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Fathers' Sins, Chapter 1: Beyond Good and Evil (Version 1.1)
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| Author |
File Description |
| AZ ViTrAzhAs |
Posted on 09/19/07 @ 11:48 AM (updated 03/30/08)
| File Details |
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| Map Size: |
200x200 (Small) |
| Difficulty: |
Hard |
And the sins of the fathers shall be visited
upon the heads of the children,
even unto the third and fourth
generation of them that hate me.
Stephen Crane
Preamble:
Time has witnessed many events, when young ones had to suffer from their own fathers’ faults and misdeeds; sons and daughters needed to correct the old mistakes, glorify their families once more and expunge the old sins from everybody’s memory, what was often too hard to do. The following map series will include three chapters with different characters, their complicated life stories and, of course, interpretations on Stronghold Crusader. The maps are going to be various; with new ideas, both in scripting and map design categories. I wish everyone to have pleasant moments when playing!
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| Pages: [1] 2 3 » Last » | | Author | Comments & Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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| subindxsubin |
Posted on 09/21/07 @ 01:18 AM |
AZ ViTrAzhAs
File Author |
Posted on 09/21/07 @ 02:19 AM |
| evil_space_cows |
Posted on 09/21/07 @ 05:35 AM |
AZ ViTrAzhAs
File Author |
Posted on 09/22/07 @ 06:15 AM |
| Battle Mage corp |
Posted on 10/22/07 @ 01:51 AM |
AZ ViTrAzhAs
File Author |
Posted on 10/22/07 @ 01:34 PM |
| Battle Mage corp |
Posted on 10/23/07 @ 01:39 AM
Morbid Angel[Edited on 10/23/07 @ 02:15 AM]
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| Battle Mage corp |
Posted on 10/23/07 @ 08:19 AM
I must say that this map is trully one of a kind.The level of detail and scripting abilities are just outstanding. As you said the map was made to be tough and irritating. However I found it more enjoyable than that. You have truly proven that you are the master of Crusader scripting. I haven¡¦t seen any other map that comes close to your creation. However the map wasn¡¦t perfect in every way.
Playability: 3.5
Playability is probably the biggest concern I had with this map. I¡¦ll explain my entire strategy very detail so you can get an idea why the score is so low. As I started the game I placed the keep close to the granary. The hunters began to fill it up. I read in the map that I am supposed to make a lot of pleasant things so I can reach victory. OK I started to make gardens while watching not to exceed the population and gold limit. Then suddenly about 20 macemen came and killed me. I couldn¡¦t make any troops and no help arrived so I decided to read your instructions carefully. What immediately spoiled the game for me is that I learned what triggered what. I understood that if there are gardens (lots of them) than they drive away the macemen. In my opinion you shouldn¡¦t have revealed that the gardens were connected with the invasions. You only needed to say that there is no way you can win without them. So that was a big mistake for me. You described very accurately what the three parts trigger and how we can prevent it. So in-game I knew what to expect. And because of this I radically changed my strategy which led to the reducing of the playability. So I started the game and placed the keep as close as I could to the river so that the stockpile can be close to the wheat farm. I made the wheat farm and left it along with the hunters to fill my granary until I beat the fear factor part of the game. I left the granary with no rations and set the taxes at maximum. Of course all the people left but the hunters and wheat farm were doing just fine still increasing my economy. By that time the lions attacked and my Lord took some damage however it wasn¡¦t critical. When I started to place the gardens I discovered as you said that they were connected with trigger events. Plague and thieves troubled me but they cause no damage. My granary had plenty of food and was still rising. I just had to wait and not to let the gold get above 50. And because of all that waiting the game became uninteresting. Soon more archers arrived to aid me and the lions weren¡¦t a problem anymore. When the invasion finally came I had completed the task without any trouble and triggered the bandits which slaughtered the invaders. Then of course I changed my fear factor around and started making bad things. Then jesters and parades followed and a fire actually, but luckily I had a well and put it out before it caused any trouble. Then things repeated and I was near the final. Because I knew that completing the castle will trigger invasions I made a barracks and lots of gardens which I could later destroy for gold if I needed to recruit troops. I enlarged the wall three times and I was in no hurry. My granary had all the food it required to sustain the small population. BTW I was using the wheat farm. I just couldn¡¦t get organized to make the apple and cheese bonus. While the stone was piling up I started to pile wood so that I could make wood huts which will slow down the invaders. They will waste time to demolishing them while I¡¦ll be firing at them. Some small invasion occurred during that time. Some slaves, spearmen and 2 Arabian swords. But with all the archers I had and reinforcements they didn¡¦t come near the castle. Finally I was ready to start the timer and of course the raids started. Now it was a matter of keeping the walls up luckily I had some extra stone about 40 and whenever the bandits came too deep I repaired the wall after the raid and my stone didn¡¦t reach the critical 10 which I can¡¦t use. My population was satisfied with food and the only thing that drove the popularity dangerously to 50 in which case the timer starts over was the ¡§minus five ¡V bandits¡¨ but I had loots of food and regularly destroyed some gardens and give away the gold to the people to keep them happy. And about a year and a half or maybe two (I am not sure) the invasions ended and victory was mine.
