Well, I suppose white is better color than pink. Maybe I remember wrong. Either way, I still think it's a bit too bright.
You're using different graphical settings to me, that's why. Thanks for bringing this to my notice, I will make some alterations to the lighting. Either way, I think a slightly darker night atmosphere would work better.
Mission three: I spent over an hour on this in game time, not including resets. Pretty tough waves. I don't mind the difficulty, but it got a bit sluggish. In the end, you weren't doing anything but mowing through Zerg, then getting mowed over yourself, etc. I liked the lighting, and the music fit better.
Wow, that's a long time. Do you think I should make the waves slightly weaker or something? Also, you were using mech, right? If you use MMM it would be too slow. Using mech, you shouldn't have too much trouble. Take advantage of Protoss attacks and start moving forward. Siege Tanks are great for this.
The music is usually just normal SC2 music. I actually feel that the music wasn't a great fit with the level because TBH there is nothing scary about this mission. I moved the Zerg music stuff to mission 2, which makes a lot more sense as per your suggestion, and changed mission 3 to the classic BW terran soundtracks (BW Music + Mech!)
Also, I made some improvements such as widening the ramps to the central Zerg base, which should make the mission less sluggish.
Mission four: This was your best one yet. No "rescued" terrain, no annoying lighting. Music still isn't intense enough, but the AWs sure were. Very good. I had to try a few times before I could master it, but in the end, it worked immensely. My strategy first was to use BCs and Widow Mines, but building strong static defenses and using vikings and goliaths to move around was the only thing that worked for me. The ending was really satisfactory, and because I had already accomplished the main goal, it didn't feel cheap either.
Mission five: Better music, though a little too slow a pace for my taste (though, you might like it, so I guess it's all subjective). I think you really can do terrain!
It's great that you're using a different composition to what myself (and some other testers) have used. I am really happy to hear that there are multiple compositions that can work to win you the mission, while at the same time still presenting a challenge. As for the music well I usually just use the default music.
It's not bad. The opening cinematic has action, which is good. It's straight to the point, which is probably not a bad idea for a first mission (you'd want to engage people quickly, which is the same principle I took). Terrain is also good. However, the lighting was a bad choice, in my opinion. It felt too pink, too bright. It didn't add to the mood, and it made it a bit hard to see what was going on.
Difficulty was sufficient for the first mission (could probably have been even more difficult, but okay). The victory cinematic, what little there is of it, promises stuff. It has better camera angles than the first, and you utilize the terrain to your benefit, letting the player bask in the glory of the Augustgrad skyscrapers, which now belongs to him. I missed more story, though. It is a campaign, after all!
Thanks for playing through. Lighting was too pink? I am not sure what you mean... the map ambient lighting was set to a mainly blue-ish hue. Though there is always room for it to be darker. Can you take a screenshot of it on your screen, so I can see what you mean? Because I have always felt that the atmosphere had a distinct pale blue tint.
As for story, well I didn't bother too much with it to be honest. I just wanted to create a game where you could tinker around with all sorts of interesting compositions and techtrees, and in just 5 missions it's difficult to tell a good story. The storyline is very basic and it is included in the help panel. Basically fighting back at the last stage of Brood War.
Cheater, taking Blizzard terrain! But okay, let's look away from that. I liked this mission a lot better. Lighting was better, and if I'm not mistaken, it's not the original Haven lighting, is it? Cause I remember it being brighter.
I loved the stealth aspect. It fit well with the Zerg as enemies too. Btw, how'd you make McKenna hold her fire against enemies? Didn't know that was possible without a "Hold Fire" ability.
Having a limited amount of resources was a cool twist. First, it was a bit annoying, especially with all the Zerg swarming in, but eventually I realized exactly how deadly the BCs were, and I figured you wanted me to be offensive, which I was. It worked. I'd prefer it if I just had to destroy the buildings, tho. I know it's more logical to destroy absolutely every last Zerg, but they spread all over, and the last part was just walking around, killing them off.
