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The Persian Wars 1: Uprising in Ionia
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Author |
File Description |
Gordon Farrell |
Posted on 04/08/98 @ 12:00 AM
File Details |
Number of Scenarios: |
3 |
Difficulty: |
Hard |
This is an attempt to create a set of challenging scenarios that trace the drama and the action of the great wars between Persia and Greece, in the 5th Century B.C. I have paid as much attention as I could to historical accuracy. There are, however, some anomalies in my philosophy of computer gaming which colored my approach to designing. Truth be told, I'm more of a turn-based gamer than a real time gamer. Consequently, my scenarios (I think) play more like turn-based games. For the most part, you will not find yourself under constant, direct attack. Instead, you'll have significant "breathing spaces" to plan your next move. But your move, once you initiate it, will bring your enemies down on your head! At least, that's what I'm TRYING to accomplish -- any and all feedback on these initial three scenarios will be much appreciated!! My long-range plan is a total of nine scenarios: three dealing with Darius' attack on the Greek mainland, and three for his son, Xerxes', all-out effort to subjugate Greece once and for all. I hope you have fun. If I did my job right, though, you should be cursing a blue streak at some of the problems I've tried to create for you! Updated 1998/02/25 Here's an amended campaign file. I just replayed the 3rd scenario and it worked ok. (You should get a win when Mor Havoc reaches the Greek Chorus) |
Author | Comments ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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Franlaw |
Posted on 04/20/98 @ 12:00 AM
This campaign is what AoE is all about. ; The story is *very* compelling (it's written by a history professor from New York), absoutely the best I've read, and the scenarios combine battle with strategy. ; This is not a "build-up-and-destroy" campaign. ; You are given a limited number of ; troops (and I really mean *limited*) in all but one of the scenarios, and you must figure out the best way to meet the objectives. ; This campaign pushed my AoE skills to the limits, it is a *must* download! I can't wait to pay the author's next one! |
Jerry Caldwell |
Posted on 04/20/98 @ 12:00 AM
Highly recommend! ; Great map, storyline and history combo. ; Author definitely took quality over quantity approach. ; Plus it is very challenging (mod. - hard). ; Gives the feel of playing out history (ala AoE style). ; The scenarios call for both land and sea tactics - some with more than one path to victory (or defeat). ; Bring on the sequel! |
LittleFreak |
Posted on 05/17/05 @ 09:52 AM
This is one of those uploads I've been meaning to finish for ages, but somehow I never made it. Today, I've had a go at it again and finally also finished the third scenario.
Playability: (rating retracted)
Brilliant. All of the three scenarios are different, and incredibly fun to play. The first one is a fixed force scenario, with *very* limited troops and multiple ways to win. The second one is build&destroy, and while it's the longest mission, it also has some problems. The goal is to build 15 farms on the Scythian's land and get 10.000 food. To simulate long supply lines, town centers are disabled, so all the food has to be imported. Now you can either command ships for hours until you hit 10.000 food, which gets boring fast or just build granaries, which Gordon forgot to disable. I first thought about importing it like it was meant to be, but as I got bored I just built some granaries. Historical accuracy is good, but it shouldn't kill playability. The third scenario is the hardest, but also my favourite. You have to get Mor Havoc out of a heavily besieged town. There are thousands of ways to finish this scenario, and it will probably take thousands of tries until you get it right. Still, it was extremely fun.
Balance: (rating retracted)
Hard as heck, but never impossible. I loved it. The only time it was too easy was in the second scenario. Once you killed the yellow ships you are virtually invincible, the Scythian horse archers are easily killed by ships and siege.
Creativity: (rating retracted)
Like I said, in every scenario you have to do something else, and there are thousands of tactics you could use to win. Perfect.
Map Design: (rating retracted)
The effort that has gone into making the maps geographically accurate is enormous, and it looks very realistic. There are no such things as grass clumps and desert patches, but in a way I liked how it looked.
Story/Instructions: (rating retracted)
Great story. You really feel like a part of the adventure, and you'll want to play again and again for the sake of knowing how the story continues. Good instruction maps and hints also, great history.
Additional Comments:
This is really a classic. I haven't checked out Part 2-6 yet, but will definitely do so soon.
Download Recommendation: Yes
Edit:
Ratings were retracted, after all rating old uploads by today's standards isn't really fair.[Edited on 02/17/07 @ 09:01 AM]
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skald |
Posted on 08/14/08 @ 05:45 PM
NOTE: Please see Persian Wars Gold, 8-26-98 for
all complete updated Persian campaigns. |
VictorIn_Pacific |
Posted on 07/31/14 @ 01:33 AM
The ratings above are accurate. The scenarios:
1) Pretty easy. Take one catapult to besiege the city; kill everything in sight.
2) Pretty straightforward, once you get set up, provided you survive the initial Trireme rush. There are some unusual difficulties.
3) Very hard. There is exactly one way to reliably win. You won't find it by trial and error; you must cheat. |
PartizanLegis |
Posted on 01/01/23 @ 08:31 AM
I really don't get why people were so thrilled back in the day about this campaign. The positives are the story, narration and a really good effort back in 1998 of designing a realistically looking map of Ionia.
The overkill of units and the constant frustration of getting killed were an off putting factor for me though. In the first mission with trial and error, I managed to complete the task (I liked the idea of using the reserve forces in the north as a distraction with a suicidal attack against the grey forces - yes, suicidal because there is no way this lighty armed force could beat the Persian phalanxes - and I knew from History that Greeks had the heavy armed troops and Persians were lighty armored...) The second mission had boring objectives (10,000 food seriously??) and not a good balance - too many horse archers and nothing to counter them as the Triremes could not get them that far in the mountain. Last mission, a hectic hell of fleets and armies. I don't know if it was possible without cheating. Not a very well balanced campaign. Although I appreciate the effort back in the day for making a historic campaign.[Edited on 01/01/23 @ 08:37 AM]
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HGDL v0.8.2 |
Rating |
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4.5 | Breakdown |
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Playability | 3.8 | Balance | 4.3 | Creativity | 5.0 | Map Design | 4.5 | Story/Instructions | 5.0 |
Statistics |
Downloads: | 3,801 |
Favorites: [] | 0 |
Size: | 246.00 Bytes |
Added: | 04/08/98 |
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