Oriental Empires

Yes, this is a fine game, and I do recommend it. If ever you pined for deep turn-based strategy that will soak up everything your melon can give it, you are about to get what you asked for. I am very critical with my reviews, *because* I do not write for the game or its developers, I write for those like me who need to know what they are about to plunk down money for. Just finished my first 300-turn grand campaign as the Shang on normal difficulty. The game is absurdly difficult and wonderfully fun. I can't go into that much because GoG cannot afford to squander so many ASCII chars per game review, lol. The game's tight and beautifully undistracting interface is so close to exactly right, yet has a couple of glaring flaws that really get to be a drag after a few dozen turns. If you are in a city screen and click another city on the city tab, you move to that city, cool. If you are far afield and click an event msg, you go to the site of that event, cool. If you are in a city screen and click an event msg, nothing happens. Until you travel the width of the screen to click a back button to escape the city screen. This happens a dozen times a turn sometimes, and would cause Mahatma Ghandi to twitch. Really, the back button is absurdly out of place in the lower rt corner; it is always a long slog from whatever you are doing when you need it. Yes, you can use the escape button on the keyboard instead, unless your non-mouse hand happens to be holding a coffee mug, petting your tiger, or tightly clutching your carry-on at the terminal. Together, those two cost a star. This is turn-based strategy, not a shooter: I do not spend the game with both hands on the kybd. If the Grand Campaign is going to be one 300-turn scenario, then the Custom Game option needs to be much better supported and capable. There's not much customizing to it, and the Help dwindles from meh to crickety silence in the map editor. I'll be looking for more on that, and returning to update. Gotta go play!

You set your limited tactical orders before the battle and the AI fights the battle, only the AI is stupid. Units will stand around doing nothing or wander off and only comeback when the battle is nearly finished. The setting army formation mechanic is frustrating and buggy and if any thought had been put into it could have been done so much better. Making your peasants work on state construction works instead of their farms will increase peasant unrest. That is a good concept, but when half the peasants are unemployed and low on food, giving them work to build more farms increases unrest? But the biggest problem with the game is it is not really enjoyable, and I love this kind of game, but not this one.

Set in Ancient China with an excellent BGM to immerse you in, Oriental Empires is closer to a grand strategy game rather than a 4X. The last X -eXterminate- is only one of the possible victory conditions, not THE only one! Honestly, it came close to be addictive. They hadn't insane means so it'll remain a four stars for me, especially since it sadly suffers from the main flaw of many strategy/4X competitors: at some point you follow the same development pattern for cities, until everything feels repetitive except combat. Combat is handled as a semi-auto resolution: anytime it starts you won't move your troops yourself, however they'll follow the battle plans and formation you set for them. Up to 8 troops can stack (regardless of type) in a single hex, but the largest battles can engage many hexes; that's were the magic works and is difficult to anticipate without practical experience. Zoom in at any unit's level to see how relevant each factor is: their starting position, whether they were ordered to move into battle formation or sit on the side before flanking, and so on. It's surprisingly more complete than what it looks at first glance, in a good way! Each city has a definite number of building slots depending how large the city is, but it can be founded on almost any hex of your choice. They can trade with each other by land or water, and generate income automatically as long as your buildings enable enough trade range, that the logistical route isn't interrupted by a foe "stepping" on it and that the trade partner is at least neutral. Natural resources or crafts (from buildings) can be included in such trading, and even contribute to countering unrest so no revolt happens. Managing court members and offices will play a huge part for your entire faction. It will have a nomadic or sedentary tradition, altering your way of providing food, research available, as well as your military units. All in all I found it very good, but not enough to be truly addictive!

This game is about 70% civilization and 30% total war. REALLY good piece of turn-based strategy game. If You like Civ or TW series - You will love it :)

Similar to Civilization style games, but sole focus on ancient China. Very in depth Technology/Research Tree that affects how you advance your faction growth. The tips that the game gives every turn in the early game is very helpful. The battles for the game are detailed. You can give different units a different part of the battle plan. That will prove helpful for larger battles and seige battles, espcially when dealing with large, walled cities. Make sure to spend time reading the manual. It gives a lot of in depth information regarding the game.