4X Oriental Empires - 4X game set in ancient China

[Tigranes]

And don't forget Cao Cao.

I still remember how I asked about name of literal work made by Cao Cao, and people were absolutely clueless.

It was probably called "Work work".

...really, how do they even tell apart themselves? Imagine if all english characters were called "John Dean", "Jim Donn" and "Joe Dunne".

That's exactly what you morons all call yourselves. At least they didn't have so many Henrys and Louises that we needed to number them until half the population couldn't count as far.

 

[laclongquan]

Y'all are the same to me, what with you breathing up all the white mans air with those pug noses

Excuse me EXCUSEME! What the hell do you mean WHITE man's air? WHITE? The original race of man start from Africa, so if there's any inherent ownership, it would be BLACK man's air. The first freaking messiah is Buddha, a freaking indiaman, whose original skin colour is black as midnight. Where's the hell is your justification of saying WHITE here?

 

[Grimgravy]

The first freaking messiah is Buddha, a freaking indiaman, whose original skin colour is black as midnight.

Then why are all of his statues made of gold? That's just confusing. They should be using some kind of stone or tar or something.

 

[laclongquan]

Because obsidian or any other black material is cheap. Gold is gold. get it?

If white diamon is suitable (available and big) his statue would be white too~

 

[LESS T_T]

An interview from June: http://www.matchstickeyes.com/2015/06/15/oriental-empires-qa-with-bob-smith/

3. At first glance, Oriental Empires looks like a cross between Civilization V, Endless Legend, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI. What are your influences and how have they shaped the game?

The initial inspiration was to create a civilization building game based on Eastern civilization, and having an interesting combat system. Superficially this is similar to Civ, but I don’t think the games feel alike to play. The battles obviously have some similarity to Total War games, but again, the resemblance is superficial as you don’t directly control them. History, reality, space 4X games, and miniature and board games are also influences.


4. Will battles take place on a separate tactical map (a la Total War and the older Romance of the Three Kingdoms games)? Or will all battles take place on the strategic map?

The battle system is probably the most innovative feature of the game. Players plot orders for their armies during their turn, then when they hit the End Turn button, the armies start to move, and if opposing forces meet, a battle occurs. All the battles take place in realtime right on the campaign map. If you want to, you can zoom in and watch your soldiers duking it out, or you can ignore battles that are boring or one sided. Players don’t directly control their units in battle, but can set formations and battle plans beforehand. Battles generally only last a minute or two, so the game moves along faster than games where you have to fight each battle on a separate tactical map, and you never have to choose between fighting a dull battle and taking your chances with the auto-resolve.


5. Oriental Empires will cover most of Chinese history, from 1500 BC to 1500 AD. What are some of the eras/conflicts you plan to spotlight? And to what extent will the gameplay reflect the evolution of Chinese technology, government, etc over this period?

Players start off at the dawn of recorded history controlling a single settlement in typical 4X style, so the way the game develops is up to the player, and won’t exactly match actual history. However, the game depicts the technological and cultural developments that occurred during the period with a particular emphasis on those that are uniquely Asian. If players chose the historical map, they will face the same shaping forces as their historical counterparts. So factions in the north will initially be stronger, having more easily available land, but will have to face dangerous nomadic factions from the steppe. Southern factions will develop more slowly as they have many forests and marshes to clear, but over time the balance of power will swing their way. Of course, if you play a random map, anything can happen.


6. Besides the setting, what other innovations do you plan to bring to the strategy genre?

The two largest features are the battles as mentioned above, and the ability to seamlessly zoom from a strategic overview, to a really close up view where you can see your peasants toiling in the fields, or watch your soldiers fighting in combat. The ability to step right into the game world in this way really adds a huge extra level of immersion that might not be apparent until you try it.

There are some other features that are interesting too. There are no recruitment queues for armies; instead a realistic model is used whereby you can muster as many men as you have available. The game also models two of the main driving conflicts of Chinese society, that between the peasants and the nobles, and that between the farmers and the nomads. So the unrest level of peasants and nobles is tracked separately, and decisions you make that will please one group may annoy the other. Similarly food production is handled differently for farmers, and nomads who depend on their animals, giving them different development dynamics.

 

[laclongquan]

I dont know, sounds pretty interesting so far, but strangely, not enough to get excited about~

 

[Comrade Goby]

Excuse me EXCUSEME! What the hell do you mean WHITE man's air? WHITE? The original race of man start from Africa, so if there's any inherent ownership, it would be BLACK man's air. The first freaking messiah is Buddha, a freaking indiaman, whose original skin colour is black as midnight. Where's the hell is your justification of saying WHITE here?

Actually the all people started in Africa hasn't been proven and might be wrong

 

[Agesilaus]

1500 BC to 1500 AD? guaranteed fail

 

[Tigranes]

1500 BC to 1500 AD? guaranteed fail

Not if it's more Civilisation than Paradox/TW.

I like the battle system - it's a neat effort to solve the perennial problems. How can you have a bit more involved in combat than Old Civ style "get big stacks", without bogging down in endless fighting? I like how you can set orders and watch them unfold, while zooming in and out of the rest of your empire.

