Praetorians Updated Preview

As the real-time strategy genre has evolved, players have found themselves able to command armies of more and more varied units with the click of a mouse button. While these games offer plenty of different unit types for players to experiment with, many of them often aren't strictly necessary for succeeding in the single-player missions and rarely see action on the field in multiplayer skirmishes, as players tend to amass huge armies consisting of only their favorite units. With Praetorians, Pyro Studios is trying to design a game in which no one unit is really stronger than another, and in which the strength of an army might best be measured by the number of different unit types it's made up of rather than the sheer number of units. Players will inevitably have favorites in the game, but since most of the units have rock-scissors-paper relationships with each other, an army made up predominantly of a single unit type will inevitably have weaknesses that can be quickly exploited.

An effective army is dependent on the variety of unit types that it contains, not just the number of units.

Being aware of an enemy's movements is, like controlling villages, key to succeeding in Praetorians. But since you can only see enemies that are in your own troops' lines of sight, this isn't always easy. There are two different kinds of scout unit in the game to help out, and if used correctly and in numbers, they can prove extremely effective at locating and keeping an eye on potential threats and targets. Both of the scout units are able to move on foot and enjoy a range of vision that's better than that of a military unit. What makes the two units different, though, are the pets they employ. The hawk scout, for example, is able to send his bird up into the air, where it will afford you a great view of the ground below. The disadvantages of the hawk are that it can only stay airborne for a limited amount of time before it needs to return to its owner to recuperate, and that it is unable to spot any units that are hiding in forests. Sending a wolf out to look around is an entirely different matter. Like the hawk, it can only stay on the move for a limited amount of time, but, unlike the hawk, the wolf is able to take up a stationary position anywhere you see fit to send it. Since you're able to see anything that the wolf sees, the effect of positioning multiple wolves across the map is not unlike lifting the fog of war mechanic found in many RTS games. Wolves can also be sent into forests to locate any enemies that are hiding there, although if they get too close (they normally won't), they are vulnerable to attack.

The Romans are only one of the three playable factions that'll be available in the game.

Hiding in forests is just one example of the many ways in which terrain features play a big part in Praetorians. Not all units are able to hide amongst the trees, but those that are can't be seen unless an opposing unit is in the same area. Moving through wooded areas can be a good way to get around a map safely, but a neat touch is that doing so will occasionally send flocks of birds up into the air, or deer and squirrels fleeing out into the open. In addition to wooded areas, many of the maps in the game feature patches of long grass in which foot soldiers can remain completely hidden even when on the move. The downside of the long grass though, particularly on the dry, desert-themed maps, is that a few well-placed flaming arrows can quickly set entire fields--and any soldiers hiding in them--ablaze.