MAP : Thorn Valley (thornval.mx2) BY : Kelvin at gohzibin@mbox2.singnet.com.sg comments, suggestions and complaints welcomed! ==================================================== Based on : the animated movie The Secret of NIMH & the books Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH Racso and the Rats of NIMH ==================================================== The map is sorta biased to the reds, with them having the best starting position, troops and resources. Player should take BLUE or GREEN for a challenging game. Red is way too easy for most people (unless you enjoy a walkover). YELLOW is not playable at all with zero growth potential. They mostly just get in the way of the rest but they are not that easy to exterminate. THE COLORS: BLUE- Council of separatists led by Jenner. His main aim is to destory both RED (NIMH) and YELLOW (humans) thereby destorying all Human influence in the region. Secondary aim is to conquer GREEN (Justin) uniting the intelligent rats under his not-so benevolent rule. GREEN- Colony of Thorn Valley, of which Justin is a main leader. His main objective is to destory RED (NIMH), safeguarding his beloved colony. Secondary goal is to overwhelm BLUE (Jenner) and return the separatists to the correct philosophy. He does not seek to destory YELLOW. RED- Project leader Dr Schultz with the full backing and resources of NIMH. He's aim is simple : destory both GREEN and BLUE factions, of which he makes no distinction. Civilian (YELLOW) casualties should be kept low but if they get in the way... YELLOW- Non-NIMH humans. BACKGROUND If you are a non NIMH fan, you might appreciated knowing just what is going on, roughly. NIMH, the National Institute of Mental Science created a race of intelligent rats. They escaped and created a colony at a remote farm where they evolved a complex society. NIMH seeked their destruction, fearing the effects of another intelligent race on humans. The rats escaped again, with one faction travelling to a national nature reserves, Thorn Valley led by Justin, a former guard captian. Another faction, led by Jenner, a politican, travels to Smithville where they seek to make a living stealing from humans. At the start of the map, NIMH, led by Dr Schultz, former creator of the rats, begins a renewed campaign to destory both factions. GAME REPRESENTATIONS : Unfortunately, HOMAN2 does not supports monsters like rats, people etc which is what this map is about: War between intelligent rats and people so I gotta improvise. Bear with me if it gets too corny for you... Castle troops = Rats. Notably, Crusaders are Knights of Frith, an elite order of armored rats. Since rats got smart, they started reading a lot...and got plenty of ideas...of which are feudalism and theology. The Knights of Frith worship Frith (they borrowed this deity from the rabbits. After all rats and rabbits are distant cousins) and are sworn to defend normal rats from predators and humans. They are honorable and invincible in combat. Forest troops = Forest animals, mostly allied with the rats. These can be rabbits, shrews, birds...whatever... Giants = Human, your typical adult male/female. Titans = Human...with a gun. Dragons = Anti Rodent Gunships (ARG). These represent NIMH's frontline assault force on the rats. They look like distorted miniture helicopters with 3 rotors and a flame thrower, perfect for destorying whole colonies of vicious rats (particularly over-sized intelligent rats which have taken to using weapons and sorcery in their wars).The prototype is ARG/G (the green dragon). Coming soon are ARG/R and ARG/B. These should keep the rats occupied... FOR THE NIMH FANS You might notice I've changed some of the facts in the movie. Here is a summary : Jenner is not killed. He didn't kill Nicodemus either. He left, on the worst of teams with Justin and set up a colony at Smithville. He rules with the aid of a council and make himself Consul. His government is kinda of a militarist dictatorship (despite his claim to it being a democracy). He has a hatred for all humankind,NIMH particularly and will not hesitate to start a war. The House Moving took place, successfully, though Nicodemus died in an accident. Shortly after, the rats of NIMH left for Thorn Valley, under the leadership of Justin. Rats uses spells. The movie did set a precedency of magic. (Notably Nicodemus, who tries to impress Mrs Brisby with his telekinesis and illusions). Now quite a few rats are trained in war-magic as both factions recognise the need of sorcery to defeat the humans. (If a NIMH hero casts a spell it is not magic...it is TECHNOLOGY).