PowerMonger Amiga 1990

Developed by Bullfrog Productions and released in 1990 for the Amiga microcomputer, Powermonger is a real-time strategy wargame notable for its simulation of human settlement life, pattern-filled 3D topographical map, seasonal changes and infantry bloc-control.

Powermonger comes from the noble bloodline of Populous 1989. It plays like the seminal god game but is more of an RTS wargame in its mechanics and objective: a medieval-military Populous.

PowerMonger Playing Field

Most striking is Powermonger's contoured-terrain playing field, which can be trucked, panned, zoomed and rotated -- in 1990. Even if it was only flat-shaded the terrain would be impressive, but its polygons are actually pattern-filled to represent forests, farmlands and even cobble-stone roads. While it is not technically texture-mapping, the effect is exactly the same. Color aka palette employment is simply stunning; it is softer and more realistic than the Populous color scheme.

In terms of coding and design, the Powermonger playing field is a technical and aesthetic feat.

It is coding and design wizardry, son. Coding and design wizardry:

However, in order to make the most of it, Powermonger should have been a turn-based strategy game, not an RTS. Because mandatory cam-manipulation is unsuited to RTS games.

Let us quote the game manual:

PowerMonger is essentially a war game, but is unlike traditional board or computer war games, i.e. you take four moves and then it is the next person's turn. We wanted to create something that existed in real time and where you could do anything. Real time action is an important feature in all our games. We think if the game ever stops the magic is broken and any relationship built up between you and the game destroyed. In PowerMonger, the game stops for nothing. -- Bullfrog, 1990.

An interesting opinion, to be sure, but Powermonger doesn't work in real-time because the player needs to truck, pan, zoom and rotate a map while commanding multiple infantry blocs under a slow icon-driven control system.

Even the pauseable real-time combat sytem employed by Darklands would have been superior to fully real-time gameplay, but turn-based combat would have been best by a country mile (TB is always best).

Turn-based is just as immersive as real-time -- is Chess not an immersive game? Are Civ or X-COM not immersive games?

Subsequent RTS games such as Dune 2, WarCraft 1 and Command & Conquer 1 employ fixed 2D top-down or plan-view perspectives for a reason: they are efficient and low maintenance. And zooming aside, even Civ2's isometric perspective is fixed (you can't rotate the map and you don't need to because Civ2 maps don't employ topography let alone steep undulation that obscures terrain-viewing).

If you develop a strategy game that requires the player to manipulate viewpoints, the action should be turn-based or at least pauseable with the ability to set an order while paused. Under a turn-based system you can also get away with slow control systems (Powermonger's cam and controls are slow).

Indeed, turn-based is in most cases more immersive since it gives players time to appraise data and situations, thereby increasing interpretable interactivity. In addition, turn-based facilitates proper UI modes which Powermonger doesn't have. Instead, there are only tiny colored status bars that indicate the amount of food being carried by troop-blocs, the number of troops in the blocs, and the strength of Captains. Therefore, Powermonger becomes an intuition, reflexes and timing game more than a strategic numbers game.

Objects in the Powermonger gameworld are querieable; that is, pop-ups give info on settlements, towers, people, animals and trees when clicked on. Again, great features like this suit turn-based games more than they do real-time ones.

In the interests of even-handedness I suppose we can argue in favor of real-time as well. Real-time gameplay allows sound to play a part in immersion: in Powermonger, sound gives clues as to what is going on or living nearby. It also indicates the health and morale of Captains, the current season and the results of battle. As well, there are real-time visual indicators: birds suddenly taking flight may indicate an enemy moving through a forest, and souls floating up to heaven indicate deaths during battles.

But while such real-time indictators are undeniably charming and pleasing to both eye and ear, I still believe that Powermonger would have been superior as a turn-based wargame.

The Object of Powermonger

The object of Powermonger is to conquer the world with armies commanded by up to four Captains. Scouting, food-gathering, inventing and trading also play a part, not just fighting. In conquest mode, there are 195 territories to conquer in the Powermonger world (Populous has 500).

Powermonger Bloc-Control

Powermonger armies are controlled in icon-driven blocs. A bloc is a group of soldiers that are graphically represented on-screen by sprites. In real-time, the soldiers run and sail around the land as well as attack with swords, bows and catapults. [1] There is no direct control or marquee selection of blocs let alone clicking to select individual units. Control is indirect, like in Populous. To issue an order players simply click an icon (a command symbol) and set direction-lines to have blocs undertake activities in assigned areas. Basic commands include:

Scouting
Fighting
Gather Food
Supply Food
Recruiting
Disbanding
Inventing
Trading

There is one Captain per army. And since multiple Captains can be recruited (up to 4), multiple armies can be controlled.

There are three postures that Captains can assume: aggressive, neutral and passive. The postures also dictate subordinate Captain behavior and army behavior.

To put it simply, posture determines the degree to which an action is carried out, whether it be 25%, 50% or 100%. Examples:

The percentage of men that are transferred from one Captain to another
The percentage of men deranked from a bloc
The percentage of food looted, dropped or supplied
The percentage of inventions equipped

In addition, posture determines whether Captains auto-join or -flee nearby battles as well as which items are invented by settlements.

Powermonger Conclusion

Powermonger is a charming strategy wargame with soulful, atmospheric aesthetics. You can tell it's a proper Amiga game just by looking and listening. Even in 2024 Powermonger impresses as a polished high quality product created by thoughtful developers. It is a digital creation, not just a game. That's how I look at it, anyway. As something unique in the history of microcomputer games.

If some computer games can be said to have "soul", PowerMonger is one of them.

Powermonger's 3D topographical map is a majorly underrated technical achievement that has no peer in the late 80s and early 90s. I would venture to state that Powermonger's map was one of the most impressive tech-graphics achievements of the 16 bit microcomputer era (the most impressive being of course Frontier: Elite 2).

Note that Powermonger is basically a real-time strategy game that came out two years before the "seminal" Dune 2. That said, Dune 2 was the Formalizer of RTS game concepts that have endured to this day whereas Powermonger's icon-driven bloc control and innovative playing field have been lost in the mists of time.

[1]

Every Powermonger sprite is drop-shadowed. If a flock of birds takes to the skies each bird casts a shadow. In addition, there are weather effects (rainfall and snowfall) and seasonal tints applied to terrain. Even the projectiles are animated (arrows and stones).

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