Aevum Obscurum

Aevum Obscurum aka "Das Tausendburgenspiel" is an online multiplayer strategy game developed in Java by Noble Master Games.

Summary

Aevum Obscurum is a free online turn-based multiplayer strategy game. At the beginning of the game a player takes control of a 14th century European empire. The purpose of the game is to be the last surviving empire or to control a majority of the territories. The game allows for interaction between players by means of diplomatic relations and to manage economic and tax policy.

History

The idea behind Aevum Obscurum allegedly comes from the childhood of its creator, Christoph Aschwanden. As a young boy, he would play with a game of strategy, tactics, and conquest with his sister on a large map of Europe they had found. "Das Tausendburgenspiel" they would call it, or the (das) thousand (Tausend) castles (Burgen) game (Spiel). After studying computer science in school, Christoph created an online game of European strategy, whose provinces, castles, kings and chivalry led him to call it Ævum Obscurum, Latin for the Dark Ages. The original game became popular, but was too cumbersome for the volatile university servers and was soon abandoned. After continuous e-mails of disappointment, he once again set up the game and it started to become the game it is today. By 2006, the cost became unbearable, and the paying membership concept was introduced. Eventually, the game's menu was translated into a number of languages, although in all except for German the game interface, itself, remains in English. Through constant updates being released almost weekly, the game is constantly being developed and refined.

Other than Christoph Aschwander himself, Aevum Obscurum's team, Noble Master Games, includes Master Klaus von Bild (production assistance), Sebastian FX Thomschke (music), and Renato C. Veras Jr. (graphics).

Maps

Aevum Obscurum has multiple maps chosable for the setting of the game.

Europe

The original map, and in the game's beginnings the only map, is a map of 14th century Europe. It is based on a map of Medieval Europe owned by the game's creator more about which can be read at The Story Behind Aevum Obscurum. More specifically, the map contains the entire Mediterranean and omits northern Scandinavia and Russia. A rough version of the map can be created by drawing a rectangle by four lines: the northern, one that goes through Vaasa in Finland and Ålesund in Norway; the southern, one that goes through Las Palmas in the Canary Islands and Asyut in Egypt; the western, which is the 13th parallel west of the Prime Meridian; and the eastern which goes through Atyrau in Kazakhstan and Basra in Iraq. Although loosely resembling 14th century borders, the province outlines correspond in fact to neither those of the 14th century nor those of today, instead being a relatively even distribution of land. Although major islands such as Mallorca and Crete are conquerable, smaller islands such as the Isle of Man, Malta, and Åland are not.

The map has several different playable options. Players can choose between 17, 33, or 55 player versions of the map. With 17, only major countries such as France and the Byzantine Empire are playable, and even spacing is used. Because of this, while debatably Venice played a more important role than the Kingdom of Maghreb in Medieval Europe, game-play sacrifices have been made. This decreases with the number of players, as space becomes inevitably limited. A specific example of this is the British Isles. In the 17-player map, only England is playable. However, in the 33-player version, England, Scotland, and Ireland are options. Finally, in the 55-player version, all states existing in the British Isles at the time are playable: England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and the Kingdom of the Isles. While games on the 17-player map are often considered biased towards countries with better economies, such as France, games in the more highly populated maps are entirely to luck rather than skill. To alleviate this problem, there is also another 4 playable versions of the map. These are the tournament versions available in 4, 8, 16, and 32 players. On these maps, historical importance is entirely disregarded in favor of equality. Only evenly spaces empires are playable (although still in historical starting locations) and every territory is equal to the next (as opposed to normal [see "territories"]).

User Created

Aevum Obscurum allows any user to create, modify or accompany and map.

The option to create a map is accessible under the Map Tool section of the Main Menu. To create a new map, a user is required to submit both a Fillable and Shaded version of the map and then to set details such as territory borders etc. Any maps a user may create are automatically made available to every user with every update to the game, allowing anyone to create a map for the entire Aevum Obscurum community. This has led to a multitude of custom maps downloadable from historical, such as Poland or Spain, to fictional, such as Solar Crusades.

Any user is also allowed to create a scenario to accompany an existing map. This allows users to create historical situations, such as the Spanish Reconquista or the rise of the Roman Empire as well as exciting fictional situations such as a battle between the Akechi clan and Uruguay over Italy. These scenarioes are also automatically made available to every user with each update, and currently a wide selection of scenarioes exists. Since downloading times can be ominous, the option to download maps and scenarioes is only available when the user goes to the Download section of the main menu.

