PC Strategic Games FAQ
Thamer Al-Herbish
Posting-Frequency: Every 15 days.
URL: http://www.whitefang.com/pcst/
PC Strategic Games FAQ
----------------------
Version 0.7
Last Modified on: Fri Dec 10 10:18:22 PST 1999
The master copy of this FAQ is currently kept at
http://www.whitefang.com/pcst/
The webpage has a more spiffy version of the FAQ in html.
This FAQ is also posted to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic
(c.s.i.p.g.s), , comp.answers , news.answers.
Please do not mirror this FAQ without prior permission. Due to the
high volume of readers I'm worried that old versions of the FAQ are
left to grow stale, consequently receive email based on fixed
errors/omissions.
Copyright
---------
I, Thamer Al-Herbish reserve a collective copyright on this FAQ.
Individual contributions made to this FAQ are the intellectual
property of the contributor.
I am responsible for the validity of all information found in this
FAQ.
This FAQ may contain errors, or inaccurate material. Use it at your
own risk. Although an effort is made to keep all the material
presented here accurate, the contributors and maintainer of this FAQ
will not be held responsible for any damage -- direct or indirect --
which may result from inaccuracies.
You may redistribute this document as long as you keep it in its
current form, without any modifications.
Introduction
------------
The FAQ answers questions about contemporary strategic games for the
PC. Most of the issues covered relate to commercial strategic games
that run under DOS or Win32. Since the FAQ is posted to
comp.sys.ibm.games.strategic, issues that are only relevant to other
operating systems or machines are not covered. The term PC and
DOS/Win32 is used interchangeably with my apologies. It makes it
easier for the layman to understand, and the audience of this FAQ is
large enough to warrant this generalization. However, the reader will
find plenty of general information that pertains to any game that
falls under the strategy genre, and not necessarily for the PC.
"And I not sing, lest, haply, Scotch reviews, Should dub me
scribbler, and denounce my muse?" -- George Gordon Byron
Additions and Contributions
---------------------------
If you find anything you can add, have some corrections for me or
would like a question answered, please send email to:
PC Strategy FAQ <pc...@whitefang.com>
Do not send mail to my personal email address! (Use the one mentioned
above instead). This is one way of filtering mails, and I anticipate
quite a few. Please help me keep things organized.
Remember to include whether or not you want your email address
reproduced on the FAQ (if you're contributing). Also remember that
you may want to post your question to Usenet, instead of sending it
to me. If you get a response which is not found on this FAQ, and you
feel is relevant, mail me both copies and I'll attempt to include it.
If I quote you directly, or paraphrase you I will place mention of
your name and (with your consent) your email address. If not, your
name will appear in the list of contributors nonetheless.
Caveat
------
This FAQ will not include game specific information. Most games
require a FAQ on their own. Furthermore, the games mentioned do not
reflect what I recommend, neither am I affiliated with their
developers nor their publishers. I'm simply using them to state
precedent. To find game specific FAQs you could visit
http://www.gamefaqs.com/
Table of Contents
-----------------
1) General Questions:
1.1) What is a strategy game?
1.2) Where can I find game reviews?
1.3) Where can I find demos of games?
1.4) How are games priced?
1.5) Where can I offer/buy used games?
1.6) What is an AI?
1.7) Why isn't [insert game name here] being discussed?
2) Genre Questions:
2.1) What are strategy games classified by?
2.2) What is a turn based strategy (TB) game?
2.3) What is a real time strategy (RTS) game?
2.4) What is a squad based game?
2.5) What is a war game?
2.6) What is a resource management game?
2.7) What is a first person strategy game?
2.8) What is a 4X game?
3) Game Assessment Questions.
3.1) What is game balance?
3.2) What is open endedness?
3.3) How do I determine a game's longevity (hours of play)?
4) Tactics Questions:
4.1) What weaknesses do most AIs have?
4.2) It's too hard, what now?
5) Running Old DOS Games:
5.1) How do I get an old DOS game to run in windows without
crashing or asking for more memory?
