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Best Files » The Battle of Lake Peipus 1242AD v2.1
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The Battle of Lake Peipus 1242AD v2.1
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Author |
File Description |
Duncan_Hardy |
Posted on 10/08/04 @ 12:00 AM (updated 11/30/04)
File Details |
Version: |
The Conquerors 1.0c |
Style: |
Fixed Force |
Features
~ Use your courage, strength and faith to outwit and defeat the evil Teutonic Knights!
~ A historically accurate re-enaction of the Battle of Lake Peipus, the decisive clash of arms which dispelled Teutonic ambitions of further expansion in the East.
~ Choose from the three difficulty settings and three army sizes in-game, making for a total of nine combinations!
~ Large armies on either side, with MCrnigoj's famous battle system put to good use - units have high HP and attack, representing their morale.
~ Featuring a stirring Russian military score and many game-enhancing sound effects. |
Pages: [1] 2 » Last » | Author | Comments & Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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Duncan_Hardy
File Author |
Posted on 10/09/04 @ 12:00 AM
You should right-click it and select "save target as". |
WildCardDoW |
Posted on 10/09/04 @ 12:00 AM
I just thought that I should opint out the link must be dragged to your search bar for it to work. :) |
zvdickens |
Posted on 10/11/04 @ 12:00 AM
This is an example of a campaign that would be better multiplayer. Great looking lake though. |
Farlander |
Posted on 11/08/04 @ 12:00 AM
Duncan_Hardy, member of Historiae Populorum has created a battle in Marko's FÀ style.
Playability - 5
At the beggining of the battle, I was pretty excited about it. I was playing on moderate with moderate army, to be honest. But the thing is, there weren't enough tactical decisions. I got boring after some minutes. Really. Then I tried on Hard with a moderate army. Same thing. But not the first quarter of the battle is exciting, but first half. All has changed, when I decided to take Hard with small army. Wow. Now THAT is a GREAT battle! On Moderate with moderate army, I have just sent troops to battle, and that's it, on hard with moderate army almost the same thing... But hard with small army... Wow! The thing that your army is not very big makes you to think of many tactics. When to send troops, how to win. It's not just "send troops and wait", it is a real tactical battle! Never I have been bored there! And also I haven't found any bugs either.
Balance - 3
Yeah, yeah. Playability is great. But it has got five only for the most hardest level. Other difficulty levels are not very well balanced. As I said, I could only send troops and wait. But you know, even because of the hardest level I cannot give it 5. Because yaeh, hard is hard, but if a player is not expierenced in such type of things, will not play on the hardest setting, and will think that all Marko's clones are just "point, click and wait"? Not very good, I can say.
Creativity - 5
We all know Marko's style. Attack points that mean morale, increased HP. But that is not I gave it a five. It could give it only a three. The thing is, that the dismoral thing, and falling in water thing I think is very creative. Also, the choosing the size of army is also a creative thing.
Map Design - 4
Ok, the Lake was ok, but not great... Heh, how can you make a good ice-freezed lake? I don't know. So I think that Duncan has made an excellent lake, though what is around the lake misses some eye-candy IMHO.
Stroy/Instructions - 5
What to say? Story is almosti historically correct, concerning that there are some changes from real history, and instructions are great.
Overall - 4.4
Well, a great campagin, which is worth of download definately. And my advice, play on Hard with a small army. There then will be a big array of emotions. Good work, Duncan! |
AnastasiaKafka
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 12/12/04 @ 12:00 AM
The Battle of Lake Peipus 1242 AD by Duncan_Hardy is an excellent fixed force campaign depicting the most decisive battle in the history of the medieval eastern crusades known as the Baltic Crusade. The battle was waged between the Russian city-state of Novgorod, led by its inspirational leader Alexander Nevskii, and the Germanic factions led by the Teutonic Knights. It is to St. Alexander Nevsky that the Russian people will often address their prayers at times when great misfortunes befall the nation and threaten its existence. Players are spirited into the role of the Russian Hero and venerated warrior Saint to lead the army of Novgorod in defense of their homeland. The historic enemy Teutonic Knights, Danes, and Livonians were backed with the crusading zeal of Europe, the blessing of Pope Innocent III and the support of the Holy Roman Emperor. In 1242, Bishop Hermann von Buxhoeven in Livonia finally consolidated enough power to begin a Teutonic crusade into Russia. Alexander Nevskii chose to fight the Germans first, and after what for the crusaders must have been viewed as a chase, lured them on to the frozen lake. It was here that Alexander turned to stand on the eastern shore of Lake Peipus at a place known as "Raven's Rock."
