[Map] Marshes of Aurum

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Salva

Sergeant Knight
Old Guard
Marshes of Aurum




Introduction:

I decided to rework the concept of the map since, it had several well outcomes after its first appearance. For instance the economy was pretty much

flawless and working, also expanding roleplay took place in areas such as the forest, the tavern and the city. Beside these positive aspects

the main critic was the lack of castle wars and the mobility. So now after months of my PW distance I decided to rework the concept and enforce a

more balanced dynamic between enjoyable wars, fair money earning and roleplay possibilities.


Here are some Change I have made:



1. The townwatch got removed and melted together with the Old Port, which no longer a full "rp" faction. Its castle which lays in the city is capturable and has decent defences.

The focus of Old Port is a mix of fulfilling the purpose of a casual faction but also with a strong focus on roleplay - if wanted or needed-. I placed a feast hall for Old port for

a warm interaction between players, also an amoury and prison is available. On the top I placed a relaxing bathroom for the Lords and his guests, which should or could

deliver some refreshing roleplay possibility.


2. The focus out of the city and into a more balanced environment was a important point for me. So all old outposts, got upgraded and evolved into real castles with its defences.

The old concept of being the city "Nantes" as the "golden city" is now invalid and I expect a different dynamic then on its first appearance. In fact I expect 3 different playstyle dynamics

on this map: 1. Its own social-culteral atmosphere in the city, which could be shaped through interaction between the 2 castles into city fights over the Merchant Shop (Expanded armoury)

or a friendly coexisting. 2. The money earning will be slightly different to give the other castle outside the city a certain value. Beside the new fortified village Richfield, which offers any

resource to gather, there will be gold and silver mines hidden in the forest and selling point for the melted bars in the Castles: Hellstone/Laras/Brack. The forest which got reworked and

got cut smaller is place of the big money earning, but also a dangerous place due the roaming bandits(which their home is in the forest). With the new space of the chopped forest I made some plains

for bigger fights or cavalry interaction. 3.The casual Castle wars. Due the old outposts got upgraded and given value I do expect and hope wars with purpose and a enjoyment factor.


3. Last but not least I made a number of changes for the atmosphere and faction/map balancing. For instance the weather is now late afternoon/sunset which give in my opinion a nice

touch to the swampy area of the map. Also I gave all faction Sergeant/Doctor/MMA/X-Bows/Archer classes. There wont be any protected "rp" factions anymore and no forced "rp"

environment. You can choose what you would like do, either intervene into faction wars, settle down and enjoy the roleplay possibilities or simply scoop money.


4. The decision of changing the name, was due the fact that the focus went out of the city and also more in the faction wars and the fight over the gold/silver in the forest, which every party

wants it. So I decided to rename the map to "Marshes of Aurum" - Aurum is Latin for gold -. So the name reflecting the true environment and purpose of the map. Its a swampy and hilly(with several plain parts)

map with rich gold appearance. Further notes: Brack is not done yet, but it will be a full developed castle which strong defence points.
​






Overview:
​
tCeucEB.jpg






Screenshots:

Old Port

http://i.imgur.com/rFszFkq.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/E6Hklpl.jpg

Hellstone

http://i.imgur.com/OWkiDXE.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/RfTykJe.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/9aTOPDt.jpg

Laras

http://i.imgur.com/3bWWPPq.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ULCJyWV.jpg

Sessurmir

http://i.imgur.com/GYrAA9M.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/XohvPVc.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/XnUx9Pl.jpg

Richfiled

http://i.imgur.com/KYMMzWw.jpg

Nantes

http://i.imgur.com/f4YUIHX.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/rprrOxQ.jpg

http://imgur.com/tCeucEB,rFszFkq,E6Hklpl,OWkiDXE,RfTykJe,9aTOPDt,3bWWPPq,ULCJyWV,GYrAA9M,XohvPVc,XnUx9Pl,KYMMzWw,f4YUIHX,rprrOxQ#13

​





















Old infos:​



MVjfUaA.jpg





U1TbQJS.jpg





66dqs0J.png



City
uvZz4zg.jpg





WLco3fO.jpg







8p7UShw.jpg


Arena

XzXvTFP.jpg


Rhodok Castle

wLAYKaK.jpg


Cave

spoiler



Old screens
28.3.2013
28024,mb2X20WN.jpg
02.04.2013
28062,mb4M2V35.jpg
15.04.2013
29147,mb25IQOT9.jpg
14.07.2013
post-9-0-12572000-1372720705.jpg
20.01.2014
aAKS58x.jpg








Download:

http://www.pw-nexus.com/board/files/file/77-marshes-of-aurum/

Scene code:

scn_scene_5 scene_5 256 none none 0.000000 0.000000 100.000000 100.000000 -100.000000 0x0000000330000500000d2348000045f0000030410000719e
0
0
sea_outer_terrain_1
 
It'd be nice if it retain the high-capita requirement, high-risk, high-profit trading potential of Borderlands V2. And of course more secret hideout and houses.
 
i like the overall idea.

