Does anyone still plays CoW?

[penguinism]

Is there anybody out there who are stilling palying(or just starting) on Chariots of War? If so what do you think of it. I think that CoW is such a classic because of its epic scale and the very intersting history of the middle east. Do you think they should do a Gold version with some of the extra features seen in Spatan.

[efthimios]

I still play CoW from time to time. It is a good game.

I seriously doubt it we will see such a "gold" version you are talking about. I think we have better chances of seeing a CoW 2 in the future than an updated version of CoW.

[zharrgonn]

I play it more often than the GOT or Spartan. In some ways I like the graphics and interface better than the later games, but there are features they have that would be a great addition to COW. Perhaps we will see a revamp one day?

[honvedseg]

CoW is still my favorite of the Slitherine releases, even though it could stand to benefit from some of the options added in the later games. Besides a general interest in the time period, I like the fact that cities aren't limited by some arbitrary "brick" level.

Judging by the previews of the Legion Arena graphics, I'd love to see an Assyrian heavy chariot bearing down on a group of light infantry.

Any remake of Chariots should include some color distinctions between units, so you can tell your Hupshu skirmishers from the other side's Hupshu. Even better, if Slitherine could come up with unique graphics for each ethnic group's troops (at least one skirmisher, light, medium, and heavy infantry, plus at least one chariot or cavalry unit graphic), it would make for some colorful battles.

[anguille]

I do...great game.

[penguinism]

I completely agrees with honvedseg. CoW is such a great game. One of the things I like most is the diversity of all the cultures and civilisations in the acient middle east. It would be a much better game experience if it has some of the features of later games.

[runtheball]

I just got it about a month ago and play it alot. I've been trying the grand campaign lately, as Persians, then as Iranians. Very difficult at Hard level. Other nations keep ganging up on me, even though I'm not the one to attack first. Being a minority ethnic group in the region must be the problem.

It's a great game that I'll likely keep coming back to for years.

[penguinism]

Your right its a great game. Its too bad some of the design isn't so good so that are things which you have to keep doing and slows the game down. I really wish they add some of the extra features in the latter games(Spartan etc) so it plays better. If you get the patch you can increase the speed of battles by pressing F key which is really helpful and this is the type of thing I am talking about.

[bodidley]

I would really like to see Slitherine remake Chariots of War. There simply aren't many bronze age/fertile crescent games at all.

[dithyrambos]

I haven't bought CoW... yet. But after seeing the screenies of it, I want to buy it. It does look like a great game that I could have hours of fun on, as I currently do with Spartan. One question though, is the CoW 2 thing that I've been hearing just speculation? Or should I hold buying CoW unitl CoW 2 comes out?

Dithy

[duncan]

I haven't bought CoW... yet. But after seeing the screenies of it, I want to buy it. It does look like a great game that I could have hours of fun on, as I currently do with Spartan. One question though, is the CoW 2 thing that I've been hearing just speculation? Or should I hold buying CoW unitl CoW 2 comes out?

Dithy

Never heard of CoW 2 yet, but Slitherine has some future works in mind, one of them could easily be CoW 2. I own Spartan and CoW and found Spartan to be a big improvement (graphics+gameplay, CoW looks a little bit dated) and CoW is a little bit more of a challenge (those unstoppable archers...) and has an interesting setting (at least for me). Get CoW for the historical setting, otherwise keep playing Spartan until Legion II come out (that joyful day...).

Anyway, this is only my (humble) opinion. You can support Slitherine getting CoW from their site, if you're into this sort of things.

[dithyrambos]

Never heard of CoW 2 yet, but Slitherine has some future works in mind, one of them could easily be CoW 2. I own Spartan and CoW and found Spartan to be a big improvement (graphics+gameplay, CoW looks a little bit dated) and CoW is a little bit more of a challenge (those unstoppable archers...) and has an interesting setting (at least for me). Get CoW for the historical setting, otherwise keep playing Spartan until Legion II come out (that joyful day...).

Anyway, this is only my (humble) opinion. You can support Slitherine getting CoW from their site, if you're into this sort of things.

I am definately getting CoW. Looks like an awesome game. I will definately play it as much as Spartan, and when Legion II comes out, I'll that one to my collection.

Dithy

[honvedseg]

I just wrapped up another campaign on "Hard" in this venerable old game. In spite of the limited army size (8 units max instead of 16 in the later games), total lack of control options in combat, and the non-existent diplomacy, it still plays very well overall.

Unlike the newer Spartan and GoT, a Level 1 resource facility only employs a single unit of population. In the newer games, once you've built that critical first level, everything beyond it is a relatively minor upgrade, since it supports 3 worker units right from the start. The limiting factors are population and city size. In CoW, resource upgrades are an essential.

The maximum city size in CoW is not limited by the resources, so you can build a large city regardless of "brick level". I find that better than the "fixed" size limits in Spartan, but feel that there should be a "soft" limit for each location, whereby anything above that would get progressively more expensive.

