Praetorians
Praetorians is a game I’ve been playing a lot lately, going through the single player campaign on hard. While the story in the campaign isn’t incredibly memorable (most of the missions are different points in roman history I believe) the gameplay itself as well as the challenge is just incredibly addicting and fun. The scenarios (especially the later ones) are challenging but fair, requiring you to think, take good positions, scout when possible. It’s a very tactical squad based rts with no worrying about gathering resources nor worrying about building up bases. It’s a game where hills and forests can either be your best friends, or worst enemies (as units that are on or in these things can’t be seen by enemy units that are not on or in these things).
– Real player with 26.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Strategy RTS Games.
I played this game growing up as a boy who loved to emerse myself in the idea of Romans, mainly due to the two nostalgic titles of The settlers IV and Rome total war. So when my Dad brought this game home I found it hard not to fall in love as the game portrays what Romans are remembered for in many little and major aspects of the game.
This game will seem overwelming at first and the fact that it is old and pretty harsh graphics to look at won’t help, especially if your new to the RTS genre. The personel management of troops is the main feature of this game as well as supplying new troops from villages that have either a barbarian or eastern theme. This works well but could be seriously expanded on. For example the only way to select troops is a drag box method. This is also fine but gets annoying when troops move indepedantly due to any stimuli. For example the troops will move out the way for a catapult and when I return to them they are somewhere else and have alerted the enemy. So some polish and rethink of coding and game aspects is needed.
– Real player with 4.5 hrs in game
Glory of Rome
Cute little city builder. So far (scenario 6 complete) it has been pretty casual, a little slow at times. There are some speed adjustments, but everything still seems to go by very slowly. The quests that come along definitely help with cashflow for building and add a small amount of difficulty if you aren’t ready for what they throw at you.
The graphics are pretty cartoonish. The mechanics are straight-forward if you play a lot of these sort of sim games. (Banished, RimWorld, etc)
I dislike the one view camera. You can’t rotate at all. The play areas - even in sandbox - are prohibitively small. Buildings autoface pre-built roads with no option to change the orientation. However, the pips seem to walk through the walls anyhow so I guess it doesn’t matter a whole lot which way the building is facing.
– Real player with 13.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Strategy Building Games.
A nice and straight forward sim with pleasant graphics and good gameplay.
The Developer is quite responsive towards suggestions and feedback and has already confirmed there will be big future content updates which I’m looking forward to.
If you like Sim City, here is a roman-era version you should definitely check out.
– Real player with 7.4 hrs in game
Mare Nostrvm
Mare Nostrvm (Latin: “Our Sea”) is a turn-based hex grid naval battle wargame developed by Turnopia. Inspired by board wargames and ancient Mediterranean history, it is one of those games where a minimalist interface and plain graphics are a misleading cover for complex mechanics and a steep learning curve in gameplay.
Featuring a historically faithful single-player campaign and a robust skirmish generator in both single and multiplayer modes, Mare Nostrvm will appeal to either turn-based combat buffs or history buffs, but the former may not care much for the setting and the latter may be put off by the difficulty, which is non-negotiable.
– Real player with 23.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Strategy Wargame Games.
So after trying the tutorial battle, then reading the manual(takes about 15 mins) and then replaying the tutorial, here are my thoughts:
This is a turn based(WEGO system, my favorite) “tabletop” style wargame, with utilitarian graphics. It is easy to get into but still feels challenging to play.
I would highly recommend this game to anyone who likes this period of history, likes TB wargames and doesn’t mind minimalist graphics. If you’re an RTS kind of gamer who needs state of the art “bells & whistles”, stay away from this one.
– Real player with 22.8 hrs in game
Retaliation Path of Rome
Retaliation Path of Rome is a very complex game, with several unique features
MISSIONS
About 100 different missions, with either single or multiple objectives, like:
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reach a population target (a minimum number of patricians and/or plebs)
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reach a target happyness
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earn a certain amount of money
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complete the mission in a given time
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win a certain number of battles
5 difficulty levels, from very easy to very hard: with different world resources, starting money, initial reputation…
Every mission is created parametrically to offer an ever changing challenge, each time a mission is re-played.
