A very nice map - just look at the fountains and hydroelectricity center - the workers are gathering the electricity in the bowls!Rat – King (15-85)
(English Version)
Objectives:
Kill the Rat □
Story:
The Rat, duc de Puce has marched to the king’s lands but his storm was unsuccessful, so he wants to die and be known as a popular and worshiped ruler. He started building fountains, hydroelectricity stations and communal gardens leaving him very poor.
Strategy:
The only way to finish the mouse is to train lots of archers – you’ll not win if you’ll not start digging his hydroelectricity waters! To be more safe, you have to kill all the archers first.
Hints:
□ Train thousands of archers and just about 15-20 swordsmen. Archers are very great for defense and for attack (shooting and digging moats).
□ The Knights will be impenetrable power if you’ll use them wisely. Don’t know how to command them to move over the bridge? Just select “Aggressive Stance” and your knights will kill the Rat!
On principle, we've got an interesting map here, but it's not too hard for an average player, I think. I've replayed deadeye's updated version reconsidering my previous rating and I'm glad that the author tried to improve playability and balance in displacing the former signpost onto the front of the Rat's Castle.
Economically this map is superb! You permanently have to control your slowly growing economic development based on stone and iron ore, because there are only meagre conditions for a reasonable food supply. You're just able to create hunters and that will be a very one-sided nutrition for a long time. Therefore, you constantly have to buy additional food (apples, cheese and bread) raising your popularity. And those initial trees growing inside your narrow canyon, soon will be wasted. For that reason, you're urgently forced to conquer this important strategic oasis near the enemy's castle, providing a sufficient stand of timber-trees for the future.
Concerning the military side, you should improve your both defensive and offensive strength by mustering as many archers as possible. I personally needed one attempt to fulfill the demanded task, killing the Rat by archers. I didn't use at all thousands of archers as the author pronounced in his hints. I've just sent about 20 of them on top of a square tower built in front of the hostile castle ordering sustained fire directed at the Rat. Just one critical point: You're allowed to produce crossbows, but no leather armours. So I would cancel the crossbow option, because you can't train crossbowmen. Finally, I counted about 160 archers accompanied by 30 swordsmen and 20 engineers (operating mangonels).
After having completely filled the moats in and outside the Rat's castle, I didn't find any acces to the hostile keep for my swordsmen (maybe there is one, deadeye should tell us). The regularly appearing bandits mostly were killed by the Rat's archers, so that they couldn't bother me for a long time.
Altogether a very specific and remarkable map with new optical and strategic ideas that needs a little bit more challenge military wise.