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Campaigns » A Xia's Diary II - Singleplayer Campaign
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A Xia's Diary II - Singleplayer Campaign
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| Author |
File Description |
| Gweilo2 |
Posted on 03/13/12 @ 11:03 PM
| File Details |
|---|
| Age: |
Steel |
| # of Episodes: |
10 |
| # of Cities: |
22 |
| Difficulty: |
Very Hard |
| Custom Maps: |
Yes |
Minimap:
 |
"He is honest in words, effective in action, faithful in keeping promises, and fearless in offering his own life to free the righteous from bondage." ~ the historian Sima Qian, describing a Xia.
"He treasures the state, friendship, duty, promises, kindness, vengeance, honor, and righteousness more than his own life." ~ the historian Liang Qichao, describing a Xia.
"For ten years I have been polishing this sword;
Its frosty edge has never been put to the test.
Now I am holding it and showing it to you, sir:
Is there anyone suffering from injustice?" ~ from "The Swordsman", by Jia Dao - a 9th century poem about the Xia.
Who were the Xia? The Xia (pronounced 'see-ya' in English) can be thought of as the Chinese equivalent of Europe's Knight-errants. However, they were more than that. They were administrators, scholars, and soldiers-of-fortune. They came from both noble and humble origins. They lived their lives by a code and measured themselves by a strict set of values. They were men of intelligence, as well as men of action, and they played important roles throughout the history of the Middle Kingdom.
In "A Xia's Diary", you became part of the story of a clan of Xia, wandering the land to offer your services to many kingdoms. This campaign is its sequel, and will pick up the tale of the clan approximately 1100 years later, during the "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms" period. This was a turbulent period of fragmentation that occurred after the fall of the Tang dynasty in the early 10th century CE. Once again, your own diary entries will chronicle your adventures. Be prepared to become an active participant in many of the actual historic events of the time!
This campaign includes the maximum scope of ten missions, and features nine new maps of original design. A player will interact with 22 historically-accurate cities. Resources, commodities, and available structures follow the Emperor model for the steel age.
This campaign uses a customized pricing scheme for commodities (designed by Shaun), which replaces the game's default Imperial Standard Prices. These customized prices ripple into several aspects of gameplay, and the overall impact adds an additional level of challenge.
Sabotage by spies has been disallowed in this campaign, although spies may still be used for information gathering.
An extra file is included in this download. It is a text file named 'AXDII_Readme.txt', and contains installation instructions, background information, campaign design notes, general play tips, and mission hints (warning: contains spoilers). Additionally, other hints are available by viewing the album of playtest screenshots in the Emperor Heaven gallery.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This campaign is rated 'very hard', and will provide a solid challenge for advanced players. For the best play experience, a player should possess an advanced understanding of the game's military aspect, time-constrained missions, money management, trading, labor allocation, production output, monument construction, summoning and using the Heroes, and empire-map diplomacy.
Missions Teasers: (Note - all missions except 10 use a 'time limit' or 'survival' goal)
Mission 1 - A Temple to Mighty Xiong - 4 years, from 907 CE to the end of 910 CE.
Mission 2 - The Prisoners of Lop Nor - 6 years, from 911 CE to the end of 916 CE.
Mission 3 - Convalescence in the Company of Cormorants - 4 years, from 917 CE to the end of 920 CE.
Mission 4 - The Conquest of Balhae - 6 years, from 921 CE to the end of 926 CE.
Mission 5 - The Great Festival of Chu - 4 years, from 927 CE to the end of 930 CE.
Mission 6 - Promises to a Dying King - 8 years, from 931 CE to the end of 938 CE.
Mission 7 - The Lost Treasure of Annam - 4 years, from 939 CE to the end of 942 CE.
Mission 8 - An Instrument of Punishment - 5 years, from 943 CE to the end of 947 CE.
