Rise and glory of ancient empires

Rise and glory of ancient empires is an half turn-based, half real-time strategy game involving ancient civilizations. It's projected to be developed and published by Empire Entertainment and released on all PC systems.

It's projected to have a DLC bundle pack series and 3 game expansions:
 * Megalos: Set in Ancient Greece and India, from the first inhabitants of Hellas to Alexander's mighty empire, plus the greatest dynasties in India.
 * S.P.Q.R.: Set in Ancient Rome, from the fall of Tarquinius the Proud to the glory of Marcus Aurelius.
 * Children of the Dragon: Set in Ancient China, Japan and Korea, from the Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin and Han dynasties in China to the Yamato period in Japan.
 * Attila : Set in the Roman Empire's last moments, from the rise of the Huns and the overrunning of the barbarian invasion to the Frankish Kingdom which brought the birth of modern France.

All of this, obviously, brings out a Complete Edition.

Main Menu

 * Single player
 * Imperial campaign
 * Hystorical battles
 * Random battle
 * Custom battle
 * Multiplayer
 * Gallery
 * Options

Gameplay
The game is mainly divided in two phases: campaign and battle.

Campaign phase
In the campaign phase, the player faces dozens of playable and unplayable factions, barbarian hordes, rebel hordes and even the Sea Peoples (Shadarna, Lukka...). Each turn on the campaign dures a month, which means that a year dures 12 turns. It is also fundamental to manage cities and make sure their happiness, production and security are well balanced. There are 9 types of resources:


 * Food: It's produced in farms and counters droughts.
 * Bricks: They're produced in reed beds and are useful in buildings construction.
 * Wood: It's produced in mills and it's used in skirmishing and archer units.
 * Gold: It's produced in mines and it's useful in trade.
 * Copper: It's produced in excavations and mines and it's spent in military units, mostly infantry.
 * Tin: It's produced in mines and excavations and it's spent in recruiting military units.
 * Horses: They're produced in paddocks and are used to recruit any cavalry unit.
 * Gems: They're produced in excavations and are used in building advanced structures.
 * Incense: It's produced in proper collectors and farms and is used in religious buildings.

The player can build barracks (divided in infantry barracks, shooting ranges, cavalry stables or onager workshops), walls, sanitary buildings, entertaining buildings, security buildings, docks, temples and shrines (dedicated to a number of Gods ranging from 3 to 5 and all ranging from the different civilizations and factions), blacksmiths, markets or academies. The majority of all buildings, mostly the ones which produce resources, but except for docks and some other buildings, need workers, symbolized by little white person-shaped figures. Each of those "figures" can be assigned to any building that requires workers. To have a new worker in the city, the player must wait a certain number of turns depending on the population growth of the city; that factor, can howerer improved by building food-production and sanitary constructions. It is worth remembering that there are cities tha produce different resources. All cities can produce Food and Bricks, but also a different number of other resources (for example, aside for the fact that all cities produce Food and Bricks, the player can control a city that produces only copper, another that produces only horses, another that produces only gems and gold and another that produces only wood.).

Different military units have different recruiting costs, maintenance costs, hitpoints, unit numbers or special abilities (Sapping, which is the ability of digging on the ground to facilitate a siege; War Cries, which boostes their attacks, defences and movement and attack speed; Cantabrian Circle, which can be useful as cavalry archers can run around an enemy army and shoot arrows to confuse them...)

Also, any single settlement can evolute separately from a single campment to a village, to a town, to a city and finally to a metropolis. When a settlement becomes a town, the player can recruit diplomats so they can talk to other factions in game. A city adds the availability to train diplomats to become spies that get knowledge on enemy settlements and armies, or assassins, who can assassinate enemy generals and captains or sabotate buildings or the factions' economy or happiness. A metropolis, last but not least, allows the construction of a Wonder, a building that improves happiness and productivity in all the empire, buildings that can be build just once in a game, and just one per city/metropolis.

In short, here are all factors in the city:
 * Happiness: Is improved by building temples, regulating work rate, salaries and food consumption at the Empire Overview, and garrisoning enough troops.
 * Production: Improves by building resource production buildings.
 * Health: Improves by building sanitary costructions, for example doctors and clinics.
 * Income: Improves by building trade buildings, such as markets, bazaars and harbour markets.