Balance: 4
The biggest problem with the balance for me was the knowledge of how the game is scripted and how things run. Normally I hate to look in the game script because I love a good strategy and almost never come to even thinking this. I can say that the lions in the start did more damage to the Lord than the enemies that came later. He was bellow the green zone and well into the yellow one (health that is). After the lions the first bandits started to invade my territory and a new problem was upon me. But before they reached scary numbers the archers arrived and aided me. Here I would like to say that even if I didn¡¦t know how the game turns out it wouldn¡¦t have been that much of a challenge. It was scripted rather low and the enemy didn¡¦t make it into the keep. Throughout the whole game only the lions managed to get a shot on my Lord. If you decide to update this I recommend scripting archers that way things would get more balanced. Next started the big invasions (in the final). I have to say that the way you scripted this moment was pure genius. It was a very tense moment, because I needed to watch the castle wall. I risked loosing the enclosure. I also needed to keep a close eye on the villagers (bellow 10) and the amount of stone I had (I used stone to repair the walls so I had to be careful not to overdo it). I¡¦ll just come out and say that this was brilliant. You have a lot of talent and I only hope that we can progress with our Crusader maps as much as you have. I simply loved that moment. You could lose everything and have to start over if one of these three things suddenly failed. I admit that I had trouble with that part for some time but found out that by increasing the wall things get easier. I can say without a doubt that it was a really heavy morale blow when the timer fades before it runs out. However my advantage in this situation was that I took care of the food supply and population and had only to worry about the wall. Because in the start and the middle I had less trouble and problems which might have had a bad effect on my economy I was able to win in the final stages without much trouble. As small as this village was it had it¡¦s charms. I also consider the population and gold triggers to be vital in my balance score. I didn¡¦t had much trouble with the population I only made one house and that was it. The gold wasn¡¦t that tough to achieve and maintain also and as I said the lack of gold could turn into and advantage if you just figure out how. I made dozens of gardens which had a very important part in the game. First they kept the population happy on a steady 4 I think and second whenever things got out of control (the food ran out, lions killed people etc.) I demolished the gardens one by one and the gold was given to the masses and that way even if I don¡¦t have food -8 I have +7 and my popularity is on 100 before you know it people are happy there is food and I can reduce the gold gifts I give away. However if I didn¡¦t make the gardens tactic my popularity would have dropped much faster people would start to go away and the bakers can¡¦t make bread and what happens a crisis from which I can¡¦t get out. But after I realized that gardens would be so useful I rarely went bellow 100. The wheat farm was supplying enough wheat to satisfy everybody. I want to congratulate you on the small details that you paid such attention. They didn¡¦t go unnoticed. The only ground suitable for farming was far away however I placed the granary closer when it ran out of food. The quarry was so far away as were the hunters¡¦ posts. I was without any choice but to leave them as they are because I can¡¦t replace them and they were very important because the wheat farm only supplied raw materials they supplied food in the times when I pushed the taxes to the limit. Also the prohibition of making small walls (which consume less stone). I noticed every little detail of your work and they made a very good impression of how seriously you make your maps.
Creativity: 5
What I simply adored about the creativity was the way this map was scripted. If it was up to me I would place a 6 on this. From the start you were so correct to the story up to the last detail. A wandered (Lord) trying to survive in the scorching hot desert. I simply fell in love with this map when I saw a small figure with a red cape stranded in the desert without a keep. An invasion map and still it¡¦s a PYOK style this was simply amazing. I just love small details and whenever the designer pays such attention to him his maps go in my top ten list. The small waterfall which was sustaining that small farm looked really interesting and yet it shows how desperate people are for farmland in the desert. Build directly next to the waterfall a farm uses it¡¦s clear water. I must add that the choice of a 200x200 map was the best because the limited space kind of adds to the hopeless feel of the map and the story. Everything is really tight together and it looks really awesome. The ruins were also a nice touch. Clearly this spot of oasis has attracted the attention of lots. But what I think made the map perfect was the stone deposits near the lower ruins. I have seen lots of maps which have stone deposits. And they suddenly burst out of the ground for no reason. In this map the stone was located deep in the ¡§mountain side¡¨ of the map and they looked so little and so scarce. Even though this is a terrain feature I consider it to be more of a creative style of design. But the real jewel of this peace of work was the way the map was scripted and all the events and triggers. I noticed that all of them were made with a lot of precision and patience. When (in the start) I was making the gardens I noticed that every time I placed a garden something bad happened. Clearly this was made to slow the player down and increase the difficulty of the map. And the same thing around when I was making the bad things I got more jesters and help and all sorts of other things that aided me to sustain the population and get closer to the goals. Including a fire ƒº. I think that this is my first map where besides the objectives there are other things which the player needs to overcome in hope to even get close to victory. The way you figured out how to stop the invaders if an event was triggered was pure genius. Normally I would use my own army and say that hey are passers. But the bandits really increased the feeling of the game. Lonely nomads who can¡¦t make a difference between a friend or foe. They just want gold and power. A truly amazing aspect of the game that was. And I am speechless about the maps¡¦ final. The way you set the timer and everything. It¡¦s as if you know what things are most difficult for me to mine or produce and you want just them. And enclosing the castle was a really tough part because I needed 10 stone as well as a barracks (which needs stone to be constructed). This map is priceless!
