Ign scenario preview

[Stuie]

So it looks like there are 5 scenarios that I will definitely play (in order of my interest):

Barbarians
Rise of Rome
Age of Vikings
Chinese Unification
Ghengis Khan

With the Barbarian one looking the best for ongoing replay value. Not bad considering I hardly touched any of the Conquests scenarios other than the Rome and Japan ones.

[Arrian]

I still haven't gotten around to playing most of the scenarios that shipped with the vanilla game.

-Arrian

[Stuie]

Originally posted by Arrian
I still haven't gotten around to playing most of the scenarios that shipped with the vanilla game.

-Arrian

There were scenarios with the original?

[Thedrin]

With the exception of the Desert War scenario they weren't that great - just customised maps and predetermined starting points.

[Will9]

Originally posted by Stuie


There were scenarios with the original?

Yea but none of them were any good. In each one either didn't have its own tech tree or there wasn't a tech tree.

[Locutus]

[SIZE=1] Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Duh... by saying what specific things there were in the scen. Hence why it seems like nostalgia when you didn't even name one thing in the scenario.

You asked why it was a good scenario, not what features were in it. Those are two completely different and unrelated things.

Originally posted by Will9
Yea but none of them were any good. In each one either didn't have its own tech tree or there wasn't a tech tree.

Desert War had it own tech tree (not that that's an incredibly big deal: scenarios are short, so tech trees will typically not have a very major impact).

[DrSpike]

I do plan on checking out Desert War actually. However, may as well wait and check out the 'better' scenarios first now.

[Stuie]

Originally posted by Will9
Yea but none of them were any good. In each one either didn't have its own tech tree or there wasn't a tech tree.

I know - I was trying to be facetious.

[Badtz Maru]

Earth 1000AD is a good concept, but limitations in the game made it wonky. The fact that it treated all the minor civilizations as one civilization led to the fact that Saladin would be friendly with England because England was fighting the Vikings and Saladin was fighting the Byzantines - "Our mutual military struggle brings us closer" - say what?

[Will9]

That was stupid that the Vikings and Byzantins were at war with everyone. It makes some sence with the Vikings, but 1000AD was when the Vikings were stopping there raids.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Locutus
You asked why it was a good scenario, not what features were in it. Those are two completely different and unrelated things.

No, it's the exact same thing. The features make a scenario good or bad (if features are lacking). Or else it's just a regular game if has no different features (and at least most scens have the one distinguishing feature of different time passage per turn) .

[Dis]

Originally posted by Locutus


Haven't even played them all yet I initially had some technical issues with Warlords and I was a tester for another game as well, so I haven't had much time to test Warlords. Rather than testing all scenarios a little bit I focused on the ones that seemed like they needed the most work. So what are likely to be the best scenarios (or at least what were that before I was done with them ) I haven't played at all yet.



There was a time when dropping the name Harlan was enough. Alas, people don't know their history anymore

Harlan's scenarios (whether for CtP2 or Civ2) are great because they are incredibly rich and accurate in historical texture (I don't think I've ever met anyone who knew more about history than Harlan, myself included). They offer good, well-balanced and very challenging gameplay (including a good AI that actually fights back, something that many scenarios lack) and they always offer innovative gameplay concepts (his LotR scenario for Civ2 in 1996 even completely revolutionised scenario making at the time). He can translate historical concepts and events to gameplay elements like noone else. There aren't really two or three features you can name that make his scenarios great, as Solver says you have to play them to understand.

Many reviewers at the time rated the Alexander scenario higher than the regular game, it was described as a game in itself. And even today Harlan's Civ2 scenarios are still regarded as some of the finest ever made for that game even though some of them are 10 years old. Definitely not nostalgia...

Which Civ2 scenarios did he make? LoTR, but what else? Were these included in the conflicts and fantastic worlds expansions?