Some of the music tracks, particularly the standard country/rock Terran tracks, didn't fit. I'd choose some of the more intense ones, plus some Zerg ones, which would have helped with the mood.
Give me more story, though!
Yeah I did use Blizzard terrain for missions 2 and 3. I used a night lightning for the stealth part, but the sun rises when you reach your supply base. I got her to hold fire by removing the hero's weapon, so she cannot attack. Then just add it back later, same with the special ability. I am actually in the process of remaking this mission (just the stealth part) because of feedback that it had been too difficult and the overseer following you around could cause one mistake to prevent you from completing the mission. So I'm redoing it, with a view to making the stealth part less difficult overall but slightly longer.
I originally had you destroy all their buildings, but it made lore sense to kill each of them off. I'm pretty sure that I ordered all Zerg units to global suicide into your base if their numbers were low though, so it shouldn't be too much trouble to mop up. Let me know if this did not work for you, but it wasn't an issue when I tested it myself.
And agreed about the music tracks. Will change them to something more sinister in the remake.
Hackneyed and cliche dialog.
The Terran Dominion still shows no evidence of being destroyed in previous games (their disastrous military defeats in BW and WoL were utterly ignored).
Protoss continue looking like incompetent weaklings. Any victories we have will just be attributed to Blizzard's "player-character always wins" syndrome.
Artifact prophecy wankery magic instead of intelligent sci-fi.
It's hilarious how one of the greatest manipulators and villains in all of SC was turned into a fool and went out like a chump, to the point that everybody now refuses to admit it was even the same character. :P
(Metzen confirmed Narud was Duran last BlizzCon).
Agree 100% with this.
Duran was brilliant in BW, now Narud is a total moron and incompetent buffoon enemy.
Ditto for Infested Kerrigan - manipulative and cunning in BW, incompetent and wisecracking in WoL.
BW had a really good story, I totally loved that. WoL/HotS are just a joke. Pretty much on the same infantile, disgraceful level as Diablo 3.
This is certainly helpful! I'll be working on some campaign-like AIs rather soon, and I probably would've missed few things pointed out here.
I was wondering, though, what exactly are Bullies and Flags/Flag Indexes? If I understood them correctly, Bullies are units the AI will always recreate (until told not to), and Flags are basically booleans? (Sorry if this is derailing the thread, just thought I'd ask since the topic was regarding (campaign) AIs.)
Bullies are units that the AI will automatically rebuild. I used to use bullies but I find that, these days, I'd rather just use normal AI attack wave triggers. They are easy to use and give a lot of control. You can also always manually set any unit to "always" rebuild anyway.
Tactical AI is your friend. It is what permits High Templar to auto cast Storm and land it perfectly. Same goes for burrowing units, siege tanks, Ghost EMP, among other things. See Data -> Advanced -> Tactical AI, and Target Find.
I didn't know about that one! I still don't know how to use it.
My solution also works pretty well though, and it works for Stalkers' blink micro as well, which I don't think tactical AI can do.
Yep, I forgot this one. It may seem pretty obvious, but generally when you want to have more than 1 enemy base, give them to separate players with the same colour. This helps with supply limits, AI attack waves, and resilience (one base won't rebuild another).
Though you can always use a trigger to set the AI's supply limit at whatever value you want.
Are AI upgrades appropriate? Marauders have two upgrades for concussive shells (one from campaign dependency, the other from melee), but only one of them works properly. I always give both just to be safe.
Do AI have triggers in place that ask them to use abilities? Otherwise, giving them upgrades is useless. Snipe, Siege Mode, Infested Terran, and Guardian Shield are automatically used by the AI. Other abilities need manual prodding.
Does the AI have "Food of a thousand feasts" instead of mass supply depots?
If "Food of a thousand feasts" is used, is the victory condition "destroy all enemy units"? If so, the player can never win. Change the victory condition to "destroy all enemy structures".