STRUCTURES
The player has the possibility to build more than 50 structures to complete the missions. Some example structures:
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Slaves' quarters
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Plebs' houses
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Patrician villas
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Wheat field
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Olive grove
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Vineyard
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Farm
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Fishing house
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Market
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Stables
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Workshop
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Dirt road
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Paved street
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Archers' barracks
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Ballistaari' barracks
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Equites' barracks
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Legionary barracks
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Velites' barracks
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Defence tower
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Signaling tower
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Watch tower
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Wooden wall
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Wooden gate
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Stone wall
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Stone gate
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Forum
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Theatre
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Amphitheatre (arena)
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Gladiator ludus
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Stadium (chariot races)
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Gardens
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Groves
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Fountain
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Well
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Butcher
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Olive maker
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Wine maker
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Lumber mill
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Clay pit
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Iron mine
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Stone quarry
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Marble quarry
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Gold mine
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Potter workshop
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Blacksmith
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Academy
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Library
..
Each structure needs specific resources in order to be built.
And of course each structure has different function and features, and some structures have to be properly positioned in order to yield the desired result: for wine production it is necessary to create both vineyard (to get the grapes) and a winemaker (to get the wine).
CITY AI
In each city there will be some AI controlled competitors: other patricians whose goal is to increase their riches and extend their influence. They will be vying with the player, acquiring resources and building structures, trying to get to the best spots before the player.
The competitors appear in advanced levels, and each has a different strategy: some concentrate in the real estate market, others in trade or in resource production.
DESIRABILITY
When new structures get built, these can differ in desirability. Usually this depends on what is present (or built) around them. For example a patrician villa has higher desirability (and hence higher market value) if nearby there are gardens, fountains, other villas, theatres.. It instead loses value if nearby there are stables, farms, wheat fields… Residents will at first go to dwell or work in the structures with higher desirability, avoiding those of little value.
For production structures, for example a wheat field, the value depends on the amount of the produced resource is available in the nearby city and in the global market. If the market needs grains, the value of the field will rise. Conversely, the field would become less desirable and its value decrease.
DAMAGE
In time, structures deteriorate. Every week mainteance works are done to keep them operative and pleasant. If there are not enough money for the basic upkeep or if extraordinary work is needed, the player will need to acquire the necessary funds and repair it as soon as possible (or see its profitability vanish and possibly even arrive to the point when the whole structure eventually collapses).
CITY BUILDING
The city management part of the game depends chiefly on money, people’s satisfaction and resources available.
Dealing with these three amounts, the player needs to complete the missions.
Careful and efficient exploitation of the resources allows to save money and gain with the trade. A wheat field created in a fertile area will yield much more and hence cover its operation costs and bring profit.
It is best to plan the city growth in order to efficiently exploit the resources and reduce the expenses. It is important that cities be self-sufficient: for example a global event like a drought could push prices of imported goods to very high levels.
It is also fundamental to avoid discontent in the populace. If discontent is too high there could be revolts that would seriously compromise the possibility to successfully complete a given mission.
HAPPYNESS
To be happy, people needs to have their basic needs satisfied: food, dwelling, work, water, protection from enemies.
Increasing the people’s life conditions will also generate new needs. In particular the patricians will start to require luxury goods (good wine, gold, silk, refined pottery, statues…).
Entertainment is another fundamental need: populous cities will require stadiums and arenas (and famous people competing inside those structures..)
When happyness is low, the city structures become less productive and hence less profitable.
WORKERS
All structures need a certain amount of workers or worktime, even for the simple upkeep/maintenance.
All productive structures are tightly bound to the number of workers available in the city: with not enough available workers the production would decrease or even become null. Structures with the highest desirability will be the first ones to attract the workers, leaving the others without.
Different structures will require different amounts and different type of workers. For some jobs only slaves will be requested. Plebs are needed for crafts and trade.
Unemployment will cause collapse of happyness and increased risk of revolts.
PATRICIANS / PLEBS / SLAVES
Patricians are the wealthiest citizens, they have expensive needs and cannot accept to see their needs not satisfied. Their weight over city happyness is very relevant.
They also expect to be given high prestige jobs: army generals, high clerics, administrators, politicians, proprietors.
Plebs are mostly involved in crafts and trade. They are fundamental for the management of the city but they don’t have much political weight.
Their class gives the major turnout in tax income.
Slaves are the major work force. Satisfying their primary needs (food, lodging, water) is important as they deal with the production and resource gathering of the city. Correct management of the slaves is fundamental to make the city desirable to the other classes.
RESOURCES:
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Gold
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Wood
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Stone
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Marble
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Iron
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Clay
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Wheat
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Meat
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Fish
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Grape
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Olive
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Wine
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Oil
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Pottery
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Jewelry
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Leather
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Cloth
These are the resources that can be traded, produced or transformed.
TRADE
To evolve the city it is mandatory to correctly manage the trade of all goods: selling the city production to obtain the resources needed for the evolution and improvement of the city.
Prices of resources are managed at two distinct levels: local and global.
