The storm took us quickly, and we made for what appeared to be a protected bay, only to smash upon the reef of an uncharted atoll as the surf smashed upon us. I used what seafaring knowledge I had to maneuver the ship to a nearby beach as we slowly foundered. We lost the priest- God save his sea sick soul, and the craftsmen less one poleturner’s apprentice. Bless them, they were never sailors. The memorial we built to them may outlast us, for this island yet may be the death of us all. I thank God to be alive, but fear a blade in my belly one cold night from a mutiny among the survivors. Food is low, spirits are low, and I see only one solution to this sentence imposed by the sea. No Captain should be forced to cannibalize his own ship, but we managed to salvage what wood we could form the ship’s own decks. We also managed to save some of the hop plants and apple seeds we were transporting to the New World. If we can get apples going, we might be able to survive. Indeed, we must build a store of apples to sustain us if a blight hits. But importantly for my own survival, we must get the hops growing, and brew an ale so the men can drown their sorrows and forget the Captain that lead them to this prison. Alas, there appears to be no place to grow anything, and I fear overharvesting the deer lest we have nothing to eat. But hope! A man reports verdant fields behind ancient walls, ripe for sowing if we can but reclaim the land. God be with us all.
I had a pretty good time playing this mission. While the constant plagues made me want to quit, it added challenge to a mission which would have been boring without it. The map design was very origional and fun to navigate through.
scottiegazelle
Posted on 04/28/05 @ 12:00 AM
Rating
4.0
Breakdown
Playability
4.0
Balance
3.0
Creativity
4.0
Map Design
5.0
Story/Instructions
4.0
This was an interesting map. It starts off tough, and it took me a few turns to figure out how to get around the land and food problems (I confess I got discouraged after the frist couple of times). I love the 'stair temples', very interesting to see and work with. I also enjoyed the paths between the various islands, especially the circular one, although they seemed to take forever to move people across.
The only complaint I have is that the challenge doesn't seem to change between easy and very hard - you can do pretty much the same thing at both levels, it just takes a few minutes longer to compile the additional fruit. Still pretty fun!
peter2008
Posted on 03/30/09 @ 07:59 PM
A playful and pretty exciting idea. Stranded on a foreign island.
At first: Narrow circumstances, lack of housing, shortage of food, plagues, and people leaving.
There is no apothecary, so you have to fight the loss of popularity just with food rations. Also you need an army of spearmen to fight wolves and rabbits.
Then: enter paradise, the green and frutile shores behind ruined stairs. Good feeling to cultivate there. The workers and farmers have quite far to walk to their working places.
Can imagine how long the mission could take without strategically siting of the granary and relocating the stockpile. Moved it twice after I had anticipatorily depleted the stored wood.