Encompassing five centuries of Mediterranean fleet clashes and featuring fourteen different ship types, the hex-hiding Mare Nostrum inherits a couple of concepts that served Qvadriga admirably. Convinced that traditional IGOUGO turn structures and antique wet warfare aren’t good bedfellows, Daniel is once again utilizing a simultaneous order execution system. The fatigue fixation returns too.
WEGO means both sides – human and AI, or human and human in the case of multiplayer – will be issuing orders based on assumptions. If that enemy quadrireme maintains its heading and speed, my trireme should be able to ram it amidships by darting between those two crippled biremes and making for that hex. … If that septireme is about to do what I think it’s about to do, a ship sent to this hex with a grapple order should spoil its plans. Inevitably some assumptions will turn out to be erroneous – chaos and calamity will regularly interject, scattering tidy formations and shivering inflexible plans.
In Qvadriga there was a deliciously fine line between running horses hard and running them ragged. The design doc suggests player-admirals will face similarly tough speed-related choices in MN. All ships have an X-hexes-per-turn cruising speed (the number by the first arrowhead icon in the above pic) and a faster max speed (the number by the second arrowhead icon. Other icons show seamanship skill, hull strength, ram attack effectiveness, and – the figure in the red box – the number of missile-slinging ‘marines’ on board). Using top speed is tempting but risky as it can, depending on the result of a check roll, generate weariness that prevents similar spurts until oarsmen have rested.
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If the galley count in the above image alarms your inner loafer, reassure them with the following info. Although control of individual ships is possible, a squadron system should allow large formations to be moved around and engaged and disengaged with relative ease. Certain vessels will have named, trait-blessed bigwigs aboard and these will act as follow-my-lead flagships for nearby craft. Issue one order and multiple ships respond. Stragglers beyond command range (more than four hexes from a commander and unadjacent to an in-command ship) are temporarily controlled by a friendly AI who will endeavour to return them to the fold.
Defined by their core stats and by additional equipment such as towers, catapults and corvi, ships can be captured and crippled as well as sunk by rams and set ablaze by Greek fire. A ramming manoeuvre in which the rammer is moving in the same or opposite direction as the ramee when contact is made, is interpreted as an attempt to ‘rake oars’ rather than puncture hull planks. If successful the victim is left with useless splintered oar stubs on one side. A second successful attack completes the immobilization.
Picturing a briny battlefield combed by influential breezes and dotted with ships that could be disabled, entangled, on fire, out of command, or on potential collision courses with friendlies, an obvious question springs to mind. Will the AI cope? Daniel admits MN is far more complex in this respect than Qvadriga, yet seems to be confident he’ll deliver capable/competent adversaries. Describing how the AI operates, he highlights the squadron system (flagships guiding surrounding vessels) as a key behavioural building block.
“The first objective for both the AI and the player is that no ship is out of command. After this, every AI commander decides in general terms what his group should do – whether they should approach or move away from nearby enemies, move forwards or backwards and the average speed to follow, if they should go ramming and raking or try to grapple and board… Once all of this has been decided, each ship under his command tries to conform to the plan according to its particular situation.”
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It is 280 BC. Rome has defeated her main Italian rivals and is looking to expand further. First she must repel the invasion of southern Italy by King Pyrrhos of Epeiros. Then she will go on first to conquer the Carthaginian Empire in Spain and North Africa, then to push eastwards and conquer Greece, Macedon, Egypt and the Near East, as well as Gaul to the north. All this will take 250 years of epic struggle, at the end of which the Roman Republic will descend into civil war. Octavianus will emerge as the eventual victor and reign as Augustus, the first Roman Emperor.
Field of Glory II allows you to fight large or small battles for or against Rome, or between the other nations who are as yet unaware of the Roman threat, or what-if battles between nations that never actual came into conflict historically, but might have done if the course of history had been different.
Field of Glory II is a turn-based tactical game set during the Rise of Rome from 280 BC to 25 BC.
Take command of a huge variety of armies employing vastly different tactical doctrines. Lead your chosen army and its named generals to victory in set-piece historical battles or "what-if" custom battle situations against an AI or human opponent.
