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Mardonton, The Siege (Map 1in Saviour of Léugìm)
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Author |
File Description |
Lord Michael I |
Posted on 09/18/07 @ 04:16 PM (updated 09/21/07)
File Details |
Map Size: |
300x300 (Medium) |
Difficulty: |
Hard |
Made with version: |
1.1 |
Minimap:
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Mardonton - The siege
Map No.1 in The Saviour of Léugìm Community Campaign.
You are Gregory, the lord of an Estate in the Kingdom of Léugìm.
You must defend your town from the evil army of Lord Dayon.
Hold off the invaders as long as you are able so you can make your escape.
Story
Mardonton, called the "lost town". It was founded in the year 903 by Charles II, and the lordship of the town has been passed down from generation to generation in our family. This small town has always lived away from any problem, away from any war, until now.
The lands of Léugìm are on the verge of a war, with the allied estates of Léugìm on one hand, and Lord Dayon, and its massive army, called the "Black Men" on other side. Our side has proven weak. Not all the estates have proven loyal to the crown, so we are not fighting with our biggest forces. And news is worsening each time. Terror is approaching your sleepy town. Countless raids have been mentioned, all around your quiet lands.
Also, numerous rumors about Dayon's soldiers, some kind of strange mutants, attacking each town they see, are scaring the peasants. They say these soldiers of Dayon are beasts, and were born only for fighting and killing.
Now, it is time to defend your town. You must not let it fall; you must hold it at all costs. If the raids aren't stopped,who will put a finish to this horror?
Campaign Map
Click thumbnail pic to see 160k JPEG
Instructions
Your town is about to be attacked by a huge army. Start preparing your defenses, and hold your town as long as you can. You are the strongest estate in the area, so you must inflict big casualties on Lord Dayon's evil army, this may make them retreat and give you time to prepare a bigger offensive.
Objectives
On Normal Setting:
- 1 sword. This is the sword you will use on the battle.
- Keep your lord alive until the timer ends.
- The game will end in 1076
Hints for all players
-Maybe if you fortify the town with even more wooden platforms, maybe you could kill off even more of Dayon's men even before they touch your walls.
-Try to use killing ditches strategically around the hard points of your town.
-Train as much men as you can! The armory is full of spears and arrows; use them!
-You can put more hovels. This way, you will have more peasants around the campfire, which means you will have more recruits.
Author's Note
I hope you all enjoy this map. I'd first want you to know that this map is the product of
the hard work of lots of persons, including me. Though it might sound strange, I am not the designer of this map, I am only the storywriter.
I was in charge of making the full story and in-map story. The terraining of the map goes to FroobaChoob, though, he had some internet problems and could not upload the map. Also ericgolf has put a lot of work on finishing the map, and not to mention the playtesters (I'll mention you guys later ;))
Zip Contents
The zip file, besides the map, contains a map of the lands of Léugìm for you to look how the story progresses. It also has a hint file, which you must not open unless you are really stuck, the full story and a minimap is also attached.
And finally, there is a map similar to the one that shows the lands of Léugìm, but this one will show you what else is happening at the moment of the mission.
Acknowledgements
A big thanks to these persons who spent their valuable time on this map:
FroobaChoob, the person who came with the main idea of a campaign, and the designer of this map.
Ericgolf, thanks for the help on scripting and making the final tweaks on the map and playtesting!
Lord Tanthos, the second playtester, thanks a bunch :D
Younghappy, the person who got in charge when
Frooba had to leave, and the designer of the well made map of Léugìm.
Sir Ravenclaw, the designer of the campaign logo.
Also I'd like to thank again ericgolf, because he was kind enough to make a Download
Template in HTML, because I don't know how to :D Thanks ericgolf, don't know what I've done without you ;)
And last, I'd like to say I am the storywriter. I was mainly in charge of making all the story.
So let's leave talking for later, download the map, and, to battle! Don't forget to leave feedback and a rating, if you're kind enough!
Update:
The update is minor, there is no need of downloading again. I have updated the map of Léugìm with a newer version and have changed the file and map name. |
Author | Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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Battle Mage corp |
Posted on 09/25/07 @ 01:14 AM
Thousands of arrows
Hundreds of spears
Tons of blood
Hours of preasure
One Game - Mardonton!
This must have been the most intense day of my life.Never before have I struggled to survive as much as in this scenario.Never before have I been defeated so many times.Never before has victory felt so sweat!
