Cossacks 2: Napoleonic Wars
by CDV Software
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Video Game Reviews of Cossacks 2: Napoleonic Wars
Customer Review: Cossacks II = Cossacks + American Conquest Fight Back
Summary: 4 Stars
Two years later - Dec/07 - Jan/08 I'm playing the commercial version and have to agree completely with the review "A botch .." particularly with the large paragraph where describes all horrors and punishments of the game. And I am not even playing the 1st edition "Napoleonic Wars" - but the 2nd edition "Battle for Europe" instead, however problems are exactly the same as (very well) described.
I keep playing I guess as a matter of honor, for the challenge. I'm playing all single missions against the AI, methodically from the first one, and I don't start the next mission until I have won the prior.
So far I have won (painfully - a week more or less of suffering each) the first seven or eight missions. Some tips, choose carefully your side and your foe's. Don't go in your first missions against Britain, France or Prussia. Is a lot easier going against Russia. I have won most of missions so far playing Prussia and even Poland against Russia.
However some missions seem to have a particular geographic meaning.
The "Dessert" mission has a definitely North African-Arabic ambience, so I choose to play Egypt against Britain - to keep true to history France would be a more veridic enemy: Napoleon winning the Pyramids Battle against Mamluks and so, but I don't like play against French by sentimental reasons, and for my complete surprise I was able to route the British proud infantry and win. I heavily relied in irregular infantry - Tuaregs, and the colorful Mamluk cavalry.
Then I started to play the mission "Winter Fight", after failing to hold several times against Russia (a foe I had defeated in four or five prior missions), I decided to switch sides and took Russia as my nation against Austria. This time things ran a lot better and my armies have reached the critical point where you control half or more of towns in the map and the enemy attacks are less frequent and less violent, so your victory is only a matter of time.
The comments I did below for the demo still stand true, but I have found the commercial game a lot harder than the demo. Here there are a few more tips:
- in all missions I have won so far never needed more than 3,000 units at the same time.
- build the academy ASAP so officers and drummers become available and you can assign them to your battalions. However, do not mind standard bearers - they are extremely expensive - 300 gold coins, and soon you will be needing all the possible gold to buy ..... coal for your firearms.
- build the palace ASAP - it will improve your gold income even if you don't control any gold miner town. Then build the market, so you can use your gold to buy coal ... and, eventually, food.
- place your goood stores and town centers the closer you can to the towns producing - in this priority order: food, then coal, then gold and iron in last place.
***** original comments below ************
This game is a sequel of Cossacks series (European Wars, Back to War, Art of War) as it is of American Conquest Fight Back as well. The scenario is Europe, as in Cossacks, but terrain, buildings and units behave and look a lot as in ACFB.
What is better than the prior games is the new concept of villages and roads. Judging by the demo, villages are scattered everywhere, like in a real 18-19 century European country, and roads connect them. Each town has its own economical activity, such as mines, farms, etc. and its own authority: militia. Roads are used by carts transporting goods between towns. Better yet, organized infantry units as well, when commanded to move from a town to another using the mini-map, they will use the shortest road way.
Starting the demo, a few villages recognize you as their master; you can decide then further enhancements and production development. If your enemy attacks, militia of your towns will help you, as long as the fight is near or surrounding its own village. Still more, your formations near to your towns, when fighting, will receive recruits automatically from towns to replace casualties. However, you can't control your militia nor give them commands.
There are neutral villages. They could supply you with goods, if your trade centers (goods stores, town centers) are close enough, but nothing more. You can take over a neutral town. Send an organized unit, under an officer command, of infantry or firing cavalry (chasseurs, dragoons) to the town. Upon arriving, they will be attacked by local militia, give them the order of line or square formation, start shooting and soon militia will be defeated. If your unit is close enough or within the town, you will see your colors in the main production building (mill, mine, etc). Click on it and you will be able to control development. Better yet, send in several of your peasants and make them build a goods store or town center. Supplies will get faster to your warehouses because carts will make shorter trips.
Units graphic design is very attractive, and looks really true to history. Formations can learn and improve their capabilities. Click on any of them and you'll see a panel with basic commands and information: men, morale, casualties inflicted to the enemy, etc. After a while, as long as the formation is earning combat experience, and succeeding against the enemy, military rank symbols start to appear to identify it. Top formations, with highest morale and large numbers of enemies killed, will earn the "Guard" distinction, this is, the Napoleon's best of the best. When my enemies faced such units, a lot of times, they simply ran in panic.
Finally, to be brief, I can say that, after four or five failed attempts, and a couple of days without sleeping, I was able to win the demo scenario, defeating the AI.
Just a few tips:
First strategic target: grab and hold (using organized units or formations) a couple of towns where coal and iron are produced. If you lack either of them, your soldiers won't shoot, and you will be lost. Even the gold, being important, is not as iron or coal. Of course, food, wood, and stone are basic. As soon as possible, improve all mills in your initial towns. Recruit a lot of peasants in the beginning of the game. Peasants do not account against your population limit.