Map Design: 5
I think that the map design is beyond comment. I have recently adapted a new way of reviewing maps which are smaller than 400x400 because not a great amount of work has went into the making. I do that only to be fair to the other designers which have bigger maps. But I don¡¦t think anyone in his right mind would place something that¡¦s lower than 5 on the terraining. The Crusader editor was used to the maximum producing a clean and breathtaking landscape. Initially I downloaded the map because I simply loved the river. It is made so beautifully. It¡¦s small but still has such a nice ring and everything. The ¡§flood plains¡¨ or the oasis on the banks of the river gave out that it wasn¡¦t that full and every single drop of it was precious. The small islands looked so nice and realistic it¡¦s almost as if you are making a painting. Although the oasis is humid and has a water source to support it the palms weren¡¦t that much. Which again adds to the hopeless feel of the situation and the event itself. The farmland (the only farmland) was made deep into the lower corner so that the difficulty of the game could be increased and the feel of desperation could be increased. And even though it¡¦s just a single farmland cheese and apple farms couldn¡¦t be made in the start . Because of a tree. That way the designer has to stick with bread making economy but the bonus is so tempting. (Actually what is the bonus I didn¡¦t find out- troops?) And if at one stage of the map he decides to find out what the bonus is ,the risk of destroying the food supplies and economy is really big. That¡¦s why I decided not to find out. And while the food supplies are piling up one has to prohibit eating apples and cheese which makes the map impossible for me. The mountainous part of the map is simply amazing. So dense and hard to reach yet it also looks so clean and natural. Every single stone was placed with a lot of care and precision. I noticed the barrier of rocks which doesn¡¦t allow the villager to pass ,but forces him to go around and makes mining more difficult than it is. I saw the ford that the enemy comes through but I am not quite sure what it is or why it¡¦s there. Also the hill in the plain part of the map really made it look good and rugged at the same time. All the small pieces of sand and little rocks everything there had a purpose and wasn¡¦t unnatural. Because at every time as good as something is it gets banal and it¡¦s nice to change and that¡¦s exactly what you did. Instead of making the mountain part of the map different in size you added a small oasis and some springs. This really made the mountains more different and gave it a nice look. Even though this map is small the amount of worn on it is enormous and I (as a terrainer in BMC) really value your work on the map design.
Story/Instructions: 4
The story was truly amazing and written with a novel like tone. I really liked the desperate mood of the story and it stood up to the name 100%. The lonely person in the middle of nowhere trying to achieve his goals a really nice and entertaining story. But the low score doesn¡¦t come from the story it comes from the instructions. As I said in my caste the hints that you gave just helped too much and as I said they just ruined the experience for me and thus the game I had to much information on how the game scripted. I have nothing more to say about the story itself.
Additional Comments:
I don¡¦t understand why nobody reviewed this yet and hope that my thoughts will help you. A magnificent piece of work.
Yours truly
Morbid Angel
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AZ ViTrAzhAs
File Author |
Posted on 10/23/07 @ 01:07 PM |
AZ ViTrAzhAs
File Author |
Posted on 10/24/07 @ 11:22 AM
Thanks for playing![Edited on 10/24/07 @ 11:48 AM]
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| Pages: [1] 2 3 » Last » |
HGDL v0.8.2 |
| Rating |
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| 4.7 | | Breakdown |
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| Playability | 4.5 | | Balance | 4.0 | | Creativity | 5.0 | | Map Design | 5.0 | | Story/Instructions | 4.8 |
| Statistics |
| Downloads: | 1,932 |
| Favorites: [] | 3 |
| Size: | 460.37 KB |
| Added: | 09/19/07 |
| Updated: | 03/30/08 |
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