If they put in more effort to distinguish each feature relative to Chinese history rather than copying Civ or EU, this will be quite interesting.

 

[Agesilaus]

There's no way that they will do a decent job of depicting 3000 years of history. There just isn't. If you have any appreciation for ancient history, this game is just going to spit in your face.

Civilization also did a terrible job of depicting history and is proof positive that this will fail. Civilization is also a bad game, put simply.

 

[dehimos]

This game doesn't search realism. Chinese history is "easier" than european history in the same period and they use that.

 

[sser]

History is merely a framework for mechanics -- easily noted by the fact that one's knowledge of history would not necessarily make them a better civ player.

 

[Tigranes]

There's no way that they will do a decent job of depicting 3000 years of history. There just isn't. If you have any appreciation for ancient history, this game is just going to spit in your face.

Civilization also did a terrible job of depicting history and is proof positive that this will fail. Civilization is also a bad game, put simply.

Civilisation as a history simulator is retarded beyond belief: it is best treated as a city-builder with some kitsch 'history' gloss. When I realised that I was finally able to have some fun with it.

 

[Agesilaus]

History is merely a framework for mechanics -- easily noted by the fact that one's knowledge of history would not necessarily make them a better civ player.

For these games, humanity itself is just a theme for its mechanics. There is no appreciation for realism and accuracy whatsoever, which is why it's a slap in the face to anyone who appreciates such things.

Civilization, and almost certainly this unbaked turd, are just weak time wasters that appropriate human cultures as a skin to cover the lack of substance.

 

[Johannes]

For these games, humanity itself is just a theme for its mechanics. There is no appreciation for realism and accuracy whatsoever, which is why it's a slap in the face to anyone who appreciates such things.

Civilization, and almost certainly this unbaked turd, are just weak time wasters that appropriate human cultures as a skin to cover the lack of substance.

Bullshit. It's a game, it doesn't have to be realistic. And you can enjoy it for what it is no matter what else you may appreciate.

 

[spectre]

Newfags these days... no appreciation for the classic beauty of phalanx picking apart tanks and bombers ITT.

Also: "spit in the face", "slap in the face", damn those vidja games are serious business.

 

[Agesilaus]

Newfags these days... no appreciation for the classic beauty of phalanx picking apart tanks and bombers ITT.

Also: "spit in the face", "slap in the face", damn those vidja games are serious business.

They are serious business, people are making a living off this nonsense, and people are denied an opportunity to experience actual history. It offends against our forefathers, it misleads our people, and fundamentally speaking it's false.

If these game producers want to play in a fantasy world, then they can do that. Go make a game on planet zargon, land of the zargonians; I won't be playing it, but at least it won't be offensive and poisonous. In the meantime, gamers of quality will be playing games that pay proper respect to history and realism. We live in the real world.

 

[spectre]

You hone that edge™ brah.

 

[Castozor]

They are serious business, people are making a living off this nonsense, and people are denied an opportunity to experience actual history. It offends against our forefathers, it misleads our people, and fundamentally speaking it's false.

If these game producers want to play in a fantasy world, then they can do that. Go make a game on planet zargon, land of the zargonians; I won't be playing it, but at least it won't be offensive and poisonous. In the meantime, gamers of quality will be playing games that pay proper respect to history and realism. We live in the real world.

It's obvious to all but the most dense of people that the Civ series take some historic factions and technologies for flavour reasons and a more or less reasonable progression of time and tech. If the idea of using history in this way offends you you're a fucking sperg and should stay away from video games since it obvious you can't handle them.
On topic, game looks nice. I've always wanted a Total War game set in historic China but I guess this will have to suffice.

 

[dehimos]

I didn't know they had a web: www.orientalempires.com

About combat: http://www.orientalempires.com/forum/index.php?topic=7.0

To answer your question, you set up formations and orders for your units during your turn, then if there is a battle, it is automatically resolved by the computer. You can zoom in and watch it you want, or just fast forward through it if it's of no particular interest. There is no pre-battle phase, all the battles occur as the armies move and collide with each other.

Will there be naval combat?

Will there be ambushes? can we employ the classic Chinese "empty fort strategy" where the enemy is lured into entering a seemingly empty fort only to be ambushed?

Flanking? Cavalry charges ? hit and run skirmishing?

Can terrain be exploited such as using bottle necks where a smaller army can hold off a larger army? Will there be High ground where archers can rain death on low ground?

Powerful leaders strategists/heroes/ commanders?

will there be moral? can enemies be routed?

Yes to all of the above, except that there are no forts.

Naval forces are supposed to in the game, but won't be in the first release.

 

[Hoodoo]

cool

 

[LESS T_T]

Early Access in early next year: http://store.steampowered.com/app/357310/

“The early access period should only be a few months. There are a few specific features we want to add, and we obviously want to incorporate what we can of the community’s feedback, to make the gameplay smooth and compelling.”

 

[anus_pounder]

 

[Corporate_Jew_Master]

Yet another strategy game about zipper-eyes that's better than most with yurokwa settings.

 

[fraxli]

Today they put an extended trailer, is the same one as the one of December but with some new things.



And the steam page is up http://store.steampowered.com/app/357310