Map Design
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For one, you could make the landscape more reallistic. :) i.e. Stone mines popping out of no where. Don't just use "hill" or "mountain" for the obvious. Use a few other plain levelling tools then the land equalizer. Water doesn't go up, but the river went up a few rises of the hill. Water is supposed to erode the mountain away, so the cliffs near the river should be lower.
[Edited on 05/15/09 @ 04:43 PM]
peter2008
Posted on 05/16/09 @ 08:49 AM
Gameplay: stunning. This is a very hard eco-invasion-siege.
I was really surprised how dense and difficult this mission turned out to be. For most players it will be impossible.
You start "with almost nothing", in the desert indeed, with almost no wood but 1,000 gold. Best use it quickly, but how?
Invasions arrive at a nearby signpost close after one another. They are big and pretty well mixed. At the start, there is also a running assault from the enemy brother's castle. Nice detail: returning enemy workers hinder you from placing walls near the ford for some time. For the initial ranged forces consist in 22 archers, you need shields and a high fear factor.
Under this heavy pressure, you shall build up the economy. You must buy wood and start mining iron and stones quickly (iron is often underestimated). Expand (cf. the fear factor malus), build workshops and make gold.
For the target, to kill the brother Lord, you have - 8 years! Slowly built up a group of xbows (they can fight some well armoured invaders) and shields. Could throw all my melee troops into the attack and short before the end, I hired assassins. The crossbows prepared the way towards and inside the stronghold for the men-in-arms. Luckily, the defending melees are not set on aggressive.
Won the map on the fourth try, using all my skills and putting out all the stops of Crusader gameplay I know. Had 114 pop, 3 inns, trained many slingers, about 45 xbows and 18 assasins. Killed the enemy Lord in December 1188 - the last month.
The Panthera,
many thanks for this first map of you. Give us more of such challenges.
I'd suggest you to rework the scenario. Give the player more time, at all and between the invasions.
The landscape should be more moved in height changes and improved in natural details. It's not hard to at least achieve some improvements. Along the river, there must be stripes of greenery (move the palm trees there).