Staredit Network > Forums > SC1 Map Showcase > Topic: Co-op Campaigns
Co-op Campaigns
May 6 2009, 2:10 am
By: Aeschylus  

May 6 2009, 2:10 am Aeschylus Post #1



2-4 Player Cooperative Campaign. Play-balanced with 3 difficulty levels.

Each of these scenarios pits a team of players against a team of enemy AIs in a campaign style mission. The players must work together in order to overcome obstacles. The AIs are given many advantages which make these scenarios interesting and difficult.

In each of these scenarios, you begin with a single Dark Archon per player. You must take that Dark Archon to one of the 3 nearby beacons to select the difficulty level for the scenario. The difficulty levels are: 1 Master, 2 Skilled and 3 Normal. Master should challenge 3-4 master players, while Skilled should challenge 2-3 master players or 4 skilled players. Normal is a compstomp.



Once you select the difficulty of the scenario you will be given 3 drones, 3 SCVs and 3 probes and 2000 minerals. You must choose what race or races you are going to play. You have no starting Hatchery, Command Center or Nexus. Your first action should be to build one.

You are also given a You, (Hero Marine) if You dies, you lose.

You also have Ouruuk, (Overlord) he is your means for controlling the zerg. If you lose Ouruuk at any point, all of the Zerg units under your control will turn against you.

You also have Jana, (Ghost) and Kate (Medic). They are nonessential, but nice to have around.

Attached are 4 scenarios from the Galactic Empire Campaign. They are:

2.5 Fallback
2.6 Tribute
2.7 The Thing That Should Not Be
2.8 Until It Sleeps

2.5 Fallback is probably the most difficult of the group because it requires quite a bit of multi-tasking in the first 15 minutes. 2.6 Tribute is probably the most straightforward and easiest to complete. 2.7 The Thing That Should Not Be and 2.8 Until It Sleeps are difficult and the strategy to complete them takes time to figure out, however, I enjoy them more than 2.6 Tribute. Therefore, if you are confident, I recommend you play 2.7 The Thing That Should Not Be first, and 2.8 Until It Sleeps Second. If you are a little less confident in your team, try 2.6 Tribute first.

Specifics about each scenario follow:


2.5 Fallback



The most difficult of the Galactic Empire Series to date.

This is the only scenario with more than 3 difficulty settings. Because the first 15 minutes of this scenario are so tough I included 2 extra difficult settings. These are to be used only if you aren’t coordinated enough to multi-task to get a good start.

This scenario pits you against 4 entrenched Zerg AI.

You will start in the center of the map with your player allies. After a couple minutes zerg will start streaming from the corners of the map. This will seem like a defense map. It is not. You will need to defend the center of the map, but only so that you can establish a new base on the nearby islands. Your base in the center will be overrun. By the time it is overrun you need to have a strong base on an island. The longer you defend the center the stronger base you can build on the island. There are four islands, on per player, visible when you start the scenario.

To date 1 player has survived the initial 15 minute rushes. This was not the intent of the map, the intent is that you flee from the mainland to the islands. But if you survive the rushes, you may be in a better position going forward.

As with all the Galactic Empire scenarios both strategy and tactics are important. You may have to attempt this scenario several times to learn what strategies and tactics are most effective.


2.6 Tribute



The easiest Galactic Empire scenario to date.

This scenario pits you against 3 entrenched Zerg AI and one spawning Zerg AI.

You will start with your player allies in the Southwest corner of the map. There are enough minerals and gas initially visible for everyone to get a good foothold. But, don’t get too comfortable, this isn’t a money map.

As with all the Galactic Empire scenarios both strategy and tactics are important. You may have to attempt this scenario several times to learn what strategies and tactics are most effective.


2.7 The Thing That Should Not Be



If you are only going to play one Galactic Empire scenario, let it be this one.

This scenario pits you against 3 entrenched Zerg AI and one spawning Zerg AI.

You will start with your player allies in the Southwest corner of the map. There are enough minerals and gas initially visible for everyone to get a good foothold. But, don’t get too comfortable, this isn’t a money map.

One of the difficulties of this scenario is that space is very limited where you start. Use your space wisely and plan to expand.

Another challenge is the everspawning Doom Mutalisk. It will spawn early and regularly throughout the scenario. It is tough and should not be ignored.



As with all the Galactic Empire scenarios both strategy and tactics are important. You may have to attempt this scenario several times to learn what strategies and tactics are most effective.

2.8 Until It Sleeps




This scenario pits you against 3 entrenched Zerg AI and one spawning Zerg AI.

You will start with your player allies in the Southwest corner of the map. There are enough minerals and gas initially visible for everyone to get a good foothold. But, don’t get too comfortable, this isn’t a money map.

In this scenario you control the Doom Mutalisk. However, you only control it while it sleeps. When it’s rage grows too great it will awaken and turn on you. It will fight against you until it sleeps. You might kill the Doom Mutalisk for your safety, but if you do you will not be able to defeat the Invincible that wait for you. You can win without a living Doom Mutalisk, it is just harder.

