Real-time tactics game Strategos aims to outflank Total War with over 120 factions at launch

MicroProse announced arsenic publisher

Image credit: MicroProse Software

MicroProse oregon immoderate presently prospers nether the decades-old MicroProse banner person announced that they're publishing Strategos, a real-time tactics wargame acceptable successful classical antiquity. I hadn't heard of the crippled before, and my archetypal absorption to the supra screenshot was "oh hey, Total War: Rome". Then I veni, vidi, vickied connected implicit to the Steam page, and it turns retired that mightiness beryllium a flawed comparison, not slightest due to the fact that Strategos is the instauration of a azygous decorator and programmer with artists moving connected contract. Here's a trailer.

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Strategos appears overmuch much focussed connected conflict reenactments than Total War, with seemingly nary overworld manoeuvring to interest about, though it does diagnostic immoderate benignant of run element. It's besides an implicit messiness of factions and subfactions. There are 120 (!) armies to take from, encompassing 250 idiosyncratic units. I don't recognise astir of them - Meroitic Kushites, anyone? Spanish Celtiberians? It's similar watching idiosyncratic manner shieldwalls from Haribo's backmost catalogue. There are 5 antithetic flavours of Macedonian service alone, divvied up according to the lifespan and bequest of Alexander The Great.

The Steam advancement notes are dense connected insights astir the antithetic playstyles cultivated by these factions, and the corresponding granularity of the AI. Here's a typical excerpt from a station earlier this year.

"The AI has undergone assorted improvements to behaviour and deployment. They are capable to prime car driblet flanks better, determination and support their enactment better, deploy and usage equine archer armies much intelligently, and I've added much and amended bespoke AI for Lancer lines, overwhelmingly airy ft armies, mean ft armies, and bowmen deployments (including immoderate bespoke deployments for bowmen armies that premix staggered lines of bowmen and infantry to support their shooters, and for definite mean ft armies that volition station up successful terrain and gully you successful with airy troops/shooters). There are fixes to pursuit to charge, pursuing and evading with intervening routed units, moving and attacking coherently successful formation, utilizing much reserves, having aggregate units coordinate against azygous targets, much intelligent evades based connected matchup, pursuers pursuing different pursuers, and fixes to pathing astir combats."

Speaking arsenic idiosyncratic who is weary of kiting AI generals successful Twarhammer, I similar the dependable of these intricacies, though the impervious volition people beryllium successful the pudding. I besides similar the dependable of the game's service power system, which requires you to spot generals wrong bellowing region of units you privation to command, oregon other nonstop a courier connected horseback with their marching orders.

You can't, successful different words, conscionable micromanage a frontline 2 miles wide from the sky, similar successful Total War. I'm decidedly much PC strategy gamer than wargamer, but this gives maine pleasant memories of the aged Close Combat series, successful which you had to interest astir losing vigor interaction with troopers during straggly, unpredictable engagements.

Anyway, here's a rundown of bulletpoints for Strategos:

- Simulate Large-Scale Battles - Command thousands of soldiers on-screen successful meticulously crafted humanities and speculative engagements.

- Master A New Scale Of Tactics - Experience the extent of tabletop wargaming successful thrilling moment-to-moment gameplay. Strategic portion formations, morale shocks, fog of war, terrain effects, flanking maneuvers, and an precocious bid and power strategy inspired by classical wargaming.

- Lead Armies from Across the Ancient World - Choose from implicit 120 factions and 250+ unsocial portion types, spanning astir a 1000 years of history--from Greek hoplites and Persian Immortals to the legions of Rome and the emergence of the Sasanian Empire.

- Customize Your Experience - Conquer alongside the large generals of past successful the Campaign mode, reenact circumstantial humanities battles, oregon acceptable up customized battles wrong the Historical Battle Simulator. Select your service database and allies, units, maps, trouble levels and AI behavior, oregon relive humanities clashes specified arsenic the Battles of Issos and Raphia, with much to come!

A speedy chaser: Strategos is besides the sanction of a subject grooming simulator created by Charles A. L. Totten for the United States Army. Published successful 1880, it was revived successful the 20th period and has influenced a clump of table-top games. I ideate you tin hint its interaction guardant into video games arsenic well.