Fan Mission: Coercion by Sotha (2016/09/27)

[Sotha]

Coercion is a small FM, where a crime organization forces you to sneak into a mansion and steal precious books. Made by Sotha.

 

The mission is warmly recommended for new players and beginners!

 

BUILD TIME: Summer 2016

 

CREDITS

Thanks goes to TDM team and the whole community. Goldwell and Andros is thanked for voice acting.

 

Special thanks to betatesters:

Grayman, Bikerdude, Obstorte and Crowbars82

 

Enjoy!

 

Download link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwR0ORZU5sraN24tZlI2MHR3c1U/view?usp=sharing

[Bikerdude]

Evenin, can you give me the intro text and some screenshots for the mission page when you get a sec, ta.

[Goldwell]

Congrats on the release!

 

I was laying in bed trying to fall asleep when I read this and jumped out of bed to play

 

My review:

 

 

 

I really enjoyed this mission, it has the usual Sotha level building that we've all come to expect these recent years. High quality with a dash of spookiness and custom items/mechanics.

 

The detail in this mission was very nicely done, the glass cases to store the loot, the sliding painting with l oot behind in the bedroom and the windows looking out into the skybox all added lovely little bits of detail that helped immerse myself in the world even more. Your level design was great and it really felt like I was exploring a small mansion.

 

I thought the story was well written and believable (although wasn't a fan of the limit to 2 black jacked AI in expert), I read all of the readables which were written very well. In particular the book on caulk gave me a chuckle and I thought the whole premise there was well done.

 

It took me about half an hour to finish the mission and I found 3400~ loot, noticing I missed a little bit more but I thought I checked every corner of the map so nice job there.

 

The music was really well done this time, overall it's quite impressive from a fellow mappers point of view to see how you use the TDM base textures/models/music in a way that is both fresh and familiar.

 

Thank you for this mission, really look forward to your next one!

 

 

[grayman]

Congrats!

[Obsttorte]

Congrats

[Sotha]

@Biker, here is the intro text:

 

 

Dear Simeon,

How are you? We trust your mother is well? How fortunate that we could sell you the medicine she needs!

We regret to inform you that your loan is due. Yes, we are aware that you’ve had difficulties in paying up and we have been most understanding towards you. However, our patience is not bottomless. It is time to pay.

If you are not able to pay up in gold, we will allow you to pay us back in kind. The task should not be overwhelmingly difficult for a little sneak such as you.

Lord Greyton isn’t presently doing what we want and because of that we need to have some leverage over him. He treasures rare books over everything else, so we want you to steal his most precious volumes, which he has hidden somewhere in his mansion.

In addition, we must make it clear we are serious. Please deliver the attached note on his desk in his study, and this skull on his bed, preferrably next to his sleeping wife. Please be discreet. We want influence, not corpses. It is vital you do not hurt Greyton or his wife in any way!

We will deduct any additional valuables you find from the mansion from your debt.

You have two weeks, and then we will have this little service, or your kneecaps. Your choice.

Greyton’s manor is located in the Old Quarter in Bridgeport. You should be able to get in through the back alley. A small lad like you can probably fit in through the coal chute.

We await eagerly the due date of your loan, Simeon.

 

If someone in the community could help out and grab some screenies for Biker, I would be much obliged! Thank you!

[Bikerdude]

Added, will add pictures later.

[Aosys]

Congrats! Very much looking forward to playing this tonight!

[Oldjim]

The usual polished mission and eminently ghostable with getting nearly all the loot (3,675) and no knockouts

A suggestion for the future

when there is a pressure plate triggering an arrow add a second arrow lower down so that you can't avoid it by crouching and have to find the switch

 

[montag]

Congrats Sotha!

[Melan]

Two stealth releases without too much fanfare!

 

I was starting to get worried (and I guess I still am), but hey. Two new missions!

