This scenario is the first thing I’ve published in AoE2. It took me a long time to adjust, polish, and test - especially since almost every new game update this year has brought strange new bugs or changes that I’ve had to work around.
I’ve been doing the testing myself, so I’d love to get other peoples’ perspective on what works and what you’d like done differently.
A few things I’d especially like to get feedback on:
- Difficulty (What sword rating would you give it, and is the difficulty appropriate)?
- The Battle Cry/morale boost mechanic
- The Tax mechanic
Hey, the scenario cannot be played as is due to the way you zipped the content, you need to remove the “Valdemar - The Bloodfeast of Roskilde” folder and have all the files on the 1st level of the zip file.
I did it manually and it worked, I’ll post a review tomorrow
Thanks for the heads up!
I just made a new zip folder, please let me know if it works properly.
And I look forward to your review! 
Yes its working now, I unsubscribed and re-subscribed and it works
Great to hear! And thanks again for letting me know. It could have remained in an unplayable state for a long while if it wasn’t for your post!
Alright, here is my review:
Playability: 4.5 stars 
This scenario is easy to play and has a lot of useful tooltips. The mechanics are explained very well, so I never found myself not knowing what to do. Only 2 things of note:
-
Sometimes the map is too crowded and its hard to move units around as they seem to get stuck. This is not enterily the designers fault, as AoE2:DE’s pathfinding has its issues. But some tracks/roads are too choked and units try to move around them by going all over the place.
-
There are many villages and I often found myself confused as to where somewhere is located. An accompaning map of all the locations would be useful, as when you get messages regarding a possible revolt for a tax office not being guarded for example, you have to scroll around to find it.
Balance: 5 stars
I found no issues with the balance. This scenario is hard, but it is very balanced between the factions and it does not feel like the enemy has any unfair advantage. I found the difficulty appropriate, and I would give it 3 swords.
Creativity: 5 stars
All good in this category. It is an original scenario that I have not found before and seems well researched. Lots of innovative mechanics and other interesting ideas present, like the tax system, the monk aspect, and so on. Very impressive.
Map Design: 5 stars
The map is very well designed and looks alive. There are no long, empty grass plains around that might make it feel rushed. Its obvious the designed spent a lot of time filling the map. Plenty of eye candy.
Story/Instructions: 5 stars
The storytelling is very good as well. Lots of pre-scenario information and I felt like I got to know the story of the 3 kings. Instructions are clear.
Final Rating: 5 stars
Well done!
Wow, that’s an amazing review! 
Would you like to also rate it on the website? 
Regarding the map being too crowded, in what parts of the map was that a problem? I imagine the path west towards the transport ship on Zealand (the starting landmass) is one of them?
The game’s general pathfinding is definitely an issue, but I might be able to remove some trees to make a bit more space.
Regarding the tax buildings being hard to find, I tried to create flares on the minimap to help find the location - but I know it can still be easy to miss especially when a lot of other stuff is going on.
I’m not 100% sure what you mean by an accompanying map, do you mean as an image file with the names on to include in the game files?
It was there and also on the south parts of the second island, around the villages.
Oh sorry, I meant its hard to know which is which. I can find them all easily due to the flares, its just when you get a message saying something is happening at X, I need to check them all until I find the specific one.
Yes something like that
Good. I’ll see what I can do about those issues when I get time.
I thought I added a flashing/temporary flare to the specific tax building when there’s a notification of it being unguarded/idle/facing a tax revolt, but I’ll check if I’ve forgotten to do it in some cases, and if I can do more to make them easier to find.
And thanks for reviewing it on the website as well!
I only got feedback from two users so far (ariev, and Kaenan7204 on ageofempires.com) but it was very useful feedback and came with great reviews (thanks, it means a lot to me!).
I’m working on an update where I address most of the issues they both raised in their reviews.
If I get more feedback the next few days, I’ll try if I can address that too, and hopefully upload version 1.3 later this week.
Version 1.3 is out now 
Feel free to re-subscribe and try it out
I made a pretty detailed change list, but it’s mostly about broadening some paths, slowing down the pace after getting a town, and clarifying the tax messages and hints.
Hopefully this will mean fewer confusing and frustrating moments than before. It should generally be somewhat easier now, but probably still in the 3 swords category.
The tax messages now mention the building’s general location - a few examples:
–Reminder: Queue up Wagonloads of Taxes at ###### Estate (flare NORTH OF YOUR BASE).–
–Risk of tax rebellion at Gramæ Estate (flare in the FAR SOUTH) if not guarded by 3 military units.–
–A TAX REBELLION has broken out at Viborg Guildhall (flare near VIBORG LANDSTING)!–
EDIT: Apparently the place name H o r n u m was censored, despite not being a word in English? 
There’s also a map of all the tax buildings in the main folder now, as ariev suggested. I’m not sure how practical it is to use while playing, or if it’s necessary after I changed the messages. But maybe some people will find it useful.
If anyone has feedback about these changes or anything else, feel free to post it here
I’ll probably make more changes later based on feedback and bug reports. But I’m generally happy with how the scenario works now, so I’ll start focusing on the other two scenarios that I have in mind about the civil war between Sven, Knut, and Valdemar.