Province: Valentia with a 120 square board
Win requirements:
Culture: 40
Prosperity: 40
Peace: 45
Favor: 50
Population: 4500
You won't win this scenario on the first try unless someone has told you that you'd better build six forts ASAP. Invaders strike from all directions, sometimes without warning and sometimes multiple times in one year. Fans of Gordon Farrell
scenarios will recognize the general style.
Once you realize what you're up against and start over, as I did, you'll find that this adventure on the Balkan coast is a lot of fun. The choice of empire city makes it easy to get rich and build all of the forts you need, and the Prosperity
requirement pretty much takes care of itself. This leaves you free to concentrate on all of the invasions. You'll find good use for legions, javelins, cavalry, and towers. Be prepared to fight simultaneously on opposite sides of the
map. I got into one situation where my only hope was to attack with javelins and cavalry on one side in order to free up those units to move to the other side before my walls came crashing down.
The map is very pretty, with interesting irregular coastline. However, there is a central region with everything you'll need to meet the requirements, so you don't need to build on most of the map.
For the first six years this city kept me fully occupied. At that point it became clear that my housing would evolve to meet the Population and Prosperity requirements, and I had my six forts, plus towers near the dangerous invasion points. The
rest of the game I played on autopilot at 100% speed, slowing down only for invasions.
I've downloaded half a dozen scenarios looking for one to review. This is definitely the best that I've tried. I look forward to trying its peaceful cousin soon.
