Die Völker
Amazons and Aliens — Alien Nations
What is it?
Somewhere on a planet far away, three entirely different races have to co-exist on a planet: The Pimmons, cuddly cartoon creatures who like to be left alone and drink mushroom liquor; the Amazons, shapely female humanoids who wear G-strings and big funny hats and like to eat chocolate cakes; and the vicious Sajikis, insects who smoke cigarillos made from maggots and like to watch gladiators fight.
Unfortunately, they aren't. Different. They have different graphics and their buildings and units have different names, but that's where it ends. I do get the impression that the Pimmons are less likely to attack you when controlled by the computer, but that's not much of a difference. Regardless of the nation you choose, gameplay will always be the same.
In spite of this the game still has a considerable charm, even if you don't like cuddly cartoon graphics (I don't), but it is marred by unbalanced gameplay and excessive micromanagement.
Die Völker (the English title was at first Amazons and Aliens, then Alien Nations; the sequel is simply called The Nations) was advertised as a mix between city building and RTS, which is actually quite a good description of the game. Setting up your economy and keeping your citizens happy is important, researching and building up your military too. Instead of fighting them, you can try to negotiate peace with the other nations as well, they might become important trade partners. At some point your citizens will demand the luxury goods that have to be imported (only the Pimmons have mushroom liquor, only the Amazons chocolate cakes and only the Sajikis cigarillos).
Unfortunetely, this economy is rather strange. Your only source of money (why must every RTS and every city builder game have money? Enemy Nations is a solitary exception) are the taxes your citizens pay, which are fixed. Everything else costs you. So the only way to raise your income is to increase your population by building more homes (building, fortunately, does not cost money). But the larger the population gets, the more their demands rise, too. Even without a military the only way to keep out of the red is to ignore their wishes, which inevitably leads to low motivation and decaying buildings.
(Theoretically, trade should be your second, more important income. But I have not been able to set up trade with another nation yet, in most cases I was not even able to establish the peace necessary for this. Diplomacy is rather strange, too. The reactions to your offers seem to be completely random. Sometimes your offer is refuted, while a foreign emissary is already on her way to your embassy with exactly the same offer.)
And the larger your population gets, the more the micromanagement sets in. You constantly have to tell those little creatures what to do. This makes it extremely difficult to set up a working food supply, especially since there is no real agriculture. Food is acquired either by common workers harvesting bushes, or by hunters. Neither cost you. But the workers are needed for building, too, and that has higher priority. Set up a site and they will let the bushes be bushes and flock around your townhall for wood and stone, usually creating a traffic jam.
The hunters are a bit better, once you tell them to hunt they will continue hunting till they don't see any animals, which is usually pretty soon. They are not able to scout on their own. The same goes for wood cutters and stone masons. They have a very limited range of perception.
It would be unfair not to mention that there were many details about this game that I liked. After playing many of Impressions' City Builder Series games, I hugely enjoyed having no roads at all. No, there is no road tool in this game! But if a lot of your Pimmons, Amazons or Sajikis walk the same way, there will be something like a road, the appearance of the ground changes.
But on the whole, the flaws outweigh the assets. Which is really a pity, for this is a charming game with some original aspects.
First and foremost The Settlers III, which was probably the main inspiration for this game. The inspiration was mutual: in 1999, an add-on brought Amazons to the world of The Settlers. Warcraft II has similarily cuddly graphics, though of course older and simpler, and it leans more towards combat. Impressions' City Builder Games have a more detailed economy and less emphasis on combat, and on the whole a more serious tone (except, maybe, Zeus). Street Wars has a completely different setting, but the same cartoony style and more build-up than combat.