5.2) How do I slow down an old DOS game so it runs normally on a
modern computer?
5.3) What is a VESA driver and why does this old game want one?
6) List of Contributors
1) General Questions:
---------------------
1.1) What is a strategy game?
-----------------------------
From WordNet 1.6:
"strategy n 1: an elabrate and systematic plan of action [ syn:
scheme ]"
The oldest strategy games are, possibly, Chess, Checkers, and
Chinese Go. In order to successfully play the game the player
must formulate a strategy to out smart his opponent. Arguably
certain card games like Spades fall into this category as well.
However, this FAQ deals with more hard core strategy games. The
advent of computer games fueled many genres, including those
with strategic elements. From the early turn based war games on
the Commodore 64, to the adrenaline rushing real time strategy
games that we've seen emerge on the PC. Additionally, what may
seem strategic to one person may not to another. Examples are
games like Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines (Pyro Studios), where
some gamers labeled it as a glorified puzzle game, rather than
a strategy game. Or even Quake (ID Software) could be perceived
by some to have strategic elements. Both these games fall into
a grey area, and are not the focus of this FAQ. Instead games
like Command And Conquer (Westwood Studios) X-Com: Apocalypse
(Micropose) Settlers (Bluebyte) tend to be covered with less
ambiguity in this genre.
If the player's main focus is to make use of strategic
elements, the game being played is considered a strategy game.
As the astute reader can tell, the previous statement is
relative to the player's perception. As such, this FAQ will
make use of popular opinion when determining if a game falls
into this pigeon hole.
1.2) Where can I find game reviews?
-----------------------------------
A good place to start is Yahoo!'s listing of computer game
reviews at:
http://dir.yahoo.com/Recreation/Games/Computer_Games/Reviews/
However, you can also go by a local bookstore and buy magazines
that review computer games, although many also have sites on
the Internet.
If you want to request a review on c.s.i.p.g.s. please check
Dejanews http://www.dejanews.com/ first, reviews may have
already been made. Generally you look real stupid requesting
reviews that were just posted a week ago. If people reply with
the same kind of reviews that were posted a week ago, you and
the group of people start to look real dum. I know it's a cruel
world.
1.3) Where can I find demos of games?
-------------------------------------
Most of the sites that do game reviews will post links to their
demos. However, you are better off going directly to the gaming
publishers web site and checking for the availability of demos.
You may also receive demos on CDs packaged with magazines. The
only problem with this is you may have an old version of the
demo that exhibits bugs. A good idea is to double check the
publisher's web site for any updates. Publishers are real nice
about updating their demos with patches.
Don't accept demos from unknown, or unofficial sources. It's
just dangerous to run untrusted code. For the most part,
computer game publishers aren't out to do you in :-)
1.4) How are games priced?
--------------------------
The following is based on my experience, and uses American
dollars for monetary value.
New games start in between $30-50, they later go down to
$20-30, and finally $5-15 when they hit the bargain bin. This
excludes any "specials" you may see. However, keep in mind, as
any consumer should, a lot of "specials" that claim to give a
game free when you buy two, will over price the other two.
Most gamers will wait for a game to grow old and buy it cheap
if it doesn't meet their standards. This conforms with the
strategy employed by game publishers. They'll make it expensive
at first, and slowly lower the prices. That's a way for them to
gauge how well the game is. If it's a great game chances are
people will shell out money from the day it hits the store, if
it's not people will wait and pay less.
Unfortunately recent practices have shown publishers releasing
games at their beta stage, actively placing updates (patches)
for download and then releasing a brand new package a year
later as a sequel or "Special Edition". The new edition usually
has all the bug fixes and conforms to the standards most gamers
want. Sometimes they're even nice enough to offer a rebate.
Sad, but true.
Ronny Cook <ro...@iguana.mhs.oz.au> mentions the price ranges
in Australia as: "[New releases are] around A$60-90, then drop
to A$50 or so around six months later, then to around A$10-$30
in "bargain bins".
