Made a Horde specific map for fun, thought I’d share it. I’m going to change the rules a little bit and also add some new features which I’ll explain. I’ve named the map Fort which was inspired by the mission in Gears of War 3 where you meet Hoffman. So in terms of how the map would look, just think of that part of the campaign. If the map looks small or hard to read you can click on it and expand it.
I’ll show the sketch I made for the map and then list what everything is below.
Dark Red - Locust/Swarm emergence holes and the direction they come from.
Light Blue - Fornicator.
Black - Walls.
Brown - Generic cover, barrels, shelves, tables etc.
Green - Stairs going up.
Red - Stairs going down.
Yellow - Metal shutters that can be opened and closed.
Dark Blue - Power taps.
Pink - Drains enemies can crawl through.
Purple - Ladders that can be kicked down or removed completely.
Orange - Stationary buildable auto turrets that can be upgraded.
Grey - Generator.
The entire map isn’t actually on the sketch, I kind of messed up here. North and west on the map would be roads that enemies would spawn at and walk down, some things like emergence holes and stalks would also show up here. It would be a forested area at the side of the roads so you could hide spawning enemies in.
Enemies no longer just pop in either, they can crawl out of emergence holes, some enemies can fly in on reavers, some like wild tickers or serapedes would emerge from foliage. Larger enemies like brumaks, corpsers, stalkers and carriers would shake the trees as they spawn in and walk out of the forest down the road to the fort. I’ll elaborate on some of the enemies later as they can use the map in different ways.
Previous bosses are no longer bosses, such as brumaks and berserkers etc. They are now normal enemies, bosses would now be actual “bosses” such as RAAM or Skorge. The only exception to this is I’d make the lambent variants bosses and make them super strong. For example a corpser would be a normal enemy but a lambent corpser would be a boss. A berserker, normal enemy but a lambent berserker is a boss fight.
But because larger and stronger enemies that were previously bosses are no longer bosses and can spawn in on a regular wave now I’d limit the amount to only three per wave. Meaning you could have three brumaks spawn in on a single wave, maybe it’s one brumak a corpser and a stalker. It can be a combination of them but limited to three per wave to avoid drowning the player in difficult enemies. As you get higher and higher into the waves the chances of enemies like this spawning increases, so before wave 5 you wont get any of these enemies spawning in. By wave 8 you’ll probably have a single carrier thrown into the wave, by wave 16 you might have a berserker and a stalker. The higher the wave the higher the chance of getting the bigger and stronger enemies spawning in, again limited up to three per wave.
I’m also going to change the amount of waves so instead of 50 it’s now 35 and you get a boss fight every 5 waves. Normal horde at 50 waves seems to go on too long and horde frenzy at 20 waves always feels too short, so wave 35 is in the middle and a boss fight every 5 waves will keep it interesting and challenging.
The courtyard ground level is all open as it’s outside, fort height level 1 and 2 are inside so you have a ceiling, fort centre height level 3 doesn’t have a ceiling which will play into the mechanics of the map which I’ll explain later and the fabricator room is inside so it does have a ceiling. You have two lanes into the fort so you’d typically send two players north and two players south with the last player, probably the engineer overlooking both. The game ends when either all players die or the fabricator is destroyed.
So how do power taps work now. power taps would spawn in the same place on the map every time instead of being random and you can now spend power to upgrade the power taps. You can upgrade three things, hitpoints which increase it’s overall health, damage resistance which reduces incoming damage when being attacked, power generation which will give you higher amounts of power after each wave. Each of the three upgrades can be levelled up five times, so if you maxed out an power tap it would be level 15. You can choose which upgrade you want so you could upgrade just power generation to level 5 and leave hitpoints and damage resistance at level 1. Power taps once destroyed also cannot be rebuilt so once they’re gone they’re gone. So if you invested a bunch of power into a tap and didn’t keep it alive long enough you could lose your investment of power. Also you don’t need to capture power taps at the start of the game they’re already captured. The generator also plays a role with the power taps which I’ll explain when I get to it.
