but can only be used once per scenario and is not long lasting. Timing is important.
-Global extra notifications. Useful mostly in MP, players will now be announced which hero/companion dies or whom has used his RSB.
-New terrain. All fitting original wbc graphics.
-Hero creation quiz. Responding to a series of questions with multiple answers will make it easier to choose a hero race and class.
-New items/ item graphics/ item sets. All fit with original wbc graphics.
-Improved AI. Now uses buildings such as mortars.
-Ironman, Bronzeman, Tinman mode. A hero can gain and loose xp in more ways now, depending on how much a player likes to risk.
-Hero proficiency. Every TPC hero must have a proficiency. This is a skill which automatically levels up with the hero.
-Cheat codes. Only working in SP and are not permanent to the hero.
-Improved spells. Such as controlled blinking, weather affected pyromancy and more.
-Improved in-game shops, temples, quests. Stocks change, neutral powerups and more.
-Campaign dialogues/ text-based quests. These can affect and be affected by many things such as hero class, in-game time, items, companions, completed scenarios, location, storyline, quests, crowns, etc.
-Campaign time importance increased. Actions can now be time-conditioned, so that you have a limited time (in days/years) to complete a quest (traveling, fighting, obtaining an item, etc.) without affecting reward or availability.
-New victory conditions/ game types. Along Slug Fest, Capture the Flag, King of the Hill and more.
-Improved random name generator. Mostly used by the AI, gives more distinction between races.

Just letting you folks know that version 0.8.2 has just been released! Download link: http://the-protectors.webs.com/apps/links/#beta_0.8.2

I just noticed that the 0.8.3 patch is now available. Changes are listed below (grabbed from the "TPC changelog.txt" file that comes with the patch). I have highlighted what I think are some of the more interesting updates. (New maps and AIs that don't play "gang up on the human" anymore? I know what I'll be playing tomorrow.)

Hey Patrick_Winekill, keep the AI improvements coming. Good AI is what really makes strategy games fun to play for us single player folks. (The AI in The Protectors actually seemed a bit weaker than in WBC3 as of 0.8.2. Not sure why that was, but hopefully some of the changes you've made in 0.8.3 will help -- the new fix to keep entire AI armies from getting stuck trying to cross a narrow pass is certainly an improvement.)

Feature request: Make same-team AI NOT build right in the middle of my freaking base! :-P

