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The Settlers (or Die Siedler - to give it it's German name, or Serf City as it is known in the U.S), was developed primarily by Volker Wertich for Blue Byte Software and released on the Amiga in 1993, with a PC conversion appearing a year later. It was among the very first batch of real-time strategy games to appear on any platform (Dune II having be released previously) and was designed and coded specifically for the Amiga. The game is very CPU intensive, and makes use of as much memory, CPU speed and even FPU co-processing power as you can throw at it – auto-detecting the best settings as appropriate. As such, expanded Amiga users can look forward to larger playing areas, more music and sound effects, and a much smoother and faster playing experience. An 030 CPU with 1MB fast memory makes the standard benchmark; although the game will run (barely) on an A500 with half a meg. The settlers comes on just three disks, and will use extra drives where available; although a hard drive installation is most definitely recommended.
The game opens with a cute little animation sequence as we watch our hero return home from quests unknown. We see him wander through a village and up to his castle - ready to begin a brand new quest - one which will tax all his resources and skill as the king and strategic leader of his tribe.
The premise behind The Settlers is a simple one - as the king of 'the blue' tribe, you much settle on, build on, and conquer all the land in the game. Unfortunately, some of this land is occupied by other kings; who seem hell bent on achieving the same goal, and there can be up to five kings/tribes competing together in the same play area. When diplomacy fails it's time to go to war, and we must go to all possible lengths to ensure our tribe is the last one standing. The first king (or queen) to take over all the land and overcome all their enemies then wins the level. Simple eh? Think again!
From the title screen, a single click takes us to the standard options page. Here we can choose the level we wish to play, or enter a password to unlock a higher one. There are 30 levels altogether; which get progressively harder as they go along; but start off pretty easy. The size and difficulty of each level also depends on several factors. For example, a typical A500 can handle maps up to 150 screens in size, and operate around 8,000 settlers. An A1200 with 1MB may be able to handle playing areas up to 600 screens in size and harness the power of around 32,000 settlers - quite a difference! - with power Amigas achieving even higher results. The larger the map, the longer each level takes to conquer - forcing the player to employ much longer term strategies.
On this screen we can also see the number of enemy kings we must defeat to complete the level. To begin with we only face one enemy per level, but as the levels roll out we may face two, three, or even all four (five including us) all at once. Coloured bars by the side of each king (or queen) also help us gauge their strength. The blue bar shows the state of the enemies stocks (the more stocks they have, the less they will need to find), the green bar shows the enemies intelligence level (the higher the bar, the more ferocious the enemy king tends to be), and the red bar shows the enemies growth rate (higher=faster). Once we are happy with the settings we can click the 'start' button and head straight into the game world itself.
The very first thing to do is the place our castle in the most advantageous position we can find. At the beginning of the game we are going to need wood and stone in order to build the basic structures, so placing the castle near to trees and stone boulders is a good idea. We can only build on land that is clear of obstructions and flat enough to build on, so placing the castle in a flat open space will help us as we begin to build around it. Holding down the right mouse button enables us to scroll around the map area, and if we see a yellow castle symbol appear as we left click on the ground, this will instantly place our castle right on that spot.
At the bottom of the screen we can see five icons. The first is the 'builder' icon; which highlights whenever we find a place to build a structure. A small hut symbol will appear in the play area if we find a small place to build, or a castle symbol will appear if we find a larger spot, and clicking on the builder icon (or double clicking on the build site itself) will bring up a panel showing all the structures which we may build there. We can also see the full 'lie of the land' by holding down the right mouse button and clicking with the left on this icon.
Once we have chosen a structure to build, a foundation stone is placed there, along with a pathfinder flag. Clicking on the flag brings up all possible routes to that location, and clicking on a route will build a path there. Green routes are the fastest, red the slowest. In this way we must lay a path back to the entrance to our castle in order to start the build process. As long as a structure is linked to a path (which ultimately leads back to the castle door) a succession of settlers will get to work on the structure until it is complete.
The second icon at the bottom of the screen is the 'destroyer' tool. Clicking on a path, a building or a foundation stone will highlight this icon, and holding down the right button while clicking the left will destroy whatever is there. Next to this we see a map icon; which brings up a small map of the whole area. From here we can see the location of the enemy, as well as all the structures and paths in the area. Holding down the right button while clicking the left over this icon will instantly center us back at our main castle. The final two icons are known as 'Economy' and 'Strategy' respectfully. Utilising these we can track how well we are doing, monitor the resources we have, organise which supplies go where, what to pick up, and how well we train and arrange our defences.
There are three phases to work through during each level - the Build phase, the Economy phase, and the Battle phase. The Build phase can be quite complex to begin with as we organise our resources. At this stage players usually need to ensure a good supply of wood is available (wood cutters, tree planters and a saw mill), a source of stone (either a boulder breaker or a stone mine), several coal and iron mines, and a source of food for their citizens (pig farms, wheat farms, fishermen etc). At the end of the build phase we gain a working economy; which ideally should run like clockwork so that we can get on with more important jobs - such as preparing for war!
The tools of war are always in short supply, and so swords and shields must be pumped out of the blacksmiths as a high priority. This means iron and coal must also be relentlessly pumped into the iron foundries to supply the blacksmiths with iron; and this also means getting our hands on a good supply of both coal and iron to do the job. Mountains are always rich in ore of one type or another, so while still at the Build stage it is often best to send out a handful of ore prospectors (geologists) to see what they can find. Achieving this is simply a matter of laying a path up into the mountains, holding down the right button while clicking the left over a flag, and then selecting the old man icon which appears in the box. The geologists will then tell you where to build the best mines.
