Fantasy Wars: promising new turn based strategy game

[frogbeastegg]

It's a turn based hex strategy game with a (supposedly) challenging AI. It's not an old game either - it's a new release! I feel all faint and dizzy, thought this type of game was long gone.

Anyone know anything about this title? There are some reviews here. There's a demo too. I'm downloading it.

[Raz]

Bah, Heroes of Might & Magic III?

[frogbeastegg]

That was a long time ago

[pevergreen]

IGN gave it a 7.8.

I'd look to the demo if i played that genre.

[frogbeastegg]

Edited the title into something which better reflects what I’m finding.

I don’t know if anyone remembers a game called Fantasy General? Everywhere I go I see Fantasy Wars compared to this game. Not having played Fantasy General, my own comparison is with the Age of Wonders series and Heroes of Might and Magic.

The demo was nice. It lacked a tutorial and has a time limit on it, so after a single play, and some review reading, I picked up the full game. Well, well! So far so very promising.

The manual is stuffed with stats and has an appendix with formulae for advanced players. Um, it also has random sections in French.

Terrain is very important in battle; the wrong terrain can reduce a unit to wimpy as wet tissue paper. Positioning is equally important. Ranged units adjacent to a defending unit will provide supporting fire. This cover is limited to once per turn for each ranged unit. Certain units, mainly human knights, are impetuous and will charge without orders if you move them next to enemy units.

There is a good variety of units, all slotted into overall unit types: ranged, heavy infantry, light infantry, heavy cavalry, light cavalry, air fighters, air bombers, mages, skirmishers. As far as I can see from such limited play time every type will have a valid role to play.

Air units aren’t a standard unit with the ability to move large distances over any terrain. They can only attack units directly underneath them, and they are not strong enough to destroy enemy units alone.

Units gain experience. They can go up 5 levels, or 10 if they are heroes. Each level automatically applies stat boosts, representing the shift from recruit to hardened veteran status. You get to pick a perk for each level too, meaning you can further customise your units to specific roles. Level 1 scouts can gain a poison attack which kills all the wounded men in enemy units, a fire arrow attack, or a defence bonus when in forests.

The game’s damage model is a bit different to the ones in games like HOMM or AoW. A unit has a set number of men. During combat those men can be wounded or killed. Dead men are lost for good and can only be replaced by standing the unit in a friendly settlement and recruiting. Newbies in a unit dilute the unit’s overall experience level. Wounded men are out of action until you order the unit to rest and make camp. If they’re in safe territory all of the wounded will recover in a single turn; if enemies are in close proximity then fewer wounded men will heal and return to action.

Settlements are very difficult to take. Even low level ones grant significant bonuses to defending troops.

I don’t feel it’s fair to comment on the AI yet. Overall opinion from reviewers and players on the game’s English forum is that it’s not stupid. Fingers crossed I shall agree …

[Raz]

If you can't handle the graphics of HoMM III, you probably won't be able to handle the graphics of an MS-DOS game from '96... that is, Fantasy General. It was, as the name implies, a game where you are the general of an army commanding troops of a fantasy nature. It's your classic good-vs-evil game from back in the day. It didn't have much in the way of story but if you want to try it you can get it here for the low, low price of nothing. No it isn't warez or anything like that, but you will need DOS-Box (an MS-DOS emulator). Still, I'd only recommend that if you can handle the user-unfriendly interface of setting up DOS-Box. If you ever have extra time on your hands I'd suggest trying it out.

On topic however, I tried the demo out, it was neat and all but it didn't have that edge... I don't exactly know what the edge is but I didn't like it as much as I hoped. Sorry for the rushed post... I'm in a bit of hurry...

[frogbeastegg]

I've always been under the impression Wesnoth was MP only. Must have been confusing it with another game. I'll take a look when I have worked the game pile down a bit. Thanks.

I'd love to tell you a bit more about how Fantasy Wars is playing out but I haven't loaded it up since that last post. No PC playtime.

[Raz]

Wesnoth is most definitely single player... with a little bit of multiplayer thrown in. The thing is it does have a timelimit on each of the missions. I've found it most frustrating when I am turtling along, building a massive army and then I finally strike... thing is, when I'm literally just a single turn's move from the target out pops a message:
:Game Over, You have run out of time!:

[frogbeastegg]

Gah! I can deal with the occasional timed mission, but an entire game like that? It's completely against the way I like to play, and the stress of feeling I have to rush, rush, rush means I don't get any enjoyment from playing. Heck, the time limit on TW campaigns makes me faintly uneasy and they are generous enough that I have never once run out of time in all these years of playing. I wouldn't have brought Fantasy Wars if I hadn't seen that the claim all missions are timed was erroneous.

[Raz]

Gee, sorry to put you off Wesnoth so much...

[Crazed Rabbit]

I would argue that the limits in Wesnoth do not detract from the gameplay or force a strategy of constant rushing.

Wesnoth is not like a traditional RTS game in that you build a base and enhance it. It is more similar to a hex based wargame, in that your initial raising/choosing of forces, and how you deploy them to fight, are more important (indeed, you don't even build buildings). Because of this, the time limits don't force rushing as they might in an RTS.

At least try some missions to see if the limits detract from the experience, I don't think you'll find that they do.

CR