Latest Version: Helms Deep Annatar East 8.7.scx10.5 Authors: Annatar, Conquest_W_4H, with help from BFFL
East Authors: TheNitesWhoSay (jjf28/Rs_yes-im4real), KHD-Gwor, with help from KHD-Clown
Description: Helms Deep 10.5/East is a very popular LOTR map integrating parts from the book, movie, and adaptions for SC. Annatar East is basically 10.51 with Helpful features, it was built off 10.51, somewhat inspired by 1.3x, and a reaction to the threat of Random Heroes.
East continues the perfectionist spirit of Annatar 10.51 and adds olny what will improve gameplay...
The list below is not comprehensive, but it is close.
List of changes 10.51 to East
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- Automatic Balancers for games that aren't filled - Ability to claim armies that leave the game - Hotkeyable & instant Evil Massers - Hero Giver to allow dead heroes to continue to play - Improvement of 1v1 Gameplay (white hall-bunkers/turrets, accurate balancers, removing Drain Gates) - Desync Banners (removes hackers and laggers quickly) - Hero Claiming (for afk heroes) - Slightly easier setup for p7 - Removed gates completly when destroyed (easier to see terrain) - Made Terrain distinct when entering stairways - Ability for "skinny" units to fit between all bunkers and the Great Hall - Mission Objectives Teaching system (for inexperianced players) - Reduction of sprite and unit count - Fixing the few errors in 10.51 - Ability to tank the Caves from the back gate - Glitch that would cause an unnecesary gate to block 3 (when p8 dropped or left in first second) - Inconsitancy where olny some bunkers would allow ghosts to pass - Swarm Glitch Refund to fix perhaps the biggest problem in Helms (both for firelag & CCMU) The game itself is very old and posseses a history...
History of the version
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For years Helms Deep Annatar 10.51 dominated the playing field, versions like 1.3x and such were released, but USEast remained relatively immune to such maps.
Under the direction of the Pros of KHD and 4H public skill would only continue to grow. The best players of the map would mainly play private games where we would be able to play great games.
As a joke, HBN (one of the few pro non-KHD's/4H's) built a map where heroes were assigned randomly, for private play; This was all well and good, but an unknown player among us hosted it public, and it was a unfortunate hit with the pubs. Nib- expanded on the concept, his mapmaking skills were very poor, creating bad looks, placement, and especially balance... and without respect for the input of the pros, his version decimated the skills of the public, and alienated the better players of the map. At the same time, several pros began playing on west, version 1.3x, the version had poor balance and game play of lesser quality - the supposed balance was created by giving each side very strong units that enabled teams to kill each other�s heroes quickly, reducing the need for micro and creativity, not to mention the specials that enabled heroes to take ridiculous risks and removed the need for their attentiveness.
So public games were no longer teaching players to get better, and those that were "pro" were either playing on west, or begrudgingly playing RH, each day getting closer to quitting (and indeed many did).
One day, when we finally gathered enough players to play a few private games again, KHD-Gwor began an informal meeting on what to do for the future, I (Rs_yes-im4real) attended. It was decided that we would add features, the likes of those in 1.3x to 10.51 in order to get public players to begin playing a legitimate version again. Gwor wanted a mapmaker within his clan to be the main creator, but no one was so able. So he accepted me as the author.
With Gwor and KHD-Clowns help, we hammered out the first versions of our map, soon renamed Annatar East, to include the name of its original creator (Annatar), and the Realm of the Pros it represented.
In time the map caught on, and most decent public players began to play it, allowing the pros to once again play a public game they would enjoy - increasing their activity on battle.net, increasing the skills of all players, and training more people to play well enough to join in private games.
This map has been heavily scrutinized by the pros, every change and feature had to be conducive to both new and old players, and game play shouldn't be significantly changed as that would upset the perfect balance we felt. So as time went on I learned more and more of Mapmaking and reached the level off point of the map - where almost nothing more can be done without either increasing the memory burden (lag) or changing the game play - which has to be a slow process in a game with such an integrated base of players.
Each new version makes the old ones seem, obsolete, and for good reasons...