Players can have any number of workmen, in any number of jobs (up to the maximum of 64,000 settlers on an A4000), depending on what tools are available in the stores. If more geologists are needed for example, more stone hammers will have to be made - and choosing a geologist beyond the number already available will force an idle citizen to pick up a hammer and become a geologist. In this way it is possible to have whole teams of operators constantly doing things and churning things out.
To begin with we only have a small area in which we can do things, and this is indicated by the border markers around the outside of our territory. By building a guard hut or some other larger fortification, we can expand our territory beyond our initial borders - right up to the land being held by the enemy. Small huts will extend the border a little, while heavy fortresses will expand it a lot - and will require much more force to defeat. However, these take a very long time to build, so at the beginning it's often best to build as many small huts as possible. At this stage our guards will be very weak and easy to beat - but so will the enemy. All players generally advance at a similar rate, so taking longer to build strength will result in proportionately more combat strength in return from the enemy.
The Economy phase usually lasts until the borders of each tribe become so busy that one or another king will decide to make an attack. Huts and fortresses next to the enemies border can choose to attack any similar huts or fortresses within a certain range of their current post, and holding down the right button while clicking the left over an enemy fortification will highlight how many of our soldiers we can send to attack it. Outside each fortification we can also see a small flag flying. A white flags means out of range for attack, a small cross means in range but distant, and a thick cross denotes a solid target. The height of this flag will also indicate how well defended this fortification is; the higher the flag flys, the harder it will be to knock out.
The battle phase can be the longest of all, as players trade land and steal resources from each other over many hours or days. At the end of all this we must take the enemies castle by taking down all the defenders inside. A castle may have 20, 30, 40, even 50 defenders inside, and it will take at least three times this number of our own knights to break them - until at last, the enemy castle burns to the ground and we take the victory. Hurray!!
The Settlers may have been an early mould breaker, but even today the game still packs a significant punch. The number of building structures is impressive and makes for an interesting array of economic combinations and strategic elements. There is always something going on - even many hours into the game - and players will generally have several plans on the go at any one time. The smaller aspects of the game also make a huge difference. Take gold for example. It isn't necessary to have it, or to mine it in order to clinch the victory - yet soldiers will fight furiously over it enough for the player to beg, borrow and steal gold wherever they can. That's right, there are several ways to even borrow and steal items in this game; one of which is to lay a path parallel to an enemy path and use the 'right then left click' function to join them; instigating cross-border trade.
The other combatant kings in the game can be quite intelligent too, and once battle begins are often seen attacking on several fronts at once, and deep into prime economic territory. Later enemies become even more devious, and will sometimes navigate around heavy fortifications without even taking them on, preferring instead to drive straight for the main castle. These elements add a lot to the game and help complete the whole package. Of course, some aspects could have been done better – and have been developed in later sequels - but overall The Settlers is more than up to the job.
Graphics wise, the 32 colour palette is functional if a shade on the blocky side. Of course they could have gone for a higher resolution but at the risk of losing basic A500 users (the typical user in 1993). Sound too is used very well in the game, and every building structure and career path has some kind of sound attached to it (on expanded Amigas). A welcome 'Hiyaa!' sample accompanies enemy deaths, and it's always nice to hear the sound of enemy buildings burning to the ground. The music in The Settlers takes the form of an Anglo-Saxon type folk arrangement which wraps itself around various tones and themes for a good 10 minutes or so - and rarely gets boring or annoying.
Playability wise, The Settlers may have been out-dated, out-moded and out-gunned with the likes of modern (often pure war) strategy titles such as Command and Conquer, but it still has a lot to offer. It's quite easy to fathom, fun to play, and quick to control. The two-player simultaneous combat mode is a very welcome feature too; and greatly expands the whole experience.
On the downside, the battles are often pitched with pure randomness - and saving and reloading just before an attack can yield completely different results. It may take ten soldiers to take down an outpost or just one - depending on the luck of the draw. Lastly, the HUGE playing areas on an expanded Amiga will take far longer to complete, and this reviewer has been known to leave this thing running all night just to get enough troops together to dole out a decisive attack. Levels often take days or even weeks out of players lives, but somehow so much can be forgiven while playing this - the only real-time strategy game to be built and dedicated to the Amiga.
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Although highly respectable and nicely drawn on the whole, the graphics would undoubtedly have benefited from an option to change to a higher screen resolution. Everything is otherwise smooth and nicely animated.
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The music lasts a good long time and can be adjusted in volume with or without the sound effects for greater flexibility, and rarely gets annoying. The SFX on offer are of moderate quality - but there are plenty of them, and enough to make the environment feel 'busy'.
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The game may play quite slowly on basic Amigas, which can bog down the experience. Long-time players may also say the game gets repetitive after level 18 or so, but this reviewer has found the later scenarios to be just as interesting and just as rewarding to play through. The option to have two players playing together on the same screen is a very welcome feature, and expands the game's lastability a great deal.
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| Overall I'd give this a 9 on an A4000 setup, an 8.5 on an A1200 and an 8 on a basic A500 configuration, basically due to the fact that the game is so much bigger, better, and easier to deal with on power machines. Despite a few bugs, a number of flaws and the randomness of the fighting, this game is still a treat for strategists and war game enthusiasts alike. |
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