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Campaigns » Servant of the White Lotus - Singleplayer Campaign
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Servant of the White Lotus - Singleplayer Campaign
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Author |
File Description |
Gweilo2 |
Posted on 12/13/11 @ 05:44 PM (updated 02/04/12)
File Details |
Age: |
Steel |
# of Episodes: |
5 |
# of Cities: |
3 |
Difficulty: |
Very Hard |
Custom Maps: |
Yes |
Minimap:
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The White Lotus was a Buddhist sect that secretly worked against the Yuan dynasty during the 14th century CE. The White Lotus aided several rebellions over the years, including the famous Red Turban rebellion, which was eventually successful in overthrowing the Yuan.
This campaign will immerse you in the historic events of the Red Turban rebellion from the unique perspective of an active participant. Openly, you are only a humble Buddhist monk, striving to follow The Way. Secretly, you are an agent provocateur of the White Lotus, assigned to build new monasteries to spread the rebellion. This will prove to be a dangerous journey! Be prepared to deal with everything from the Black Death to angry Mongol warriors!
A player will interact with 9 cities (6 historically-accurate). Resources, commodities, and available structures follow the Emperor model for the Steel Age. This campaign features three new custom maps. Sabotage by spies has been disallowed for this campaign, although spies can still be used for information gathering.
The download zip file contains an extra file named 'SOWL_Readme.txt'. This text file contains installation instructions, historical background information, campaign design notes, general play tips, and mission hints (warning: contains spoilers). Additionally, other hints are available by viewing the album of playtest screenshots in the Emperor Heaven gallery.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This campaign is rated 'Very Hard', and is designed to provide a solid challenge for advanced players. For the best play experience, a player should possess an advanced understanding of time-constrained missions, money management, combat and military operations, trading, labor allocation, monument construction, summoning and using the Heroes, meeting production goals, and empire-map diplomacy.
Missions Teasers (note: the first four missions have a time-limit)
Mission 1 - 'Refuge from the Three Hells' - survive 7 years, from 1344 CE to the end of 1350 CE
Mission 2 - 'Spies of the White Lotus' - survive 9 years, from 1351 CE to the end of 1359 CE
Mission 3 - 'Dangerous Guanxi' - survive 4 years, from 1360 CE to the end of 1363 CE
Mission 4 - 'Magnificent Monks of the Ming' - survive 7 years, from 1364 CE to the end of 1370 CE
Mission 5 - 'Ascension to Heaven' - no time limit, starts in 1371 CE |
Pages: [1] 2 » Last » | Author | Comments & Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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Bandenere (id: BandeNere) |
Posted on 12/21/11 @ 08:53 AM
Gonna download and try it soon! Once again, thank you for your great contribution to this community! |
Senseisan |
Posted on 12/29/11 @ 02:16 PM
Playing at VH level , it's a " sweat , blood and tears " campaign , very good challenge !
( Currently playing Guanxi , second attempt ( and last , Inch'Allah ! as it is better than the first , money beeing the main problem .)) |
Gweilo |
Posted on 12/29/11 @ 03:55 PM
Hi Senseisan,
Missions 3 and 4 are the most difficult in the campaign. Do you believe I actually toned down the military activity in the campaign? I really did, my early playtesting had the scripted invasions at higher levels. |
SeaWorld |
Posted on 01/02/12 @ 11:56 AM
You are a HERO... Absolutely stunning
Playability: 5
Brace yourselves this turns out to be hectic... Everything has to happen at the exact moment. Watch out for M1, 2 and 3 city design is imperative. (follow the screen shots they work)
Balance: 5
Stunning, all ministries are of utmost importance... Heroes are needed regularly.
Creativity: 5
Very clever, Logistics, micro management, routing, multiple levels... speechless
Map Design: 5
Wow...
Story/Instructions: 5
Draws you in completely... book days off work to get this right...
Gwielo, thanks to you and the team. Worked like a bomb... Timelimits still get a little stressful but worth replaying.
