mjace downloads

[mjace72]

This is where I'll be releasing downloads as they come so that's why this topic is here and not in maps, though my first download is a map.
I was looking to create a good war map and it's an.mgm map because there aren't enough of them.
It's simplicity is used in hopes of maximizing battles and the abundance of resources is also to aid in the development of large scale battles.  In keeping with these ideas, I've not included things like paths, where troops get tied up, pinned or just unable to get to the battles.  I tried to design the map to bring battles to the middle, using the water as an obstruction and advantage to those that can.
I have tested it with 7 megas, all on the same team just to check and each was building, harvesting, and mining so I'm happy with that.  I have yet to test in a battle game but wanted to share something with you all.
I'm not sure what the majority of you look for in a map but for me, a decent sized base, and land to do battle are the most important, while importance of objects falls behind in terms of importance for me, but I did randomly add various objects.
The key is for you, or a human player to be player1 or 0 depending on how you count it.  There is no advantage there as I distributed resources evenly but it's the placement of the starting point that could block up the computer but not myself and seeing as I play as player 1, it's just how the map was made.  I hope you enjoy it and welcome all feedback. 

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http://www.filefront.com/16494437/warland.zip/

[ElimiNator]

Downloading now, will get back to you. 

[mjace72]

cool

[ultifd]

Cool.
Downloaded, and will test later, thanks 

[mjace72]

You're welcome.  I ran a game and will say a couple glitches came up early.  I had Indians in the player 2 slot(middle top) and they wouldn't leave the base, kept getting lined up at the top right of their base.  I hate having to baby the computer AI with everything I do.  I moved the starting spot with no luck.  Moving around the water(ignoring bridges) happens but it seems to clear during battles.  If I alter any more I'll rerelease it but for now, watch the player2 spot and edit the starting location or move the player 1 starting spot back more to the treeline so the computer can harvest and start yourself in the player2 slot.  The other 6 megas had no problem exiting their bases.
The game was the longest I ever played with more than 2 teams remaining.  Well after the time it usually comes down to me and the last mega, there were still 4 megas going at it with me so that's a plus.
I may leave it as is because I have ideas on another, similar setup(base positioning) but a different center.

[ultifd]

Well...I tried it, and I had some fun... 

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[URL=http://img707.imageshack.us/i/ss67.jpg/][IMG]http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/4015/ss67.th.jpg[/img][/URL]I won...but it kinda took a long time... 
Using Egyptians...is kinda hectic... 

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[URL=http://img571.imageshack.us/i/ss65.jpg/][IMG]http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/8633/ss65.th.jpg[/img][/URL] [URL=http://img708.imageshack.us/i/ss64.jpg/][IMG]http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/5096/ss64.th.jpg[/img][/URL] [URL=http://img16.imageshack.us/i/ss63g.jpg/][IMG]http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/9554/ss63g.th.jpg[/img][/URL] [URL=http://img291.imageshack.us/i/ss62.jpg/][IMG]http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/8904/ss62.th.jpg[/img][/URL]I recorded some parts...so here if you want to see...not too many of the nice parts though... 

Overall...pretty nice map 
I had fog of war on...so...I did not really see how the AI went...not much... 
Thanks. 

[mjace72]

cool, thanks for the videos.  I made a similar map but with a different center but could not get player2 to exit their base no matter what I did so I scrapped that idea even though I had several good games on it.
I'm currently working on what I hope will be a great map.  I did the map in 128x128 and it plays well but too many negatives and then I saw that the same concept would work much better in the 256x256 size.
I had no intention of making a 256 map.  I like the idea of the 256x256 map but find with each game, it becomes overwhelming and very time consuming.  I'm trying something new with this map, loading and testing it as I go which takes time but this project is something I'm not going to rush.  It's another 8 player megamap.  It's sorta an island/waterworld map but not.  The concept is one large land mass/continent/country that was ripped apart.  I'm surprisingly happy at the first test runs as all computer teams exit the base and move unrestricted between bases, something I hadn't achieved this good in previous maps.  The 4 bases to the right side are not connected but the road that runs through each shows at one time it was.  I've also tried to present this connection with the middle connecting land masses.  The lands won't fit together exactly and through the process of erosion, it wouldn't be realistic if they did but enough things on the map will help to present the idea it was once one land mass.
It doesn't feel like a 256x256 map which I think a positive.  The bases will be large and like the previous one, resources will remain in them which means more resources there and less about the map.
I'll be putting a lot of time into this map and hope to release it next week.  I'm looking to put out a map that is worthy to include in future megaglest releases so I will be working on eliminating as much computer AI problems as I can.
This map will be a better playable one than warland so if anyone downloaded that one and wasn't happy with it, give this next one a try.

