Civilization IV: Warlords
Review
If you love scenarios, this will do nicely
by jdarksun
reviewed on PC
Traits (cntd.)
Warlords' scenarios are a bit of a mixed bag, the sort of thing players either love or hate. The scenarios tend to place the player in a position of weakness or are overly restrictive, with the intent of having the player interact with the scenario in a certain way. This tends to be non-representative of the typical Warlords gameplay, but they also are able to open up some interesting and diverse historical (and fictional) situations. For example, the Chinese Unification scenario is set during the Warring States era of Chinese history, and allows you to lead one of several ancient Chinese kingdoms (such as the Wei) in the attempt to unite all of China under one banner. Many of the scenarios feature unique units, resources, and tech trees, which makes for a nice diversion without totally changing the gameplay. The most interesting scenario is called Barbarians, and allows the player to take the role of the Barbarian hordes that harass budding civilizations. This fascinating game type is based around the concept of razing tile improvements and sacking cities for gold - which is then spent on units and promotions. It's an excellent little twist.
Walls and Vassals
The pattern that has been established with Warlord's embellishments continues with the new Wonders. Two of the three are standard fare - small bonuses, a free specialist person, and/or a bonus to creating a certain type of Great Person. The third, however - the Great Wall - adds the fascinating ability to prevent Barbarian units from entering your territory. At the time of completion, a wall springs up along your cultural borders, which keeps the barbarian units out. Of course, civilizations expand, and the Great Wall does not - so it doesn't protect you forever (nor does it help versus other civilizations), but it's a neat sight and can give your Workers and cities some breathing room during the crucial early game.
Warlords also introduces the concept of Vassal States, the ability to place a rival civilization under your civilization's protective wing. The player goes about acquiring a Vassal State in one of two ways: capitulation during war time, or, as a temporary measure (10 turns) during peace time. The immediate benefits of letting a civilization become your Vassal instead of wiping them out are rather limited - the Master gets Open Borders with the Vassal, the ability to use the Vassal's fortifications, the ability to demand one resource from the Vassal (even one in use), and increased Happiness in the Master's cities. The Master also counts one half of the Vassal's land and population towards Domination victories and score. The downside is that Maintenance goes up for the Master, and the Master has to protect the Vassal's land or else the Vassal can break away. The Vassal can also break away if its area or population grows beyond 50% of the Master's. It is not exactly a great deal; if you can wipe out the would-be Vassal, it is usually better to do so. The catch, of course, is that the player might be in a situation where continuing the campaign is too costly - either due to military resource expenditure or the impending threat of another civilization. So this half measure isn't always all bad.
Warlords
Another new addition is the Great General. There are three primary actions a Great General can take: join a city as Great Person resident (providing +2 experience to units created in that city), found a Military Academy (speeding up the production of military units by 25%), or attaching itself to a unit. This third option is the most unique, granting the attached unit access to five additional promotions - as well as distributing 20 experience to all the units in the stack where the Great General is attached. The Great General can also be used to start a Golden Age, like Great Persons. How to use them is not an easy decision to make, but luckily Great Generals are generated a little more quickly than other Great People - they are created based on the amount of experience your units gain through combat. Fight more, get more Great Generals. Beware, though - the rate of diminishing returns is fairly sharp, so they still need to be handled cautiously and not just thrown into the thick of battle.
It is hard to put an overall value on the myriad of little things included in Warlords. The most dramatic changes are in the scenarios, which are segregated from the main game itself. Everything else... well, it is little. No sweeping changes, just tweaks and a double handful of new flavors. Is it worth it? That depends on what you're looking for - if you are deep into Civilization 4 and happy to have a little bit more variety, this will do nicely. If you love scenarios, this will do nicely. If you are looking for more, well... Maybe you'll get that in the next expansion to 2005's PC Game of the Year.
7.0
fun score
No Pros and Cons at this time