Richard Lloyd <Ll...@bury-rd.demon.co.uk> states that the
pricing in the UK is as follows: New games cost 30-40 UK
pounds. Sometimes as low as 20-25 pounds if you are lucky.
Budget games cost in between 5-15 pounds with 10-12 being most
common. Very old games can be found for as low as 2.5-3 pounds.
Additionally games sold at budget price are usually classics,
and not flops.
1.5) Where can I offer/buy used games?
--------------------------------------
Although this FAQ does not cover any guidelines for c.s.i.p.g.s
you are better off posting on comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.marketplace
It contains a lot of "for sale" posts along with "wanted"
posts. Game sellers also advertise their prices on that NG.
1.6) What is an AI?
-------------------
AI stands for "Artificial Intelligence". Gamers use it to refer
to whatever mechanism controls a non-human player, namely when
playing against the computer. However, it is questionable just
how much intelligence is exhibited by game AIs. Usually an AI
is something that is artificially created and can learn. If the
game AI can't learn, it's not much of an AI.
1.7) Why isn't [insert game name here] being discussed?
-------------------------------------------------------
Most likely people have already discussed it and moved on. Most
game publishers will run their own message boards so you could
still find discussion there. Also some games don't make a dent
in the newsgroup for whatever reason: either they weren't
really strategy games, or they were just plain bad, or they
just didn't have enough appeal. Either way don't post "why
isn't this game being discussed" just make a post discussing
it.
2) Genre Questions:
-------------------
2.1) What are strategy games classified by?
-------------------------------------------
Players have used different terms to label different games.
They are listed below.
Turn based.
Real time.
Squad based.
War gaming.
Resource management
First person strategy.
4X game
However, these are not exclusive. Many games will make use of
more than one sub-genre in hopes of increasing the game's
appeal.
2.2) What is a turn based strategy (TB) game?
---------------------------------------------
A good example of an old turn based game is Monopoly (Warner
Brothers). Each player executes an action or a series of
actions on a turn by turn basis. A contemporary example would
be Allied General (Asylum Entertainment) .
2.3) What is a real time strategy (RTS) game?
---------------------------------------------
A sub-genre that started with Dune II (Westwood Studios),
Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment), and Command And Conquer
(Westwood Studios), and possibly some earlier games. Instead of
playing by turns, the game progresses in "Real-Time" hence the
action never stops. The goal is to keep the player on his toes,
and challenge his strategic prowess.
When playing a turn based game, players have the opportunity to
sit back and formulate a plan, in contrast a real-time game
does not give the player that luxury. However, some RTS games
have included the option of slowing down the game's speed, or
even pausing it while still being able to interact with it.
The term "click fest" has been used extensively by TB advocates
to argue that RTS games are a waste of time. In the same manner
RTS fans feel that TB games are for "wimps". Draw your own
conclusions.
2.4) What is a squad based game?
--------------------------------
When the player is concentrating on a handful of units which
are represented, usually, as human beings capable of jumping,
crouching, taking aim, and using numerous weapons with various
augmentations, the game is considered to be squad based. The
strategy involved is not to only position the units optimally,
but also to equip them according to their task. One of the
oldest squad based strategy games was Laser Squad (Target),
released on platforms like the C64, Amiga, and the ZX spectrum.
More contemporary games include Jagged Alliance (Sir-Tech),
X-Com: Apocalypse (Mythos Games), and SWAT 2 (Vosemite
Entertainment).
2.5) What is a war game?
------------------------
Although arguably many strategy games are war games, this term
is usually used to reference the more hard core elements of war
gaming. As such, games that simulate historical or abstract
battles fall into this category. Quite a few war games are
based on board games, thus they are usually turn based. A
contemporary example would be The Great Battles of Caesar
(Erudite Software Inc.).
You may want to subscribe to:
comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.war-historical as it also contains
discussion of war games, but focuses on historical ones.
2.6) What is a resource management game?
