Name: Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars
Genre: Real-time strategy (RTS)
Developer: GSC Game World (ukrainian)
Publisher: CDV Software (german)
Language: English (additional languages: french, german, polish, czechish, russian and ukrainian)
Platform: Windows PC
Release date: 15.04.2005 (Europe), 26.04.2005 (North America), 26.08.2011 (Steam)
About game
“Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars” is a sequel of “Cossacks: European Wars,” the hit of 2000-2001. Developed on a new 3D engine, the game combines 2D graphics and the latest achievements in 3D technologies. Significant rework on the engine as well as a number of gameplay innovations allow for presenting the game on a new level. “Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars” answers to the latest technology advances and provides a chance to even hardcore RTS gamers to experience a brand new gameplay of historical battles played on the true-to-life scale, with tactics and strategy particularities of warring sides taken into account.
Game history
Napoleonic wars epoch constitutes an extremely interesting and significant period in the history of Europe. Despite its short duration, it became a turning point in development of many nations. Up to nowadays, there have been many contradictions around Napoleon’s personality. Regarded on one side as a heartless tyrant who brought death and devastation and was sent by gods as retribution to humanity, he was however, a genius commander who made unification of Europe divided by various discords real as never before.
Game nations
The game brings along six nations that played a leading role in the history of Napoleonic wars. These are France, Britain, Austria, Russia, Prussia and Egypt, with each country possessing its unique and peculiar abilities, architecture, development tree and military features.
Gameplay
Napoleonic period brought “civilized” warfare, fighting in combat formations into being. The very principle is put into practice in Cossacks II gameplay. Generally speaking, formations play a decisive role on the battlefields whereas individual units are mostly ineffective. Players are given a chance to lead their armies to victory through the pandemonium of epic battles with up to 64,000 units on the map, which is virtually the scale of real combats. What is more, ability to zoom in and soar upwards to get a bird’s-eye view of the battle makes Cossacks II the most spectacular game on the Napoleonic era.
The game combines intuitive control, which is easy to learn even by a newbie and strategic niceties called to satisfy the needs of experienced RTS gamers. These include various types of troops, combat formations, morale, fatigue, experience and influence of such maneuvers as taking in the rear, outflanking, cavalry attack and artillery bombardment. This provides immense possibilities for brilliant victories through taking advantage of numerous tactical moves. Unit control was given a special attention. For this purpose, we designed a new interface, bookmark system, reworked on the path-finding algorithms, developed new AI for formations and enabled troops control through a commander-in-chief. Landscape also plays an important role in gameplay – fire-arms effectiveness reduces when firing through the woods, cavalry can hardly get over the marshy areas. The latter also diminishes efficacy of artillery bombardment. Armed with such tools and offering diversity of combat operations, Cossacks II can appease appetite of the most fastidious and scrupulous gamers.
Economic system underwent drastic changes as well. Players have to govern, develop and fight for towns and settlements built on the map. Towns and provinces are full of life and have their own infrastructure. Roads are economic arteries connecting different locations. Thus, apart from fighting, players can also impose an economic blockade to cut a capital from mineral deposits, trade routes, etc.
The single player game offers you unique opportunity to experience most known Napoleonic campaigns playing as a prominent figure and commander.
Tailor-made AI takes advantage of combat formations and tactical and strategic techniques that allows for “Battles” game mode against computer opponents.
Multiplayer game
Cossacks II multiplayer game offers two modes – classical Deathmatch and Battles with the latter reproducing real historical battles with possibility to change their outcome.
Play and learn
Even though Cossacks II is far from being a history textbook, it can recount a great deal of interesting historical facts from the Napoleonic period. Information suggested in the course of the game serves as unobtrusive hint to players. Storyline cutscenes, briefings before missions and campaigns help players get a full picture of the great Napoleon’s attainments and conquests.
Diplomacy and Global Map
In the global map mode, which represents the real boards of European states in the beginning of 19-th century, it is possible to make different diplomatic actions. The player can declare a war to a near state, make peace in exchange for concessions, sign up the authority of footway with one of the friendly state, apply economical sanctions against your enemy, enter the alliance etc. Thus, many conflicts can be solved without battle deaths, but with the help of diplomacy. By organizing the sabotage on the enemy’s territory before the battle, you can essentially make forces weaker; by entering an alliance with adjoining state, you can enlist the support during the war with stronger enemy.