Territories

Every map is made up of many territories ownable by one's empire. Each territory is unique in its economy, morale, population, and whether or not it hosts a town, fortifications, or a tower. All of these are affectable throughout the game except for the presence of a town.

The economy of a territory is how much money it will make for you. The unaltered default economy of a territory is 100, with the maximum and minimum being 200 and 0 respectively. A territory's economy is alterable by the settings chosen under the Spending sector of the tax menu. If spending (the amount of money invested in economy) is set above 100%, then the economy of all of a nations territories will increase. Of course, if it is set to 101% it will increase at a much lower rate than at 122%. Even when all of a nation's territories have reached 200 (which is almost impossible), it is often unaffordable to raise the spending to above 140% without sacrificing morale (whose sacrifice will lead to the secession of these territories) or military (whose sacrificing will lead to their conquest) and is therefore uncommon. The normal spending rate varies greatly from player to player, but most find they have a certain percent around which they are most comfortable playing. Often it is the knowledge of how much to invest and how much to spend that separates average from expert players.

The morale of a territory is how happy, or nationalistic, a territory's citizens are. The unaltered default morale of a territory is 80, with the maximum and minimum being 100 and 0 respectively. With greater morale, money spent to recruit soldiers goes further, for example with 80% morale 1000 gold will get you 1,000 soldiers but with 85% morale, the same 1000 gold will get you, perhaps, 1,342 soldiers. With a higher level of nationalism, it is easier to find recruits for the army. The morale of a territory is alterable by the settings chosen under Tax. The default level of tax is 10% and if set above, the morale of a territory decreases and if set below, it increases. It makes sense that people paying less taxes would be happier. Players are often divided into three groups based on their normal tax spending: there are those who have very low taxes (ie: 7%) and who quickly reach 100 moral in all territories, those who have more normal taxes (ie:9%) whose morale remains normal, slowly improving with time, and those who have high taxes, (ie:13%) who squeeze as much money out of their provinces as possible. Often, nations doing well can afford to keep the first two types, while nations suffering losses can be forced to sacrifice their morale for their existence. As everyone is show the moral of every territory every turn, it is often a sign that a country will soon die when they literally 'flash red' (bad morale is marked in red while good morale is shown in green).

The population of a territory is how many people are working for your nation there. The maximum population of a territory is 50,000, while when a territory is diminished to 1,000 people, recruitment is impossible. The population of a territory is directly linked to the economy of that territory, as the more people working, the more money made. Territories facing constant warfare are often sucked dry of people as more and more recruits are taken, and continuous, many-fronted warfare can be devastating to a nation's economy. Realistically, the higher the population, the more quickly it increases (as it does naturally out of your control) so once a country falls into the economic dilemma of a sparse population, it is often a hard ditch to climb out of. This is one of the many benefits of using the recruit option over the mercenary option (see Army), as instead of taking population from the territory itself, recruitment takes people evenly from the entire empire. Either type of recruitment, however, is limited to the population, as one cannot recruit people who are not there. Often, small countries find themselves in trouble in long wars, as even if they are affordable money-wise, it is easy for a two-territory nation to use up all of its recruits quickly.

In every territory, there is the option of constructing a tower or fortifications, as well as the presence of a town. A tower provides visibility of all adjacent territories to that in which it is located. This visibility shows the number of troops and the possible residence of a king, valuable information for the builder. However, building a tower requires 3,000 gold as well as .2 moves, making it an investment that must be carefully considered. A fort, similarly, costs 6,000 gold and requires .5 moves, but instead of providing visibility, it increases the defense of a territory by 80%. Often, this is well worth the investments and on maps with many empires, the majority of territories are fortified. On less crowded maps, however, usually only the borders of a nation are crowded, being the only places to see conflict. Although unable to be built during the game, maps can have territories which contain towns. These are usually key cities, such as London, Venice, and Constantinople on historical maps or the capitals of nations on usual maps. Although towns provide a 50% defense bonus, if a king is located in one it is visible to every player, often making them unsafe.

Army

A country's army is its way of acquiring and defending its land. There are two types of infantry recruitment, Buy and Recruit and ships can also be purchased.

