I must have been about 7 years old when a friend first showed me the demo for Settlers 2. Last week I celebrated my 27th birthday. Yesterday I celebrated finishing Settlers 2 for the very first time.
Twenty years.
That's something to ponder.
In hindsight, the game wasn't particularly difficult, but I had to learn a few things here and there. Back when I started this blog, I lived in an apartment without internet. I quickly beat the first 6 missions but got stuck on the seventh. Soon after, a neighbor gave me his wifi pass and Guild Wars 2 released. That game occupied me for the majority of my gaming time for over a year, hence the delay on finishing this game.
To finish this game I had to learn two important things which I didn't know 20 years ago. Soldiers have to be upgraded in fortresses, catapults don't break peace.
To finish it today, I had to learn to sit back and sink a few hours into a game without being distracted by online games, videos and partners. This game is slow, the mechanics clunky. Moving your army around to optimize coin use can easily take 20 minutes.
I'm interested in speedrun times. Anything less than 10 hours for the full campaign would be very impressive.
Showing posts with label settlers 2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label settlers 2. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Chapter 3 : The Pass
The name from the third map, The Pass, comes from a pass between two resource rich mountains. The terrain will force you north into gold deposits and then westwards through the titular pass. You'll stumble upon two enemies once you're through.
This map is easy and fast. I would even say it's unremarkable. Your enemies have almost no gold and will quickly run into productivity problems while you can expand at your leisure and train an extremely strong army.
After this map, the stakes will be raised considerably. Enjoy while you can.
This map is easy and fast. I would even say it's unremarkable. Your enemies have almost no gold and will quickly run into productivity problems while you can expand at your leisure and train an extremely strong army.
After this map, the stakes will be raised considerably. Enjoy while you can.
Monday, March 31, 2014
World Campaign : Europe
Conquering Europe, a lofty goal in any game, not so much in real life. I try to keep my imperialistic tendencies limited to video games and this map is one of the best to make me feel like a real Roman Emperor.
Initially, you have very limited space. Building a farm will be difficult. Build fisheries. You'll want a supply of food because you're racing for gold in this map.
In this map, speed is the key. Build barracks and expand northwards as fast as possible. You want to hit the mountain range and push through it before your opponent does. There's a small mountain pass that fits a single barracks. This pass controls the gold supply in this mountain. If you don't have it, you might as well start over. Your enemy is going to have a well trained army, you won't have a coin. I've been there, it's not fun.
This is where the trouble really starts though. You now have mountains full of gold and other ores and no room to place farms. You'll find large forests to the east and west, stay south of the alps and build lots of woodcutters. I personally try to keep my iron smelters, armory and mint in northern Italy while building farms to the east and west.
This is a theme you'll find throughout the World Campaign. A lot of forests and stone will hinder your progress while being showered with gold and iron locations. Often, a metalworks can help by building a lot of axes.
To win this campaign, you just have to destroy all enemy headquarters. Easier said than done. Another problem you'll run into is vast swabs of land. Once you destroyed an enemy, burning some of conquered military buildings to free up soldiers can and will help, otherwise you'll find yourself without reinforcements on other fronts.
I've currently beaten Europe, Africa and South Asia. Europe was the most difficult map in my experience but also the most satisfying. If you like to conquer the world, I also recommend Rome: Total War and the Hearts of Iron series. Feel free to recommend me other games in the comments.
Initially, you have very limited space. Building a farm will be difficult. Build fisheries. You'll want a supply of food because you're racing for gold in this map.
In this map, speed is the key. Build barracks and expand northwards as fast as possible. You want to hit the mountain range and push through it before your opponent does. There's a small mountain pass that fits a single barracks. This pass controls the gold supply in this mountain. If you don't have it, you might as well start over. Your enemy is going to have a well trained army, you won't have a coin. I've been there, it's not fun.
This is where the trouble really starts though. You now have mountains full of gold and other ores and no room to place farms. You'll find large forests to the east and west, stay south of the alps and build lots of woodcutters. I personally try to keep my iron smelters, armory and mint in northern Italy while building farms to the east and west.
This is a theme you'll find throughout the World Campaign. A lot of forests and stone will hinder your progress while being showered with gold and iron locations. Often, a metalworks can help by building a lot of axes.
To win this campaign, you just have to destroy all enemy headquarters. Easier said than done. Another problem you'll run into is vast swabs of land. Once you destroyed an enemy, burning some of conquered military buildings to free up soldiers can and will help, otherwise you'll find yourself without reinforcements on other fronts.
I've currently beaten Europe, Africa and South Asia. Europe was the most difficult map in my experience but also the most satisfying. If you like to conquer the world, I also recommend Rome: Total War and the Hearts of Iron series. Feel free to recommend me other games in the comments.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Mission 1: Off we go.
After enjoying the intro movie (more on that later) we find ourself in the start screen, from which we can access the first 2 missions. This is deliberate as the first mission is a tutorial. Actually the first 4 missions are tutorials in a sense, so in the Good Old Games version the first 4 are already unlocked.
The first mission tries to introduce you to the game, and does a pretty good job to boot. This mission you start out with a tent. Sending explorers to the south will find you your shipwrecked galleon.
Build up your game and keep going. The first time, back in the time, this took me several hours. I didn't even realize I completed it at some point. Today this mission can be done in about 20 minutes or so, no idea. Fast anyways. It is a nice island however, one I know by heart. There isn't much room for farms but frankly, you don't really need them. Just experiment and move on to mission 2.
The first mission tries to introduce you to the game, and does a pretty good job to boot. This mission you start out with a tent. Sending explorers to the south will find you your shipwrecked galleon.
Build up your game and keep going. The first time, back in the time, this took me several hours. I didn't even realize I completed it at some point. Today this mission can be done in about 20 minutes or so, no idea. Fast anyways. It is a nice island however, one I know by heart. There isn't much room for farms but frankly, you don't really need them. Just experiment and move on to mission 2.
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