Conqueror

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about Conqueror, the online game. For other meanings, see conquest.

Conqueror is an online conquest game from an independent developer. In the game, a player takes control of a certain faction based on the European map, and plays against either the AI or other players online to control Europe. Play is fairly simple, but mastery is next to impossible.

[edit] Gameplay

The player begins as one province, or area, of the map. The starting province is the faction's capital. The player can then create armies, fortifications, farms, culture, or levy taxes to make his faction more powerful and try to take over "rebel" factions, those that don't belong to another player, or start a war with a different faction. The more provinces that a player controls, the more powerful that player is, in general. The quality of the factions is more important than the quantity, however, as factions with higher populations and culture ratings will have a much higher output than those with less. A higher output means that the province will make more money in taxes, recruit troops faster, build farms faster and advance culture faster. In general, they will build faster.

A screenshot from a game that is well-progressed, taken March 4th 2007

[edit] How to Play

The quick and dirty rules can be found here, with a full set and explanation on the official website.

The red numbers in your province represent the number of armies you have
To move armies, you can either click the province you want the armies to move from, a) then shift-click the one you want to move to, or b) drag to the province you want to move to. Moving into a settlement that you don't control is considered an attack. If the attack is successful, you will control the province.
There are production types. You can see these types on the gray bar on the left side of your screen. You can change these by pressing the "change" button next to the production type. You can also speed up production by purchasing the production for the specified amount of gold under the "buy" button. They are
- Build Farms- Will increase the population of the province by 10,000 peasants. The more peasants you have, the more they can build in a turn
- Advance Culture- Will help your peasants to build things more quickly
- Build armies- Should be self-explanatory
- Send diplomat- Will make the peasants in the province you send them to more loyal, along with all surrounding settlements
- Build fortification- Will give you province a defensive bonus if attacked.
- Levy Taxes- You will gain the specified amount of gold at the end of the turn
The name of the game is to get as many territories as you can
You will need to pay your armies in winter. The more armies you have, and the farther they are away, the more you have to pay them. You can see how much you have to pay them from the "info" button below the yellow box on the left side of the screen, along with your income.
If you don't pay your armies in winter, they will desert you, which could leave you up a creek.
If there is no path from your capital to your provinces, then the armies in those provinces will desert in winter, which could also leave you up said creek.
If you lose your capital, you lose control of your treasury and you will have no money and no way to collect money. This will screw you over in winter, but the same rule applies to your enemies, so go for their capital first.
There are rebellions, so make sure you either have garrison in your provinces or spend some money on diplomats to make them dedicated to you. The best way to make them dedicated, in my opinion, is to have garrison in there for a while then build farms and culture until they're happy. OTHER PROVINCES CAN REBEL TO JOIN YOUR FACTION, so I'd recommend spending some money on diplomats to make them want to be with you
A province can support as many armies as the population of the province is. For example, if the province has 80,000 peasants, then 8 armies can be stationed there free of cost.
Fortifications are a good thing, castles give you an additional 200% bonus to your defense. So if you have 10 armies in your province with a castle, it's like you have 30 armies there to defend. If you attack out of that province, though, you'd still only have ten.