Ladders, how do they work here. Ladders will all be up by default. to be able to use a ladder you will have to spend power to drop the ladder so it’s usable, once the ladder is in use the only way to get rid of the ladder is to kick it down which also costs power to do. Doesn’t make sense to spend power to kick a ladder?. Well neither does collecting a cog tag, sticking it into the fabricator and a human gets resurrected from the dead. The locust can also use the ladders so if you do drop a ladder down you’ll need to make sure no enemies decided to climb up it. Ladders are great to gain quick access around the map, but they do cost power to put into use, enemies can use them too and if you decide to kick the ladder down you will not be able to put it back into use so it’s gone forever. Also small enemies like wretches and polyps will very rarely use the holes where the ladders are to climb up whether you are using them or not. So you need to keep an eye out for that. The purple arrow representing the ladders indicates the direction the ladder will drop down.
Metal shutters are all closed by default and cost power to open and close. Locust grapplers can grapple up into open shutters but only if it is only one height level above them. So if locust grapplers were standing at courtyard ground level they could grapple up to shutters 1, 2 and 3 if they were open but not shutters 4 and 5 as they are too high up. Shutters can also be attacked and must be repaired before they are destroyed as once they are destroyed they cannot be rebuilt. Some larger enemies like stalkers will attack the larger shutters such as 3, 6 and 7 and try to destroy them so they can climb through so it’s more important than you’d think to keep the shutters repaired and closed at the right times.
Stationary auto turrets, think Gears of War 3’s horde with the buildable fortifications. You cannot move them obviously and you cannot manually use them as they are auto. You can upgrade them just like the power taps. You can upgrade three things, damage which increases the damage output of the auto turrets, damage resistance which reduces incoming damage when being attacked and ammo reserves which increases how much ammunition an auto turret can hold before needing to be refilled by a player. Each upgrade has 5 levels so a maxed out auto turret would be level 15 and you can choose which upgrades you want so you could have level 5 damage, level 2 damage resistance and level 3 ammo reserves. Stationary auto turrets once destroyed are gone forever and you cannot rebuild them just like power taps and metal shutters. Auto turrets 5 and 6 also serve a special purpose, fort centre height level 3 is open so it has no ceiling. At higher wave levels flying enemies start appearing, auto turrets 5 and 6 can shoot these enemies and kill them before they land so upgrading them can be really useful to stop enemies flying in behind your back.
Drains and what do they do. The locust/swarm can use drains to crawl through and reach higher levels. Many different types of locusts/swarm can use them, tickers, wretches, leeches and polyps, but the enemy that likes to use them the most are serapedes. Drains work like this, an enemy can enter at drain 1 and will emerge at drain 1.5. The smaller pink arrow represents where the enemy creature will enter and the larger pink arrow represents where the creature will emerge. so drain 2 goes to 2.5, drain 3 goes to 3.5 etc. It’s an easy way for the locust/swarm to try and flank you and catch players unaware. You will be able to hear when an enemy is crawling through the drains so aware players will notice. Players can also build barricades at the entrance and exits of the drains at the cost of power, they can be destroyed but can be built again as many times as you want.
The generator is super important, it provides power to the power taps, stationary auto turrets and the metal shutters. If the generator gets destroyed you will lose power to all the taps, turrets and shutters and they will no longer function even if they were fine before. It doesn’t matter if you invested power into them they are now gone and shutters are stuck in whatever position you last had them in. If the generator is destroyed it cannot be rebuilt, it’s permanently gone. You can upgrade three things, damage resistance which reduces incoming damage when being attacked, shield which is similar to stim but for the generator but it automatically regenerates and shield regeneration which improves how fast the generators shield regenerates after being damaged. Each upgrade has 5 levels so if the generator was maxed out in upgrades it would be level 15 and again you can choose what to upgrade first or in what order.
I was going to add an additional mechanic involving the DB’s and how they could interact with the map and stuff but… I really dislike the DB’s in horde so I’m not even going to include them in this. But I have combined the locust and swarm enemies in this.
I’ll make up a scenario of how a match could possibly go to hopefully explain things further. I wont explain every wave just where some noteable things happen. Also remember I changed it to 35 waves instead of 50 and there’s a boss fight every 5 waves. I explained how some of the bosses would work in this thread too so if you want to know how they work it’s here.