Forget about unorganized soldiers, they are useless against enemy formations. Build a barrack and then, immediately after, build the academy (needs a lot of stone), so you'll be able to train officers and deploy formations.
Start with basic infantry: fusiliers. Forget national guards, they are almost militia. Voltigers are good and long range shooters, but they can't stand cavalry or bayonet charges. When you have enough fusiliers units, deploy voltigers units behind the first line. They will make great damage to enemy.
Select two or three key spots, and make your peasants build blockhouses in them. When you had lost two or three games to the AI, you'll learn which ones are these key spots.
Follow with cavalry, armed with guns (chasseurs, dragoons) better, even though ulans (lancers) could be useful for ambush and chasing routed enemy. Chasseurs units are very good at flanking enemy infantry (better when moving), and surprising them with heavy side fire. They can fight hard as well with swords at melee.
Forget cannons until you are in a winning position. They are expensive and consume a lot of precious resources: iron and coal. Use them at final stage, when enemy army is on the run (assumed you are winning, of course), together with sappers, to blow out enemy's town centers.
A couple of cons:
Despite the similarities to ACFB, I missed the buildings feature of garrison soldiers, depending upon the building size the amount of soldiers allowed to have inside. Also, the actual size of the buildings your peasants construct looks gigantic when compared against the terrain accidents and the distance between towns. Comparing to ACFB too, at least on the demo map, there aren't any water surface like creeks, ponds and the likes.
The AI looks like doesn't have much of strategic thinking. At the beginning of the demo, it identifies your weak spot and start sending formations to deprive your side of the more important resources, those you have to posses if you want your soldiers be able to shoot. Of course, the AI never lacks any resource, and its speed of deploying formations is double, at least, than yours. But if you manage to survive the relentless attacks, and start to hold successfully, I didn't see the AI trying of maneuver to attack from other directions. It keeps coming to the same point, until its numerical superiority overwhelms your army, unless you start to advance instead of merely defend, when you obtain superiority.
At last, for somebody who wants to play the Napoleon's epic from a really strategic point of view, I would recommend the title "War & Peace". Games like this, "Cossacks 2", judging by the previous versions and this demo, are more focused in tactical and local events. Is like comparing the film "Waterloo" against the "Sharpe's .." series. Either are enjoyable, from its standpoint of the historical events.
Customer Review: Good fun, needs a patch though
Summary: 2 Stars
When I first got this game it failed to run on either my windows 2000 or xp systems. I later reformatted both computers and discovered that this game fails to run on a fully updated install of windows. Although there is one patch out at the moment, it fails to fix the problem. I'm hoping another patch is in the works that will fix it. What I have played of the game however, is fantastic. If and when this game gets another patch, I would raise my overall score to 5, until then, it gets 2. Customer Review: Great game!
Summary: 5 Stars
Cossacks 2 is a great game;one of the best strategy games of 2005.Dont listen to the negative reviews....this game has it all.The graphics,sound,computer A.I.,historical detail,etc. all make for a rewarding and entertaining gaming experience. The game ran perfectly on my PC(which is several years old and not a high end machine).So I dont really relate to all this talk about crashes,unfinished product,etc....I guess people will always find an excuse to whine and compain...lol.
Customer Review: A Serious Disappointment
Summary: 1 Stars
I will try to give as brief a review as possible without it seeming like an article or thesis. I had really hoped that this game delivered, after all its hype. After trying Rise of Nations, and Empires:Dawn of the Modern World (which features a nice Napoleonic era, albeit too limited regarding unit choices and buildings) I really looked forward to C2: Napoleonic Wars, as this great time in history is often neglected in RTS gaming. After playing the rather choppy tutorial, I jumped in to the different modes of play and was immediately dismayed.
I could not distinquish easily the icons or buttons for resource management, the fog of war was way too small for the structures I built, I could not manage the population or troop building - the only choice seemed to be 'infinity'. Also, although the game promises a realistic feel for the battles, it just ended up being a free for all rush-party, troop formations not withstanding. The look of the units was not at all good. While the reenactment videos were OK, it is essentially the playability of the game that matters.
I can't help but wonder why CDV could not simply keep the same interface as the original 'Cossacks' and expansion, or even that of 'American Conquest'. Those formats worked well! Instead they chose to change it for the worse. No improvement here, and no justice to the Napoleonic Wars. I traded it in for Imperial Glory by Eidos/Pyro Studios, which is a far superior all-around game of this wonderful period in the 19th Century, along the lines of 'Rome Total War'. Please see my review on that, I highly recommend it over C2.
Customer Review: This game is crap
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought this game for my high-end machine.
The game would not even load properly and the music studdered throughout the little introduction which could be seen.
This is an unfinished product, perhaps they released the beta version. The official CDV forum is full people complaining.
Before you buy, do yourself a favor and check out their forum for more insight.