Etherlords II

Etherlords II
Come back to the World of the Lords in thefantastic sequel, Etherlords 2. New realms offer fantastic possibilities in this exciting mix of role-playing and tactical, turn-based combat found in the great traditions of fantasy trading card games.

The saga continues! Etherlords II takes you back to the world of Ether and into a whole new realm of fantastic possibilities. Lead your hero on an unforgettable journey through lands filled with unsurpassed beauty and danger to unlock the ultimate mystery.

Etherlords II is an exciting mix of role-play and tactical turn-based combat in the best traditions of fantasy trading card games.

Gameplay

Gameplay in Etherlords II can be divided into two parts: Strategic and Tactical. The strategic mode of the game will be radically altered from the gameplay in the first Etherlords and you will be able to find more information about this here as it becomes available. Your tactical goal will remain largely unchanged, your hero's victory over all enemies!

Tactical play

Your objective during combats is to beat the opposition. Your only weapon in the world of Etherlords is magic, and your hero's army will consist of «monsters» — creatures whom your heroes can summon using spells. Monsters can attack opposing heroes and repel their attacks, taking the damage intended for your hero. Part of the damage which your charges have not been able to absorb can affect your hero, and finally this may cause his death. Also, heroes can cast spells directly harming the opposing hero, and spells affecting the outcome of the combat in various ways.

Combats in the game proceed step by step; i.e. the game time is divided into stretches traditionally called moves. At the beginning of each move your hero will have one or more spells randomly taken from his Book of Spells. During the move the hero can use one or more spells out of the available ones. Casting a spell, the hero spends a certain amount of magic energy; note that the total amount of energy available for one move is limited. At the beginning of the next move, one or more new spells from the hero's Book of Spells will be added to the spells remaining from the previous move (unused).

Using magic, the hero can summon creatures, engage in sorcery, cast charms.

The hero can only summon creatures intrinsic to his race. There are more than 120 monsters in the game, each of whom has a unique appearance. Each creature has two properties defining the strength of its attack and ability to withstand opposition's attacks or spells (attack and defence parameters). Also, most of the monsters have certain unique abilities. When a creature is summoned to battlefield, it will not be ready to attack or use its unique abilities during the current move. However, during the opposition's move it will be able to protect the hero who summoned it, by blocking attack of one of the opposing creatures or by using its unique ability. The creature will only be able to attack after its master's turn to make move comes.

If while making his move the hero sent his creature to attack or used its unique ability, the creature will not be able to contribute any further until the next move by its master. This means that during the next opposition's move the creature which has just attacked cannot be used for protection. To the contrary, a creature which has been used for protection from enemy monster will be ready to fight immediately after its master has the move. During the opposition's move you'll have to choose one or more creatures out of those summoned by your hero to repel attack by one of the enemy monsters. If your hero does not have enough creatures to fight off all enemy attacks, the remaining enemy monsters will be able to harm your hero.

If the defence parameter of the creature fighting off an enemy attack happens to be lower than the attack parameter of the offending monster, the defending creature will die, or, rather, go to so called «tomb». However, this does not mean that the creature is out of the game for good. Creatures in the tomb can affect the outcome of the combat and even come back. To ensure that the creature does not come back until the end of the combat, a special spell is needed.

Charms are spells which work for a certain period of time. Charms allow hero to strengthen their creatures or to weaken enemy creatures. Thanks to these spells your hero can obtain different advantages for the whole time of combat, and even change the rules in his favour. However, charms can be dispelled by using unique abilities of certain creatures or special spells.

Sorcery is casting spells which have immediate effect. They have huge number of uses: for example, with their help hero can destroy enemy creatures, cause damage to enemy hero, increase the amount of available magic energy and much, much more.

With every move, the amount of magic energy available to the hero increases. The higher the hero's level, the more magic energy he gets at the beginning of each next move. Accordingly, the hero will be able to summon the strongest creatures, which usually demands a large amount of magic energy at earlier stages of combat. However, having stronger spells is not the only way to win. Your hero's success will depend on how well the spells in his magic book mix together. Correctly selected spells can seriously strengthen each other and ensure the most profitable and efficient combat tactics. Usually a hero can only summon those creatures that are related to their own race. There exist in Etherlords IIspells that will be available to the heroes of any race, as well as heroes that can fight using magic from all four races. In the game there are over 140 monsters...

Key Features

  • Five campaigns covering a magnificent 3D fantasy world
  • Hundreds of spells and creatures combine to create nearly unlimited tactical possibilities
  • New monsters and magic that can be used by any of the four races
  • Enhance your Hero’s skills throughout each campaign with new spells, creatures and abilities.
  • Boats, tunnels and transporters let you explore every corner of the Etherworld
  • Non-linear missions with multiple paths to completion
  • Thorough tutorial system to help you learn basic and advanced dueling tactics

Customize

  • Constructor lets you create your own artifacts

Multiplayer

  • Auto-rating server for duels and tournaments
  • New modes for one-on-one and team based duels for up to 8 players
  • Ability to record and play back duels

System requirements

  • PC, Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, DirectX 7.0 or higher
  • Pentium III 1.0 GHz
  • 256 MB RAM
  • AGP 3D accelerator, 32 MB onboard video RAM
  • CD-ROM
  • 2 GB of free hard drive space