Mission 9 - A Collision of Vengeance - 12 years, from 948 CE to the end of 959 CE
Mission 10 - Grand Xia of the Song - no time limit, starts in 960 CE. |
| Pages: [1] 2 » Last » | | Author | Comments & Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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| Senseisan |
Posted on 04/11/12 @ 05:41 AM
Doable at VH level , whith time and sweat !
Just a tip for Kaifeng , as I had the trick , your city can be big and near the sprites limit , if that occurs the game don't allows you no more to launch an attack ( clicking the crossbow don't open the menu to choose your soldiers ).
Wait November , when no more workers in the fields , empty enough storage yards to accept all that cartpushers hold ( cut the roads back to farms to teleport them back ),send goods to everybody on the map and cross your fingers ... |
Gweilo2
Staff
File Author |
Posted on 04/11/12 @ 06:13 PM
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| Senseisan |
Posted on 04/12/12 @ 01:24 PM
Nota : I used 20 squadrons ( 18 infantry and 2 cavalry ) , using near 300 sprites only for army ...
[Edited on 04/12/12 @ 01:32 PM]
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Gweilo2
Staff
File Author |
Posted on 04/12/12 @ 01:45 PM [Edited on 04/12/12 @ 02:00 PM]
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| Senseisan |
Posted on 04/13/12 @ 12:26 AM
When your 12 forts has trained 12 full squadrons , send them to attack ( or rescue ) a city and as soon as the soldiers leave the map , pause the game and delete_undo 8 forts , they begin to train 8 secondary squadrons .
The primary squadrons of this forts can't no more obtain new soldiers in case of losses , but having home 8 forts whith soldiers in when your army is roaming the empire keep vassals and rivals very quiet ...
If you try to train a 21th squadron :
1 ) no flag for it
2 ) no name for it
3 ) trained soldiers die as soon they appear .
The 2 ( or more ) squadrons of a fort can share it for rest , they stack LIFO ( last in , first out ) and both morals are raised to perfect. Only the last trained can recover from losses .
Edit:
Pause-delete-undo allows the trick when primary squadrons are on the map , using only delete-undo needs the primary squadrons out of the map or they die .
Edit:
In mission 4 , don't forget you return in the city in mission 8 in February ...
So if you leave the city before November and your fieds beeing harvested , your city starves 6 monthes in mission 8 .
[Edited on 04/19/12 @ 01:24 PM]
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| SeaWorld |
Posted on 07/26/12 @ 03:07 AM
Replay value is nagging...
always asking how could i improve the designs and city blocks.
Thanks |
Gweilo2
Staff
File Author |
Posted on 07/26/12 @ 01:21 PM |
| user3 |
Posted on 09/04/17 @ 06:55 AM
Lacks instruction on what to do with price changes; these have to be manually changed on the commodities list to effect all Trade Facilities.
The statement, "'martial' heroes will fight a predator instead of capture it"; is misleading Sun Wu Kong & Sun Tzu will capture predators. Perhaps direct player to check the in game help menu for Hero's animal capturing ability.
The statement, "send an emissary or spy"; may not be the best wording. Spying has negative consequences that you don't explain and their very expensive. If an emissary gets executed the city is hostile/angry with a low favor.
Mission 1
Simply a test if the player has the right stuff for advanced play.
Mission 2
I disagree with the placing of salt accepting warehouses. I preferred a getting Mill>TSs method; more Salt mines to manage employment issues later on. 113canisters end of 2nd year.
Hanan(previous city) didn't register the salt price increase. I had to discount them @37cash(shrug).
Probably get more weapons booty from Feng/Hanan by providing a full company of Infantry to their rival defensive request. 16 sent to Feng, 3 casualties, 16 Weapons in TS+perhaps a few at a WH. Sending just one troop [u]may[/u] not work(shrug) as well.
All Troop requests were set at 2 troops not 1 troop.
All invasion came from the same bottom left corner. I suspect that was Invasion Point 1(confirmed) & Lop Nor map has only 4 IPs set not 8 as the readme.txt states.