One way to increase one's army is to Buy soldiers. This requires 1 move and provides troops immediately. However, only 5,000 troops may be purchased at a time so recruiting through the 'buy' option can take many moves. Buying also takes population only from the territory in which the purchase is being made (which is why they are available that turn; they were already there). Repetitive usage of this option in certain territories can quickly dimish its population and render it incapable of buying in the future, so consideration must be excersized. Every troop costs, when using the buy option, one gold, so with low morale countries, it is often a wise decision.

The other method of acquiring soldiers is through the Recruit option. This provides an almost unlimited amount of soldiers, yet they are not available until the next turn. The Recruit option draws from the entire empire instead of just the one territory (which is why it takes until next turn, they have to get there) and is in that way more practical for territories likely to remain on the front. The amount of money required for one troop varies with morale. At 80%, 1 gold will get you one man-at-arms. However, with higher morale, that same 1 gold may get you 1.27 men-at-arms or more. Similarly, with low morale, fewer troops are received. This makes recruitment impractical for countries with low morales, as it is financially inefficient.

Ships are also purchasable (meaning you get them immediately) in any coastal territory. Ships, however, cannot attack and can only serve as transportation for your army. Every ship holds exactly 10 troops, and costs 450 gold, so it is often wise to walk if possible as opposed to sailing.

There is also the option to disband military units and to sell ships. Selling of ships provides 450 gold per ship, however, disbandment of military units does not provide money. However, since support costs are charged for even inactive armies, it is often wise to disband troops stranded in the middle of your empire. Since these units are added to the territory's population, sometimes it can be practical to purposely disband armies in sparsely populated areas to boost the economy. In a bind, selling of ships can provide immediate cash, but disbandment of armies provides a long-term bonus.

Movement/Interaction

To expand, it is necessary to conquer new lands, and to that one must attack.

If you select a territory, you are given the option to move your units to any adjacent territory. If this territory is occupied by another nation (not your ally), then you will attack it. The number of troops to send is choosable by using the arrows for +10, +100, +1000, +10000, and their negative counterparts allowing almost any number to be moved. If transport over sea is desired, one has simply to choose a destination inadjacent to the territory and the amount of troops will automatically be limited by the present ships' capacities. If one wishes to transport troops by ship to an adjacent territory, regrettably (and sensibly) such is not possible.

Combat is based on a number of factors. Primarily, territories with towns, fortifications, or a king have bonus defense abilities. The number of troops also has an effect. If a battle is between 200 and 201, there will be 1 soldier remaining. However, if the battle is between 20 and 678, then there will be more than 658 remaining, as understandibly, fewer casualties would be taken.

There is also the option to buy a neutral territory. However, this is extraordinarily expensive, and rarely does a game witness the purchase of a single territory.

Diplomacy

In Aevum Obscurum, there are three different types of agreements that can be signed: an alliance, a non-aggressive pact and a cease-fire. These agreements add to the score of a nation according to the relation's power.

An alliance is the strongest bond. Although it requires 2 moves to initiate, it makes all of each other's territories visible to both participating nations and prevents attack on either side.

A non-aggressive pact only requires 1.5 moves to initiate, and similarly prevents attack but does not reveal the nations' territories.

A cease-fire is a non-aggressive pact that lasts only for a set amount of time. Once the set number of turns have passed, it is automatically canceled. It requires only .5 turns to initiate.

There also exists the option to send messages to another nation. Often strategies or ideas are sent to other players in this way. As it requires only .1 moves, sometimes alliances and such are proposed through messages when 2 moves are not expendable. Of course, there is nothing to prevent such an alliance from being broken.

Kings, Victory, and Defeat

The goal of the game is to secure as many territories for your nation as possible. This can be accomplished by territory-by-territory conquest, or through the capture of a nation's king.

The king, like in chess, is a nation's most important thing. If it is lost, small nations will be immediately defeated, and larger nations will lose most of their territories. The taking of an opponents king by surprise, or king-sniping is often a key part of the game, especially in more densely populated maps. It is usually unwise for a player to locate his king along the coast or along a border, as at any time a large force could appear from nowhere to defeat, or seriously incapacitate, them. Computer players, actually, are always immediately eliminated when their kings are taken, no matter how large or powerful. This is often a key part of human players' strategies when facing computer opponents, and leads to the classic peeve where a new player joins a game as a computer player and a more experienced one who had been planning on a quick, easy, king snipe, is forced to diligently conquer the nation across many turns. This is the Aevum Obscurum equivalent of the "spearman defeats tank" phenomenon of many other turn-based strategy games.