Are any No-Fly Zones used in the centre of the map? These things cause pathing issues for air units if there is more than 1 together. Use them on the edges of the map only, if you're planning on using more than 1. If you're using them singularly, for instance for large rocks or Korhal buildings, they work as intended.
Always put a trigger that sets the speed of the game to "Faster" at the start of your mission. This is because sometimes when people "test" your missions, default SC2 settings somehow make the mission play on "Normal" speed which is just kinda dumb.
Thanks for the interest guys, I will add a few more things in the guide as I think of them. Hopefully, I can end up with a catch-all checklist for map makers to follow.
Wow this is really helpful. I'm working on my own campaign and this is a good starting point to jump off from. I don't have ideas or suggestions at the moment, but perhaps when I delve more into my campaign I will have some.
Is there something like this for other aspects of campaign making? Perhaps a tutorial or dedicated forum!!!??
If you ever have AI-related questions, feel free to ask me and we can discuss. I find that it is always good to bounce ideas off other people and get inputs from other like-minded (or not so like-minded!) mapmakers. That's why I started this topic, as a dedicated forum for custom campaign creators who want to discuss how to make a perfect AI, who will dance and fight with you in such a way that you'll thoroughly enjoy the experience and come back for more.
Example: I really want to tell a story in my campaign, but I feel like my first mission is getting really wordy. Is there any rubric/guidelines veteran campaign makers follow.
Also Red, I saw you made a lot of changes to that first mission in your campaign. That Korhal mission is an AI stomp fest. I'm glad you gave the Zerg some more strength. I just massed those bad ass vikings and just mowed everything down. Beautiful Map!!
In terms of telling a story, EivindL is the person to go to. He is probably the guy who knows the best about storytelling. I've discussed this topic with him in great detail already, and he knows the topic really well, and has really good creative instincts to boot. He is also a great terrain designer, and I strongly suggest anyone making missions to take some inspiration from his designs.
I can give you guidelines on gameplay, AI and terraining if you ever want to discuss, but I don't focus too much on the story, mainly because I'm too lazy.
And I'm glad you enjoyed the Korhal mission! Yes, it is an AI stompfest, because the first mission is always supposed to be easy! The difficulty ramps up later though... so beware :D
Hey njordys! I remember playing through your Bio-Tech campaign. They were a blast... please play through and let me know what you think of mine. Cheers!
I'll pretty soon be making a very topic concerning this matter, detailing so much bullies as random integer, a particular trigger named 'Set Difficulty Parameter', my private views of ethics of designing an AI, expansions, transports and other stuff.
Hi there! I think this is a pretty good place to give your opinions on AI, expos, and stuff like this. I hope to get all the feedback and opinions on this stuff onto the first post. This is a discussion thread after all and I'd love to hear your inputs on this.
Hey everyone, I was hoping that people would post here and share some of their knowledge / experience with custom campaign AI opponents.
I'm literally talking about the enemy player, in missions where the player will start with a base with a normal economy. The tech tree of the player should resemble normal SC2 melee gameplay. Note that this does NOT include special missions like Left2Die, base-less missions like the first level of Wings of Liberty, or anything where you have a drastically altered techtree.
So, let me share my experience. Please share yours too!
Basic Triggers
I've always given the computer enemy the following things via the initialization trigger:
Start the campaign AI for player X
Give player X 100000000 Vespene and Minerals
Modify player X supply limit to 400
(I also create "Food of a Thousand Feasts" in a hidden corner of the map)
This is cool because then you don't have to go crazy adding supply depots for the computer. An amateur mistake in my opinion would be not having a "Food of a Thousand Feasts" - I see this a lot and it is ugly, and annoys the player unnecessarily because it often takes such a long time to kill all the depots. Supply of the computer is invisible to the player anyway.
Of course, I always want my AI to have infinite money.
