The following is basically just a list for every mission that we have provided on this CD-ROM. Each mission has been specifically designed to illustrate one or a combination of special points that have been discussed in this manual. You can either read through the list and examine specific missions that hold the most interest to you, or we invite you to try every mission, one by one. These missions all carry some educational value for an aspiring WarCraft II editor, and you truly never know what you're missing until you see them in action.
The first six missions are simple, designed to give you a general overview of good map design, player layouts, and computer expansion tactics. The 32 x 32 missions are meant to give you a lightly exaggerated look at why the smaller maps do not lend themselves to quality missions. The 128 x 128 missions offer a direct comparison to their smaller counterparts. We invite you to use the ON SCREEN code to view these larger missions, and study the growth patterns of a computer-controlled player starting from scratch. With land, sea, and air examples, you should be able to learn much about the growing needs of the computer.
BOOK01.PUD - (32 x 32) Land attack
BOOK02.PUD - (32 x 32) Sea attack - We were unable to make the computer properly build up or upgrade. In order for the computer to build ships and defend itself, we had to start it with a gnomish inventor.
BOOK03.PUD - (32 x 32) Air attack - Again, the computer would not upgrade and produce air units. The problem here is that there isn't simply enough room to properly build the basic structures needed for every upgrade. Because of this, we had to literally fake the air attack element in this mission.
BOOK04.PUD - (128 x 128) Land attack - This is a challenging land attack mission, requiring strategic thinking and defensive game play. Note the use of computer-controlled units that are not linked with a city area. They are merely there as an obstacle. Not every unit in the game must have a home base and a plan of attack to be useful.
BOOK05.PUD - (128 x 128) Sea attack - One against two may not initially seem very difficult, but a straight sea attack mission with large water divisions, is not the normal mission. The computer-controlled color-groups have been given plenty of room to work with here, so be sure to watch their progress and learn from it.
BOOK06.PUD - (128 x 128) Air attack - Again, watch the building patterns of the computer to learn how the proper build up for an air-attack play style will look. Before you use the cheat codes to view the map, however, you should introduce yourself to your first blitz trap. Start the mission and lead your units to the northeast of your starting position. Destroy the temple of the damned that you find there, and you will see one of the many uses of the blitz trap.
BOOK07.PUD - This is the perfect example of a detailed, lengthy mission that requires distinct thought and planning by the player. Start the mission and try your best to complete it without viewing the entire map. Run yourself through the ropes of how a rescue mission can lead from pitfall, to victory, to pitfall. Where should you go? Who should you attack first? Now you know first hand the thought process that a player goes through when facing seemingly insurmountable odds.
BOOK08.PUD - This mission covers the basics of a search and destroy mission. Through the strategic placement of rock obstacles, the player is isolated at the bottom of the map, allowing the computer ample time to build up its forces and upgrade. The best search and destroy missions will involve an equivalent amount of offense from both the player and the computer. The computer merely needs a bit more time to get going.
Search and destroy missions should also contain many pivotal choices in the midst of play. For example, should you destroy orange and build up in safety along the side of the map? Should you simply take the middle gold mine and try to upgrade your units? Or then again, maybe you should group your forces and make the push against blue. It is the options that make the mission.
BOOK09.PUD - A good, basic example of a siege mission. The primary target is the walled city in the middle of the map. Scattered defensive units in the woods work to slow down the player, while the orange and black color groups build up in the background, so that they can lend later support. Take note of the placement of the white troops at the lower right side of the map, waiting for the player to stumble into the area. Also note the way that we have kept the yellow forces isolated from outside players, while still allowing them to move into the forest area for lumber. This is a mission that you will definitely want to use the cheat codes to view while playing.
BOOK10.PUD - Most defensive missions look something like this one, so go ahead and use ON SCREEN. Three opponents surround the player's city area, all supplied with the basic starting structures. In a defensive mission, it is up to the player to be competent enough not to get killed, so don't go easy on anyone. Note that the purple color group is slightly weaker than the other two, giving the player the option of striking fast, so as to help even the odds.
