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BALANCE: The scenario was well balanced, which in itself is admirable. The technology tree allowed for the development of some fairly potent units, both offensively (e.g. Artillery) and defensively (Machine Guns). There were lots of fortifications on mountainous squares that required some considerable effort for the player to seize. These often were placed at important strategic points that in some respects were as important to capture as the cities themselves. The game length was a very reasonable 100 turns, making 'the clock' another important aspect of the overall strategic mix for the scenario. Some experienced players may find that they achieve one of the minor victory conditions before the 100-turn expiry deadline. The technology tree measured development with fair progress, and 'tech by conquest' was toggled off, so the easy seizure of newly planted enemy villages did not distort the technology tree adversely. GOVERNMENTS: Government switching is not permitted. The decision to turn off government switching does remove an element of the game from the player's strategic options, which is a little disappointing. In spite of this, government forms have not been overlooked, with Monarchy, Communism, and Fundamentalism all receiving more appropriate nomenclature - an interesting twist being that "Monarchy" is the term used for the 'proud' Ethiopians who live with the Fundamentalist-style government. Other minor 'tweaks' have been made, such as cities with the Monarchy-style government ("Nationalism") can support five rather than three units. WONDERS: The author has decided to put a different slant on the Wonders. Rather than Wonders being represented by monuments or scientific projects (e.g. The Manhattan Project, Darwin's Voyage), the provided Wonders are presented as national strengths; "British Glory" and "Vive la France" as two examples. This works well, and the icons of the nation's flags in some instances are quite striking. The two preferred playable tribes have both been given fairly good Wonders. As the Ethiopian citizens never experience unhappiness and have a nationalistic zeal to retain their right to independence, their WoW is the equivalent of Sun Tzu's War Academy. The Italians on the other hand have the equivalent of Michalangelo's Chapel, so play at the more difficult levels is manageable. No Wonders may be constructed during the game, which given its brevity is nothing to be unduly concerned about. Generally the scenario is combat-oriented, and Wonder building may be seen to be a low priority. COMMENCEMENT: The game commences well, with enough units to get the scenario going, while not a ludicrous number of cities to become too unwieldy. The Ethiopians and Italians begin in peace, and it is usually up to the player to start making demands or engineer a sneak attack to get the conflict underway. The building schedules for cities are sensible enough. A question mark hangs over the extent of the map that has been revealed to the Italians, who should know the Mediterranean Sea like the 'back of their hands' by this era. Instead, the map shows two pockets of revealed terrain that are unconnected. |
The author has gone to considerable effort to fill out this large African continent with a significant number of cities and villages, usually with terrain improvements such as irrigation, mines, and roads. In some instances, country names have been substituted for city names, however this is not a problem of much concern. In many instances, trade routes of various commodities have already been established, which adds further realism to the scenario. Historically, the British in particular were driven by a desire to establish profitable trade routes as one of the principal reasons for their expanding presence in Africa. The author has also included a new terrain type; 'dunes', which is used extensively in the Sahara and Middle East areas. Many new special resources are also included, and as later noted in this review, there have been numerous changes to the terrain artwork. REFERENCE: A 'read me' file is included, and contains some important details for the scenario: the game is historically based but not necessarily truly representative, some commentary on the different tribes, their respective objectives, technological development, Wonders, notes on pollution, and credits for 'borrowed' artwork. The file is on the short side, but what it lacks in quantity is pretty well compensated by punchy and relevant points. It may have benefited from a quick run through a spell checker. Further consideration may have been given to discussing the events of the day (the setting), extension on the discussion regarding strategic tips, more information on the Wonders, etc. The pedia.txt is included, which makes easy reference for players using the Fantastic Worlds version of the game. The author could have made some edits to this file to bring it closer into line with the scenario. For example, the section on governments does not necessarily reflect the changes made to the global settings, while the names in the government description do not match those in the menu. The opportunity to make some discussion on the various Wonders beyond their technical benefits could have been implemented. TECHNOLOGY: The technology tree is good, and is largely founded on the default technology tree. There appear to be no technical problems, while new technologies have been added, such as Machine Guns. Technological advancement plays a comparatively minor role in the game, although access to more potent units is one benefit of some importance. The technological paradigm has slowed the rate of development (25/10). The Ethiopians barely suffer under their Fundamentalism-based government type, which places a 5% penalty