The Ancient Art of War

Last updated
The Ancient Art of War
Ancient Art of War Cover.jpg
Developer(s) Evryware
Publisher(s) Broderbund
Designer(s) Dave Murry
Barry Murry
Platform(s) Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari ST, MS-DOS, Mac, PC-88, PC-98
ReleaseDecember 1984 [1]
Apple II, MS-DOS
1987
Mac
Genre(s) Real-time strategy, real-time tactics
Mode(s) Single-player

The Ancient Art of War is a computer wargame designed by Dave and Barry Murry of Evryware and published by Broderbund in 1984. It is one of the first real-time strategy or real-time tactics games.

Contents

Gameplay

A battlefield simulation, the game's title comes from the classic strategy text The Art of War written by Sun Tzu around 400 B.C. [2]

The objective of the game is to win a series of battles using four types of troops: Knights, Archers, Barbarians, and Spies. [2] All four types are unmounted.

It uses a rock paper scissors type of unit balance typical of the genre. Knights beat barbarians in melee; barbarians have the advantage over archers; and archers have the advantage over knights, [3] in addition to being effective at defending against attempts to storm a fort. Spies do not fight, but they can see enemy units twice as far away as anyone else and are the fastest-moving units in the game.

At the start of the game, the player is able to select from a list of eleven campaigns to play. [2] The campaigns include both skirmishes and capture the flags style missions, while the terrain layout and initial starting units provided a variety of strategic options for game play. Advanced rule sets such as Training New Units and Supply Line Lengths allow for more customization. The player can also select from among several AI opponents represented by various historical figures such as Geronimo and Sun Tzu himself. [2] Sun Tzu represents the most difficult level. These settings affected both AI behavior, as well as certain properties such as the speed at which enemy units moved through difficult terrain.

The game does not feature any economy management element (mining, gathering or construction), a common feature of later real-time strategy games.

Tactics

Each mission takes place on a map containing forts, towns, terrain features (bridges, mountains, forests, etc.), and squads. Squads can consist of up to 14 units, made up of any combination of the four unit types. A squad moves at the speed of its slowest unit (Barbarians are faster than Archers, which are faster than Knights), so a squad of all Barbarians would move faster than a mixed squad.

Squads that lose units have to make do until another squad can be merged with them. In many campaigns, squads with less than 14 units can receive random reinforcements by waiting at a fort.

When two enemy squads meet on the battlefield, they are frozen in an encounter while time continues to pass. If they are left by themselves, then, after a delay, the computer will automatically determine the outcome of the battle. Alternately, the player can choose to "Zoom" into the battle to resolve it immediately, gaining limited command of the soldiers in battle. It may be advantageous to leave squads in an encounter while others squads run past the enemy squad so engaged. Formations can be chosen to take advantage of a squad's particular makeup. For example, all of a squad's Archers can be placed in the rear while the Barbarians form a line in the front. The game supported per-type orders during battle, so one could alternately place archers upfront with a gap; put knights within the gap; order the archers to fire while the knights hold; then order the archers to fall back while the knights attacked. One could not order individual soldiers, however.

Formations only affected the tactical battles; only whole squads were ever represented on the strategic map, not individual soldiers.

A number of factors influence the outcome of a battle and elevate the game beyond a simple rock-paper-scissors strategy. Hunger, distance, terrain, and morale all affect the squads' effectiveness. Care has to be taken when marching troops full speed, or across a series of mountains, to prevent them from arriving at a battle too fatigued to fight. In addition, even the winning side in a battle suffers a slight reduction in the squad's readiness. Troops in a poor condition fight poorly, might retreat without being ordered to do so, and could even potentially surrender outright if significantly outnumbered. Hunger is modeled through an abstract 'supply' value per squad; villages and/or forts slowly replenish the supplies of nearby friendly squads. A squad that runs out of supplies diminishes in vigor and might be destroyed by what would otherwise be an inferior force.

One of the limitations of the game engine was that it could only display a certain number of units total at any time. This led some players to force the computer into having fewer (though stronger) units and thus easier to evade by creating an army of weak units.

Editing

The game allows players to create their own maps, formations, and missions.