We have provided two missions dedicated to showing you specific examples of computer building and upgrading problems. Use ON SCREEN immediately for both of these, and compare the growth of a stunted color group to a well designed color group. Hopefully, you will see the drastic difference. Try playing through these missions against the well-designed color groups to observe the attack patterns as well. Then try to edit these missions to make the computer-controlled players build more effectively. Do not be surprised if the missions become too difficult merely by adjusting the building factors.
BOOK11.PUD - In this mission, the problems of trying to start a color group with a castle, rather than the basic hall are shown. The purple and orange color groups will eventually become a powerful force, but they will waste a lot of time fumbling around, almost dazed at the idea of starting with the castles. Notice that both groups have peasants wandering around the map area. This is a clear sign that something is amiss in the placement of the two color groups.
BOOK12.PUD - This mission will display the computer's need for defense, along with the stubbornness of its growth pattern. Keep an eye on the blue color group as its forces stack up on the upper-left corner of their hall and block the peons. Also, the purple group will frequently block itself off from its gold, even without the hindrance of military units. This is why you cannot really "hide" or block a gold mine from other color groups - it merely raises the odds of blockage.
Every trap covered in the manual has a corresponding mission. These missions are very important for you to play, study, and analyze. Two of these missions, false gold mine and false opponent, have been designed on a 64 x 64 map size to get a close-up view of how the traps can work. You should design larger missions for your own use, and try to insert these traps as part of the overall mission design. DO NOT use ON SCREEN before playing the trap missions, as it will ruin the traps! Try them all before taking a sneak peek.
BOOK13.PUD - This mission should hopefully cause you to restart several times, just when you thought that you had control. This mission contains three blitz traps, a blue trap, a purple trap, and finally a black color group trap. Once you've played through, study how these traps were set for some ideas on how you can do this yourself.
BOOK14.PUD - A separation mission. This mission is one of the longest ones that you will find anywhere, requiring a number of distinctly different battles against each group. The severe separation method forces the player to focus on one aspect of the mission at a time.
BOOK15.PUD - This is a separation mission like BOOK14.PUD, however, this time, the game field has been opened up a bit more, allowing some of the enemy color groups to actually get some attacks on the player. This will require much more strategy than the previous mission, and designing these missions in a winnable fashion is very difficult. Note the inclusion of allies to help even out the odds.
BOOK16.PUD - The purple peasant that you see upon starting this mission is meant to throw off players and make them defend their starting area, which is actually useless. Go ahead and try to start in that area, you will never make it. The building area that you should look for is elsewhere on the map. You merely have to give up your starting location to survive. Knowing how this kind of false gold mine setup messes with the player's mind will help you do the same thing. Take note that the player is "given" some buildings to rescue near the "real" gold mine. This evens out the fact that while the player is running around the map, the enemy is building up forces.
BOOK17.PUD - The false opponent mission is like the previous mission, in that we use a starting situation to force the player into a certain frame of mind. With the initial attack by blue, the focus turns to defense and counter-attack, when it should be on building, upgrading, and preparing for assaults from the unknown forces to the east. Making the player use many different play styles in one mission is a hard thing to do, but shows your commitment to designing a good mission.
BOOK18.PUD - So, how does passive linking work? Move your starting troops just one step to the east or west, outside of your city walls, and you will find out. Notice that the passive units will remain in position until the player triggers them. This kind of trap can be delayed through an entire mission if necessary.
BOOK19.PUD - This mission offers a look at the sea-based blind trap (green) and the air-based blind trap (purple). Blind traps are best set small, so that they seem incidental when the player wanders by and sets them off.
When ideas are running low for your missions, just turn to an aspect of real life to guide your creativity. These next three missions are examples that are based on ideas or things that you have most assuredly seen or heard of before. Giving a mission a background of its own can make it that much more interesting to the player.
BOOK20.PUD - Take a careful look at the map layout itself while playing this one. The landscape has been designed from a section of the map that is provided inside the WarCraft II expansion CD manual. Those with the manual should recognize the area as a specific part of north-western Draenor.
