SHiPs AhoY!

SHiPs AhoY!

Hey guys, we've been working on this map for a while now, and I think its time we tell everyone about it ^_^

Features:

• All new innovative Game Play
• Naval Sea battles, almost never seen before in any WarCraft 3 map
• TONS of heroes(Ships)
• Custom Spells (90% of which are trigger enhanced)
• Custom skins/icons/you name it
• Rich storyline... which you can affect the progress of
• RPG Elements, one of which is molding your very own crew
• Be a leading captain in war that started 4 years ago
• Master different types of skills... Read Below
• Tons more... this isn't the half of it :D

Heroes and Skills. How they both have evolved.
No more boring same hero. No more allies leaving because they didnt get the hero they wanted. This has all changed ladies and gents.
Now in this map, you have one "base hero" which can be called your Captain. All of his skills are pretty much passive. An example of few are: Heavy Ship Skill, Light Ship Skill, Air Ship Skill, and Artisanry. As your hero levels he can put skillpoints into one speciality or round them off.

Periodically, the NPC's at your city, will build ships... greater ones will be built as you return ideas from the new worlds for them. For example, early game, an NPC may build the Serverance. Your captain boards it, and rides off. Now, since he has Level 3 Light Ship Skills, upoun boarding he gets 6 skillpoints to spend on the Serverance's skills. Later, he dies in battle, the ship sinks. The captain is revived, and now he can either order for a new ship, find an already built ship, or design his own. Lets say he finds the Leviathan(which only has 1 skill... its an ultimate). He gets in it, and because he had decided to specialize in light ships, his Heavy Ship skill is only at level 1. So hence, he only gets 2 skillpoints with the Leviathan. Which are both put into 1 skill.

Artisanry, is your knowledge, of repairing, building towers, wonders and altars. Even ships. Ideal for those who like to play House Wife.

When your in the ship, your Ship DOES NOT level up. But, your Captain does. If you read the above, this makes perfect sense.


Objective
Get 100 Cargo ships onto the other teams city shore/docks. Once 100 are over there, they will deploy, and the infantry within them will march out on foot into the core of the city. Leveling it from within. Victory is yours. Not as easy as it sounds. Between the two cities, are Neutral Nodes. If one is under your control, your cargo will go right through it. If the enemy controls it... well, say bye-bye to your cargo.

Navel Sea Battles
These are honestly intense, fast and action-packed. The abilities each ship possess can easily turn the tide of battle. Its something totally new, compared to the classic heroes on ground. Welcome to the sea. Oh... can't forget the air ships... dropping bombs on unsuspecting captains is always fun.

THE CREW!
Well, its time to mold your own crew. You can have up to 6 crew mates, by default it is you alone. You do not HAVE to have a crew, but they sure help... You can hire wondering crew mates in town, or just go down to another Pirate from whom can hire potential crew mates. Crew mates can change every aspect of your ship... from its armor, speed, attack speed. Anything! Just gotta find the right crew mate, for the right job. Having a balanced crew is VERY important. Some crew mates, can actually add abilities to your ship.


Cities
The map features beautifully detailed cities, with full interactive NPCS. You do everything here from, adding expansions to the city(NPC homes=more NPC ship builders, altars, towers, and more) to finding crew mates.


There is ALOT more in this map, but I want to keep "some" surprises. :D
But I just want to finish with saying... Very unique map.

Ill be adding more things as we feel the need to. For now I will post a few screenshots.

Man.. this map is going to be SO KICK ASS. Just send me a shout if you need any help with skinning man.

Wonderful.... just make sure you finish the map now! I know lots of ppl who has stopped when they got so far...

Anyways, great stuff!

DAMN! Thats awesome! I cannot wait until this is done!

Actually, we're way too far to stop now. We have tons of ship abilties and the such done. We're gonna start Bnet Testing next weekend. After that we have small things to add.

HOLY ****!

This will show the world that originality > repetitiveness.

Hehe, we're tryin to aim for as much uniquness as possible.



Hey yeah, we could use some skinners, as well as some ppl who can make some icons.

Check ur PM's Ben.

Yikes, this looks very impressive, good job guys. But could you elaborate a bit more on how heroes work? So you get your hero, he's a captain, he walks around, he buys a ship from a shipyard, he gets in the sheep, he then decides to get some crew? how do the crew work exactly? are they people who are bought, and placed in the ship as well? or are they bought, but then the ship you currently use have the stats added with triggers? Perhaps if they are only contained within the ships, when your ship sinks you could have them fall out and be swimming in the water for enemies or allies to pick up? that could make it cool, like they were items or something? These are just some suggestions. Keep up the good work, I like the detail you're putting in.

Hey Balthamos,

Your suggestions are awesome, and we're already thinking about the idea of the crew swimming at the death site, able to get picked up by enemies and allies alike.

When a crew mate is hired, his/her/its portrait is displayed in one of your item slots on the Ship. With exactly what he does, what he needs, and who he is and the such. And yes, most of the crew mates bonuses require triggers to add them to the ship.

Heroes, have REALLY changed in this map. What is it you exactly want to know about them?

Thanks for your comments/suggestions, more are welcomed ;)

EDIT: Because I'm here, Im going to throw a couple of screenshots your way. They have to do with hero abilities.

This looks awsome man...
I´ve started a lots of maps like this but never finnished them...

I can help ya with icons..
and terrain aand triggers/jass and skinning to if nyou need.

Awesome! I could really use you as a skinner/icon creator :)
I will contact you privately very soon.

Will you be able to equip your ship and customize it with different weapons? Like in Battle Ship Command, where you could buy different types of guns and extras to make each ship unique. Well, if you havn't considered this before now, you should, as it would add a lot to the gameplay. And about the crew, will they just be to increase ship abilities, or will you be able to take them onto land (assuming there is a fair amount of land) and into combat? No self-respecting captain would go sailing without searching for buried treasure, or raiding a coastal village.

Ya that'd be cool, like you give the ships hero inventories for weapons that you get! And then you can buy win or find weapons for it! And some could give it a special ability too, like 'Greek Fire' gives you some firebolt type spell. And 'Cannon' might give you a ability that shoots a cannonball that explodes on impact etc.

Well, the BattleShip Command idea sounds interesting, but I do not think there is a need for it. Since the crew in a sense acts as it, and makes each ship unique.

Because everything those weapons add, is what some of the crew members bring on to the ship.

An example of this is Long John Timber, who brings on Piranhas. Which enables the ability to throw some Piranhas, from Long Johns Barrel full of them.
Another example is Jimmy, who, for every ship you command, will add on an extra plate of armor to the ship.

Things like that is what the crew can do to your ship.

The crew on land is an excellent suggestion, and thanks for it. But we do have some of that, but not the exact way you intended. There are certain crew members, who have an "okay" ability added to a ship, when there really good ability is used on land. Hence they come on with the captain and aid in land.

Who knows, maybe you will decide to create a 100% land efficient crew? Get assisited over to shore by your allies, land, and cause some damage :)

Everything sounds really good, I nearly forgot to offer my services as well by the way. I can do skins and icons if you need them.