on development only. While tribes may negotiate technologies between themselves, technological advances through theft or conquest are not factored into this particular game. Arguably the technology tree could be a little more adventurous than founding it on the default game's tech' tree. There is the opportunity to integrate some events with the civilization advances to further the interest in the game beyond the conquest aspects. For example, the malaria illness that is created at times may lead to the need to address medicines allowing for prevention or cure from this malady (an advance permitting cheap construction of SDIs). The separation of units by tribe has been done with skill, and is not confined to military units, but other aspects, such as trade units. CITY IMPROVEMENTS: Normally in conquest-oriented scenarios, the construction of city improvements take a 'back-seat' to the churning out of units as quickly as possible. This game however has implemented a few smart moves - the cheap power plant to support the factory makes this an appealing production alternative, while the lack of an aqueduct as a city size capping device has been dropped from eight to four citizens, making this another city improvement of value. Clearly barracks, factories, and city walls play an important role in the overall scheme as they do with most scenarios and the default game. CITY NAMES: The city.txt file was included to provide an extensive list of names for each tribe's new cities. This list proved to be comprehensive, and the author should be congratulated for the effort here. |
Several icons are original, and in particular the flag icons for the Italian, Portuguese, and Boer-German WoWs are quite striking. Another smart trick is the use of the malaria mosquito in the icon slot for 'The Manhattan Project'. One effect of a malaria epidemic is that this part-transparent icon (transparent section) appears in a pop-up box with the mosquito graphic and the announcement of the "Malaria breakout!" City designs too were changed, and may have had some authored additions. As before, each tribe had customised flags. Occasionally the match of these to the tribe colours were a little out of synch (for example the green-white-and-red Italian flag with dark blue tribe colour), but this was not much of a point of worry. An excellent opening graphic is included, reinforcing the theme of the scenario - a bright, artistic yet almost cartoon-like representation of the African king and his troops behind him. The opening text box has included an image of the Ethiopian infantry unit, done by manipulating the scenario parameters and saving the scenario with the Ethiopian tribe activated - another well-implemented feature. A significant amount of artwork modifications have been included in the two terrain.gif files, and to good effect. Often these are fairly minor changes in their own right, such as the addition of a few trees on the hills, but in combination give a good feel to the scenario. Likewise, changes to city designs are effective, and well separate the native African tribes from their European and Arabian rivals. EVENTS: An events.txt file is included. This mechanism allows the author to better guide the progression of the scenario beyond the starting point, while also extending the chance to reinforce the theme. The events file in this scenario covered the necessary basics, such as the inclusion of the 'NoSchism' command. The event regarding the malaria outbreak is already well covered through the innovate use of the game.txt file. There is also the inventive adoption of 'slavery' for want of a better expression. When the European tribes kill an African warrior, the unit is converted into a European settler and sent to the respective nation's principal city (or one of the cities in the case of the British). The terms "slave" or "slavery" are not used, which is appropriate, as the British vehemently opposed the trading of slaves during this era. The occasional wildlife unit is also randomly created (lions, hippopotamus), which adds further weight to the game theme. The opportunity to use this mechanism even more effectively is apparent. While some scenarios arguably go 'over the top' in terms of events (often demonstrated by an excessive frequency of text boxes) the introduction of some events can contribute significantly to the quality of the scenario. For instance, events can show awareness of the historical issues of importance, or as previously noted, create spin-off aspects to the game through interaction with the technology tree. OTHER MINOR POINTS: One of the Machine Gun units is placed in the Paratrooper spots, which brings about the 'paradrop' pop-up box when this unit becomes available to the player. Another unit slot should be chosen to avoid this occurrence given that this unit does not have paradrop capabilities. The opportunity to add some different goods to the trade commodity list was not taken up. |
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CONCLUDING REMARKS: This is a very competently authored and enjoyable scenario offering a 'meaty' conflict that is well balanced yet not drawn out. It shows many features of good scenario design, not the least of which being clear game objectives for the recommended tribes. There are several innovative aspects of scenario design used by the author, noting in particular the implementation of:
POST SCRIPT: It has since been brought to my attention by 'benedetti' that Sable used different designs for the barbarian villages - the Middle Eastern tribes with larger populations had Arabic building designs, while the African barbarian villages had smaller populations and used a hut-type of city graphic. Yet another good idea and another plus for Sable. |
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