The Golden Horde is a historical RTS based on real events that took place at the beginning of XII century. Those were the times of mighty warriors and military leaders whose power and daring instilled courage in common soldiers. The goal of the project is to create a RTS game with the background of Europe at the beginning of XII century, using the special features of the AWE Engine (powering “Ancient Wars: Sparta”). The title should be interesting to a wide range of gamers because of the unique historical setting, a number of special features and realistic graphics and physics never before seen in any similar project.
The gameplay is based on the use of heroes. They significantly strengthen the troops, have special skills, can progress through the course of the game in many directions, and can be armed with different weapons. The heroes have real historical prototypes, like Hermann von Salza (Grandmaster of Teutonic order), Batu Khan (grandson of Genghis Khan), Alexander Nevsky (ruler of Great Novgorod) and many others. The setting of the game is truly original, based on the events which happened in eastern and central Europe during the Mongol invasion.
The combat system of the game will be very special, allowing the use of the captured weapons, war animals and engines, as well as equipment. Thus it will be possible to build horse archers for Crusaders, and to give gunpowder to Russian infantry.
Storyline will be non-linear, allowing the completion of the game in several different ways. Those will include the conversion of the Mongol hordes to Christianity, bringing the steppe warriors to the shores of Adriatic sea and forging of the united Russian empire some 300 years ago before it happened historically.
* Three totally different races. The Crusaders, the Mongols and the Russians. They are entirely different in means of development, in construction of buildings and in training of units. The Knights have heavily armored troops and great siege engines, the Mongol riders are fast and maneuverable, whereas the Russians are adepts of using weather and nature to aid their cause.
* Each race has a large number of heroes with unique appearance and abilities.
* Enemy weapons can be collected after battle and used to equip your own warriors. The same can be done with horses, siege engines and so on.
* Maps are quite big and filled with neutral settlements, which allows wide possibilities for diplomacy, proselytism and even slave trade.
* Enemy units can be persuaded to switch their side, either by the use of gold or faith.
* Season, weather conditions and landscape will play a big role in the game, which could help a weaker side to defeat a much stronger enemy.
* Besides traditional seas and lakes, there will be rivers and swamps, adding a new dimension to the battlefield tactics.
* Large number of traps will be available, as well as multiple ways to use them. Those will include the use of explosives and fire against enemy fortifications.
* The game s powerful modern technologies (Chrome, Bump mappings, Specular, Shadow map). A physical model is a distinctive element of the gameplay – buildings, walls, trees etc. are governed by true-to-life physics. So a forest fire can destroy a big troop, and falling walls crush and bury siege towers.
