The town of Shaghafan was established in a Valley in the rather barren part of the Western Highlands .. This valley and its river bring much bounty and beauty to this otherwise harsh region.. Fertile grasslands ready for sowing and abundance of resources in the mountain make this an attraction
for rulers and merchants of all sorts.. So much so that some even want to take this town as their own.. That is why it is essential that we build up a good defence and increase our treasury and stocks to be able to counter the invading hordes... Do you have what it takes to take charge of this trading town and defend it from the incoming invasions?!
Playability: 4.5
Certainly high marks for playability with this map, which is the most important aspect of any map in my opinion. What I love about it is the varied ways in which one can choose to defend the town while meeting the economic scenarios. Will you defend with a bunch of archers? Compliment with fire balistas? Funnel them in with a bottle necked wall until the last moment then enclose the keep? Take the time to make crossbows and defend dairies far from the keep? Just use bread, or supplement with hunting? Break down the walls and start from scratch...?
Possibilities are endless to fit whatever strategy one may think works best. Personally I broke down all the walls and expanded and rearranged the whole town to be as economically efficient as possible with tons of water pots to raise taxable income and battle fires instantly. I enclosed the keep with only moat while decking the perimeter with many archers and fire ballistas. A little trouble at the start, but the tactic worked very well later on. The only thing that kept from a 5.0 IMO was that during the last wave you weren't given much time at all to sally out and get rid of the straggling troops that remained at the signposts before the timer ran out. I got "defeat" the first time around with just 4 or 5 troops left to kill.
Balance: 5.0
Perfect balance for this type of scenario. You're forced to multitask and good choices early on determine how easy of a time you'll have later on. The hallmark of a good eco-invasion to me is that by design you have to make both melee units and projectile defense to contend with the waves of enemies, and either go out of your way to protect resources or find ways to meet resource requirements with your market. That's what you have to do on this map.
Creativity: 4.5
Nice looking little town, I felt bad for tearing down most of it, but I didn't build in the streets to retain the realism of the design :)
It felt like a little outpost community for sure.
Map Design: 4.5
Good design with time spent on making a detailed landscape. that's hard to find in what little crusader maps folks make these days. Great job placing resources so that one has to really work to defend them.
Story/Instructions: 4
Well, not a real important factor of most scenarios and not everyone is great at writing, but you included a little something. A decent story gets a 4.0 and the time to write a great one gets a 5.0
Additional Comments:
Nice map. I'm looking you up to see if there's any more great offerings. Refreshing to see someone still dedicated to puting out good crusader scenarios.
[Please check your email thanks, return of Yasko :) - edited by ericgolf]
[Edited on 09/04/16 @ 08:52 AM]
return of Yasko
Posted on 09/01/16 @ 07:10 PM
Great map, it was fun. Just posted a review.
fastbowler File Author
Posted on 09/15/16 @ 11:31 AM
Thanks for the detailed review mate, I will fix the last invasion problem..