Mare Nostrvm - By The Developers Of Qvadriga

[tgb]

Drops on Steam tomorrow.

[ColdSteel]

http://store.steampowered.com/app/726630/Mare_Nostrvm/

Mare Nostrvm is a strategy game by the developer of Qvadriga, and it is set during the turbulent war galleys era, when the civlizations along the Mediterranean Sea started to extend their ambitions towards new lands.

Naval Squadrons employ real tactics of that time, and the WEGO system will force you to think three moves ahead of your opponent!

Choose between fourteen ship types, ranging from the small and primitive penteconter to the powerful decares, and wage war in 24 historic naval battles!

Ram enemy ships, board them, or make use of your on-board harpax to make their encounter with Neptune the last!

FEATURES:
- From the dawn of history to the Roman Civil Wars, from Iberia to Cyprus, revive the ancient naval battles of the Mediterranean. 24 historic naval battles, including Salamis, the final defeat of Xerxes in Greece, and Actium, Downfall of Antony and Cleopatra.

- Classic WEGO system. Plan the actions first, then execute and view a simultaneous turn resolution.

- Battle AI adapts to the tactical situation and the historical settings.

- Configurable skirmish battles allows choosing of map, size, wind and opposing sides, using a point buy system.

- Multiplayer mode allows multiple historical and skirmish battles to be played by two players using Slitherine’s easy to use PBEM+ system.

- 14 ship types, from the swift penteconter to the massive deceres, equippable with devices like engines, towers, harpax, corvus, rodian firepots or sails.

- Historical tactics and maneuvers, depending on the situation and the ship type. Ram, rake oars or grapple and board. Arrows, artillery and fire.

- Squadron system with chain of command, the ships needs to be under command to be able to receive orders. Admirals and commanders has special abilities and a squadron range, lines of ships could be arranged out of this range to give command to all of them.

- Gameplay features include crew fatigue, atmospheric phenomena like fog, rain and a variable wind system and special rules for treasure ships, local command, plague, anchored ships and transports.

[stimpy]

Why do they hate the letter U?

[LordMortis]

The title makes it sound like a port of the board game. The description, not so much.

I enjoyed Qvadriga for what it was. I would have liked more and it was expensive for the game you got but I still enjoyed it. I was bummed that I couldn't get it on Steam at the time and the key is long since lost a computer that has long since died.

The steam captures remind of the tactical part of an old game called Jutland, which we used to have clear out an entire living room of its furniture in order to play on the floor. I really enjoyed that game.

If you go deep enough in the Steam links there is a preview

http://steamcommunity.com/games/726630/ ... 6589245509

Will have to watch the preview when I get time to see if there is a campaign mode and if that appeals to me.

[Max Peck]

Why do they hate the letter U?

Historical flavour. The Romans used V rather than U.

[LordMortis]

flavovr?

[Max Peck]

flavovr?

Only if you're a Roman Catholic Canadian.

[jztemple2]

The steam captures remind of the tactical part of an old game called Jutland, which we used to have clear out an entire living room of its furniture in order to play on the floor. I really enjoyed that game.

Ah, Jutland from Avalon Hill! I remember playing it with a friend of mine when we were teenagers back in the 1960s. One time we were out on the covered porch and his maneuvering with his fleet took it under a couch. We stuck with it and just propped up the couch till we were done. He played against me one other time, him as the Brits, and unfortunately he happened to run his battlefleet into mine in the middle of the night (in the game). Our fleets passed through each others but his took the brunt of the damage and he lost the game. If only Sheer could have had my luck!

[baelthazar]

Why do they hate the letter U?

Historical flavour. The Romans used V rather than U.

I think you mean the BARBARIANS developed a U in their vvlgar tongve becavse they covld not hack real Latin!

FYI, this is also trve of medieval Latin. Also, classical and medieval Latin do not have a written J - J and I are the same letter.

[Isgrimnur]

Why do they hate the letter U?

Historical flavour. The Romans used V rather than U.

I think you mean the BARBARIANS developed a U in their vvlgar tongve becavse they covld not hack real Latin!

FYI, this is also trve of medieval Latin. Also, classical and medieval Latin do not have a written J - J and I are the same letter.

[jztemple2]

And of course you can download the manual via the Steam store page and check it out.

[jztemple2]

If you go deep enough in the Steam links there is a preview

http://steamcommunity.com/games/726630/ ... 6589245509

I watched the preview. Movement seem to be handled pretty well, if simplistically. As a WEGO game the excitements comes when you (or the AI) guesses right (or wrong) and either get an awesome ramming maneuver against someone or against yourself. I am a bit troubled that by halfway or so during the battle there were few ships left capable of full speed and not that many more that could at least move at half speed, so a good part of the action devolves down to motionless ships shooting at one another turn after turn, until attrition overtakes one side or the other. Combat, by the way, is automated in the sense that shooting is automatic, while ramming and grappling are ordered in the Order phase and then you sit back and watch to see if it happens.

And the Stream announcer kept mentioning how the "slaves" were rowing... in my understanding of the time period, there were no Ben Hur type galley slaves used by any of the participants of this period. Most were freemen, while if slaves were employed it was most likely with the promise of their freedom being granted for participating. Galley slaves as we now them didn't really come into being till the medieval period.

[tgb]

I took a crack at the tutorial (which is pretty poor, btw) and failed miserably. Then I read the manual and tried and failed at the tutorial a second time. I was considering returning it when a little birdie told me to check out part of the live stream from last night and I realized that there's a lot going on under the hood that isn't readily apparent.

Now I feel ready to tackle the tutorial again.

[AWS260]

More impressions, people! I enjoyed Qvadriga enough that I want to throw money at the developers, but today's RPS impressions are pretty lukewarm.

[LordMortis]

More impressions, people! I enjoyed Qvadriga enough that I want to throw money at the developers, but today's RPS impressions are pretty lukewarm.

The fact that it's a skirmish game where you unlock to different skirmishes to give a campaign feel is a turn off for me. I don't know why.

Also the fact that my key for Qvadriga is long since gone because it wasn't released on Steam when I bought it, is also a turn off.

I would also like to see more from the developer because I really enjoyed Qvadriga but I would have liked it to have been more. Almost as if it could have been a smaller part of some larger Roman era epic house management game.

[tgb]

It's OK but not compelling. I have to force myself to play it. RPS makes some good points regarding the graphics and information. Controls are a little too basic for me as well - determine how many hexes you want to move, set the ship to ram or grapple, and hit next turn. Once ships come into contact (and that can take many turns, considering how far apart fleets start in some scenarios) there's nothing to do other than hit "next turn" and wait for a ship to either sink or be captured.

Wait for a sale.

[AWS260]

Thanks, guys. I'll let it marinate on the wishlist.

[Jeff V]

I actually bought Qvadriga based on comments here, but I've yet to install it after several years, mostly because I can't figure out how to pronounce it. It seems the nautical version is less compelling, and I do have some Civ 6 and Gal Civ 3 add-ons to buy.

[jztemple2]

I actually bought Qvadriga based on comments here, but I've yet to install it after several years, mostly because I can't figure out how to pronounce it.

"Quad" like in quadcopter, + "Riga" like in the capital of Latvia.