| Erin Mulder on 2 Mar 2004 14:17:02 -0000 |
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Edward Donahue III wrote: I always enjoyed Quake, but I am really looking for a game along the lines of warcraft, civilization, command and conquer. I really enjoyed "Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim", which LGP ported to Linux. Main Page: http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/ Some Screenshots: http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/images/gamegraphics/8/screenshot7.jpg http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/images/gamegraphics/8/screenshot5.jpg http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/images/gamegraphics/8/screenshot8.jpg It's a lot like WarCraft, with a few big differences: Autonomous Units: Your heroes/grunts do what they want to do based on their own internal motivations. You can't click on a guy and tell him to go somewhere. The best you can do is set a reward for going somewhere or for killing some monster. If the reward gets high enough, any hero will go for it, regardless of natural inclination. At first, this sounds frustrating, but once I got used to it, I found it a lot more satisfying than WarCraft's micro-management. Instead of standing around waiting for orders, my rangers would be out exploring the board, rogues stealing treasure from enemy castles (or my own buildings!), warriors hunting, healers healing, adepts patrolling, peasants repairing damaged buildings or helping other peasants build, etc. Furthermore, my spell-casters cast on their own with no recharge necessary. As I learned what different kinds of heroes like to do, I got better at planning and ended using fewer and fewer rewards to get things done. Units party up on their own: Once you play for a while, you notice that different units tend to follow and support each other. For example, healers love to follow warriors around and heal them any time they get hurt, which helps them face down some pretty tough competition. Rangers and Wizards love to follow Barbarians. When they find a target, the rangers shoot it up with arrows, the wizards pummel it with fireballs, and the barbarians rush in to finish it off. Cultists charm lots of animals and fill your town with friendly monsters that will fight on your behalf. Priestesses of Krypta spawn friendly skeletons and charm enemy undead. Healers plant herbs that rangers can use to make healing potions. Cultists plant poisonous herbs that rogues can use to poison weapons, etc. Overall, it is a lot of fun to plan and coordinate, forcing you to focus on long-term strategy as well as battle tactics. Local economy instead of resource mining: Most of your buildings generate income over time, which is collected by your tax collectors (whom monsters love to kill). Marketplaces generate the most, and you can build farflung trading posts that will send them periodic caravans with lots of loot. Elves sing in your inns and set up Elven Lounges (brothels) that attract twice as much money to your kingdom. (Of course, if you go with elves, you can't recruit dwarves or gnomes, both of which have their own special talents). Most money you give your heroes through rewards will end up right back in your economy through the marketplaces and blacksmiths, unless they lose it in an elven lounge or gambling hall. ~-~ It was a bit expensive to order from England, but ended up being a bargain for the hundreds of hours I spent playing. Plus, I'm happy to support their cause. :) Cheers, Erin PS. IMO, the downloadable demo was pretty weak and unsatisfying compared to the full game. ___________________________________________________________________________ Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce General Discussion -- http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
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