----------------------------------------
Resource management entails doing just that, managing
"resources" and usually trying to design an optimal resource
production "world". Early examples include SimCity (Maxis),
which is arguably more of a simulation. Later games included
resource management as an added feature; such as some of the
games mentioned above. However, more hard core resource
management games have appeared, such as Settlers (Bluebyte),
and Knights and Merchants (JoyMania).
2.7) What is a first person strategy game?
------------------------------------------
A strategy game where the player is in control of a single
"person" and is seeing the world from his perspective.
Andrew Stingel <an...@gonegold.com> mentions previous efforts in
a post to c.s.i.p.g.s.
"It's . . . been attempted in titles such us Uprising (3DO) ,
Battlezone (Activision) and Urban Assault (Microsoft). I
imagine other titles such as Rainbow 6 (Redstorm) could be
labeled first-person strategy also. These games tend to be seen
more as action games by this group, though I recall Battlezone
was discussed quite extensively when it was first released."
"Turn-based, first person games are a little rarer, only
Incubation (Bluebyte) comes to mind."
2.8) What is a 4X Game?
-----------------------
Although many of the aforementioned games may fall into the 4X
category, it is usually reserved for games like Sid Meier's
Civilization (Microprose) , Master of Orion (Microprose), and 7
Kingdoms (Imagic Games). The term 4X stands for, eXplore,
eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. Whoever it was who coined the
term unfortunately left the word out "research," a mechanism a
lot of 4X games use.
Generally speaking, the player takes control of a said
"faction" while controlling units under it that would are used
to eXplore the game's world, eXpand across it by building
"bases", and eXploit the word via building improvements on
different terrain types. Finally, when faced with an adversary
the most likely outcome is for one or the other to eXterminate
his opposition. The player may, of course, make treaties with
the opposing factions etc.
(The terms used above would accurately describe Sid Meier's
Alpha Centauri (Firaxis)).
During this milieu, the player must research better technology,
build base improvements, and micromanage the individual bases.
A common flaw of 4X games is its ability to quickly become
overwhelming from its micromanaging. After the 10th base expect
to spend a lot of time taking care of small details.
3) Game Assessment Questions.
-----------------------------
3.1) What is game balance?
--------------------------
When a game is to easy to beat, or too difficult to play it is
said to have bad game balance. This can manifest in numerous
ways:
The interface is crippled: You can barely get anything done
because the controls are too clumsy to get the hang of. Or
the micromanagement is impossible because the interface
does not let you look at the "big picture" and as such you
cannot figure out what to do.
Lack of challenge: It's just way too easy. In some cases
you know a trick to beat the AI in any situation. Or the AI
is so stupid you can always beat it. Other possibilities
include features which lack any relevance to the game;
Weapons are dead cheap, there's really no need to worry
about your funds.
Cheating AI: Carsten <cen...@gwdg.de> mentions that
"Tireme" units in Civilization move like "Sails" for the
AI. This gives the AI an unfair advantage, since "Sails"
can travel farther and better. This is most likely done to
compensate for the AIs inability to out smart the player.
This can be a major turn off for serious gamers.
In some cases a game does not need to be balanced in one
respect as much as it does the other. Unfortunately some
classic games lacked balance. They were most likely rushed.
3.2) What is open endedness?
----------------------------
The game play is non-linear. You are free to pursue whatever
course you wish to. Classic open ended games are Pirates!
(Microprose), or Elite (Ian Bell).
Not many games pull off open endedness and still retain
desirable affects. This is caused by the difficulty in
obtaining game balance in an open ended game. Mathematically
speaking, there are too many variables to balance. Usually
games that don't pull it off well still draw a small group of
fans. For the most part, open endedness is a major thrill for
escapism seekers.
3.3) How do I determine a game's longevity (hours of play)?
-----------------------------------------------------------
This is, of course, directly proportional to your learning
curve, and your tolerance of what may seem to other players as
nothing more than a number of minor flaws. If you are
fastidious, like me, most games will not last long, but the
classic open ended games will last forever.
