I liked this map alot. A very oddly shaped castle yet also very appealing. The design is great and the hidden stairs caught me by suprise....very sneaky. The main thing that stood out on this map was obviously the castle with it's cleverly designed diamond shaped walls around a cross. It was very creative but the overall terrain was not as good, but it was still pretty to look at. The balance is rather easy as soon as you destroy the stairs but if you don't then your in for a challenge. I enjoyed playing it on hard without destroying the stairs if you do that the balance is rather even. Overall it was very creative but the map design was only good enough for a three purely for the fact that i didn't like the way you placed the hovels. the instructions were also very good and deserved a 4. To sum things up, Great job! keep up the good work
Lord Arthus
Best Willis
Posted on 02/12/04 @ 12:00 AM
A poor peasant would never laugh to a lord-looking man. He would be meek and timid as much as possible. If a lord would ever talk to him. I cant play that level because of large number of units:) Coz of notebook.
Bismuth
Posted on 02/27/04 @ 12:00 AM
Rating
3.4
Breakdown
Playability
4.0
Balance
3.0
Creativity
3.0
Map Design
4.0
Story/Instructions
3.0
This is a very intricate castle design with many towers, passages, walls, gates and buildings. Bloodhoof has also incorporated church buildings into the castle structure with good effect to add detail and variety. And of course, there is a central cross-shaped section which provides the name for this scenario.
After the castle structure, the next item which strikes the eye is the enormous number of defending troops. Not only inside the castle and on the walls but also outside there two large "herds" of monks and knights.
The invasion begins almost at once with equally large numbers of enemy moving onto the map.
In spite of the large invasions, I did not have difficulty in beating this map on my first go on NORMAL setting. Lord Arthus mentioned stairs which I did not notice. But it was not hard to win without doing much more than repositioning some troops and creating some additional defenders using existing stocks of weapons. Plus igniting the pitch ditches at strategic moments.
I felt like this map would be better and really more challenging with fewer defenders as well as smaller invasions. The number of units packed into a small space currently is almost overwhelming. My PC is fairly powerful and cranked through the scenario without slowing down but I suspect (from Best Willis's comment) that the large number of units can also be overwhelming to some computer processors.
Some of the terrain modeling was quite nice. I especially liked the ocean with the river flowing into it. Other parts were a bit plain and the placement of production units (mines, pitch rigs) could probably have been scattered a bit more to appear more natural.
Although there are a large number of citizens on the map you really have no time to develop the economy or worry much about production.
The story was imaginative - I picture the Wolf upset because this new castle was spoiling his view! At least a portion of the story should appear on the Download Description page.
The Castle of the Cross has the potential for some exciting and really challenging play once the troop strengths and invasions are reduced and adjusted a bit. You might also consider providing the attackers with siege towers or a ram or two for variety.
A bit hard to rate this. Since I won first time around I feel I must give you a 2.5 for balance. But with such a clever castle and potential for improvement I will round up.
Overall a good imaginative effort - I would enjoy playing an updated version of this map and I look forward to seeing more of your creations on the site.