Sorian Realms Review
                    Warlords II Scenario Review

       File: (184,184 bytes)          Author: Stephen Francis Menton         
       Name: Sorian                    Terrain Set: Ice
    Players: 4                         Army Set: Soria
     Cities: 60                        City Set: Soria
      Ruins: 40                        Shield Set: Space
    Temples: 3                         Text File: Yes, cool exe also!
Description: A world of fantasy and technology!


Download scenario.

Reviewed By: Ryan Chambers
             rbchambe@novice.uwaterloo.ca
             June 1996

Rating summary, scale of 1 to 10:
Wt Area                 Score   Summary of Comments
10 Army set               8     in short: strong, slow and expensive
 7 Map design             9     a unique map; mostly small islands
 5 Army pics              8     combines technology and fantasy
 5 City pics              1     2 sides, neutrals have same cities:  BAD!
 3 Background info        8     really cool .exe file giving background
 2 Cities/ruins/signs     8     generally good
 2 Items/heros            7     lots of hero names; usual types of items
   OVERALL RATING         242
   Adds to scenario designer's toolbox: yes (army and city sets)

This four-player scenario pits the magic and technology of each side in a
bitter battle for supremacy.  The background to this scenario is a figment
of the creator's imagination. I found it to be interesting; to make it
really brief, the Earth is close to dying and so some of its inhabitants
land on a new planet called Source.  Much of their knowledge is lost,
however some technology remains.  On this planet there are four factions:
the noble NeoSorians (white), the conscientious NeoGaea (blue), the
worshippers of technology, ArChaos (black), and the religious Ne'Vyhr(red).

Let me start off with a couple of features I found to be unique.  The first
is that there are no ports with which to get access to the sea (you know,
those anchor things).  (I should point out that I have not seen a scenario
with this before). You must enter the sea either by city or by bridge (and
there aren't many roads, either).  What makes this so significant is that
most of the map is small, 1-2 city islands.  Indeed, the map is quite 
disconcerting for one such as myself used to mostly large land masses; 
however this is only a subjective opinion.  The movement allowed per unit 
are generally small, the movement bonuses are rather skimpy, and the 
terrain generally not fit for quick traveling.  So this requires an 
appreciable change in tactics that I found to be quite enjoyable.  Flying 
units are very important here (and luckily, many of the units have this
capability). Land units will never get anywhere unless they sail -- and this
ties back into the limited access to the sea for land units.

Something else I noticed is that, in general, the armies are VERY slow to be
produced.  This also requires a change in tactics.  If you have a flying 
stack with a hero, and you take a new city, you must decide if you want to
keep your juggernaut intact and keeping rolling over new cities, or split
apart your stack to guard your new city.  The drawback is it might take 3-4
turns to make a new unit, leaving the city undefended for a while.  This 
dilemma is somewhat alleviated by a unit called R.O.U.S. (Memories of 
Princess Bride), which have adequate for temporary defense and take only one
turn to make.

I have a couple of complaints with the scenario.  One is that the city 
picture of the NeoSoria (white), Ne'Vyhr (red) and Neutral (gray) sides are
all the same!!  This can be most confusing, and is unforgivable, 
unfortunately.

Another beef I have is that the upkeep the units have are rather high.
Typically, the number of units fielded per city is around 3.5 -- which can 
be rather low.  This in itself is more of a problem for the computer player
than a human player, since humans find it easier I think to bankroll their
armies of conquest.  To prove the point, when I let scenario run with four 
computer players, one of the stronger sides died out rather quickly because
of a lack of funds.

The layout of the quick start map has one very compromised side, 
NeoGaea (blue).  It consists of a string of cities with enemies on both 
sides.  This is a very difficult side to play with, and indeed was the 
first to die out when I played the scenario and when I ran a simulation.

There are a few inconsistencies in the scenario.  For example, the 
description of one city is something like: "Arkashome, a well defended 
castle", and yet it has a value of 14 gold and a defense bonus of 1. Getting
a little anal, I realize.  This scenario is mostly quite consistent.

Happily, the advantages of this scenario far outweigh the disadvantages, 
which are relatively minor.

There is also a cool little executable file which plays some neat music and
gives suggestions for the game settings.  I really liked it.

To summarize, this is a scenario that has provided some twists in tactics to
what I'm used to, and I would recommend it for that reason.  I have a 
feeling that the background given is just scratching the surface, and I
eagerly await for further episodes in the Soria Saga!!

Ryan.