Version Log
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Yeah... used first #'s too quickly
Classics
10.5 - created long ago by Annatar, balance worked on by Conquest_W_4H (aka Castle) aided by BFFL (a name to which several players place claim!), basis of contemporary helms Annatar maps
10.51 - single edit allowed tanks to spawn first, preventing CCMU of tank spawns
East
10.6x - First attempt at a hero giver, used far too many units, looked poor, displaced traditional banners, hotkey able massers , evil banners accident waiting to happen
10.7x - Amount of units much reduced, evil banners made safe, still used unnecessary amounts of units, unable to cope with inability to use terrain changes (that would change pathing, even when not changing in area near the path).
East - thought to be finished, still poor looking terrain on edited parts, unnecessary units still used
East 2 - Successfully replaced unnecessary units with terrain
East 3 - Terrain revamped, hero giver rebuilt from scratch
East 4 - Hero giver again rebuilt, was completely air based
East 5 - Used Reavers instead of civs for gate operators (unpopular, later removed)
East 6 - Hero giver rebuilt into terrain, simpler for people new to it to use, terrain relatively poor looking
East 7 - Tanks all moved to hall (later removed), some medics, marines, ghosts removed in attempt to prevent CCMU
East 8 Beta Series - Here is where the map became serious, terrain all had to be flush and good looking, systems had to be simplistic and effective
Lost maps - between East 7 and East 8B2 many changes were made, some things didn't work and others were incomplete until 8B2...
East 8B2 - Included ability for blue to close back gate, hall bunkers and turrets made white (and disabled so white can�t get ghosts out), all original units added back in, white goliaths moved to keep, 8 compensation ghosts from hall bunkers put in keep, evil massers made into shuttles, to ban you unloaded a unit, unit could have up to paragraph description, minimal units used for every feature, hero giver only used units when active, mission objective teaching system, some small errors remained
East 8B3 - First pass at an evil army claiming system
East 8B4 - improvement of claiming system, many triggers condensed, first pass at Haldir claiming
East 8B5 - Overhaul of evil systems (triggers previously in force 3 were filtered and shared between players 4, 6, and 8
East 8B6 - Trigger condensing, text cleanup, error fixing, fixed major glitch where the Beta (alt-code) symbol in the name prevented some players from downloading the map
East 8B7 - Complete overhaul of Switches and variables, switches were now only used for things appropriately true/false, death variables now used for all things that apply to more than one player or required multiple values
East 8B8 - resorted all variables (previously all over the place) into Zerg Buildings, and Zerg air units (neither of which are used in this map at all)
East 8-2 - (Due to the fact that "1" in the skewed black font looked bad, skipped to "2"), Desyncs banned players, First pass at Swarm Glitch refunding
East 8-3 - Correctly completed Swarm Glitch refunding (a major upgrade for the pros), fixed Haldir claiming errors
East 8-4 - All comparisons possible turned to "Exact", more work on Swarm Glitch refunding - reduced the 77 trigger system to 36 (so many b/c it has to read different memories based on players in game), reduced and condensed more triggers, Finished Haldir Claiming
The project is nearing its close, but their are tasks still left to do.
What�s left to do?
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Could use help with Mac Text banners and Mac Protection, and if possible, an alternate way to detect swarm glitches (rather then the expensive monitering of energy)
- Finish the Mission Objectives System (teaches new players how to play the game)
- Reduce the amount of triggers used to refund Swarm Glitches (Find new detection method) (33 triggers)
- Find a way to protect Mac players from Swarm Glitch EUD's (ideally disables the triggers since it is a 33 trigger system)
- Remove all unnecessary or redundant triggers; make sure triggers only apply to players needed
- Decrease download time
- Final clean up (un-name locations, un-name variables, remove comments, rename East 9 or East (no version #), possible protection)
Replays: Full Game,
Full Game2,
Full Game3,
Full Game4,
Full Game 5,
Full Game 6,
Tanking HallDownload the latest version here...Helms Deep Annatar East 8.7.scxHelms Deep Annatar East 8.4.scxHelms Deep v. Annatar East7.scx
Post has been edited 25 time(s), last time on Sep 18 2020, 10:14 pm by jjf28.
TheNitesWhoSay - Clan Aura -
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