|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|||||
The game is principally designed for the Royalist faction led by Charles the First, who holds much of Northern England - sandwiched between the Parliamentarians in the South, and Scotland. The first turn action sees a fair bit of battle with the Royalists attacked from both sides, accompanied by text that provides further historical background. In terms of management, the taxes are distributed largely towards luxuries in order to address citizen discontent. The government form for the Royalists unsurprisingly is Monarchy, and this cannot be switched. The Scots are in Fundamentalism while the Parliamentarians are in a Republic.
In terms of land vs. sea campaigns, although there are several seafaring units available, these are best used to pick off poorly protected ground units along the coastline, as many seaside cities already are safeguarded with coastal fortresses. Quickly obtaining veteran status by employing this technique will greatly strengthen Man-of-War vessels from any attacks from enemy ships that may appear on occasion. Essentially the game's focus is on the ground troops. GAME OBJECTIVE: The scenario objective is explained at the outset in slightly vague terms, however it's not difficult to decipher what goal's intended (enough said!). FINANCES: The Royalists start of with a healthy treasury, and this only improves over time as enemy cities are plundered. Capturing large Parliamentarian cities can see rewards of about 1,000 gold. Taxes can remain comfortably at maximum luxuries, and there's still ample scope for sensible application of rush-buying units and improvements wherever necessary. BALANCE: Game balance is a strength of this scenario. Unit statistics are well assigned to give a fair chance to well-protected defenders, while not outweighing the possibility of successfully laying siege to even the best-guarded cities. The Scots arguably fail to offer a serious contest to the invading Royalists, however they do possess a few larger villages that may ultimately become significant production bases for Royalist troops. Many Scottish centres do not have city walls, while their units' statistics are generally lower than either the Royalists' or the Parliamentarians' units. Strategically for the Royalists, it is important to be able to secure some of the fortresses surrounding the Parliamentarians' cities. In several cases, fortresses on hills are adjacent to the cities themselves (such as the tactically significant sites of Sheffield, Hull and Northampton). These may be exploited by using veteran defensive units in combination with a host of cannons. As noted in the author's "read me", the A.I. does play some parts of the scenario poorly; the worst case being its propensity to leave artillery units in the open. GOVERNMENT: As already noted, the Royalists are in Monarchy. This relatively trade-unfriendly government, plus the burdensome technology paradigm makes scientific development a non-issue. Furthermore, despite limited trade levels, finances are never a significant problem in the game (with a little restraint). All up, Monarchy is a sensible enough government form in light of the objective and theme of the scenario. GAME DURATION: The game is less than 100 turns in length, replicating the duration of the actual conflict (monthly clock). While this may appear to be brief, the size of the game does permit the game objective to be achieved, let alone the implementation of a range of strategic approaches through this objective's attainment. |
SUPPORT FILES: A city.txt file is not included, which means that any newly-formed towns use names from the default game (for instance, the Scots use cities from the Sioux list). Were the scenario to undergo further revisions, this should be a priority addition. THEME: The scenario is very well themed. Not only does the "read me" file go quite some way to outlining the scenario's setting, but turn-triggered text boxes maintain the historical thread throughout by highlighting events of the day of global significance. There are only a handful of Wonders, but these too reinforce the scenario's plot. The high calibre of artwork used further contributes to the game's feel. Despite some technical hitches, this scenario is highly rated because of this aspect. TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES: There is one significant problem with the technologies adopted in the game: While the scenario has successfully embraced the customisation of units by tribes through 'special technologies', it has given neither 'ceremonial burial' nor 'monotheism' to the tribes - rendering churches (temples), cathedrals, and The Oxford University Wonder (Michalangelo's Chapel) ineffective. As such, these extend no assistance with citizen contentment, which instead (for the Royalists) is addressed through luxuries, entertainers, theatres (coliseums), and 'marshal law' alone. |
Shield concealment is barely a problem except for the Man-of-War vessel, where the tribe colour is obscured but the health bar is visible. The Parliamentarians' cannon unit has odd shield placement, at an extreme distance from the unit itself. There is some very minor interference with fortified graphics in that they can appear to have a feint grey vertical line running along the right-hand-side of the image. Again, a minor matter. ICONS: The majority of the city improvement icons have been hardly amended - there are some minor modifications such as making the Taj Mahal Palace appear to be more fortress-like, and some traditional Wonder graphics have been used for city improvements, however all four of the scenario's Wonder graphics are new. OTHER GRAPHICS: Each of the three tribes has a customised flag that work well. Unfortunately the Royalists' shield colour is a dark blue, making aspects such as the black-coloured city size numbers and shield codes (e.g. 'F' = fortified, '-' = no orders) a little difficult to read. There are other small changes, such as a bold 'fortress' graphic and many special resource icons that add to the graphical novelty. The special resources themselves have not been renamed, and as such oddities do appear such as a wine square with a sheep icon, or a pheasant square with a felled tree / timber image. EVENTS: A short but effective events file has been included in the package. As noted above, the theme is enhanced by many text boxes that reinforce the 17th century setting, as well as provide guidance and background to the specific conflict at hand. SOUNDS: It is worth noting that the file; sndsetup.bat has been included to allow the player to quickly install the desired sounds by drawing both new sounds and renaming existing sounds from the default game into the C:\Mps\Civ2\Scenario\1642-49\Sound folder. Unfortunately, if the game is not installed to the Civ2 folder this application does not appear to work. Despite this, it's a good innovation that is well worth recognising. |
|
FINAL NOTES: Overall this is a well-constructed scenario. Very good playability and awareness of the relevant historical issues are supported by a few exceptional unit graphics. It does lack some intricacy having; no tech' tree development, no government options, no trade routes, no diplomatic units, nor much in the way of inter-tribal diplomacy opportunities to speak of, however the author has acknowledged several of these matters in the "read me" documentation. The absence of 'ceremonial burial' and 'monotheism' to tribes' advances lists are omissions of significance, but otherwise the scenario is (generally) technically fine and above all offers a good, 'meaty' battle with several tactical options to test the player. This scenario ought to appeal to all Civ2 enthusiasts, however 'history devotees' should get particular enjoyment from 'The English Civil War' given its attention to historical precision. Footnote: This scenario was assessed with only the 'Royalists' chosen as the playable tribe as recommended. Version 2.3 released April 1999. |
MAP:
The map
is identical to that used in the 'Conflicts in Civilisations'
'The Conquest of Britain' scenario. The author has chosen to
use alternative terrain graphics.
The
"pedia" file is included, although the bulk of the
references are in the German language. This might have been tidied
a little by removing advances, improvements, and Wonders that
are not part of the game by giving them "no" prerequisites.
The description of the active Wonders and improvements themselves
are however in English, but they have not been customised for
this scenario, with the default description used.
UNITS:
There are
several new unit images that are well worth mentioning. Many
of the units including the Royalist Cavalier and Cavalry, Charles
the First, both the Scottish Soldier and Cavalry, and the Parliamentarian
Peasant are all commendable. It is assumed that the author developed
these himself, and it's a little disappointing that this range
was not extended. As mentioned, there are also several unit images
that have been taken from other scenarios and the default game.