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Aged
That's MISTER Lag Monkey to you.
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 Posted - Apr 18 2017 : 07:32:39
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I had a craving for a new RTS game, did some research and decided to try a couple of new ones.
Here's a review of one of them - Northgard.
The game is available on Steam for $19.99 and it's an early access game - meaning it's not complete. Early access released Feb 22, 2107
The setting is 800 AD and features Vikings. (Yes, I've been binge-watching Vikings on Amazon.) You build a village/settlement and a war band and take on opponents on a randomly generated map. There are limits on the number of buildings you can build in an area, so chose wisely. You can also only see new areas to colonize via your scout, so that's one of the first units you'll want to make.
There are 4 clans to choose from, each with their own starting and fame bonuses (more on fame in a bit).
Northgard has a number of unique (from my perspective, at least) features.
Clans
Lots of games have different factions that you can play, so this one isn't really all that unique. But, here they are:
Fenrir (Wolf) - attack based
Eikthyrnir (Stag) - fame, happiness based
Heidrun (Goat) - endurance, defense
Huginn and Muninn (Raven) - exploration, merchants [This clan has been added since the initial release.]
The game will feature a 5th clan, as yet unknown.
Resources
There are 8 resources in the game that you need to acquire - food, wood, stone, iron, krowns (money), lore, happiness and fame. Lore, happiness and fame aren't resources in the traditional RTS sense, but acquiring them is important. Acquiring sufficient fame is one of the victory conditions. Acquiring lore allows you to acquire bonuses and blessings, which leads to the wisdom victory condition. I've not seen an RTS with so many resources to manage.
Food - needed to feed your units, colonize new territory, hold a feast (to boost production and acquire fame)
Wood - basic building material, used for heat
Stone - used to upgrade buildings
Iron - used to upgrade units, create war chief
Krowns - pays to train warriors, buy other resources, upgrades
Lore - used to acquire upgrades and blessings
Happiness - used to improve unit production and unit productivity (think research)
Fame - used toward the fame victory condition
Victory conditions
There are 5 victory conditions - domination, wisdom, trade, fame, map special.
Domination - kill all your opponents
Wisdom - acquire all of the blessings and have 4 active loremasters
Trade - collect 7000 krowns, have 1000 krowns in storage and have 4 active merchants
Fame - acquire 1000 fame, colonize 12 areas and build an Altar of Kings
Map Special - Discover and take control of the map special area
There are 14 different civilians that do the work of your clan. They can also defend the zone they are in from invaders.
There are 2 different types of fighting units (warriors, war chief - only 1 allowed) for your war band. Some clans can add an additional fighting unit - essentially a second war chief.
Creating a unit is a simple matter of sending them to the appropriate building (e.g., send them to the hunter's lodge and you've made a hunter).
Finally, there are seasons (ok, just winter and not winter). Production decreases and consumption of wood increases during winter and ignoring that fact can have brutal impacts. There are also disasters. I've seen 4 - blizzards, earthquakes, rats and gateways to hell (can't remember the real name, they unleash draugr's [think white walkers] inside an area)
The art style is a little cartoonish. It's similar to Warcraft 3. No pyrotechnics to speak of.
Final (early access) verdict:
Although the game can be challenging and, at times, even frustrating, I'm enjoying it.
Managing all of those resources and accounting for the time of year is a challenge. Sometimes I've felt a bit overwhelmed. Random maps can be, well, random, but they're never horrendous. I've also found the interplay of all of the diverse elements can also be addictive, though. You have to constantly think and sometimes you have to be patient (e.g., wait out winter, etc.).
As mentioned previously, there's another clan to be added and I would expect that may be the next major change. When the Raven clan was added, some other gameplay changes were made as well. The level of activity during the early access phase is encouraging.
Other things that haven't been implemented yet are the campaign and multiplayer - only skirmish against the AI is available at the moment. I'll be interested to see how this game works in multiplayer with all the moving parts.
In general, I'm liking it (with some reservation), but for $19.99, it's not a bad buy.
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Bypass-OMO
frequent visitor
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Posted - Apr 18 2017 : 10:24:53
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hmmm I am just craving a game! I have to get a new comp and set up mine and Linda's gaming area in the new house, and no comcast over here just dsl and some wireless internet which beams your signal to a dish and then connects to fiber optics from the dish. I am starting to feel Pace's pain lol.
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Aged
That's MISTER Lag Monkey to you.
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Posted - Apr 18 2017 : 12:04:17
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I hate to see you in such primitive conditions.
I tried DSL, didn't like it (vs. cable). With the wireless, is it terrestrial? If so, that may be a decent option. If not, gaming will likely be a problem. Satellite wireless has great throughput (how fast things can be crammed through the line), but bad latency (how quickly the line reacts).
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Bypass-OMO
frequent visitor
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Posted - Apr 18 2017 : 15:48:16
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Ya its terrestrial so the connection isn't too bad just not what we are used to.
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Nosehair-OMO
Administrator
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Posted - May 11 2017 : 17:24:47
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2107 is a bit far out for me to wait for the finish release. Any other games we could try. Petrified is playing with me some on Mechwarrior Online (with his son too)
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Aged
That's MISTER Lag Monkey to you.
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Posted - May 12 2017 : 05:56:57
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I've been playing 2 other RTS games lately - Forts (mini-review in another thread) and Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation.
I'll post a mini-review of Ashes soon... Brief review - it's similar to the Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander games.
Both of those are released with multi-player.
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Aged
That's MISTER Lag Monkey to you.
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Posted - Jun 12 2017 : 04:02:11
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Northgard has added multiplayer functionality and I gave it a try.
So far, I've only had one game - a 2v2v2 on a large map with the domination win condition (kill all your enemies).
The game plays a lot like single player (at least it did for the game settings used). I started out like I did in single player - looking for a wooded zone. I didn't find one, not sure if that was just bad luck or how multiplayer goes. Expansion was slow; however, by the time I encountered an enemy they had an overwhelming force. Obviously, I need to work on my approach needs work.
I did notice a couple of new items. There were 2 new military buildings - shield bearers and ax throwers both of which were grayed out with a WIP tag. So, the make up of armies is due to get some added complexity.
The game retains its economic complexity and, at least under the game conditions used for my only game thus far (large map, single win condition) resulted in a fairly long game. Other game conditions could reduce the play time.
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Aged
That's MISTER Lag Monkey to you.
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Posted - Aug 06 2017 : 04:13:05
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A new clan has been added Bjarki (bear clan).
I haven't tried it out yet, but when I do I'll post something here.
It's good to see the developer being so active.
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Northgard (early access)
