The Ancient Art of War
Description official descriptions
The Ancient Art of War is a real-time strategy game based on the very basic elements of war: unit types, formation, and strength. The game is set in ancient battle-style times before the use of gun powder, consisting of the three basic unit types of that period: the light armored but fast 'barbarians', the heavily armored but slow 'knights', and the ranged 'archers'. A fourth non-combatant unit type is also available: 'spies', which is only available under certain campaign rule settings.
The game consists of different scenarios to choose from, each with a different geographical setting, difficulty setting, visibility setting, and victory condition setting. Some settings may be subject to change by the player.
Gameplay is represented in two major areas: * The first is the tactical/political map, which visualizes geographical and terrain elements from a top-down perspective. Here the player can coordinate, position, reinforce troops, and also command them to attack, defend or ambush enemy troops in a real-time setting. Time may be set to pause, faster or slower to make battle plans easier.
- The second is the combat screen where one group of soldiers fight another group of the enemy. A squad consisting a maximum of 14 soldiers will fight according to their set battle formation and will act only on the player's real-time battle commands (e.g. attack, forward, retreat, etc.).
The difficulty levels are represented by eight opponents, which include the Greek goddess of war Athena, a stereotypical Russian-Soviet commander named Crazy Ivan, as well as the historical characters Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Geronimo, and Sun Tzu as the hardest opponent. Each opponent has a different fighting style of combat and strategy.
The game also comes with a construction set which allows the player to create own campaigns: From the story, rules to the map editor. In this game editor, the player can also tweak troops to the player's liking, such as default troop formations.
Groups +
Screenshots
Credits (DOS version)
6 People (3 developers, 3 thanks)
| Programming | |
| Documentation | |
| Special thanks to |
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Reviews
Critics
Average score: 72% (based on 2 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 46 ratings with 8 reviews)
Simplistic, yet Universal...a real tribute to the original.
The Good
Loved designing the maps.....god I have some wierd ones.
The Bad
The battle scenes just develop too fast. Even with a finger on every hotkey, one barely has the time issue more than two or three orders before everyone is dead.
The Bottom Line
I discovered this jewel late in my gaming life, after much time invested in the more complex war titles. It is still very playable. The map and senario editor are lacking in many recent games.
DOS · by Menschenfresser (1) · 2000
The Good
I would play this game for hours... It had multiple levels of gameplay, allowing for troop position, or formation, prior to battle etc. Then battle commencement was fought out with nervous tension. It didn't have plot, as such, but certain strategies were epic. Also, at my age it had the aura of actual history, which inspired me in no small part to be the student of history I am today. It is one of my happiest memories. Which is cheezy. yes..8)
The Bad
Spies were almost worthless. Um...If I recall the bit music would get a bit grinding as well.
The Bottom Line
good, I was hoping whoever owns the rights would have released them by now to open source... would be fun as flash.
DOS · by solum ARC (1) · 2010
Take Sun Tzu out for Chop Suey
The Good
Ever want to Kong-Pao Sun Tzu? The Ancient Art of War is a fun way to go about it. Simple game, easy to learn, and lots of fun! Remember to pick up (or beat up) Ghanghis Khan, Napoleon, et al along the way before tackling the master of the art of war himself.
The Bad
Should've made the Sun Tzu AI much harder. Still, it feels good to beat Sun Tzu (or his picture, anyway) at what he is known for.
The Bottom Line
The best game of its genre until Warcraft II came along 10 years later.
DOS · by Yeah Right (50) · 2000
Trivia
Archers
Probably an unintentional bug, but Archers by default can only kill other blokes via ranged combat and are completely useless in melee combat. However, Archers can kill enemies in "melee" combat. At least, unintentionally.
If you send (march) your archers backward and forward in combat, sometimes (and rarely) the enemies may die when they bump into each other. This works even more so if your Archers have "good/high condition" compared to the enemies. Apparently the Archers can clobber them with the bows...
Characters
- ATHENA is worshipped for her wisdom as well as her warrior skills.
- ALEXANDER THE GREAT keeps good food lines but weak when not on the plains.
- GERONIMO uses hit and run tactics but doesn't like to be caught in the open.
- CRAZY IVAN isn't a great leader but he has a good sense of humor.
- CAESAR is a tactical genius but does not always protect his conquests.
- GENGHIS KHAN and SUBOTAI use surprise and speed to become nearly invincible.
- NAPOLEON BONAPARTE makes precise plans but can underestimate his enemy.
- SUN TZU understands every aspect of war and uses it to his own advantage.
Development
Game Designers Dave and Barry Murray, Olympia, WA (from the 1988 Broderbund Software catalog):
We wanted to do a war game based on real tactics and strategies. So we did a ton of research and found Sun Tzu's book. It was written 2500 years ago -- Genghis Khan and Napoleon studied it. Usually, people think the way to win is to destroy the enemy. Not so. Actually, the winning strategy is to get the enemy in a position to surrender. We worked 16 and 17 hours a day out in the woods in Washington...but it's all paid off. We get phone calls and letters every day from players. They're incredibly loyal and involved.
MCGA version
An MCGA version of Ancient Art of War was released sometime around 1987 or 1988. I have played this version, and it appears to have 16 colors, but with a custom MCGA palette.
Origin
The game is based on the The Art of War (Bingfa or Ping Fa in Chinese), the first military treatise ever, written by ancient Chinese warrior philosopher Sun Zi (Sun Tzu) in nearly 5th century B.C. The quotes from it, as well as Sun Tzu himself, appear during gameplay.
Information also contributed by Indra was here, PCGamer77 and POMAH
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Related Sites +
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the ancient art of war fan page
a fan page for the ancient art of war
Identifiers +
- MobyGames ID: 23
- Wikipedia (en)
Contribute
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Trixter.
Amstrad CPC added by Jean-Paul Mari. Apple II added by PCGamer77. Amiga added by Scaryfun. PC-98, PC-88 added by Unicorn Lynx. Atari ST added by Orfikus. Macintosh added by Garcia.
Additional contributors: john lahmy, Pseudo_Intellectual, Patrick Bregger.
Game added March 1st, 1999. Last modified August 13th, 2023.