Finished a cool game tonight with some friends. I went up hard against 1 of the 5 other people playing and after 15 minutes of combat my units were pretty much wiped out, so I consolidated some resources here and there and built a grand defensive structure. It took 3 huge armies of elite grenadiers and invokers before he broke out the siege engines, which still had trouble taking it all down. A good way to go:
That’s pretty impressive, in a somewhat insane way. I remember playing a 4v4 way back when, where the other team was super-defensive and turtled up the three major mountain passes to their land area. At one point my team ran into a mass of forts 4 rows deep pretty much clogging up every path to their towns. We didn’t bother with siege engines but instead went with insane suicide charges so that the entire screen was filled with troop-strewn carnage, until one of my teammates came up with 3 companies of Elite-level Elite Guard/Magician/Summoner units and blasted a path through. We won shortly thereafter.
I dont have any screens but I do have a saved game film someplace (I think its an older game version so I can’t play it) of a game where the sides were separated by 2 large bodies of water (random map)- there was a central isthmus connecting the 2 sides and a narrow stretch of coast on one side also connecting. The narrow coast had one of those big raksha nests on it with little nests around it, plus a storm dragon so everyone left that alone. The entire fight got down to the central isthmus and of course that settled into a brutal war of attrition with upgraded forts, heavy infantry fights, siege engines etc. It was a long, drawn out, ugly as hell back and forth battle. Early on, our side made an agreement NOT to kill the raksha on the narrow coast (we liked having the AI defending our backside) but after an hour of fruitless attrition I did try something risky that worked: I switched my whole econ and made 4 companies of dragoon/ranger, then put them into pressed march mode and raced them past the dragon and the raksha, retreating forward when necessary. I lost about 1/3 of my force running the gaunt but that left me in the enemy heartland facing undefended villages with 4 depleted companies - which was still enough to start taking towns. Since the enemy had no fast responders, I was able to lay waste to about half their economy (something like 12 villages) before they caught me - even them I retreated away to hide in the corner. With the enemy forces pulled away from the middle, my allies were able to crack the siege line - when the enemy then returned to the middle to plug the gap I was able to come in from behind with my 4 remnant companies and mount one of the great flank attacks on my entire Kohan career. It brought a tear to my eye :0. We snapped their central force and after that it was mopping up.
However, that was a GREAT back and forth near-2-hour game, one of my all time favorites.
Hmm, that reminds of just how good Kohan is. I mean it has flaws but it is without any doubt my favorite competitive online strategy game, beating out even the awesome StarCraft.
Anyone hear much about Kohan II?
Dan
Anyone hear much about Kohan II?
There are some previews out, mostly throwing out the same exact info. Here’s what’s been released:
When are you planning to release “Kohan II”?
Currently, a release is scheduled for the 4th Quarter of 2003.
How is “Kohan II” different from Kohan?
“Kohan II” will in many ways be very similar to its predecessor, retaining many of the popular features and gameplay design that made it such a critical success. “Kohan II” will be an evolution in real-time strategy (RTS) gameplay, allowing players to enjoy the same style of play in a new 3D graphics engine, capable of supporting new gameplay features and innovations. “Kohan II” will expand on the military concepts of zones and company recruitment while adding in new features such as flying units, siege engines and player races with distinct styles of play. Though not departing too far from its roots, “Kohan II” manages to breathe new life in the gameplay model enjoyed by real-time strategy fans.
What will the interface be like?
The interface of “Kohan II” will be an evolution of the innovative and intuitive design laid out in Kohan. Most of the same core features will still exist, while some of the extraneous information has been removed or rearranged in ways more efficient for the player. The interface graphics will also change to complement the racial and faction choices made by the player.
What game types will be available?
We plan on including many of the most popular multiplayer game types such as King of the Hill, Kingslayer, Turtle and a never before seen mode of play that will delight online players. There will also be the complete range of campaigns, scenario maps, and random skirmish play. “Kohan II” will have a strong focus placed on producing quality, innovative single player experiences.
What kind of engine will “Kohan II” run on and will it be fully-3D?
“Kohan II” features a state-of-the-art 3D graphics engine capable of displaying over one hundred units on screen and easily handles eye-popping graphical effects like dynamic lighting (the glow of a fireball illuminating the darkness), spell effects (flaming arrows, lightning bolts, billowing clouds), weather effects (rain, snow, hail) and terrain decals (scorch marks, withered trees). The beautifully lush fantasy world will utilize advanced graphics card features such as: bump maps, gloss maps, vertex and pixel shaders. The units will come to life with dozens of animations including multiple attacks and movement speeds, ranged attacks, attack stances, spell casting, idling and dying.
One of the great things about Kohan’s design was the lack of micromanagement; will “Kohan II” follow in this tradition?
Yes. “Kohan II” will continue to keep the micromanagement to a minimum. However, we plan on allowing the player a touch more control in some areas of gameplay, such as combat and company management, if they so desire to access it.
How many factions will there be in “Kohan II”?
Not only will the political factions from Kohan return, but now players will also have a choice of race. Though not all factions can be matched up with every race, the player ends up with a wide variety of different gameplay experiences based on the faction/race combination selected. The chosen race determines the basic gameplay of the player’s kingdom: the available buildings and units, and how the kingdom’s economy is structured. The chosen faction presents the player with a set of military and economic modifiers, as well as, a list of Heroes that are unique to that faction.
Will units still be grouped into companies?
“Kohan II” does group units into companies. Each company has frontline units, support units, and a captain unit that bring different skills to the battlefield, presenting a huge number of strategic variations. This allows the player to click on a single object to command a group of units. Companies can be further grouped in higher levels of organization. This allows the player to control a group of companies with a single command, providing users with a powerful tool for managing their armies.
Will “Kohan II” still have a strong Hero component?
Yes. Many of the popular heroes from Kohan will make a return appearance in “Kohan II”. In addition, new heroes will be added to help continue the story of the immortal Kohan. Gameplay in “Kohan II” will place a stronger emphasis on the hero units. Kohan Heroes will be more powerful, yet less available, making each one more valuable to the player’s army.
Are my favorite units returning?
The best units from Kohan will be carried into “Kohan II.” In addition, completely new units will be introduced like the Haroun Cloud Dancer and the Bone Golem.
Taken from:
Should be some major info released at E3 2003
Big fat Greek kudos to Timegate. They are still patching both Immortal Sovereigns and Aihrman’s Gift while a huge re-design is going on for Kohan 2!!! If only we could squeeze one more patch out of SSG, more importantly, UBISoft for Warlords Battlecry II.
Kohan is truly a classic.
I found an interesting website today that lets you look at all game reviews at once:
Let’s keep hoping that Kohan 2 isn’t a Myth 3.