Mercenary Battlegrounds:A Price for Glory

You know what happens when you log into Battle.net and click that Custom Games button, right? Half of all the games you see are for either Footman Frenzy or DotA:Allstars. There's a reason for that: they're both great maps with great concepts.

For those of you who haven't played either of these maps, let me briefly summarize each. Footman Frenzy is a 3v3v3v3 map where you constantly spawn units (starting units are Footmen) to wipe out your enemies. You can select a hero to use their skills in the aid of slaying, and you can also upgrade to different Tiers of different races. Whenever you upgrade to a new Tier, it spawns different units from what you previously had, and the new ones tend to be stronger. You can also purchase weapon and armor upgrades to further your units' offenseive and defensive capabilities.

Now for DotA. This is an AOS map, where you select one hero whom you keep throughout the gamespan and develop it's skills and stats, and can purchase items which can be upgraded to stronger ones. There's a variety of heroes, ranging from support to hero killing. I won't go into anymore detail because there is simply too much to explain, but this is the gist.

Playing these maps are great, but sometimes I need a more fulfilling gameplay experience that requires strategy. Ever play Kingdom Under Fire (Xbox version[s], not the PC one.) Basically in this game you recieve a platoon of different unit types (ranging from knights to paladins, rangers to catapults, mages to air support, etc.) and have three "hero" units accompanying that platoon, each having a variety of skills/commands they can give to their units.

Now, my idea is to mix the elements of these three games/maps into a single 3v3v3v3 map. I won't lie to you, the story line is a piece of crap. There are 4 villages at war with each other, each wanting to take over the other for their own benefits. Since they are villages and have no way to raise standing armies of their own, they hire mercenary groups to help their efforts. Yes, it sucks, but it can be worked on later.

Here's how it works. Each team is separated to their own secluded base on opposite ends of the other teams. Inside the base is a variety of buildings: Hero Shops (has a large variety of items for the heroes to use, ranging from weapons to potions), Mercenary Shops (contains items purchasable for mercenaries to improve their capabilities), Towers (contains item slots for tower upgrades, which can enable multiple shots, siege attacks, and elemental attacks. These are the primary defenses for your village), and your village Castle (primary structure required to stay in the game. Lose it, and you're done).

Let's go into more detail. When you start the game, your main Mercenary Building (with upgrades and the spawn location) will have 4 selections: Orc, Human, Undead, Night Elf. This is probably the most important decision of the game because the race will stay with you throughout. After choosing a race, you will start to spawn Warriors (basic melee units), up to a certain number, and will be able to select a hero (depends on race, but if a Hero is chosen that hero will be removed from selection for each player with that race, limiting redundancy). You will keep these Warriors and your Hero the entire game, and they are fully upgradable.

At this point, you can send your units out to the battlefied, where they will gain gold per kill. When you acquire enough gold, you will have the option to create a new Mercenary building which will spawn NEW units of different classes for you. However, this time, whatever unit group you decide on determines the hero you get. Unlike the first hero you pick, any player can have the same hero for this.

When your units die, they will revive at your Mercenary Building approximately 10-20 seconds later, with a slightly longer Hero revival time. They will retain their armor and weapon upgrades. Weapon and Armor upgrades have a unique system. Each unit has 2 item slots which can hold one weapon and one armor. Whenever you buy an upgrade at your Mercenary Shop, they will lose their old items of that class (weapon/armor) and gain the new one. This is a change from the basic Warcraft III weapon/armor research. Of course, certain armors and certain weapons will be restricted to certain unit classes.

Each race will have its benefits, except for the humans, whom are well rounded. Orcs will excel with their Warriors and Cavalry. Night Elfs will excel with Rangers and Archers. Undead will excel in Magic.

These race bonuses get stronger depending on the terrain they are on. If Orc Warriors are on the plains of battle, they will recieve slightly increased damage/speed. If Night Elf Rangers are in the trees, they will have a slight evasion bonus as well as a slight increase in attack speed and the "Shadowmeld" ability. If Undead Mages are in a Graveyard or land that is dead, they will receive increased movement speed and mana regeneration.

Also, each race may have some of the same units, but they will have different abilities. For example, a Night Elf and Human both have archers, but the Human can research the "Explosive Arrows" ability, while the Night Elf archer will not. Additional abilities for units can be purchased.

I am limited in my triggering abilities, and will not lie. I believe I can do most of this myself, but will need some help. Anyone willing to help trigger, terrain, or give ideas would be appreciated.

I cannot think of anything else to include. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I appreciate anyone who took the time to read this.