Nice to play, but not a realy hard one. I´ve placed some big round towers near the sighn and give the enemies a bad wellcome - so done, it was relativ easy to play but funny... :-)
Greetz
Dragon of Cyrenaika
peter2008
Posted on 03/03/09 @ 05:48 PM
The mission is interesting and conclusively constructed. The requests you have to fulfill all help you to maintain a growing population and to protect the country against formidable invasions. You must produce xbows swords and can buy the corresponding armours at the market. Wheat and ale must be used alternately to keep popularity high.
The area is designed in a special way. Mazes of high plateaus are traversed by rocky curves. Hollow way and bigger passages give way in between. It takes some time to understand these shapes and also to cultivate the land (trees have to be removed). Though farms and iron mines lay in an ever wider distance to the keep, enough goods come in. Only refused to quarry stones from a far edge of the map.
Gameplay changes between long quiet periods and hectic events. For quite some whiles you can meditate the colourful swarming of your poeple, suddenly huge fires devastate the town. Lost even a tile each of armoury and granary. And the invasion are strong. They are mixed to afflict a highest possible damage to the huts, farms and mines out there.
Tried to play the map according to the author's seeming concept. You could wall in the entire precious areas (compare "Edge of Hell")! Abandoned this method but positioned marks and melees on the plateaus and in the passages.
Altogether, there was much challenge in the mission. The only serious flaw consists in that the player is forced to stay until the end of the course even if all economic requests are met. Due to the condition "Eliminate all enemy units", all invasions have to be sat out. "No enemy on map" would have worked better. So, with 64 years, the game toke too long for me.
PS. Imo, "Emerald Highlands" would be a more fitting title.