[ultifd]

Thanks 
Cool, kinda big though huh? 
Well, can't wait for your next one   
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Don't forget your other "mods" though... 
Thanks.

[mjace72]

The 256 map started strong, plenty of movement by all megas but I found as the game wound down to several opponents I could do nothing to prevent the unit stacking and lack of movement.  It's a good design but too many flaws caused me to put it on hold.  I do agree the 256 maps are just too big.  I did say I'd release something this week and will not disappoint.  This new map is great.  It's a 128x128 and is meant to be a 4 vs. 4 map(players0-3 against players 4-7) because I've seen an interest in that type.  There were ideas I had while making the 256 map that I wanted to try along with some new ones.  The idea was to place the map within what is considered a vast prison land, which explains the wall around the map, made unwalkable to keep with the no way out prison feel.  I still believe simplicity is the best route to a playable map with the computer AI.  The lack of objects around the bases allow for plenty of building and after several games, have seen no problem with troop movement.  I have yet to assemble my own team to beat the computer team, no matter what combination I use but I don't see this as a flaw with the map.  I do like the way the other 3 teammates will swarm to the 4th(when under attack).  I find this one to be complete now and hope it's enjoyable for you.  I had problems zipping it but it's only an mgm file and not that big so I uploaded it directly.

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http://www.filefront.com/16541857/battlegrounds.mgm
As for my custom factions, if Titi reads this, and gives his permission, I believe I will only need the woodsmen and romans beta creators.  The Dominators work but the upgrades don't.  This is something I still haven't figured out.  It's still playable but most of the upgrades become meaningless as the rewards for them are already available.

[ultifd]

I see. Well...you will still upload it right? 
As for the battlegrounds map, I tried it...Cool. 
Main part of the battle was in the middle... 

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[URL=http://img534.imageshack.us/i/ss88e.jpg/][IMG]http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/2205/ss88e.th.jpg[/img][/URL](BTW, I had fog of war on, it is just now that fog of war is auto turnned on if you win or lose a game, which  can be a problem in multiplayer games... )
I had good defense...if the CPU(s) somehow got to my base...

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[URL=http://img85.imageshack.us/i/ss90.jpg/][IMG]http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/1661/ss90.th.jpg[/img][/URL]But I won anyways...not after a few times battling it out though...only normal CPU(s) no point for me in testing in mega CPUs...for now. (maybe it's OK, but it takes a long time and I have some stuff to do...)

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[URL=http://img38.imageshack.us/i/ss86.jpg/][IMG]http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/2732/ss86.th.jpg[/img][/URL] [URL=http://img52.imageshack.us/i/ss85.jpg/][IMG]http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/4764/ss85.th.jpg[/img][/URL]So basically battlegrounds is good...  AI does/can have some problems though... 

Thanks...

As for my custom factions, if Titi reads this, and gives his permission, I believe I will only need the woodsmen and romans beta creators. 

Just PM them...  you can PM the same message... 
Romans beta...(oh wait Eliminator just updated them, you might want to PM him for a seperate link...)
https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?action=pm;sa=send;u=5916 ELiminator
https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?action=pm;sa=send;u=5758 Archmage
(Links are for separate PMing...or...well your choice)

woodsmen
https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?action=pm;sa=send;u=5678 madmanntis

others...
https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?action=pm;sa=send;u=1463 titi

The Dominators work but the upgrades don't.  This is something I still haven't figured out.  It's still playable but most of the upgrades become meaningless as the rewards for them are already available

well, what factions are included in it?  hmm...
thanks and good luck 

[mjace72]

