Europa 1400 The Guild to v1.05. Europa1400_update_v105_beta1.exe| 5.62 MB. A Beta Patch is now available that updates 'Europa 1400 - The Guild' to v1.05. Please note that this patch has beta status. Europa 1400 - The Guild patch 1.05 beta 3 (english). Everyone to read the patch installation manual and rejects any liability for damages resulting from the use of.
This game is quite simply: amazing. I could go on and on about it, but as I'm at work I'll let some of these other pepole speak for me. Check out a ton of fan impressions at GoneGold. I can't get the direct link to the thread to work for some reason, but visit the ' ' forum here and look for a recent thread titled 'Europa 1400: The Guild. Impressions' Also, check out a 'mini review' of the game in the news section of Gone Gold under 12/4/02. You can read an exhaustive, four-page review at IGN (8.5/10). This snippit from GoneGolder Sepiche can be found in the thread of the first link I posted above: Quote.
I preordered The Guild: 1400 on a whim a few weeks ago because it looked promising and had an interesting multiplayer element to it. The game is intended to be a simulation of running businesses in the 1400's. Starting from humble beginnings and eventually passing down your family business from generation to generation buying up more and more power. The beauty lies in the incredible number of ways to go about this. I was out of town over the weekend, so I only have about 10 hours of play logged at this point, but I must say I think the game is enormously fun so far! Let me start off with one disclaimer however: If you aren't into micromanagement. STOP READING!
Although I have read later in the game you can hire masters to run your businesses, and IMHO it never gets to bad, it seems that when you are running one of your businesses you handle every aspect. This includes sending the carts to the market, loading them, buying materials, assigning tasks, setting pay levels, etc. Personally I think it adds to the flavor of the game and is great fun, but perhaps some would find it tedious.
First off I did the tutorial. I probably could have just jumped in, as things aren't TOO complex, but it did show me a couple little things I might have missed. It does a great job of showing you through one of the possible career types and most importantly showing you all the menus and what is expected of you in controlling your fledgling business. Once that was completed it was on to setting up my new game. This is where the game starts to shine. First I was asked to select my starting town. There are 5 (I think) towns each with varying degrees of difficulty and their own little quirks.
Then I choose a name, coat of arms, and my parentage. With your parents you are shown a group of men with different professions (thief, mercenary, trader, craftsman etc) and then a group of women also with different talents. Once your parents are chosen your base stats are automatically assigned and then you have a few 'free' points to distribute to your abilities (Handcraft, combat, negotiation, etc).
Finally you are given a choice of starting professions. The list of professions available is, in a word, breathtaking.
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Brickworkers, clergy, mercenaries, thieves, alchemists, perfumers. The list goes on. There is so MUCH replay value in the different businesses alone, some of which play much differently than others, it's simply overwhelming (in a good way!). So, with all that selected my young stonemason set about running his new business in Paris.
The game is divided into turns (years). Basically, your business over the course of the year is abstracted into a single day. People run about the town, buying and selling goods, spying, thieving, going to work, to church, and once the day has passed the turn ends and you are given a summary of your profits and expenses, and the game advances to the next year and another season. I'm keeping the pace slow, and right now it takes about 10 - 15 minutes to run through a year. Once I get a little better with the game I will probably bump the speed up, but for now this is perfect. It gives me the time I need to set things running and look through all the available screens, but there is fairly minimal waiting. So, for the first year, I set about setting my starting employee working on grindstones and began looking for another apprentice.
I also purchased a ladder to help with safety around the workplace. Soon I had two apprentices turning out grindstones like they were going out of fashion. Once I had 3 or 4 I loaded my cart with them and sent it running off to the market. Once I was informed he had arrived through the lovely event messaging system I went to the market and sold my goods for a tidy profit! Then my small cart was loaded with bricks (as materials) and sent running back to my shop.
Over the next few year I started making sandstones and small tops for children which were selling VERY well, so I was able to bump the pay for my workers, after 4 years promote them to journeymen, buy all sorts of improvements to my business and house (including a lovely drawing room at my home which allows me to throw parties), and I was allowed the honor of becoming a full citizen of Paris (which is the first step on the path of being a politician). I also located the local quarry (fairly near my shop) where I was able to buy granite and bricks in bulk at a cheaper rate than I could in the city market (i.e. I cut out the middleman). All this hardly conveys the levels to which you can go in this game, as this is merely the beginning. You can almost do anything you can imagine. Want more money?
Buy or build an apothecary shop, or perhaps a forge, hire a master to run it for you, and watch the money flow into the coffers. Trying to gain more favor from the towns elite, perhaps so you can run for the open seat on the council? Purchase a new silver ring and see your favor blossom, or maybe purchase a lovely new garden to gain favor with the town in general. One of your opponents getting ahead? Hire a spy to see what he's up to, or perhaps send an agent to fire bomb his new home. All this plus multiplayer support means there is HUGE amounts of replay here.
I for one can't wait to play with a couple of my friends, first cooperatively. Or maybe not so cooperatively This message has been edited by Angel Draco (edited @ 09:38 AM). Author Replies. Not that I know of; it's been out on you side of the pond for almost six months now. It came in way under the radar over here in the States.
But it's so incredibly deep. I mean, you could replay as a different profession and have a completely different game every time! A friend just executed his version of 'The Bachelor' (a cheesy tv show here in the States) within the game.
He pumped all his income into boosting profits into hosting huge parties and made lots of friends, becoming very popular. Then he courted several rich women, but married one who was very old. She died just a few years later and he inherited nearly 100,000 in cash within the game. I hear there's already word on an expansion pack with even more professions. Its a great game but the tutorial only explains those basic aspects of the game that anyone could work out in five minutes of play. Another slight irritation is that menus sometimes have to be right clicked repeatedly to cancel them, though changing to a higher resolution seemed to sort the problem in most instances. I cannot work out how to train in another craft besides the one I start with, so could someone explain how I go about it?
Another problems is how get my character married. If he falls ill and dies, or comes to sudden end, the game ends. So could someone also explain how I get my character married? Although there some awkward aspects to the game and some bugs requiring a patch, it is an absorbing and highly playable blend of several game genres.
Well worth getting in my opinion. Another problem. While playing in my current career I have managed to construct a decent business empire encompassing two cathedrals, one thieve's guild and a garrison. I therefore decided to purchase a robber baron's fortress.
But when I entered the fortress after purchasing it only the areas relating to hiring the master and journeyman, the cart and storehouse and one or two other less areas were functioning. I could not train or raid without assigning a master - sureely two of the main functions of the fortress. The screen also flickered the first time I entered it. I may have encountered a bug for when I purchased the fortress my neither my character not my ancestors had trains in the robber's trade needed for the fortress.
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Is the lack of functional areas in the fortress my character purchased a bug or do I not understand how to use it properly?
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