Upgrades
I always have a trigger that does this:
Adds player 2, 3, and 4 to Player Group "Enemies"
Pick every player in "Enemies"
For each picked player, add upgrades specified
I always give the AI everything, except the weapons/armor upgrades. Always give the AI combat shields if they're Terran, otherwise the mission will be too easy. Set weapon/armor according to difficulty. Don't give 3/3 carelessly. A nice way to approach this is to have a timer, and give the AI free weapons/armor upgrades as the game progresses. Giving the AI 0/0 for the whole game in my opinion is not good.
AI Triggers
I always add AI Triggers to Banshees, Ghosts, Battlecruisers, Infestors, Ravens, High Templar, Sentry, Corruptors, etc. For instance:
Events
Unit - Any Unit is attacked
Conditions
(Unit type of (Triggering unit)) == Infestor (Spellcaster)
(Owner of (Triggering unit)) > 1
Actions
AI - Suggests order (Infestor - Infestor - Fungal Growth targeting (Position of (Attacking Unit))) to (Triggering unit) using tactical AI logic
This is pretty cool. For Ghosts (which has 2 abilities you want to use), I get them to Cloak upon being attacked, if they do not have the Cloak buff. If they have the Cloak buff, and the player is a Protoss, I force the Ghost to EMP. Oh, and don't forget to tell the unit to suicide when they Cloak (otherwise they just stand there). My trigger looks like this:
Events
Unit - Any Unit is attacked
Conditions
(Unit type of (Triggering unit)) == Banshee
(Owner of (Triggering unit)) > 1
Actions
AI - Suggests order (Banshee - Cloak (Banshee)) to (Triggering unit) using tactical AI logic
AI - Enable suicide for (Triggering unit)
For Battlecruiser, do a check - if the attacking unit has over 150 HP + Shields, I use Yamato as a response. If not, then do nothing.
Stalkers have a special treatment, to blink back! How to do this? Here is a sample trigger:
AI - Suggests order (Stalker - Blink targeting ((Position of (Triggering unit)) offset by 6.5 towards (Angle from (Position of (Attacking Unit)) to (Position of (Triggering unit))) degrees)) to (Triggering unit) using tactical AI logic
AI - Enable suicide for (Triggering unit)
If you put these triggers in your maps, the AI will be so much more interesting.
(Widow Mines, I have not figured out yet how to use WMs offensively. Please let me know if you find a good way to use them in attack waves! Right now I only use them as stationary defences.)
Resilience
As we all know, the AI rebuilds stuff. But you have to control how much they rebuild. If they have infinite resources, and they always rebuild everything, then the player will be bored. This encourages the so-called "deathball" which makes the campaign repetitive and boring.
If they AI has everything at rebuild = 0, then it could also be boring. Even the weakest attack could deal crippling damage.
So it all depends on the specifics of the map. Generally, I like to give the AI more rebuilds when it's easy for the player to macro up. The harder to macro and get economy, the less rebuild for the AI. Zerg units especially build very quickly, so giving them more rebuilds feels good for the player. Feels like getting swarmed when you play (especially TvZ campaigns).
I try not to give Terran too many rebuilds, especially for Battlecruisers, Missile Turrets, Planetary Fortress, and Widow Mines in outer bases. Widow Mines are really bad because they are invisible. So I always set rebuild = 0 for WMs.
What do you think?
Base layout and difficulty
Is it better to have "gaps" in the enemy static defence, so that a player can capitalize upon it? In Brood War, the map designs often had this feature. For example, ledges without anti-air, spore colonies in front of sunken colonies which could be picked off, or bases where Zerg Guardians weren't supported by Spores.
Overall, what's the ideal difficulty? I think a Gold-ranked player on NA should have some trouble, but should be able to win. That's where I would set the standard for a custom single-player campaign.
Just finished it today, have to say, I had lots of fun playing through it!
Gameplay was solid, as Gradius said, and the terrain was splendid. My favorite thing about the campaign, though, was that we had a different techtree for each mission (along with all upgrades being researched and infinite resources available, was nice to worry only about mass production while playing). Also, I liked the nods to CC here and there in the levels (Rocketeers, Particle Cannon, Firehawks, and so on).
