Well its week 2 of our new tradition and we've already broken our promise of supplying 3 screenshots a week and some developer insight. This week we have 6 screenshots and an in-depth look at an upcoming map, hopefully you can forgive us!
Don't forget This week's Question of the Week: Do you Enjoy the Current Pace of the Game?
This update will focus around a map some of the hardcore fans might remember: aoc_westerlyn. It was released in a previous version but pulled when various problems arose. It's been revamped and is planned to be released again in CR1. The map is focused on in-town fighting, with battles taking place on the streets, amidst buildings and houses.
The Mason Order is raiding Westerlyn in the middle of the night and the Agathians lost control of the walls before they even knew what was going on. Now they must rally up the town guard and defenders to hold off the mason order until re-enforcements can arrive. There are three capturable locations in the map and all will be fought over at the same time (think Battlefield capture style).
The Blacksmith, The TownSquare and The Tavern. The team that controls the Townsquare will spawn in the middle, a huge advantage in this map. To win, the Agathian knights need only stop the Masons from controlling all of these points at the same time for the time limit. However if the Mason order is successful in capturing all three points, the city will set onfire, rooftops will blaze and peasants will scream and beg for their lives. The objectives then center back around the townsquare, where a set of gallows will determine the final outcome of the map.
After the Mason order captures the city, a peasant will spawn at the gallows ready to be hung, to hang him it is as simple as pulling a lever. The peasant will then be dropped as the wood below him snaps down, for the next 30 seconds his life hangs in the balance, the Agathian Knights may cut the rope in this timeframe and save his life while the Mason order tries to ensure the peasant hangs to the bitter end. Either way, 30 seconds after the first peasant's fate is decided another peasant will spawn.
If the Mason Order can capture the 3 points in the city and finish the hanging process in under 30 mins they will win the map. The Agathians gain benefits by saving the hanging peasants in reducing the time it takes to defend the city. So even if the Mason order takes the city, if the Agathians can save enough peasants to make the difference, they will win the map. Each peasant saved reduces the re-enforcement time by just over 3 mins. Thus if they save all 3 peasants, they can make up about 10 mins of time in failed defense, so the final objective is imperative for both teams.
To make up for these odds, and to represent the element of surprise the Mason Order will be able to capture the points faster than the Agathians.
The city of Westerlyn has been a proud Agathian Stronghold for years, it is one of the few towns that escaped take over from the Masons while the Agathians were away on the crusade. Will this legendary city now fall into darkness? Or shall it remain a beacon of light, defiantly defended in the face of peril? Only those who take up arms and march to battle will have a say in the outcome, don't let your chance for glory slip away.
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Stay tuned next week when we take an in-depth look at a never before seen map set to release in CR1
Tibberius Bane - Age of Chivalry Marketing Coordinator
www.age-of-chivalry.com
**NOTE**
A small balance and bugfix was released late last night(early this morning for euros), check out the full update log on 1.2.2.
Liking the way it's starting to look, keep it up guys.
I'm so glad to see this map back in AoC. Excellent work.
Nice map, has a good atmosphere to it
if at least they would understand the word "BALANCE"...
What? The Balance is bad? I'm sorry, but if you keep dying it's most likely because you are not very good.
The maps have been tested,and re tested, and re tested a gazillion times!
balance is bad:
- archer class is overpowered, with a bit skill you can kill as many as you want (the fastest run speed, the fastest attack speed with sword, with good ranged weapons...)
- halbeard is also overpowered (and the animation doesnt match the moment it does the damage)
Have you played the most recent update? (Was released last thursday the 13th of Nov.)
I wish the number of combatants was increased to lend a more 'epic' feel to these maps. Are there any plans for players to eg. each lead a team of bots drawn from a an army pool to replenish on respawn or something? Are bots out of the question? Thx for the update.
This is being looked into, however it should be noted that anything like this may increase server load dramatically, so we'll have to see whats best in the end i suppose.