[lowenz]

Nice little FM, maybe 1 more guard in the main hall doesn't hurt

 

Bug: if I knock the maid, she falls in the sacks and *dies* -> mission failed

 

Edited September 28, 2016 by lowenz

[Outlooker]

Another mission of generally high quality that was again very enjoyable .

Instead of "small" I would call it "overseeable" - no great maze like some other missions, rather

a cozy heist focusing on the heist and nothing else - no distractions and esoteric surprises,

a professional job - straightforward and direct, playing as a cold-headed nightly logistics expert.

Should and could be done most stealthily and ghost-like. Well, I failed at that.

Initially I could not keep my fingers from those transparent loot display furniture boxes - pickety pick, grabety grab -

and from there on soon all guards marched around with their swords drawn. Well, another thing learned, another

complexity added for gameplay, another degree of planning needed for being stealthy. Great fun!

I took special notice of the windows in the secret part of the house - the distortion in the glass and

vista into the city kept me there marveling at it for a while. Wonderful little element.

The bucket under the blood-weeping painting made me laugh - while I do not know if that was

Sotha's intention, I much appreciated the funny aspect if the situation - no degree of horror, spookiness and

supernatural dread can stop us from taking most practical measures to keep the carpet clean!

Alltogether I found this to be a very tidy, compact and enjoyable mission with zero design flaws or things

that itched me in a negative way - an all-around very well designed little mission but in no way short

of nice design, gameplay, visuals and thievish pleasures.

I will definitely play this mission again with intent to ghost it - and trying out new ways to deal with those

transparent loot displays (maybe if I put something on them that blocks the guards view of the insides?)

Also, I think this is a map most fitting to introduce newbie players to the Dark Mod - wonderful to look at,

many nice details, simpler and clear but convincing and motivating story and readables, good ways to train and

show off stealth skills, while lacking the vastness and intricateness of some much bigger missions that

could intimidate new players.

A small mission indeed, but in no way small in sophistication.

Thank you, again, Sotha!

[GUFF]

This is a very good mission of short/medium size that you could definitely get a beginner to try and like to get into the genre, I think. Very straight-forward with everything important hinted at clearly enough and not too long for a single sitting. Lots of ways to put out lights and not as unforgiving in that regard as some of the other missions you've made where the AI will relight basically everything you put out (Lich Queen's Demise for example, a better mission overall for sure but the undead AI love to relight almost everything making it less of a good mission to get people into playing the game)

 

The 2 KO limit was probably a bit of a bother to some. I personally just KO'd the noble because I figured he may notice some looted things missing (a detail some love to put into their missions! And definitely did exist in this one too for at least one or other piece of loot) and I left everyone else awake.

[Sotha]

Thanks for the kind reviews, I always appreciate the time you invest in writing them and I always read every single one.

 

Yep, usually my missions have been quite difficult. To break the trend, I deliberately made this mission to be beginner/newbie friendly.

 

Do you have a friend or relative who might like a sneaking experience? Recommend this newbie-friendly mission to them, perhaps we get more fans and players? Pass the word around.

 

While candy is given to beginners, I also hoping higher difficulties present enough challenge to be fun for veteran players as well.

[Oktokolo]

Bug: if I knock the maid, she falls in the sacks and *dies* -> mission failed

That most likely is a TDM issue as i encountered it in almost all missions when knocking out someone who is asleep or sitting in a chair. You have to be quick to grab the body or get the person to stand up before knocking it down.

 

Yep, usually my missions have been quite difficult. To break the trend, I deliberately made this mission to be beginner/newbie friendly.

This was a relaxing mission to play on medium indeed.

 

It is the perfect example to teach new players the "wait'n pile" method: The start room is just perfect to store all the knocked-out bodies in, is visited by only one guy regularly and also allows calling in a maid and a guard seperately by just using the one extremely obvious switch. You can conveniently dispose three inhabitants that way before even leaving the first room.

