Praetorians demo available

[Praefectusclassis]

The demo of the Praetorians game by Eidos is out. At first, it looks a bit like Warcraft III.<br>
<br>
<p>Greets<br>
<br>
Jasper</p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

Out now? I played a demo four weeks ago! Seems as if the GameStar-magazine is really fast...<br>
<br>
The demo looked great, but I was discontented with the control. My soldiers simply didn't what I wanted them to do. And being smashed by a few barbarians after a few minutes doesn't create great fun...<br>
<br>
But perhaps I have to give it a second try...<br>
<br>
Michael<br>
<p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

the demo is far too big for my poor wimpy dial up modem. <p></p><i></i>

[Jeroen Pelgrom]

for my ADSL it wasn't<br>
the demo was nice, looked a lot like Age of Empires.<br>
<br>
gr, jeroen <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

Ave...Where can one download the demo from,the concept looks interesting <p></p><i></i>

[Jeroen Pelgrom]

Caecina,<br>
<br>
Welcom to the board! try this link :<br>
<br>
[url=http://www.eidosinteractive.co.uk/games/embed.html?gmid=132" target="top]Praetorians site[/url]<br>
<br>
click on the "download" menu (ps. the demo is 72 MB!)<br>
<br>
gr, jeroen <p></p><i></i>

[richsc]

You should check the minimum hardware before downloading. My poor 400mhz with 128mb is a bit too slow for it. Good excuse to upgrade! <p>Richard Campbell, Legio XX<br>
<br>
</p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

The demo is awesome. When you break the gameplay down it is rather different from AOE and Warcraft as far as rts games go. The game is more tactic-oriented than most rts games and I think it's a lot more engaging than the AOE and Warcraft series. Surely the fact that its about the Roman army and it's enemies has no effect on its allure. <br>
<br>
You can form the legionaries into turtle formations and train gladiators and praetorians to fight with. The troops(mainly the auxiliary infantry) can build structures just like in Caesar's army. I do agree, however, that the control is a little irritating and awkward. Also, while the tactical gameplay is rather advanced for its genre, it still leaves much to be desired. It still seems like the best plan is to build the most and best troops and let them loose. Although this may be because the scenario in the demo puts you in the forest where movement is limited and the Gauls are harrasing you all along the path. <br>
<br>
Yet, it looks very promising, I can't wait for its release. <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

This Demo is the bomb. It blows all the other games out. I wnet and bought the game on ebay the next day after playin the demo. The game only costed $20. <p></p><i></i>

[Jeroen Pelgrom]

Salve,<br>
<br>
Quote:</em></strong><hr>The game only costed $20<hr><br>
<br>
, over here (in the Netherlands) this game costs 50 euro (is about $ 50)!!!<br>
<br>
hmmm<br>
<br>
gr, jeroen <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

Ya it was cheap for me I got it for $15 and then$5 for shippin which is really good. Its cumin from London to. <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

I Love It,<br>
AVE_CAESAR.<br>
The Graphics are mindblowing and the sound is spectacular.<br>
<br>
Hi I'am New To This Praetorians Forum, but I have been involved with the MTW and RTW Forums for A while. <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

The game is very good, indeed. It costed almost EUR50 in Spain as well, were it was mostly developed (so I guess we didn't get any advantages at all).<br>
<br>
The game play is rather enjoyable, and the storyline follows closely the events narrated in _De Bello Gallicum_ and _De Bello Ciuilo_ but with a nice twist, as you are actually a secondary tribune usually keeking the sides or rearguard of Caesar's armies. On some ocassions, though, you get to play Titus Labienus, or Gaius Crasus, in eastern scenaries, which break the monotony and add to the realism (never imagined how hard was to move heavy infantry through the desert?)<br>
<br>
The siege missions, specially when you are the one being sieged, are fairly fun and hard to play. Difficulty levels, however, basically put less or more enemies and reinforce troops where necessary (however, in at least one mission, key (undisclosed) character is set up in a different location, making it easier to play, as well as less enemy troops.<br>
<br>
The controls aren't that bad, not bad at all, you can use the scroll wheel to select different final formations (from one row to one queue, moving from all compatible arrays) which add a realistic touch and a tactical tool to be wisely used. The only complaint from this is that key troops (like doctors, centurions on horse and scouts) tend to be put in the front lines, and they die soon, of course, which is very annoying.<br>
<br>
The game offers Romans, Celts and Middle East troops (Partian archers, aegyptian chariots, and mounted camel troops) and has a good array of different troops (auxiliary, to build war machines, make repairs; auxiliary and mounted archers, equites, pikemen, legionnaires, praetorians and gladiators, plus centurions, medics, wolf scout and hawk scout for land and air reconnaisance, and war machines as ballistae, catapultae, watch towers, assault towers and scales...). Very complete. Celtics and Persians have a similar variety. Units also have special abilities (eg. legions can go testudo, pikemen can get together à la phalanx and even get pikes to the ground to stop horse runs; stationary archers, etc...)<br>
<br>
It also allows for networked playing (which I'll never do as I won't plug a windows machine to the net until the sun freezes) and there are a selection of solo games against the computer that are pretty good to take the edge of every unit strong and weak spots.<br>
<br>
Landscape affects gameplaying, and higher grounds give an advantage to a unit set higher (archers reach further, and so on). Only thing really missing: there's no morale concept, thus greater armies in good positions usually beat everything. There's no concept of unit experience (Legion, on the other hand, got these pretty well; while you sometimes miss the ability to make some in-combat tactical changes, as it was possible in real battles, Praetorians doesn't take into account unit experience and morale, which we know was one of the key concepts in ancient warfare...)<br>
<br>
Overall, a really enjoyable game, have already spent a lot of hours on it, and I expect to spend many more... :-)<br>
<br>
Vale! <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

Actually, Praetorians DOES have a morale feature. Troops next to your Centurion fight better. Its talked about in the manual and the little poster that comes with the game tells about how the generals gain experience by fighting battles and suffering casualties. With the most experience, troops around the Roman Centurion's green halo attack 10% better and defend 30% better.<br>
<br>
P.S. If anyone in the USA is looking to get this game, I got it for $28 at www.gogamer.com <p><img src="http://www.wcnet.org/~mjmarsh/IHSVEZsig.gif" style="border:0;"/> In Hoc Signo Vinces <img src="http://www.wcnet.org/~mjmarsh/IHSVEZsig.gif" style="border:0;"/></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=flaviusvaleriusconstantinus@romanarmytalk>Flavius Valerius Constantinus</A> <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://www.ezboard.com/ezgfx/gicons/anim_1.gif" BORDER=0> at: 7/10/03 3:09 pm<br></i>

[Octavianvs]

Poster? what poster , I didnt get a poster with my game. Actually the best part I liked was storming over the walls and routing everone inside. definitly learn more and more each time I play. I enjoy the straightforward campaigns more tactics and less micro managing resource production. and well it IS called PRAETORIANS after all. - johnn <p></p><i></i>