Let's Talk About Hickory Branch

Discussion in 'General Modification' started by Gaear, Mar 25, 2008.

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  1. BigLittleBoy

    BigLittleBoy Member

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    Gaear, will you bring back that nasty, powerful orc, armed with double(unholy?)axe? He was real scourge for my PCs, cause my party was low on levels. But finaly he failed will save against Charm Person. As my ally , he butchered remaining opposition almost by himself. I think he was wastly overpowered.
    Also, about Hickory Branch map environment. Since map is filled with orcs and their minions, maybe you should create some sings of their prolonged habitation - piles of rubish, fires, bones, skulls on stakes, dirty tents, kennels and cages to accommodate attack dogs, you know - standard orc related stuff("Waaaaaah" banner:aaaa:). I know it's foolish to give you such advice now, when map is almost done. But Hickory Branch v.3 is always possible.
     
    Last edited: Oct 11, 2008
    BigLittleBoy, Oct 11, 2008
    #181
  2. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    At this point, none of krunch's monsters will change in any way beyond slight positional alterations. Also, none will be removed, and none will be added. The battle aspect of it all should basically remain the same.

    Yeah, you never know what may change down the line, but all graphical apsects that I'm updating initially are already done. :)
     
    Gaear, Oct 13, 2008
    #182
  3. GuardianAngel82

    GuardianAngel82 Senior Member

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    I wonder if the old map, with minor alterarations, like changes in colors, moving or removing buildings or trees. Could be used in part or whole as a random encounter map. It could increase the variety of encounter maps or be used in hide and seek or large group encounters. Use white and grey for snow, or frost or browns and greys for a recent battlefield.

    This wouldn't be worth while if it required a lot of work. Maybe some noob could play with it. Is map work done in the world editor?
     
    GuardianAngel82, Oct 13, 2008
    #183
  4. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    Graphic work on maps should be done with a graphics application like Photoshop. Other technical stuff for maps - sectoring, etc. - is done with World Builder.

    The main thrust behind redoing HB in the first place was to do away with the old Diablo graphics krunch used, because they appeared dated compared to ToEE and because they shouted "Diablo!" when we should have been preserving the ToEE asthetic, so ... I wouldn't put too much effort into recycling them. That said, you could certainly look into modifying existing ToEE resources for other purposes. :)
     
    Gaear, Oct 13, 2008
    #184
  5. Emirkol the Chaotic

    Emirkol the Chaotic Proud Polytheist

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    Completed Hickory Branch for thie first time a few days ago. Missed out on other chances by taking the wrong quest route from Mona. :(

    Bravo on the design and challenge!! Fpund it to be COMPLETELY challenging even for a party of 8 7th levels. I can understand what Gaear was saying about th e Diablo-esque map graphichs, but I loved the nostalgia feel. Can't wait fopr the updates.

    BTW, who came up with the idea for a damage reduction, fiendish minotaur? I watched that SOB kill Ronald the Cleric, fully buffed, it just 3 consecutive hits. Loved it!! (that was almiost as bad as the Trader assassin constintly going after my mage!)
    Second try, I got lucky with Holy Smite and blinded him. Who's the badass now, huh?!

    Keep up the great work!
     
    Emirkol the Chaotic, Oct 15, 2008
    #185
  6. NLB03

    NLB03 Member

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    In playing HB last night I discovered an issue on the map. I am not sure if this is being address in the redo of HB or not.

    On the left side of the map just below where the Dire Boar encounter is there is a spot on the map that if a PC walks into he can't get out of it. The PC is basicly stucking moving in a space that is about 3 inches long on the screen and nothing you do can get him out of that little spot. Finally I had to have another PC run down and enter the Crypt which of coures pulled all the PCs in to free him from that spot. I duplicated this a few times just to make sure it was an issue.

    Love the encounters on HB, they are tough but with some tactical thought definitely winnable.
     
    NLB03, Oct 15, 2008
    #186
  7. Shiningted

    Shiningted I want my goat back Administrator

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    Ronald had it coming. Krunch did the map, the minotaur and the whole thing so he gets all the credit (or blame ;)) Personally I think the fights were very well spaced, I no sooner finished one than another got dragged right in, very much a long rolling combat rather than a series of unrelated encounters.

    Gaear's reworking of the map should take care of issues like that, NLB03.
     
    Shiningted, Oct 15, 2008
    #187
  8. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    HB has been resectored, so those sorts of issues will go away. :)

    [edit]

    NINJA! -_-
     
    Gaear, Oct 15, 2008
    #188
  9. Emirkol the Chaotic

    Emirkol the Chaotic Proud Polytheist

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    That's what I trulty enjoyed so much about HB, the non-stop action. This area SERIOUSLY drained all my healing and magic resources.

    If you could've asked my wife about some of the curses and groans coming out our office while I was playing through this mod, you be LOL!. Got REALLY used to saving after every single battle, no matter how small!
     
    Emirkol the Chaotic, Oct 15, 2008
    #189
  10. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    Interesting that the tactical considerations of HB have come up here ... in 2.0 I've been working most recently on restructuring just that, because I've found that krunch's original monster placements don't translate entirely well to the new map. (There are a variety of geographical differences - elevation, obstructons, etc. - that prevent it from being really feasable.)

    So, I'm trying to maintain the 'gauntlet' feel while rearranging things. The HB inhabitants will hopefully assume a uniform posture of defending the extemity of the map where the orc commander dwells.

    You will find that you enemies appear more regimented (ranks and formations) than before. This is deliberate, done to convey the feeling of moreso a quasi-military operation than just a bunch of orcs and gnolls standing around. I also plan to implement some type of compelling reason to attempt to do the whole thing at once - and hence up the risk ante - rather than allow players to go away and rest at leisure in the comfortable knowledge that their foes are patiently waiting back at HB to be slaughtered. This will probably (if I can figure out how) manifest itself in a rapid pullout by the powers that be if the player leaves the map, as opposed to reinforcements arriving or that sort of thing. Reinforcements are cool, but they would be finite, after all, and in the end the big dogs (with all theirt phat loot) would still end up waiting around to be killed. Instead, it will be something along the lines of if you don't go for the orc commander and his chest right now, he and all his gear and all the survivors will be gone in the morning.
     
    Last edited: Oct 15, 2008
    Gaear, Oct 15, 2008
    #190
  11. GuardianAngel82

    GuardianAngel82 Senior Member

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    Or you could put small groups of archers between the main groups so that meleeing one group triggers the archers and meleeing them triggers the next group and so forth. Make the archer groups too hard to engage at range, or have a runner trigger the following group. Interlocking fields of fire (being arrowed while meleeing) and running engagements. What could be more fun? :dead:
     
    GuardianAngel82, Oct 15, 2008
    #191
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