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GAME BALANCE
Each nation has its own
peculiarities of economic and scientific development, and different
military advantages and drawbacks. However, there are no second-best as
for military balance, so all nations have equal opportunities. Just find
advantages of your nation and use them well - and here is you victory!
One can become aware of nation peculiarities while playing tutorial
game, single players missions, and campaigns. Another game balance
feature is that defensive consumes much less resources than an assault.
So a small lead in development cannot give a player an obvious advantage
over his rivals. Also:
stone walls can be destroyed
only with artillery or grenadiers;
cannons feature direct fire
and cannot hit targets behind obstacles;
howitzers and mortars possess
plunging fire and can hit targets at different heights and behind
obstacles.
GAME WORLD PHYSICS
Real physics introduces many
interesting issues into the game. Thus, units climb hills slower, and
they shoot farther at a height. A cannonball explosion becomes much
stronger at a rocky landscape because of rebounds, while at a swamp it
is damped. Artillery and firearms possess shot dispersion and a
probability to hit the enemy by the first shot, etc. The fog of war
closes after a unit in some time. introduces many interesting issues in
the game. Thus, units climb hills slower, and they see and shoot farther
at a height. Artillery and handguns possess shot dispersion and
expectancy of hitting the enemy by the first shot; cannonball explosions
become much stronger in a rocky landscape because of rebounds, while in
a swamp they are damped. Waves rage on the sea, and there are traces in
water behind moving vessels. Also:
the fog of war closes after a
unit in some time.
INTERFACE
Multiple convenient and
already habitual hot keys and control possibilities are included to the
game interface. Thus, with SHIFT-clicking can assign a working schedule
for peasants and a schedule of objectives (or a march rout) for military
units. With CTRL-clicking one can assign a rally point for units being
created. Double-clicking a unit selects all units of this type within
sight. Using hot keys one can select different unit types, group or
regroup units, go to a particular building interface, choose units'
behavior modes (attack, hold position, patrol), choose towers' fire
modes (hold fire, hold fire if friendly is in hitting zone, attack
always). Also:
information panel allows you
being aware of finances, resource expenditure, etc.
SINGLE PLAYER GAME
A single player game
comprises Single Missions, Campaigns, and Random Map mode. Missions' and
campaigns' scenarios recreate real historical situations, while a player
has freedom of choice to achieve the goal. Objectives are varied from
habitual development (your town building, defense and fortification,
resource extraction, territory exploration, forming armies and front
lines, etc.) to mission accomplishment with limited forces. In the
Random Map game, players are able to choose landscape type and the map,
resources, adjust the random map generator, etc.
MULTIPLAYER GAME
Multiplayer game supports up
to 8 players via modem, local network, or Internet, and comprises Random
Map and Historical Battles modes. In the Random Map mode, players are
able to choose map parameters, resources, etc. Also we have developed a
random map generator, that (along with vast game variety of 16 rivaling
nations with their advantages and drawbacks, and a huge technology tree
of 300 upgrades) will make the network game of a long-lasting interest.
Historical battles are precise reconstruction of real ones. They are
reconstructed up to trivial details, such as real historical landscape
and map; enemy troops disposition, stuff, structure and even number
punctually coincide with historical facts. In this game mode a player is
expected to lead any party he chooses, to carry out the battle, and to
confirm or disprove its historically recorded outcome. The historical
battles' maps were created by processing real topographical data.
GRAPHICS
The game utilizes sprite
graphics that allows obtaining beautiful and high detailed pictures,
while common drawbacks of sprite graphics (unit animation jitter and
lifeless landscape) were overcome due to the new graphics compression
algorithm. This algorithm allows using numerous animated movements for
each unit pre-rendered in up to 64 orientations (in 256 orientations for
vessels), so this provides very smooth movements and turns. Background
elements are animated, too: flags flutter at the buildings, wheat rolls
in the wind, windmills' fans revolve, waves go over water surfaces, and
tides wash the coasts.
SPECIAL EFFECTS
Following FX are used in the
game: smoke, explosions, fog, buildings' burning, particle systems,
water waves and flashes, traces in water behind moving vessels, splashes
and ripples in water from cannonballs and splinters, etc.
Minimal system requirements:
Pentium 200MHz, 32 Mb RAM, 1 Mb Video RAM, 200Mb HDD, 8x CD-ROM, Sound
card, DirectX 6.0.
Recommended system
requirements: Pentium II 233 and better, 64 Mb RAM, 4 Mb Video RAM, 200
Mb HDD, 12x CD-ROM, Sound card, DirectX 6.0.
Note: All information taken from www.cossacks.com.
(Official site)
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