Ancient Wars: Sparta is a 2006 real-time strategy video game for Windows. Developed by World Forge and published by Playlogic, it was released in Russia in December 2006, in Europe and North America in April 2007, and in Australia in October 2007.
Set in the Eastern Mediterranean during the years 485-479 BC, the game features three playable races (Egyptians, Persians, and Spartans) each of whom has their own campaign, featuring fictional depictions of historical figures such as Xerxes I, Leonidas I, Demaratus, Inaros II, Pausanias, Mardonius, Artabanus, Megabyzus, and Miltiades. Although the three campaigns are separate, they do combine to loosely tell an overarching story, depicting the Egyptian uprising against Persian rule, the Second Persian invasion of Greece, and Sparta's resistance to Persia, culminating in the Battles of Thermopylae, Salamis, and Plataea.
World Forge's debut title, the game featured a newly designed game engine dubbed the Ancient Wars Engine (AWE) which World Forge specifically developed for Sparta. Only a few days after the game was first published, World Forge accused publishers Playlogic of failing to provide the agreed-upon funding during development. Issuing a breach of contract notice, World Forge claimed that the rights to the game had reverted to them, so they sued Playlogic. The District Court of Amsterdam later ruled that the game's rights were owned by Playlogic and had never reverted to World Forge. The game was originally intended as the first entry in a franchise to bear the Ancient Wars name, but no further titles were made under that banner. However, World Forge did release three further real-time strategy games using the AWE and very similar gameplay - Fate of Hellas (released as Great War Nations: The Spartans in North America), The Golden Horde (released as Great War Nations: The Mongols in some territories), and Age of Alexander (released as Sparta II: Alexander the Great in some territories).
Ancient Wars received mixed reviews. Although some critics praised the graphics and the ability for the player to arm their soldiers with opponents' discarded weaponry, many found the game's pace too slow and the combat devoid of strategy. The voice acting and script were singled out as especially poor, and most critics felt the game was unoriginal, bringing nothing new to the genre, and failing to stand out from current and previous real-time strategy titles such as Medieval II: Total War, Supreme Commander, and Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars.
Gameplay Ancient Wars: Sparta is a real-time strategy game, controlled via a point and click interface, in which the primary goal on most maps is to build a strong enough army to defeat the opponent or opponents by destroying their settlement, or, on occasion, killing a specific unit in their army. To achieve this end, the player must engage in some basic economic micromanagement, such as gathering resources, constructing buildings, and researching new technologies, abilities, weapons, ships, and war machines.
Game modes The game can be played in one of two modes; single-player or multiplayer. In single-player mode, the player can play either campaign missions or individual non-campaign games. In campaign mode, the player must complete a series of missions, the goal of many of which is to defeat the computer controlled opponent or opponents by destroying their settlement. Most missions have several primary objectives, which usually must be completed sequentially, and often one or more secondary objectives. Secondary objectives are not necessary to complete the mission, but they do reward the player with troops or resources if completed. The game features twenty-six missions (a nine-mission campaign for the Egyptians, an eight-mission campaign for the Persians, and a nine-mission campaign for the Spartans). The campaigns are independent of one another and can be played in any order. The missions within each campaign, however, are linear, and each mission only becomes available when the previous one has been completed.
In non-campaign single-player and multiplayer modes, the player chooses the map on which to play, and then selects the type of game, choosing from "No other players" (the player plays the mission without any opposition), "AI" (the player competes against only computer-controlled opponents), and "Open" (the player competes against either a combination of computer-controlled and human-controlled opponents, or all human controlled opponents). Multiplayer mode allows for up to four players or any combination of human players and computer-controlled opponents. Multiplayer games can be played either via a LAN or online, using GameSpy.
Resources and workers Whether playing in single-player or multiplayer mode, each game begins roughly the same way; the player is positioned at a set location on the map, usually with a prebuilt base building, and often with a certain number of soldiers and/or workers. The game features three types of resource; gold, wood and food. Gold and wood are required to construct buildings, research new weaponry and technologies, equip warriors with weapons and shields, and build war machines such as catapults, siege towers, and chariots. Food is required to sustain the army and workforce. If food reserves drop to zero, the number of health points of all combat units begins to dwindle, eventually dropping to 10% of the maximum amount. The player can acquire gold by building goldmines, wood by clearing forests, and food by constructing buildings such as farms or sending workers out to hunt.
