When we tried to play the game slow and build up our forces, we found the longer you go, the harder the fight becomes. If that wasn’t bad enough, the production and aggression rates of enemy AI seem heavily out of balance. The random factor here makes things incredibly frustrating, devolving complex strategy into what mostly amounts to both sides hitting eachother with everything they’ve got until one side wins. Sometimes it ended in with a long fight that saw us on the losing side, sometimes it ended with our forces crushed before they could even clear the first wave of enemy armies, sometimes they’d barely break through and we’d win, and a few times they managed to break the enemy ranks and annihilate them with much of our force intact. On one particular campaign mission, we set up a save and ran a single assault across a bridge several times. Not only is it frustrating to see the soldiers you painstakingly organized break ranks, but once they’re engaged, it’s equal parts a numbers game and random chance on whether or not your men will survive a big conflict. When your armies engage, expect your formations to fall apart almost instantly once they get to the enemy, with almost every close encounter devolving into a free-for-all of hectic murder. The biggest problem with Cossacks 3 lies in AI on both the player and enemy end. Your upgraded 18th Century cavalry is no match for this game's bad AI Unfortunately, when you put it all into practice, it’s as chaotic and uncontrolled as the most brutal No Man’s Land. Again, the set-up is fantastic, allowing the mind to wander on opportunities of strategy that this foundation allows. You can set up your armies and hot key different regiment types for quick mass selection to order attacks, retreats, and counter offensives. Melee are best arranged in columns allowing for rank-breaking assaults, and finally square formation allows for protection of officers and defense against cavalry units that might otherwise break your formation. Gunmen are best arranged in rank, firing at enemies in a line where every shooter has a shot on the targets. You’ll produce regiments of units ranging from the smallest crew of forty up to multiples of that same number, creating massive regiments that can be arranged in formation. Proper mixture of is the basic law of engagement in Cossacks 3 and the set-up is pretty great for what it is in theory and establishment. Invest too much in range and waves of melee fighters will close the distance, which forces ranged units to attempt to retreat before they can fire again. Invest too much in melee and ranged units will pick off your armies leaving the melee to finish you off.
The three different types of cavalry range in strong melee, hit n’ run speed melee, and ranged musketeers on horseback. Still, there’s a distinct difference, strength, and weakness in the abilities of any given nation’s numerous varieties of soldiers. There are more than 70 units in Cossacks 3, but it translates down to similar units varied across different nations. It won't last long.Īs mentioned, the game takes place in 17th Century European provinces, just around when gunpowder is starting to become relevant in conflicts, but swords, spears, and cavalry are still the most common arms of the masses.
The player can forge alliances with or against others as well as challenge the computer.Enjoy this for what it is. Cossacks 3 offers five historic single player-campaigns and up to eight players can fight each other in multiplayer-mode on one map. Besides the battles ashore, players can build an armada and attack their enemies at sea. Twelve nations, 70 different unit types, 100 research opportunities, and over 140 different historical buildings are available to the player. Cossacks 3 provides the player with infinite tactical options, including not only the construction of buildings, the production of raw materials, but also the broad selection of various units and the influence of the landscape. This remake of the classic game, that originally launched in 2000, contains all of the elements that distinguish the successful Cossacks games and combines them with contemporary 3D-graphics. This deep RTS gameplay will return old fans in the golden ages of the genre and give newcomers a unique experience. Game Description: Cossacks 3 is a rare combination of war, economy, army developing, building and upgrading that couldn’t be found in any game for the last 15 years. Game Release Date: USA: September/21/2016