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Historical Scenario Reviews

Overall Rating

22.5/30

SYNOPSIS: It's a good historical scenario, very accurate with a good finishing touch, but which maybe lacks originality. Moreover, you can play it with version 2.42, which is very rare nowadays. It's one of the best scenarios that you can play without any add-ons! Playing with Ottomans is very difficult and provides a good challenge for veteran civers but I advise beginners against it.

It's not an original scenario, but it's well done. Nevertheless you must be aware of the difficulty of it and play in low levels. The artwork isn't exceptionnal but remains pleasant with flags, some new units and some new sounds. Games aren't too long (Excepted if you've conquered a too big territory) and so playing this scenario is interesting from the beginnig to the end. There will always be some enemies to bother you. It seems historically accurate but it would have better with a little bit more historical notes (through Events.txt for example).

There are many new units available like Siphas, Yanichars, Arabian Knights, Horse Archers and also a number of standard Civ2 units. There are also a few new city improvements and wonders.

The scenario runs from 1280 to 1682, in several year turn increments.

Playability Rating

8 / 10

COMMENTS: This scenario poses a strong challenge when you play as the Ottomans, maybe a little bit to strong, especially at the beginning because you start with no city (just a settler and some military units). So, beginners may have problems winning but very good civ-players can enjoy it. You musn't hesistate to play in low levels. Playing with other civs is less interesting because Ottomans are very weak.

There are no faults in the scenario and the atmosphere is OK, but we can regret there are no events.txt files to animate the scenario (in return you can play with version 2.42).

The scenario doesn't last very long with Ottomans (between 2 and 5 hours) which prevents you from being bored but allows enough time to extend your territory.

There many new interesting units but some others are useless (same cost as another one but weaker). I think personally that the last units (like cannon) are too strong compared with the first ones which gives a too important place to science research. For instance, it's almost impossible to take Constantinople without a Cannon but very easy with mobile cannons.

I think the special "tower" unit placed in Constantinople is a very good idea to show the difficulty of conquering this city, but it should be a little bit weaker, and cannons much weaker. Moreover conquering this city is very hard and very important, so it should be an OBJECTIVE*3 and not *1.

Personally, I think the "bomber" Ottoman (the emperor unit for the Turks) isn't a good idea because this horsed unit can move too quickly through mountains and even over water! Moreover, it's almost impossible to destroy it when it's on a water square. I think it would have been better with a normal land unit a little bit stronger than ther others.

Otherwise, the scen is well-balanced, civs are all powerful (excepted Ottomans at the beginning), but no one is much stronger than the others, so you can (I should say you MUST)
use your diplomacy to win.

Level of General Care

9.5 / 10

COMMENTS: The map is accurate, detailed and quite large, just enough to remain interesting to play. It's almost impossible to conquer the whole map (not enough time), so there will always be enemies able to counterattack. Nevertheless, the map is maybe a little bit too large in the west and not enough in the east.

The documentation is good, not very large but with all what you need to play this scenario and a few historical notes.

The tech tree is globally in proper order.

There are no faults in the scen and each detail has been worked meticulously from city names to civilopedia. A very good final touch.

Art and Originality

5.5 / 10

COMMENTS: The artwork is rather good. There are some new unit icons mixed with more familiar ones but all are appropriate for the setting. There are new icons (always historically accurate), new flags, a new People.gif, and there are also some good new sounds. (I would give a mark of 7 for Artwork.)

This scenario shows some lack of originality. It looks like some scenarios in "Conflicts in Civilization" such as Jihad or Mongols. A civilization has some better military units and have to conquer as many territories as possible. There is however the Tower in Constantinople which is a good idea and makes this city very strong.