Glad you enjoyed the map.  Do you know who to contact to get the maps I make on more than just this forum?  Maybe the glest site itself.
The Dominators use Indians, Romans_Beta, and others that I can't think of, Persia and Magic buildings are in it.  It's just the Persian swordman, the few Indians, and the turtle formation are able to be produced before researching the proper upgrades so this is why the upgrades don't work properly.
I'm staying with Romans_Beta because I believe Eliminator said something about the new release not being as strong as the beta and I like the unbalance in my enemies.
If you use Battlegrounds, put Egypt and Persia on the opposite team(megas)  They make for an insane opponent and seems even if you use 3 other teammates against them while only giving them one more making it a 4 on 3 match, but seemingly even.  I played as my high order with a dark indian, romans beta, and indians against persia, egypt and tech and it seemed an even match, though time restricitos prevented me from finishing the game.
I'm releasing a pack of 4 maps because they are good for using with human opponents and computer(but with some problems, not unseen on other maps I've played)
Dead Zone is the one sort of like my first release, Warland.  Continental Crush is the original 128 map I made, cc256 is the 256 version and cc2562 is the same but with the unwalkable objects throughout the water.  I did notice better play on the 2562 than the 256 but toward the end, it still becomes difficult on the computer AI.

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http://www.filefront.com/16550523/mjace-mappack1.zip/

[ultifd]

First, thanks for the map pack, will download and test later 
I see, well your choice...about the romans...
I'll see whats the difference.

If you use Battlegrounds, put Egypt and Persia on the opposite team(megas)  They make for an insane opponent and seems even if you use 3 other teammates against them while only giving them one more making it a 4 on 3 match, but seemingly even.  I played as my high order with a dark indian, romans beta, and indians against persia, egypt and tech and it seemed an even match, though time restricitos prevented me from finishing the game.

I see, maybe I'll try that...thanks

The Dominators use Indians, Romans_Beta, and others that I can't think of, Persia and Magic buildings are in it.  It's just the Persian swordman, the few Indians, and the turtle formation are able to be produced before researching the proper upgrades so this is why the upgrades don't work properly.

I see, well, the day you'll upload it...I'll test it and give my opinion.   

Thanks.

[mjace72]

Who's permission would I need for the Magic and Tech factions?

[ultifd]

Who's permission would I need for the Magic and Tech factions?

Well...basically the glest team made them...
but people have "modded" magitech before...
I think usually they just give credit, as the glest team is usually busy,
(they still visit the community like at least once a month, some once a week or so...)  
EDIT: on the cc256 and the similar map, it seems the AI might have some trouble...very slim pathways...
is that supposed to be a free for all map, any recommended...preferences and such? 

[John.d.h]

Who's permission would I need for the Magic and Tech factions?

The Glest Team has stated before that anyone can use them as long as they give credit to the Glest Team and they remain free... so basically, CC-By-SA.

[mjace72]

The AI does have trouble on the 256 map.  It was supposed to be an 8 player map and the middle teams move about but if the game winds down to players 0 and 8 or even 1 and 7, the computer gets in trouble.  I put the powerhouse factions in the middle(Egypt, Persia) to help avoid this finale.  It would make a good map for all human players. 
I have all permissions I need and will post a custom mod faction link shortly.

[mjace72]

I decided to release Evil, Inc first.  Remember there are no new units in it, just a combo of other people's factions but this one, I made up all my own names for units and upgrades.  My custom mods were originally made to be computer opponents.

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http://www.filefront.com/16559735/evil_inc.zip

[ultifd]

I see, well, someday...later I'll test that big map... 
Evil Inc:
Cool, fun, but somewhat unbalanced...but probably not if I will see your other "mods"... 
I mean... the "allyip" is already too strong...oh well at least you made it more expensive...(likewise to most of the other units) but once you have plenty of resources, even that doesn't matter... 
and when the "worker" can be change to the "dark mage" so fast...(substitute names) and the upgrades...(too expensive at first?  ) Anyways...

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[URL=http://img245.imageshack.us/i/ss92.jpg/][IMG]http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/7079/ss92.th.jpg[/img][/URL] I tried out your Continental Crush map...it was OK, but I think it was hard to navigate for the CPU(s) and me...at least for land units  (the CPU(s) never send out air units in anycases usually...(in any MOD I mean...))
But still fun and such...so thanks.

