RTS – Harvest of Souls
The Manual
By Deva Bryson Winblood
Last Updated for Version: 1.26
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Installation Instructions
Introduction
Concept of The Game
Player’s Guide To The Game
The Settings for The Game
Revised Strategy Guide
Version History
Thanks and Credit
Spoilers Section
Installation Instructions:
This section will explain how to install and get the RTS – Harvest of Souls module up and running on your system.
1st TIME INSTALLED: If this is the first time you have ever attempted to play Harvest of Souls then you will need to download two files. First you will need to have downloaded the module file which this document came with. Second you will need to download the combined hak pack.
SECOND OR MORE INSTALLATION: If you have already installed the combined hak pack in the past then all you need to do is install the module files.
WITH THE MODULE: The module file came with 3 very important files. Each of these files must be placed in the proper directory of your Neverwinter Nights installation.
RTS – Harvest of Souls.MOD should be placed in your MODULES directory.
rts-hos_2.tlk should be placed in your TLK directory.
rts-hos_3.hak should be placed in your HAK directory.
WITH THE COMBINED HAK: The combined hak can be downloaded from here:
If you have not already downloaded it. Simply, extract all of the contents of this file into your HAK directory.
If you cannot extract the RAR file then you can download WINRAR for free from RAR files will become more and more common as options on the internet as they produce smaller files than ZIP. WINRAR can also unzip ZIP files.
At this point the module should be installed and you should be able to play it.
Introduction:
Harvest of Souls began as an experiment by Deva Winblood in 2003. He had this idea to see what happened when you melded some Real Time Strategy concepts with an RPG while keeping the emphasis on the RPG elements. He made it possible to create units for teams based on some resources which had to be gathered in various ways. Then he made sure there were ways for players to command these units. Initially, Harvest of Souls started with four teams which could be controlled by one of four players. These teams were and remain to be The Dwarves, The Unclean, The Undead, and The Spider Cultists. Each team plays different from the other teams and there is no friendship between them. Deva likes to play his own game creations and learned years ago that a module or any other game that did not have randomly generated additions to the game would not be tremendously fun for himself (since he would know all there was to know), and it would have limited replay value. So, within harvest of souls he made it so that Mana sources, some special NPCs, and powerful artifacts are randomly placed throughout the game world each time it is played. This has proven highly successful in terms of making the game highly replayable and very enjoyable for its authors. After the basic teams and control system and initial map layouts was in place Deva introduced the module to Jeremy Greene (long time friend of Deva’s). Jeremy immediately got to work balancing the units better, and helping Deva with various things. The first version was released as a joint effort by Jeremy and Deva in 2003. They immediately were interviewed by NWVAULT as it seemed to be a completely new style of play. They were interviewed by the HomeLAN fed website for similar reasons. Bioware staff was discussing the project and in fact they were the ones who pointed the HomeLAN crew to interview Deva and Jeremy. Deva and Jeremy fixed the bugs and stepped away from the module for quite some time. Then Deva started adding things. He added the ability for up to 64 players to play instead of the previous limitation of 4. He made it possible for players to be on teams together. Eventually he added in several AI controlled opponents who made the game challenging and fun to play in single player as well as multiplayer. Jeremy Greene came on in various stages and fixed some scripts, created some scripts, and generally helped Deva with numerous things. The final additions introduced to the game were the ability to drastically influence the way the AI opponents play, as well as ally them together. This made it possible to improve the difficulty of the game. The initial game proved VERY difficult initially to NEW players. However, players that stuck with it and learned the ropes eventually decided the AI needed to be more challenging. Another final feature added by Deva was a scoring system that would actually save and track high score information of players, and teams. It would also store the averages for players that play on that server. All in all this module has become one of the most addictive modules out there once you know how to play it. It really only lacks in one area. Since, it was designed as an experiment it lacks some of the in depth story and dialog that could make it even better. There is dialog and there are quests available but, they can be overshadowed by other aspects of the game. If you are new to this module simply stick with it and soon you will find yourself occasionally getting a craving to play it. So, much scripting has gone into this module that the game play in part feels totally different and it feels like you are playing a completely different game. There is Neverwinter Nights and then there is Neverwinter Nights Harvest of Souls style. All the adventuring you need is in the game as well as the mayhem.