Locally: they depend on the city demand and the amount of that type of good that has been bought or sold (selling a lot of wheat will make its price decrease).
Globally: the entire nation’s demand is evaluated and several other factors also influence the price (e.g. events like plagues, droughts, wars..). For example the global price of wheat could be much higher than the local one because of scarcity due to droughts in several areas of the nation.
So if there is a global crisis, even if your city sells a lot of wheat, its price could still be increasing instead of decreasing. But when the trend changes (for example the drought ends) its price could suddenly crash.
AUTOMATIC TRADE
To simplify the game and avoid micromanagement, it is possible to automate trade setting some “limit orders”.
E.g. “buy if there is less than .. %”
The automatic system won’t consider the price, but the quantity set as requirement.
STRUCTURES' MARKET
In Path of Rome it is possible to buy or sell the structures (with the exclusion of those like walls, streets, barracks) according to its market value.
Once the building of a structure is complete, the player has the possibility of selling it, to the value defined by its desirability and the kind of resources it produces.
Selling a structure gives an immediate income, but could be disadvantageous in the long term:
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no money will be collected for rent of properties or sale of production
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resources produced by sold structures will not be managed by the player
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and hence those resources won’t be available to build other structures
Nevertheless a good sale would still benefit because of immediate cash flow…
DANGER AND ENTRENCH
Every structure you build makes your city more appealing to enemies who could invade or pillage it, according to the kind of structure: a patrician villa, a thriving market or a golden mine would increase the risk of enemy incursion much more than a new wheat field or a stone quarry.
To compensate, it is better to spend some money and time on defending the city, creating walls, towers and military units.
Defensive structure will also contribute to raise the desirability and hence the values of the other structures of the cities, whose occupants will feel safer.
All choices in the game are two pronged, bringing both advantages and problems.
For example, continuing on the topic of city defense: if there are few or no defensive structures, there will be many enemy incursions, but very light (small bands of brigands mostly).
Conversely, excellent defensive structures won’t guarantee that the city becomes untouchable, will deter and block small offensives but will attract the organized war sieges of big enemy armies: a city so well defended MUST be rich and full of bounty!
BATTLES
Retaliation Path of Rome is a hybrid RTS/TBS, a combination which makes the game very tactical. You’ll need to plan how to move the troops, how to arrange them and expecially what kind of army units to train. Different movement ability (velites, with barely no armour, are much faster than full armoured princeps) and different attack types and attack speeds make unit types (and how you’ll use them in battle) very different.
Each battle is managed by a parametric AI system with almost endless combinations and possible states and developments.
COHORTS
Units are arranged in groups, which are commanded by officers, controlling the movement and formation of the groups.
Each group can have a different formation: for example you’ll probably be depolying the archers in a long line (or in two/three lines), rather than massed as a square.
The commanding officer will also decide the state for the group: defensive, aggressive, berserk…
Continuously changing the state, formation, movement or attack orders of a group when the battle is already started may seed confusion on some members of the group, which may then fail to follow some of the orders and in the worst cases a total confusion could even provoke the disbandment of the group.
GENERALS
The army general will give commands to the officers and these will command the groups under their command.
The closer a general is to a certain group, the faster the issued orders will be received and carried out correctly. If the general is far away, the group for which the order is meant will react more slowly to the new commands.
If your general dies during the battle you can still command the army, but in a much slower and less coordinated way, with a high risk of confusion and messy coordination. Furthermore, the loss of the general will take a huge toll on the army’s morale, and could cause the whole army to flee the battlefield.
COHORTS AI vs SINGLES AI
Control AI will be managing separately groups and single soldiers.
Each group is treated as a single autonomous entity and orders given to the group will take priority over orders and states of the single soldiers. Nevertheless if the group disbands, its officer dies or the army general dies, then single soldiers will not be bound by group cohesion and will follow a behaviour dictated by their last orders, mediated by their own particular demeanor, state and parameters (called " stats").
SOLDIERS
Each soldier has more than 20 “stats”, parameters defining the single unit, similarly to many RPGs (like strength, intelligence, agility, accuracy, movement speed, orientation ability, luck, tactical acumen, battle experience… ).
Every cohort will include units with very different characteristics, which will affect their performance on the battlefield.
For example: a very strong archer will shoot very fast and very far, possibly inflicting more damage when hitting… but the same archer could have a very bad aim and rarely hit the intended target.
Unit types:
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General
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Legionary (heavy infantry)
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Velities (light infantry)
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Ballistarii (siege and field artillery operators)
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Sagittarii (archers)
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Equites (cavalry)
TRAINING
All cohorts can undergo specific and additional training (up to 5 levels) to become more efficient and to improve the stats of the individual members of the cohort.
