Please test my upcoming campaign about Pontus!

Age of Empires: DE I - Discussion
1

I am working on a campaign about the rise and fall of one of the last Greek kingdoms that opposed the Romans: Kingdom of Pontus. Currently, the campaign only contains the first mission, and this mission is roughly 75% done. Some areas still look dull, but before I start with the eye candy, i would like to have some feedback. What do you think of the pace and difficulty of the mission?

The download link: https://www.ageofempires.com/mods/details/219/

2

I´ve tried your campaign and this is what I think,

What the scenario does well

  • The over all premise of the scenario is interesting. Having to utilize your resources strategicly really forces you to think very carefully about how you handle the obstacles set before you.
  • Scenario instructions and hints are well formulated and usefully. It´s a interesting subject historicly speaking, and your way of telling the player about it is engaging.

What could be improved

  • The initial grind for wood is too slow and really shuts down one´s engagement. The idea is good, and I don´t think you should add more trees, but maybe give the player some more initial resources. You don´t want your player sitting around for 5 minutes in order to collect 150 wood for the transport, and then 5 minutes more for the second storage pit and archery range. It´s kinda boring.
  • Visuals. I know you´ve stated that it´s not yet visually complete, but I think the idea of leaving 50 percent of the map as grass without any embellishment is a bit strange. The cliff edges need work, you need more clutter to make the map look more lively.

Overall it looks promising. I´m looking forward to seeing the finished result!

3

Thank you for your honest feedback. I did time the wood part, and yeah it did clock on 5 minutes. But because it is my own creation, it is hard to tell how it will feel like for other players. Now I know haha. I will make that part shorter without adding more wood. The wood amount there is calculated, and there is a hidden extra spare tree in case you mess up hehe (near the waterfall).

Can you tell me if you did need the stone for slingers to pass the improved bowman? Or did you just do that with normal bowman?

The grass part is not finished yes. I need 1 more challenge to think of there, and make the town more beatiful. Then the mission is done. Mission 2 will be much bigger.