Warlords is a computer game series created by Steve Fawkner, in which role-playing elements are combined with turn-based strategy in a fantasy setting. The series include four official games and two extension packs. Though the last game of the series was released back in 2003, the series is still relatively popular and has a dedicated community. Several remakes (both officially supported and fan-contributed) exist.
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The central aspects of Warlords game series are units, heroes, cities and diplomacy.
Units in Warlords have several standard properties (strength, distance of movement per turn, cost, upkeep and (possibly) special abilities like an ability to fly, traverse certain type of terrain with faster pace or a combat bonus; since Warlords III units have hit points).
Unlike Battle of Wesnoth in Warlords units are wastable resource: they don't progress much with experience, are much cheaper and are produced on a regular basis.
Heroes are a special kind of units that have more properties and some special abilities:[1][2]
Unlike units the heroes are a valuable resource. The reasonably experienced hero with some items may become the most powerful unit in the game.
The heroes can't be produced like other units; instead they offer their service for fee (except for the first hero, which is joins the player for free on the first turn of the game) and the user can only accept or reject these offers.
The game flow of Warlords typically involves capturing the cities. The default winning condition is to conquer most of the cities on the map.
The cities are the main source of new units in the game. Up to four different units can be available in a single city with an ability for player to buy production — to replace the currently available units with others at some initial cost. Once the player owning the city orders production of unit, the city will provide new units of a kind until another order is issued. The production may be forwarded from one city to another, allowing player to concentrate armies on the borderline or in another location of strategic interest.[2]
The cities also serve the defense purpose: the defenders of city enjoy the "city bonus", which increases armies' strength. Several units have the special ability to cancel the city bonus.
Once city falls to another player, he has a choice whether to occupy, pillage, sack or raze it. Once razed, the city can't be rebuilt. Sacking the city removes all the production options returning the player half of their cost. Pillaging the city results in removal of some production options (those being the most expansive units in Warlords and Warlords II and the units player can't produce in Warlords III).
The relations between the players are regulated by the diplomacy: the players should declare wars before actually engaging their armies in battles. While there is a possibility to attack another player without prior negotiations, such behavior may be followed by unilateral declaration of war by all other players on a violator.[1]
The battles in Warlords (with the exception of Warlords IV) are non-interactive. The process of battle is shown as two enemy stacks opposing each other; when unit is killed it disappears from the battle screen. The outcome of the battle is calculated using the units' abilities and several other factors using a sophisticated algorithm.[2]
The games of the series are noted for the strong AI.[3][4]
The games are set in the fantasy world of Etheria, and tend to be based around the traditional premise of good versus evil, with neutrality in between. Heroes on the side of good are the Sirian Knights, the mercantile Empires of Men, the elves and the dwarves. On the side of evil are the demonic horsemen: the Lord of Plague, the Lord of Famine, the Lord of War, and the ever present Lord Bane, Lord of Death.
The politics of the world, however, are more complicated than they first appear, particularly in the third installment of the series. For example, the Minotaurs, who were created as servants for Sartek, the Lord of War, are a neutral race rather than an evil one. Also, the third game opens with the human Empire pillaging and exploiting the newly-discovered lands of the peaceful Srrathi snakemen, in an obvious nod to the historical European conquest of the Americas. Most importantly from a player's point of view, a Hero's race is not as important in determining their moral alignment as their choice of class. For example, while the Undead are evil as a rule, an Undead Paladin would be treated as good (though such a thing is only possible in the third game, wherein all previous restrictions on race and class combinations have been removed).
| Warlords | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Strategic Studies Group |
| Publisher(s) | Strategic Studies Group |
| Platform(s) | DOS, Amiga |
| Release date(s) |
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| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) |
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| Media/distribution | 5.25-inch diskette |
| System requirements
640 KB RAM, EGA or VGA display, hard drive (optional), mouse (optional) |
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The first game in the series, Warlords, was created in 1989 by Steven Fawkner and was published by SSG. It featured eight different clans battling for the control of the mythical land of Illuria: Sirians, Storm Giants, Grey Dwarves, Orcs of Kor, Elvallie, Horse Lords, Selentines, and Lord Bane. Each clan could either be controlled by the computer or by a human player, allowing up to eight participants taking turns in hot seat play. Gameplay consisted of moving units, attacking opponent units or cities, adjusting production in cities, and moving hero units to explore ruins, temples, libraries, and to discover allies, relics, and other items. The goal of the game was to conquer the land of Illuria by capturing or razing at least two thirds of the cities in the land.