Morale and Experience gaining
Units in the battle depend on the characteristics of the morale, weariness and experience. Elements with higher morale level can better hold the defense and fight. When morale level is too low your forces can recoil from the battlefield, after the first successful attempt of the enemy. You can raise the morale level by adding special forces into your elements (drummer, officer, standard bearer) or with successful attack of the enemy ranks. The detachments, exhausted after permanent wearisome conversion, would gradually loose their morale bonus points. The experience received after extermination of the enemy sub-units would increase the level of your troops’ inflicted damages in hand-to-hand fights as well as their defense. However, with the escape of your troops from the battlefield you would loose entire bonuses both experience and morale.
Economics
In “Cossacks II” the players would manage the empires with already built cities and settlements, which would already have their own economic infrastructure. This would allow the player to concentrate on fighting component of the game. Cities and settlements, allocated through over the map, supply the empire they belong with important resources like coal, iron, food, wood, brick and gold. Besides, from the peaceful population you can recruit the units to your army. The road system is not only intended for communication between settlements, but is also used as trading roots. Thanks to this, the player would be able to cut hostile cities off their sources of raw materials, thus accomplishing economic blockades, which would certainly weaken the enemy.
Tactics
The period of Napoleonic wars is characterized as the stage of “civilized” war formation – for now the combat forming up plays the decisive role whereas single wariors are not effective. In this game we tried our best to reflect this point as exact as possible. The capability to form up your troops in lines and squares depending on assumed tactics of the war prosecution and enemy response, skillful combination of hand-to-hand and distance attacks as well as timely retreats and offensives are much more important than numerical superiority. The battle outcome depends on undertaken maneuvers, the shot distance, the combination of different combat arms, landscape. The player would have the chance to show his talent of strategy and tactics while wining the battles over proponent enemy with small losses.
Heroes – Historical Personalities
Real historical personalities, who distinguished themselves on the battlefields during Napoleonic wars period, would pass through the way of the commander under your direction. Starting lieutenants, each of the heroes you choose could rise to the rank of general, gaining each rank after successful destruction of the enemy troops. The higher rank your hero has the more quantity of troops he can take under hit command. Therefore, he can participate in battles of much more grandiose scale and importance.
L-Modus
The 4-divisible map ranging regime would be fulfilled for maximal control over the battle. Therefore, the player would be able to examine the battlefield with birds-eye view. To switch to this regime you just need to press the “L” button while all the forces’ control abilities stay the same as during standard regime.
Historical Authenticity
The game would contain numerous authentic historical facts and encyclopedic information on “napoleonica” that is available each certain moment. Subjective clips and briefings before missions and campaigns would help to gain an entire conception over the times of great Napoleonic conquests.
Living World
Playing locations are not stark landscapes any more. Along with various floras, usual for maps, they are also packed with cities and villages, living their own commodity life, which supply the player with important resources and means for successful accomplishing the military campaign.
Upgraded 3D-Engine
- 2Matching latest 2D and 3D technology
- Natural ballistic of shells and bullets
- Usage of vertex and pixel shaders
Cossacks II – Features
- Historical RTS on new 3D engine
- 3D landscape (True Color) providing immense tactical possibilities
- Support for new-generation video cards, pixel and vertex shaders, etc.
- Coverage of European military conflicts of 19th century, Napoleonic war
- Battles on real historical scale with tens of thousands of units on one map
- 6 nations: France, Britain, Austria, Russia, Prussia, Egypt
- Over 150 unique units and 180 building types
- Over 1000 elements of flora and fauna
- Historically accurate campaigns, heroes as historical figures
- New level of economic and military management
- Simulation of commander
- Simulation of historical battles in single- and multiplayer game against AI
- Enhanced combat formations and tactical orders
- Realistic morale and fatigue
- Enhanced diplomacy
- Physical 3D engine providing realistic ballistics of bullet and cannonball
- Gaming over LAN and Internet in Deathmatch, Battles and Battle For Europe modes