Concept of The Game:
Long ago in the world that Harvest of Souls takes place in there was a battle for control. Powerful factions brought war and conflict to the world. Eventually, as the face of the world was covered in death and bloodshed the Elder gods Aisada, the goddess of light, and Umnuikal, the god of darkness, joined forces to stop the madness. At first they attempted direct confrontation but, it became apparent that the beings commanding these factions had in fact become demi-gods themselves. They could not simply be destroyed. Aisada and Umnuikal instead found a way to banish them to the outer planes and strip them of their massive powers that they had achieved. This happened a very long time ago. The conflict between these factions has faded into distant history and has been completely forgotten by many. There have been other struggles in the world since that time but, none of the scope and madness that was The Mad Gods’ War.
Now after most scholars have forgotten and after Aisada and Umnuikal have appeared to slumber for centuries, a significant thing has occurred. The Mad Gods have been reborn. They have not been reborn in a sense of a new body. Instead one of them has discovered a path through the shadow planes that enabled them to return to the world. In all this time, the mad ones have not ceased their spying upon each other. When one came to the world, the others soon followed.
You are one of these would be mad gods. You must take control of the world and mold it to the beliefs of you and your followers. The vast resources and abilities you once had will be yours again. You simply need to gather your resources, build your armies, find the artifacts of power, which have been scattered throughout the world and the outer planes, and vanquish the other factions. You will not be so easily banished this time for you now know the way to escape back to the world from the outer planes.
The Second War of The Mad Gods is upon us.
Players Guide To The Game:
Welcome, to the world of RTS – Harvest of Souls. The first few games you play have proven to be difficult to past players. With each successive playing of the module you will become more and more familiar with its layout, its rules, and strategies to keep you alive and make you powerful. It generally is agreed that this module is best played with multiple players but, it can also be enjoyed in single player. The greatest weakness to single player is that due to the way this module was developed the story and underlying quests are not as well developed as many more traditional modules. This DOES not detract from the game. In fact, the way this module was designed offers perhaps MORE replay value than just about any other module created for Neverwinter Nights. With that said, this section will focus on some of the basics of How to Play Harvest of Souls, and try to assist you in more rapidly learning some of the important concepts that will make this module enjoyable and not a struggle for you to play.
The Game Entry Room:
When you begin the game you will be stripped of all your levels and equipment and be outfitted with standard starting equipment. If you do not understand why you are stripped of levels and such then read The Story which is in your journal or simply read the Concept of The Game section that comes before this section in this document. After you have been reduced to starting level you will notice that this room has many interesting features. These features are used to define how the game you are getting ready to play will behave, let you choose your team, and in general just give you information about the game itself.
The first thing that you generally need to know is that there is a door for each team that can be played in this game. To choose the team you wish to be on you simply walk through the corresponding door. It is important to NOTE that the first person to go through a door for a team becomes the leader of that team. Once, you have chosen a team your body will be surrounded by that team’s color. If you are the leader then you will have an additional effect to distinguish you from other members of your team.
If you are playing with multiple players and you are not a leader and you wish to change the team you are currently on then simply walk through a door to the other team you wish to be on and your team will be switched.
If you or any other player is the leader of a team and decides they do not wish to be on that team, or if you need to clear the teams for any other reason then simply use the
Team Reset Sign. This sign will remove all players from teams and reset it so, that everyone must choose a team again.