Playability:
The game play is an exciting audio and visual experience, however the fast pace of the challenges make the relatively short game of 30 to 45 minutes seem even shorter once victory has been achieved. Nevertheless, players will not experience the challenge as anything but sensational. The programed attacks are marked with change views as are the acquisition of additional forces for the player, and I was a slightly frustrated by them, yet overall it seemed to add to the excitement. The campaign is arguably the greatest use of the AoK game's standard hero Alexander Nevsky (Nevskii), and the fixed force unit is key to the morale of the players large factions and to victory. Yes, this is yet another scenario inspired by MCrnigoj's concept for fixed force battles that portray the known historical figures as units to be protected or targeted for gaining a statistical edge. The morale system requires players to use tactics inside a larger strategy to achieve victory. The only downside to the game is the enemy attacks are made predictable by playing, and once the ultimate strategy needed is realized there remains very little replay value. In any event, it is here on an outstanding map design of the frozen Lake Peipus, were players can take on the role of astute general Alexander Nevsky, and begin the fast paced challenge that win or lose should not take much more than 45 minutes. 5.0
Balance:
The balance is remarkable as the design provides a new twist on the conventional levels of difficulty found in AoK campaigns. The conventional levels chosen before the game give way to three more choices inside the scenario of army size. So, the conventional choices of Standard, Moderate and Hard are enhanced by Small, Medium and Large player army sizes to great effect. The 9 levels of balance were experienced more as a great amenity by me because I believe players will want to chose the 'Small' army to experience the conventional levels of difficulty as balanced well. Still, this very original idea for balance was considered excellent by me and I imagined from my experience that players of all but the greatest skill will enjoy achieving victory inside a level that might have been impossible otherwise. There is also a timed aspect of the game play and this further enhances the difficulty. I paused for a moment here to consider what precedent I was creating in scoring the balance. In my considerations for balance I put aside my experience of the short length of play time, and my experience of diminished replay value, as the Campaign and Scenario tutorial clearly guides this. 5.0
Creativity:
The creativity is undeniably excellent and this is my favorite of the MCrnigoj's inspired designs I've played. For scenario balance I believe he surpassed some of the MCrnigoj's designs in that the difficulty levels are not made increasingly difficult to the point of being virtually impossible to win. The historic theme is excellent and the game-plot is very imaginative. The opening cut-scenes are stirring, and the custom audio aspect is awesome. The map design surpassed my threshold for excellence and I came away from the scenario feeling I had visited the legendary 'Battle of the Ice.' 5.0
Map Design:
The map is a fantastic depiction of the real Chudskoye Ozero (Russian), or Peipsi Järv (Estonian) lake forming part of the boundary between Estonia and Russia. The large ice field and frozen landscapes are memorable and an ice bound boat and fish trap captured my imagination. The lake banks are designed in a wintery splendor, yet adorned by the historically accurate approaching spring thaw. Technically the map provides some very interesting strategic and tactical challenges that are creatively given as a part of the historical portrayal. 5.0
Story and Instructions:
The historic portrayal is dramatic as the design makes use of a popular myth immortalized by Sergei Eisenstein in his famous 1938 propaganda film, Alexander Nevsky. Neither the Novgorod Chronicle nor the Livonian Chronicle, the two contemporary sources, refers to German knights crashing through the ice. The film is still viewed as a masterful use of imagery and music, with the ice breaking sequence as the obvious dramatic highlight that perpetuated the mythos. The creative use of this a-historical invention in the game-plot is superb, and all motivations for it are accurately foretold in the history supplement provided. In my view this departure in the game plot from the actual history into the popular film's myth was essential to the recreation. The instructions for play were precise, accurate, and well written. The only question I had was with the providing of the walkthrough hint read after I completed the campaign, and I felt the hint to be unnecessary. Additionally a decent instruction screen image and supplemental read me with some very familiar names in the credits was provided. 5.0
Final Thoughts:
I highly recommend this excellent one scenario campaign for a relatively short but exciting experience playing Age of Kings The Conquerors. From the perspective of it's noted inspirational motivation found in MCrnigoj's designs, The Battle of Lake Peipus 1242AD v2.1 has met it's mark. The Blacksmith Review is not a competition, nor is it meant to be a wish list for players. Still, I wish this design could be made to have more replay value by making the enemy attacks less predictable if possible by adding some kind variation to them, and also to make the ultimate strategy different for each conventional level of difficulty. Please, if anyone has any questions or concerns regarding this Review feel free to contact me via email rather than post in the comment section of this campaign. |
MZ (id: Magnum Zero) |
Posted on 12/12/04 @ 12:00 AM
Simply fantastic! :)
@zvdickens:
I tend to disagree... |
Calhon |
Posted on 12/13/04 @ 12:00 AM
Very nicely done Campaign. Good triggers and so on. Only Lake Peipus does not have cliffs round it. But no other complains. Good work. |
Duncan_Hardy
File Author |
Posted on 12/17/04 @ 12:00 AM
You're right, Lake Peipus is actually surrounded by reeds. I appreciate that in a scenario that claims to be historically accurate, this is unforgivable, but I just thought it looked better with cliffs. |
WhiteWolf |
Posted on 12/20/04 @ 12:00 AM
Good job, man!
I always thought this battle would make an awesome scenario. Wouldn't "The Great Ice Battle" make a better name though?
I might actually come back to AOK to play and review this.
Also I hope you didn't use the crusader-looking unit for Aleksandr Nevskii. |
Elite_Peasant |
Posted on 01/02/05 @ 12:00 AM
Dang it! I was about to do the exact same scenario, but this was probably better than anything I could pull off anyway, so well done! |
Pages: [1] 2 » Last » |
HGDL v0.8.2 |
Rating |
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4.6 | Breakdown |
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Playability | 4.4 | Balance | 4.6 | Creativity | 4.6 | Map Design | 4.2 | Story/Instructions | 5.0 |
Statistics |
Downloads: | 4,850 |
Favorites: [] | 1 |
Size: | 2.41 MB |
Added: | 10/08/04 |
Updated: | 11/30/04 |
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