There is indeed no doubt how awsome this game is.
Seven Kingdoms is a very hard game to master,indeed you will need allot of time in-order to master this game but when you do it will be allot of fun. Seven Kingdoms will be one of those games that really makes you want to say `wth` when you first play it. The graphics are quite old,the sound is also quite old and the overall game-play is weird and twisted.Thats why its not for everyone,only die-hard strategy fans or strategy fans overall will enjoy this game. Mostly this game requires patience,skill and understanding what to do and at what time. Seven Kingdoms is basic at start - you have a village,a fort and if set some units and the good old king. SK (as I will refer to Seven Kingdoms from now on) is very complicated with many rules that apply to this game. You must make forts fill them up with troops,a general and make sure you have a builder in to compensate for repairs. Mostly you need to know only 5 things :
1 - How forts work : For has 8 soldier slots and 1 general slot in it. The general will train the soldiers in the current fort and make them better at fighting. You can see the progress by looking at a soldiers hp.Green is a rookie,yellow means experienced and violet means elite. The better your army is the more chance you have to survive. Some generals can be hired from the inn. Usually the inn is like gambling and you need to keep a constant lookout for high-trained elites you want to have on your army. The better the general is at what he does and faster the soldiers train. Also if a general is picked from rookies that you train at your village he will slowly level up as a general until he is elite at it.
2 - Races : There are basically 7 races in the game, you have the :
The Mayans - Big guys wielding clubs with spikes on them,close-combat only,no special moves(My favorites) The Japanese - As expected : Samurais,close-combat only,high lvls do at random super attacks which involve a samurais sword heating up from the combat.
The Chinese - Interesting and one of the best races in the game,armed with pikes for close combat,bows for ranged combat,overall good race for any encounter,no super attack.
The Normans - Another fine race for all around use,Swords for close encounters,crossbows for as ranged attack,shields protect from Inc bows and ranged attacks,no super attacks and they are the best race suited for anyone if not a fan of another race.
The Vikings - well duh what can I say,fat,strong,really big war-hammer for close combat,no ranged attack,super move is some-sort of beserk does allot of damage.
The Greeks - another awsome race,close combat pros,armed with short dagger and shield,high lvls really mow down anything at close combat,no super move.
The Persians - umm nothing much bow and spear good all around race with no special move.
3 - Villages : The thing you need to keep growing is villages. You will find neutral villages up for claims around the map. Villages are usually many races mixed together. Its quite simple,if you are for instance The Normans all villages with Normans in them will love you if you try to take em over. Build a fort near the village and start claiming your rule in the village. The higher the level of your general the faster the village gives up and joins you. You can also bribe the people in the village to join your cause its faster but requires gold and thus expensive. If there is a village with 10 Mayans and 30 Normans in it and you play as Normans,what do you do? Basically you build a for near the village. Put a Norman general or your king in it with some troops just in case. The Norman population will want to join you while the Mayans will resist. This is a interesting part of the game were you can see a village killing some of its occupants in-order to join you. So the Norman people will start killing the Mayans if they are convinced to join you, The Mayans in the village will start killing Normans in-order to resist you and be free. So you see this mini-battle go on. You can wait and see what happens as it is always random or join in and help the winners. There is another way however,if you hire a high level Mayan General form the inn make a fort near the village and put the general in. The Mayans and the Normans will like you and surrender to your cause. It is somewhat a risky reaction that may go wrong later on.Its all complicated which makes this game awsome.
4 - Do not mix races! : Yes indeed stay true to the race you are. As there is a really big chance that your so called `other race army` will revolt against you if there is a powerful enemy race of there kind. For ex-sample,you are the vikings and you have one for full of Greeks. The enemy is also Greeks and he is expanding all over the map. The Greek population knows that there is a king of there kind out there. So the moral for those troops drops depending on how powerful the enemy is. They may revolt or try to go away from you.But if you are the only one of your race you need not to worry. Pay your troops well and they will not leave you. Again its really complicated and fascinating.
5 - Tax,Mining Resources and the gods - You need to keep in mind that if you claim a village you need to collect taxes in-order to pay your troops and keep a economy. Trading is also available but thats a really long story. Do not put the taxes to high or the villagers will revolt. Also there are resources you can mine on the map. Its easy to find them as they are just rocks of different shape but one size. To mine a resource build a mine on it,then like a fort fill it up with elite miners to achieve the max effect. Also its wise to make villages with a fort,mine,fabric and a market near it. Mines mine resources fabrics make products and the market sells it to the villages and enables you to trade stuff. Overall its just so damn complicated that even hard-core strategy fans will be confused at first.
Overall SK is a GREAT strategy game with so much continent to cover that my arms hurt from typing it all. If you love C&C or AoE and do not mind the graphics or the sound you will love this game I am sure of it. It is also one of the rare games I give a 10,why? Because this game is just awsome but sadly,really unpopular.
Note : New versions of SK are out but the original SK is allot better if you ask me.