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Gweilo |
Posted on 01/02/12 @ 06:49 PM
Hi Seaworld. Thanks for the review! And the "team" consisted of me, myself and I.[Edited on 01/03/12 @ 06:22 PM]
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Senseisan |
Posted on 01/03/12 @ 01:50 PM
I am in the last scenario . I had no military activity on my maps , except bribing 1150$ two little invasions in Guanxi two ( Sun Wu Kong was my best friend , boosting the speed of emissaries in order to ally before major invasions ...^^ ). This strategy allows deleting the walls and gates if you need room for building .
Beware of the numerous spies , aiming to your food and weapons storage !
If you see a Daoist priest roaming the map , it is just a silly spy ...
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Gweilo |
Posted on 01/03/12 @ 06:18 PM
Senseisan, thanks for sharing your strategy. During the design, I fussed and fussed to make sure a non-military strategy was a viable alternative to combat. I'm glad you proved it could work. Perhaps you are the greater Buddhist Hero for finding a path to winning that avoided any bloodshed! :-)[Edited on 01/03/12 @ 06:27 PM]
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Senseisan |
Posted on 01/04/12 @ 08:52 AM
The best way to subdue an ennemy is to make him your friend ...^^
Needs sometime a perfect timing ( read several attemps whith restarting from previous save ... ) when sending the gifts carrying emissaries , seems that the " Alliance? " emissary travels a little faster than the gifts , sending him too short after , he can reach the aimed city before the favor rises .
I agree whith the previous review , uncontestably a "5" campaign .
Edit Just finished now , thanks Gweilo for this very nice Christmas gift !
All my cities used " switched walkers " loops , increasing greatly efficiency at the cost of permanent caring !
[Edited on 01/04/12 @ 01:44 PM]
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LucullusMaximus |
Posted on 02/04/12 @ 03:09 PM
Playability: 5
if the number of restarts you do during the campaign is a measure of playability, it can not be anything but the highest score. And in many ways, it is precisely this factor that determines whether a campaign is good or bad.Every failure made me more determined. There must be a way to get through this, and it was. All it took was blood, sweat, tears and maybe a minor stroke.
Balance: 5
You have given us space managment challenges in many of your previous campaigns, but this one tops them all. Then remove the taxes and add some military action in the pot, and you get a challenge unprecedented in emperor. If you have recently started playing emperor, and perhaps just finished the core game, and stumbles upon this campaign, be aware of this. Gweilo is not kidding about the grading "very hard". But if you manage to finish this campaign as a beginner, give yourself a big pat on the back. You have just completed one of the toughest challenges you can find here.
Creativity: 5
I will let my rating speak for itself. Otherwise I could start a novel about this section.
Map Design: 5
Map design taken to new level. I am a square housing block builder, and had a hard time to adapt. And if you want to achieve perfect feng-shui, be careful. Remove a single tree in the wrong place and it can not be achieved.
Story/Instructions: 5
As usual, top marks for this section.
Additional Comments:
I think I found a small glitch. In Mission 5 the great temple was not added to the victory conditions. And I guess that means you can tear it down and replace it with the clock-tower. I could never bring myself to tare down any monument, but given the space challenge on the Feng map, I could understand anyone who does. Was that intentional?
I just wonder how you are gonna top this one in the future, but I hope you try.[Edited on 02/04/12 @ 03:12 PM]
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Gweilo2
Staff
File Author |
Posted on 02/04/12 @ 05:53 PM
LM, thanks for the review. That is very high praise indeed.
I DID forget to include the Great Temple in the mission 5 goals! Thanks for mentioning that. I have just finished updating the campaign to include it.
I will try to top this one. I will try by going back to the grand epic style of campaign, which includes all of China. I'm talking about "A Xia's Diary II", currently in development. You can read more about it in my design blog at the Game Help forum (link given below).
http://caesar3.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/caeforumscgi/display.cgi?action=ct&f=19,7068,0,365[Edited on 02/04/12 @ 06:10 PM]
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HGDL v0.8.2 |
Rating |
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4.9 | Breakdown |
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Playability | 4.8 | Balance | 4.5 | Creativity | 5.0 | Map Design | 5.0 | Story/Instructions | 5.0 |
Statistics |
Downloads: | 4,000 |
Favorites: [] | 0 |
Size: | 908.52 KB |
Added: | 12/13/11 |
Updated: | 02/04/12 |
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