In order to win, a player is not required to defeat all opponents, but merely to amass a certain number of victory points. These are acquired through territory ownership, and also the obtainment of strong allies. The amount of victory points varies greatly from map to map as it is based off of the total number of territories.

Ranking

Every rated game in which a player takes part effects his or her score. The winner of game, however, isn't always the one whose score raises the most. If an expert player defeats a large number of novices, they are not likely to see much change in their score, but if a novice defeats an expert player, they are likely to see a huge change. Other than the winner, the score change is based on ranking. The first person to be defeated will receive the worst score. It is in this way that people who usually get last will earn many points for getting third and so on, making it a very fair representation of a player's skill. In fact, the ranking system os the same as that of chess. As it is very common to see players that remain inactive throughout the game, sometimes even purposely left so, many are bothered when a person who has valiantly attempted in vain to establish an empire is defeated earlier than, and thus suffers more than, a nation that never made a move. Unfortunately, this is common, as people who do nothing are much less likely to get in the way of other nations and to declare war than those who actually play.

Games

There are three types of Aevum Obscurum games: Long-haul, Blitz, and Campaign. There are also many different types of game criteria to choose from.

Long-haul is the most common game type, as it is available to everyone. In a long-haul game, turns take place usually every 24 or 48 hours (but 8 hours, 16 hours, 64 hours, and others are options). Players log in once a day (or every two days or what not) and play their turn and then submit it. Since this takes up very little time, it is not uncommon for players to be signed up for many games at any one time. Although long-haul games are open to everyone, they are only hostable by paid members.

Blitz games are available only to members. They are multiplayer, like long-haul, but take place in one sitting, with turns taking numbers in minutes, not hours. Since it is more time-restrictive, it is common for blitz games to be composed of predominantly computer players with only a few human players. It is in these games that computer king-snipe strategies play such an important role.

Campaign games are singleplayer games only available to members. A player can choose from any map, scenario, and nation and play with only computers at their own pace (there are no time limits, as no one else is playing). These are often good for practice as, unlike long-haul, everyone is certain to play; however, computers play at a much lower level than the human so victory in campaign mode is often much more readily attained.

The tutorial and demo are playable by people not registered as users. They allow a prospective player to learn the ropes and have a taste of Aevum Obscurum. In the tutorial, one plays as the Papal States on the 17-player Europe map (see Map) and starts with a significant financial bonus. A pop-up guide leads the player through the basic steps of the game and then allows the player to try out their first game. The demo, a free version of the Campaign mode, allows a player to play the 17-player European map as the Confederatia Helvetica. Many people who want to play singleplayer but are hesitant to pay find themselves again and again playing the same game and it has often been suggested that more flexibility be provided in the demo. However, in order to provide incentive for membership, it is dubious that the demo will ever be expanded.

There are many game specifications which one may choose when creating a long-haul or blitz game. These include specification of ranking among others. The Novice game type is for those players who have not yet played a certain number of games, and the Triple Entente, Team, and No Diplomacy options offer alliances of three, two, and no alliances respectively. There also exists the option to create a game for only one's clan. One final option is the Training option. Although this was meant to allow experienced players to mentor novices, almost never are any of these games available. In fact, so far this year there has never been one. Through these options, many specific games can be created.

Membership

Although it is possible to forever enjoy the game through its free facets, players often find that after a while of playing Aevum Obscurum it is worth paying to become a member. Among the benefits of membership are playing campaigns, creating games, creating and managing clans, and joining certain tournaments. Sometimes, special tournaments allow the winner to receive a free membership. Usually, however, those who win tournaments are such enthusiasts that they have already paid the cost.

The Computer

Since Aevum Obscurum is a predominantly multiplayer game, developed for a multiplayer environment, the Artificial Intelligence does not match the player. Most significantly is the fact that the computer will not adjust spending or tax rates and thus remains always at average (or with morale, slowly lowering). The computer, also, is not open for diplomacy, attacking anyone near it on a whim. Although this can make it a dangerous neighbor, it often gains computer players many enemies, leading quickly to their demise (which is arguably the point in such a multiplayer game). Another weakness of the computer is that they rarely use boats. Often, an island is completely safe from computer players, and often computers controlling Cyprus, Ireland, or other island countries will never emerge to conquer any other land.

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