A city managers place is in the gatehouse observing the battle and arranging for flagged instructions to company commanders, not engaging the enemy. Where are the high values and ethics of Xia. A prison to enslave captured soldiers rather then ransom and treaty for. A wounded man in mourning is unlikely to travel 2000miles in a single day(time limit gap).
Mission 3
Space and pathing management test. 3rd year, 105 loads of fish using northern most two islands and one fish accepting warehouse two bridges and a ferry. 2nd year was 79 loads. I imagine the forth year was more excessive, but matters not.
Unrealistic travel distances...many missions...
Mission 4
Enormous map test with resources spread way out. The examiner will likely take points from my test score as population had a dip around the 3rd year.
Statement: "If you are still playing this mission in the 6th game year,..."
Should read "5th year", Time Limit goal...
I chose to use the 'conquest' as my last goal. As a consequence I don't know if I got the weapons booty or if in returning in the expected continuation mission my Forts are going to get stuck in limbo. I'm thinking this is one of the situations that the glitch/bug effects.(shrug) The readme doesn't mention the possibility, so I'm crossing my fingers.
The Yong invasion came from IP#1 in a test run. I'm fairly confident by now that "random" isn't the best word for the invasion location description of 'Random' set invasions.
Mission 5
Missions 4&5 sequence didn't seem right; why accept a small project after establishing a reputation for a grand project for foreign powers. Why would a foreign power be interested in a fishing village mastermind...
I did have fun organizing Tiger hunting expeditions the second year(absorbed unemployment with Hunters tents), after that I let the visiting palace brats handle it themselves. What would the price of tiger pelt be in 920ce?
[see M7 tiger comment]
Mission 6
Plenty of room and enough time that building housing at the map entrance isn't necessary, but is fun!
Mission 7
About tigers, Hunters are NOT helpless, nor are guards...
Last year, expect invasions due to hostility beyond the scripted ones.
Mission 8
Invasion 'looked' scary.
Mission 9
First troop request from a rival set for May948, fired in July with 4 not 6 months. Doesn't matter as I couldn't get 1 troop by July. Vengence? I thought he considered his father death was in honorable battle, its not as if father was captured and tortured for a decade.
Mission 10
NW prey point pathing cut off by an Invasion Flag. Reduces expected Gamemeat production thus I had to rethink my food supply 2 years into the mission. Personally, I don't think forcing merchants to accept IOUs that are not acceptable payments elsewhere is something to brag about. ?'Grand Xia'? lets be honest, he started out inheriting a title from his family. That title was used for generations to enrich the family. I don't see justification for the lofty comparison to 'Templar Knights' or claimed ethics of the title holders.
General
LopNor should have been given Tibetan Nationality(prisoners country). Liaoyang should of been Khitan(Liao) nationality. Effective use of factions may have made for interesting reactions to invasions. Even a simple 2 faction split Chinese/non-Chinese may have played well for the historical perspective.
Playability: 4
A good learning campaign for those wanting to learn the system beyond core mechanics.
Balance: 4
Bit too easy to start for advanced players.
Creativity: 4
Some things could of been done better...
Maps: 5
Great effort in creating terrain challenge; don't expect the RL topography.
Story/Inst: 3
I just couldn't connect with the character or flow of events. [Edited on 10/03/17 @ 09:15 PM]
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Gweilo2
Staff
File Author |
Posted on 09/04/17 @ 07:27 AM |
| user3 |
Posted on 09/15/17 @ 06:17 AM |
| Pages: [1] 2 » Last » |
HGDL v0.8.2 |
| Rating |
|---|
| 4.8 | | Breakdown |
|---|
| Playability | 4.0 | | Balance | 5.0 | | Creativity | 5.0 | | Map Design | 5.0 | | Story/Instructions | 5.0 |
| Statistics |
| Downloads: | 4,486 |
| Favorites: [] | 0 |
| Size: | 2.94 MB |
| Added: | 03/13/12 |
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