Playability: 5
The playability of this map is beyond words.Nothing I say could express my true feelings for this magestic peace of work.Everything starts so quickly in just a blinck of an eye.This type of map requires extreme concentration and a very strategic mind.The biggest problem in the game was the outer wall.It was very large and I had to send my troops from one post to another just to hold the wooden wall a meter above the ground.Even though the inner castle has another wall if the first one is breached in the begining of the game everything is lost because the enemy destroys your buildings and the economy falls.To win a game like this one has to use dirty tricks not also strategic ones.One of the mistakes of the map was that there was only one signpost.You can easily exploit that and kill about 30 spearmen in an instance and then retreat.The second trick that helped me a lot was that the enemy started to destroy all the buildings in the area.What I did was I demolished the right side and left the other side of building (outside the castle).When the enemy arrived they took the bate and whenever one building was destroyed I made anotherone and the spearmen were circulating around the castle under constant fire from my archers.When only pikemen were left I ordered some of my units to stay outside the castle and to play a game of cat and mouse with the enemy.However these things would work only once or twice to win such a map requires a massive defence force.This was simply to pile up a lot of resources.
Balance: 5
Lately I have seen that many people give bad scores for balance just because they can't beat a "beatable map" and consider it too tough.That kind of rating really anoys me and I can't come close to thinking to give this map something less than 5.If it was up to me I would give it a 6. Mardonton has been a very chalenging map and I must have lost just bellow 100 times.In this situation even the saves can't help you.You have to be very observative because simple mistakes can lead to a devastating end.When I managed to hold one of the attacks I saved the game.But I didn't notice that there was a gap in the wall.A building blocked the gap and thats why a small force of the army went to destroy the building and It didn't catch my eye.When I finally found out about this I couldn't hold the rest of the army and had to restart.My biggest problem was the one swordsmen who accompanied the 81 men armies.They started to make chuncks in the outer wall and you can't kill them in time no matter how many archers you have.The only solution is to have some troops outside the castle ready to attack the swordsman and to slow him down.Eventually the outer wall falls that is inevitable so try to collect as much resourses as you can for the final battle in the inner part of the castle,because all your building will be lost any your left with nothing.In the end the enemy breeched the second wall and all of my bodyguards were killed and the lord faced about 7 or 8 troops If im not mistaken they were all spearmen or mabye there was one pikemen.But miraculassly when my lord killed two of them they gave the retreat and escaped even though they had the numbers to kill me.I can't explain how awesome I felt when the victory pannel came up.It was a loooong *sigh*
Creativity: 4.5
The castle was somethig truly amazing a perfect sircle from wood.Just like a small fort I loved it.However it wasn't that special.It had nothing extraordinary just the basic fortifications.But the story contributed a lot to the overall score.As I read the pages I just got more and more......excited to find out how the story continues just like when I was a small boy watching animations.Whenever the "To be continued" sign appeared I got enraged because it was right in the middleof the good part and it felt really bad.This was the same.And as a start this map is a very good one.I admit that from the minimaps in the main thread there are some that are even better looking.But I like how the campaign starts from a simple keep and slowly rises to a magnificent fortress.Bravo!!
Map Design: 3.5
In this scenario the map design was the biggest problem for me.As Im the terrainer in BMC Im very fussy over little things but I just can't help it.If Lan al Malkier was reviewing this that the rate could have been different.The thing I didn't like was that suddenly from a perfect sea-level ground a hill rose.I don't say that this is impossible but usually there are reasons in nature for this.In this case it didn't look natural at all.The site was pretty plain too.Im not sure but i don't think that pine trees grow at the altitude that apple trees grow.This has nothing to do with the score by the way Im just mentioning it.The other thing that I didn't find natural was the dense forest.A massive forrest which lacks any rocks and bouldiers or even shrubs.If there were some rock piles than it would have looked more realistic to have a hill in the map.As a pine tree grows it's needles slowly absorb water which helps them to grow and which they store as a backup.But when they get enough they could be left without water for one or two years it depends on the weather.So the remaining water becomes useless and nothing absorbs it.When this happenes this leftover water forms small bogs or swamps.With so many trees in the map it looked unnatural not to have lakes or swamps.The other thing that I didn't like is that the forest near my castle was as dence as the one far from the keep.As a castle expands it uses the materials near it and starts to scavange for more around the area.So having a wooden keep and so much trees near the castle looked fake.And finaly the deer herds were a bit to much.I know that they are animals but in real life they would run away from this site when they are hunted.There were about 12 herds peacefully eating near my castle which didn't seem to notice the hunters.I think that 3-4 herds would have been more than enough.