---
About uploading your "mod(s)" use 7z instead of ZIP when compressing please, it is better for you when uploading, and better for others when downloading...thanks 
http://www.7-zip.org/

[mjace72]

cool, thanks for trying my stuff out.  The big map is only a bigger version of continental crush so you may not like that one.
Those 4 maps are flawed in terms of the computer AI and released them more for other players to use, if they wanted more choices in 8 player maps.  I'll be working on better AI friendly maps in the future but wanted to release those other maps so my slate is now clean.
I'd been playing Dark Magic against Mega Egypt, Romans, and Persia and once you get past the initial surges I found using Dark Magic became too easy.  The problem is I like Dark Magic so Evil, Inc was an attempt to give me a more worthy opponent when I use Dark Magic which is why it's unbalanced.  Play a one on one mega match, use Tech and play against Egypt, Romans, Persia, even Indians and you'll see unbalance in all of them.  I have been trying different combos(like myself and a mega teammate against a mega Egypt and an ultra persia, or 2 megas, myself, and an ultra vs 4 ultras.  In this way you can achieve better balance in gameplay.  It's odd that Dark Magic consistently gets wiped out by either Persia or Egypt when I allow the computer to use Dark Magic.
I wanted an upgrade before allowing the worker to morph to the mage but the dark mage only requires the sorcery runes in Dark Magic and not an upgrade and I can't seem to get this to work with units that don't require upgrades.  I've tried various things with the xml with no luck.  I have 7zip but haven't reinstalled it since I reformatted so I'll do that now and will be posting creature clan this morning.

[mjace72]

Here's another of my customized factions.  Makes for a good mega opponent.

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http://www.filefront.com/16563679/creature-clan.7z/

[ultifd]

I see.   
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OK, I tried your dead zone map, and the creature clan...
somewhat similar to evil inc...and not...
So basically I mainly produced imps, gargoyls, and genies..
imps cause they are fast and good in numbers...also scouts
gargoyls...because they are good in numbers and hold against a good number of attacks...(by the summoner)
and genies to be behind the gargoyls and against the evil dragons...
once again...kinda expensive the upgrades... 
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basically this faction can be weaker or stronger than evil inc...evil inc is strong because you can just promote your "workers" to dark mages...and once you have the upgrades you just produce "alliyps" and "evil dragons"...(which the dragons from evil inc is stronger than creature clan)...(replace "___" with actual names...)
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So the map was OK...can't say too much about it, besides one bad thing is when you put resources in a "box"...  "rectangle"?  anyways, it can cause unit stacking...usually workers. (when there are like trees and such...)

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[URL=http://img532.imageshack.us/i/ss94.jpg/][IMG]http://img532.imageshack.us/img532/5803/ss94.jpg[/img][/URL] [URL=http://img294.imageshack.us/i/ss93.jpg/][IMG]http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/635/ss93.th.jpg[/img][/URL]
thanks  cool...and fun

[mjace72]

I haven't seen the unit stacking on the maps.  I try to space the resource blocks but it would be nice to be able to place them a bit further away and allow the AI to find them.  They seem to be able to find the second resource pile as the game progresses.  I've seen the computer harvest across the entire map but if that first pile isn't close enough, they do nothing.  I ran test games in fast speed on most maps I make and the mega computer always is able to build huge bases and not get blocked in.  I made a great teammate map(2vs2vs2vs2) and have used it several times now with no problem.  I still haven't come up with a name for it so will upload it when I do.  I'm uploading dominators now and will post it here very shortly.
The upgrades are expensive because my custom mods are made to be opponents and with the advantage mega has, I figured making the upgrades expensive will allow me time to get a decent start.
The worker to mage is a flaw because I couldn't get an upgrade to work.

[ultifd]

I haven't seen the unit stacking on the maps.  I try to space the resource blocks but it would be nice to be able to place them a bit further away and allow the AI to find them.  They seem to be able to find the second resource pile as the game progresses.  I've seen the computer harvest across the entire map but if that first pile isn't close enough, they do nothing.  I ran test games in fast speed on most maps I make and the mega computer always is able to build huge bases and not get blocked in.  I made a great teammate map(2vs2vs2vs2) and have used it several times now with no problem.  I still haven't come up with a name for it so will upload it when I do.  I'm uploading dominators now and will post it here very shortly.
The upgrades are expensive because my custom mods are made to be opponents and with the advantage mega has, I figured making the upgrades expensive will allow me time to get a decent start.

I see, I see. Cool.

The worker to mage is a flaw because I couldn't get an upgrade to work.

Oh, so that's why... 

[mjace72]

alright, here's the Dominators.  I wanted a faction with plenty of troops and buildings.  I made another custom this morning, similar to Dominators and it's working great, computer producing massive armies with it.  I may release that one too but for now,

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http://www.filefront.com/16592493/dominators.7z
I'm going to upload Dark Indians now as well while I have the time.

[mjace72]

Here's the Dark Indians.  This was my first custom faction.  I use this one the most unlike my other factions that are made as opponents.

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http://www.filefront.com/16592665/dark_indian.7z