The map editor provides a fixed palette of identically-sized tiles with a variety of terrain features, with which one can fill in the details on a fixed-size rectangular map. The severity of certain terrain features, such as whether moving through mountains is merely slow or potentially deadly, is controlled at game time with options, not via a property of the map.

The formation editor allows the player to configure templates for arranging squads according to the three combat troop types; there are a fixed number of slots for formations, which can then be chosen in-game.

The campaign editor controls the positioning and composition of squads on both sides, their initial condition and supply levels, [4] the location of flags, the default opponent, and the mission briefing, including settings such as how treacherous the terrain is. [4] Flags and squads must belong to one side or the other, as during the game. The flags positions can be randomized; if either side does not have at least one flag assigned to them in a specific location, they receive a single randomly located flag when the mission was played. This location changes every time the mission is restarted.

Development

The Ancient Art of War was designed by Dave and Barry Murry. [5] It was originally released in December 1984 [1] for MS-DOS and Apple II, and was made available for Macintosh in 1987. [6]

Reception

In 1985 Computer Gaming World praised The Ancient Art of War as a great war game, especially the ability to create custom scenarios, stating that for pre-gunpowder warfare it "should allow you to recreate most engagements". [7] In 1987 it stated that the game and its sequel "are excellent war games and provide many hours of high grade entertainment". [8] In 1990 the magazine gave the game three out of five stars, [9] and in 1993 two stars. [10] Jerry Pournelle of BYTE named The Ancient Art of War his game of the month for February 1986, reporting that his sons "say (and I confirm from my own experience) is about the best strategic computer war game they've encountered ... Highly recommended". [11] PC Magazine in 1988 called the game "educational and entertaining". [2]

Lisa Stevens reviewed the Macintosh version The Ancient Art of War in White Wolf #28 (Aug./Sept., 1991), rating it a 5 out of 5 and stated that "In summary, The Ancient Art of War is a wargame that even a nonwargamer can't help but like. It provides enough strategy to make it challenging, but enough great graphics to make it exciting. All in all, a great software package." [12]

Reviews

Legacy

The Ancient Art of War is generally recognized as one of the first real-time strategy or real-time tactics games, [16] a genre which became hugely popular a decade later with Dune II and Warcraft . Those later games added an element of economic management, with mining or gathering, as well as construction and base management, to the purely military.

The Ancient Art of War is cited as a classic example of a video game that uses a rock-paper-scissors design with its three combat units, archer, knight, and barbarian, [16] as a way to balance gameplay strategies. [17]

GameSpy ranked The Ancient Art of War No. 10 in its greatest PC games of the 1980s. [16]

It spawned two sequels, the naval-themed The Ancient Art of War at Sea (1987) and the World War I game The Ancient Art of War in the Skies (1992). A new version called The Ancient Art of War 2 is now available for PCs and mobile devices.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wargame</span> Strategy game that realistically simulates war

A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to study the nature of potential conflicts. Many wargames re-create specific historic battles, and can cover either whole wars, or any campaigns, battles, or lower-level engagements within them. Many simulate land combat, but there are wargames for naval, air combat, and cyber as well as many that combine various domains.

<i>Abrams Battle Tank</i> 1988 video game

Abrams Battle Tank is a video game developed by Dynamix and published by Electronic Arts in 1988 for MS-DOS. Designed by Damon Slye, the game is a 3D vehicle simulation of the M1 Abrams tank. The 1991 Sega Genesis port by Realtime Games Software was renamed to M-1 Abrams Battle Tank.

<i>M1 Tank Platoon</i> 1989 video game

M1 Tank Platoon is a tactical simulator of tank warfare developed and published by MicroProse for the Amiga, Atari ST and MS-DOS in 1989. The game features a mixture of first-person, third-person tank warfare, and tactical simulation gameplay. It was followed by a sequel, M1 Tank Platoon II, released by MicroProse in 1998 for Windows. M1 Tank Platoon was sold to Interplay Entertainment in 2009. M1 Tank Platoon is available on Steam and Epic Games services.

