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Author |
File Description |
MasacruTheArcher |
Posted on 02/18/08 @ 10:48 AM
File Details |
Map Size: |
300x300 (Medium) |
Difficulty: |
Hard |
Minimap:
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Story :
A king and his men established their kingdom in a nice place with lots of treasures.Iron /stone / animals / trees.He noticed the fallen empire in that place.But he ignore that saying that there's no need to panic , because the war was gone.That until someday when some arabbs are patroling the area.
End.
Now you continue building and you will have to defend your attacks.I may say that the ballance is perfect.You don't have have any advantage ,neither the invaders.
- The map is very cool i may say ,with lots of ruins of an old war.There are also traps around ,a fallen kingdom ,some siege units that were abandoned in the big battle.
-The first attack will give you an idea ;) I won't say it , you will get it when you'll be attacked.I'm not going to say the ages ,because the king doesn't know either :).He didn't know that they will be attacked when they built there
ADVICE = Build walls on left and right of your castle.
Advice = About the army ,be prepared all the time.
Advice = Traps were always useful :)
Advice = Watch out where you step.There are still traps around from the last war that took place on that land.
My second Stronghold Crusader map(also my second map uploaded on heavengames :D ).Took my time on it , so it's not junk :P .I played it and i really really enjoyed (: .Try it , you will see what i'm talking about.You won't get bored ;).
I play stronghold since a few years.But i never tried to create maps :( Until these days when i found Heaven Games !:)
By the way :Awaiting ratings :( especially for the map design .Rate everything. |
Author | Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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JuBuOrangie |
Posted on 03/11/08 @ 04:07 PM
Playability: 2
There are some problems in this area one major one is that its just WAY too long. Try to reduce the time it takes to win. Another thing is that it had horrible balance look below.
Balance: 1.5
The invasions were too small. I was killing them off easily when a fire started in my castle and then I just quit since everything went ablaze. The invasions are far too easy and you dont mention there being a fire.
Creativity: 2
The ruins are alright and everything.
Map Design: 1
By far the worst of all. NEVER use all oasis it looks horrible on the map and with the Crusader building set, also you need to blend oasis grass with thick scrub and regular scrub. Just trust me NEVER use all oasis it does not look good with the Crusader buildings. If you want a more fertile setting, try making maps with Regular Stronghold 1. Lastly if youre going to have a prebuilt castle try to make it a little less ugly, a big square castle is not of my favorites.
Story/Instructions: 2
The story was a too short and not descriptive enough.
Additional Comments:When you put Oasis grass usually its next to a river or Lake, so make sure all of the terrain you use is realistic.
As of right now I cant reccomend this map to anyone.
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Sulis |
Posted on 03/17/08 @ 07:13 AM
Playability: 3
This scenario is a relatively straightforward invasion map where your goals are centred on producing a strong army to defend your settlement walls from several attacks. The map plays fine and performs how it is supposed to - in other words, no real surprises. There are also a few events to keep you on your toes, such as a fire event which can pretty much wipe out your entire collection of buildings in a matter of moments unless you place a good number of wells in strategic places. Your economy is already well established and the richness of the fertile oasis grass that covers the majority of the land means you can really go to town producing large volumes of food. The invasions attack quite well too and although I never had a breach in my walls to worry about. However, the scenario was very, very long and you could have quite easily reduced this by half, cramming in the invasions into a much smaller timescale. This would have make the map a bit more intense and kept my interest. Still, the map is perfectly playable.
TIPS
-Reduce the timescale. A long scenario like this really needs to keep you entertained throughout.
-The abundance of oasis grass means that even three wheat farms placed near the stockpile will be sufficient to generate a lot of produce to mill into flour. You can place several bakeries and sell the surplus food to buy large numbers of weapons. It would have been more of a challenge to reduce the areas of oasis grass and make it more difficult to grow foodstuffs.
-Limiting what you can sell at the marketplace would have made the map more challenging. It is a bit too easy to sell surplus goods for weapons, making even the last invasion fall before they get close to the settlement walls.
-More events are needed to make it more difficult for you to manufacture weapons, such as plagues or even tree fungus events.
Balance: 2.5
The scenario is quite easy to beat. The very long timescale allows you to really build up a massive army of your own that will pretty much annihilate any attacks you have to face. As I mentioned above, the richness of the land and the abundance of raw materials means that you can sell huge amounts of surplus at the marketplace and buy weapons in large numbers. There are no economic goals to meet, just a case of defending against the invasions. However, the invading forces are well put together - a varied selection of troops means that your archers and crossbowmen will be busy. By the time they have finished off the swift and pesky slaves intent on burning down anything in sight and seen off the troublesome horse archers who gradually pick off your soldiers, you have to tackle siege towers, rams and even laddermen.
