Lords of the Realm II
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| Lords of the Realm II | |
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| Developer(s) | Impressions Games |
| Publisher(s) | Sierra Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | 1996 |
| Genre(s) | turn-based strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | N/A |
| Platform(s) | PC |
| Media | CD-ROM |
Lords of the Realm II is a computer game published by Sierra Entertainment and developed by Impressions Games. It was first released on October 31, 1996, and is the second game in the Lords of the Realm series.
The game takes place in a medieval setting, with rulers of several counties warring for the right to be king of the land. Players grow crops, accumulate resources, manufacture weapons, manage armies, build and lay siege to castles, and attempt to conquer their enemies.
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[edit] Overview
Lords of the Realm II is much different than many medieval strategy games. The game has a strong medieval feel, but it is historically based. There is no magic, and unlike many strategy games, it has no technology tree.
[edit] Game play
The game begins with the player ruling over a peaceful and unproductive county with a small populace.
[edit] Town administration
There are seven areas to which the peasants can be assigned: cattle herding, farming, wood chopping, blacksmithing, castle building, tilling, or mining. Citizens not active in one of these roles will remain idle.
Wood, iron, stone, and wheat are measured in tons; livestock and weapons are measured in individual units. These resources must be managed in order to build castles, placate hostile neighbors, and sustain the populace.
Towns are situated in counties; usually a county will have between eight and sixteen units of land to work. The exact makeup of the land varies.
[edit] Resource management
The proper mixture of resources is constantly changing to meet the demands of individual situations; stone will be needed to build castles at one moment, but then wood and gold may become more important.
Food can be lost and found as a result of random occurrences; rats may eat into the players stockpile, lost stores may be found, wolves may kill cattle, the calving season may be exceptionally successful, the Black Death may ravish the county, or there may be a boom in the birthrate.
[edit] Castle building and management
The building of castles requires particularly skillful resource management. The construction of a castle is a high priority because it will help protect the town from enemy armies. Workers will have to be shifted from other tasks to build the castle, taxes will have to be increased, and the happiness of the populace may be harmed.
There are different types of castles a player can choose. A simple wooden palisade will protect against smaller sieging forces, but to stop the onslaught of the biggest and most sophisticated armies, a royal castle will be required.
[edit] Citizen happiness
The most powerful influence on the happiness of citizens is army recruitment. Town denizens will become angry when their young men are recruited into the army, and the presence of even the smallest army will decrease happiness. Citizens must be placated to balance the unhappiness that will result from army recruitment.
Other influences on citizen happiness include food, health, and taxes. Hungry, sick, or over-taxed citizens are unhappy citizens. The player controls food through rations, which can be set from none to triple.
[edit] Diplomacy
Diplomacy can influence the course of events in the game, although there is little opportunity for its use among the mostly-violent interactions between counties. The player can engage in trade and communication by sending insults, compliments, money, or an offer of alliance to other nobles. Insults and miserliness will turn the noble against the player, but monetary generosity and compliments will have the opposite effect.
[edit] Raising an army
The player can raise an army when the time is right to attack, or if threatened. Armies take people from the town and train them into one of the six available classes of soldiers: knights, archers, pikemen, macemen, crossbowmen, swordsmen, and peasants. The player also has the option of hiring mercenaries, though these are loyal only to money and will desert if the player doesn't have enough to pay them. The player's recruitment strategy should be based on the necessary power, speed, ranged attack abilities, and number of the army. The size of the army is determined by the town's resources and citizen happiness.
[edit] Movement and battle
After an army has been created, the player can garrison it in a castle to protect the town, disband it, split it in two, move it, or keep it still. An army has 15 “points” of movement each turn. The amount of points required to move a given distance depends on the terrain; difficult terrain requires more points than easier terrain.
If two enemy armies meet, a battle will begin. Unlike the county management part of the game, battles take place in real time. The player has a complete view of the battlefield and can individually manage units or groups of units.
If an army moves against an enemy castle, a siege will take place. Each castle has a flag in its most fortified position; if the sieging army reaches the opponent's flag, the sieging army wins. Siege tactics differ from open-field battle in that the player may need to take into account the enemy's fortifications and, in three castle designs, a moat. The sieging army may build battering rams, catapults, and siege towers to aid its assault.
An army can also destroy fields and other resources in an enemy country. This causes a loss of morale within the territory and over time can lead to the peasants revolting against their master.
[edit] Custom battle
The game offers an option where the player can create a game designed to test his or her skills. Several factors—such as beginning the game with limited resources, limited map view, or other handicaps—can be set to make victory rather difficult.