I think when you make the city you should build a canal through it so boats can pass through.

As this is for smaller servers it should certainly have a single point of production I would say, perhaps apart from mines perhaps. This village should be as close to the center as possible if you want to keep pricing simple (and use the trade concept as with borderlands).

Also, one of the outposts could be 'tribal' theme. I have always wanted to see this, kinda like the mayan one before. Basic huts, crude walls, spears, hide shields etc.

You might also want to consider water around the edges rather than mountains - matter of taste that one.


 
You germanic barbarian Schultz !  :lol: you don't have the right to do a French city as a german. What you would think if i did Berlin or Munichen.

Meh. Well we may discuss about the concept. If you favour RP, you may want to indeed limit the number of castle, but try to stay realistic when it's come to defence. People should be able to defend , town and castle, since rules can't always protect players.
 
Hey Salva,


1. SMALL MAP: I would suggest keeping the map on the small side (it is very frustrating to see empty maps and this happens in large servers too).


2: SMALL CITY: Relatively small city (again, most cities feel very empty), but with a couple of hidden spots. Those hidden places / strange ways through roofs add a lot more fun than rows of empty streets.


3: LIMITED FACTIONS: I know there is some debate around this, but I would also limit the number of factions. Empty factions are no fun either. If it was me, I would try with 3 actual capturable / not special factions (excluding merchants, TW, etc.). You could give the outlaws one of the forts, maybe turning them de facto into a faction (with selling points for resources, etc.). Something like this could be fun:

1. Large castle somewhere in the map, no painfully far away from the city (FACTION)
2. A wooden / semi abandoned fort for outlaws, with the same perks as the castle, just not as strong. (OUTLAWS)
3. Your cavern faction. (maybe they could control the iron mines? (FACTION)
4. A castle very close to the city, effectively governing it. Sort of NZ keep, but maybe not so much in the middle of it.  (FACTION)

4. BOATS: I would make boats a nice safe way of transporting goods, potentially from the mines, elsewhere. Boats seem a bit useless in many maps.

5. FORGET ABOUT CRAFTING: I saw the idea of the merchants in Union - borderlands and I like it a lot. I have long given up on crafting, I think it is almost impossible to achieve. I would focus on getting a good merchant economy going, with raw resources gathering left for visual effect and as a low to mid level profit activity.


A fresh start seems a nice idea, hopefully some insights have been learnt from Borderlands.

 
Hi Erk :smile: long time no speak!

Boats and traders seem to be two potentially magical ingredients, and using them for mine transportation sounds like a good idea, ore out and food in (got to keep those miners fed so they can work harder).

VoS New Zendar was a nicely laid out City with plenty of intriguing places, and the odd trap :wink:

Tunnels are a neat feature there too, and these can tend towards some fun RP/Event stuff.
 
First many thanks for all the answers and input!  I really appreciate it.  :wink:


@ Blucher

Yea I agree with the outpost theme. I like it! 



@Aldric

Germanic barbarian Schultz ?  :grin:

Yeah, I understand what you mean. I try to limit the castle amount, but the map is small anyways, so there should be enough interaction between players.



@ Erk

Nice to see you around again and for the great feedback.  :wink:

And I have nothing more to add. I agree with all your points. But I would love to hear more suggestions from you, since they were always very valuable.  :!:




---------------------------------------------


I made some rework and ideas about the loaction of the Castles.


Screen


28062,mb4M2V35.jpg







Ideas/Thoughts? 
 
Hi s0mebody! Seems you are back in business! Glad to see you around. :smile:

Salva, of course, I think that a new small map with a merchant economy can rock the mod scene. Hence I am quite excited about yours.Replying to your last post.


CONCENTRATE STUFF IN THE CITY (RP faction, village, commoners): I think that most maps end up feeling pretty empty, even Borderlands after the amazing update you did with the abbey felt a bit empty (to me) in other areas. Hence maybe concentrating the RP faction, village and Nantes could be a good idea. Merchants inside Nantes, as a RP faction, is something I loved in Borderlands 2. The Abbey was also great, but seemed to deprive the city. Hence why not place the working fields, cattle and the rest just outside Nantes? That way there is a major hub in there. RP could also be focused there.

