The Settlers II

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The Settlers II
Developer(s)	Blue Byte Software
Publisher(s)	Blue Byte Software
Designer(s)	Thomas Häuser
Release date(s)	1996 (PC), 1997 (Mac)
Genre(s)	Real Time Strategy
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	OFLC: PG
Platform(s)	PC-DOS, Macintosh

The Settlers II is a real-time strategy computer game, released by Blue Byte Software in 1996. Its gameplay is very similar to that of its predecessor, The Settlers, albeit with a Roman theme and improved graphics. Many fans of the franchise consider this the best game of the Settlers series, primarily because future installments changed the transport management aspect considerably.^{[citation needed]} This popularity was recently acknowledged by Blue Byte's decisions to publish a remake of the game, The Settlers II 10th Anniversary for the PC, and a port to the Nintendo DS more then a decade after the original release.

Several abandonware sites provide the full game free for download, but the game has never been officially set out for free. Thus the download provided on abandonware sites can be considered illegal. However, there is a download available that appears to be legal: it is a compilation of released demo versions and upgrades of the game, making up most of the full game. The author of the download states there is no file used from the full game. [1]

Contents 1 Gameplay 2 Production 3 Distribution 4 Tools made by fans 4.1 Map generators 4.2 Translation tools 4.3 Object editor 4.4 Other tools 5 Notes

[edit] Gameplay

Settlers II can be played in either campaign mode or through individual scenarios defined by the user. The user can also engage in a split screen match with a human opponent on the same computer with a second mouse.^[1] The player's main objectives are building a diverse economy and conquering every computer opponent. The player begins each map with a warehouse and a set amount of materials and tools. The economy is driven by serfs who transport goods through a network of roads and also populate a building once its completed, if the necessary tool to perform the building task is present in the warehouse. The economy is based on gathering raw materials which include food, rock, lumber, ores. The player has control over what percent of a materials is transported to each building for processing. All raw materials are used to enable different economic functions such as food enables miners to mine, rock and lumber are used as material to construct buildings and other tasks while different ores are used to construct tools and war material.

The player has a limited territory (area of land) on which he can construct buildings and roads. During the start of the game, the main warehouse is the main building granting territory around a specific radius. Territory can be expanded by creating one of four military complexes (Barracks, Guardhouse, Watchtower and Fortress) near the present territory border. Each complex must have at least one soldier garrisoned to receive the added territory bonus. Soldiers can be created by manufacturing a sword and shield, and using them to upgrade a serf. One "unit" of beer is also required to upgrade a serf to a soldier. Gold bars can also be added to raise the rank of a soldier making him stronger in combat. The player can send any amount of available soldiers to an enemy military complex where the soldier(s) must defeat all enemy soldiers housed in the building. If the players soldier defeats all housed soldiers then the military complex is taken over by the player with the accompanying territory of the buildings radius. The player wins the scenarios once he defeats all opponents by occupying all their military complexes including the main warehouse. At this point, the game gives an option to either quit the game or continue playing even though all opponents are destroyed.

[edit] Production

[edit] Distribution

[edit] Tools made by fans

The game has inspired a lot of fans to create their own modifications, additions and tools for the game. Over the time a lot of these tools have disappeared from the Internet, but some do still remain and even some new are still being made.

[edit] Map generators

There are two known map generators available.

• Landschaftsgenerator 2.5 by André Franke, able to create decent maps that can be played directly without any major modifications by the user. A newer version 2.7 is offered by Isch and Ivans Settlers II site.
• The Settlers II Map Generator by Vesa Piittinen. It is able to create impressive shapes for maps, but requires the user to do most of the hard work. It gives valuable base for creating your own maps. The author has confirmed this map generator is still under development, although the latest version was released in the year 2004.

Both of the map generators do not provide all the required information, which results the map seem "flat" in the map window when loading the map into the game. This problem can be solved by using The Settlers II Map Editor to resave the map (this tool is provided with the Gold Edition and Mission CD releases of the game).

[edit] Translation tools

There is one known translation tool available, The Ingame Strings Editor by Vesa Piittinen. The author has used the tool to translate the game to Finnish.

[edit] Object editor

Jörg Scholl has created Object editor. The version available requires registration, but apparently the author has provided registration code for free use as stated by Isch and Ivans Settlers II site. The tool can be used to place objects into maps and to create your own campaigns. It is only available in German.

[edit] Other tools

Jürgen Nagel Software provides several useful tools for modifying the game, however all of the programs are for sale only. It is unknown if you can still buy the programs. All of the programs are only available in German.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Rog. Settlers II: Veni, Vidi, Vici. The Electric Playground. Retrieved on 2006-10-28.