Had to restart few times in the final two levels (got too used to Armageddons/Rocketeers and Thors carrying me to victory, I guess :P), but it was very satisfying seeing the Zerg swarm in on the platform and mop the floor with the Dominion, was hoping they would've joined me in the final mission too, but oh well.
Anyways, very well-done job, will definitely be playing any more campaigns you make. :)
Glad to hear you enjoyed it! That's really great feedback. By the way, all the missions have minerals that never run out. It's just easier that way, because when I design levels I prefer the enemy AI to be relatively resilient. So, gotta be fair, right?
And a big thanks for the talking portraits suggestion - I have never attempted something like that before, I'm not that great at triggers but it sounds like something that needs to be implemented. That'll be the next step for me especially for the Zerg and Protoss campaigns.
For mission 2, there are a range of viable strategies. I've beaten the missions using many different compositions just to make sure they all work. Armageddons are a very easy and simple way to win, since you can probably defeat the enemy with just 3.
Massing rocketeers (flying infantry units with jet packs, similar to Red Alert 2), standard terran bio, tank/viking/goliath, etc all work. For instance, the Goliaths have extremely fast auto-cannons that obliterate ground units (but I bet you never tried them!) and the siege tanks have absurd range and firepower. Rocketeers are actually quite imba, I beat the entire mission with just a handful of those.
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You're using different graphical settings to me, that's why. Thanks for bringing this to my notice, I will make some alterations to the lighting. Either way, I think a slightly darker night atmosphere would work better.
Wow, that's a long time. Do you think I should make the waves slightly weaker or something? Also, you were using mech, right? If you use MMM it would be too slow. Using mech, you shouldn't have too much trouble. Take advantage of Protoss attacks and start moving forward. Siege Tanks are great for this.
The music is usually just normal SC2 music. I actually feel that the music wasn't a great fit with the level because TBH there is nothing scary about this mission. I moved the Zerg music stuff to mission 2, which makes a lot more sense as per your suggestion, and changed mission 3 to the classic BW terran soundtracks (BW Music + Mech!)
Also, I made some improvements such as widening the ramps to the central Zerg base, which should make the mission less sluggish.
It's great that you're using a different composition to what myself (and some other testers) have used. I am really happy to hear that there are multiple compositions that can work to win you the mission, while at the same time still presenting a challenge. As for the music well I usually just use the default music.
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Good job! Looking forward to more from you.
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Thanks for playing through. Lighting was too pink? I am not sure what you mean... the map ambient lighting was set to a mainly blue-ish hue. Though there is always room for it to be darker. Can you take a screenshot of it on your screen, so I can see what you mean? Because I have always felt that the atmosphere had a distinct pale blue tint.
For instance:
http://s15.postimg.org/52o3h6saz/Untitled.png
http://s1.postimg.org/zev6ebb3z/Untitled2.png
As for story, well I didn't bother too much with it to be honest. I just wanted to create a game where you could tinker around with all sorts of interesting compositions and techtrees, and in just 5 missions it's difficult to tell a good story. The storyline is very basic and it is included in the help panel. Basically fighting back at the last stage of Brood War.
Yeah I did use Blizzard terrain for missions 2 and 3. I used a night lightning for the stealth part, but the sun rises when you reach your supply base. I got her to hold fire by removing the hero's weapon, so she cannot attack. Then just add it back later, same with the special ability. I am actually in the process of remaking this mission (just the stealth part) because of feedback that it had been too difficult and the overseer following you around could cause one mistake to prevent you from completing the mission. So I'm redoing it, with a view to making the stealth part less difficult overall but slightly longer.
I originally had you destroy all their buildings, but it made lore sense to kill each of them off. I'm pretty sure that I ordered all Zerg units to global suicide into your base if their numbers were low though, so it shouldn't be too much trouble to mop up. Let me know if this did not work for you, but it wasn't an issue when I tested it myself.
