Pride of Nations

it's great

If you're thinking about buying Pride of Nations, just be aware that it is not for the casual strategy gamer. Pride of Nations is complex, with a steep learning curve, and requires a lot of patience. Sure, turns can take a while to process and the map scrolls a bit slowly if you're running high resolutions. But for those who stick with it, no other game comes close to matching its scope, detail, and historical accuracy. I own a large collection of grand strategy games, but Pride of Nations is easily my all-time favorite.

A highly complex and flawed gem of a grand strategy game. It being an AGEOD game it almost plays like a boardgame, with the computer taking care of all of the under the hood computations. Do I recommend this? Yes, but... - You really need to have a lot of patience. - You need to be interested in history. - Be ready to figure out everything by yourself. - Be prepared to sink your teeth in a hardcore, complex game. Just by reading the above, most people will have decided not to play this game. Yet you're still reading this, so congratulations and let me explain why this is such a good game. In the grand campaign you get to play through seventy years of world history split up into two week turns (15 actually), which amounts to 1680 turns! Colonialism, industrialisation, the forming of nation states, the birth of modern armies and much more is present in this game. There is simply no game with this broad of a scope and timeframe that somehow goes into all of these 'details'. The game gives you a lot of options and freedom to build up your nation. You could focus on gaining colonies and remaining mostly neutral in the messy wars in Europe. You could also bolster the economy of your homeland, export your comodities and become an economic juggernaut. You can also go the diplomatic way and navigate the precarious web of treaties. Or you can wield your armies and invade friend and foe. Ultimately you'll probably mix it up and do a bit of everything, but depending on your nations' situation some of the above might not be advisable or even possible. Though maybe a bit dated looking by todays standards I find the map appealing, the UI apropriately styled and the army and unit counters are nice to look at. The different units give a lot of character to the game, as each unit has a picture showing their distinctive uniforms or military material. Every nation has its own unitforms and depending on what parts of the world you control you get different units. You have your standard units, but specific units like the Gurka's, French Foreign Legion, Cossacks, and many more are also present. And to top it off, all these units' appearance and performance change throughout the years. Now one thing that almost kills this game: the loading times... my god the loading times. I bought the game just about when it came out ten years ago. Back then it actually took multiple minutes of waiting in between turns, as the computer calculates basically every decision of every nation and every move of every unit acros all of the world. This would only become worse once you progressed through the game, as so many things started happening at once and these all needed to be computed. It led me to give up on the game and it lay dormant for many years in my library. I always knew this game had potential, so recently I gave it another shot. By now the load times are manageable, but still kind of long. Sometimes up to a minute in between turns. Lastly the game is difficult and the UI, though I like the aesthetic, doesn't help. It being an old niche game means the community is almost none existant, so getting questions answered in forums is not going to be easy. To the manual then, which is decent, but also left me with some unanswered questions. So basically you've got to learn the game by yourself, by playing it and really sinking your teeth in it. Luckily there are just about 1680 turns to get it right! In the end Pride of Nations is a game that must be played like the way you would savour a good whiskey. Take your time, let all of its different aspects slowly seep in and enjoy the moment.

As with the rest of this series from AGEOD, the learning curve for this game is rather steep, particularly as this is a detailed economic as well as military simulation, but it is well worth the time investment. The simulation of the time period is well-done and evocative, the AI is a credible opponent, and I particularly like the lovely board game-like unit cards and artwork. The UI definitely takes some getting used to, but I already understood the military, logistical, and events systems from playing To End All Wars, so for me it was really just a matter of learning the economic and political aspects. This is a deep and complex game and isn't for everyone, but if you're looking for a deep simulation of the 1850-1920 period, this is a very solid title, and one which I believe deserves an eventual sequel on AGEOD's new engine.

Thought it would be a great game. Unfortunately, every 5-6 turns it needs to be restarted and the time it needs to go to the next turn is way longer than playing itself. Interface is really hard to use, using left mouse only results in returning problems with switching between modes. Moreover, it's really hard to click on the right stuff sometimes (in diplomacy or with fleets in ports). Units symbols are too huge for the map, so the icons of land units can be found in other provinces or even in the middle of the sea (and the player is forced to check the unit position every single time). The game has loads of indicators, but plenty of them are useless, as player has no influence on them. There's a whole research tree, but there's barely nothing you can do with it but scrolling a looong list of items. I tried to play the great campaign (since 1850), and had to give up in ~1866. Finishing the campaing will take me a year of constant playing. It's a pity, as the game is based on a great idea, but it is overcomplicated for itself. I'd gladly return to the game, but it has to be fixed first.

Its becoming my favorite of the series.