Every 5 years (60 turns), a new report will indicate a Top 10 faction list in termns of the Strongest, Richest, Largest or Most Advanced faction in the campaign.

Diplomacy
You can press F4 to open the Diplomacy Overview screen. Here, you can see all the factions still in game and their relations with whoever (including the playing faction).

Diplomacy options include:
 * Alliance Pact
 * Peace Treaty
 * War Declaration
 * Trade Agreement
 * Payments (Offer / Request)
 * Tribute (Offer / Request)
 * War Joining (Offer / Request)
 * Map Information
 * Military Access
 * Vassallage

The player can recruit a diplomat in the city, and then send him to another empire as an ambasseur. The more a diplomat completes missions, the more he gains experience and levels. As the diplomat progresses, he can be assigned to a new series on missions, as well as being capable to improve relations with other empires and improving chances to success on offerings, requests and treaties.

Diplomacy missions include:

Spying missions include:
 * Enemy troop movements

Assassinations missions include:

Empire Overview
You can press F5 to open the Empire Overview screen, where you can see all the cities you own, their current happiness, production and current construction and recruitment queue.

Here, you can also manage your empire with three slides:
 * Food consumption: Increases the quantity of food the people may eat in all cities. Increases happiness but can be dangerous for food income.
 * Work rate: Increases the production rate in all cities. Can have negative effect on global happiness.
 * Salaries: Increases the payments to all workers in the cities. Improves happiness but has negative effects on gold income.

Battle phase
Obviously, battle happens when two enemy armies clash each other. Before the battle phase, the player, whenever it's attacking or defending, has three choices: play the battle personally, auto-finish the battle or retreating (howerer, this third option is unavailable when the player is defending a settlement against a siege).

In Custom Battle mode, the player can choose the different victory conditions, the terrain, the current hour, the time limit and more.


 * Victory conditions:
 * Last Man Standing (only in open field)
 * Point resolution (only in open field)
 * Siege (only in settlements)
 * Time limit:
 * Unlimited
 * 30 minutes
 * 45 minutes
 * 60 minutes
 * Hour:
 * Sunrise
 * Morning
 * Afternoon
 * Sunset
 * Night
 * Climate:
 * Sunny
 * Light rain
 * Heavy rain
 * Fog
 * Stormy rain
 * Snow (only in stages set in mountains)

Victory conditions
The player can also choose a winning condition between:
 * Conquer all cities on the map;
 * Conquer 50 cities on the map;
 * Conquer 100 cities on the map;
 * Conquer a certain number of cities and destroy at least one or more specific factions / build a specific wonder (for example, Upper Egypt must defeat the factions of Khemet, Lower Egypt and Lower Nubia, conquer at least 50 cities and build the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx; Babylon, instead, must destroy Ur, Lagash, Elam, the Kassite, the Guti and Assyria, conquer at least 75 cities and build the Hanging Gardens and the Tower of Babel.).

At the end of any game, the game will structurate a complete syntesis of the whole game, with the map progresses, the timeline progresses and the history progresses, which explain the battles in major interests (called Major Battle), the cities conquered, the faction that has been destroyed and the Wonders that have been built.

Family tree
Each faction, be it playable or not, has a family tree, which constitutes the heirtage of the faction itself. When a Faction Leader dies, his Heir claims his place and becomes the new Faction Leader. If, once the Faction Leader is dead, there are no more Heirs ready to take the throne, the faction is directly eliminated.

Howerer, there is also the chance that a family member of a faction can betray the faction itself, as each family member (except the Faction Leader) possesses a parameter called Loyalty, which indicates (of course) how much the character is loyal to the faction. The lower it is, the higher the chances he defects the faction and becomes a rebel character. All characters can die through natural causes, in battle (if they are Generals/Family Members), through malaria/plague or during a disaster (fire, flood, earthquake, famine...)

Heroes
Also, when the Capital reaches the Metropolis status and has all Barracks built at the maximum level, the player can recruit Heroes, historical figures that can be integrated in the army and the family tree. Those characters, specific to each civilization and faction, possess extraordinary abilities and traits, and can turn the tide of any battle with their single presence. The player must, howerer, assure they keep living until at least a natural death, since they can be killed in battle as well. They have the Loyalty parameter always at maximum, and despite, like a familiar, can be integrated in the Family Tree and even become Faction Leader, they still cannot betray their own faction.