And agreed about the music tracks. Will change them to something more sinister in the remake.
Looking forward to hearing about missions 3-5.
Cheers
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Agree 100% with this.
Duran was brilliant in BW, now Narud is a total moron and incompetent buffoon enemy.
Ditto for Infested Kerrigan - manipulative and cunning in BW, incompetent and wisecracking in WoL.
BW had a really good story, I totally loved that. WoL/HotS are just a joke. Pretty much on the same infantile, disgraceful level as Diablo 3.
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Bullies are units that the AI will automatically rebuild. I used to use bullies but I find that, these days, I'd rather just use normal AI attack wave triggers. They are easy to use and give a lot of control. You can also always manually set any unit to "always" rebuild anyway.
I didn't know about that one! I still don't know how to use it.
My solution also works pretty well though, and it works for Stalkers' blink micro as well, which I don't think tactical AI can do.
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@EivindL: Go
Yep, I forgot this one. It may seem pretty obvious, but generally when you want to have more than 1 enemy base, give them to separate players with the same colour. This helps with supply limits, AI attack waves, and resilience (one base won't rebuild another).
Though you can always use a trigger to set the AI's supply limit at whatever value you want.
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Checklist
Will add more as I think of them.
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Thanks for the interest guys, I will add a few more things in the guide as I think of them. Hopefully, I can end up with a catch-all checklist for map makers to follow.
If you ever have AI-related questions, feel free to ask me and we can discuss. I find that it is always good to bounce ideas off other people and get inputs from other like-minded (or not so like-minded!) mapmakers. That's why I started this topic, as a dedicated forum for custom campaign creators who want to discuss how to make a perfect AI, who will dance and fight with you in such a way that you'll thoroughly enjoy the experience and come back for more.
In terms of telling a story, EivindL is the person to go to. He is probably the guy who knows the best about storytelling. I've discussed this topic with him in great detail already, and he knows the topic really well, and has really good creative instincts to boot. He is also a great terrain designer, and I strongly suggest anyone making missions to take some inspiration from his designs.
I can give you guidelines on gameplay, AI and terraining if you ever want to discuss, but I don't focus too much on the story, mainly because I'm too lazy.
And I'm glad you enjoyed the Korhal mission! Yes, it is an AI stompfest, because the first mission is always supposed to be easy! The difficulty ramps up later though... so beware :D
Hey njordys! I remember playing through your Bio-Tech campaign. They were a blast... please play through and let me know what you think of mine. Cheers!
Hi there! I think this is a pretty good place to give your opinions on AI, expos, and stuff like this. I hope to get all the feedback and opinions on this stuff onto the first post. This is a discussion thread after all and I'd love to hear your inputs on this.
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Introduction
Hey everyone, I was hoping that people would post here and share some of their knowledge / experience with custom campaign AI opponents.
I'm literally talking about the enemy player, in missions where the player will start with a base with a normal economy. The tech tree of the player should resemble normal SC2 melee gameplay. Note that this does NOT include special missions like Left2Die, base-less missions like the first level of Wings of Liberty, or anything where you have a drastically altered techtree.
So, let me share my experience. Please share yours too!
Basic Triggers
I've always given the computer enemy the following things via the initialization trigger:
This is cool because then you don't have to go crazy adding supply depots for the computer. An amateur mistake in my opinion would be not having a "Food of a Thousand Feasts" - I see this a lot and it is ugly, and annoys the player unnecessarily because it often takes such a long time to kill all the depots. Supply of the computer is invisible to the player anyway.
Of course, I always want my AI to have infinite money.
Upgrades
I always have a trigger that does this:
I always give the AI everything, except the weapons/armor upgrades. Always give the AI combat shields if they're Terran, otherwise the mission will be too easy. Set weapon/armor according to difficulty. Don't give 3/3 carelessly. A nice way to approach this is to have a timer, and give the AI free weapons/armor upgrades as the game progresses. Giving the AI 0/0 for the whole game in my opinion is not good.
