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“The board is set. The pieces are in motion.” – Gandalf
Introduction.
In Fall of Rome, you control a Dark Ages kingdom, such as the Huns of Attila, the Celts under King Arthur,
or ten other powerful tribes of the time. You are the guiding spirit of these, your people. An intriguing variety of important,
influential characters and other assets including armies of well trained warriors with varying skills and experience, are under
your sole control. These are your playing pieces. All your pieces are represented by icons on the game map of 5th Century Europe.
You take time to decide on your immediate objectives and your longer term strategy, then once decided, easily issue your commands
with our graphic user interface. You may also send messages to other players from within the game itself – you don’t need to
give out your email address.
The King.  While your King is
your most important character, both politically and militarily, if he is tragically slain in combat or by an assassin, your
people will overcome their grief and continue under the rulership of his son, your Prince. The King has powerful commands
available only to him: those commands that impact the entire kingdom. Your King begins the game at your capital – an
impressive fortified town. Your other possessions at the outset include a second town and two villages. From this
humble start, shared in other regions on the map by your eleven rivals in any game, you seek to win glory and empire.
The Noble Court. Joining your King at the capital is most of the noble court. These are your
King’s heir, the Prince; the King’s brother, the Duke; an influential cousin whose title is Count;
and various important and loyal family heads who serve as Baron, Governor, and Ambassador. These
are your political “pieces” in the game: characters who are capable of winning new villages, towns,
and even important cities for you, bloodlessly, through their oratory and savvy. They are also useful
to ensure unrest does not spread in your own holdings – as your rivals will likely try to sow. The
political game play in Fall of Rome is an extraordinary breakthrough in strategy gaming without peer.
The Military. Most online war game players are naturally attracted foremost to the military side of things.
Rest assured, Fall of Rome will not disappoint even discriminating war gamers (grognards!) and may well dazzle
multiplayer board game players of games like Axis and Allies, Shogun, or many others, for what it brings to the
prosecution of war. Your kingdom’s military consists of specially equipped warriors trained in your tribe’s
techniques of warfare. For example, the Huns are master horse archers in the plains, and the Norse are known
primarily for their fierce heavy infantry. There are more than a dozen types of warrior classes, and kingdoms
generally have a mix of about six of these types that combine to form a unit of about 2000 fighters called a
brigade. Multiple brigades under the same command form larger units called divisions, armies, or army groups.
Warriors are rated on experience, morale, missile, cavalry, melee, speed, defensive values in terrain and many
others. Cavalry are great in plains but poor in restrictive terrain or in attacking fortified positions. Your
legions are commanded by your leaders: characters of various command ability who may gain experience through
combat, may become wounded or killed, and may welcome new leaders to their ranks who distinguish themselves
in battle. Battles are waged with consideration not only to the warriors abilities and those of their commanders,
but also terrain, and importantly, your tactical selection. There is much more to the military side, such as
recruiting mercenary brigades, reinforcements, sieges, and movement options that include force marching and
intercepting enemy legions. While this may sound complicated to some, it is quite easy to issue the commands.
The server does all the record keeping and ensures rules are followed. Once you decide on your commands, it is
not at all difficult to issue them to your forces with little risk of error. All battles generate a story that
reveals not only winners, losers, casualties, and experience changes, but also how the battle unfolded and why it
went the way it did. This too, is unique to Fall of Rome.
The Covert.
What of the covert, the nefarious, the diabolical, the underhanded – you know, the really fun stuff? Once again,
Fall of Rome leads the way with a more original and sophisticated covert strategy gaming system than you’ll find
anywhere else. Of course, most games don’t have much at all to do with covert matters. But here you will have
access to talented and deadly agents: characters who are expert at spying, stealing, sabotage, and assassination,
to name a few possibilities. They can also work in concert with one another to create a diversion, increasing the
likelihood of the main mission succeeding. And they may be employed as bodyguards to your other important
characters, or to perform counter-espionage at your important towns and cities. Agents increase in power as
they succeed in missions, and special missions are only available to the most accomplished. Toward the late
middle to the end of the game, the most powerful agents are often the most feared characters.