Training will improve things like speed of execution of orders, combat ability, manouvering, aim… but no amnount of training, obviously, will affect such things as individual soldiers' intelligence or natural agility.
Rome: Total War™ - Collection
RTW has an epic feel.
As of today, this game is nearly eleven years old. So, the battle graphics are not as crisp as newer titles, the historicity of some units is sketchy (or just made up), and it seems that multiplayer is not smooth in Steam. Fortunately, none of these mean a thing to me. The heart of the game is in the grand strategy and the personal narrative.
With over a hundred regions in which to play, the strategic game is where RTW shines. You need to plan where you will expand and where you will defend… and then be ready to adapt when the AI does not do what you expect. You may be the pawn of the Senate and serve at their beck and call. You might try to expand against the weak. You can follow the trade routes to gain riches through conquest. You will find yourself occupying regions merely to stymie your enemies (and your allies). Or you might work your way towards all seven Wonders to reap their benefits.
– Real player with 1982.0 hrs in game
Classic game, it uses a realistic battle engine which simulates battles down to minute details, in a way no longer found in newer engines which depend apon flashy graphics to generate interest. The sheer effort put into this game really tells you its creators cared about it they were not just throwing something flashy out there to get as much money as possible. The game makes up for its old and ancient graphics with interesting game mechanics that you just DONT get in the newer RTS games with intricate tactical aspects in addition to intriacate strategic ones. since so much attention has been given to FPS games in recent years. The game is well made and it shows. In modern total wars and other RTS games, troops getting into 1v1 cinimatic fights where thy slide around on the map rather than recreating actual formation dynamics and combat in a believeable way as Rome 1 does. In Rome 1 TW you don’t just have static groups of people fighting in one spot like other games, your troop formations collide and dudes go flying, people get knocked down. The larger force slowly pushes the smaller one back while its formation fluxuates, troops arrange sheilds to defend against attackers leaving weakspots open to well positioned archers. Every part of the strategic map is mapped out into battle maps that mirror that place on the stratiegic map. I am not talking you get a different set of cookie cutter template battle maps depending on your region NO!!! I mean the battle map is an EXACT copy of the terrain on the stategic map. You see a hill on the over all map and move your army to it so the enemy will attack you on ground you choose that hill is on the battle map valleys mountain you name it the battle is in that spot not a faximally of that spot THAT SPOT. The same goes for citys, each is unique and grows in unique ways and this shows on the siege map. Build something in a city and its on the battle map, if a saboteur destroys something it is destroyed on the battle map, Your family members/ generals grow as a result of the situations you put them in becoming complex individuals, put them in a big city with librarys and academys and they may become a soft person but a good organizer, or maybe if the city is a religious center he may become pious or slowly go insane, or become blood thirsty if you constantly send him into battle and he gets kills in said battles (yes even what he does in the battles matters). Another really cool mechanic is that when you recruit units the men are taken from the local populus and when disbanded the men generally resettle in that region! and city level is determined by population so recruit to many from a populas and the city will grow slowly while inversely you can move your populus around to level up citys. Another difference from newer games is the factions, they are few in number compared to the scores of factions in newer games but each faction in very unique, with some factions sharing cultures and others with similar but different cultures. Each culture has a unique city style ect.
– Real player with 1183.0 hrs in game
Aggressors: Ancient Rome
This review is actually a Thank you letter to the developer for making this game.
For unbiased reviews skip this one.
I think it was 25 years ago that most of my school holiday time was used to do what I really like. Gaming. But I did not had my first PC yet, so gaming was spending one day in the city to collect all kind of painting materials and paperboards to create the ultimate game myself.
The Civilization boardgame, HeroQuest boardgame and some rare tabletop games I owned served as an example. But mine had a bigger boards, more options, more counters and features, more of everything actually.
– Real player with 562.4 hrs in game
Aggressors - Ancient Rome
This obscure historical game is turn based strategy / tactics to dominate the world starting in 280 BC by default, but adustable from 1000 BC to 500 AD. It is single player and is my personal choice for game of the year. I have played it for over 480 hours in the past 60 days. It is published by Slitherine and available through them, on Steam and GOG.
Where I am coming from
–———————————–
I am the curator of Strategic Win https://store.steampowered.com/curator/9074928/ and have reviewed 142 games there in the past 2 years. I bought this game from Matrix games.
– Real player with 521.5 hrs in game
Alea Jacta Est
Alea Jacta Est (hence AJE) simulates Roman-era warfare at a strategic level, and it is probably the best one on Steam.
