Praetorians Preview

Pyro Studios (well known for their Commandos) have aggressively promoted their new real time-strategy Praetorians back on E3 2000. We didn't have a chance to hear too much about it since, until a couple of months ago... mostly due to the fact that the game should appear in autumn this year.

A full-scale assault on the city walls.

Brake and enter.

Julius Cesar and the last days of the Roman republic presented real inspiration for the Praetorians, which should set new standards in RTS genre. Over 20 historically based missions, start with Cesar's conquest of Gaul, and continue with Wars in Egypt and civil wars in Rome. All events in the game are based on actual historical facts.

One of the things that make Praetorians a bit different from most other RTS's out there is the fact that it is completely focused on combat. You will get a certain number of units at the beginning of each mission, and you will have to cope with it. The maps will also be revealed from the very start. This doesn't mean that there is no fog of war, but rather that you know what the terrains look like, and your units will still have to scout in order to determine enemy positions.

Unit command method is also less than common. Cohort, the typical roman formation, is a group entity composed of a number of soldiers, and you can move it as one unit without having to click every single soldier like in other RTS games. Still if the need arises, you can choose to break the cohort into smaller units and then issue orders to them.

As you might have guessed, the game features three different military structures: Roman, Gaul, and Egyptian. Each of the sides has thirteen types of units at its disposal - eight standard, and five specific units. Light infantry is the most numerous but also the weakest type of units. Apart from them, you will also control spearmen, heavy infantry, cavalry and archers. Only the light infantry can be used for building structures (siege weapons and towers). The differences between the unit types will induce different styles of warfare on all three sides.

Apart from its default characteristics, each unit also has a special ability it can use once, and then it has to wait and "recharge" until it can use it again. This "recharging" process is usually slow, and as units are quite vulnerable after they use their ability, this should only be used in dire need. The special abilities are versatile: they range from the ability to throw pilums at enemies to the ability to produce a mirage of one self.

The most important Roman unit would be the centurion. They can be used in two basic ways - in combat, they are capable of raising the morale of friendly units in their vicinity, and they can also be sent to neutral settlements on the map where they can gather recruits.

"There's no one left to fight sire."

"Hold the line!"

The developers paid a lot of attention to the verisimilitude of ancient warfare. It is well known that the Roman army had a practically flawless formation structure, perfect discipline and developed use of roads. All these things are implemented in the game. The famous Roman "turtle" formation, for instance, makes your soldiers move more slowly, but also makes them practically invulnerable to ranged attacks. The triangular formation is practically unstoppable in offensives, but it is also very vulnerable. The strength of Roman army primarily lies in its endurance, persistence and discipline, with which it can easily overpower a far quicker opponent such as the Gauls.

In coherence with historical facts, the game focuses more on organizing your troops before the clash. Once the battle starts, you have practically no influence on what happens. You can command anything up to thirty army units consisting from twelve to fifteen fighters each. Centurions are crucial for performing complex maneuvers as they can assume control over several formations. Unlike the soldiers, who come fresh at the start of every mission, your officers will follow you throughout your campaign, and gain experience as you advance through the game.

Graphics are one of the main trumps of this game. The guys from Pyro are already working hard on designing beautiful maps with highly detailed 3D terrains. All these terrains, apart from being a visual treat, also influence the outcome of the battles and the tactics you have to employ. Archers and catapults will, for instance, have a far greater range if on higher ground. Forests can be used to hide your entire armies, but it can also slow your cavalry down and reduce the range of your archers. The developers decided to make the camera fixed high above the terrain to avoid the possibility of confusing the players.

Praetorians has a lot to promise, and we can only wait for this autumn and see whether it will justify our expectations.