662 replies to this topic

[Devon]

That'd be interesting...unless of course you're being sarcastic.

You honestly couldn't tell? How lame would a mission like that be...


"Oh noes, I stubbed my toe!!!!!!!!!!!"

[Vithar-133]

That'd be interesting...unless of course you're being sarcastic.

You honestly couldn't tell? How lame would a mission like that be...


"Oh noes, I stubbed my toe!!!!!!!!!!!"

I kinda figured that you were being sarcastic, but I wasn't refering to your post. I was refering to the fact that a puzzle map would be interesting.

[{IP} Aridor]

Never be afraid to try something new and crazy.

[Puppeteer]

Unless it's new because it's so stupid, and crazy as in someone must be crazy to find that entertaining... in which case don't.

[Pasidon]

I don't think it's stupid. I do think it's retarded though. People don't play the game to think, they do it to thrash people's armys in.

[mike_]

Why God why do people think they can speak for everyone.

EDIT: Just fanning the flames here, people. Move along.

EDITZ: Fire in the morning, fire in the evening, fire at supper-time...

EDIDTAZ^3: Burn. You all burn the same.

Edited by mike_, 30 September 2008 - 09:33 PM.

[{IP} Aridor]

I play the game to think. It is like Chess.

[Fyro11]

Chess in real-time.

[Vithar-133]

With cooler peices and larger boards...

[Ed Of The 3rd Kind]

I like thinking games, but then again I'm of the old school where I like to build an economy, upgrade and fight. A slow mounting and a burst of all my forces out onto the battlefield. However most people are into the rush and crush which requires little to no tactics, that or own the fords/bridges - own the map.... I like sneaky games that last a long time and have varied attacks. I often think of it in terms of numbers and grids similar to battleships for some odd reason.

And more to the point - i like puzzle maps.

I had a thought for the Bree mission, if there is going to be one, that you have to navigate the hobbits through Bree and the Nazgul are looking for them, the radar could be disabled, or if it were possible that we could see the sight ranges in game and have a tactical espionage mission, get the Hobbits to Aragorn without them being seen by the Nazgul.

Edited by Ed Of The 3rd Kind, 03 October 2008 - 02:07 AM.

[rjorrin28]

It appears you and I have a very similar play style.
Get that army upgraded and there is nothing that can stand up to you.

[Puppeteer]

Another equally upgraded army could. Or, if you slowly build up, chances are they'll get the upgraded army first. Controlling the map is the key in most if not all games

[{IP} Aridor]

I like games where real tactics work. Where do things that the great generals did and have it work.

[Devon]

Axis and allies...

Rushing usually leads to a great, long, fun game, as long as both players rush and the skill difference isn't huge

[rjorrin28]

Well, I don't think anyone is n00b enough to sit in their castle the whole game, and let the enemy win.
I meant upgrade while killing the enemy resources.

[Scryer]

Over my vacation in a very warm place, I somehow managed to come up with a couple of ideas for the Ithilien missions in the Non-linear campaign . Now I know that the team has yet to do more work on the non-linear campaign (from what I know) but I'm going to throw my ideas in anyways because otherwise I will forget them. The Ithilien missions that I'm suggesting is not the "Northern Ithilien" mission that we know from the BFME 1 campaign. The missions that I'm going to be suggesting are Central Ithilien and Southern Ithilien.

Why: In BFME 1 I believe that either in the Good campaign, or the Evil campaign you could only fight in these regions as optional missions. Like they would be missions that you'd do before attacking Osgiliath/Minas Tirith or after you won the Minas Tirith mission. In my opinion EA did a very bad job of the optional missions because they all felt like they required you to do the same thing over and over again. My suggestions for these missions is to make them required missions in the campaign.

Another reason as to why I'd like to have these missions in is because in the Good BFME 1 campaign, they made a faction-switch after you won the Helm's Deep mission. By this, I mean that you couldn't play Gondor as you were playing Rohan from the beginning. To me, this made it feel that nothing was really happening in Gondor during the time that Rohan was defending against Isengard; which is not right as far as I know. So I believe that these missions would create a feeling that events were happening in Gondor and the other regions of Middle-Earth at the same time by giving the player to do missions in Gondor while they are also doing missions in Rohan.



Considerations:

-My idea is based on the fact that Faramir was patrolling the Ithilien regions before he met up with Frodo and Sam.

-As far as the lore goes, I'm not too sure on this. I mean, I've done some very quick checking on Thain's Book and the Encyclopedia of Arda to see what I could find and unfortunately I couldn't find any information (so far!) that contradicts or supports my ideas for the missions.

-Keep in mind that I wanted the Central Ithilien mission and the Southern Ithilien mission to be played in the same round. Remember: The Non-linear campaign (as far as I know) still uses the "Round/Turn" system that WOTR mode has.

-Each mission could have a limited population cap and/or a limited number of resources to start out with. My opinion on this is open to either limiting the player or not.