<i>Shogun: Total War</i> 2000 video game

Shogun: Total War is a turn-based strategy and real-time tactics video game developed by The Creative Assembly and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows personal computers. Released in June 2000, the game became the debut title in The Creative Assembly's Total War series. Set in Japan during Sengoku jidai—the "Warring States" period from the 15th to the beginning of the 17th century—the game has players adopt the leader of a contemporary Japanese clan, attempt to conquer the nation and claim the position of shōgun. The turn-based aspect of the game focuses on a map of Japan where military force, religion, diplomacy, espionage and economics all influence the player's actions, whilst battles are fought in a 3D real-time mode.

<i>Under Fire!</i> 1985 video game

Under Fire! is a computer wargame released by Avalon Hill in 1985. It was released for Apple II, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS. Initial packaging had the name of the designer, Ralph H. Bosson, over the title on the box front so as to read Ralph Bosson's UNDER FIRE!, but subsequent packaging replaced his name and read Avalon Hill's UNDER FIRE! instead. The C64 port was by Dyadic Software Associates.

Real-time tactics (RTT) is a subgenre of tactical wargames played in real-time, simulating the considerations and circumstances of operational warfare and military tactics. It is differentiated from real-time strategy gameplay by the absence of classic resource micromanagement and base or unit building, and by the greater importance of individual units and a focus on complex battlefield tactics.

<i>Gato</i> (video game) 1984 video game

GATO is a real-time submarine simulator published in 1984 by Spectrum HoloByte for MS-DOS. It simulates combat operations aboard the Gato-class submarine USS Growler (SS-215) in the Pacific Theater of World War II. GATO was later ported to the Apple IIe, Atari ST, and Mac. In 1987, Atari Corporation published a version on cartridge for the Atari 8-bit computers, to coincide with the launch of the Atari XEGS.

<i>Command HQ</i> 1990 video game

Command HQ is a real-time strategy world domination game. It was released in 1990 by Microplay Software and was created by designer Danielle Bunten.

<i>Praetorians</i> (video game) 2003 real-time tactics video game

Praetorians is a 3D real-time tactics video game developed by Pyro Studios and published by Eidos Interactive in 2003, based on Julius Caesar's historical campaigns in Gaul and Britain, Crassus' battles in Parthia, and the events of Caesar's Civil War during the 1st century BC. The player controls either the Roman Republic, the Ptolemaic Kingdom, or a generic barbarian tribe based on the Helvetii, Gauls, and Celts.

<i>Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far</i> 1997 video game

Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far, or Close Combat II, is a World War II real-time computer wargame, developed by Atomic Games, and released on October 13, 1997. The second installment of the Close Combat series, the game is played on a two-dimensional map, between two players.

<i>Legionnaire</i> (video game) 1982 video game

Legionnaire is a computer wargame for Atari 8-bit computers created by Chris Crawford released through Avalon Hill in 1982. Recreating Julius Caesar's campaigns in a semi-historical setting, the player takes command of the Roman legions in real-time battles against the barbarians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computer wargame</span> Wargame played on a computer or other digital device

A computer wargame is a wargame played on a digital device. Descended from board wargaming, it simulates military conflict at the tactical, operational or strategic level. Computer wargames are both sold commercially for recreational use and, in some cases, used for military purposes.

<i>Their Finest Hour</i> (video game) 1989 video game

Their Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain is a World War II combat flight simulation game by Lawrence Holland, released in October 1989 for the Amiga, Atari ST and MS-DOS systems. It was the second game in the trilogy of World War II titles by Lucasfilm Games, the others being Battlehawks 1942 (1988) and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe (1991). The game was released with a 192-page manual written by Victor Cross, that provided a detailed historical overview of the battle and pilots' perspectives. An expansion pack, Their Finest Missions: Volume One, was released in 1989.

<i>The Ancient Art of War at Sea</i> 1987 video game

The Ancient Art of War at Sea is a computer wargame developed by Broderbund and released for Mac and MS-DOS in 1987 as a sequel to The Ancient Art of War.

<i>The Universal Military Simulator</i> 1987 video game

The Universal Military Simulator is a computer game developed by Rainbird Software in 1987 for the Macintosh, Tandy 4000, and IBM PC compatibles. In 1988, both Atari ST, Amiga versions were released. The game was created by Ezra Sidran. The PC and Amiga versions were ported by Ed Isenberg. The game spawned two sequels: UMS II: Nations at War and The War College: Universal Military Simulator 3.