As with all the Galactic Empire scenarios both strategy and tactics are important. You may have to attempt this scenario several times to learn what strategies and tactics are most effective.

Attachments:
2.5Fallback00.scx
Hits: 17 Size: 74.28kb
2.6Tribute00.scx
Hits: 14 Size: 58.67kb
2.7TheThing00.scx
Hits: 11 Size: 62.42kb
2.8Until00.scx
Hits: 10 Size: 224.53kb

Post has been edited 9 time(s), last time on Jun 2 2009, 3:13 am by Aeschylus.



None.

May 6 2009, 5:34 am LooKe Post #2



So is there somewhere to get the rest of the campaign? I'd love to try the whole thing out.



None.

May 6 2009, 5:48 am Excalibur Post #3

The sword and the faith

Your terrain is absolutely atrocious. Your resource placement and amount the same.




SEN Global Moderator and Resident Zealot
-------------------------
The sword and the faith.

:ex:
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May 6 2009, 4:44 pm Pr0nogo Post #4



Yeah, this was basic in the utmost sense. Try terraining differently, for one, and for two try making it difficult.




May 6 2009, 6:37 pm LooKe Post #5



Quote from name:Pronogo
Yeah, this was basic in the utmost sense. Try terraining differently, for one, and for two try making it difficult.
So it wasn't difficult either? I was looking for a 4 player campaign for me and my friends to play this weekend so I haven't tried it yet.
Quote from Excalibur
Your terrain is absolutely atrocious. Your resource placement and amount the same.
I wanted to say that, but I didn't want to "judge a book by its cover" sounds like i should have.



None.

May 7 2009, 2:26 am Aeschylus Post #6



Quote from Excalibur
Your terrain is absolutely atrocious. Your resource placement and amount the same.

I admit the terrain is visually boring. But I think you'll find the terrain functionally very interesting.

The mineral amounts I think are very reasonable for 2-4 players. Which mineral amounts do you think are off?



None.

May 7 2009, 2:28 am Aeschylus Post #7



Quote from name:Pronogo
Yeah, this was basic in the utmost sense. Try terraining differently, for one, and for two try making it difficult.

Which scenario did you find not difficult? How many players did you play with? Which difficulty setting did you play on?



None.

May 7 2009, 2:55 am Bronyaur Post #8



Quote
So it wasn't difficult either? I was looking for a 4 player campaign for me and my friends to play this weekend so I haven't tried it yet.

I wanted to say that, but I didn't want to "judge a book by its cover" sounds like i should have.

Hey man,

I'm a friend of the creators and I played all these maps. Don't discount it, they seemed plenty difficult to us (although we were playing on Master mode). Some of them took multiple tries. I'm not sure why someone said they aren't difficult. I guess if you are really amazing at Starcraft they might not be.

Also not sure why mineral amounts weren't good. They seemed pretty good to us (it would be nice to get more clarification). In fact on one map we had to execute our strategy pretty well to have enough minerals to win. If the problem is that you don't have enough minerals without expanding, well, you can always play on an easier difficulty.

The terrain is pretty basic, but who cares once you're in the game? You don't even notice.
I dunno, for me they were really fun, and I encouraged him to post these online (and believe me, if I didn't think they were worth your time I wouldn't say so).

Hope you try them out and have fun.



None.

May 7 2009, 2:29 pm Symmetry Post #9

Dungeon Master

Quote from Bronyaur
hy mineral amounts weren't good. They seemed pretty good to us (it would be nice to get more clarification). In fact on one map we had to execute our strategy pretty well to have enough minerals to win. If the problem is that you don't have enough minerals without expanding, well, you can always play on an easier difficulty.

There are too many minerals. You're never going to run out if every mineral patch contains 12000 minerals...



:voy: :jaff: :voy: :jaff:

May 7 2009, 11:30 pm Aeschylus Post #10



Quote from name:Killer_Kow
There are too many minerals. You're never going to run out if every mineral patch contains 12000 minerals...

You can only be referring to the initial mineral position on Fallback.

You will not be able to hold that position long enough to harvest a quarter of those minerals. The theme of that map is that you are driven from that initial position and must fallback to a secondary position.

If you can hold that center position, you deserve the minerals.

But, because I understand why this would discourage people from playing any of my scenarios, I have changed the mineral amounts.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on May 8 2009, 12:30 am by Aeschylus.



None.

May 8 2009, 6:42 pm Excalibur Post #11

The sword and the faith

Quote from Aeschylus
Quote from Excalibur
Your terrain is absolutely atrocious. Your resource placement and amount the same.

I admit the terrain is visually boring. But I think you'll find the terrain functionally very interesting.
I'm only going to find it appalling that you would release such trash. I wouldn't touch this campaign with a 10 foot pole and I advise everyone else to do the same.