-*From what I've heard, any hero can lead an army. This was discusssed on this thread a little while ago and from my understanding, if you disbanded a hero (like Boromir) from an army they would have the ability to lead an army. So if you wanted, you can split your army if you had two heroes in your army. Therefore the Central Ithilien mission could be done by either Faramir or Damrod. The heroes that I used in my idea below, is what I would intend it to be.

*Like I've said before, the team (from what I know) hasn't worked on the Non-linear campaign stuff, therefore this hasn't been completed. I'm not even 100% sure if this is still being added in for the Non-linear campaign.

-For these missions, I'm assuming that the team would use the BFME 1 maps for the missions.

-I'm pretty sure that these missions would also be done after a Cair Andros mission. Iirc, Cair Andros was one of the first defences of Gondor to fall during the War of the Ring. Anyways, this means that you could start out the mission with some Swordsmen or not. Really doesn't matter because these missions should require lots of stealth anyways. Besides, you can just place them in the Northern Ithilien or the Osgiliath regions and they won't seem out of place.

-I'm also intending these missions as being missions where it doesn't matter whether or not you lose or win. The advantage to winning, is just having a better start for the other missions (in the long run). Like if you won both of the missions that I described, you'd start out with more Rangers in the Northern Ithilien mission. And with losing, you'd only have your hero to start out another mission with. Once again, an example would be only starting out with Faramir, Frodo, and Sam for the Northern Ithilien mission.


Southern Ithilien:

- Starts with Faramir and 3 groups of Rangers.
- There are three camps in a /_\ formation.
- The camp at the top (North) would be seperated by a river with Fords to cross it, as seen in the BFME 1 map of this. This would be a larger camp, more like a secret outpost for the Rangers of Gondor.
- The South Western/Eastern camps would be located below the river, hidden in some trees. They are camps, therefore they're smaller and very vulnerable.
- Any unit producing building can only produce Ithilien Infantry (a swordsmen unit that was suggested and talked about somewhere...), Ithilien Rangers, and possibly the Fire Arrows and Banners upgrades.
- When the mission starts, a timer starts before the first wave of Haradrim pass through. The first wave would include basic units like many soldiers, spearthrowers, spearmen, and archers.
- After you defeat the first wave, another timer starts for the second wave which would include more foot units plus a fair amount of horsemen, some FU.
- And lastly the third wave comes, which would include mounted units, ground units, Mumakil, and a hero or two (?) . Then another timer is started.
- Because the southern camps are small, it would almost be inevitable that one of them will get destroyed so you have to use your stealth wisely so that you don't lure the Haradrim to your camps. And of course they will be spreading out on the map, so they can walk by a camp if you don't kill them off.
- Your main objective is to survive until the final timer has ran out.



Central Ithilien:

- Starts with Damrod and a couple of Rangers (including some Ithilien Infantry (if they're added in) this time) in a camp in the western part of the map.
- Once again the only unit-producing buildings can only produce Ithilien Infantry and Ithilien Rangers.
- Your first objective is to assault and destroy a Haradrim camp in the Eastern part of the map.
- The Haradrim camp would consist of a Haradrim Palace, Stables, armoury, and towers/banners.
- After you destroy the camp, a timer appears (and possibly a cinematic happens) and your next objective is to get to the highlighed area in the Northern part of the map. The timer indicates that a huge force of Haradrim are about to pass through Central Ithilien. The force would obviously outnumber your forces, so you have to make a retreat north.
- When the player gets to the highlighted area, they get ambushed by a Mordor scouting force which would consistof Orcs, Morgul Orcs, a couple of trolls, maybe a hero (possibly a nazgul?) . A lot of units will be FU.
- After you kill the Mordor scouting force and after the Haradrim army arrives. Another (but short) timer will start.
- The timer will only last for a short time (like two minutes or something) and during those two minutes, you have to keep your forces alive/hidden from the Haradrim force that arrived on the map.

Edited by Scryer, 19 January 2009 - 03:56 AM.

[{IRS}Athos]

Awesome... sounds like a good idea for a mission!

[Rafv Nin IV]

I like these missions, but I don't think it's necessary for both of them to be in the non-linear campaign. I think the Central Ithilien (for the simple reason that it sounds more fun) ought to be included, but if the team puts too many extraneous missions in the non-linear campaign, then it may detract from the feeling of charting your own destiny and choosing who you want to fight what battles. Also, the non-linear campaign is supposed to go more by the movies, and thus I think ought to have a higher concentration of "big battles" than the lore-based linear campaign.

I think that both these missions should be included in the linear campaign.

[mike_]

The non-linear is basically f*ck all that's ever been said that happened, and the linear is planned-out missions - both Lore and film?

[Vithar-133]

If I understand what you've said:

Non-Linear is based on the movies with missions from BfME2. Starts in Moria and ends either in Mount Doom or the Shire.

Linear is lore based and starts with the Last Alliance and goes through the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. It involves stuff from both the movies and the books.


My one thousandth post. Yay.

Edited by Vithar Megilaglar, 04 January 2009 - 05:41 AM.