<i>King Arthur: The Role-Playing Wargame</i> 2009 video game

King Arthur: The Role-Playing Wargame is a real-time tactics and role-playing video game developed by NeocoreGames and published by Paradox Interactive in North America, Ubisoft in Europe, and E-Frontier in Japan. It seeks to blend elements of the real-time tactics, role-playing, and grand strategy genres into one. A sequel titled King Arthur II: The Role-Playing Wargame was released online in Europe on September 20, 2011, and then worldwide in 2012.

<i>The Hunt for Red October</i> (1987 video game) 1987 video game

The Hunt for Red October is a video game based on the 1984 book The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy. It was released in 1987 and was available for the Atari ST, Amiga, Apple II, Macintosh, ZX Spectrum, MSX, Commodore 64, and IBM PC. A port for the Apple IIGS was released in 1989. The game is a combination of a submarine simulator and strategy. The player navigates the Red October towards U.S. waters while avoiding the Soviet Navy.

<i>D-Day</i> (1984 video game) 1984 video game

D-Day is a turn-based strategy computer game for the ZX Spectrum released by Games Workshop, a company known primarily for its tabletop wargames, in 1984.

<i>The Shattered Alliance</i> 1981 video game

Chronicles of Osgorth: The Shattered Alliance is a computer wargame published in 1981 by Strategic Simulations for the Apple II and Atari 8-bit computers. Programmed by John Lyon, it relies on a new game engine, called RapidFire, intended to make faster and easier access to wargames published by the studio. During a turn, the program selects the units each in turn and the player only has to order them to move, attack or cast a spell. The order is then executed immediately before the program selects another unit. The game offers two categories of scenarios. The first is composed of medieval-fantasy confrontation, including a free adaptation of the Battle of Gondor against the Mordor forces in the Lord of the Rings. The second is composed of historical battles of antiquity.

<i>MBT</i> (board game) Board wargame published in 1989

MBT is a board wargame published by Avalon Hill in 1989 that simulates hypothetical World War Three tank combat between NATO and Warsaw Pact forces in Western Europe. A second edition was published by GMT Games in 2016.

References

  1. 1 2 Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office: Trademarks. U.S. Department of Commerce, Patent and Trademark Office. 1985. pp. TM 123.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Miller, Catherine D. (January 12, 1988). "Playing with Fire on Land and Sea: Broderbund's Ancient Art of War Series". PC Magazine . 7 (1): 456.
  3. ↑ Adams, Ernest (October 16, 1998). "Designer's Notebook: A Symmetry Lesson". Gamasutra . Retrieved February 2, 2013.
  4. 1 2 "Ancient Art of War". Personal Computing. 9 (6): 215. June 1985.
  5. ↑ "The Ancient Art of War Credits". Allgame . Retrieved January 29, 2013.
  6. ↑ "The Ancient Art of War Overview". Allgame . Retrieved January 29, 2013.
  7. ↑ Sipe, Russell (April–May 1985). "IBM Goes to War". Computer Gaming World . pp. 24–25.
  8. ↑ Carey, Regan (November 1987). "The Ancient Art of War at Sea". Computer Gaming World . No. 41. pp. 28–29.
  9. ↑ Brooks, M. Evan (October 1990). "Computer Strategy and Wargames: Pre-20th Century". Computer Gaming World. p. 11. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
  10. ↑ Brooks, M. Evan (June 1993). "An Annotated Listing of Pre-20th Century Wargames". Computer Gaming World. p. 136. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  11. ↑ Pournelle, Jerry (February 1986). "Communicating". BYTE. p. 291. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  12. ↑ Stevens, Lisa (August–September 1991). "The Silicon Dungeon". White Wolf Magazine . No. 28. p. 75.
  13. ↑ "Jeux & stratégie 41". October 1986.
  14. ↑ "Jeux & stratégie HS 3". 1986.
  15. ↑ "GAMES Magazine #70". December 1985.
  16. 1 2 3 Gamespy Staff (February 2, 2009). "The Greatest PC Games of All Time: The '80s: 10. The Ancient Art of War (1984)". GameSpy . Retrieved June 15, 2014.
  17. ↑ Rollings, Andrew; Morris, Dave (2004). Game Architecture and Design. New Riders. p. 65. ISBN   978-0735713635.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.