The Settlers 7 Hands-on

by Jeff Haynes - IGN.com | 04 February 2010 12:00
 
Dominate your enemies and raise a kingdom.
 
The Settlers 7 is the latest in the long-running strategy franchise from Blue Byte Software. The series made its name on the basics of 4X-style strategy, but more recent installments in the series strayed from the original approach of developing an economy before building an army or expanding your settlements. At a recent Ubisoft press event, Benedikt Grindel, the senior producer, stated that the developers wanted to "return The Settlers 7 to the classic economy that fans knew well and make them much deeper, while keeping the gameplay more accessible for newer players. "
 
To accomplish this, Blue Byte pulled in industry veteran Bruce Shelley, who helped Ensemble Studios build the Age of Empires franchise, to consult on the strategy. Shelley mentioned that he "wanted to work on something interesting and something he liked." After receiving the Settlers: Rise of an Empire, he felt he could help Blue Byte expand its reach to a larger audience. "The game was essentially done when I got there, and I think it's a really well done design. It's mostly been a question of tweaking, discussing and trying new things to make the game more accessible and easier to get into," Shelley said.
 

Welcome to your land -- rule it wisely.

The campaign mode is set in the late Middle Ages in a fake European kingdom named Tandria. Its ruler has been deposed and there's repeated civil unrest over the land, its people and its resources. You play a young princess named Zoe from a rival kingdom. Your father, King Konradin, decides that Tandria is ripe for your conquering, and sends you to take over the country. That isn't his only motive, as you'll discover over the course of the twelve missions in the single player mode. Single player mode will also teach you how to build your economy and accomplish military and scientific endeavors. Grindel said the single player campaign was specifically designed to prepare you for multiplayer. Shelley agreed, saying, "I think by the time you finish the sixth map, you've been exposed to all the basic things in the game. You know how to build everything; you know how to trade; you know how to use technology; you know how to use the military. At that point, you're prepared to play a skirmish game against the AI or you're prepared to play multiplayer against your friends."
 
I was shown the tutorial level set in the land of Mohnfelden, where Zoe's advisors helped her set up an economy. The economy revolves around "stones and trees," because they are the raw materials that help you make tools, construct buildings, and put your plans in motion. However, while forests are a renewable resource, stone isn't, and once a quarry has been completely mined out, it's gone forever. According to Shelley, there are only a few ways to combat this problem. For example, you can provide higher quality food for your workers, which will boost their production three to four times that of a starving settler. If this doesn't work, then you'll have to rely on trade and supply lines to replenish your stockpiles.
 

Getting a bird's eye viewcan always help you plan your next move.

In The Settlers 7, you spend a significant amount of time building supply lines and maximizing your space to produce goods for your economy. Each structure you build can have up to three possible production sites surrounding it. For example, a house can produce grain in one site, beer next to that, and pigs at the third site. The location needs to be connected to a road to produce its goods and contribute to your kingdom, and you'll need a storehouse nearby to collect these items; the farther a settler drags these items through the streets, the slower your production gets. Now, once you've built a solid economy, you can send merchants to trade posts to establish trade routes around the world. The world is based on our world map, but it's sectioned up into various districts with different purchasable items. By establishing trade routes with these locations, you can supplement your resources with the goods your nation can't produce.
 
Then again, if you happen to find a neighboring country that has what you want or need, you can always invade and conquer them. Combat within The Settlers 7 isn't about mobilizing large armies with complex tactics. Instead, Benedikt mentioned that there are only four unit types in the game: pikemen, musketeers, cavaliers and cannons. These units will be led by generals, each of whom has their own individual special abilities to boost ranged forces or melee attacks. I noticed that combat seems to function off common sense. For instance, if you have 5 cavaliers and your enemy has 2, you'll probably win. But if you have 5 cavaliers going against 5 cannons, the enemy will probably win because they have cannons and are likely to be in defensible fortifications. Controlling the military is very easy as well. Once you select an army, you can click on its destination to instantly send them there. If they meet an enemy along the way, they'll attack automatically, with no need for extra commands from you. And when you build a new unit, it will show up with your army, wherever it is.
 
