Champions of Durance Public Alpha Test (v1.92)

-------------------------
Requirements
-------------------------

- Warcraft III w/ expansion The Frozen Throne
- Pentium 4 2Ghz w/ 256mb ram or Athlon 
  equivalent. Champions of Durance is a 
  highly triggered map, and requires a stronger 
  computer for optimal play than does base 
  Warcraft III. (You may be able to improve
  performance by dropping down graphical
  settings such as resolution and color
  depth)

-------------------------
Installation Instructions
-------------------------

Simply decompress the Zipped Archive contents 
to your Warcraft III\Maps\Download folder. Two
maps should extract (the full version and the
"Lite" version).

-------------------------
Contact Info
-------------------------

Designer: Sud
email: Da_Sud@shaw.ca
CoD website: http://members.shaw.ca/Da_Sud/cod.htm
CoD Forums: http://dasud.proboards7.com/

Feedback is welcomed.

-------------------------
Game Information
-------------------------

Champions of Durance is a new AoS geared toward 
high level AoS players. It features unique 
gameplay that rewards players with strategy, 
aim (most abilities require you to aim, rather 
than the norm autoaim abilities), technique, 
and teamwork. Heroes are created to be 
balanced, yet powerful, and specialized in 
their roles, with attention made that they 
never become obsolete. Attack the foe with 
multiple viable strategies, create user 
towers to boost your army's potential, 
passive towers to increase your team's power, 
or purchase items to increase your personal 
strength, but every strategy has a counter 
that can be overcome.

Gameplay aspects include:

- No heroes that are useless early game then become 
godly late game (or vice versa). Anything has a counter.
Intelligent purchasing of items will keep your hero
viable all game long.

- Skill based spells and abilities. If you're looking 
for auto-aim storm bolts and godly passives, this is 
not the map for you. Almost all of the hard hitting 
spells require prediction and aiming, adding both a 
new level of skillful play, and adding an interesting 
psychological factor, which reduces instances of 
"heroes standing on opposite sides of creeps pretty 
much ignoring each other while they farm/level up". 

- Team-oriented and objective based teamplay. As you 
progress in the game, knocking out objectives will 
increase the power of the entire team as a whole.

- Improved hero kill reward system. As players kill 
other players and accumulate items, their difficulty 
factor, or bounty, increases, giving any players 
that are able to kill them greater rewards. The player 
who loads himself up with too many items and foolishly 
dies has actually become a target of opportunity that 
an entire team will want to go after, rather than 
something everybody wants to avoid.

- Multiple VIABLE methods to achieve victory. Actions 
such as farming, hero killing, seiging, etc. all 
increase your personal wealth and that can be used to 
make the team stronger. Your team can spend its 
resources on powerful items, or build up its base to 
create stronger pushes, or build structures that 
benefit the entire team as a whole. Whether a team 
wishes to focus on strong pushes, or slaughtering 
the other team, all styles of play have a role.

- Almost every hero skill has been elaborately 
triggered by a real life software developer. Items 
come with many different effects bound to them 
(currently the most powerful item in the game 
carries over 11 effects!)

- A genuine learning curve that actually gives
the player an opportunity to improve in skill,
rather than handing him kills with no effort.

- Heroes are not "carbon copies" of each other, 
and strengths and weaknesses are emphasized for 
each individual hero. Agility heroes are fast 
and good shock troopers, strength heroes are 
great at front line operations, and mages are 
frail but pack some very powerful nukes. Some
of the heroes you can choose include:

* Cut a bloody swath through the competition 
in preparation for the final curtain killing 
blow as the Executioner

* Master the creation of robotic structures, 
powerful automatons, and itemcraft as the 
Engineer

* Create defensive structres, stop any push, 
and be the man of the hour on defense as 
the Architect

* Cackle with insane glee as your mental power
pummels your foes to a bloody pulp as the 
Psionicist

* Summon undead, channel malignant spirits, 
and create horrific walls of bone as the 
Necromancer

* Set the land ablaze with the impressive 
flame of the Pyromanic-Depressive

* Punish evil, smite foes, and avenge 
wrongdoings against your allies as the 
Paladin

* Turn enemy troops traitorous, enforce 
strict pacifism, and when all else 
fails, CLUB STUFF as the Friendly Giant

* Summon disgusting tentacled beasts, 
and blight your foes with poison and 
acid as the Sewer Dweller

* Create devious traps and mines then 
throw your trusty dragnet to pull your 
enemy into their death as the Forest 
Troll Trapper

* Swiftly dodge the assaults of enemy mages, 
deliver bone crushing combos, and 
uppercut your foes into the sky as the 
Martial Artist

* Heal your allies, lay down powerful prayers, 
and pass the collection plate around as the 
Cleric

* Summon all manner of nasty creatures and 
create items seemingly out of thin air as 
the Dark Conjurer

* Impede enemy movements with tranquilizing 
arrows, snipe far off foes with sonic arrows, 
and never be surprised by an enemy ambush 
as the Archer

* Nauseate your opponents with your horrific 
stench, then fart on them and slam your 
enormous rotting bulk on top of their 
unwitting heads as the Odiferous Cadaver

* Create powerful magnetic tempests, unleash 
the fury of the thundergod, and enhance your 
allie's weaponry as the Stormreaver Electrolyte

* Throw your opponents overboard with a variety
of aqueous attacks, then seal the deal with an
impressive Armada strike as the Sea Captain

* Tear your opponents asunder with unholy power,
and rot their pathetic defenses away as the 
Anti-Paladin