 * Ramesses II (Egyptian)
 * Muwatalli III (Hittite)
 * Sethi I (Egyptian)
 * Narmer (Egyptian)
 * Hattusili III (Hittite)
 * Shuppiluliuma I (Hittite)
 * Thutmose III (Egyptian)
 * Shamshi-Adad I (Assyrian)
 * Hammurabi I of Babylon (Assyrian)
 * Gilgamesh (Sumerian)
 * Tiglat-Pileser I (Assyrian)
 * Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (Assyrian)
 * Ashurnasipal II (Assyrian)
 * Cyrus II of Persia (Assyrian)
 * Moses of Israel (Tribal)
 * Shalmaneser I (Assyrian)
 * Tukulti-Ninurta I (Assyrian)
 * Sennacherib (Assyrian)
 * Ashurbanipal (Assyrian)
 * Esarhaddon (Assyrian)
 * Kamose (Egyptian)
 * Ahmose (Egyptian)
 * Ramesses III (Egyptian)
 * Menreptah (Egyptian)
 * Shabaqa of Kush (Nubian)
 * Taharqa of Kush (Nubian)
 * Necho II (Egyptian)
 * Nabopolassar of Babylon (Assyrian)
 * Shulgi of Ur (Sumerian)
 * Ur-Nammu of Ur (Sumerian)
 * Nabonidus of Babylon (Assyrian)
 * Nammahani of Lagash (Sumerian)
 * Eannatum of Lagash (Sumerian)

Campaigns and factions
Click here for the page related to the factions in game, or here for the campaign maps in game.

Campaigns
There are 5 campaigns in game:


 * Imperial Campaign - The Near East, 3000 BC
 * This campaign spawns from the depths of Nubia, at the border with modern Ethiopia at the south, to the borders to modern Ukraine to the north, and from modern Pakistan and Kazakhistan to the east, to modern Bulgaria and Libya to the west.
 * Great Campaign - The Great Pharaoh, 3000 BC
 * This campaign spawns from the depths of Nubia, at the border with modern Ethiopia at the south, and from Lybia to the west to the Sinai to the east.
 * Great Campaign - The Anatolian Throne, 1500 BC
 * Great Campaign - The Land of the Two Rivers, 2500 BC
 * Great Campaign - The Levantine War, 2000 BC

Each of them includes a various number of factions.

List of factions in the Imperial Campaign
The factions listed below are all belonging to the standard version of the game. Bold-written factions indicate playable factions, while cursive-written indicate DLC.

Units
Click here for a full units explanation.

Buildings
Click here for the full buildings explanation.


