Settlers 3 Gold Edition Cd Crack No-cd
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The game was designed and co-programmed by Volker Wertich, creator of the original Settlers game. Although the core supply and demand-based gameplay is broadly the same as in previous titles, many of the game mechanics have been altered; the player now has direct control over their army; roads are no longer necessary to connect buildings, headquarters no longer automatically generate settlers as required, and the different races now have different economic models, different magic spells, and several unique abilities and buildings. The game was also the first in the series to feature online multiplayer.
Whether playing Campaign, Scenario or Multiplayer mode, each game begins the same way; the player has a small settlement, a set amount of raw materials and tools, and a predetermined number of settlers.[8] The basic gameplay revolves around serfs (the titular "settlers"), who transport materials, tools and produce, and who populate and perform the requisite task of each building.[9] New settlers can only be acquired by the construction of residences.[8][16] The player issues general orders (such as ordering the construction of a building), with the AI handling the delegation of orders to specific settlers.[16][17]
A major change to the mechanics in The Settlers III is that players do not have to construct a road network. Instead, settlers can walk freely around the player's territory, with the AI handling pathfinding.[8][18] Players can also build marketplaces, which allow for the establishment of trade routes between areas on the same geographical region,[19] and shipyards, which allow for the manufacture of both transport ships and trade ships.[20][21]
A new feature of The Settlers III is "Divine Intervention", whereby each race can call upon their deities for economic and/or military assistance. Once the player has both manna and priests, they have finite access to a number of spells, the nature of which depends on the race.[25] These spells include tuning iron to gold, turning enemy soldiers to allies (Romans), turning fish to meat, starting forest fires (Egyptians), turning stone to iron, temporarily giving soldiers extra strength (Asians), turning gold to stone, and temporarily freezing enemies (Amazons).[26][27]
The player's territory can only be expanded by using pioneers or building a military complex near the territory border.[9][16] Each complex must have at least one soldier garrisoned for the territory to expand. To recruit soldiers, the player must build a barracks, with each individual soldier requiring their requisite weapon to transition from settler to soldier.[28] The player can also build lookout towers, which are manned by regular settlers, and which can see for great distances, but don't grant new territory.
Upon attacking an enemy building, if the player's units defeat all soldiers stationed in the building, they will occupy it, with the player's territory increasing according to the building's radius.[8] Defense of the player's military buildings is automatic; as enemies attack, any soldiers stationed in the building defend. When soldiers are fighting within their own territory, their strength is always 100%. When they are fighting outside, their strength depends on how much gold the player has in their stockpile.[32]
The first major design decision Wertich made related to the complexity of the game's economic system. Due to the innovations he planned to introduce to the mechanics, and because the supply and demand-based gameplay of Settlers III was going to be more intricate than in previous titles, he felt that forcing players to concentrate too much on logistics would serve as an unwelcome distraction, and so decided to remove the need for a road network. Instead, settlers would have the freedom to move anywhere within the player's settlement, with the AI handling pathfinding.[53] Another early decision was that the different races in Settlers III wouldn't just look different, they would have different abilities, different economic models and certain buildings unique to each one.[53] Wertich, in consultation with Hertzler, also decided to create the game in high color, a first for the series, which had used 8-bit color for previous titles.[53]
By July, Hess had begun working on the sketches for the individual settlers, paying particular attention to the differentiations between the same settler from different races (the specific differences between a Roman and an Egyptian baker, for example). It soon became apparent that the workload was too much for one person, and in August a second artist was hired; Thorsten Wallner, who also worked as the game's 3D modeling artist and character animator.[56] Once on board, Wallner realised that Hess's designs were too detailed, and, as a result, were unrealisable given the current level of technology, so the pair decided to scrap them, and redesign the characters from scratch. Hess had failed to take into account that the designs of the settlers couldn't be too complex, since small details would be lost, given their size (32 pixels in height). At the same time, the designs had to be detailed enough so as to seem at least somewhat realistic, even at such a small size. To solve this problem, Wallner decided to exaggerate their proportions, "so that the subtleties could be recognised". He also decided to give them weapons and tools proportionally too big, as correctly sized implements would be far too small to be seen. After a week, Wallner presented his first 3D designs to Wertich and Hess (the standard Roman carriers, diggers and builders),[57] who decided to make some additional changes, such as making the settlers more rotund and enlarging the heads.[58]
The Settlers III was notable for its method of copy protection. Using Blue Byte's own in-house copy protection system, Sysiphus, pirated copies of the game would seem to run perfectly at first. However, iron smelters would produce only pigs, residences wouldn't produce new settlers, newly planted trees wouldn't grow, goods placed at a harbour for transport would disappear, and manna couldn't be generated.[23][61][62] In a press release issued by Blue Byte in January 1999, by which time the game had sold 500,000 units, Thomas Hertzler stated:
In October, Blue Byte released a second expansion, The Settlers III: Quest of the Amazons, featuring ten new maps for single-player mode, ten new maps for multiplayer mode, an improved map editor, a new race (the Amazons), and two new twelve-mission single-player campaigns, one in which the player controls the Amazons against the other three races, and one in which they control the combined forces of the others against the Amazons.[79] The idea to include female settlers stretched back to the earliest conceptions of the game, and had always been seen as a potential idea for an expansion.[54] Blue Byte's development manager, Erik Simon, stated of Quest of the Amazons: "Fans of the series have been bombarding us for ages with requests to finally let female Settlers pit their skills against their male counterparts. The new Amazon race will no doubt introduce some turbulence into the previously male-dominated Settlers world".[78]
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