Menocchio
Prince
This is undoubtedly preaching to the choir, but I decided to install this game on a whim last week after buying it in a sale who knows how long ago, and wow! Old World is a masterclass in design that keeps me coming back game after game. It's so refreshing to have an AI that presents a real challenge even on lower difficulties with how nasty it can get at warfare. Playing newer Civ titles it feels either like a breeze or that you've essentially got to exploit the game in order to overcome all the free stuff the AI players get; meanwhile in Paradox strategy games the challenge is in choosing a deliberately worse-off start because the AI typically struggles to keep up with a human opponent. Old World's design keeps things on a level playing field: both myself and the Assyrians have a similar number of moves we can make each turn with the orders system, meaning both battlefield tactics (what units you use, their generals, your positioning) and strategy (your war economy and logistics) actually matter.
And that's before getting to the characters and events! It's been a long, long time since I played a game so organically good at making a coherent narrative. In my latest game as Kush I was recovering from a bruising war with the Greeks when they gave me an ultimatum: either I could install a Greek viceroy to control much of my kingdom, or war. With the game's systems being what they are, it was a real choice: do I hand over some autonomy now to make a power play for autonomy later, or risk outright conquest if I fail now? I chose the latter, and despite the Greeks fielding deadly crossbowmen and hordes of militia, I'd built up my capital such that it could send a horse archer running to the frontlines every 2 turns. The two earlier Greco-Nubian Wars had been decided against me because my society of wealthy builders and poets were ill-prepared to pivot to making war rather than love, but a chance event established a cavalry cult in Meroe and my builder queen could helpfully rush military infrastructure. After the war's end and the absolute destruction of Greece I looked over my cities to find that there was little left of the culture and faith of peacetime: many citizens were officers now, and every single city had a complex of strongholds and garrisons and barracks to fuel a single-minded military machine. The army that resulted demanded to be used, and generations of war with the Greeks had created a ruling class disinterested in trade or construction, instead with ambitions to conquer Persia—so ended the age of Antiquity, with the continent split in two between Assyria and Kush. Once great powers in their own right, no one spoke of the Romans, the Greeks, or the Vandals anymore.
I look forward to trying out more of the civilisations in the game: so far I've had great fun as Carthage, Egypt, Greece, Aksum, and Kush. I'd be definitely excited if they added more as well, because I think at the very least Maurya and Buddhism (to expand Sacred and the Profane) would be a real natural fit.
I've got some quibbles too so far, but they're few: maybe it's just my luck, but I've found it really easy to keep families satisfied. Foreign countries and tribes are another story, but sooner or later I've got all the families with something like +500 opinion and there's no question of their loyalty. I even had a regent usurp the ruling dynasty and although the would-be king was "plotting" it never came to anything, poor guy. Some of the newer civilisations, namely Aksum and Kush, also feel more "fully featured" than the original set, with unique buildings and mechanics rather than just bonuses.
Finally, as a historian, I think it's wrong that there's a distinct law dichotomy between "Slavery" and "Freedom." More realistically in this time period the distinction was between slavery and serfdom, and the "freest" civilisations we think of, the Romans and Greeks, also had the most deeply-embedded slave societies. The great historian of slavery and ancient economies, Moses Finley, famously put it this way: "One aspect of Greek history is the advance, hand in hand, of freedom and slavery."
And that's before getting to the characters and events! It's been a long, long time since I played a game so organically good at making a coherent narrative. In my latest game as Kush I was recovering from a bruising war with the Greeks when they gave me an ultimatum: either I could install a Greek viceroy to control much of my kingdom, or war. With the game's systems being what they are, it was a real choice: do I hand over some autonomy now to make a power play for autonomy later, or risk outright conquest if I fail now? I chose the latter, and despite the Greeks fielding deadly crossbowmen and hordes of militia, I'd built up my capital such that it could send a horse archer running to the frontlines every 2 turns. The two earlier Greco-Nubian Wars had been decided against me because my society of wealthy builders and poets were ill-prepared to pivot to making war rather than love, but a chance event established a cavalry cult in Meroe and my builder queen could helpfully rush military infrastructure. After the war's end and the absolute destruction of Greece I looked over my cities to find that there was little left of the culture and faith of peacetime: many citizens were officers now, and every single city had a complex of strongholds and garrisons and barracks to fuel a single-minded military machine. The army that resulted demanded to be used, and generations of war with the Greeks had created a ruling class disinterested in trade or construction, instead with ambitions to conquer Persia—so ended the age of Antiquity, with the continent split in two between Assyria and Kush. Once great powers in their own right, no one spoke of the Romans, the Greeks, or the Vandals anymore.
I look forward to trying out more of the civilisations in the game: so far I've had great fun as Carthage, Egypt, Greece, Aksum, and Kush. I'd be definitely excited if they added more as well, because I think at the very least Maurya and Buddhism (to expand Sacred and the Profane) would be a real natural fit.
I've got some quibbles too so far, but they're few: maybe it's just my luck, but I've found it really easy to keep families satisfied. Foreign countries and tribes are another story, but sooner or later I've got all the families with something like +500 opinion and there's no question of their loyalty. I even had a regent usurp the ruling dynasty and although the would-be king was "plotting" it never came to anything, poor guy. Some of the newer civilisations, namely Aksum and Kush, also feel more "fully featured" than the original set, with unique buildings and mechanics rather than just bonuses.
Finally, as a historian, I think it's wrong that there's a distinct law dichotomy between "Slavery" and "Freedom." More realistically in this time period the distinction was between slavery and serfdom, and the "freest" civilisations we think of, the Romans and Greeks, also had the most deeply-embedded slave societies. The great historian of slavery and ancient economies, Moses Finley, famously put it this way: "One aspect of Greek history is the advance, hand in hand, of freedom and slavery."
