War of the Lance
| War of the Lance | |
|---|---|
| Studio |
 SSI
|
| Publisher |
SSI
|
| Senior Developer |
David Landrey Chuck Kroegel |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
1989 (Apple II) 1990 (C64, DOS) |
| platform | Apple II , Commodore 64 , MS-DOS |
| genre | Turn-based strategy game |
| Subject | Dungeons and Dragons |
| Game mode | Single player , multiplayer (2) |
| control | Keyboard , joystick |
| medium | diskette |
| language | English |
War of the Lance is a turn-based strategy game from the US computer game manufacturer SSI . It is set in the campaign world Drachenlanze of the role-playing set of rules Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and was published in 1989 for Apple II and in 1990 for Commodore 64 and MS-DOS .
Action and gameplay
The game is shown from a bird's eye view. Two factions, Whitestone (good) and Highlord (bad), are fighting for supremacy in the Ansalon game world. In the single player the player takes control of Whitestone in the fight against the computer opponent, in a game for two the other player takes over the other side. A distinction is made between a campaign mode and a scenario mode.
In campaign mode, the game begins in 348, when the Whitestone Alliance has not yet been founded and Highlord only rules over his capital city, Neraka. The Whitestone player must first form the alliance in order to lead them into the fight against Highlord. The scenario mode begins in 349, when both factions already control some areas.
The course of the game takes place in three areas. On a tactical overview map of the game world, the player sends his units across the game world to conquer strategically important areas. Furthermore, heroes can be sent out to find magical artifacts that strengthen the fighting strength of your own troops. There is also the option of using a diplomacy screen to persuade neutral factions to form an alliance using threats, intimidation and the like. Each round is divided into various successive phases:
- Message phase: report of recent events
- Quest: Play out the hero quests
- Champion Status: Checking the hero status
- Reinforcement / Replacement: Takeover and / or exchange of the remaining free troops
- Subversion: Attempts to block the enemy artifact search
- Diplomatic: attempt to win the different nations on your side with the help of diplomacy points; On a scale from 1 to 9, the tendency towards Whitestone (1) or Highlord (9) is indicated, the more leaning towards the opposing faction, the higher the required number of diplomacy points.
- Country Status: Overview of the individual nations and their current status
- Victory: Overview of the armed forces, the gains and losses and the current score
- Initiative: Here the program determines which side will receive the initiative first in the next round.
- Recovery: Units receive their unused "operation points" for the following phases.
- Movement: Units can be moved.
- Combat: Fights are carried out and the message phase then starts all over again.
The aim is to have conquered the opponent's capital by 354. Each year consists of five rounds. If neither side succeeds in achieving this, the faction with the most points wins. These are calculated from the strength of the armed forces, the number of allies and military successes.
reception
The role-playing game magazine Dragon awarded four out of five stars in its test in 1990. Uwe Winkelkötter awarded 7 out of 12 points for the C64 version in the magazine Aktueller Software Markt . He criticized the lack of acoustic background and signal tones as well as the non-existent possibility to be able to give instructions to his troops in battle. He also described the graphics as functional, but not outstanding.
"All in all, a proud addition to SSI's legacy, War of the Lance is still fun to play today."
"Overall, it's a great contribution to SSI's legacy, even today it's still fun to play War of the Lance."
Web links
- War of the Lance at MobyGames (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Andrew Park, Elliott Chin: Gamespot's History of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes of the Lance ( English ) In: GameSpot . CNET . Archived from the original on August 26, 1999. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
- ↑ Hartley Lesser, Patricia Lesser, Kirk Lesser: The Role of Computers . In: Dragon . No. 158, June 1990, pp. 47-54.
- ↑ http://www.kultboy.com/index.php?site=t&id=4712
- ↑ Allen Rausch: A History of D&D Video Games - Part I ( English ) In: GameSpy . News Corp. . August 15, 2004. Retrieved October 26, 2013.