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jmsebastian · 8 years ago

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A Lesson In Diplomacy

What makes strategy video games so unique is that they, more than any other genre, are about decisions. Sure, the decisions you make in action games result in whether you win or lose, but those decisions are based on immediate needs, and often the ramifications of those decisions are felt immediately. Strategy games pull you away from the action, as it were, and force you to take a broader approach in a very direct way. What you do now may end up costing you a long way down the line, or, with a little bit of luck, might set you up perfectly to benefit from an opportunity. This kind of higher level thinking and management is largely why I steer clear of strategy games. I was blown away by the groundbreaking entries in the genre as a kid, like Dune II and Warcraft, but they were games I preferred to watch others play, rather than play myself.

That all changed with Castles II: Siege and Conquest. Maybe it was the medieval setting of the game. Maybe it was the fact that I could actually get it for the Macintosh Performa 630 my family owned in a time when DOS and Windows computers were quickly becoming the preferred platform for home computer video games that secured its place in my list of favorite games. Maybe it was that killer voiced over intro that was part of the CD release. There is something very unique about Castles II when compared to other strategy games and it’s only recently that I’ve begun to understand what that something is.

(This man has grave news...you’re about to play a really hard game.)

At its core, the game is like every other wartime strategy game: you must conquer territory, stockpile resources, and outmaneuver your opponents so that you can achieve victory. The main caveat of victory for Castles II is that victory is simply to become king. I say simply because in many other strategy games, winning means eliminating every other competitor from the board. For games like Dune II, your goal is to control the spice trade. In order to do that you must destroy every other house trying to accomplish the same thing. Elimination of your rivals is not absolutely necessary in Castles II. While it is one road that can be taken to your monarchy, it is a very expensive proposition, both in material resources and, more importantly, time and political points.

The political aspect of becoming king is the crux of your entire campaign. You play as a lord in Bretagne, a country whose king has recently died without an heir (there is a Queen, but the relative historical accuracy of the game means her ruling in her husband’s stead is impossible). With no clear line of succession, you and four other lords must engage in what amounts to a civil war in an effort to become king yourself. With so many rivals, engaging each and every one of them in combat is a discouraged practice. The game makes military campaigns difficult and a huge drain on your economy.

(While the map doesn’t appear very big, managing each of those territories is a monumental task.)

To account for this, there are many systems of diplomacy one must master to have a chance at success. One method is to send diplomats to your neighboring lords in an effort to strengthen your relationships with them. Relationships are scored on a scale of 1 through 9. The higher your score, the less likely that rival is to attack you or otherwise do you harm. Another benefit to good relations is more favorable trade opportunities, vital if you suddenly find yourself short of a particular resource. Diplomats are constantly being sent to you as well, so managing your ties with the other lords takes up a considerable amount of your time as you map out your strategy.

Keeping tabs on all of your rivals is also important. You can call for a council to see the status of each of the lords vying for the throne. The council reports back with information on their relationship with the Pope, another crucial figure in the game, as well as which of the lords are engaged in conflicts. This information can be extremely useful. It’s a lot easier to fight an enemy already in the midst of war than it is to take one on who has had time to properly maintain their army and resources. Knowing which of your opponents is blessed (meaning their relationship score with the Pope is 9) is also key.

The Pope’s prominent role in the game is another way in which Castles II sets itself apart from many other strategy games, especially those of the era it was made in. The Pope is the entity granted authority to declare a new king. This means maintaining good political relations with him and the church is vital to success. What this usually amounts to is sending diplomats to him with offerings of gold to sway him. There’s a bluntness to the clear bribery of these diplomatic missions that is hard not to see as humorous. Doing something to anger the Pope, such as attacking a blessed lord or acting against the church in one of the various plots that are peppered throughout the game means your relationship score drops. This is a problem when one of your rivals starts becoming a bit too powerful. Sometimes there is no choice but to attack a blessed character, which means you’ll have a steady stream of diplomats being sent with higher and higher amounts of gold on offering to rectify your transgressions.

What is so interesting about the Pope’s inclusion is the game is that he acts as the arbiter. He is the one character you can’t really afford to be on bad terms with, and this holds true for every character in the game vying for the throne. While incredibly annoying and demanding, the Pope does act as a stabilizing force in the region at many pivotal points in the game. As you accumulate lands, increase your resources, build castles and maintain your population’s happiness level, your score increases. Your score, in part, determines whether or not you’ll eventually be able to claim the throne. Since the non-player characters of the game all work under the same rules fundamentally, the Pope ends up being a vital figure. Having a good relationship with him early guarantees a bit of protection against attack from the other characters in that critical period after the initial grab for territories. Knowing the Pope’s relationships with the NPCs can also help make decisions on which of them you might choose to take on next. A character considered blessed (that is, a relationship score of 9) is a far less enticing enemy to make than one who hasn’t yet had the opportunity to butter up to the church.

It is possible to go complete atheist and allow yourself to become excommunicated. While the Pope is the one who must declare you king, you don’t actually need to be on good terms with him in order for that to happen. What it does mean, though, is that you have to wipe all of your opponents out of contention by defeating them. This was actually how I first beat the game. It’s a grueling task and requires you to make some pretty drastic choices. While it was undeniably satisfying to see your marker on every territory on the board, the game really goes out of its way to make sure you know this is not the best method. When you finally do make claim to the throne after murdering everyone in your path, the Pope makes it very clear that only your might is being recognized. There’s a reluctance to the whole thing that can play into your sensibilities, as it did mine, but at the same time, feels a bit disappointing as you failed to convince everyone that you did truly deserve to be king.

(Now you tell me.)

Instead, you are supposed to play the diplomat. Juggling your relationships, playing on skirmishes between them and constantly monitoring your relationship with the Pope really is the name of the game. All of this can feel like a lot to deal with, but that really feels like the point. Being a leader, and more importantly, being a responsible leader, is extremely difficult. For a PC game made in the 90s, Castles II does a fantastic job of making the player feel both powerful and powerless. The fact that you are but one candidate for ascension to the throne forces you to think of the consequences of your actions, and often, put others before yourself. While the ultimate goal is a selfish one, the path to becoming king means putting aside a lot of your selfish needs and desires, and more poignantly, to stuff the coffers of the man who will seal your fate. Make sure you have lots of gold.

#castles ii #macplay #interplay #dos #strategy

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