A classic mistake made by game developers, is the exclusion of
a game editor, or randomly generated scenarios. Recently many
games have taken the path of setting up a number of "missions"
or "scenarios". Usually in the range of 10 to 20 in one game
(though more is not unheard of). After playing all missions the
game starts to lose its appeal. If a game editor is provided
(sometimes called a scenario or map editor), players can devise
new challenges and trade them with other players. This
increases the game's longevity exponentially.
If the game has multiplayer support it usually lives long as
well. Players who have completed the "solo missions" will be
able to play against each other, preferably in predesigned or
random scenarios.
Linear games die quickly without the aforementioned features,
as opposed to open ended games. A good example is Pirates!
(Micropose), that still retains a strong player base (people
still play the game on C64 emulators).
Finally, but definitely not the least important, is the game's
pace. Some games are just too dang slow. After hours of play
you don't seem to be getting anywhere, nor are you rewarded for
your time. The game has to have enough endearing features to
pique your interest. This is sometimes done by adding lots of
fancy graphics and sound. Some players do appreciate this,
while at other times would rather have more gaming features for
added playabibility.
4) Tactics Questions:
---------------------
4.1) What weaknesses do most AIs have?
--------------------------------------
This all varies on how well the AI was programmed. But here are
the most frequently found weaknesses:
Usually AIs employ a threshold area. For example, how close
your units can get before your opponent takes action. Finding
this threshold area is done by trial and error. When you do
find it, it can help tremendously. You can corner enemy units
without them attempting to break out untill you have amassed a
decent force. You may find that there is no threshold area on
some actions taken by the AI: He will keep repairing his units,
wasting his resources. Get a unit, and keep damaging it near
destruction.
They almost exclusively have a static strategy, which means a
high degree of predictability. In certain squad based games you
can simply "camp" and wait for the AI to come your way. You
then proceed to pick his units off as they run straight at you,
guns blazing.
4.2) It's too hard, what now?
-----------------------------
Saved games are your friend. Granted that the following tip is
frowned upon by serious gamers, it is a silver bullet.
Every time you advance in the game, save. Keep reloading
whenever you lose anything valuable, or don't perform to
perfection. This kills some of the thrills you can get out of
losing in the game and winning your way back. However, it is
stipulated that the reader is seriously bogged down and just
wants to get through the game.
5) Running Old Dos Games:
-------------------------
5.1) How do I get an old DOS game to run in windows without
crashing or asking for more memory?
----------------------------------------------------------------
You should always run DOS games under DOS unless the manual
says otherwise; however, you still wind up with programs
needing extended memory, more conventional memory etc.
The people at http://www.computerhope.com/ have a page with a
complete guide to setting up DOS so that your games can run
with more memory, be it expanded or conventional at:
http://www.computerhope.com/ac.htm
It may look lengthy to read but it walks you through an entire
setup and explains everything very well a long the way (better
than I could in a FAQ).
5.2) How do I slow down an old DOS game so it runs normally on
a modern computer?
----------------------------------------------------------------
There are utilities that will make a DOS program run slower.
You probably should use these utilities if you are running
prehistoric games.
Moslo http://www.hpaa.com/moslo/
Bremze http://ansis.folklora.lv/bremze/
At-Slow [ Couldn't find location. Please send in the URL
if you have it. ]
5.3) What is a VESA driver and why does this old game want one?
---------------------------------------------------------------
VESA is a video standard. It basically defines a way for the
game to talk to the video card. Most video card vendors should
have information on getting a DOS VESA driver for their card.
Some newer cards have a VESA driver in the hardware and do not
require an external software driver. Find out what card you
have, go to the vendors webpage and download the driver if you
need it.
6) List of Contributors
-----------------------
Thamer Al-Herbish <sha...@whitefang.com>
Ronny Cook <ro...@iguana.mhs.oz.au>
Richard Lloyd <Ll...@bury-rd.demon.co.uk>
Andrew Stingel <an...@gonegold.com>
Carsten <cen...@gwdg.de>