Long long time ago, you were the great king over Jungle Island.
But the global warming worked here as well and your great Jungle Island became the Dusty Island.
Your loyal sovereigns, who managed your economy, allied themselves against you, because they thought it was your fault that the most oases got lost. And now the time has come - its time to show that usurpers whose the one and only king on Dusty Island!
Demonstrate them that a real king doesnt need anything to rul or to win!
Will you survive with nothing except your faith?
Suggestion:
Play it 7 vs 1 and play on the mountain or its boring.
There are hidden oases in the valley.
Thats the third and nearly final version!
Its very hard to play! Please post improvements!!
This is a fun map to play with enemies on all sides. You are on a high plain but then again you are surrounded. That was what I liked. The terrain on the top was really too plain. It really doesnt feel nice to see plain areas. If it was not plain and rather detailed, it would have been a lot more fun. The struggle comes in the first part of the map only. Once you get a good enough grip, it starts to get really easy but the first part is the challenge and I had to play it quite a few times to get past the beginning.
I played against the wazir, marshal, lionheart, saladin, Emir, nizam and the wolf with a slight computer advantage. I was on top of the hill too. In the beginning it was very hard to survive. I was constantly being attacked. I had to play this map 4 times to win. So this was my strategy. I started off and got a steady enough economy running. Next I kept recruiting slaves and archers slowly. I also had a few churches which had to be destroyed a few times so that I could get more archers when I was under multiple attacks. Otherwise I would have been toast. The recruiting of the slaves was what that helped me survive the most. In the beginning I got an army of about 50 slaves up and torched the emir's castle. The fire lasted for a while but he recovered very quickly. I also managed to light the marhsal's castle. And wazir's castle caught fire from the marshal although it didnt last very long. Then I strengthened my fortifications and recruited spearmen and archers for defence. In these conditions I found spearmen to be of the right cost for helping with getting rid of catapults. Once I got a steady castle up and running things started to become a bit more smooth. I used slaves in between too. I would send in a batch of 10 or 20 frequently to light all the quarries which were right below me. It helped me to slow down the first wave of attacks too. Otherwise I wouldnt have gotten enough time to build up a well defended castle. After getting a steady economy up I decided to stop the slave recruiting and concentrate on building a good army. But by then saladin had completed his castle building. Saladin's castle is easy to light on fire. His buildings outside are an easy target and the fire spreads into the inner castle swiftly. So I couldnt resist burning his castle down.
Because of my constant use of slaves saladin and the emir had become really weak. I gathered a good enough army and wiped them both out easily. I had enough men left to siege the emir's castle too. So I decided to send them in. I almost killed him but I was unlucky. His lord survived by a small mark. So I came back to my economy and saw it totally demolished. My popularity was zero, there was no food left and the armoury was full and the production had halted and I had little money left after waging war. So I had to wait a bit before gathering another army. After a while I gathered a large army and wiped out the lionheart and with the few left men, emir.
After that, the nizam and the wolf were the only once left. I managed to get rid of the nizam but the wolf was the biggest problem. He made a supersized well defended castle which took a lot of time to break through. After breaking through I decided to see some fireworks before finishing him off.
Overall it was a lot of fun to play except for the fact that the plainness wasnt very fun to watch. I really enjoyed this map and so a 4.5 is the score that this maps playability deserves.
Balance- 5.0
According to the review guidelines this section is supposed to be rated on the basis of distribution of resources and other things but I hate that. I like to review more based on how difficult it was to play. This is a very difficult map. I recommend playing it. Beginner players should play with normal settings and normal AI's and more experienced players should play this map with the strong AIs with a slight computer advantage. Kudos to you for bringing this wonderful map. One thing I would like to say is that you should move a bit of the stone backwards so that all of the quarries arent burned down by the player. Another thing is that you should specify the AIs that should be used and the type of advantage too. Otherwise the player will pllay the map on a random setting and say it was too easy or too hard. So specify something like the ones I have specified above.
Creativity- 3.0
Your idea is good and original as much as I know.There arent many maps in SHH with this idea. You rely completly on trade. You have to buy everything and every bit is important. The crusader section doesnt have many maps like this one. Another thing was the hidden oasis. If normal oasis was used on this map it would have looked really weird. You have used a creative trick creatively. All around you have shown good creativity. I am sure that you will do even better in the future. The story wasnt too creative. There are many maps and stories based on the theme of Global Warming.
map design- 2.5
This was the weakest part of the map. Most parts were plain and others were really unnatural.
Suggestions to improve Map design
At the top of the map, do some terraining. I mean it is really completely plain. You could add a could looking farm area which is unusable due to the presence of rocks. Then you could add boulders which could also be unusable due to the presence of stones. For an oasis always use the medium sized brush and create a pretty basic oasis with all three types layer after layer. Then use the second smallest brush size and blend all of the together. For a finishing touch, use the smallest brush too. And then a few oasis bushes and some rocks of different sizes and a few palm trees. Always remember to add a small lake if you are adding an oasis plain.
The boulders that were available for the AIs at the foot of the hill was just, it came out of nowhere. They occur below rocky mountains and such. So if a small very rocky area is added above, it would be better.
The slope could have been used very well. It looks plain. The good part is that the enemy could access it from all sides. What you can do is scatter rocks of different sizes making sure that you dont add too many. Then scatter boulder terrain in between. Then also add a bit of iron. Make sure that the area near the boulders for quarries is more rocky. Also add the flat rocky terrain in between it all. Then add a few small desert bushes in between. I dont mean the cactus' but the grassy desert bush. The you could make the boulder filled are for the quarries more natural by scattering some iron using the smallest brush.
At the bottom, if you had just made normal grass for the AIs it would have looked really boring. So I congratulate you for using the small trick for this. The only problem is that the map looks unnatural at the bottom too. You could add a few bushes and other stuff and make blending terrains too. Also the beach side could be a whole lot better. I cant give you much suggestion for the beach side because if you use any suggestions for that from me, you would probably end up with AI issues.
Story/ Instructions -- 2.5
A basic story with a few sentences was presented but the theme is used a lot and the story was really short. You could add something from the birth of the king or like this.
"To the left all that could be seen was the vast emptiness of the barren slopes and the blue waters. To my left the same. Trapped in between no my people revolt. Ahhhh why did they leave me? The blessings of nature have left me perhaps for me to meet my fate."
And so on or add more events taking place. It may take time but I am sure you can make one. Another thing was the instructions on how to play. There wasnt much except for the location and alligiance. The problem will be that people would play on a random type of advantage and then say it was too easy or it was too hard. For example for this map you could add "Beginner players should play with normal settings and normal AI's and more experienced players should play this map with the strong AIs with a slight computer advantage."
Additional comments
This is a hard and fun map to play. I recommend it to all.
Its a nice map. I am sure that you will improve and start making better maps.