Multiplayer map: Balanced three-way free-for-all

[Invisible Philosopher]

Elvish Pillager actually made this map a while ago (called The Battle for the Castle of Wesmid), without officially posting it here, but with his support, I have made a scenario file for it, including descriptions in it (and changed the name to something better, with his agreement).

description="This is a three way free-for-all, but it does not suffer from some of the problems of others like it. It really is best to take the central castle and start invading your enemies; being cowardly or diplomatic won't help anyone much, because being offensive is the best strategy. This could thus be considered a 'king of the hill' map."

Code: Select all

objectives="
*Victory*:
Defeat enemy leaders
*Hint*:
It really is best to take the central castle
  (with your leader, preferably) and start
  invading your enemies, capturing villages.
(Because of this, and players mainly fighting in the middle,
diplomacy is not very effective on this three way map.)
*Reason for hint*:
It makes playing more fun.
It is good for you:
  You can capture more villages
  The enemies can't coordinate their attacks as well
  You have the good terrain of castle to defend from
  Your new recruits are immediately at the battle, so
    you may be able to overwhelm them before their
    reinforcements get to the battle.
It is bad for you if you don't:
  The enemies may fight each other, but they
    have income and one of them will start to
    win, capturing more villages. Then you have to
    fight someone who has almost twice your income.
  Also, if you don't invade the enemy, the enemy will
    invade you, taking your villages.
    Even if you take them back, you have lost some
    income. If you try to fully guard your shores
    with units, their upkeep will drain your income."

If people like it and find it as effective at promoting aggression over diplomacy as I think they will, perhaps it should be put in the official version of Wesnoth as a good 3-way map.

[scott]

This would be a great map for the water era. Do you mind if I modify and release it with the water mappack? I might add some swamp in the land areas just for fun.

[Elvish_Pillager]

This would be a great map for the water era. Do you mind if I modify and release it with the water mappack? I might add some swamp in the land areas just for fun.

Well, it would be a whole different map if you did that. Comments:

The Nagas would win, if they're balanced. All the villages are in land, which the Nagas are better at holding. There are no merman villages, so you'd need to put them in.

The central castle would be much less important. If you can get there, then you can recruit from the middle, but your units have lower defense there, so it's a somewhat suicidal position.

There would be an amazing potential for diplomacy. It's easy, when confined to the water, to invade either enemy on this map, making it easy to gang up on one.

I don't mind if you do it, though.

[scott]

I was going to use the swamp to make the land villages interesting - swamp around land villages, swamp around water/swamp villages, swamp villages surrounded by land, etc.

I agree the meaning of the central castle would change. Its strategic location for getting units to the fight would be counterbalanced by the terrain penalty. Should be fun to see who does better.

[Invisible Philosopher]

I agree the meaning of the central castle would change. Its strategic location for getting units to the fight would be counterbalanced by the terrain penalty. Should be fun to see who does better.

Turning the roads into water would make it more useful... Do as you like, though. And please play the original...