The Mysterious.
Mysterious elements from the mythology of the time are here, too! There are artifacts from Norse, Roman,
Greek and Celtic mythology, such as Excalibur, The Holy Grail, the Armor of Achilles, and many others.
Finding artifacts requires your heroes to risk all by adventuring into Unusual Sightings, battling the
fell guardian there, and then, if they survive, seizing the treasure. These artifacts make your leaders
significantly more powerful. Additionally, there is the mysterious High Priestess, your kingdom’s conduit
to the supernatural, and capable of very powerful divinations that will speed your expansion, heal your
warriors, or protect your nobles. In this multiplayer strategy game, deciding when to risk your greatest
heroes to battle a dangerous guardian is often a critically important early strategy decision. After all,
when they are adventuring for artifacts, they are not leading your armies!
The Economy.
In an episodic strategy game like Fall of Rome, where you are fielding armies, funding nobles and
agents on missions, and incurring expenses for the expansion of your burgeoning empire, you will
need production from your economy. This is provided by the output of your holdings – the harvest
of your villages, the production of your towns, and the commerce of your cities. You may also
improve production, defense, and other values by constructing economy-enhancing buildings within.
The economic model in Fall of Rome is elegant – meaning a lot is accomplished without a lot of
moving parts. The economic side of things is streamlined, sensible, and while important, doesn’t
involve things like gathering resources or supply lines – as in all else, the server handles the
dry details so you can concentrate on the fun of crushing your enemies!
Allies and Enemies.
As you strategize and issue the commands that will someday lead your people to victory, be assured that
your eleven human opponents are doing the same thing. Each turn brings a new plan, new key decisions,
important battles, and perhaps, new arrangements with adversaries, sometimes converting those to allies
through mutual agreement. In any multiplayer game, there is negotiation. In Fall of Rome, because there
are twelve players instead of a smaller number that you’d find at a strategy board game, the negotiations
and arrangements can take on many different flavors, beyond simply ally or enemy. All your negotiation
with the other players is handled through the in-game messaging system. You use your persona - your
in-game name - to communicate. You don’t have to give your email to the players in the game, and most
players don’t because it isn’t necessary – the messages are delivered instantly, and are there waiting
for you when you next visit the game.
Each Episode Brings Unexpected Results.
Strategize, issue commands, make changes, send diplomatic messages, issue more commands, as many times
as you like right up until the time for the episode to “air” – the time when the game countdown timer
reaches 0:00. Then the game is “frozen” for a couple minutes as the new episode is created as all
players commands are resolved by the server according to a sequence of events. For example, all
battles are resolved before any movement occurs. Then the game is unfrozen, and the game map is
updated for all players, and the planning for the next episode commences. Now all your game
screens are likewise updated to reflect the results of all your actions, and your map will
show you current info on everything your kingdom is aware of. Your kingdom likely will not
know much about what is happening in far off lands, but you may have near perfect intelligence
on affairs in your greatest sphere of influence. Your battle reports will be available to you,
so you can see how your legions and heroes fared. Perhaps a brigade of your warriors has become
Elite, a powerful leader has risen to the rank of Warlord, or your King has gained control of an
entire region! Hopefully no great heroes have been slain, and no assassins have murdered members of
your noble court. You’ll digest all this new info, and begin to plan anew for the next episode!
Victory!
There are many paths to victory, and in fact, many types of victory. A game lasts a maximum of 24
episodes, each important and building upon the previous episode. All players may win as The Rex –
Supreme Ruler, by controlling three of the map’s twelve regions. Each player may chose a secret
victory condition as well, such as the Visionary or the Mastermind, which will impact their strategy
throughout the game. If no player has achieved victory by the end of episode 24, the victory goes to
the player with the greatest point accumulation: The Lion’s Share. Thus, there is always a winner.
Winners and runner-ups accumulate game credits that may be redeemed for free games.
Never before has so much game been brought under one “roof”, and provided to you with such
convenience, and for so little money! It’s a triple win for you! Begin a great entertainment experience, now.
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