The game reception was extremely positive.[5][6]
| Warlords II | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Strategic Studies Group |
| Publisher(s) | Strategic Studies Group |
| Platform(s) | DOS, MacOS |
| Release date(s) |
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| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) |
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| Media/distribution | 2 3.5-inch diskettes |
| System requirements
Intel 80386SX CPU, 2 MB RAM, hard drive, mouse, AdLib, Sound Blaster or MT-32 sound card (optional) |
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| Warlords II Deluxe | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Strategic Studies Group |
| Publisher(s) | Strategic Studies Group |
| Platform(s) | DOS |
| Release date(s) |
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| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) |
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| Media/distribution | 2 3.5-inch diskettes |
| System requirements
Intel 80386SX CPU, 2 MB RAM, hard drive, mouse, AdLib, Sound Blaster or MT-32 sound card (optional) |
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Following the success of Warlords, SSG released Warlords II in 1993. This version included five maps (although the later released mission pack increased the number). Another new feature was 'fog of war' - optionally, enemy units or even the map could be concealed from players without units close enough to see them. The interface of the game was improved, as were the graphics (with additional unique city graphics for each different player). Moreover, the game featured multiple army, city, and terrain sets (still in 16 colours), play by e-mail as well as hot seat, and a random map generator and map editor.
The updated version of the game — Warlords II Deluxe — was released in 1995. It allowed for custom tile, army and city sets for maps and provided support for 256 colours. Thanks to the publication of the editor, Warlords II Deluxe led to an increase of user-created content. Many new maps, army and terrain sets, and scenarios were distributed on the Internet for the game.[1]
Long time Warlords player and enthusiast Bob Heeter imagined, and then organized, a multi-player tournament using Warlords II, through the newsgroup for strategic games. The tournament depended on a special program called "WarBot" that calculated what 'should' happen when two diverse armies fought under the Warlords rules. Tournament rankings and awards were given based on how well a player did in comparison to other players with the same side in the same scenario. Awards were also given for best roleplaying during the games. The tournament generated a great deal of interest.[7]
| Warlords III: Reign of Heroes | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Strategic Studies Group |
| Publisher(s) | Red Orb Entertainment |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Release date(s) |
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| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) |
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| Media/distribution | optical disc |
| System requirements
Pentium-class CPU, 16 MB RAM, DirectX v6.0, 1 MB video card, sound card, 40 MB hard drive space, CD-ROM |
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| Warlords III: Dark Lords Rising | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Strategic Studies Group |
| Publisher(s) | Red Orb Entertainment |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Release date(s) |
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| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) |
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| Media/distribution | optical disc |
| System requirements
Pentium-class CPU, 16 MB RAM, DirectX v6.0, 1 MB video card, sound card, 40 MB hard drive space, CD-ROM |
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After a four year hiatus, SSG developed Warlords III: Reign of Heroes.
The game was released for Microsoft Windows and used new system capabilities to dramatically improve graphics:[3]
The heroes acquired the ability to cast spells to receive the temporary benefit. Each spell has its price expressed in mana points, which became the second (after gold) resource in game.
The campaign system also became more advanced: the heroes from the previous game of the campaign followed user to the new game, keeping their experience and items.[2]
Another new feature of the Reign of Heroes is the flexible races concept: every player had a number of pre-defined units he was able to produce, and an additional number of units that could join him. This allowed for more consistent storyline in the campaigns and made players' advancement more challenging, as the natural production of the further cities normally wasn't matching the player's race.
Unlike the previous versions Reign of Heroes provided several hero classes. Each class has its own upgrade paths and costs of upgrade options. The upgrade options themselves became user-selectable, giving the player more control over the heroes' development.
The city levels in Reign of Heroes became more important, as in battles it equaled to city bonus. The players received ability to promote cities to next level for a fixed amount of gold.
The units received hit points, making more powerful units the harder targets for the weaker, and bringing more diversity to the army sets. The increased number of army bonuses led to more complicated battle outcome calculation. Furthermore, several army bonuses allowed respected armies to kill the more powerful enemies from the first attack, which made the battle outcome yet less predictable.
