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Campaigns » Shaolin Monastery - Singleplayer Campaign
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Shaolin Monastery - Singleplayer Campaign
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Author |
File Description |
Gweilo2 |
Posted on 01/27/04 @ 05:55 PM
File Details |
Age: |
Steel |
# of Episodes: |
3 |
# of Cities: |
1 |
Difficulty: |
Hard |
Custom Maps: |
Yes |
Minimap:
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During the 5th and 6th centuries CE, Buddhism spread rapidly throughout the Middle Kingdom. Thousands of temples, monuments, and religious sites were built during this time.
In 495 CE, Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty commissioned the building of a new Buddhist monastery at Mount Song. The woodlands surrounding the mountain were called 'Shaolin' by the locals, meaning 'young forest', and thus the monastery's name was born.
Many years later, a strange Buddhist master arrived at Shaolin. His name was Bodhidharma, and his impact on the monks (and Buddhism itself) was immense. He introduced radical new teachings, which included Chan (Zen) thought and a physical regimen program which evolved into a martial art. Bodhidharma's teachings were like pebbles dropped into a still pond, and the ripples are still felt by Buddhists today.
In this campaign you will assume the role of a young Buddhist administrator, sent by the emperor to establish the monastery. You will find that running a monastery is a different experience than running a city. Monks live a more humble life, and the evolution of their community is guided by their religious beliefs. A determined effort was made to incorporate this aspect into the campaign design.
A player will interact with 7 historically-accurate cities. Resources, commodities, and available structures follow the Emperor model for the Steel Age. Sabotage by spies is prohibited in this campaign, although spies can still be used for information gathering. This campaign features a new custom map of original design, and 'enormous' size. The map was modeled from an actual map of the Mount Song area.
For chronological continuity, this campaign should be played just after concluding the Jin-Wudi campaign, and before starting the Sui-Tang campaign 'A Time of Grandeur'. The historical timeline of 'Shaolin Monastery' falls between those two campaigns.
Five extra files are included in the download package. The first is a text file 'SM_Readme.txt', which contains installation instructions, historical background information, campaign design notes, and mission hints (warning: contains spoilers). The other four files are images called 'Shaolin_map.jpg', 'Bodhidharma1.jpg', 'Bodhidharma2.jpg', and 'Sun_Wu_Kong.gif'. These extra files are included solely for historical reference.
NOTE: This campaign places a heavy emphasis on trade, money management, and empire map diplomacy. A military dimension also exists. It is designed for experienced players with more than a casual knowledge of the game.
Missions Teasers: (note: all missions have a 'time limit' or 'survival' goal)
Mission 1 - 'A Monastery For Mount Song' - 31 years, from 495 CE to the end of 525 CE.
Mission 2 - 'A Master Brings Enlightenment' - 14 years, from 526 CE to the end of 539 CE.
Mission 3 - 'The Warrior Monks of Shaolin' - no time limit, survive 10 years, starts in 540 CE.
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Pages: « First « 1 [2] | Author | Comments & Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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tennyson98 |
Posted on 03/11/14 @ 11:50 AM
This is a very interesting map. I felt the Heroes didnt need to be so long. The trading is right on the edge of making enough money. On the second mission other cities kept asking for Tea and it kept getting higher and higher then it just stopped. I really ramped up tea production to keep up with demand and it just stopped. Having a Palace would have been a real nice addition with a tax office, this would have helped when trading stopped for while.
I really liked all the hills with the trees everywhere.
All in all I really liked this map. I would give it an overall rating of 4.5/5.
This is a must download and play.
To the creator, the time you took to have other cities change there trading demand was really nice. Added a different challenge |
Gweilo |
Posted on 03/11/14 @ 09:00 PM
tennyson98, thanks for leaving your review. Did you notice the 'readme' text file that was included in the download zip file? If you open it, you will have the answers to many of the things you mentioned in your review. |
marconi |
Posted on 01/08/15 @ 10:35 AM
Playability: 5
No glitches.
