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Historical Scenario Reviews

Playability Rating

10/10

COMMENTS: This is, quite simply, the most fun to play historical scenario made this year. The many units each have theor own easily defined function -- obviously the "Defender" units are for defense and the "Warriors" and "Cavalry" units are for attack. The Persians have thier own special purpose units such as the "Arikanes Fighter" which is a mobile type defender, like Mech Infs in Civ 2. The units are balanced well, and each nation has its own unique units. Lots of careful playtesting made this possible.

The author has, sensibly, recognized the fact that some units have special purposes and should not be available at all times for production. There are many "tribal" units, the Thracians, Elamites, Bactrians, etc., that appear randomly in their home cities. These units add incredibly to the atmosphere of the scenario. Also all throughout the map there are barbarian camps that you can plunder and steal gold from.

In two cases the "lost souls" concept has been utilized. In the Arabian and far eastern deserts there are many "camel" units. These units, when killed by the Persians, become Camel Riders that have a movement rate (3 squares per turn and alpine) that no other unit in the game beats. Also in the African mountains and the northern deserts are many "Elephant" units. These units, when captured by the Carthaginians, become War Elephants. This lets the Carthaginians have these powerful units, but makes it impossible for them to unbalance the scenario by having too many of them (i.e., by being able to build them).

There is only one truly unique playable unit in that game, the Persian Immortals unit. This is the pride of the Persian army and appropriate consequences befall you if you should lose them. I usually was too scared to use them and had them fighting off the Scythians. Also there are many special units, the various rebel satraps (like Persian warlords), and the Persian satraps defending the four capitals. There is another unique unit but its arrival is a surprise so I'm not going to tell you about it .

Level of General Care

9 / 10

COMMENTS: Almost perfect. The author provides us with a history of the Persian kings and why he felt that Artaxerxes was important enough to merit his own scenario, descriptions of many of the units and tribes you will face and special notes.

Almost no part of the map has been left bare. Scytho Siberian tribes launch raids from the north, there are Independent cities everywhere, most of them so well defended they are difficult to conquer (with the exception of Egypt), and the aforementioned barbarian "camps" in the inhospitable areas of the map. Basically no matter where you send your scouts you are sure to find something, and something historically accurate and fun at that. Impassable units are used well, cutting off expansion into Russia.

The improvements are well drawn for the most part, except the Farms picture hasn't been changed from the normal Civ 2 "SuperMarket" picture. That is the only obvious flaw I can find.

Also I would suggest that to the author that he make a technology called "Unreachable" or something like that, give it the prerequisites of nil, no and make every unbuildable and special unit require that. That will make all those units show up in the Civilopedia, which they currently do not. My apologies to the author for not mentioning this during playtesting.

Art and Originality

9 / 10

4/5 FOR ARTWORK: Many of the units have been tweaked to look more Persian, but are from easily recognizable sources. Also some of the artwork seems a little unsuitable, especially the "Bactrian" graphic which is a little reminiscent of the elven cavalry type it's always used for in scenarios, and the Persian "Tower" graphic that looks like it is made out of pink clay (this may be accurate but we won't know unless its mentioned in the readme). The many units however, all have clear identities, and when you attack a city you usually can tell what type of unit it is. "All right, it's a Greek Defender, we'll need a WHOLE bunch more cavalry down here...." You'll also know what to expect out of it, which is good.

5/5 FOR ORIGINALITY: Although the scenario itself is historical, the reign of Artaxerxes has never been done before and the number of new concepts such as the camel riders and war elephants more than make up for it. Other contributions to the originality score include the impassable border and the tower units stationed around heavily defended cities. The well done events file is also excellent. There are many many other innovations that I will let you find out for yourself in playing.