 * Administrative buildings:
 * Small Settlement Center
 * Large Settlement Center
 * Small village Center
 * Large Village Center
 * Small Town Center
 * Large Town Center
 * Small City Center
 * Large City Center
 * Metropolis Center
 * Resource collection buildings:
 * Food:
 * Homestead
 * Basic Smallholding
 * Small Wheat Farm (from this building, you can choose between Livestock Holding or Wheat Farm)
 * Wheat Farm (requires more citizen but greatly improves food production)
 * Irrigated Farm
 * Large Wheat Farm
 * Plantation
 * Large Plantation
 * Livestock Holding (requires no additional workers but food production is less improved)
 * Cattle Farm
 * Large Cattle Farm
 * Bricks:
 * Reed Bed
 * Reed Gatherers
 * Reed Brick Makers
 * Basic Brick Plant
 * Brick Plant
 * Large Brick Plant
 * Brick Works
 * Advances Brick Works
 * Wood:
 * Woodsmans' Hut
 * Large Woodsmans' Hut
 * Simple Wood Mill
 * Wood Mill
 * Large Wood Mill
 * Advanced Wood Mill
 * Lumb Yard
 * Advanced Lumb Yard
 * Gold:
 * Gold Prospectors' Hut
 * Gold Ore Gatherers' Hut
 * Simple Shaft Gold Mine
 * Multi Shaft Gold Mine
 * Deep Shaft Gold Mine
 * Extremely Deep Shaft Gold Mine
 * Gold Mine and Vault
 * Advanced Gold Mine and Vault
 * Copper:
 * Copper Deposit
 * Copper Excavation
 * Copper Mine
 * Open Cast Copper Mine
 * Large Open Cast Copper Mine
 * Spread Copper Mine
 * Copper Compound
 * Large Copper Compound
 * Tin:
 * Tin Deposit
 * Tin Excavation
 * Tin Mine
 * Open Cast Tin Mine
 * Large Open Cast Tin Mine
 * Spread Tin Mine
 * Tin Compound
 * Large Tin Compound
 * Horses:
 * Basic Horse Paddock
 * Horse Paddock
 * Large Horse Paddock
 * Basic Horse Holding
 * Horse Holding
 * Large Horse Holding
 * Horse Farm
 * Advanced Horse Farm
 * Gems:
 * Gem Prospectors' Hut
 * Gem Gatherers' Hut
 * Basic Gem Mine
 * Gem Mine
 * Large Gem Mine
 * Deep Shaft Gem Mine
 * Deep Core Gem Mine
 * Extremely Deep Core Gem Mine
 * Incense:
 * Incense Collector
 * Large Incense Collector
 * Basic Incense Farm
 * Incense Farm
 * Large Incense Farm
 * Basic Incense Plantation
 * Incense Plantation
 * Large Incense Plantation
 * Military buildings:
 * Infantry Barracks:
 * Infantry Barracks
 * Battle Infantry Barracks
 * Trained Infantry Barracks
 * Heavy Infantry Barracks
 * Elite Infantry Barracks
 * Archers Barracks:
 * Skirmisher Barracks
 * Archer Barracks
 * Combat Archer Barracks
 * Elite Archer Barracks
 * Cavalry Barracks:
 * Stables
 * Cavalry Stables
 * Heavy Cavalry Stables
 * Elite Cavalry Stables
 * Siege Workshops
 * Siege Workshop
 * Advanced Siege Workshop
 * Heavy Siege Workshop
 * Military support buildings:
 * Blacksmith (improves quality of all infantry troops)
 * Workshop (improves quality of all siege troops)
 * Armory (improves armor)
 * Archer Academy (improves quality of all skirmisher troops)
 * Equine Academy (improves quality of all cavalry and skirmish cavalry troops)
 * Training Gounds (improve morale of all military units):
 * Small Training Gound
 * Medium Training Gound
 * Large Training Gound
 * Religious buildings:
 * Shrine
 * Temple
 * Large Temple
 * Temple Complex
 * Large Temple Complex
 * Education and Research buildings:
 * University
 * Library
 * Guilds
 * School
 * Healthcare buildings:
 * Herbalist
 * Doctor
 * Hospital
 * Clinic
 * Markets (only one Market per city is allowed):
 * Street Traders
 * Bazaar
 * Marketplace
 * Grand Marketplace
 * Harbour Market (only in coastal cities)
 * Slave Market
 * City Forts:
 * Small Fort
 * Medium Fort
 * Large Fort
 * City Walls:
 * City Walls
 * Improved City Walls
 * Reinforced City Walls
 * Docks:
 * Fishing Yard
 * Dock
 * Shipyard
 * Naval Architect
 * Guilds (each faction can build all Guilds just once):
 * Armourers' Guilds:
 * Novice Armourers' Guild
 * Veteran Armourers' Guild
 * Master Armourers' Guild
 * Grand Master Armourers' Guild
 * Sheldmakers' Guilds:
 * Novice Sheldmakers' Guild
 * Veteran Sheldmakers' Guild
 * Master Sheldmakers' Guild
 * Grand Master Sheldmakers' Guild
 * Weaponsmiths' Guilds:
 * Novice Weaponsmiths' Guild
 * Veteran Weaponsmiths' Guild
 * Master Weaponsmiths' Guild
 * Grand Master Weaponsmiths' Guild
 * Officers' Guilds:
 * Novice Officers' Guild
 * Veteran Officers' Guild
 * Master Officers' Guild
 * Grand Master Officers' Guild
 * Horse Armourers' Guilds:
 * Novice Horse Armourers' Guild
 * Veteran Horse Armourers' Guild
 * Master Horse Armourers' Guild
 * Grand Master Horse Armourers' Guild
 * Horse Academies:
 * Novice Horse Academy
 * Veteran Horse Academy
 * Master Horse Academy
 * Grand Master Horse Academy
 * Other Guilds:
 * Diplomacy Guild
 * Spies' Guild
 * Assassins' Guild
 * Merchants' Guild

Technologies
All faction can research technologies to improve their gaming experience. Howerer, since all playable faction have different starting positions, the player may variate their scientific objectives.