Balance: 3
Unlike other campaigns by Gwellio, where all the aims kind of 'tied together' towards the end of each level, in this one I found myself completing all but one of the sucess conditions pretty easily and then having to stick around either for homage months or just to fill up the treasury. It would also have been good to have more requests by other cities that weren't resolvable by Boddiharma to add a bit more challenge.
Creativity: 5
A novel storyline that's far more imaginative and immersive than in the original game.
Map Design: 5
Fantastic map design that has enough flexibility to allow lots of replaying and is just visually stunning.
Story/Instructions: 5
Well researched, well written and adds to the overall experience rather than just being an extra screen to click through.
Additional Comments:
A bit more leisurely than other Gwellio campaigns. I would rate it as 'normal' rather than 'hard'. |
Gweilo2
Staff
File Author |
Posted on 01/11/15 @ 09:22 AM
Hello Marconi, thank you for leaving the review. |
zhoudynasty |
Posted on 11/04/20 @ 03:37 AM
Playability: 5
Balance: 5
Creativity: 5
Map Design: 5
Story/Instructions: 5
Additional Comments:
Intense military action in Mission 3, with the aid of Hero, managed to outfight Xiong Nu.
Just that there's no more Bodhidharma to bail you for the Tea when there isn't enough going around. :D
Nevertheless, pretty much enjoyed all 3 Missions.
It's also nice that there's no scripted event that stop you from winning Mission 3 after the timeline.
Although Xiongnu tried to invade me after they asked for the 15k, I bribed Xiongnu, gave them Spices and made them my ally so that they wont bother me anymore in order to reach that 150k. |
Gweilo2
Staff
File Author |
Posted on 11/04/20 @ 06:27 AM
Has it really been almost 17 years since I built this campaign? This was one of my early designs, but it stands out in my memory because:
1. It was the first time I built a custom map that I adapted from the terrain of the actual area (which you may have noticed from looking at the image of the Shaolin Monastery tourist map that I included in the zip file). This was also the first map I ever built which included the pinnacle with the shrine sitting on top of it, which I fell in love with (and still am).
2. I discovered I could use the mission text to do a variety of things, such as: tell a historically-accurate story, generate an overall tone for the entire story (the beginnings of Chan Buddhism), and to provide hints to a player to achieve success.
3. This was my first attempt to use extensive scripted events to influence the game play. I remember spending hours charting out the timing of the scripted events on graph paper to make sure the play balance from these events remained fair and did not become too restrictive. In hindsight, I think the scripting holds up well in this campaign.
4. This was my first foray into a design that required a player to use the special capabilities and blessings of certain heroes in order to find a path to victory.
zhoudynasty, thanks for leaving your review. I invite you to try my other monastery-themed campaign, "Hero of Wudang Mountain". It immerses you in Daoism while requiring you to protect your monastery. It is more difficult than this one![Edited on 11/05/20 @ 10:05 AM]
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zhoudynasty |
Posted on 11/06/20 @ 02:59 AM
Gweilo2, it is so nice to see that you still remember in details despite this being created many years ago! I was actually shocked and surprised to see you replying to my reviews as most of the campaigns are created ranging few years ago to long ago.
Your other monastery-themed campaign, "Hero of Wudang Mountain", is a very different gameplay and strategy from this campaign "Shaolin Monastery". I am still trying to get pass Mission 1.[Edited on 11/06/20 @ 07:05 AM]
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vivizco |
Posted on 01/02/23 @ 12:41 PM
Playability: 4
(Insert Playability analysis here)
Balance: 3
(Insert Balance analysis here)
Creativity: 4
(Insert Creativity analysis here)
Map Design: 4
(Insert Map Design analysis here)
Story/Instructions: 4
(Insert Story/Instructions analysis here)
Additional Comments:
Map is far too big compared to what you need and some quest are far too long (gathering money) |
Pages: « First « 1 [2] |
HGDL v0.8.2 |
Rating |
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4.3 | Breakdown |
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Playability | 4.3 | Balance | 3.9 | Creativity | 4.1 | Map Design | 4.4 | Story/Instructions | 4.6 |
Statistics |
Downloads: | 7,126 |
Favorites: [] | 0 |
Size: | 475.46 KB |
Added: | 01/27/04 |
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