Kingdoms & Castles

We're gamers in here! All platforms, any genre. Share with us your latest gaming obsession.
Post Reply
User avatar
Leezar
Marshall
Posts: 116
Joined: September 7th, 2013, 3:14 am

Kingdoms & Castles

Post by Leezar »

This title caught my eye;

https://www.gog.com/game/kingdoms_castles

From what I can see, the graphics are clean, just like Eschalon, if though a bit simple (then again, Eschalon 1 is also perhaps a bit simple).

I have decided to preorder this thing so in... well whenever it is finished, if there is anyone interested, I can drop my thoughts after playing it.

I just hope it isn't another micromanaging nightmare like late game civ, or slow, dull and tedious as fuck like Heroes of Might and Magic or shallow and uninteresting like Tropico - I hope it will be more like Warlords, Warlords Battlecry, Myth or Alpha Centauri.
Roughly at the same time I penetrate your betrothed, you will be penetrated by this sharpened pole
User avatar
SpottedShroom
Captain Magnate
Captain Magnate
Posts: 1372
Joined: June 4th, 2010, 6:18 pm

Re: Kingdoms & Castles

Post by SpottedShroom »

Any idea whether it's real-time or turn-based/pauseable while you queue up actions?
User avatar
Leezar
Marshall
Posts: 116
Joined: September 7th, 2013, 3:14 am

Re: Kingdoms & Castles

Post by Leezar »

Well... judging from the vid, which I really should not, as it is a pre-alpha vid, it is real time. Looks a bit like settlers (lets hope it is not like settlers or my 10 bux just went down the drain).

But, I am an omnivore when it comes to these kind of games. Turnbased, RT or weird mix, it doesnt matter to me, as long as the gameplay is good.
Roughly at the same time I penetrate your betrothed, you will be penetrated by this sharpened pole
User avatar
KillingMoon
Officer [Gold Rank]
Officer [Gold Rank]
Posts: 460
Joined: December 10th, 2009, 6:34 pm
Location: NW Europe

Re: Kingdoms & Castles

Post by KillingMoon »

There are some YouTube vids about this game, no pause button there yet, but it would be odd if they left it without.

I do like the graphics of this game, simple can be pleasing. I just dislike manga-style cartoonish. If the game comes out it would be great if you would share your experiences, Leezar.
Now and then I like a sim-type game, there hasn't been too much in the genre lately, although I'm also not playing games much anymore. I'm seeing there's also a game called Northgard (no 'u' in that) which could fall into the same category. It's on Steam Early Access, getting some good feedback and might be worth keeping an eye on.
User avatar
Leezar
Marshall
Posts: 116
Joined: September 7th, 2013, 3:14 am

Re: Kingdoms & Castles

Post by Leezar »

umbromel wrote: April 23rd, 2017, 4:08 pm It is a good game
How can you tell, it is still not out? Did you have a beta-test version or something? Or has it been released elsewhere but not on GoG?
Roughly at the same time I penetrate your betrothed, you will be penetrated by this sharpened pole
User avatar
Leezar
Marshall
Posts: 116
Joined: September 7th, 2013, 3:14 am

Re: Kingdoms & Castles

Post by Leezar »

Ok it's out!!! Wohoo!!!

Thus, I neglecting my family to bring you my first impressions:
* It is very addictive, like all city builders. So, be warned! Do not buy this game is you have an important exam coming up, or just started a new job, or something similar.
* It is very self-explanatory, and in any case you have advisors telling you what to do.
* Your city progress quickly, and there is no (so far) micromanaging.
- Does that mean easy --> ultimately unsatisfactory playing experience? To early to tell...
- Peasants assign jobs to themselves. I believe it is possible to overextend your city growth, in such a way that that you get stuck in "catch 22" scenarios, where there is none to say, build a hovel, therefore, you will miss out on the work force needed to grow more food or whatever, but either I lucked out on my first play or this is not much of a problem. However, supposedly, you CAN micromanage your peasants, if need be, by shutting down construction and job slot filling of buildings, so even overextending should be easily fixed - like I said, I did not encounter this problem and therefore didnt try it out.
* The islands are rather small, and since city planning is easy and satisfactory, I would say this game is very streamlined. Does that mean you grow bored of your kingdom too quickly??? Again, to early to say. I will say this: if you like city builders and if you liked the Eschalon streamlining, you will love this game.
* The most interesting aspect are dragons and vikings. There are three lands you can play: no raids, infrequent raids, and frequent raids. I played infrequent raids, because, well, it is the first time I play. After each raid, you will discover how badly you have messed up in city planning. I surmise I picked the wrong difficulty: because the game is rather much Sim City in between raids, the most fun land is probably the frequent raid land. And also, you wont have to demolish half your city every time vikings raid and you realize just how badly you planned your defenses, if you are raided all the time! Raiders also will not sack your entire village completely (thankfully) so you will not be very upset and throw your imaginary NES-controller in the floor out of frustration.
* Because of the above point, I surmise that it is possible, that once you manage to build a city with such good defenses you are safe from raids, the game might become boring in the sense "Ok, what now?" HOWEVER, until you succeed with that, you will probably spend at least a good 10 hours or so (I just spend 3 hours), but probably more like 20-25 hours until you master the game on the frequent raid land. Considering it is SEK 97 (like, 10 euros or 10-15 dollars, something like that) I think it is a fair deal.

