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| Author |
File Description |
| Emperor Alexus |
Posted on 01/27/04 @ 12:00 AM
| File Details |
|---|
| Map Size: |
300x300 (Medium) |
| Difficulty: |
Normal |
Minimap:
 |
With your men returning and no word of Lord Managant or his whereabouts you decide to set a trap.
You begin the long march to one of the snakes empty counties and begin construction on a castle in order to draw out most of his men from his home county.
Build up ypur economy and then prepare for battle,
richer,smarter and with more military experience than the rat, the snakes men will surely put you to the test.
Enjoy. |
| Pages: [1] 2 » Last » | | Author | Comments & Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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| Best Willis |
Posted on 01/28/04 @ 12:00 AM
Balance: The balance of the enemy is good if you r playin fair play and also balance of economical aspect.
Creativity: Well, I must say, you should be more creative. For example there are no animals on the map and there are also no events during the game.
Map design: This is one of the best part of this scenario. There is a sea and a tiny nice islands. There is also a river (I think so) between the 2 uplands. I also like the old ruins of snakes castle.
Story/Instructions: Story wasnt that original, but the instructions are OK. |
Emperor Alexus
File Author |
Posted on 01/28/04 @ 12:00 AM
I find it just a bit annoying to find that you have decided to review my map As you just admit to unfair play(attacking from where they arrive.
There isn't any real way from stopping people from doing this, and I think it is unfair to give me such alow mark simply because you ruined the balance because you couldn't be bothered playing this map as it shood.
Oh well, I thought you would have found a challenge more entertaining than a tower infront of the invasion post.
It seems I was wrong.
Also about no animals Is it possible that BIRDS are animals? I cant believe a 2 for creativity.
Hopefuly an experienced reviewer such as Sulis or Nat who has been following my campaign will give me a fair review, I honestly think I deserve more than what you have given.
Anyway thanks for the review.
Emperor Alexs. |
| Sulis |
Posted on 01/29/04 @ 12:00 AM
This is a simplistic invasion map that draws on a mixture of combat and freebuild maps. Yep, freebuild. There are no events to trouble you, save the invasions, and whilst the first invasion can be disposed of, the later ones are much larger and harder to overcome. It's a different approach to how many people would design with the lack of events, and whilst some may find this boring, or lacking in content, I personally enjoyed it. There is more than enough to do without events kicking in here, there and everywhere as you set up a big economy and manufacture weapons. I was never bored, always busy playing around with something or other and enjoyed the large invasions. Nice work.
Balance: 5/5
Given my pretty basic skills at setting up a large, functioning economy quickly, I found this to be really quite difficult, in terms of amassing a large enough army to withstand the attacks of the Snake. But as hard as it is, the balance here is beautifully set. You could easily play on different difficulty levels if you wished and the scenario would suit many types of player, many skill levels and many tactics. Personally, I played this through by defending the castle area alone, which I found to be in keeping with the game. Can't fault the balance of the map here at all.
Creativity: 3/5
I always find creativeness a difficult category to rate and comment about. Sometimes it's not clearly evident that there is anything special about a map and more often than not the creative aspect is subtle. In this particular map, it's case of less is more. The basic scenario works for me, and I can't help but like it. The no-frills approach is a nice change from over-scripted maps. Combined with the landscape panorama created by Emperor Alexus, it's a good 3.0 score here for me.
Map Design: 4/5
The designer is making huge strides in designing maps. Here, the landscape gains respect. It's not over-modelled, nor is it littered with eye candy. The ruined castle across the steep gorge is well done and I liked the general feel and placement of higher terrain. It's triggered ideas of my own once more, and therein lies the secret of good map design, from full-blown terrain modelling to more subtle, simple approaches... if it inspires in some way, it has to be noted. A well deserved 4.0 score.