The concept of diplomacy was further refined by adding new state of diplomatic relations: Treaty. This state allowed players trespassing each other's cities and winning the Allied victory exterminating all other parties. Another diplomacy-related feature introduced in Reign of Heroes was the ability to bribe enemies, thus influencing their diplomatic decisions. The amount of bribe was fine-tunable; the more substantial bribe was, the greater chances of needed decision were.[2]
In addition to the previously available multiplayer modes (hotseat and play by email) the Reign of Heroes introduced the ability to play over network.[8]
The game CD included the soundtrack in CD-DA format.
Shortly after releasing Reign of Heroes, SSG followed with Warlords III: Dark Lords Rising — a stand-alone expansion pack. It featured the new maps and units and contained the sample graphics to facilitate development of alternative tile, army and city sets. The plot of the main campaign continued where the previous game had left off.[8]
Warlords III like Warlords II had a campaign editor and realistic terrain model.[8]
By the time of Warlords III games' releases the real-time strategy game genre was in full-swing, so there was less of a market for turn-based games. The oncoming rush of first person shooters and first generation MMORPGs also didn't help the popularity of the series. The turn-based strategy genre in general would take a hit during this period.[9]
| Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Infinite Interactive |
| Publisher(s) | Ubisoft Entertainment |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Turn-based strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | |
| Media/distribution | optical disc |
| System requirements
450 MHz CPU, 128 MB RAM, DirectX v9.0b, 16 MB 3D video card, sound card, 1 GB hard drive space, 8x CD-ROM |
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Warlords IV, released in 2003[10], used pre-rendered 3D sprites for its unit and city graphics and particle graphics for various effects. Despite this, the game had an overall 2D look to it.
The game flow was dramatically simplified. Diplomacy played virtually no role in the game, and micromanagement of units was scaled-down to a great extent. Rather than having multiple units battling it out at once, combat is one-on-one: the players would choose which unit they wished to send into battle, one after another in the stack. The units with ranged attack capabilities get involved in every round in the battle regardless of active unit though.
Heroes became the ordinary units that could be routinely produced.
The city upgrades became more important, as the level of city determines the range of units it can produce.
The races in game became predefined: knights, empire, elves, dark elves, dwarves, dragons, undead, demons, orcs and ogres. Each of these races had their traits, giving them advantages and disadvantages regarding the race of opposing player. Each player had a certain favored race, and the pace of production of units belonging to other races depended on the interracial relations.
The player's character in this game was personified as a special unit which only involved in battles over capital city and couldn't move around the map. The defeat of the warlord led to defeat of the player, so that all his cities became neutral. Depending on the traits the player picked at the time of warlord creation, he got some benefits and limitations in the game. The warlord character could be reused in other campaigns.
Warlords IV received a lackluster reception. Game Rankings, for example, shows an aggregate review score for the game of 70%, about ten percentage points lower than both Warlords III games.[11]
One of the reasons this version was not as popular was due to the poor quality AI.[12][13] The game was easily beaten on any difficulty when playing against computer players. The 1.04 patch fixed many of the AI issues, rebalanced the races, and fixed issues in the original version. This patch was released at the beginning of 2006 long after the original game's release, which may affect its ability to revitalize interest in the game.
According to Steve Fawkner, this game was built from scratch in 6 months by Infinite Interactive after being handed it by SSG in an incomplete form, and is why the game is not up to previous standards.[12] To date it remains the least popular game of the series.[14]
On October 27, 2003 Pocket PC Studios released a Windows Mobile clone of Warlords II.[15] The game featured the graphics and gameplay of the Warlords II for DOS with the slight user interface changes (related to devices' capabilities) and 200 pages of manual in Microsoft Reader format. Unlike the original game the remake featured several multiple language support with several localizations available.[4]
On November 26, 2010 ALSEDI Group release Warlords Classic — a remake of original Warlords game for iPhone.[16] The remake preserved most of the game traits with only the subtle changes: the user interface of the game was adapted to iPhone/iPad and the game is saved automatically after each turn.[17]
FreeLords project was started in 2000 by Michael Bartl with a goal to create a FLOSS game closely resembling classical Warlords.[18] In 2007 the developers started rewriting the project from scratch; the abandoned code base of FreeLords was taken over by Ben Asselstine, who named his project LordsAWar!.[19][20] The goal was set to reimplement Warlords II as close as possible. The development began with removal of features not found in the original game. Identification and implementation of missing Warlords II functionality followed.[21] As of October 2011 the game is playable locally and mostly feature complete, but network play is still broken.