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Author |
File Description |
Icarus6904 |
Posted on 06/13/17 @ 07:39 PM
File Details |
Map Size: |
400x400 (Large) |
Difficulty: |
Hard |
Made with version: |
1.2 |
Minimap:
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Hello, and thank you for your interest.
I first played Stronghold when I was very young, and enjoyed it so much that I was inspired to create this map/scenario. Unfortunately, life got in the way and I did not manage to see my initial idea through. Nevertheless, I kept returning to the project sporadically over the past 10 years, in part due to my nostalgia for the childhood I spent playing this fantastic game.
I am pleased to say that after all of these years it is finally done. Though I have played many games over my lifetime, Stronghold has always occupied a unique place in my memory. I do not pretend that this is the greatest map ever made, but I just hope it brings people some of the enjoyment I experienced while making it.
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Some notes about the map:
-I attempted to create a scenario that captures all of the elements of Stronghold. As such, this map contains both an invasion and a siege, neither of which are beatable without a strong, efficient castle economy. Expect a fairly long game, with scenario events spanning 30 in-game years.
-I also wanted it to be reasonably challenging, yet highly replayable. To that end, where I can, I have tried to introduce elements of randomization and responsiveness to player choices, as well build the map to accommodate a myriad of different gameplay styles/strategies.
-It was also important to me to try and limit the player’s ability to “turtle” or “rush”, so I tried to introduce a certain degree of resource scarcity, most notably by blocking access to iron, stone, and most structures/units that require those resources. As such, the player is forced to be careful with some of their starting assets.
-Finally, I had the idea to try and introduce a “side quest”, in the form of rescuing some engineers and commandeering siege equipment. I never found a good way to implement it as a formal objective, but the principle works just fine. This can be seen in the wooden fort NE of your starting location.
Thanks for downloading, and please leave a review if you enjoyed this!
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Author | Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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DucDeCorbeau |
Posted on 11/07/17 @ 05:32 AM
Playability: 4
It was very fun to play, but despite what you say I do not know if I would replay it after beating it. I think it is one of those things where after you know the trick it is easy. I liked that there were multiple paths I could take, but I wish it was a bit more harder with the invasions (more seige equipment).
Balance: 4
Balance was good. I liked all of the events and the economy/siege/invasion style, and it never felt boring. But I think the landscape messed with the enemy AI because all of their siege equipment was on the other side of the river which was weird. Also defending felt really hard at the early-mid game, but then became very easy once I had a big economy. The siege was impossible until I rescue the engineers, which I really liked!
Creativity: 5
Tons of creativity. It feels like you spent forever on every little detail - but I guess you did! It felt like a mission from the main game. I loved rescuing the engineers and how important it was to do. I also liked having to decide whether to destroy the bridge or moat the farmland. I have never played a Stronghold 1 map with those kinds of things before. Great job!
Map Design: 5
This is a really, really nice looking map, particular the river delta. I also really liked how the map was divided into region (forest, swamp, mountains, etc.) but still felt like it flowed together. Lots of attentions to detail and eye candy that still felt functional (not just for show)
Story/Instructions: 3
The story was okay, but not super interesting. I did not liked the hints text, as it ruined some of the surprises!
Additional Comments:
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Timballisto |
Posted on 12/23/21 @ 12:56 AM
Playability: 3.5
This scenario gives you a lot to deal with, and fairly limited options for how to deal with it. Expect numerous events, the nature of which shifts over time. If you manage to survive the main wave of attacks, you're very likely to win. However, after this point, once you rebuild, most of your time will be spent waiting to build up a large enough force to assault the enemy castle. This is further delayed by infrequent very large invasions. Perhaps this is intentional, but what appear to be your very secure siege engineers, imprisoned in a camp, are fairly well guaranteed to be killed by the archers of the first invasion that appears, and those engineers are rather important in being able to win. The main wave of invasions however is rather challenging and engaging. I like the idea behind making the wolves and rabbits appear in caves, but in practice that means it's very easy to wall them off and make them irrelevant. One nice thing is that the author remembered to put the enemy infantry on aggressive or defensive stance, so they don't necessarily sit around getting shot to death.
Balance: 4
This scenario may be just a little bit too hard given its play time and the playability. By the time I finished it, I mostly felt like I was just glad that it was done. The high point was surviving the main invasions. The scenario is listed as hard however, and I did play it on very hard.
Creativity: 4.5
The event sequencing and pacing, fixed stone and wooden walkway defenses, enemy distribution on the map, fixed stockpile space, limited weapons options, and a victory condition which is solely to kill the enemy lord make for a creative map.
Map Design: 4
Something about the delta seems odd to me. Otherwise a lot of the map seems to make use of the preset height tools, so it looks kind of like a campaign map. On the whole it looks nice. The player's castle is well-made, if annoyingly small and hard to defend. Some thought was definitely given to constructing the enemy castle as well.
Story/Instructions: 4
Decent story. It takes elements of the Stronghold campaign storyline and condenses them into the space of one map. It does a good job of setting the scene.
Additional Comments:
If you'd like a nice, long game, with solid pacing to keep you on your toes in the main portion followed by a mostly-relaxed after period, give this map a try. |
HGDL v0.8.2 |
Rating |
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4.1 | Breakdown |
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Playability | 3.8 | Balance | 4.0 | Creativity | 4.8 | Map Design | 4.5 | Story/Instructions | 3.5 |
Statistics |
Downloads: | 955 |
Favorites: [] | 2 |
Size: | 790.54 KB |
Added: | 06/13/17 |
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