Perhaps the most important aspect of this room is the large control panel named “Game Settings Control Station.” Every player must use this control panel at some point before the game can start. This control panel can be used to tell you what the current game settings are. It can be used to change the way the game plays via a huge number of options (discussed in next section of this document). Most importantly though it has a simple statement which says “I am ready to play.” The game will not begin until every player in this game entry room has chosen a team and indicated they are ready to play.
Once, this happens you will be sent to the lair of your team. This is a VERY important area for you to become familiar with. This is the area where all the resources for your team are stored, where you and your team members can rest, where you respawn when you escape the outer planes, and almost the only place that your armies can be built at (control points controlled by your team are the other place).
You’ve made it to your lair:
If you are playing multiplayer and are not the leader of your team you likely will only have the VOTING TOOL. This voting tool can be used if you are stuck somewhere and cannot move due to a Bioware or Harvest of Souls bug. If you wish to return to your lair you may vote to do so. If all other players vote that it is okay for you to do so then you will be unstuck and teleported back to your lair. The other thing that is sometimes voted on is to END THE GAME. If the game has been going on for a significant time and all the players are ready to quit and see the end scores then a vote to end the game can be called. If all the players agree then the game will be ended and the players will be sent to the end game room.
If you are playing single player or are the leader of a team you will have several additional items of importance. You will have the Team Control Wand, The Unit Creation Tool, and The Marking Tool. You might also have these last two items if the leader of the team has granted you building rights.
The Team Control Wand has many abilities but, in general it can be used to tell you how much of each resource you currently have simply by targeting yourself. It can be used to resign leadership and have someone else on your team become leader. It can be used to set missions for squads. Squads are created using this wand as well. You can target another player team member and assign them to a squad. This enables you to set missions for that group of players which they can review and allow them to communicate privately amongst their squad. You can also use this wand to grant building rights to other player members, or kick people off of your team.
The Unit Creation Tool must be targeted at a location on the ground. It will then inform you of how much of each resource you have available and will provide you with a list of units that you can construct. It is important for you to check all 3 sections of units as even though the 1-10 list may appear empty, you might be able to construct units in the 21-30 list. This again is due to the older design of the module. You can then construct the unit. This tool can only be used in two places. The first is within your lair. The second is within close proximity to a control point controlled by your team.
The Marking Tool is used to flag some specific guard locations which can be used when commanding your units and to flag mana sources. If you have a unit in your army following you that is capable of harvesting mana you can use the marking tool on a mana source and set it to “Harvest 1” then you can tell the unit to Harvest. They will harvest the mana and take it back to your lair. Do not mark a mana source then walk several areas back to a harvesting unit and tell them to harvest it. The path finding does not work too well for this. It is advisable you only use this in conjunction with units that are following you.
Each lair has two exits to the world. One of these exits leads outside and above grounds. The second exit leads below ground into the caverns that run beneath the world. These two exits are the means by which enemy raiders will access your base. Defend them accordingly.
The Resources Of The Game:
There are three major resources in the game. These resources are Mana, Gold, and Souls. How much of each is needed depends on the team you have chosen to play.
All teams with the exception of the undead can only build units when they have sufficient resources. The Undead team is a little more difficult in this aspect as units also require that the Undead Team leader be of sufficient level before they can be constructed. the Undead team is one of the most popular teams to play but, is more difficult than some of the others for new players. If you are not the leader of your team then ask your leader what they need you to do. Work as a team and you will do much better.
Mana is gathered by finding mana pools in the world. You can use a pool and it will convert to a mana crystal in your inventory. You simply take these back to your lair and place them in the mana vault. Every game hour your team will receive an amount of mana depending on how many mana crystals are in your vault and what type they are. Keep in mind that other teams can steal mana crystals from each others vaults. This is a very important resource as there are a finite number of mana pools in the game and they come in three sizes. The largest size is the rarest. So, you or your team should begin searching for mana immediately. It should be noted that in EVERY game there is a guaranteed large mana pool in the sewers, and in 4 dungeons you can find. The rest of them are randomly placed and must be found.