Cheap Cossacks: Art of War Expansion Pack (Software) (Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows 2000) Price

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Customer Reviews of Cossacks: Art of War Expansion Pack

An absolutely wonderful game
The graphics are actually very good, and all the buildings look realistic. This game is SO much better made than and of the Age of Empires series games. You may not realize that the reason why AoE or AoK/TC has low pop limits is because the game was programmed poorly, with too many loops, slowing down the system hopelessly. Cossacks has been programmed very well, and that's why it runs very well, consuming almost no resources, compared to ANY other strategy game. I personally like how everything explodes with a boom and splash damage. I also like the fact that good soldiers need gold upkeep, which is a lot more realistic than the AoK/TC. The graphics easily rival AoK/TC, the AI could be a little better. As for other stuff, this game is the most historically accurate game i have ever seen, it's also the most resource-accurate game- 6 resources instead of 4, and all the mined resources have to be invested in a lot in order to upgrade the mines and support a higher amount of people working inside. Also, researches that give you a large advantage cost a lot of resources and are not easy to get. Diplomatic Centre is also a wonderful idea- you can hire a mercenary army in case you lack your own and need a quick source of troops (at the expense of money). In all, this is an absolutely wonderful game, and all AoK/TC fans absolutely MUST try it.

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Bloody Little Wars
Bloody good fun. I do mean bloody. Watch a cannon knock down 12 pikemen out of a formation of sixteen at close range. This game is not as realistic as Sid Meier's Civil War or Waterloo: Napoleon's last battle. It doesn't matter. The enjoyment makes up for this.

Graphics get 6 stars. The scenery is enchanting, with rivers, woods, hills and fields. The buildings are works of art. The variety of terrain, both natural and human is a major strong point of Cossacks (and Art of War).

Same for the variety of troops and uniforms. Austria alone in addition to line infantry has grenadiers and pandurs. Austrian Cavalry includes Croats, Hussars, Chassuers, and Dragoons. Then tere are the Winged Polish Hussars, French King's Musketeers and so on. Bavarian line infantry are very well dressed.

On the realistic side, the game allows for differences in quality among troops with the many training upgrades available at the barracks.

The only drawback from my point of view is the limited ability to take advantage of terrain tactically. You can build a walled town, but you cannot place you troops on parapets in order to fire over the wall. The wall shelters the attacker as much as the defender. The intro footage shows 18C field works, but none are available in the game. Occupying buildings and villages, important during this period, is not possible. You can hide behind a building and the line of sight rules will block fire, but you cannot defend from inside the building.

Cossacks does include towers mounting cannon. Given the importantance of Vauban style fortications in 17 & 18Cs, I would like to see bastions, demi-lunes, ditches, cavaliers, gabions, etc. At least parapets!

Having said that, I confess I spend too much time playing Cossacks, and Cossacks: Art of War. If you are drawn to this period where horse, musket and cold steel ruled, so will you.

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First rate game
This is a great game, a true real-time strategy game that lets you concentrate on the battles. The economics are simple, but still strategically important.

Pros:
- Huge population limit, I've never even come close to having "too many" troops.
- Great economics, peasants are important as in AOE2 but the stuff they are working on doesn't run out. If you think about it, that's more historical, especially for the time period. AOE2 and WarCraft are both annoying in comparison. You end up worrying more about finding more gold than about defeating your enemy in the field.
- Buildings and troops look like the country they're from. The graphics aren't stellar...
- Great technologies, with limits depending on country.
- In general, great gameplay.

Cons:
- The AI isn't very smart. You really need to play a human (or play against more than one computer opponent) to get a challenge.
- Does every building have to explode with a deafening boom? The explosions are WAY louder than any other sound effect in the game.
- The interface isn't quite as "clean" as AOE2, but after a bit you don't notice.

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