COMMONER : Other than that, maybe spawning the commoners somewhere close to the city could be good. I find it VERY annoying when I have to walk in an unexplored map from an spawn in a corner (let's face it, horses at spawn don't last long).

FACTIONS: I saw a decline in wars in Borderlands 2 (first impressions, I might be totally wrong). Maybe bringing back the concept of NZ could be good, since people seemed to enjoy fighting over cities. If anything, maybe work out some nice stuff regarding taxes and chests so that the city owners get an economic incentive in addition.

CASTLES: I wouldn´t have too many, and that already seems your intention anyway. Empty castles are just sad. I would even limit to 2 castles, one in the city, one outside. An outpost, an outlaws fort and the cavern should be more than enough for the rest.

ECONOMY: Borderlands set the standard, I think. We have discussed over it many times so I have little to add. Crafting will never happen, in my opinion, so merchants is the way to go.

Happy to see more ideas coming, let us know about the progress!

 
Thanks again for your great suggestion!

I do agree with your points, just maybe not commoners. I thought that they could spawn on a higher level(on a hill), to get an overview of the map and begin their adventure
through the lands. This would also provide a kind of safe spawn.

If Nantes(the city) should be like New Zendar, the it would be capturable. So there would be follow Castles to capture:


- Nantes (city)
- Cavern Faction
- Faction 1 (Bigger castle)
- 1 Outpost

Then non capturable:

- Village
- RP Faction(Merchants)




I still working on the concept and terrain. Once its done I will start to concentrate on the city/castles.
 
Hope those rivers are wide enough for boats. Turning round might be a problem.

I generally prefer commoner spawns nearer the action. Looks good though.

 
Concerning the castle, they should have a way to make hide and leather relativly close to them, otherwise if they depend only on trade, there are chance that some castle get abandonned due to the lack of raw material

Concerning commoners, i  can't stress enough about having a clear and safe zone to them to start.
A easy pattern that has been widely popular is the teleporter pad where people could choose where to start. Either in front of one of the castle, either to the outlaw camp or to go in the "middle" city to work .
Even if they get randomed somewhere they can teleporter somewhere else far from the randomers

Lone commoner starting the game are the most easy prey for anyone who want to random or rob.
 
What about two commoner spawns? One could be a wider view of the map, like you suggested, so some people will randomly spawn there. However, once you already know the map, you probably want to get faster to the action, so a second spawn close to the city could be a time saver.

Aldric makes a good point, since in most maps you can see empty castles due to shortage of players in factions AND lack of interest in the castle. Borderlands tried to address that by making castles economically desirable. Here I can see why people would want Nantes' Castle, but what about the other one? What do you have in mind?
 
I would love to see a map which you could actually trade materials like gold or silver or other expensive items and then sell them for even more
 
Raging Womble said:
I would love to see a map which you could actually trade materials like gold or silver or other expensive items and then sell them for even more
Click to expand...

Gold and silver are economically useless, it's essencially free cash.

However, trading from cheap production zone to normal/higher price in crafting zone would be very useful for food, leather, linen and iron
 
Hi everyone,


Here is a update of the progress:

I managed to figure out where the castles/factions/etc should be placed, also I made a basic terrain layout , which will be fine tuned on a later point.

29147,mb25IQOT9.jpg





My Thoughts:

The cavern faction should be a whole underground castle inspired from the dwarves of Lord of the Rings. With tunnels and a big hall. Inside the tunnels should provide possibilities for mining(and only there). Also there should be mainly iron and silver. Gold should be more a easteregg then a real impact for the economy.

My idea was that people who wants to mine could do it there and if they want to sell the silver, they need to go through the whole map and the middle part which will be infected by outlaws.
Also it would be interesting if the whole iron value in the map is belonging to one faction, it forces to roleplay or to make a war with a sense. And the iron stock in other castles will be
high rewarding to encourage a merchant flow.
The Village will be the only production place for food/wine/beer/etc also to encourage the merchant flow for the goods.

The system should be look like this:
There where its produced -> safe but low rewarding
Far way sellpoints(castles) -> danger but high rewarding


Sarranid Tradepost should be a place for oriental items(amour/weapon) and gold/silver export. (Maybe export possibility for other good too).

The tavern should be like a central main meet point for talking and such.

For nantes I thought its sufficient if I place only a market , one nice castle and a nice harbor. At the market could be placed personal houses/bank/etc.

The tavern should be like a central main meet point for talking and such.


Ideas/suggestions/criticism? :wink:
 
Define "RP faction + village".

Also, might want more than just one place with cuttable trees. May as well make the thick forest out of the pw_tree as well.

And watch your FPS.
 
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