AI Triggers
I always add AI Triggers to Banshees, Ghosts, Battlecruisers, Infestors, Ravens, High Templar, Sentry, Corruptors, etc. For instance:
Events
Conditions
Actions
This is pretty cool. For Ghosts (which has 2 abilities you want to use), I get them to Cloak upon being attacked, if they do not have the Cloak buff. If they have the Cloak buff, and the player is a Protoss, I force the Ghost to EMP. Oh, and don't forget to tell the unit to suicide when they Cloak (otherwise they just stand there). My trigger looks like this:
Events
Conditions
Actions
For Battlecruiser, do a check - if the attacking unit has over 150 HP + Shields, I use Yamato as a response. If not, then do nothing.
Stalkers have a special treatment, to blink back! How to do this? Here is a sample trigger:
Events
Conditions
Actions
If you put these triggers in your maps, the AI will be so much more interesting.
(Widow Mines, I have not figured out yet how to use WMs offensively. Please let me know if you find a good way to use them in attack waves! Right now I only use them as stationary defences.)
Resilience
As we all know, the AI rebuilds stuff. But you have to control how much they rebuild. If they have infinite resources, and they always rebuild everything, then the player will be bored. This encourages the so-called "deathball" which makes the campaign repetitive and boring.
If they AI has everything at rebuild = 0, then it could also be boring. Even the weakest attack could deal crippling damage.
So it all depends on the specifics of the map. Generally, I like to give the AI more rebuilds when it's easy for the player to macro up. The harder to macro and get economy, the less rebuild for the AI. Zerg units especially build very quickly, so giving them more rebuilds feels good for the player. Feels like getting swarmed when you play (especially TvZ campaigns).
I try not to give Terran too many rebuilds, especially for Battlecruisers, Missile Turrets, Planetary Fortress, and Widow Mines in outer bases. Widow Mines are really bad because they are invisible. So I always set rebuild = 0 for WMs.
What do you think?
Base layout and difficulty
Is it better to have "gaps" in the enemy static defence, so that a player can capitalize upon it? In Brood War, the map designs often had this feature. For example, ledges without anti-air, spore colonies in front of sunken colonies which could be picked off, or bases where Zerg Guardians weren't supported by Spores.
Overall, what's the ideal difficulty? I think a Gold-ranked player on NA should have some trouble, but should be able to win. That's where I would set the standard for a custom single-player campaign.
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Bumping this, in case anybody hasn't played this yet.
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Awesome!
All the best with Amber Sun EivindL! Can't wait to see how it plays out.
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@MaskedImposter: Go
I had a good laugh :D
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Yup! I PM'd the guy who manages the CCI, see what he reckons.
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed!
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@Gradius12: Go
Glad to hear you enjoyed it! That's really great feedback. By the way, all the missions have minerals that never run out. It's just easier that way, because when I design levels I prefer the enemy AI to be relatively resilient. So, gotta be fair, right?
And a big thanks for the talking portraits suggestion - I have never attempted something like that before, I'm not that great at triggers but it sounds like something that needs to be implemented. That'll be the next step for me especially for the Zerg and Protoss campaigns.
For mission 2, there are a range of viable strategies. I've beaten the missions using many different compositions just to make sure they all work. Armageddons are a very easy and simple way to win, since you can probably defeat the enemy with just 3.
Massing rocketeers (flying infantry units with jet packs, similar to Red Alert 2), standard terran bio, tank/viking/goliath, etc all work. For instance, the Goliaths have extremely fast auto-cannons that obliterate ground units (but I bet you never tried them!) and the siege tanks have absurd range and firepower. Rocketeers are actually quite imba, I beat the entire mission with just a handful of those.
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Uploaded a new version, completely revamped the difficulty in mission 4 and fixed bugs.
Also made the storyline things a bit more visible.
This should be a final version. Hopefully.