Castles II: Siege and Conquest
Castles II: Siege and Conquest | |
---|---|
Real-time strategy | |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Castles II: Siege and Conquest is a 1992
Story
The game takes place in a semi-fictionalized version of historical France. The game begins in the year 1312 A.D., shortly before the beginning of the Hundred Years' War. In the game's version of history, France's King Charles dies on the throne in the year 1311. Because Charles left no heirs to take up the crown, it is unclear who will become the new king. The Pope is willing to declare a new King, but only after one of the local nobles has gained significant influence over the land and won favor with the Church.
The
. Early on, much of the territory is controlled by local (neutral) lords, and is easily taken up by one of the major players. In addition, three territories are controlled by the Pope, but players may cede additional territories to the Church in order to improve relations.The player's task will be to take over as much of France as possible, and then try to claim the throne. If other players remain at this time, they will attack the player to damage their claim. Eventually the Pope will decide whether or not to support the claimant, and the game will end. According to the game manual, the average in-game time passed is usually between three and ten years.
Gameplay
Gameplay includes scouting out unknown territories, conquering them, building
Depending on which noble is picked, the player can start at any of five general areas of the map. Initially he is provided with one territory rich in one of four resources: gold, timber, iron, or food. Having more of one kind of resource territory increases the total amount that the player can harvest per turn (also dependent on the total number of "points" allocated). Players can only gather the resources in territories they control, so a player who does not control at least one of each kind must rely on trades to gain those resources.
At first the player can perform one task each of three types at once: administrative (gathering resources and building castles, represented by a green bar), military (recruiting an army, building optional weapons like a catapult, and policing the realm, represented in red), and political (sending scouts, diplomats, and spies, represented in blue). The more a type of task is performed, the more points which may be devoted to that kind of task are gained (to a limit of 9 per type). At a rating of 5, two tasks can be performed at once.
The most remarkable feature at the time for Castles II was the ability to design and save different castles. Depending on the total number of walls and turrets, the castles were assigned point values that determined how long it takes to build. Larger castles are harder to destroy or capture, which serves to keep enemies out of the controlled lands. Large castles are also used to prevent revolts. Armies include infantry, archers, and knights, each costing a different resource to recruit. The size of the army that can be raised is dependent upon the number of territories and castles the player possess.
PC CD-ROM version
A
Copy protection
Occasionally, a question will be given to the player to "determine if he is the real king". The answer to this question can only be found in the manual, done as a form of copy protection. A wrong answer will result in a game over screen. This was not used in the CD-ROM edition.
Reception
Computer Gaming World in 1993 called Castles II "a first-rate strategy game ... a joy to play", praising the user interface, variety of play options, and strong computer AI.[2] In a 1993 survey of pre 20th-century strategy games the magazine gave the game three-plus stars out of five, calling it "much more of a wargame than the former, and worthy of examination by anyone interested in the period".[3] The game received 4 out of 5 stars in Dragon.[4]
Reviews
- Amiga Down Under (Apr, 1994)[5]
- Computer and Video Games (Oct, 1994)
- Amiga Format (Feb, 1994)[6]
- Power Play (Jan, 1993)[7]
- Joker Verlag präsentiert: Sonderheft (1993)[8]
- CU Amiga (Feb, 1994)[9]
- Amiga Joker (Jan, 1994)[10]
- The One Amiga (Feb, 1994)[11]
- Amiga Power (Feb, 1994)[12]
- Amiga CD32 Gamer (Mar, 1994)[13]
See also
References
- ^ "MobyGames credits". Retrieved 2013-02-28.
- ^ Hill, Ken (April 1993). "Interplay's Castles II". Computer Gaming World. p. 100. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
- ^ Brooks, M. Evan (June 1993). "An Annotated Listing of Pre-20th Century Wargames". Computer Gaming World. p. 136. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
- ^ Lesser, Hartley; Lesser, Patricia & Lesser, Kirk (May 1993). "The Role of Computers". Dragon (193): 57–63.
- ^ "Castles 2: Siege and Conquest review from Amiga Down Under 8 (Apr 1994) - Amiga Magazine Rack".
- ^ "Castles 2: Siege and Conquest review from Amiga Format 56 (Feb 1994) - Amiga Magazine Rack".
- ^ http://www.kultboy.com/index.php?site=t&id=3772 [bare URL]
- ^ "Amiga Joker Amiga Joker Sonderheft Nr.5 - Strategie Page scans - Amiga Magazine Rack".
- ^ "Castles 2 review from CU Amiga (Feb 1994) - Amiga Magazine Rack".
- ^ "Castles II review from Amiga Joker (Feb 1994) - Amiga Magazine Rack".
- ^ "TheOne Magazine Issue 64". February 1994.
- ^ "Castles 2 review from Amiga Power 34 (Feb 1994) - Amiga Magazine Rack".
- ^ "Amiga CD32 Gamer Issue 01 Spring 1994". March 1994.
- ATPM, Review: Castles—Siege & Conquest, by Tom Beadling