Ivrkard
By Lord Vetka
Ivrkard A - Ivrkard E
On your hill here in Ivrkard you can see your ally in the West, turning your gaze to the North East you could just make out the three keeps, set closely together, the Caliphs that reside there are going to make your life a little difficult, helping your ally would be a good idea.
The plentiful grass land and trees will make it a little easier, the stone will be harder to hold as well as the iron, with plenty of room to build and a decoy to the West of you, you might have a chance after all.
Yes this is another purpose built map, to play it the way it is meant to be played, you would take the keep at the bottom of the map, the one with no outpost, put an ally into the keep on your left, then place 3 allied caliphs into the 3 North Eastern keeps, play a normal game and give yourself 4000 gold and try not to use the powers.
That's the way it is intended, you will find 2 maps, both maps are the same you don't have an outpost and your ally has a European outpost, Ivrkard A has Arabian outposts and Ivrkard E has European outposts, feel free to put the map into the editor and add outposts or remove them as you please, play the way you want to.
Have an Extremely fun game!
By Lord Vetka and Thank You EaglePrince for the idea of using the outposts this way.
PS: you can make changes to the outposts in the editor, set the start time and the amount of troops to start.
Just played this one, a really nice map, and quite a challenge! I've played against three Caliphs in the north, and with Richard the Lionheart in the west by my side. Each of them had an outpost. If the enemies come after you in the beginning, you might be in problem, while if they attack Richard instead, than it will give you some time to make your own defenses, and to start producing weapons. In this case, Lionheart (or whoever you chose as your ally) will not stand so long, unless you help him, and that is in your interest as well - you surely don't want all those constant attacks at your castle walls, as that would be disturbing your economy. The map is pretty well designed.
The only thing that might be a downside of the map, in my opinion, is that the ally doesn't have enough space to complete his castle. He will be build all he needs, but it may be better if he had a bit more space for the castle, like those in the north do. Also, I'd like to add that it's not a downside so much - it is a smaller position, and just like you wouldn't be placing Nizar or Snake on a hill, it is understood, one wouldn't be placing Saladin on this western hill.
Having the Ally does give you a bit of a break from being attacked from the start, keeping him alive later in the game helps to keep the steady attacks from overwhelming both of you.
I'm happy that you found the map challenging, as for the small Ally estate, the map is purpose built and I wanted to get the player to take the bottom spot, and I didn't want you to have to great of an Ally to help you.
That spot should be made larger for a multiplay map, anyone can add a bit of ground to that spot in the editor if you want for multiplay, or ask me here and I will do it for you.
Thank you again for the great rating and playing my map.
I would like to add that I do agree that it is not an issue so much. In fact, Lioneart did build all necessary buildings, except engineer guild. Because of this he was not able to mount mangonels and ballistae, but nevertheless, he did not need that for sieges, as the outposts was making catapults. I will try to see that type of Richards castle on some other map, and see where he builds this one, and maybe edit the map, so he could build this one. I will send it to you after I do this.
By the way, I tried to put Snake and Sultan Abdul at this position, and they fitted great there!
I also tried putting Wolf on that hill - he is unable to build one of this towers, while building his smallest (but still the most effective castle).
I will certainly try to adjust this hill for those two guys, I hope I will do this this evening.
Oh, and by the way - speaking about Richard, I do not find it a problem that one part of his castle is touching the edge of the map, and so one tower cannot be built - only this thing with engineers guild. If he had this one, his attacks would be more powerful as well, as he also build trebuchet and rams as well.
Also, I would like to add again - the map is great! Just not be misunderstood. :)
Looking at the map again, you could move the Ally keep to the right a bit and down 1or2 squares and the castle would fit better. But because of the outpost it doesn't matter as much, his roll is more to take some of the heat off of you.
Have you tried playing against 2 or 3 enemies and no Ally, maybe 2 Snakes and a Rat or a Wolf? Maybe 2 Lionhearts and a Wizer who uses Knights and Cats.
The possibilities are endless, and with 8 keeps even more so, I have an idea for an 8 player map, we'll see how that goes.
No problem, no misunderstanding, Thank You!