As any good strategy game, AJE is a game of informations, and its brilliance shines the most in how these informations are acquired: unlike other “arcade” games (e.g. Rome Total War 1/2) the map does not show true data, but just a patchwork of rumors, whose reliabililty depends on factors under the player’s control (e.g. own army composition, scouting), factors out of control (e.g. subordinates' skill, or lack of it), and enemy’s actions.
– Real player with 153.2 hrs in game
Sooner or later, when playing Rome Total War, you start getting this uncomfortable feeling that what you’re doing on the strategic map is just a stage prop for pixel soldiers to run around in pretty period costumes.
Alea Jacta Est, though very nice to look at, is not about eye candy.
Instead, it gives you a very detailed strategic and operational view of what the opposing sides were dealing with. When battles or skirmishes take place they are resolved abstractly, though the abstraction gives a pretty detailed depiction of the tactical characteristics that were likely to be in play.
– Real player with 85.7 hrs in game
Caesar™ IV
Many years ago, when I was a member of GameTap (before Steam), I became addicted to CivCity Rome. Fast forward a decade and some change later, I found Caesar IV on Steam and thought I’d give it a whirl. Having loved CivCity Rome, I figured Caesar IV would be equally as satisfying.
I was right, and I was wrong. Right because I loved Caesar IV from the moment I started playing. Wrong because it is far superior to CivCity Rome in a plethora of ways. Not knocking CivCity Rome, but Caesar IV has so many additional features and perks.
– Real player with 441.4 hrs in game
As someone who has spent more than 1000h+ in Civ V and VI, I’d say this is a great city-builder game. Easy to learn, hard to master style. As I write this I’m trying to complete the last campaign mission @ prosperity path, already completed the game in the military mode at hard difficulty.
I can assure you people who complain about scenarios being too small have only played the tutorial missions, which are small indeed, but it’s just the tutorial who tries to teach you how to optimice the space you are given to build. All other scenarios give you far too plenty of space.
– Real player with 148.1 hrs in game
CivCity: Rome
I love this game. I have played it plenty. I am desperate to see it get brought into the 21st century and become an awesome roman city simulator idea…The core game is already infinitley playable and with a bit of depth honestly is a £30-£40 game for me.. Features/direction I would love to see any developers go….(off the top of my head as i get so many ideas when playing this game it does that…
1 Focus on the non army aspect and make it a city builder
2 Focus on the ecomony part of it. Larger number of different products and shops..i.e more detailed items of clothing, diverse food
– Real player with 146.4 hrs in game
I once played 10+ hours of this as a kid, ca. 2006, racing against a laptop that had started flickering with the blue screen of death.
I was delighted to find this and my all-time favorite game, Sierra’s city-builder Pharaoh, on Steam as an adult.
So, as a grown-up, what’s my verdict on CivCity: Rome?
It’s a lost opportunity for a truly great game and what could have been the flagship for a CivCity series.
Now, it’s fine to have a red herring or two in a mission to keep players on their toes, but in CCR the mismatched and misplaced items are just sloppiness. For example– if there is NO OVERSEAS TRADE or even NO OCEAN in a scenario, you have access to a boat wright and trade dock in your build menu. Marble can only be used for trade, with no role in construction, but it appears in almost every map. If it’s not on your map, you’ll still have access to a marble quarry in the build menu.
– Real player with 97.2 hrs in game
Europa Universalis: Rome - Gold Edition
Mix of Europa Universalis IV and Crusader Kings II with an Ancient Era theme?
As mentioned before this game somewhat finds the middle ground between Europa Universalis IV and Crusader Kings II set in the Classical Era, while keeping it a bit more simple. There are individuals with personal properties who are part of families which you can appoint to perform certain tasks in your realm, but you are not playing as a dynasty gaining and losing lands by inheritance. For some people this type of gameplay might make CKII a bit hard to comprehend (or even annoying when you lose your realm because of some patrilineal/matrilineal screw up, or lose your alliances at the death of your ruler), in which case Europa Universalis: Rome offers a nice alternative because you are playing as a state while still having a fun mechanic with indivuals with personal traits.
– Real player with 597.1 hrs in game
My most played game on Steam, and it deserves a review.
Its very indeph with loads of micromanagement, and if you happen to like the timeline, you are welcome to buy it.
You can tune it to play it with unlimited time, if that bothers you.
What sets it apart from normal EU games, is the barbarian mechanic.
There are lots of uncivilized lands where barbarians are uprising all the time, and it takes near the end of the game, to civilize them all. If you play a nation that borders to them, it makes the game very “fun” and unpredictible.
– Real player with 527.6 hrs in game