SEN Global Moderator and Resident Zealot
-------------------------
The sword and the faith.

:ex:
Sector 12
My stream, live PC building and tech discussion.

May 8 2009, 6:59 pm Moose Post #12

We live in a society.

Can you be a bit nicer and constructive, Ex?
You're treating Aeschylus like shit and it's totally unwarranted.




May 8 2009, 7:06 pm Bronyaur Post #13



Quote from Excalibur
I'm only going to find it appalling that you would release such trash. I wouldn't touch this campaign with a 10 foot pole and I advise everyone else to do the same.

That seems kind of harsh man. I found these to be a good challenge. If you're looking for something fun for you and your mates I think this fits the bill. If you're looking for the next hall of fame campaign then maybe it falls short. But I think it was designed around being fun, not around winning accolades.

Frankly I'm surprised you still play starcraft if you put so much emphasis on how things look. As a long-time RTS player I found these maps quite enjoyable and don't see any glaring weaknesses apart from the bland terrain.



None.

May 9 2009, 12:01 am Arvendragon Post #14



Quote from Excalibur
I'm only going to find it appalling that you would release such trash. I wouldn't touch this campaign with a 10 foot pole and I advise everyone else to do the same.

Wow...
Way to put someone down.

But the terrain can definitely be improved:
-use varying tilesets
-doodads
-more terrain variation
-less open areas
-untaken expansions
etc.



None.

May 9 2009, 12:35 am BiOAtK Post #15



Actually, this is one of the nicest compliments to a map this poor that I've seen Ex ever say. And I'm serious D:



None.

May 9 2009, 12:43 pm Aeschylus Post #16



Arvendragon,

Thank you for your specific advice.



None.

May 9 2009, 1:59 pm Aeschylus Post #17



Excalibur specifically and others more generally,

In order to understand your comments I am making the following assumption. Please correct me if I am incorrect in my assumption.

I assume that you are rational players. As such you don't want to waste time on poorly made scenarios. To save time, you judge a scenario within the first minute, or based on the images in the post in which you find it. You assume that any developer that has not spent the time to do basic things to make the terrain aesthetically interesting must have failed in other areas. I understand, and can relate to this position.

However, your assumptions about the quality of this scenario are incorrect. I have spent a good deal of time designing these scenarios to force players to make interesting strategic and tactical decisions. As Bronyaur has stated, if you enjoy a cooperative starcraft challenge, then you will enjoy these scenarios.

For the sake of those who are willing to overlook the obvious aesthetic weakness of these scenarios, I ask that you would explicitly limit your criticism of my scenarios to that which you have experienced.

For example, I would not expect you to highly recommend a scenario based only on the first minute of it. Rather I would expect you to only recommend that portion that you have experienced.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on May 9 2009, 3:03 pm by Aeschylus.



None.

May 9 2009, 5:40 pm Arvendragon Post #18



Why is it that it is 2.5, 2.6, 2.7 and 2.8?

And is there a storyline? Some details would be nice.



None.

May 9 2009, 5:43 pm l)ark_ssj9kevin Post #19

Just here for the activity... well not really

I'd really suggest you just package all of your maps together and present them in one.



guy lifting weight (animated smiley):

O-IC
OI-C

"Oh, I see it"


May 9 2009, 6:39 pm Pr0nogo Post #20



Quote from Aeschylus
I assume that you are rational players. As such you don't want to waste time on poorly made scenarios.

Correct.

Quote from Aeschylus
To save time, you judge a scenario within the first minute, or based on the images in the post in which you find it. You assume that any developer that has not spent the time to do basic things to make the terrain aesthetically interesting must have failed in other areas. I understand, and can relate to this position.

Incorrect. I actually played it, and I found it too easy. The only challenging one was The Thing That Should Not Be, which had an enemy hero spawn. The reason it was easy was because I played with only one other person on the highest difficulty and I tech-ed up all of my races. You need to make the players have ONE race, or else everything is bullshit easy.

Quote from Aeschylus
However, your assumptions about the quality of this scenario are incorrect. I have spent a good deal of time designing these scenarios to force players to make interesting strategic and tactical decisions. As Bronyaur has stated, if you enjoy a cooperative StarCraft challenge, then you will enjoy these scenarios.

I enjoyed these because I was laughing my ass off throughout all of the maps. Honestly, this isn't a "campaign." There's no apparent storyline. All you're doing is telling us to kill some "renegade Zerg" or whatever.



Quote from Aeschylus
For the sake of those who are willing to overlook the obvious aesthetic weakness of these scenarios, I ask that you would explicitly limit your criticism of my scenarios to that which you have experienced.

That's not going to happen...
I played all four. I wish I hadn't.


Quote from Aeschylus
For example, I would not expect you to highly recommend a scenario based only on the first minute of it. Rather I would expect you to only recommend that portion that you have experienced.

I played these through and honestly, the only way I would recommend these things is if you either A.) bribed me or B.) held me up at gunpoint.

CHEERS!




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