Workers (slaves for the Egyptians and Persians, Helots for the Spartans) are required to construct buildings and gather wood. They also occupy and perform the requisite task of each building, whether the building is a resource building such as a goldmine or farm, a research building such as a drafting room or House of Knowledge, or a manufacturing building such as an armoury or forge. Workers can be directly controlled by the player and can be ordered to repair buildings, collect enemy weapons, hunt game, build ships and war machines, and, if necessary, fight. Each worker must be recruited manually in the player's base building. Resources have to be transported by workers from their point of origin (such as a goldmine, forest, or farm) to either the base building or a specific storage building, but they do not have to be transported to building sites, to buildings where they are being used for research or manufacturing, or to buildings that are being upgraded.
Each of the three races has its own unique buildings, heroes, soldiers, support troops, special abilities, and war machines. For example, the Egyptian headquarters is the Pharaoh House, the Persian is the Tachara, and the Spartan is the Acropolis. Each of their economic models is also slightly different. For example, the Spartans require specific storage for all three resources, whereas the Egyptians and the Persians require storage for only food and wood; the Egyptians can deploy a larger variety of support troops than the Spartans and the Persians; the Persians can breed several types of animal unavailable to the Spartans and the Egyptians; the Spartans can build war machines unavailable to the Egyptians and the Persians. In this way, the strengths and weaknesses of one race are designed to balance the strengths and weaknesses of the others.
Combat All soldiers are recruited at either a barracks or a shooting range. The game features three basic types of soldier; Light (Nubian Mercenaries for the Egyptians, Kara Warriors for the Persians, and Psiloi for the Spartans), Medium (Mighty Nadsez for the Egyptians, Nobles for the Persians, and Spartiate for the Spartans), and Heavy (Pharaoh's Guards for the Egyptians, Immortals for the Persians, and Hoplites for the Spartans). These are base units only, and the player is free to create melee warriors and archers from all three types of unit, using a variety of equipment and armour combinations. Each unit has three slots for customization, with the player free to choose from a primary weapon, secondary weapon and, depending on the primary and secondary weapon, a shield. So, for example, a player may equip some Kara Warriors with a sword and shield, some with a bow, some with both a sword and a bow (which weapon is their primary weapon is dictated by where they were trained, barracks or shooting range), and some with a sword, shield, and bow. Players can order soldiers equipped with more than one weapon to switch weapons at any time.
Initially, the player is restricted to the base unit's default equipment, but once research has begun, more weapons and armour become available. Once researched, all items have to be manufactured. Each process (research and manufacture) costs resources and takes time, and once a piece of equipment has been researched and manufactured, the player can equip it to any unit. Both research and manufacture are one-time procedures and are not required every time the player equips that particular piece. However, producing a unit of any kind also costs resources, and the more advanced the equipment, the more expensive the unit and the longer the training. An alternative way to equip soldiers is to have workers collect the equipment of defeated enemies. This equipment can then be used by the player to equip their own army at no cost, and with no research or manufacture time.
When the player's units see enemies, they react automatically, depending on which stance the player has selected from the four available; "Aggressive" (attack enemies as soon as they come within range, and pursue fleeing enemies indefinitely), "Defensive" (attack enemies as soon as they come within range, but only pursue them a short distance), "Hold the ground" (units defend their position and do not pursue the enemy), and "Passive" (units do not attack the enemy unless they are attacked first). As well as these four stances, the player also has three formations from which to choose: line, column, and free formation.
Heroes are also an important element of combat. They have more health points and are stronger than normal units, and they can acquire special abilities when they level up. In some missions, if the player's hero dies, the mission is immediately over. Players also have access to support units - for the Egyptians there are Horus Priests (capable of blinding and burning enemies), Anubis Priests (can weaken enemy armour and poison enemy soldiers), and Bast Priestesses (can heal troops and call a panther into battle); for the Persians there are Fire Acolytes (can attack enemies with mystical fire) and Healers (can see through the fog of war and place healing tents on the battlefield); and for the Spartans there are Mysteries (can heal individual troops and see through the fog of war) and Flautists (can raise troop morale, making them stronger in battle).