TIPS
-If you limit the troops you can make at the barracks, concentrating on archers, spearmen and, say, macemen, you have a weakened army compared to the heavily armoured invading forces. This would make the settlement much harder to defend, increasing the risk of breaches in your castle walls and would generally improve the balance.
-Reduce what you can sell at the marketplace. The ability to sell any surplus stuff to buy weapons makes the map easier than it should be. You need to make the player work harder for victory!
-The settlement walls already in place are enough to keep out any attackers. Consider starting with no walls and removing the ability to extract stone via the quarries. Maybe force the player to buy stone at the marketplace, meaning they need to generate more gold to cover this requirement. All this adds up to a much 'busier' map that will keep people interested.
Creativity: 2.5
A fairly straightforward map but generally well thought out. The hidden killing pits as a remnant from the previous battles in the area is a good idea that really works well. They certainly killed off a few of my own army and workers and you never know where they are hidden (unless you take a dairy farm, for example, and move the footprint across the map scanning for areas that are restricting you from placing it).
TIPS
-To get a good score for creativity, you don't have to include the latest fad in design or eye candy features. Keeping a map simple, but well modelled, and addressing everything carefully gives the impression that you have taken considerable time over the creation of your map. Creativity is also influenced by a good storyline or something about your map that is different or unique. This can be a simple thing, such as a map where you can only buy weapons and not manufacture any.
Map Design: 2
The ruined settlement to the north of your own is quite well modelled and adds a little atmosphere. The landscape is a little bland though and the small areas of raised ground don't look particularly natural. Big, bold outcrops of raised ground do occur in the real world, but you have to be careful how you do these in Crusader as the editor isn't particularly good at creating such features. It would have been better to use a selection of boulders, of all sizes, with a simple scattering of rocks or stones at the bottom of the outcrops to give the appearance of weathered rock. The large exapnse of oasis is okay, and I can assure you that you do not have to create a desert effect with every map you design in Crusader! The landscape would have looked better if you had used thick scrub blended in with the oasis grass though, and maybe place a few more random rocks or boulders to break up the appearance of the landscape. With the stone and iron outcrops, these look unnatural and clearly look as if they have been plonked without too much thought.
TIPS
-Unless you are making a Crusader Skirmish map, never, ever place large blocks of iron or stone at random. A stone quarry will sit happily on only seven or eight single tiles of stone. Also, consider where you would expect to find loose stone suitable for reshaping into blocks for building; weathering of cliff faces will loosen large boulders and they fall to the ground. Therefore, consider stone at the foot of a cliff face, or even near a river where the running water could carve away at the bedrock over a period of hundreds of thousands of years. With iron, a mine can be placed on four single tiles of iron ore. If you separate the iron outcrops so that you can only place one iron mine, this gives the impression that the workers are genuinely digging down into the bedrock to work away at a seam of iron ore hidden below the surface.
-When placing any features, whether it is stone, iron, water, marsh or even plants and shrubbery, always use the smallest or second smallest brush size and build up your feature gradually and carefully.
Story/Instructions: 3
The story is a little basic and brief, but this is supported by some fairly well thought out instructions. The zip file also contains a minimap image. The score of 3.5/5 is a little generous here, but well done for at least making some sort of effort and using the download description page to try to convince people to download your map.
TIPS
-Don't fall into the trap of saying your map is perfect, or cool, or anything similar. This instantly attracts negative feedback and there are far too many people who loiter around the downloads area looking for someone they can jump on and criticise for comments like this, regardless of whether they have played the map several times, or taken a peek at the minimap and taken an instant dislike to what they see. Keep your download description to the point, highlight what the win conditions are and refer to additional information in the zip file if you have included any. Let the quality of your scenario speak for itself.
-Your story should be well written and of a suitable length. Try to aim for at least half a page of A4 to give people a feel for what inspired you to design the map.
-You don't have to include a story if you don't want to. The category clearly states story/instructions (and/or), but ensure you put enough detail whatever you decide to so.
Additional Comments:
Not a bad map, and for a second attempt this is more than acceptable. Designing maps takes time, and should never be rushed or hurried. Concentrate on quality every time. Consider working on a smaller scale map (200X200) and carefully work on the landscape to produce a highly detailed and appealing design. I'd recommend anything by surajsubba or Warlord_Designs if you want inspiration.
Either way, persevere at map making. Everyone has to start somewhere and ignore any criticism that doesn't even consider offering helpful or constructive criticsm and/or advice. Visit the forums to ask questions, you'll get far better feedback from people that actually care about helping others! |
HGDL v0.8.2 |
Rating |
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2.2 | Breakdown |
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Playability | 2.5 | Balance | 2.0 | Creativity | 2.3 | Map Design | 1.5 | Story/Instructions | 2.8 |
Statistics |
Downloads: | 340 |
Favorites: [] | 0 |
Size: | 444.14 KB |
Added: | 02/18/08 |
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