***

*Ghoulbone, Darkblade, Fallan, Quinton, Xanthos, Xunthor, Fingers, Esgaleth, Anagain, Smooth Arlin, Princess Daria heroes now have a fixed avatar and voice
*Scenario description display can now be larger than 5 lines of text
*Fixed bug in Prologue not showing mission objectives in Theira
*Implemented the new Wait campaign action
*Gnolls are now neutral monsters
*Red and Black mages are now good
*All barbarians are now neutral
*All dwarves are now good
*All titans now have a race tag and are huge
*Elven Hunters are now wood elves
*Firebombs are now small
*All daemons, except Summoner, are now extraplanar
*Imps are now evil
*Minotaur Shamans now are of medium size
*Lightning Hawks are now neutral
*Oakmen are now of medium size
*Ancient Treants are now of huge size
*Implemented the new nis command Choice2. Documentation updated
*Fixed a bug with grayed choice dialogue not disappearring
*All swarm units are now evil
*Added 1.03.25 item pack
*Fixed scorpion's attack animation
*Updated Kharn's item pack
*Fixed a bug where choice dialogue 5 and 6 were not working in game
*Heroes no longer run if they're on fire
*The availability of skills is now taken into account when creating a temporary hero
*AI heroes now invest points in arcane magic
*Fixed a bug where AI heroes would have more skill points
*Passive AI now uses special abilities
*Added new attribute to the nis command Flag. Documentation updated
*Changing AI from passive now moves the starting location where the hero is (will build base there)
*Implemented the new nis command Attitude. Documentation updated
*Added Build and Can't Build speech files for Wisp and Ancient Wisp
*Implemented the new producing time icon for units and researches
*Dwarven buildings maximum hit points is now double of original (was triple)
*Fixed Converting Proficiency bug
*Reseed is done when traveling or fighting (new items, mercenaries, etc.)
*Implemented the new campaign action attribute "instant"
*Added support for higher resolutions
*No retinue attribute now works for side 0 as well in campaign battle actions
*Campaign nis actions now take 0 days by default
*Campaign battle actions now take 1 day by default
*Implemented the new campaign action attribute "time"
*All .map elements now support the "condition" attribute
*Added Paridian in the editor list
*Added Paridian voice pack
*Fixed nis bug not resetting choice options
*Added nis condition varl#eq# and var#eq#. Documentation updated
*All chapters now have an ending pop-up. Chapters reset
*Implemented the new nis symbol &name;. Documentation updated
*Fixed Morph Tower bug
*Fixed Create Hero Class popup help bug
*Fixed temple archon not available for knights bug
*AI now uses Darkstorm spell
*Improved the Hero Creation popup help
*Improved the Hero Level Up Spells popup help
*Leveling up spells now costs 1AP per point
*Spells now only require previous spells of +1 higher level (was 2x)
*Implemented the new nis command ProduceHero. Documentation updated
*Fixed wrong avatar in Chapter 2 dialogue
*Updated the Pat pack 1 terrain pack
*AI hero voices are now random (and dependant on gender)
*Standardized Frostbat stats
*Added the Summoner portrait for dialogues
*Fixed bug with nis answer attribute "hidden"
*Increased item limit per scenario to 64 (was 32)
*Increased army memory limit to 5000 (was 1000) - fixes crash/bug in late game and allows more units to be added in the editor
*Increased building memory limit to 2500 (was 500) - fixes crash/bug in late game and allows more buildings to be added in the editor
*Increased feature memory limit to 5000 (was 1000) - fixes random huge map bug and allows more features to be added in the editor
*Increased item memory limit to 1000 (was 200) - fixes crash/bug in chest-heavy game and allows more chests to be added in the editor
*Added new unit: Ancient Giant
*Added 5 new skirmish maps (Curled Earh, Invasion, Mountain Assault, Rivers, Tides of Pain)
*Increased actions per location limit to 32 (was 12)
*Implemented the new campaign condition type checktimemultiple
*YEAR and DAY modifiers are now displayed in dialogue using &day; and &year;. Documentation updated
*Updated some chapter dialogues
*Campaign nis command Diplomacy now has min and max attributes. Documentation updated
*Added 19 new loading screens
*Added support for higher resolutions (1680x1050 and 1920x1080)
*Implemented the new NIS command Setcon. Documentation updated
*Implemented the new NIS condition setcon. Documentation updated
*Implemented the new NIS attribute abs. Documentation updated
*Implemented the new NIS command Showdopt. Documentation updated
*Implemented the new NIS condition bonus#. Documentation updated
*Increased conditions per location limit to 16 (was 8)
*Fixed bug where PassTime command was not updating campaign panel
*Improved control panels visuals
*Barbarian racial synergy bonus nerfed. Damage reduced by half (increases over time)
*Improved neutral AI. No longer ignores close enemies
*AI now prioritizes Rare Mine conversion as it would with a level 3 ordinary mine
*Improved AI. Now less ignorant to close threats and no more interuptions
*AI cannot differ human from AI player. All sides are now treated fairly
*Spawning Goblins from Gobshooters can now happen during starvation as well
*Spawning Spiders from Eggs can now happen during starvation as well
*Fixed bug where Summon Sprite was spawning units in the corner of the map
*AI now continues fighting during defeat screen in single player mode
*Improved AI. Now no longer gets stuck in tight passages
*Improved AI. Now only uses Summoners, Ancient Wisps and Leprechauns for base defense
*Fixed bug where dialog soundtrack would become noise
*Added new item graphics
*Fixed some graphical glitches in the main menu
*Implemented the new language system
*Tough towers no longer have double damage and double combat
*Huge Dragon now has 5000 hp and can no longer level up
*Summoning Imps and Deamons is no longer restricted by army limit

TPC now has an official soundtrack in the works! Listen to 50 minute sample here: http://www.moddb.com/games/the-protectors/news/the-protectors-original-soundtrack

Wow.....

I'm out of words tod escribe this.

A thousands thanks to you guys for making this.

I really love this style of RTS (The new iterations like StarCraft II and Planetary Annihilation are way to cookiecutter for me).

Please keep up the good work.


PS: MAybe you could link to your official website in the opening post?

Version 0.8.4 was just released! Lots of improvements await us: http://www.moddb.com/games/the-protectors/news/the-protectors-version-084-full-now-available

Great mod. :) I really appreciate all the hardwork you have put into this. I was never able to play it before (due to resolution issues), but those are no longer a problem. Been having tons of fun playing!

Really amazing stuff, never thought anyone would revive this the way you have! when do you guys think you'll be able to expand the campaign?

We are preparing a new chapter for the upcoming release, but the campaign will not be unlocked until version 1.0

Looks nice, but its a bit ' one step forward two step backwards'

I do not like that you have just simply made same tiered units very close to each other in stats. It also looks like that the economic warfare is butchered now, because 'balance'.

If you want some 'balance', look at the unofficial patch.

But i still like it, kudos to you guys.

If you have more suggestions, join in the discussion at TPC forum: http://the-protectors.forumstopic.com/

Version 0.8.5 is out! Download: http://the-protectors.webs.com/apps/links/#beta_0.8.5
Changelog: http://www.moddb.com/games/the-protectors/features/changelog4

One of the most balanced and stable versions yet, version 0.8.5 brings a new chapter, custom campaigns, new units, side colors, new hero classes and skills, sound effects, AI improvements (including heroes seeking quests), vanilla bug fixes, new terrain and much, much more. It is by far the biggest and most significant update, as can be seen in the changelog provided.

Also rest assured the balancing has been changed and moreso resembles that from the unofficial patches - but better. It's definitely three steps forward now!

So um... TPC version 0.8.6 teaser video!
https://youtu.be/_M0_mW-p4II

And finally, version 0.8.6 has been released!
Download: http://www.moddb.com/games/the-protectors/news/the-protectors-version-086-full-now-available
Changelog: http://www.moddb.com/games/the-protectors/features/changelog-2