Thoughts on Settlers 7

[giskarduk]

Hello all

Okay lets get the DRM out of the way, it sucks, it sucks big time, its a delibrate CTD from my perspective and an incredibly unwanted CTD at that. Now to move on.

I played the original Settlers when it was first released and it quickly became one of my favourite games. Over the years the series drifted towards age of empires and away from settlers so it kind of lost its appeal as it became more standardized.

The whole transportation of goods long distance, cute working anims and the management of resources made the original game unique. Your empire could not function without these.

Settlers 7 seems to run out of resources lightning fast, far far far too fast in fact but it appears the other features deal with the problems this causes, so those other problems do not appear too bad.

I do not think the whole resource side of the game was not especially well thought out, there are some odd combinations of requirements that make no sense and you would never guess something needed a resource without the game telling you.

Like shirts for traders... Where did that come from. Sorry cannot trade... need a new shirt mate. One of many strange examples.

Once you get your self in a situation where you have run out of resources and need tools to make money and need money to make tools and have to get all inventive to get your economy working again, settlers 7 starts to reveal that Settlers 1 Heart is still beating below the surface, be it dramatically updated.

There is a lot of things annoying about this game, from the DRM to the weird resource requirements that you would never guess in a million years unless told first. Many of the resource combinations needed to produce things simply make no sense.

Between that and the windows that popup every time you click and need to be closed manually and that annoying population cap limit arrow animates during play when your pop cap is reached. This game really does seem to be designed to annoy the player at times.

But I do not think its all bad news, this is the first settlers game since Settlers 3 that has felt like a settlers game. In addition to that, the online features you can unlock due to the Ubisoft server account takes settlers 7 personalize your game direction.

Or they will when they finish them, currently they are listed as "coming soon" when I look (UK).

There skirmish games are especially interesting, I skipped a few of the recent settlers titles because I want to play settlers not age of empires, but it appears the settlers skirmish game (the original) is still here but has been given a new exciting and nothing like Age of empires, revamp that looks great to me.

Its hard to continue the single player campaign knowing that skirmish exists. To be honest, the single player campaign will put you to sleep early on. Its not interesting, its not that fun, its just...long and boring.

But the skirmish side, that is amazing.

The game play it self seems good too, it is the settlers i remember. But I really could do without the annoying parts which spoil it.

I do think its worth buying, its a nice game in its own right.

[Lebby]

if ur struggling with resources 1 good way of overcoming that is (for example) make sure u unlock geologist in the prestige rewards, and research faster miners in the tech tree. then build 2 iron mines near an iron deposit and set 1 miner to geologist. if u do that near all the deposits, u will soon have plenty of resources as the geologists provide stone and replenish the deposit.

[Exanamis]

Forestry is also a great help. Will replenish trees which also helps with meat. Some resources needs are a little strange but overall it works once you get the hang of it. ;)

[giskarduk]

Thanks for the tips guys, there is a lot to learn in that side of things. :)

[Drayton.]

Not meaning to hijack this thread, but its a question on the retail version. Are there any other options to adjust the camera controls in the retail version? The demo controls were a little weird from my perspective, the middle mouse to rotate was backwards and jittery it seemed and very responsive.

Thanks for the replies.

[Exanamis]

Middle mouse is still inverted and there aren't any other adjustments. I would like to use the q and e keys to rotate instead of the mouse button but there is not option to change the keys at this point. :(

[Drayton.]

Ok thanks for the quick reply, didn't think there would be any further options then what was in the demo, but was hoping it was one of those last minute things they threw in for retail.

[Exanamis]

Hoping for more optimization with the first big patch. :)

[LegatusI]

I agreed Gis. This game should be called setlers IV, because setlers IV V and VI are not whorty of the name (sad for me that play it all). The game resembles setlers II (witch is the best of the series for me).
There are a few things that i miss from setlers II
- The more complex, detailed and realistic economy:
harder to produce soldier
you had to feed everyone in the inn
- The promotion of soldiers with the coins and theirs level from private to General
- The figthing animation (will never forget the private defence with is legs shaking :))

[giskarduk]

I miss the logical economy of the first one, Settlers 7s resources do not see to be that well thought out or tested. The on map mines for example appear to be a quick start feature, not a reliable income of minerals. I found i cannot reply on them for anything other than to get me started.

[creagor]

The points system is designed for multi-player & if you don't do that, its a wast of your time & money. The we want you to look at this right now so you have no control is 15 years old, any one who uses it should be shot dead,(I do mean this nothing gets me so pissed off at any game)!!!!!! never take control from the gamer!!!!!! The gathering system requires way too much land & has holes from them being all used up. My take do buy it if you haven't & if you have your in my boat with a real lemon.

[Unaki]

The points system is designed for multi-player & if you don't do that, its a wast of your time & money. The we want you to look at this right now so you have no control is 15 years old, any one who uses it should be shot dead,(I do mean this nothing gets me so jarateed off at any game)!!!!!! never take control from the gamer!!!!!! The gathering system requires way too much land & has holes from them being all used up. My take do buy it if you haven't & if you have your in my boat with a real lemon.

Ill respond in just a moment. Just gotta decipher this post first.

