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[fatbug]

Woohoo!

I remember playing this game on me new IBM XT more than 20 years ago! Now I have a Mac, I hope it works as well.

One of the best strategies I remember was splitting my archers into groups of threes in the forts, worked best against most groups. If the enemy had archers too, I'd put one or two barbarians in the group and kept moving them up and down to the wall to draw the archers' fire.

One other one I remember is to put a single archer outside to intercept a group of 14 knights. The idiots will run into a single file and the archer will just take them out one at a time. :thumbs:

If they came with 14 archers, I'd put 7 knights and 7 barbarians in a group, and changed formation till they were all upfront. Charge them archers as soon as the battle begins. All the knights will die, but the barbarians will get through and the archers will be pulp.

[Shypkus]

Every time I play this game, it goes super fast!
I tried using the DOSbox, but I dont know the commands to make it work!
Someone help me...

[dosraider]

Hammer on CTRL+F11 to slow things down in dosbox.
CTRL+F12 to speed things up.



....... And read the dosbox readme, lots of tips in there.

[Shypkus]

Thanks Very much!!

Originally Posted by ultranewbie

Yeah - it's quite a cool game when you get into it.

While you did a great review by literary standards, I think maybe you were the wrong person to review this game. I only say that because you seemed to be comparing it heavily with games created long after its creation in terms of graphics and gameplay complexity. You have to review a program this old in the context of when it was created, and with what technology it was created. This game is only the second real time strategy game ever marketed, and in some ways it is still superior to many of the latest games. You didn't seem to appreciate the action element of the game. The fact that it is done in real time can make it an intense action game. I've been playing this game since probably 1986 and even if I go years without playing it I always return to playing it, and guess what I still can't get rid of that sense of doom and urgency that washes over me when the game starts, If you don't take the initiative you will be embarassed to lose to an Ms Dos based 1984 ai. I too wish I add certain elements to the game that you speak of especially the third party element, and guns (Editing the .exe files, I even once tried to build a hybrid version with WAR and its sequel War at Sea to get musketeers, fleets and cannons in the game.) All I succedded in doing of course at the time was swapping some of the graphics, though I'm sure it wouldn't be hard for a real programmer to do. Nor do you fully recognize the fact that this is probably the first strategy games or games period to create a customizable scenerio editor. The games you should be comparing it to are the likes of Centipede,Sentinel Worlds, and The Oregon Trail. The creators of this game did way "more with less" when compared to rts games of the currerent era. This game is begging for an update, but only one that captures the same "managable" RTS feel of AAW. Which I think would mean retaining the wait time of encounters feature.. yeh I think that was the difference between rts then and now. Leave it in there after all, IT is no less realistic than the idea of omniscent birds eye view control of historic battlefields.
But like I said your review was good over all, but I just wish you would have been more respectful of the age of this game when considering its graphics and game play. For a 1984 strategy game those little guys had character, and moved with better animation than they needed to.

[Borodin]

Played this in 1982, taking breaks from a job, at the computer center of the university where I was a program director for the public radio station. Loved it then, but there really wasn't much competition. Brings back memories.

I remember playing Ancient Art of War on both PC and Machintosh in the late eighties/early nineties.
The Machintosh version is MUCH superior to the PC-version when it comes to graphics and sound, so fans of the game should check it out.

Originally Posted by Borodin

Played this in 1982, taking breaks from a job, at the computer center of the university where I was a program director for the public radio station. Loved it then, but there really wasn't much competition. Brings back memories.

Must have been that flux capacitor thing, that you could play the game before it came out.

Like ID made the first 3D shooter, Broderbund made the first RTS.
I remember playing this game for hours, not winning much but having lots of fun.

Someone should recreate this game with nicer graphics and nice music. I know lots of people would say that these games already exist, warcraft, age of empires, and so on, but I believe that is not the case.

This game is about simplicity, yet is very hard to master. The simplicity is in that it is just about the tactics, not building cities, not managing money, not I dunno, but just the tactics, preparing your squads for battle and capturing flags.
I also said "hard to master". Although it is possible to create campains where even Sun Tzu himself starts commiting suicide, when you play the game properly, it is just hard. I don't really like the "race for the flags" kind of campaigns, but I like those with forts and villages to be used strategically.

In other words, if you take the game seriously, it will take you seriously too.

Try it, still now in 2010 it is a great game. I wished the source code would be available, mostly to rip the AI out of it, so that I could create a new AAOW clone myself. I would really do it.

[Japo]

Originally Posted by Scippie

I wished the source code would be available, mostly to rip the AI out of it, so that I could create a new AAOW clone myself. I would really do it.

Good news: it is available!
Bad news: because it was assembly.

I remember seeing this at a friend's place when I had no computer, and I thought it was the coolest thing on Earth. I was introduced to the very concept of strategy video game at that very moment. However I never got to play it.