End sum, do I recommend this game? Hell yes!
Roughly at the same time I penetrate your betrothed, you will be penetrated by this sharpened pole
User avatar
Leezar
Marshall
Posts: 116
Joined: September 7th, 2013, 3:14 am

Re: Kingdoms & Castles

Post by Leezar »

Oh, and some quick tips, especially relevant for early game;
1. To get more wood, before you manage to build forester buildings, click on a tree and find the clickable "cut three" or whatever it says on the square description. The first ten minutes of my play were very confusing "Ok, I ran out of wood... what now?"
2. Build roads all over the place. Roads determine where you can buiild new buildings.
3. Yellowish land tiles are barren. Build houses on those. Green land tiles are fertile. Build farms on those.
Roughly at the same time I penetrate your betrothed, you will be penetrated by this sharpened pole
User avatar
Leezar
Marshall
Posts: 116
Joined: September 7th, 2013, 3:14 am

Re: Kingdoms & Castles

Post by Leezar »

Ok, after playing some more on frequent raids, I need to add two things:
1. Either, it is harder than it looks, or I am not as good with these games as I thought (and I have beated Alpha Centauri on transcendant iron man, more than once!)
2. Demolishing building projects and shutting down operations in less prioritized buildings is fine... however, you should be able to flag certain jobs as high priority. I mean, you are the king, after all! It is rather ridiculous when vikings ravage your city because half your guard towers stand abandoned, meanwhile 20 workers stand around almost empty stockpiles, having a smoke and reading Farmer Illustrated. Or when people are on the edge of rioting, but your extremely resource demanding and finally finished church stands empty. Or when you have two hospitals and still 20 people die of plaque, because the hospitals are understaffed. Maybe you could get 1 dedicated worker for every 10 citizens, that you could position any way you want, or something similar.

And some more tips:
1. In early to maybe half midgame, prioritize building the cheaper variant of buildings. For instance, build a library instead of a church. You can always demolish buildings later: nobody really seems to gets upset by being evicted, and you will regain half the invested resources. For that matter, it is in general (but not always) not advisable to "save" strategically placed land tiles for later use. You can build there, and then demolish when you need it. Cheaper buildings also requires less staff - which, as it turns out, is a VERY important consideration, see the point 2 above (not below).
2. Keep an eye on your food, all the time. When your city is overpopulated, food storage will start dropping at a VERY quick rate.
3. Place 3 tiles high guard towers at random locations. Build archer towers in outskirts and ballista towers in city centers. Both dragons and vikings fly / run around seemingly at random, so "crows nest" are really only useful once you have walled up your entire city. Meanwhile, ogres will go and smash any wall they can find. If you put several strecthes of wall next to each others, but it is insufficiently guarded, you just give them a demolition buffet, but if they are spread out, they need to run a gauntlet instead.
4. Use bridges to avoid building on precious "very fertile" tiles.
5. I think... but am not sure... that peasants have an easy time travel across roads and empty tiles, a little harder time travesing farms but a MUCH harder time traversing land which is built upon (and of course, cannot pass through walls, at all). So keep that in mind when placing, oh, say, the wells that are used to put out fires.
Roughly at the same time I penetrate your betrothed, you will be penetrated by this sharpened pole
User avatar
Leezar
Marshall
Posts: 116
Joined: September 7th, 2013, 3:14 am

Re: Kingdoms & Castles

Post by Leezar »

I, and I forgot to add that town square is THE best building in the game (and you only need 1). Holding a festival is a mere 25 gold, and will attract something like 20-40 people, (if you have enough empty beds), perhaps even more, (which would otherwise take years to attract) AND temporary adds 15 happyness. This way, you may get lucky and get your important buildings staffed, but again, keep an eye on food levels. It is exceedingly funny to hold a festival right after a plaque has passed; you quickly replenish those lost - fuck doctors, useless moneygrubbers!
Roughly at the same time I penetrate your betrothed, you will be penetrated by this sharpened pole
Post Reply