[LegatusI]

I miss the logical economy of the first one, Settlers 7s resources do not see to be that well thought out or tested. The on map mines for example appear to be a quick start feature, not a reliable income of minerals. I found i cannot reply on them for anything other than to get me started.

If you use the geologist you will never run out of mineral, also use food (fancy if you can spare it) to increase the production of mines. The resource problems is taken care this way.

[Alith]

Once you get your self in a situation where you have run out of resources and need tools to make money and need money to make tools and have to get all inventive to get your economy working again, settlers 7 starts to reveal that Settlers 1 Heart is still beating below the surface, be it dramatically updated.

This is the bit where you messed up. In a first person shooter, this is the part where the bullet enters you head and sprays your brain on the wall. It's the bit where the game tells you, "you lose."

If you have messed up your economy to the point where you're having to destroy buildings to fix it, then that's the bit where you are dying and respawning in other games.

That bit where the enemy troops are bearing down on your exposed territory and you're desparately willing the constructor to move faster, to get there and put up reinforcements. That's the bit in other games where you and your opponent are tying to get the crosshairs on each other's head. Only you know the enemy saw you first and you're going down.

Please stop blaming the game for doing what it's supposed to do: test your skill. If you don't want your ecomony to stall then don't suck. :D

[Alith]

Between that and the windows that popup every time you click and need to be closed manually

No need to close them. Just move your camera to the next thing you're going to do and they disappear automatically.

and that annoying population cap limit arrow animates during play when your pop cap is reached. This game really does seem to be designed to annoy the player at times.

I think this is really invaluable as hitting your pop cap is a major crisis that can stall everything badly, and is easily fixed.
But I do not think its all bad news, this is the first settlers game since Settlers 3 that has felt like a settlers game. In addition to that, the online features you can unlock due to the Ubisoft server account takes settlers 7 personalize your game direction.

I agree. It's the game I've been hoping they make, for a decade.
Its hard to continue the single player campaign knowing that skirmish exists. To be honest, the single player campaign will put you to sleep early on. Its not interesting, its not that fun, its just...long and boring.

The first 6 levels are a tutorial. After that the victory point system kicks in and they become gradually more challening, forcing you into situations where you are missing certain resources and have to modify your strategy. It's good experience I think. It's also really polished. I love the dramatic camera panning.

[Bismarck]

The first 6 levels are a tutorial. After that the victory point system kicks in and they become gradually more challening, forcing you into situations where you are missing certain resources and have to modify your strategy. It's good experience I think. It's also really polished. I love the dramatic camera panning.

lol, seriously! I finished the campaign and then hopped into a skirmish game on Glacier Vail, and here's what went on in my head:

"Wait, my starting territory has fertile land, stone, wood, fish, and wild game?! Now an area next to it has both iron and coal right next to each other in the same region!? SWEET JESUS YES :D "

[giskarduk]

LegatusI:

The Geoligist thing was a problem. Its not explained anywheré. Its just bonus you get and then nothing, not a word. So I thought it was automatic. Imagine my surprise when i clicked not on the building, but the workyard and saw that big beautify Geolistic feature.

I get the feeling who ever made settlers 7 worked for microsoft, they love hiding things away.

I wish they would hide those pop up tips away too, because they open and they stay theré until they are closed and they just fill up the screen constantly. Most annoying.

lol, seriously! I finished the campaign and then hopped into a skirmish game on Glacier Vail, and here's what went on in my head:

"Wait, my starting territory has fertile land, stone, wood, fish, and wild game?! Now an area next to it has both iron and coal right next to each other in the same region!? SWEET JESUS YES :D "

Yes I noticed that too, it is like the AI gets it all in the campaign and your left to scrape by. To be honest I stopped playing the campaign, I got sick of never knowing what to do and having to restart dozens of times until I got the start middle and end perfect. Seems to me there is really only 1 way to play most of those maps and its left to the player to guess it.

Skirmish is much better.

Though I strongly dislike the victory points, I used to like to chill and relax with settlers but thats not possible with settlers 7, its constantly rushing me in to things I did not want to do.

Having said that, I did find a way to get the game i wanted to play, first start a game and beat the AI at the victory points game, then free roam it and chill.

[Bismarck]

Having said that, I did find a way to get the game i wanted to play, first start a game and beat the AI at the victory points game, then free roam it and chill.

I think this may make the game you want:

1. go into map forge
2. turn off all victory points (uncheck the boxes, change quest rewards, unclick special sectors, change the trade and tech trees into their "no victory points" versions)
3. Make the player starting locations into special (VP-giving) sectors
4. Set the required VP's to win as the same number of players

This way the only way to win the skrimish match is to actually destroy all the players, giving you as much time to play around however you want.

keep in mind, however, that I dont think this will give you cash at the store for winning...probably because they dont want people just making "Iwin" maps.

(to access your map forged version, select the map when making a room, and then click the drop-down tab at the bottom. Change it from default to whatever you saved it as.)

[Alith]

I find that in skirmish (and multiplayer) even though you're presented with resources quite close by, what you are missing is space. You have to be really focused to maximise you space and the game forces you to keep taking territories, just to find space to put new buildings down. If you don't expand quickly enough then aggressive military players can lock you in and you're stuffed.