Lords of the Realm II

Years ago, when world of warcraft first came out and was so popular, I spent many hours fighting orcs and waging virtual war. I liked that type of game and searched out others. I found Lords of the Realm II. It soon became my favorite. I wont say that my Master's Thesis suffered because of this game. It is a game that I still spend a lot of hours playing. A lot of hours. I dont really know why I like to play it, I must have beaten it a thousand times.

The game is pretty simple. Conquer thy neighbors. Each player starts out in a county. The happiness of the people in the county depends on the tax rate, availability of food, health, and the army draft rate. The county can produce wheat or cows for food, stone, wood, iron ore, and various medieval weapons. I usually use the county fields for wheat, since it can be stored. The wood and iron ore is used to make the weapons. The wood and stone is used to make various castles from weak palisades to strong stone castles. The most vulnerable point is when the game first starts and I dont have enough of anything to defend myself from attack. After I get enough wood and stone, castles and an army of archers are the first step. Then, when the castle is strong enough, the county has plenty of food, I have plenty of money, I build an army to invade the surrounding counties.

The game does not manipulate individual members of the county, but the game is about the overall management of the county, which is different from the first world of warcraft where each person had to be told what to do constantly. When armies meet, the game changes to a different mode where you do control the individuals in the army. Most people like the game because of this. Me, not so much.

Lords of the Realm III has been out. I have it but dont like it as much as LOTR II. I guess I will keep playing it until the software wont run on Windows TheNextCrappyVersion.