Story/Instructions: 5
What can I say.Except Congratulations a magnificent and awesome story.As I opened the word file I slowly started to make a puzzle and to draw an imaginary picture of the landscape and the story itself.This was not only a very long and good stroy but it was also and exciting thing to read.Normally I check for mistakes in the story and don't pay much attention to it.But this one was really good.Im really looking forward to reading the next one from my dear friend Younghappy.
Additional Comments:
This map really took me back in the middle ages when war was sparking up everyday like the sun was rising and setting.A magnificent peace of work.When I finished the map I realised that I was only abou 15 centemeters from the monitor.
Morbid Angel |
Sulis |
Posted on 10/10/07 @ 11:44 AM
Playability: 4.5
As a first map in what already promises to be a gripping series, I somewhat naively thought I would be faced with a relatively sedate scenario that sets the scene. A few minor invasions possibly, maybe a few economic goals. I recruited a few troops from the barracks, moved a few more to take up defensive positions, had a look around the wonderfully built settlement and took pleasure in the thriving activity as weapons manufacturers busied themselves. Then I waited to see what would happen.
What followed was one of the most electrifying and thoroughly intense invasions I have had the pleasure of facing.
A quick scan of the notes once more confirmed the huge army that spilled onto the map in front of me. I'd underestimated this scenario completely, so I set about recruiting as many troops as possible, desperately trying to shore up the defences and generally causing blind panic as I bluffed my way through the first invasion. I fell as the second invasion tore through my settlement. What a miserable failure.
In fact, it took something in the region of ten or eleven attempts to finally beat this map. Mardonton is a battle of epic proportions, huge and well armoured invasions and a simple enough goal: to survive up to a set date. A short but oh-so-sweet invasion map, this will definitely test even the best players out there. Tactics are far and above the most useful asset to the player and making full use of the AI's weaknesses and abilities (or lack of) can help you to victory, but it is absolutely crucial to set your stall properly from the start. DOn't be put off by the intensity of the fight, for above all else, Mardonton is exquisite fun to play. I simply loved this map from start to finish!
'300'? Pff. A minor disagreement, compared to this.
Balance: 5
Devilishly difficult to beat. Balance here is once again relatively simple to score. You need to survive, not to kill all the invasion forces. It took many attempts as I said above, and there are a couple of ways that you can approach the scenario. Careful assessment of what defences you have (and not just your own army) is key to progress. For me, balance was perfect, not just because it is a hell of a lot more tricky to pull off a large scale invasion that works the way it is intended to, but because it's so satisfying when you do finally beat the map, even though I still wonder how I managed to win with such mediocre skills of my own! I do feel that some other reviews of maps have been far too generous with awarding a 5.0 score for balance that clearly doesn't deserve it, or that doesn't follow the Review Guidelines, more importantly. So, for anyone who wants to know how and when full marks are fully deserved and justified under this category... play this map. Simply wonderful stuff!
Creativity: 4.5
The score here is strongly influenced by the comments and score awarded towards the story/instructions element of this scenario. However, the map does boast it's own creative streak in the form of exceptionally well executed invasions (see above: very hard to do properly) and very supporting campaign articles. I don't often recall playing a map whereby you must survive until a set date as the usual format is to kill all enemy units. This makes a refreshing change and adds a real sense of reality into what is clearly a fantasy-led scenario.
Map Design: 4
The circular settlement is certainly eye catching and the buildings and associated eye candy features all add up to a very impressive bit of map design. The look and feel of the settlement is very organic and busy, as if people are genuinely preparing for a battle and the defence of their homes and families. Moreover, the structure is such that the AI weaknesses aren't evident, such as random units wandering around or standing still as they aren't able to work out a way to attack the palisade walls or gatehouses. It's a settlement design that clearly works as it is intended to.
