The King has asked you to build up a new castle far to the south of the country. Your scouts have been on the lookout for a suitable location now for many days now. Finally, one of them reports back to you, and tells you of a valley. It has a large river running down the center, with plenty of defensive opportunities for a castle. There are some resources scattered around the countryside that should assist you quite well: A couple of deposites of iron ore and some trees. Also, a cliff face to the north has recently broken apart due to erosion, and provides a good place to site some stone quarries. Good luck, My Lord, and happy building!
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This is a Free Build map I made to fill some spare time. I've tried to make it a nice little piece of countryside for you to build a castle up in: there are resources around but not in extravagant amounts. I've put in a couple of signposts so you can test your castle by pressing the F1 key while playing and specify an army to attack you.
Not a bad first effort at all - perfectly playable, just a little ordinary as a free build goes. You start off slowly bnut soon enough you can have a very successful economy flourishing - there is a nice valley feel but most of the map design is pretty basic - there could have been a more rugged look to the map - more stones and rocks, shrubs and variation in height (equalising). Not bad though - just a little simple. There are many maps on stronghold heaven which are very well designed and look very rugged - I would recommend any Sulis map as an example. Some careful study would be of great help to you though. There is a nice storyline - especially for a freebuild and a 4 is in order. Overall not a bad map, a nice feel of a valley but quite ordinary. Would like to see how you would make a siege or invasion as I am sure you would make a very playable and well balanced map. Good first try!