It is not news that strategies, like a genre, are far from the best time. Many have left the once rich field of strategies (series C & C or AOE), some followed the path of pronouncing, cutting everything that you can and turning into some kind of RPG in order to please the new players (download 2, world in conflict), and only some lucky people still go through the old canons(Total War and Civilization). Well, what about the strategies of the old, kind, German hardening? How to be in such a restless time?
For those who, for some reason, do not know the concept of “German hardening strategy”, I explain. These are hardcore, difficult to master, seriously passable, with a high threshold of entry, a huge bunch of side resources, production chains, kilometers of paved streets, intertwined in bizarre patterns and multi -page manuals, economic strategies. Even in lighter times, the genre was not too popular, they were the privilege of the “uncle with glasses and a notebook”, who would sit for hours in front of the monitor, calculating how much you need to earn on the resale of beer pirates in order to kill the losses from the loss of a trading trial loaded with ropes and so that it remains still. In general – not the most popular genre. And there are also not very much bright representatives here, each in the account. And which ones? Now we will find out.
Let’s go back to the zero, when computer clubs were in every basement, and the sounds of a Dial UP modem stunned rare and endlessly happy Internet owners. It was at these times that 1C was engaged (and actually, continues to engage in) publishing, regularly supplying a foreign product to our immense homeland, carefully translating all these obscure squigns into Russian. And now, under the rather stupid name “toys”, discs with a variety of games were transmitted from hand to hand in order to install some “legion” or “star pilgrim”. And among such games, the trinity of German baking games. And their names for a long time were at the minds of many players who spent many hours behind them. These were “war and peace”, “settlers” (better known as The Settlers) and “lost world”.
Today, perhaps, let’s talk about the first. That is, about the "war and the world". Yes, Lev Nikolaich turned ten times, when his monolithic creation was confused with the equally monolithic game Knights and Merchants: The Shattered Kingdom (namely, this name was given to the birth game). Created on the indestructible foundations of economic strategies, “War and Peace”, took the most vivid features of this rare genre. There was everything in it-fuss with roads, staff training and the epic scheme “Wheat-Muk-Khleb”, which became a symbol of every self-respecting strategy. But the game stood out in a completely different plan – in its combat system and hardcore.
If an ordinary strategy involved a systematic construction of its little world, solving everyday problems in the form of the shortcomings of building materials and occasionally fighting off the attacks of small groups of enemies, then in the “war and peace” everything was completely different. Having concentrated on the economic development of your city, having abandoned the development of the army, you, soon, could observe on your screen the burning firewoods of the once blooming, your own, village. You had to not just build and develop, but do all this at a very, very fast pace, not forgetting about your army and submitted.
On the familiar, urban planning side, the game is quite familiar, but also with its underwater stones. But players who previously tried their hand at Settlers or Anno will feel quite comfortable. The same production chains, the same stocky builders, dexterous servants and a dozen side professions, including miner, butcher and smelter. But again, all this is complicated not only by constant pressure from the enemy, but also by the tyranny of their subjects. And since we talked about the shortcomings of the game ..
And so, imagine. Each, a https://ladylindacasino.uk/ separate character, whether it is a builder, archer or some forester, he will always occupy a separate cage on which only one character will always stand. Now, add another condition to this rule, namely, the characters can only move along the roads (with the exception of workers and troops, as well as servants who carry resources for the construction of roads and a pair of three profession, like a forester) and nothing else. They are allowed to get out of the road only one cage in order to skip a person who is coming. And connecting these two rules, we will get just a terrible picture. What?
For example, this: for example, you survived the attacks of enemies, sausage shortages and rampant cutting of district forests, and you were able to build a beautiful city. And so, in this town, numbering about fifty servants scurrying back and forth, there is one warehouse to which only one road leads, a width of one block. Now imagine that all these fifty dull people climbed into the warehouse with the same crowd. Now add here the general slowness of the characters who can just stand on the contrary for another five to ten seconds and do nothing, trying to go through each other. And now all this is a foster and get hell. Hellishly long traffic jams opposite your warehouse will be terribly long and long. To take a board to build a hut, your servant will have to stand in line for two or three minutes for sure. Is it worth reminding that the enemy does not doze off and all the time tries to break your world? Wow Picture, isn’t it?
Restoration of a small village. Please note that a whole crowd of people has already crowded at the warehouse.
