The Settlers II

Infobox VG
title = The Settlers II


developer = Blue Byte Software
publisher = Blue Byte Software
designer = Thomas Häuser
engine =
released = 1996 (PC), 1997 (Mac) 2007 (Nintendo DS)
genre = Real Time Strategy
modes = Single player, multiplayer
ratings = OFLC: PG
platforms = PC-DOS, Macintosh
media =
requirements =
input =

The Settlers II is a real-time strategy computer game, released by Blue Byte Software in 1996. Its gameplay is very similar to that of its predecessor, The Settlers, albeit with a Roman theme and improved graphics.

Many fans of the franchise consider this the best game of the Settlers series, primarily because future installments changed the transport management aspect considerably.Fact|date=February 2007 This popularity was recently acknowledged by Blue Byte's decisions to publish a remake of the game, The Settlers II 10th Anniversary for the PC, and a port to the Nintendo DS more than a decade after the original release.

Gameplay

Settlers II can be played in either campaign mode or through individual scenarios defined by the user. The user can also engage in a split screen match with a human opponent on the same computer with a second mouse. [cite web
author=Rog
title=Settlers II: Veni, Vidi, Vici
url=http://www.elecplay.com/reviews_article.php?article=464
publisher=The Electric Playground
accessdate=2006-10-28] The player's main objectives are building a diverse economy and conquering every computer opponent. The player begins each map with a warehouse and a set amount of materials and tools. The economy is driven by serfs who transport goods through a network of roads and also populate a building once its completed, if the necessary tool to perform the building task is present in the warehouse. The economy is based on gathering raw materials which include food, rock, lumber, and ores. The player has control over what percent of a materials is transported to each building for processing. All raw materials are used to enable different economic functions such as food enables miners to mine, rock and lumber are used as material to construct buildings and other tasks while different ores are used to construct tools and war material.

The player has a limited territory (area of land) upon which he can construct buildings and roads. During the start of the game, the main warehouse is the main building granting territory around a specific radius. Territory can be expanded by creating one of four military complexes (Barracks, Guardhouse, Watchtower and Fortress) near the present territory border. Each complex must have at least one soldier garrisoned to receive the added territory bonus. Soldiers can be created by manufacturing a sword and shield, and using them to upgrade a serf. One "unit" of beer is also required to upgrade a serf to a soldier. Gold coins can also be added to raise the rank of a soldier making him stronger in combat. The player can send any amount of available soldiers to an enemy military complex where the soldier(s) must defeat all enemy soldiers housed in the building. If the player's units defeats all housed soldiers then the military complex is taken over by the player with the accompanying territory of the buildings radius.

The catapult can only attack an enemy's military buildings, such as Fortress, Watch tower, Guard house, or Barracks. As long as stones are supplied, the catapult will fire automatically. The possibility of a successful attack is about 2/3.

The player wins the scenarios once he defeats all opponents by occupying all their military complexes including the main warehouse or, in campaign mode, when he gains control of a specific area of the map that allows access to the next level. At this point, the game gives an option to either quit the game or continue playing even though all opponents are destroyed.

; Working radius of buildings [The building itself is not included in the radius.]

Tools made by fans

The game has inspired a lot of fans to create their own modifications, additions and tools for the game. Over the time a lot of these tools have disappeared from the Internet, but some do still remain.

Map generators

There are two known map generators available.
* [http://www.siedler-welt.de/zubehoer/lsg25.htm Landschaftsgenerator 2.5] by André Franke, able to create decent maps that can be played directly without any major modifications by the user. A newer version 2.7 is offered by [http://jh-isch.de/s2/seiten/downloads.php Isch and Ivans Settlers II site] .
* [http://settlers2.merri.net/?page=map_generator The Settlers II Map Generator] by Vesa Piittinen. It gives a base for creating your own maps by generating shape and giving ground variety.

Both of the map generators do not provide all the required information in the resulting files, which results the map seem "flat" in the map window when loading the map into the game. This problem can be solved by using The Settlers II Map Editor to resave the map (this tool is provided with the Gold Edition and Mission CD releases of the game).

Translation tools

There is one known translation tool available, the [http://settlers2.merri.net/?page=ingame_strings Ingame Strings Editor] by Vesa Piittinen.

Object editor

Jörg Scholl has created Object editor. The version available requires registration, but the author has provided registration code for free use as stated by [http://jh-isch.de/s2/seiten/downloads.php Isch and Ivans Settlers II site] . The tool can be used to place objects into maps and to create your own campaigns. It is only available in German.

Other tools

[http://www.nagel-computer.de/nagel-software/ Jürgen Nagel Software] provides several useful tools for modifying the game, however all of the programs are commercial. All of the programs are only available in German.

imilar games

Besides useful tools for The Settlers II, some fans even created their own game based upon its idea.
* A German group of fans is working on a free crossplattform rebuild, which uses the original game data and adds the ability to play over network and internet. The project is called " [/ The Settlers II.5 - Return to the roots] ".
* Widelands is a completely free opensource game, which gameplay and look resembles the one of The Settlers II.

Notes

External Links

*" [http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/settlers-ii-gold-edition The Settlers II (Gold Edition)] " at Moby Games