BOOK21.PUD - Anyone up for a battle for the United States? Using real geographic areas for WarCraft scenarios is a very good idea. Note the separation of the blue air-attack forces by rocks.
BOOK22.PUD - In keeping with the geographic idea, we also added in some historical concepts. This mission simulates the lands of Germany during the second World War. Aspects from the time period have been used to set up the computer-controlled color groups. Notice the heavy air presence coming from the British and French/U.S. sides of the map. A small ground force to the east represents the opportunity to strike into Russia early on. Recreating a famous battleground, WarCraft-style, can be highly entertaining.
BOOK23.PUD - If you place a color group on rescue active they will build, defend themselves, and act as targets for the enemy computer players. In this mission, you will see the difference that having a friendly force on the opposite side of the map will make. Try to get over to the blue "to-be-rescued" group as quickly as possible. You will probably have to touch that color group's main hall to take control of its figures.
BOOK24.PUD - Sometimes you can use a rescue-active color group to keep a strong computer enemy busy until the player can rescue and use the extra troops. This mission, however, does not exactly work that way. Here, we want you to see how you can capitalize and make a mission out of any random quirk that may appear. We don't know why or how they happen, but when they do, see if you can use them. You will be fighting alongside the blue forces for this one, and you'd better hope they are good, because for some reason, only the farms and a few peons allow themselves to be rescued. Good luck!
BOOK25.PUD - We just want to make the point that you should keep an open mind when trying to come up with original ideas or touches that will really add something to your missions. This idea was spawned by quickly looking through the possible units that can be modified in the UNIT PROPERTIES menu. By basing a major portion of the mission on the actions of just a few units, you can seriously alter the way a mission is played. In attempting this mission, try to keep those special units alive for as long as possible, or victory will not be possible! Also, be aware of the modified upgrade costs associated with any structures that you find. They too, have been altered to assist the player.
Multi-player missions, as mentioned in the second chapter, carry their own special problems. These examples are provided if you should be fortunate enough to have other players that will help you in your editing and playtesting.
BOOK26.PUD - (1 player vs 1 player) - This is a land mission, using the interesting idea of land bridges to hopefully trick a few people into throwing their forces into harm's way. Even though the players are fighting each other, adding a computer opponent to attack each of them arbitrarily adds to the pressure. The computer color group also helps to keep one player from growing large and making a quick kill, a common problem in competitive missions.
BOOK27.PUD - (1 player vs 1 player) - This mission shows that you can intend one thing, but mix up the scenario to make things interesting. True, this has a sea-attack as the focus, but by introducing a wicked land battle in the middle island, you can really get the strategy buffs thinking. If the opportunity should arise, watch two players attempt this mission to examine their reactions.
BOOK28.PUD - (1 player vs 1 player) - Air attack, multi-player missions are very hard to create because most players are already deep into the battle by the time that griffin aviaries and dragon roosts come into the play. However, starting each player with the necessities for aerial assault certainly changes the picture. The presence of trees acting as a separating medium foreshadows a direct land confrontation.
BOOK29.PUD - (2 players vs 2 players) - In this competitive/cooperative mission, you must first know that you are definitely going to have an ally. Once play begins, you must identify the color group that starts next to you and set it as an ally, or else your units may accidentally attack. While a mission of this design would never work well with computer players, human players will learn to capitalize on the large gold levels provided. This is a strategy mission, with the winner being the group that learns how to mount a long-range offensive over the river banks. You should always make your players think long and hard about the tactical situation that you place them in. When the players converse about real strategy and planning during game play, then you known that you are headed in the right direction with your editing.
BOOK30.PUD - (3 players vs 5 players) - This mission takes the elements of sea-attack, land-attack, defend and horde play style, and a basic siege, and combines them into an eight-player monster. Seemingly innocent, this mission lends to incredible sea and aerial battles, with each player using different tactics to try and take the upper hand. You should note that the five perimeter players that are attacking inward all start with less gold than the three defending players. Balancing the numbers and resources is very important anytime that you are pitting uneven numbers of human players against each other.