I’ll put the map sketch here again so you don’t have to scroll up all the way too to check it.
Wave 1:
The engineer decides to spend power to open shutters 4 and 5, he also spends power to drop ladder 2 down to give quick access to the courtyard. The engineer and a player using the sniper class decide to stay up in the fabricator room with the sniper class player deciding to spend their starting power on perks. The other three players all go down to power tap 1 to defend it. The players upgrade power tap 1 power generation to level 4, the highest they can upgrade it too currently and leave hitpoints and damage resistance at level 1. The players also keep an eye on both stair entrances into the fort. The early wave enemies start off very basic so hammerburst drones, wretches, juvies that type of thing.
Wave 3:
The engineer moves some wire trap fortifications down to defend power tap 1. A player down at power tap 1 also decides to upgrade auto turret 1 to level 3 damage.
Wave 5: Boss
Jermad is the boss and he spawns in with a unique boomer, palace guard and kantus from the bloodied vanguard alongside the normal wave enemies. The players kill him and advance to the next wave, the enemies get tougher and new stronger enemy variants are introduced. One of the new enemies is the kantus who can revive downed locust/swarm.
Wave 6:
A player upgrades auto turret 1 damage to level 4 and damage resistance to level 2. The sniper class upgrades power tap 4 power generation to level 2. The engineer keeps on top of repairing power tap 1 and auto turret 1 between rounds.
Wave 10: Boss
The boss is a lambent corpser, tougher and larger than normal corpsers. The players kill it and advance to the next wave, the enemies get tougher and new stronger enemy variants are introduced. The chance of larger previously boss type enemies such as brumaks, carriers, stalkers etc now have a low chance of spawning in as normal enemies.
Wave 11:
A new emergence hole opens up at power tap 1 forcing players to move back, two players head north to fort height level 1 to defend power tap 2. The other player heads south to fort height level 1 to defend around auto turret 2 and is joined by the sniper class player who was previously in the fabricator room. The engineer builds fortifications at power tap 2 and auto turret 2 to help players defend. Players also spend power to open shutters 1 and 2. One of the new enemies introduced after wave 10 are locust/savage drone grapplers, these guys can grapple up into open shutters one level above them. So shutters 1, 2 and 3 can be grappled from the courtyard if they are open. Boomers and grinders also start spawning after wave 10 and can target shutters to destroy them and if they are destroyed they cannot be repaired.
Wave 12:
Power tap 1 and auto turret 1 are destroyed, these cannot be repaired once destroyed. The two players at the north decide to upgrade power tap 2 hitpoints to level 4 and damage resistance to level 3. The two players at the south upgrade auto turret damage to level 5 and ammo reserves to level 2. The engineer upgrades power tap 4 energy generation to level 4 and continues to build fortifications to help both sides.
Wave 13:
Boomers destroy shutter 3 and allow grapplers to be able to enter so players have to now watch their back. The engineer builds a turret and decoy near shutter 3 to help. The two players at auto turret 2 decide to spend power to close shutter 2.
Wave 15: Boss
The boss is karn riding shibboleth, The players kill him and advance to the next wave, the enemies get tougher and new enemy variants are introduced. The chances of larger previously boss type enemies again increases too.
Wave 16:
The two players north at power tap 2 decide to max out power tap 2 upgrades, level 5 hitpoints, level 5 damage resistance and level 5 power generation. One of the new enemies introduced after wave 15 was the serapede which loves to use the drains. A player south at auto turret 2 decides to spend power to barricade drain 1.5 exit to help delay creatures coming through. Again it’s not just serapedes that can use them but other enemies use them less frequently, serapedes are the main danger with drains.
Wave 18:
The two players at auto turret 2 decide to fall back to fort height level 2 in the south lane as enemies are now coming through shutter 3 and drain 1.5 too much. Auto turret 2 gets destroyed and the engineer tries to pull as many fortifications back as possible. The sniper class player goes to the tower and spends power to open shutter 9. The other player decides to upgrade auto turret 4 damage to level 3 and power tap 3 power generation to level 4. The engineer also spends power to open shutter 6 to help the players defend from the top.
