The Fortress of Dol Guldur. Few dared go there. Fewer still ever made it out. A twisting net of dark halls, crumbling steps, and ruined towers. It is home to the Necromancer and his servants, both living and dead. From its pits spread the foul blight that corrupted the majesty of Greenwood the Great.
When Battle for Middle-earth II was first released, it came with several fortress maps - including one representing Dol Guldur. While developing our Dol Guldur faction, we decided that this map did not suit our vision for what a Dol Guldur fortress map should be like. So we started from scratch!
But this map isn't quite like other fortress maps. Because Dol Guldur doesn't have a gate. Instead, its passageways are lined with a great many defensive plots, which turns the siege and defense of this map into an exciting mix of RTS and Tower Defense gameplay.
The attacking player must attempt to advance through Dol Guldur's dangerous dungeons - through one or several entrances into the fortress - destroying towers, catapults, terrifying statues, and the risen dead, while the defending player must rebuild his defenses and hinder the enemy while sending out his own forces to claim victory.
We've divided Dol Guldur into 8 distinct areas, each representing a different part of its evil, miserable culture.
Area I: The Front Gate
An enormous raised causeway leads into the intimidating, maw-like Front Gates of Dol Guldur. It's defended by raised platforms for archers to shoot from and a myriad of defensive plots. This heavily guarded entrance has the most direct line to the defending player's fortress, but is difficult to breach.
Area 2: Webbed Ruins
Home to a population of Giant Spiders and other twisted manifestations of nature. The Webbed Ruins look out over a second entrance into Dol Guldur - one that appears closest to the defending player's fortress, but is difficult to traverse.
Area 3: The South Tower
This is where the confrontation between the White Council and the Necromancer unfolded during the third Hobbit film.
Area 4: Pit of Dol Guldur
During the slow decay of the Silvan fortress that once crowned the bald hill of Amon Lanc, many tunnels and pits were dug throughout the hill.
Area 5: The Barrow-hills
A desolate area outside the Fortress' walls. Ancient kings and princes of Rhovanion were put to rest here, until the Necromancer's phantoms caused their bones to stir once more.
Area 6: The Orc-garrison
Those orcs that were forced to live within the confines of Dol Guldur were rewarded little for their bravery. The lucky ones lived in crude dwellings of bone and skin - the less fortunate slept on cold stone.
Area 7: The Slave Pens
But worse than the orcs' were the conditions of the slaves that dwelled in Dol Guldur - tortured husks, taken from their homes or from the eaves of Mirkwood as they travelled, they are the Necromancer's playthings, working and living to provide the living elements of his army with sport and sustenance.
Area 8: The Dark Citadel
At Dol Guldur's zenith lies the Dark Citadel, from where the Necromancer plots and prepares his assault upon the Free Peoples of Middle-earth.
I applaud the dedication put into this. You created a magnificent labyrinth of death.
Since I saw the white council I wanted to ask, is there going to be a mission-like invasion of the fortress available as well?
That would probably be a very fun mission to play. The Fellowship of the Ring campaign was such a blast to play, I'd be up for any mission they made. There iso much material that would make great campaigns/missions...
I'm particularly looking forward to hobbits fighting off saruman, and rangers raiding the Easterling convoy (if either of these end up being made).
Looking forward to 5.0
Very very nice
the fortress is very beautiful
Vault Wardens joined the chat.
great fortress map of dol guldur i like it can t wait too play on this map :D
This must be a very time consuming work, bravo to the developers!
By the way imagine to be forced to live in this dark fortress during the quarantine period! :P
I'm pretty sure even the Dark Lord would build temporary accomodation around dol guldur, and confine small packs of orcs in different tents, to slow the spread of the plague. That, or kill any orc with symptoms. Seeing how they're usually housed, fevers, sore throats and coughs might be a common sight in Dol Guldur, and you'd start killing through your minions very fast.
Wow, very nice. It really conveys the atmosphere from the movie perfectly.
Love the support and respect both teams have on eachother!!
Truly a Tolkien community!!
Of course! I think it is a pity that sometimes it is said that we both teams hate each other or hold a grudge against each other. Often disagreements and different opinions are directly seen as negative expressions, lack of respect or spreading of hate and fuel the fire of agitators who (for whatever reason?) try to turn both teams and fans against each other. Both mods follow different approaches and are so different in their basic conception that it is natural that the two teams have different opinions about some points. But this does not mean that we do not have respect for each other. The modding community lives from supporting and respecting each other and each other’s work.
You'd think people so interested in lore would be quick to throw away the Hobbit films. I can't thank you enough for not doing so, and producing such great work.
On a different note, some gamespy games (including BFME2) have issues with archers shooting enemies as soon as they are in range. do you think this will impact defense on this map ?
Fantastic work, love the atmosphere and am amazed by the amount of time and energy you must have put into this! Keep it up!
fantastic work one more time guys!!! i have a request of adding Legolas as a permanent hero.thanks indeed!
Legolas will be a permanent hero in the Greenwood faction planned for a future release.
I really really loved the "Down With the Sickness" ability with the "Asylum" cover picture, made my day :D