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[GlyphGryph]

I was originally gonna post about this in another thread, but it didn't quite meet what the OP was looking for upon reflection. Still, it's an awesome game you should all try, and heres why:

Unlike most games where you can build people, in 7 kingdoms people are your most important resource. You have a limited number of people - you try to convert/conquer enemy towns through military action/propaganda campaigns/bribery, etc. to get more people. They also reproduce on their own, but its slow. Managing your people is important. Especially since they may be more or less "your" people - every town and individual has a loyalty meter, and if you dont treat them well they may rebel or even turn to another flag that offers them a better deal.

There are a number of resources to mine that produce various trade goods, but the mines and the factories need employees too, so every drafted warrior means your taking a hit to your economy if its operating at anywhere near the level it should be.

Also, the espionage system is great. Your spies can be recruited into enemy armies, you can bribe units to try to create new spies (though they would be unskilled, so dont expect them to live long unless you get lucky), your spies can assassinate enemy leaders, or even do so well they get promoted to general by other players (in which case they can seize the fort and all warriors in it at your discretion). You can sow dissent in enemy towns, sabotage their factories, etc. and they can even counterspy and work as doubleagents. Of course, it also means you can get paranoid of your own troops and end up setting up less competent military leaders simply because you think you can trust them more. I cant even recall how many times I've been sure I've had a spy in one of my armies and executed half of them before realizing I was wrong.

Of course, to spice this up even more, the game has many different nationalities (Seven, to be exact) - its one of the few games were racism comes into play simply because its much easier to get spies of your own civ's starting race than other races. Multiculturalism means you have access to a wider variety of spy candidates but that its a lot easier to infiltrate your civ. Limiting one race to your military (preferably one no enemy civs have access to) makes you a lot more secure, but will definitely increase unrest in many of the towns of other races your civ controls, since they prefer to be governed by locals, not foreigners from far parts.

Anyways, its a load of fun, and if you DO play it already, let me know! I would totally jump at a chance to play with other people again - its been too long.

[Servant Corps]

Is this the same game (or at least in the same game series) where you get to play as monsters and enslave human cities to receive gold tribute? I really like the demo version of that, but I never got past the tutorial, sadly.

[Demonic Spoon]

Well it sounds interesting and I'm willing to try it out, if you could point me to where to get it?

[GlyphGryph]

The sequal allowed you to play as various monster races known as "Fhrytans" which, as you said, mostly worked by collecting tribute. They played VERY differently from the humans - it was almost as if two seperate games were being played side by side in opposition to each other. Pretty interesting.

Anyways, it seems like you can download it here: http://download.cnet.com/Seven-Kingdoms-II/3000-7562_4-10031267.html

[Kagus]

Anyways, it seems like you can download it here: http://download.cnet.com/Seven-Kingdoms-II/3000-7562_4-10031267.html

That file seems awfully small...  And trying to run it resulted in Spybot nuking the process as it was on the blacklist.

I somehow doubt its legitimacy.  And, also, CNET's spyware scanning abilities.

[Shades]

I haven't played it myself, however I noticed that the source is available now and a (very small) community is bug fixing it so it should be easy to get hold of.

http://www.7kfans.com/
http://www.7kfans.com/wiki/index.php/Source

Edit: I note now that it's only the source not the other assets that are released.

[IndonesiaWarMinister]

Anyways, it seems like you can download it here: http://download.cnet.com/Seven-Kingdoms-II/3000-7562_4-10031267.html

That file seems awfully small...  And trying to run it resulted in Spybot nuking the process as it was on the blacklist.

I somehow doubt its legitimacy.  And, also, CNET's spyware scanning abilities.

Dur dur that's an online downloader...

I haven't played it myself, however I noticed that the source is available now and a (very small) community is bug fixing it so it should be easy to get hold of.

http://www.7kfans.com/
http://www.7kfans.com/wiki/index.php/Source

Edit: I note now that it's only the source not the other assets that are released.

I thought they are making a mod for the engine? So it may be playable?

[GlyphGryph]

Oooh... I thought the fanbase had died out years ago, and heres a site hard at work modding the game? Amazing!