Field of Glory II allows you to command the armies of any of 48 nations and factions covering the whole of the ancient world from Britain to India from 280 BC to 25 BC. You can choose your armies from historically accurate orders of battle allowing all of the options and variations that would be available to a real general of that nation at any date during the era.
Field of Glory II has 86 beautiful and historically accurate fully animated troop models, each with multiple variations to bring out the colour and variety of the era. Watch the swords flash and the arrows fly! Count the cost of victory or defeat as bodies litter the battlefield.
Field of Glory II has a brand new campaign system that concentrates on the battles, and allows real strategic decisions without time spent moving armies around a strategic map. Each battle is vital to your progress. Your army will gain experience and elan as it goes from victory to victory against your enemies and their allies. There are four campaigns allowing you to follow the careers of some of the most famous historical leaders of the era: Pyrrhos of Epeiros, Hannibal, Mithridates of Pontus and Julius Caesar. There is also a sandbox campaign that allows you to lead any nation (and their historical allies) against any other nation (and their allies) – giving many thousands of permutations.
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Features
- Accurate simulation of Ancient battle in the last three centuries of the pre-Christian era.
- 48 nations and factions covering the whole of the ancient world from Britain to India from 280 BC to 25 BC. You can command any of these in battle against any other at any date during the era.
- 75 different army lists allowing historically realistic armies for each of these factions at different dates during the period. This gives thousands of permutations. You will never run out of new matchups to try.
- 86 historically accurate units, built from fully animated 3D troop models, each with many variants. These allow Field of Glory II to represent the full range of troop-types and tactical doctrines that make this era one of the most interesting to wargamers and military historians. To name just a few, there are Roman legionaries before and after the reforms of Marius, Greek hoplite and Carthaginian African spearmen, Hellenistic pike phalanxes, thureophoroi spearmen and xystophoroi lancers, Gallic warbands, Skythian horse archers, Sarmatian lancers, Roman, Carthaginian, Greek and Gallic spear-armed cavalry, war elephants, Celtic and Indian chariots, scythed chariots, a wealth of light troops and many many more.
- 12 Historical scenarios covering key engagements of the period on an epic scale. These include Bagradas 255 BC, Trebia 218 BC, Cannae 216 BC, Ilipa 206 BC, Zama 202 BC, Magnesia 190 BC, Pydna 168 BC, Chaironeia 86 BC, Tigranocerta 69 BC, Bibracte 58 BC, Carrhae 53 BC and Thapsus 46 BC. The player can play as either side.
- Custom Battle system allows unlimited “what-if” scenarios using historically realistic armies from carefully researched army lists, on realistic computer generated terrain maps. Armies covered include Romans, Carthaginians, Hellenistic Kingdoms (Macedon, Seleucids, Ptolemaic Egypt etc.), Gauls, Ancient Britons, Galatians, Spanish, Numidians, Spartacus’s Slave Revolt, Thracians, Skythians, Sarmatians, Parthians, Indians and lots more.
- Campaign mode allows you to rewrite history as you play through the battlefield careers of some of ancient history’s greatest generals, or war with any ancient nation against any other. Each victory increases the experience and elan of your core units. Quick to resolve strategic decisions allow you to go straight from one battle to the next without any delay.
- Random map generator produces an infinite variety of historically realistic battlefield maps for custom battles and campaigns. Scenarios include open battle, pursuit, awaiting reinforcements, enemy awaiting reinforcements, flank march, rearguard action, advance guard, remove the head, and protect the baggage.
- Classic turn-based, tile based gameplay.
- Easy to use interface, hard to master gameplay.
- Cohort-sized units. Battles can range from a few units to as many as 80 units per side.
- Named generals who can influence combat and morale of units under their command.
- Single player and multiplayer battle modes.
- Effective AI makes sound tactical decisions.
- 6 difficulty levels allow the challenge to increase as you develop your battlefield skills.
- Numerous different unit organisations, combat capabilities and tactical doctrines allow full representation of tactical differences and developments through the period.
- Mod friendly game system with built-in map editor.
- Multiplayer mode allows historical scenarios and “what-if” scenarios to be played by two players using Slitherine’s easy to use PBEM server.