 

I too prefer to just trigger the traps instead of disabling them - much safer to not trust the switch. I wonder, if there ever will be a mission out there where using the switch would actually trigger the trap instead of disabling it >:-)

 

 

[Glyph Seeker]

After a couple of years away, I look and see dozens of new missions, including some huge ones.

 

Sotha's missions have always been my favourites, and on seeing he had a new, smaller one, I had to dive in and make it my re-introduction to the Dark Mod.

 

I played it on Easy but went for no-knockouts / violence.

 

A very enjoyable mission, heightened by all the changes in the new versions of the Dark Mod such as enemies noticing doors being open and relighting flames / electric lights.

[V-Man339]

I can't help but wonder aloud if I had something to do with this change in difficulty.

Routed the video, will post a review and the usual coverage soon.

 

I loved it, Sotha, as per usual.

 

Edit: due to the redundancy of this post the mods can feel free to delete it.

Edited October 2, 2016 by V-Man339

[V-Man339]

I feel like there's no real reason to have

two separate stores of loot behind a painting and in the hidden painting room.

 

Can safely say you were right; the map was quite a challenge if I aimed to avoid extinguishing lights and using the light switches as distractions, but a knockout-loaded playthrough would've been a slow, easy affair.

If there was any aesthetic problems it would be that the whole level felt very similar, though this is inevitable in cases where the entire mission takes place in one building's interior.

I also must add that your sense of

world building through the notes on the desk is quite strong. I can't say I was expecting to see the other half of that chess game.

 

As well, the characterizations of the librarian and context of your actions make this an especially nice contrast and a lovely grey next to your other missions.

 

The balance was amazing, easily the strongest point; there's just enough loot that if I had left even the picks behind I would go just over the required limit.

Your strength in making believable, balanced missions shows itself

(right down to the religious character having a purely aesthetic-intended holy water),

so I can safely say this is an amazing first mission for people.

 

Lastly, there's a typo on the second experiment notes, "Decipts", and this seriously harms the deciption of this area.

 

 

9/10, would sneak again.

This feels like it would be the first level in a big budget game.

 

 

 

Also, if I missed any notes please inform me as much, I don't mind taking a screenshot and including it in the description. Love your work!

Edited October 3, 2016 by V-Man339

[NeonsStyle]

Congratulations Sotha.

[NeonsStyle]

I was working on my level today, when I noticed a new level was out by Sotha.

 

Some of my thoughts:

 

 

 

This was a lot of fun. It was a shame I felt rushed due to other things, but I really enjoyed it. I loved the design of the main hall, and

the small lounge upstairs. Really liked the patch custom curtains made from wallpaper. The gameplay was really good, but I tend

to expect that from Sotha.

 

Loved the books, really very readable, especially the book on The Caulk and the Unspeakable Evil gave me a good chuckle. I thought they

were delicous additions to it. Figured the unspeakable was the void lol.

 

Wasn't a fan of AI noticing the crown missing though it made sense of course.

 

Really enjoyed the design of this level. I love it when someone uses a glass roof exposed to the portal, really makes it feel real. A small

but very enjoyable mission.

 

 

 

Thanks heaps Sotha, loved it.

[MVT]

 

Bug: if I knock the maid, she falls in the sacks and *dies* -> mission failed

 

 

 

I had a similar experience. I knocked out the maid, hauled her down to the coal cellar, and returned to the kitchen. When I tried to hide by on the darkened sack and sat there for a few seconds, then she died.

 

 

 

OK - why didn't the spoiler flags work?

Edited October 8, 2016 by Bikerdude

[Oldjim]

 

test

 

[ spoiler ]test[ /spoiler ]

Testing - because you had spaces between spoiler and /spoiler and the brackets

[Deadlove]

The goals in this Mission are top notch. Far better than just collecting loot or stealing a precious stone. I hope that more fan Mission authors create more non-traditional objectives.

[Cambridge Spy]

Here's a playthrough of Coercion:

 

[video=youtube]