Story/Instructions: 4/5
There is, in truth, no real instructions here and my personal preference is for some notes, ideas and thoughts by the author in how the map was made, obstacles that were overcome and pointers on how to play. Saying that, the story was good and follows on from the previous works in this series. Make a note to read the introduction screen just when the game launches, as there are comments within that cover this area. A nice story, easy to read and more than enough content.
IN SUMMARY
The map is generally a fine work on a basic level. Very playable, highly addictive in fact. I'll be playing this one a good number of times yet, such is the replayability it offers. And it's given me ideas! Certainly worth a download, especially given that you start your settlement from scratch and build up your fortification throughout. I like it. Check it out. |
Emperor Alexus
File Author |
Posted on 01/29/04 @ 12:00 AM
Im glad that you enjoyed it.
I am sepecially happy that 5 was given for balance,as I have been working hard to try and get this up to scratch.
thankyou for your review and folllowing the stroy of building the castle on the cliff,as it would have ruined the balance if you hadn't.
the main thing is im glad you enjoyed it,
and I hope to get more reviews from you in the future.
Emperor Alexus. |
| NAT |
Posted on 01/29/04 @ 12:00 AM |
| zerotide |
Posted on 01/30/04 @ 12:00 AM
At Willis: You don't use the F word when reviewing a map. |
| Sir Lurchalot |
Posted on 01/30/04 @ 12:00 AM
Also, the designer's mistake in misreading a comment by another player wasn't good but we can make something positive out of it. {smile} It's completely improper to call anything a player does in a game "unfair play." There's simply no such thing. Therein lies one of the things that makes Stronghold so attractive; any advantage a player can take of resources, landscape, and whatever is absolutely fair play.
It's completely under the control of the mapmaker as to how limited the player will be. In the case he (mistakenly) raised, the placement of troops on towers around the mustering point at the Signpost certainly can be controlled. It's been done very effectively in many maps, several of which are located on this site. If the designer leaves a "gap" (whatever) on purpose for the player to try and find OR if by oversight something is overlooked - and the player uses _either_ , it's perfectly fine. The mapmaker should note that and change it in future versions, if so desired.
So let's call no form of play unfair. After all this is war and as the saying goes, "all's fair in love and war."
Don't take that as a negative, Alexis, it simply needed pointing out. Keep up the _excellent_ mapmaking!!!
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| lord_yoshi |
Posted on 01/30/04 @ 12:00 AM
Balance - I played it at Normal and I found the map moderately challenging. I had to re-start once, but on the second try I trained more archers and built more fortifications and it wasn't actually all that difficult then. I had about 200+ archers, which quite effortlessly eliminated the enemy.
Creativity - I agree with Sulis when he says that it's difficult to review the Creativity of a a scenario. I had this problem again with this scenario, just like I have this problem with almost every scenario I've reviewed. To be honest, there wasn't really anything new or highly creative stuff in this scenario, so I decided to go with a neutral 3.0.
Map Design - Map Design was good. I really liked the looks of the map. There weren't any design flaws either, so the map deserves a 4.0.
Story/Instructions - The story was good and since this scenario is part of a series that already has had a good story in the previous scenarios, a 4.0 is deserved here as well.
Final comments: I had mixed feelings with this scenario. It has a good beginning, but it just got a bit too boring for me as the game progressed towards the end. |
| Lord Arthus |
Posted on 02/02/04 @ 12:00 AM |
GillB
Staff |
Posted on 02/03/04 @ 12:00 AM
Yes, you can give instructions on the way to play the mission, but if there's a loophole that you've missed then players are entitled to use it. It may not quite be in the spirit of the game, but there's certainly no reason why they shouldn't. |
| Pages: [1] 2 » Last » |
 
HGDL v0.8.2 |
| Rating |
|---|
| 3.9 | | Breakdown |
|---|
| Playability | 4.3 | | Balance | 3.8 | | Creativity | 3.3 | | Map Design | 4.0 | | Story/Instructions | 4.0 |
| Statistics |
| Downloads: | 693 |
| Favorites: [] | 0 |
| Size: | 456.11 KB |
| Added: | 01/27/04 |
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