Oriental Empires

Oriental Empires for PC is a turn-based, 4X strategy game created specifically for PCs. It was developed by Ntronium Games and the project was being supervised by Robert T. Smith, who had worked as the main designer of Medieval II: Total War and Armada 2526.

Mechanics

The game is set in ancient China and the creators' particular aim was to recreate historical events and the civilization of this country faithfully. The game spans over a period of three thousand years - from 1500 B.C to 1500 A.D. The player begins as a leader of a small tribe and their goal is to turn it into a great empire (obviously). To do so, the player cultivates land, gathers resources, builds new towns, as well as both recruits and trains the army.

It is necessary to establish laws, construct buildings, conduct research on technologies, develop the culture and satisfy the subordinates in religious matters. The last plays a key role here, because the player's ultimate goal is to convince the Chinese society that the emperor is the actual Son of Heavens and the rightful governor of the world.

Obviously, the player is not the only one willing to become the emperor, thus it is necessary to subjugate other parties, which can be done either by force or diplomacy. The game offers 16 factions in total - each has its unique features and at the beginning, the player has to choose one of those and become its leader. All of this takes place on an extensive map that recreates the geographical features of China and Mongolia with accuracy.

When playing Oriental Empires for PC, one cannot avoid wars. Battles are impressive in terms of their scope, for instance, thousands of units can take part in one such encounter. The player does not command clones here, because the creators managed to differentiate separate squads by highlighting differences in faces and clothings. Battles are turn-based and take place on the same map which is used when taking care of running the empire. Direct control over armies was greatly reduced here - the player gives general orders and decides about formations. Then the game generates the battle on the basis of the player's decisions, who's only task then is to observe the course of the battle passively.

Last updated on September 13, 2016