With only an 8 unit limit on armies, upgrading the barracks size to add more men to each unit is a top priority. In Spartan, building a depot to increase unit size is only relevant in the later parts of the larger campaigns, since it will be a long time before you can afford to fill up more than a couple of 16 unit stacks with decent troops.

I made two simple modifications to the game to suit my tastes. The first was to reduce the ammo in "squads.txt "for all of the skirmish units, javelins to 5 and archers to 10. The close-ranked archers were not modified, as these troops were not required to run forward, shoot, and then run away if attacked, so ammo weight was less of a concern. The second change was to require a unit of population for the production of peasants, also in the squads.txt file, by changing "requires_population_unit" (or something similar) from 0 to 1. This did two things: one, it allowed the player to move excess population from one city to another, and disband the unit to recover the population; and two, it prevented the AI from churning out enormous waves of peasants, by depleting their cities of free population. After a little trouble at the start, the AI seems to recover and begins building other more sensible combat units, making for a better overall game than the repetitive "human wave" attacks by 3 or 4 full stacks in rapid succession with 8 peasant units each. My experiments with using a population unit for ALL military units, as in Legion, were relatively unsuccessful, as it did realistically simulate the depletion of manpower due to military recruitment, but it hurt the AI too badly, especially on higher difficulty levels.

Overall, I hope that the Slitherine team decides to revisit this time period, and produces CoW II, perhaps sometime after Legion II.

[dithyrambos]

Very interesting. I will probably make the same modifications that you did once I get the game (which is hopefully today). What did you mean by "nonexistant diplomacy"? I was under the impression that diplomacy was a little better than in Legion.

Dithy

[guineawolf]

CoW is still my favorite of the Slitherine releases, even though it could stand to benefit from some of the options added in the later games. Besides a general interest in the time period, I like the fact that cities aren't limited by some arbitrary "brick" level.

Judging by the previews of the Legion Arena graphics, I'd love to see an Assyrian heavy chariot bearing down on a group of light infantry.

Any remake of Chariots should include some color distinctions between units, so you can tell your Hupshu skirmishers from the other side's Hupshu. Even better, if Slitherine could come up with unique graphics for each ethnic group's troops (at least one skirmisher, light, medium, and heavy infantry, plus at least one chariot or cavalry unit graphic), it would make for some colorful battles.

i only agree with this 1,"Any remake of Chariots should include some color distinctions between units, so you can tell your Hupshu skirmishers from the other side's Hupshu."

that is the only thing what i get confused in the game.........i can't differentiate who is who?

[Luredreier]

I actualy feel that not being able to fully controll the units is the charm of the game
The less controll you have, the more inportant is the controll you do have...
I'm kind of new to the game but I'm sure I'll play allot in the future, when I can aford making it a nondemo.

[Amob_M_S]

Very interesting. I will probably make the same modifications that you did once I get the game (which is hopefully today). What did you mean by "nonexistant diplomacy"? I was under the impression that diplomacy was a little better than in Legion.

Dithy

The diplomacy system in CoW is intentionally vague- at a time when not all nations had any form of writing, written treaties were uncommon; also, even if writing was laid forth, it was largely ignored- just read the Books of Kings about the Israeli-Philistine Wars to get a feel for the period. Here's how it works:

You send a diplomat. You wait for him to arrive, how long depends on how far away the nation is.

Now you can see what that nation sees. You also get info on that nation, how much depends on how good the diplomat is. This includes:
Level 1 Diplomat- How they feel toward you. Important so you know if they will attack, or if they will kill your diplomat
Level 2- Who their worst enemy is
Level 3- Who their best friend is
Level 4- Their economic strength compared to yours
Level 5- Their military strength compared to yours
The diplomat will slowly improve relations between your countries; however, relation only affects the probability of them attacking you; you can be attacked by anyone at any time, no matter how friendly they seem.

They send diplomats to you. Your relations will improve, but they can watch your troops moving. If you go to war (meaning, you are both focusing on that fight; there is no formal war declaration) you may want to get rid of him. Here you have a large number of options, with many many many ways of maiming, killing, or maiming and killing him.




And, I, too, like the battle system as is, though Spartan is better. In real life generals didn't have control of their troops, they just told them where to start, what to do when the time comes, and what time that is. After the orders were given, the general had to just watch and wait. I do like, however, in Spartan when you can actually order a retreat to save your troops from annihilation.

[ikki]

Well i just bought it!

Found it at a cash store.. and well, legion i didnt like that much... got too much into building toptech praetors and throwing them into suicide against the enemy.... endlessly repetitive. Here, its a bit easier to conquer and economy is fun... but then i dont remember what kind of economy legion had.

Kinda cool how you et what need, and then money on top thatyou dont really need for anything, its just extra resources to grab what other you need. Thus a much more fun economy than most games allow. Opening up new options, instead of limiting the game.

[Ham]

I agree with ikki, this game is great! I write a lot and was wondering a few days ago if anybody would be interested in reading anything I write about this game... Just checking if I'm wasting my time or not.

[mikul82]

I agree with ikki, this game is great! I write a lot and was wondering a few days ago if anybody would be interested in reading anything I write about this game... Just checking if I'm wasting my time or not.

Post away, I'll read it.