The surrounding landscape is, as already commented on, a little bit on the bland side. I note the comments by the author explaining the shortfalls in terrain modelling, which is understandable. I'm sure that the designer of the map, Froobachoob, doesn't need me to comment specifically on what would be required to elevate the landscape score, and this the overall map score, to the 5.0 it probably deserves as a complete package. Some of the comments in the previous review I disagree with, such as the specific reference to the distribution, or lack of it, of water that forms bogs. This isn't strictly true and there are many other geological, petrological and ecological effects, conditions and circumstances that would not result in the collection of this 'ground water' into bogs or marshes. In terms of eye candy, yes it would be more pleasing to see some terrain features, and I think this is perhaps what was referred to. But I digress.. if nothing else the flat landscape allows the AI to run amok with little or no impedement and therefore the functionality of the landscape must be both recognised and applauded.
Story/Instructions: 5
Absolutely stunning! The quality, content and depth of information provided by both written and visual medium is breathtaking. It could be argued that a campaign map such as this should include such detailed information as a prerequisite, but the involvement of the Saviour of Léugìm team shows just how much you can do when you pool resources together. Having a campaign map is an excellent idea and really helps you to visualise where you are and what lies ahead. The story to accompany this first instalment is excellently written and clear; always a help to those who intend to download and play all of the maps in a campaign such as this. There is a wealth of information to hand in the zip file and in the forums too. The use of the forums has been included in this particular part of the review in recognition of allowing others, such as yours truly who merely stand in the wings waiting for such maps to be released, to become immersed in the design and discussions of others. In some ways this is a shared project; not just by those who design the scenarios but those who are privileged enough to see exactly how a designer works towards achieving their goal, or combined goals in this case. For that, I applaud you.
Additional Comments:
In simple terms, this map is an absolute belter! With a more refined head on, Mardonton - The Siege is a quality invasion map, genuinely epic in scale, that should tax anyone who cares to play it. Very, very highly recommended.
Well done to all of you! |
barbarius |
Posted on 05/24/08 @ 10:42 AM
Hum, about this map, I'm feel obliged to make a review, because this map inspires myself to create a map (I don't know if I can post it on Stronghold Heaven, writing the story in English is maybe too complicated for me).
Playability: 4.5
Quite good. We have a castle already built, so we don't have to do some gestion, only preparing an army to defend the castle against all the enemies, who are very, very numerous. Defending the castle was very difficult for me. It was a, well, I don't know if this expression is used in English vocabulary, a "win in Pyrrhus" (litteral translation), that is to say we lose everything, even my Lord, who died a few seconds after the victory. Protecting the first wall is impossible, so we have to protect the poor gatehouse to the many enemies who tried to destroy it. If the gatehouse is destroyed, allthe enemies (thousands and thousands) come in the castle, killing very quickly everything. Otherwise, the major part of the army destroys the castle. It was a game really terrible, with strong assaults. I loved it.
Balance: 5
Well, it's a map really hard. I need many attempts before triumphing. So, as Sulis said, we d'ont have to kjill all the enemies, just to survive, so the utilisation of killing pits is very useful. Building a lot of batiments is quit euseful too, because these batiments make the part of a diversion. But, well, it's not easy. We have especially archers, so the macemen can easily kill them if they broke the gatehouse. Don't try to kill all the enemies, just try to survive. I've used hundred of killing pits, but, at the end, the pikemen can destroy the gatehouse. I lost all my archers, and the death of my Lord appeared in the same time than the message of "Victory". As you said, that was a close shave.
Creativity: 5
As I said, this map really inspired myself. What I like is the fact that we canno't kill all the enemies, just survive. So, we need to sacrifice all the town if we want to survive. It's really original, I rarely played on a map like that before.
Map Design: 3.5
I really like the organization of the town, a circular town which is really beautiful to see. Otherwise,, the decor is quite poor, with a lot of trees, but that's all. Anyway, it's a good work.
Story/Instructions: 5
A real good work about the story. We have a short summary in the topic, and a story more developed, with some dialogs, in the .zip file
Additional Comments:
Well, I can't do a review very developed like Sulis or Battle Mage Corp. I'm not exceptionnally good in English, but I think I've explained clearly what I think of this map. A really very good work, congratulations. |
HGDL v0.8.2 |
Rating |
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4.6 | Breakdown |
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Playability | 4.7 | Balance | 5.0 | Creativity | 4.7 | Map Design | 3.7 | Story/Instructions | 5.0 |
Statistics |
Downloads: | 2,425 |
Favorites: [] | 0 |
Size: | 971.54 KB |
Added: | 09/18/07 |
Updated: | 09/21/07 |
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