Re: New xconq game module

[Stan Shebs <shebs at shebs dot cnchost dot com>]

Hans Ronne wrote:
> 
> I have just checked in my new Lord of the Rings game module for xconq. The
> map of Middle Earth is from Massimo's old ring-quest module. Everything
> else is new. The game module was derived from advances.g, but uses the
> Civ-type combat model 1 instead. Otherwise, you can expect units to behave
> pretty much as in advances.g.

This is most excellent!

> Unit definitions and some of the images are from Harlan Thompson's Lord of
> the Rings Civ2 scenario. I will probably tweak them after further testing.
> Right now, the Nazguls are a bit too powerful, so it's a real challenge to
> play Gondor. But maybe that is as it should be :-).

I let the AIs play, and Gondor dominated the game, although it seemed
to be confused about its objectives and never really went after Mordor.

> The game is not finished yet. I haven't quite figured out how to handle the
> Ring, and more units will definitely be added.

There are the specialized scorekeepers, although you'd have to
make the AI recognize it.  Another possibility is to somehow
make it worth more to Mordor than to other sides, that would
require some tinkering with point handling.  An interesting
approach would be to reflect the unusual characteristics of
the Ring by giving Mordor unique city types and letting the
Ring accelerate construction in them tremendously, then Gondor
can have a fun time keeping it out of Sauron's hands while
figuring out how to get rid of it...

Another amusing possibility would be to have it be on Mordor's
side to begin with, let Xconq have "prisoner" units that belong
to another side but are controlled by you.  I sketched some of
this a long time ago, seemed hard to implement though and I
never tried it.

> However, it is playable now,
> so please test it and give me some feedback on how to improve it.

I tweaked mine to use dirt-road instead of road, looks better
that way.  River crossing rules are problematic, I noticed lots
of units accumulating on one side of rivers, unable to get
across at all (rivers should slow down but not block entirely).
The palm trees of ancient-city look a little out of place for
Dale and Esgaroth.  Northern wastelands should look different
(tundra from civ2?) from southern wastelands.

It would be more flavorful to limit the sources of unit types
further, so hobbits must be recruited in the Shire, but Ents
only in appropriate forest locations.

Stan