Universal King of Dragon Pass - (by A Sharp)

IMO this games needs a day 1 sale to get a bunch of copies out there and for word of mouth to propell it.

 

It's not really that kind of game; there's a pretty niche audience for this one, and a sale would probably end up losing the developers money in the end. Conversely, any sale they put on likely wouldn't be lower than half price, and sure as hell wouldn't be for a dollar, so you'd still be asking too much of the people who don't already want it.

This game falls into the same category as Carcassonne: incredibly polished, masses of gameplay, nothing really like it on the app store, and certainly no real competition. With all of that, there's no need to whore it out for a buck.

iOS gaming websites and forums are likely to expose this one quite quickly to the people who are interested.

 

If anyone has general pointers on basic techniques it would be appreciated. For instance, I'm not really certain what time of year it might be best to do certain things.

I should actually check the manual and see if it has that sort of advice...

 

can you also play the game in different manners? for example trying to do everything with diplomacy and economics. or maybe attack all clans, take their womens and horses?

 

You can try. How successful you are is another matter. Just remember you aren't playing the god-like head of a Civilization which won't care if you butcher all the anonymous soldiers in your quest for glory. Your own people and other factions can and will notice how you act and react accordingly. That being said, good luck!

 

Yep. Right off the bat, the game asks you whether your clan is military or peacefully geared, which sets you up for either starting approach. You can mix and match and experiment as you please though.

Assembling the clans to form a tribe might be pretty tough if you're purely militaristic. Unless you've already bankrupted your neighbours to the point where you can just buy their loyalty.

 

The Lore section and the manual are both worth reading.

Sea Season is when crops are planted, raiding at this time will mean less farmers to plant stuff and less food for the year. Perhaps a good time to send out explorers though while the weather is nice.
Fire Season is a raiding season.
Earth Season is when the crops are harvested and naturally you wont want to raid.
Dark Season is winter, bad time to send out explorers and traders.
Storm Season is another good time to raid.

My clan just got wiped out by the beastman apocalypse I had provoked, and it all seemed to be going so well!

 

thanks for the answers guys!

 

Thanks, Nuclear, that helps a lot.

Do things usually occur within a season? That is, will a raid occur and return within the same season? This is the kind of stuff it is hard to come to grips with initially so you have some idea what to do and when. I don't want to take an action and have it screw up something else.

 

Actions all take place in the season that you start them, with a few exceptions such as exploring, which can take a long time, depending on how far out you send your scouts.

 

In addition to what Dominic said, I'll also add that the temporary Blessings from sacrifices last for a year.

 

Just to add to the clamour asking for and iPad version.

 

To clarify, that's a year from when you made the sacrifice, so from Fire season to Fire season or whatever.

 

i have as well as the cited CYOA books... but when the description merges that genre with something like CIV, you can't just say that... what the heck does that mean?

but it seems like in the review here as well as at diy gamer, the game could be understood as similar to something like sim city... or even better, a BOARD GAME.

you control a civ with stats that are tracked round after round. "EVENT CARDS" are also played every round (which give it the CYOA flavor but i think the event card analogy is more useful as it does not imply branching linearity) which then affect how your civ develops in addition to whatever else you choose to do (can do) that round.

i still haven't played it but at least now i think i understand what it is. and it sounds cool.

dammit... SOLD!

jin

 

The Civ analogy I think refers more to the fundamental concepts driving the game than the actual mechanics of Civ. You basically create your own Civ every time you start a game of KoDP based on how you answer the questions. Rather than choosing the Americans or the Greeks, you fashion the type of people you want to play.

You then have to curry favor with your own people and keep them happy while you explore, research new advances, establish diplomatic relations with neighbors, etc. You can choose to be a trader, diplomat, warrior, or some combination in the pursuit of the goal of uniting the people's of Dragon Pass under one emblem.

From that standpoint, there's a lot of similarity with Civilization. The actual gameplay is obviously quite different.

 

Eli, you and Dominic both wrote great reviews. Hopefully they bring some attention to the game. It is a bit unfortunate you both chose to mention the ghost event, though, as it might suggest less diversity in the events than there really is.

 

I own a copy of the PC version (which doesn't work on any of my current computers), and I bought this immediately.

There are two aspects to the game, the random events and the clanbuilding. In between random events you get a ton of time to customize your tribe, explore the surrounding area, negotiate with nearby tribes, and perform heroquests, which are probably the most gamebook-y elements, add a lot of flavor, and are absolutely essential to success. But the way you configure your tribe and set up your relations with other tribes is critical to success in the random events. There are a ton of calculations going on in the background of all the choices you make, as another poster pointed out.

The best game comparison I can think of is to an ancient game called Hidden Agenda. Europa Universalis, too, but you won't be conquering territory. It's also built off of the Runequest RPG, and you have to think like a Runequest barbarian to succeed, which is what makes the game so unique. Read the mythology notes, read the manual; in order to keep the respect of your population and the nearby tribes you'll need to understand their mores and customs.

Anyway, can't recommend this one highly enough.