Playability 4 : good no doubt, even it suffer this map is very easy to beat as attacker, except if player is able moderate him.
Balance 3 : suffer from 2 things : as attaker you have about 4000 to 5000 gold. That means you can completly destroy the castle with trebs. As defender the courtyard of the keep cointain pitch traps and building. That means if or when (depend the difficulty setting) the ennemies break your walls all of them will charge the keep and will be burn to death in a long time fire because of the surrounding building.
Creativity 4 : well nothing special, but the map have an historical feeling. This historical castle is very typical.
Map design : 5 I really like the castle, landscape is fine two. Perhaps some could said you would have rate it more 4 than 5, but the work is far, far above the average of siege map. It's a example siege map could exist without an rough lanscape.
wx
Story instruction 4 : a good story and explanation about the castle. It's a pity the author didn't post it with the map. It would probably had attracted more players from download it.
Overall a good map, perhaps a little striked because too much gold was given to the player, and pitch inside the castle near both the keep and building. I dont know many lords which would be happy to burn their own castle :)
Played once as attacker at hard, once as defender at hard, last as attacker at very hard limiting myself to 5 or 6 catapults and 2 shields ( it was hot, and need previous knowledge of the map :) )
Well good work, it sad the author released only two maps, because it's a work of quality.
Point the map also suffer from a weakness of the game : troops moving from a signpost to another before attacking. Of course they travel at shoot range. More and more I ask myself if it's wise to put more than on signpost in siege maps.
NAT
Posted on 11/25/03 @ 12:00 AM
Rating
4.0
Breakdown
Playability
4.0
Balance
4.0
Creativity
5.0
Map Design
4.0
Story/Instructions
3.0
I love old sieges and this is a definitly a favourite of mine. The castle is a simply superb, a jem to look at in my opinion with a nice realistic unfilled moat around it. I played this map as defender and so my review comes from a defender's perspective. There are two minor problems that could be addressed very simply. The more important one is the second signpost at the bottom of the map. A lot of their men walk straight past the castle and onwards to the signpost. This does have a negative affect on the map. The other point is there are not enough defending archers and crossbowmen but quite a few of swordsmen and other infantry.
The map is reasonably well balanced, very hard is best. The map design is good but I awarded top marks for creativity which I found superb. There is some storyline and information - a bit next to the map. Average I suppose so only a three can be awarded. I am sorry about that as the map could get 4.2 or 4.4 with a proper storyline and information. Anyway, this is a entertaing and veryu creative siege. Good Work!