Your colonies give different amounts
of prestige based on their locations.
Matching the right commander
to each mission is key.
Pride of Nations also comes with a degree in accounting.
PRIDE & PATIENCE
All the grandeur and ruthlessness of Victorian imperialism
in near real-time with PRIDE OF NATIONS by Rob Zacny
What is it? A Victorian-era, simultaneous turn-based grand strategy game Influenced by Victoria II, Civilization IV: Colonization Play it on Dual-core 3GHz CPU, 4GB RAM, GeForce 8800GT / Radeon HD 3850 Alternatively Europa Universalis III (82%) Copy Protection Online activation
Need to know
The Victorian Era is hard to translate into a strategy game. Imperialist competition places
strategy on a global scale, and
industrialization means
complicated economics. Paradox
France’s turn-based Pride of Nations
meets these challenges and superbly
captures its subject matter with an
insightful take on the era.
Victory in PoN comes down to
prestige—looking like a powerful,
successful nation is more important
than being one. I spent years and a
vast fortune creating a belt of
German colonies from Madagascar
to Samoa. None of it made me
richer or stronger, but it did pay off
in prestige points, and nobody
looks fancy by being pragmatic.
Conquest and colonialism is an
insidious project, starting with
something as innocent as an
anthropological expedition arriving
on the African coast. It slightly
increases “colonial penetration,”
PoN’s measure of how much influ-
ence an imperial power has in a ter-
ritory. As penetration increases,
more aggressive options like bribes
to local chiefs and gunboat diplo-
macy become available, eventually
leading to subjugation. However,
they can also trigger revolts that
require long-distance military cam-
paigns to suppress, so you must be
thoughtful in their use.
Crisis management
PoN’s most exciting element is the
international crisis event. Special
conflicts that can’t be resolved
through normal diplomacy, they
provide opportunities to win prestige, but also for dangerous diplomatic brinksmanship. Playing as
France, I wanted good relations
with Britain, but when a crisis broke
out in the Mediterranean, I realized
I could gain tons more prestige if I
forced them to back down. I chose
an aggressive opening move, mobilizing my army reserves and
trusting that England would bring a
swift end to the crisis in my favor.
Except England had the same idea,
issued an ultimatum at the same
time I mobilized, and suddenly our
posturing triggered a war nobody
wanted. It’s a wonderfully volatile
and perceptive way to show how
imperial competition can quickly
spiral out of control.
Speaking of control, PoN’s
complexity is tough to manage, particularly with the economy. I spent a lot
of time going from my commerce
ledger, to my trade screen, and then
to individual factories in order to
maximize productivity. Making sure
factories have a steady supply of raw
materials is a constant battle.
Loading times are easily the single
worst thing holding PoN back—the
downtime is so bad I keep a book at
my desk when I play. When every-
thing is running smoothly, you
might spend 20 minutes doing
nothing but advancing the game by
10 turns. This is nearly a deal-
breaker, and anyone on the fence
should probably wait and see if this
can be mitigated with patches, but
there are just too many good ideas in
Pride of Nations for its slow move-
ment to completely overshadow its
quality. That I can put up with it at
all is a measure of how good a game
it is, but “saintly patience” should
not be a system requirement. Q
X Price $20 X Release Out now X Publisher Paradox X Developer AGEOD/Paradox France
X Multiplayer 2 players X Link
www.prideofnationsgame.com X ESRB T
