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Author |
File Description |
Jasper Tudor |
Posted on 03/30/06 @ 01:05 PM
File Details |
Map Size: |
300x300 (Medium) |
Difficulty: |
Normal |
Minimap:
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Philippe spat, stupidly enough. The air down here was too dry, he couldn’t waste any saliva.
He had been here for about an hour or so, and he already loathed the place.
Bazhir Castle…The name tasted bad. And so did sand. Sometimes he wondered why he was even here. This was one of those sometimes.
He had left France eight years ago, being only a young lad seeking adventure. Instead he had found distress and political discussions without end. And once he actually got the chance of participating in a battle against the Muslims, he quickly learnt that war was hell. Besides, he always got the crappy duties.
Taking command of Bazhir Castle was a new low. Bazhir Castle was a rather small, crudely built, castle right in the middle of nowhere. It had been built by the first Crusaders some seventy years ago, and had been unmanned ever since. There was simply no use for the castle, situated way too far south to ever get involved in the fighting as it was.
The castle was built atop a quite big, flat-topped, hill in the middle of a rather fertile desert. The only real defences the castle had, except from its walls of course, was a rock-cut ditch. Weeks, or even months, must had been spent finishing that ditch, to no use to anyone.
Now, however, the castle suddenly became important. Or well…not exactly important, rather involved.
One month earlier, the Emir Mouza had entered Christian ground with a huge army. However, the army quickly ran out of supplies as the attack was badly prepared. After suffering several small defeats against the Knights Templar, the Emir decided to retreat southwards again. Now his army had divided into several smaller groups, raiding the country for whatever provisions could be stolen.
The only thing worth stealing that Bazhir Castle protected was…Well, there wasn’t anything worth stealing actually. The land was uninhabited, and the only thing the castle commanded over was a small, more or less fertile, valley, where nothing had been grown for decades anyway.
The defence of Bazhir Castle was entirely symbolic, it filled no real purpose. Of course, the King of Jerusalem couldn’t spare anyone of his talented leaders and warriors, so he sent Philippe, for whom there was no use anyway.
Philippe did of course not like the task, he found Jerusalem being too hot, and travelling further south didn’t really appeal to him. However, he took the task without question. It was better to actually do something than just sitting there, waiting for the days to pass.
He looked down on the castle from one of its corner-towers. There really wasn’t anything do defend. He had been granted with a few badly trained troops who other lords thought they could spare. He only had one knight at his disposal.
He was really bored actually. He gasped, and got sand in his mouth. He coughed.
The Author’s Notes
Greetings, and thanks for checking out my first ever SHC-map. I have designed quite a lot for the original Stronghold (and plan to continue doing so), and I have never really been interested in SHC. Nonetheless, I decided to give the game a try, and this is it.
I did design a small part of the Crusader Community Map, but other than that, I have never designed for SHC before.
Anyway, I hope you’ll enjoy this little map, which is somewhat like an eco-vasion (how good you’ll handle the invasion mostly depends on how good you are at handling your economy.
From the start, you’ll have 5 years to build up your resources, recruit more troops and strengthen the castle. Then you fight.
It’s a real simple scenario, I know, but who doesn’t like a good fight?
Happy gaming.
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Author | Comments & Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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lollard97367 |
Posted on 04/01/06 @ 12:35 PM
What a great story, nice writing!
Will download and rate.
Update: Played map. Pretty hard invasion with swordsmen and assassins in frontal attack on gate. Will update when I beat this great map. [Edited on 04/01/06 @ 02:42 PM]
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Jasper Tudor
File Author |
Posted on 04/01/06 @ 12:56 PM
Thanks, Lollard =)
Just one note: The castle and all the characters in the story are fictional. Bazhir castle doesn't really exist (at least not as far as I know). |
Lord Michael I
Staff |
Posted on 04/05/06 @ 02:17 PM
Downloading and soon will rate! |
Lord Michael I
Staff |
Posted on 04/06/06 @ 02:12 PM
Playability: 4
This is one hard game! I got barely enough time to make an army the first time, but then you get a hang of it. Good gameplay.
Balance: 3.5
The map would be a bit too hard for newbies, for some experienced too, so it's somewhat unbalanced.
Creativity: 4
If gotta admit the map s not very creative, but it's a desert. The extra-creative story gave you some points.
Map Design: 3.5
The map is not very creative and not much to see, but the castle is nice and the way it was protected, so 3.5
Story/Instructions: 5
The story is a masterpiece! congratulations!
Additional Comments:
This map is really good and recommended, you should make more SHC maps! |
Jasper Tudor
File Author |
Posted on 04/06/06 @ 03:33 PM
Thanks for the review, LMI! I'm happy to see that my first SHC map got such a good score.
Just one remark though; what exactly are you judging when judging Map Design? Because I've seen a lot of other designers who basically had a flat map with resource-lumps in the corner get a four. |
Lord Michael I
Staff |
Posted on 04/07/06 @ 03:02 PM
What I find good in a map design in SHC, is if there are some eyecandy. I don't know, a fancy castle, a neat landscape, if it's a desert put dunes. the creativity puts points |
Jasper Tudor
File Author |
Posted on 04/07/06 @ 03:38 PM
Lol, that contradicts pretty much all I've ever thought of Map Design =P But my opinion is based upon my experiences of the original Stronghold though...
But I must say that I dislike eyecandys. Put up a good landscape instead!
Btw: Aren't there dunes in this map? I think it's all basically dunes (with rock formations in between).
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Lord Michael I
Staff |
Posted on 04/07/06 @ 03:51 PM
Well, yeah, there are dunes, I'm not saying I lowered points because of no dunes. :) |
STreTcH23 |
Posted on 05/02/06 @ 08:22 PM
Playability: 4.5
The map is a perfect defensive challenge. You have to build an economy quickly and defend a huge invasion of mixed units.
Balance: 4
This map is challenging at the end with the massive amounts of swordsman. The economy is easy to manage once you get the wood coming in. Since all of the resources are balanced you have to make your decisions early because you cant just put 6 woodcutter huts at one spot and hope the trees will grow their. Everything is evenly spaced so you have to think. The one entrance looks easy to defend but is very vunerable to waves of knights. Pitch is the only way to counter this.
Creativity: 4
A nice castle design with custom towers.
Map Design: 4.5
The desert looked real with sand dunes and rock formations. Everything looked good from all angles of play. The ditch only allowed one entrance to the castle which affected your defensive decisions.
Story/Instructions: 5
Finally a good story for a crusader map.
Additional Comments:
Great map and I hope you will continue to design for Crusader.
-Stretch
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Jasper Tudor
File Author |
Posted on 05/06/06 @ 08:59 AM
Thanks for the review, Stretch! I'm glad that you enjoyed the map so much =D
I will probably design some more for SHC after the positive response for this map, but that's way ahead in the future atm. |
HGDL v0.8.2 |
Rating |
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4.3 | Breakdown |
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Playability | 4.3 | Balance | 3.8 | Creativity | 4.3 | Map Design | 4.0 | Story/Instructions | 5.0 |
Statistics |
Downloads: | 559 |
Favorites: [] | 0 |
Size: | 536.36 KB |
Added: | 03/30/06 |
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