And the downloader works, it just installs a trial. If you want the full game you'll have to buy it or something. Apparently the engines been released but that doesnt do much good on its own. By all means, though, if you haven't played the game before try the demo!

This is one of those games I've bought several times over the years (along with Fallout 1+2) and just keep going back to playing.

[Gigalith]

Both 7K and its sequel can be found on GOG.com for $6 and $6. The first is more focused on the economy, while the second is more streamlined and combat-oriented, but both are honestly a steal for the price.

I got the original Seven Kingdoms on a Software of the Month club thingy that my parents subscribed to, and I honestly must have spent hundreds of hours of my childhood on it. It was even educational too, as I learned such words as 'caravan', 'ballista' and 'peasant' from it, although the latter I pronouced 'pleasant' for the longest time. Oh, the memories...

[Magnnus]

How would you rate Seven Kingdoms and its sequel, The Fryhtan Wars, against each other? Is one clearly better, and if not what are the differences, advantages, and disadvantages of each.

[GlyphGryph]

I like the mechanics of the original better than the sequel because im not a big fan of the fryhtans BUT you can play 2 without the fryhtans if you so choose, making it essentially the first one with better graphics. So i'd go with the second one.

[DJ]

I played only the second and it was a fun game. I never got the chance to play multiplayer, though, and what with spies and stuff this game looks like it only really shines in multiplayer. I never cared much for Frythans, humans were much more fun to play.

[Yolan]

Remember when?

[Gigalith]

How would you rate Seven Kingdoms and its sequel, The Fryhtan Wars, against each other? Is one clearly better, and if not what are the differences, advantages, and disadvantages of each.

7K (the original) is far more economy-based. If you want to have an army of any decent size, you'll need to support it with a large enough market (or just extort the money from your enemies). Else, your buildings and war machines will decay and your soldiers and generals will lose loyalty and turn away, until eventually your empire collapses in on itself. I have won several games as a small but economically powerful kingdom accidentally causing and then surviving a global economic collapse.

The downside is, there isn't much variety. There are more Frytan races than human races. That's not to say that the game is boring (it isn't), it's just that there aren't too many shiny things to play with. On the other hand, it's much simpler than its older brother.

7K2 is far more military-based. You still need a good economy for a good army, but killing enemies will give you gold. Everything is streamlined and larger: You can have somewhere around 20 soldiers in a fort (compared to nine in 7K), and you can also train a special unit for every race. There's a whole lot more, items, blessings, special Seat of Power powers, technologies, heroes, etc. Not to mention being able to play as a Frytans, who literally feed off of decapitated human heads.

The hilarious way to lose a game of 7K2 is having a low enough reputation that your peasants revolt and attack their own town. If they win, you lose reputation for callously watching as your people are slaughtered. If you kill them, you lose reputation for cruelly putting down a rebellion. You have to restore your reputation and stomp out the vicious cycle before the vicious cycle stops out you.

Sadly, 7K2 removed some of the cool things from 7K, such as worker skill levels, high-powered independent Frytans (and the need to kill them to be able to summon your Greater Being), rebel towns, multiracial towns, construction workers, and seas, harbors, and ships. Granted, most of those features were hardly what they cracked up to be (Ships, I'm looking at you), but sometimes I still find myself yearning back. Also, 7K2 is more contaminated with stupid overpowered fantasy cliches: I saw a Egyptian charioteer hero with 15,000+ health points. For reference, a castle has only (if I remember correctly) 400 health points. He was literally 37.5 times harder to kill than razing an entire castle to the ground*. The gods themselves do not have higher HP (they have 400-800 or something).

In conclusion, if you want a simpler, more economic game, 7K is for you. Otherwise, or if you want huge, epic battles and being able to play as Frytan brain-and-head eaters, 7K2 is what you want. Neither is really a replacement for the other, but if you're only going to get one, get 7K2.

* What would that even entail? Are his horses made out of solid adamantine? Can his abs stop steel? Can he deflect arrows Jedi-style with his riding crop? Note that this was from training, not base hits, so somehow he was skilled enough to be this strong.