 * Agricolture (already researched): allows the construction of Homesteads.
 * Domestication
 * Bronzeworking
 * Ironworking
 * Shields
 * Plow
 * Irrigation

Historical Battles
Click here for full explanation of the Historical Battles.

There are also hystorical battles which can be played by both parts, be either the winning or the losing side.

DLC
Some DLC Packs will be available for release after the vanilla standard edition is published. These will add factions, units and even standalone campaigns in the original game.

FreeLC - Dilmun faction pack
The first DLC pack, and the first FreeLC, adds the Dilmun as a playable faction. The Dilmun faction belongs to the Sumerian civilization/ethnic group and start in modern Bahrain.

FreeLC - Alasija faction pack
The second DLC pack, FreeLC as well, adds the Alasija as a playable faction. The Alasija faction belongs to the Tribal civilization/ethnic group and start in modern Cyprus.

FreeLC - Hill Tribes faction pack
The third DLC pack, FreeLC as well, adds the Hill Tribes as a playable faction. The Hill Tribes faction belongs to the Tribal civilization/ethnic group and start at the eastern edge of the map, possessing at least 5 cities, which makes them one of the factions with the largest territory in the Imperial Campaign.

DLC - Campaign Pack - The assault on Qadesh
The forth DLC pack, the first to be paid, adds a new campaign. This campaign, called The assault on Qadesh, is the first particular campaign:
 * It's the first campaign to have heroes since the start of the campaign;
 * Is the first campaign to have a specific city as a winning goal.
 * Is the first one to have a specific fixed set of rules per faction in game.

This campaign has specific rules:
 * Lower Egypt
 * This faction begins with Ramses II leading a very large army.
 * Ramesses II must survive for the duration of the whole campaign.
 * The objective city is Qadesh. Any army can stategically siege Qadesh, but it's necessary that Ramesses conquers the citadel.
 * Hittites
 * This faction begins with Muwattali II leading a very large army.
 * Muwattali II must survive for the duration of the whole campaign.
 * The objective city is Qadesh. The player must defend it at all costs, countering sieges and food shortages.

There are two coalitions: the Egyptian and the Hittite. Howerer, Lower Egypt and Hittites are the only factions playable here.


 * Egyptian Coalition
 * Lower Egypt
 * Tyre
 * Byblos
 * Lower Nubia
 * Israel
 * Hittite Coalition
 * Hittites
 * Arzawa
 * Karkemish
 * Lukka
 * Kizzuwatna
 * Ugarit
 * Mitanni
 * Third party factions
 * Yamhadi
 * Edom
 * Hamath
 * Gaza
 * Judaea
 * Jebelians
 * Amorrites

DLC - Campaign Pack - The exodus of Moses
"31 During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested. 32 Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me." 33 The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. "For otherwise," they said, "we will all die!" 34 So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. 35 The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. 36 The LORD had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians. 37 The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. 38 Many other people went up with them, and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. 39 With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves. 40 Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. 41 At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD's divisions left Egypt. 42 Because the LORD kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the LORD for the generations to come. 43 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "These are the regulations for the Passover meal: "No foreigner may eat it. 44 Any slave you have bought may eat it after you have circumcised him, 45 but a temporary resident or a hired worker may not eat it. 46 "It must be eaten inside the house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones. 47 The whole community of Israel must celebrate it. 48 "A foreigner residing among you who wants to celebrate the LORD's Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat it. 49 The same law applies both to the native-born and to the foreigner residing among you." 50 All the Israelites did just what the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 And on that very day the LORD brought the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions."

- Exodus 12, 31-51

This fifth DLC Pack, payable, adds a seconds campaign, The hexodus of Moses. Set in 1400 BC circa, in the times of the Israelits' Exodus, the player must ensure the foundation of the Israelite Kingdom.

The player controls 2 full armies (in the style of an horde) as the Israel faction, already playable in the vanilla standard faction. One of these armies is led by Moses, and the other by Aaron. Both those Heroes need to survive in order to ensure the continual of the campaign.

The goal of the campaign is to conquer at least 10 cities, including Jerusalem and Samaria.

Here are the following factions:
 * Israel (playable)
 * Judaea
 * Tyre
 * Gaza
 * Jebeliyans
 * Edom
 * Hamath