Want even more horror? Here take the described rules above and transfer them to the battlefield. And also add the moment that when your detachment at least one soldier touches the enemy, you stupidly lose control of the army and wait powerlessly waiting for the end of the fight, hoping for a successful outcome. And any battle turns into an ordinary pile-mala, where only the number and primitive tactics decide, like the "swordsmen in front, archers behind". Well, okay, the battles in many strategies look in this style. But when your troops are rebuilt, they are scattered into many meters around, and if you do not forget that only one person can be on the same cage, then they will mercilessly break the constructions of neighboring detachments. And in a compartment with a wretched logic of AI, you will have to look at how a lonely speaker does not find a place and proudly breaks your slender detachments, Rush all tactics and construction.
You think it’s all? But no. The game is present, his mother, hunger. And you can quench it in two ways: have lunch in the tavern (only for staff) or eat right on the street presented by supplies (only for troops). And now, remember the favorite habit of characters not to fit on one cell and the general slowness of their actions and thoughts, you will get huge lines before the tavern and confusion in the system of troops during the halt. But is it necessary to remind you that the more you have the subordination of people, the more they need provisions. And provisions oh how difficult we get. So, frequent hunger and lonely bread on the shelves will be a private phenomenon.
But it is after you overcome all these problems and troubles, you will fully feel it, hmmmm. What they feel after the completion of difficult work? Joy? Happiness? Satisfaction? May be. German strategies have one very important advantage – they attract. There are people who like to watch the growth of their city. For example, I always keep a couple of saves, just for myself to admire how much the city has grown. And add to this feeling and the joy of overcoming all these barriers exhibited by the game itself and you will get a pure fan.
Yes. "War and Peace" – hardcore of pure water. After all, I have not yet mentioned a sharp camera, graphics, a model of zero and in general – this is an economic strategy, her mother. Only true masochists (among which I enter and I) can go through the company to the end. But if you still consider yourself to be such people, then play it, it deserves it.
If you do not consider yourself a supporter of hardcore and you can’t endure nothing more than Angry Birds, but you want to build something, Anno 1404 is an ideal option. Light, beautiful, relatively simple and understandable – it stands out among gloomy and complex economic strategies. But this does not at all belittles its dignity. If you want to join the world of German strategies, then Anno can be an ideal beginning. Why? Now we’ll figure it out.
Firstly. She is fresh. For those who are not used to looking at a resolution of 800 to 600, Anno beauty will taste. The smoke from farmers rises to the blue sky. Small waves are broken against a pungent embankment on which rich snobs walk. A huge cathedral is being built in the city center, on the forests of which workers and, possibly, assassins. She is beautiful. You can’t even set yourself the goal of the game, but simply turn on the endless game, build a magnificent city and, having unscrewed all the sliders of the graphics to the maximum, just fly throughout the city, amazed at beauty.
Secondly. It is convenient. No troubles in the style of "War and Peace", like one character, one cage. No. Everything is quite clear and even those who are still on the "you" can get used to the genre. Everything will be popularly chewed in training missions, everything will be clearly shown on the example of AI, and tips and tips will haunt you throughout the game. But no, this convenience did not affect the depth of the game at all. There are things such as espionage or city council, the loss of the majority in which deprives you of power, as well as the usual "grain-musk-halb" has not gone anywhere.
Third. She is simple. Everyone can adjust it for themselves. You just need to admire the game and build the greatest city? Please – for you the most extensive and wealthy archipelags with seas free from pirates and friendly neighbors. Do not want to suffer from invasions of robbers and sudden natural disasters? Just remove the check box in the right menu. Do not want to be ill with espionage or city council? Again, the case decides in two or three clicks. But this does not mean at all that the experts of the genre will be bored. The rule acts in the opposite direction. Do you want the heels of unfriendly countries to get up against you? Please. If you want to be built on small, mountainous islands, having a minimum of free space and resources? Get, sign. Everyone can configure the game for themselves and this is wonderful.
Fourth. She is exciting. Although this can be attributed to almost any game of German hardening. If you are not an ardent opponent of the genre, then it will drag you out, be sure to. All these cute, slightly gingerbread, houses in the Renaissance style. These carved, decorated with mosaic bridge. Bright green gardens and a light blue sky will come in your head in the same way as tax reports from the coastal islands, the schedule of trade supplies of spices from the southern colonies and the price of ropes with respect to glass and amber. Everyone will find what is busy with many days, or even a week.
If you, for some reason, do not like the Renaissance era, then welcome to the future in Anno 2070. The differences are minimal. The same Anno 1404, only in profile and with oil. But one can say one thing – if you want to start familiarization with a small but friendly family of economic strategies, then nothing is better than Anno invented.
And for today that’s all. Yes, German pastries have not yet disappeared at all. The recent Anno shot with a bang, and in the open spaces indie is not forgotten the old kind scheme of "grain-muska-coil".