The crusader army near Jerusalem is in desperate need of food.
For weeks, patrols have been scouting the area for cattle or farmlands.
At last, they have found a plot of land near a waterfall, suitable for breeding cattle.
Your orders are to irrigate the land, adjacent to the waterfall.
Although the site is idyllic, you will not have time to admire the landscape.
Produce cheese right away to feed the crusaders.
Do not neglect your defences and fight off all attackers.
Unfortunately, no stone is available in the neighbourhood.
So you will have to trade for building material.
Your mission is to hold the irrigated land as long as possible against the multiple invasions.
Playability: 5
Map plays fine and doesnt have any massive playability problems. At the beginning you need to start bringing in wood. You can move the stockpile around to make the trips shorter. I completed the map all the way to victory.
Balance: 4.5
The balance is so finely tuned here that making a extra house can drive your fragile economy to ruin. Its that tight on the resources. The dairy farms(6) bring in enough food for around 26 people, give or take. Get a ale farm going on the last cow farm (there is room). Then you can brew your own beer for an ale house. The wood isnt hard to find, and you will have a forest across the stream if you let it grow a couple years.
Creativity: 3.5
Since I just made a cistern map where the farmland was "irrigated" about two weeks ago, I'm giving this a 3.5. I like the original raised grass plots for farms though. And the mountains surrounding the region are well designed. And ofcourse the 'irrigation' is nicely detailed.
Map Design: 4.5
The map looks good and like a real wild mountainous area with the low irrigated fields. I just finished this today, and it took quite a long time. Develop the crossbow manufacturing because you can double up the food source (cheese) and get leather armor made as well. This rating also gets a + due to the canyons on the map. These canyons run down into the center low part of the map. There is a signpost in each canyon. Therefore you get attacked in five different directions, just to keep you guessing. I was only attacked once from the flanking canyon (basically a backdoor) to the keep. Since this is a very vulnerable area I guarded this "back" canyon well, and left some other areas less protected. My friend also played this and he quit because it was too hard.
Story/Instructions: 3.5
The text file included in the zip file is the same as the description above. No other background or information is given. The risk of fire is high and keeping a full staffed fire brigade is difficult because of the population limits. The fire is not from slaves, but a scheduled fire event. Some warning about that might have saved me 2 hours. Saving is recommended.
Additional Comments:
Good map with a constant attack with a fire danger. Build a wall around your keep in a mini fort out there in the middle of the map. Bring your other buildings near the corner for protection. You have to buy stone so try to get gold quickly as possible (sell iron). I cranked up the taxes, but sacrificed a cow farm to grow hops instead.
Lollard
sphincter do
Posted on 12/19/05 @ 10:03 PM
Rating
4.6
Breakdown
Playability
4.5
Balance
5.0
Creativity
4.5
Map Design
4.5
Story/Instructions
4.5
Playability: 4.5
This is a tough scenario. Not only are the initial invasions tough, but developing staying power to last through to the end is tough as well.
Unlike almost all stronghold crusaders scenarios, there's no point where you feel like you've made it and you're going to coast from there.
Get ready to deal with economic collapse. First the trees go and you'll need to downsize to get rid of your loggers. Then, you'll eventually run out of wood. I ended up demo'ing single fletchers one by one so others would have wood to continue building bows.
It's strange winding your economy down to match your resources, but it's a must.
Balance: 5
I was so strapped for defenders in the first invasions that I ran my lord out to take on the invaders single handed.
This invasion is about as tough as they come.
Creativity: 4.5
This invasion was clearly playtested and edited for challending play.
Map Design: 4.5
The map is great, especially the multiple invasion points, which keep you guessing and make defensive placements tough.