rockymtndoc -> (2/28/2003 12:34:35 PM)
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I recently got started, or tried to get started, with Cossacks:Back to War. This is an RTS with resource development and management as it's very soul. You usually start out on a barren portion of the map, unable to see anything but the small circle you occupy, with only a chief and twenty peasants. From there you have to build your city, plant your crops, mine resources, cut wood, quarry stone, increase your peasant population to keep pace with constant resource development while beinbg very careful not to outstrip either your food - famine, death and defeat - or your gold - mutiny and self-destruction - create and train your army and do all this while being attacked by ever increasing numbers of enemies on all sides. If you survive all that, which I rarely do, you then have to accomplish the actual objective. I have been trying on the latest mission for more than two days, and I'm only about two-thirds of the way along. On the other hand, the "Campaign" selection puts you into a never-ending tutorial - I've been playing it for over a week now, and have the entire map occupied and developed to the max, and there still seems to be no end in sight, nor does the rather vague "objective" offer any clues on how to finally "win." "Cossacks" - an ancient Russian word meaning "to frustrate"... Great graphics, good sound effects, great buildings, ships up to and including HMS Victory, great weapons and troops, and the chance to start in the 17th Century and play into the Eighteenth, great ships, troops and armaments, but the AI will drive you batty. I see the same problem with all of the RTS AI's: units on their own, no matter how large and well-sited and organized, don't fight worth a hoot unless you micromanage everything. When you are fighting a three-front battle, very common in Cossacks, and try to develop, managee and track all of your resources as well, you quickly become overwhelmed. SSII was the same way. What I really want is an RTS that lets me play only the armed forces, and I am still looking for a good Civil War version that is compatible with Windows @#$%^&*! XP. Has anybody else tried this thing?
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