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Download Sounds File #1 at csc.apolylton.net Download Sounds File #2 at csc.apolylton.net Download Sounds File #3 at csc.apolylton.net |
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The map is very large, and you will face progressively stronger opponents. Thus, continuing to expand outward is critical if you expect to win. Everyone else in the underworld is against you, and some of the later opponents are very powerful. Despite the heavily military aspect of the game, this is not just a war scenario. Although you're always at war, you also need to develop new technologies, build wonders and improvements, and most importantly alter the terrain. The author has made you and your nearest neighbors relatively poor in terms of what terrain you have available at the start, while richer lands lie farther away. Of course, you can transform, irrigate and mine with the proper units and greatly improve your cities' surroundings. This allows you to eventually turn your rocks and dirt into full-developed farmlands and extended cities. Even with the terrain there are nice trade-offs in terms of what is available. Some terrains provide a lot of resources, but very little food, while others are very good food producers and trade producers. Still others provide good defense for your units stationed around the city and a good balance of resources. A clever use of the superhighways improvement has been made. Usually trade is so low that superhighways only help if you are a democracy. However, because many terrains here have high trade values, the equivalent of superhighways can provide a great benefit in terms of research and money here. At the same time, oceans are poorer food producers Just as you are behind in tech you are also behind in money. That means that capturing cities and keeping your tax rate high is important, particularly given that your units are very expensive. You will often not be able to maintain an offensive just by buying garrison units and then moving your attack forces forward. You'll need to pause, defend, and save up until you can garrison the place. UNITS: The units in the game have high attack/defense ratings for the most part, and your initial units are not that great relative to the rest of the world. I found it very helpful to use my diplomats to bribe powerful enemy units to join me. Likewise, you get a few powerful units at random intervals or as a result of events. Using these as the spearhead of your attack, supported by some of the other units, is very valuable. A nice job has been done balancing the kinds of units you need. You have five basic types of units. First are fighters, who are good on attack and defense. They are your main weapon. Second are priests, who are poor on attack but good on defense. Third are thieves and their successor units, which provide diplomacy options (steal tech, incite revolts, sabotage, etc.). Fourth are your mages, who are great on attack and are limited-range flying units with several turns worth of "fuel". They are your best weapon for slowing down opponent armies using zone of control, for killing isolated units in the field, and for protecting wounded units due to the fact that they fly (and so are not vulnerable to attack by most units) and have a great attack. But the author has also included units that are x2 defense versus air units, so you will not be able to take out cities with your mages alone. You also start with galleys for sea transport. In addition to the core units, you periodically get tough units, including one nearly unstoppable hero (you need him), either by bribing or through events. There are also a few other powerful types of units you can build if you're lucky. One of the most refreshing elements was the excellent use of diplomat units. In most scenarios diplomats are not very helpful except to buy cities and units, but in this scenario they are absolutely necessary. The reason is that you start well behind the other civilizations in terms of technology. You should do your best to steal tech on a regular basis. STORY: A surprisingly effective technique is the use of events to describe how the society changes after being trapped underground for years. For example, slavery is pervasive in the underdark and your civilization regretfully adopts it. Over time, you become more and more brutal and evil yourself as you push to defeat the evil of the underdark. I know, it sounds cheesy - but it really worked well. |
There is a readme and it does what it needs to do. Pedia.txt is included. Cities.txt is included. The art has pretty much all been changed, and most of it looks good. I found no overt errors. The fact that the city names are drawn from regular Civ2 city names and slightly modified is a bit on the strange side. If you play too much Civ, you may recognize the Zulu names, for example, with minor changes. The tech tree is terrific and it is used to trigger many events. One oddity is a unit that you need to kill to get a special reward. It's easy to wipe out the city that supports it, though, before killing the unit. The unit should probably be made a "none" for support. |
NEW IDEAS: There are quite a few good ideas and uses of events. Some are described in the playability section. Others you will need to discover for yourself. |
| NOTES: None. |
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