Wave 20: Boss
The boss is skorge riding the hyrda, The players kill him and advance to the next wave, the enemies get tougher and new enemy variants are introduced. One of the main new variants after wave 20 are lambent type normal enemies, stalks start to sprout out of the ground in the courtyard. The chances of larger previously boss type enemies again increases too.
Wave 21:
Polyps start using drains and climbing up ladder holes. The two players at power tap 2 start to get overrunned so retreat back to fort height level 2 in the north next to auto turret 3. Power tap 2 gets destroyed and the engineer decides to spend power to kick down ladder 2 so locust drones cannot climb up it. Creatures like wretches, leeches and polyps can still use the ladder holes to try to climb with or without a ladder but will rarely try. The engineer also spends power to barricade drains 2 and 2.5 in case enemies try to use them. A stalker that spawned in as a normal enemy starts attacking shutter 7 and destroys it. Stalkers can scale walls and attack shutters at any height level and can crawl through the larger shutters like 3, 6 and 7 so they tend to target them. The engineer sets up fortifications near shutter 7 to stop possible enemies climbing through and upgrades auto turret 5 to damage level 5 and ammo reserve level 5.
Wave 23:
The two players at the north lane upgrade auto turret 3 to max level 15. The engineer upgrades power tap 4 to max level 15 and spends power to drop ladder 4 for quicker access to the players in the south lane. One of the players in the south spends power to build a barricade for drain 3 just in case and upgrades power tap 3 power generation to level 5.
Wave 25: Boss
The boss is RAAM. The players kill him and advance to the next wave, the enemies get tougher and new enemy variants are introduced. The chances of larger previously boss type enemies again increases too, now you have a chance of three of them spawning in a wave.
Wave 26:
Flying enemies are now introduced after wave 25, nemesis, shriekers, reavers etc. Fort centre height level 3 is open and has no ceiling. Reavers can fly in and drop of locust drones into the fort centre now, so the engineer decides to upgrade auto turret 5 and 6 to max level 15 and build other fortifications in the fort centre to help defend. Auto turret 5 and 6 can shoot enemies in the sky which will kill a lot before they even have a chance to land.
Wave 27:
The players in the south lane are getting pushed back and decide to retreat to fort centre height level 3 near the generator. Auto turret 4 and energy tap 3 get destroyed and a player spends power to kick ladder 4 down to stop locust drones using it. Players also start to upgrade the generator damage resistance to level 5 and shield to level 5 as the locust/swarm are now reaching it instead of just the odd wretch being able to get to it.
Wave 28:
The players in the north lane decide to give up the position at auto turret 3 and retreat to meet up with the other players at the fort centre height level 3 to help defend. Auto turret 3 gets destroyed and a player spends power to open shutter 8. All five players are now at the fort centre height level 3 trying to defend the generator. You have enemies approaching from both lanes north and south, wretches and polyps trying to climb up ladders to flank, serapedes and leeches crawling through drains and flying units landing in. Large enemies like brumaks, carriers, berserkers and corpsers spawn in regularly now up to three per wave, stalkers scaling walls and crawling through large shutters, lambent drudges firing burning beams at you. Everybody just working together to try and stop them destroying the generator in the final waves.
Wave 30: Boss
The boss is a lambent berserker, she helps destroy the generator alongside other normal enemies that spawn in during the boss wave. Once the generator is destroyed everything shuts down, no power taps and auto turrets work anymore and shutters can no longer be used and remain in the position they were last in. The lights in the map all go off and the map becomes much darker. The players kill her and advance to the next wave, the enemies get tougher and new enemy variants are introduced. The chances of larger previously boss type enemies again increases too, there’s now a very high chance of three big enemies spawning in on a single wave.
Wave 31:
All the players are defending the fort centre and the fabricator room. The engineer spends power to build barricades at drain 4 and 4.5 and continues to build fortifications. The players level their remaining perks as much as possible.
Wave 35: Boss
The boss is queen myrrah riding tempest. You kill her and finish the match.
I feel like this version of horde would be kind of a mix of what we have now and overrun where you get pushed further and further back and have to defend the fabricator but with boss waves.
to actually let the true protagonists, the Locust/Swarm, get their much overdue victory.
yeeeeees! 