You can also choose to dominate your enemies with technological might instead of military force, using your scientific advances to demonstrate your kingdom's power. This progress is based on educated clerics that are sent to cloisters scattered around each map. In these cloisters, the clerics study various advancements. Creatively, these cloisters aren't exclusive to your clergymen; your rivals can send their monks to these locations as well, placing their own claim on a specific piece of tech by "bidding" on how many resources they'll dedicate to this endeavor. Whoever "wins" this auction-styled bidding war will earn the technology for the rest of the match.
 

Farming is only one way to boost your profits and goods.

However, the resources you commit revolve around beer. See, your monks only operate and research off beer, so it's possible to sabotage other players by raising the bid on some tech you don't really care about it, forcing them to spend an exorbitant amount on that item. When all their monks are committed to that one technology, you can swoop in and pick up the other advances they can't possibly afford.
 
Shelley stated that while most RTSes skip the economic phase and get straight to the fights, the thing that sets The Settlers 7 apart is the flexibility and depth of play. He says, "I like to call it a thinking man's RTS. You have to have a plan and decide, 'Am I going to win this game with technology or trade, or will I win it with an army?'" Benedikt agreed, mentioning that after the quick race to expand and establish your economy, things slow down, and players can pick and choose how they'll try to win, swapping back and forth at will. For instance, you can start out by trading, build up a lot of money, then buy yourself a big army and attack everyone, ultimately winning a military victory.
 
This plays into the new feature known as Victory Points, conditions that need to be completed to win a session. Each map has a minimum number of points that you can complete. Some of these points, such as building the first cathedral, are permanent points that only one kingdom can earn. Others, such as the amount of money you have, are fluid, so you can gain them and then lose them as circumstances change. You race your opponents to get the minimum number of victory points, and once you get that number, a countdown starts. You have to hold on to your points for at least three minutes in order to win. But because the countdown is broadcast to every other player, your opponents know that you are close to a victory, so they may try last-ditch efforts to derail your society and prevent you from winning.

Improving your cities will boost the prestige of your kingdom.

These victory points also feed into a new reward system called Prestige, which Shelley likened to the various ages from the Age of Empires franchise. There is a two-tiered reward system. As you play and hit certain milestones (producing a certain number of goods, acquiring a new piece of territory), you get rewards. These can be redeemed immediately for resources, weapons or other items that your want for your country. You can even earn rewards to help you get back into the game if you're losing badly. Get enough rewards, and you earn Prestige Points, which show just how impressive your kingdom is compared to everyone else. These Prestige Points can be redeemed for trade, military or scientific bonuses. For instance, you can use Prestige Points in the military so that your soldiers cost less, get produced faster, and have attack bonuses. The more well-known you are in a particular branch, the easier it is to build your prestige.
 
All of this leads back to the robust multiplayer system. We were shown maps for up to six players, and Grindel mentioned that The Settlers 7 will provide matchmaking for friends or similar level players, as well as random skirmish matches. It will track 250 stats, and players can also choose to match up by these figures, so if you happen to be a trade focused player and want to take on a like-minded opponent, you can do so. There will also be Facebook and Twitter integration so you can send messages out while you're playing and let people know what's happening in your battle. The designers really wanted to focus on the social aspect of The Settlers.
 

With enough planning, your city can grow from a small territory...

While The Settlers 7 will ship with a number of maps, Blue Byte is also including a map editor that allows you to create a totally new level from scratch. If you're not a designer at heart, you can use this editor to tweak a pre-existing map in various ways, like adding or subtracting victory points. This lets you change a map in seconds, save it, and then launch it right away to play with your friends. The final thing we saw was the Castle Builder. Your castle acts as your avatar and is the first thing you see when you load the menu screen. When you start playing The Settlers 7, you have a very modest castle, but as you play, you unlock turrets and other structures that can be used to remodel your castle in any way that appeals to you. We're talking medieval, gothic, or Disney traditional. It might seem goofy (no Disney pun intended), but the castle design reflects your own personal style and serves as a personal profile pic – when you play multiplayer, your opponents can see your castle and possibly use it to predict something about what you're like as a player.
 

... to a vast urban experience.

After playing a little multiplayer against other journalists, I was struck by the length and depth presented. Matches aren't short – the maps are pretty big, and you could spend quite a lot of time playing with other players. But that's appropriate for a "thinking man's strategy game" – you're always planning two or three turns down the road, so the game will take awhile. It appears to be very deep and involving, but satisfying at the same time. Strategy fans will get their chance to discover The Settlers 7 at the end of March.
 
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