"Sit down my son" said the frail and aging pharaoh, "soon you will take my throne and I will visit the papyrus fields in the sky, but first I give you a task that is close to my heart."
"To the south lies a mountain pass that sits between the fork of two rivers that is used by the kingdom as a safe route through Nubia to the trade cities of Eastern Africa. In the days of my youth, when we were at peace with the Nubian infidels, I would spend days in the hills just taking the air and savouring the view, but alas the Nubian gurillas wage a terrorist war in that area now."
"I want you to go there and build my tomb, stocked fit for a king to help me on my travels in the afterlife. You will need to build a village fit to defend the monument and of reasonable stature to merit the honour that I give it."
" You are lucky in that the recent heavy flooding has bestowed excellent fertility to the usually barren area and the rocks are rich in minerals so you can help the construction projects on the delta while you are there."
"Ah I am so tired, make haste my son, and beware, spys suggest that a large force is being gathered that will attack in 10-12 years time, and the Nubian factions make regular ambushes from the hills so make sure that your defences are strong quickly. Go! Go now and go with my blessing."
Playability: 3
This is not a 5 because some of the wars are simply unwinnable. I had to switch difficulty from normal to very easy before particular wars in order to win and continue with the mission. All other win conditions are attainable (kingdom rating 100 by altering monthly salary)
Balance: 3
Besides unbalanced wars, you are allotted 2 db/month salary with no access to Ra as a god or events that improve your kingdom rating. Without changing your salary to 100 db/month for one month of the year, you are unable to send gifts to improve your rating to 100.
Creativity: 2
Besides a few requests towards the beginning of the mission, only wars occur from then on. Rather tedious having to move solders so often when the mastaba takes forever to build
Map Design: 5
Brilliant map design with attention to detail
Story/Instructions: 5
Good dialogue and purpose for mission provided
Additional Comments:
This map felt tedious, as making bricks and the continuous wars were all I dealt with for so many years time. Such a beautiful map and story wasted on lazy event writing.