The Settlers II is a real-time strategy computer game, released by Blue Byte Software in 1996. Its gameplay is very similar to that of its predecessor, The Settlers, albeit with a Roman theme and improved graphics.

Many fans of the franchise consider this the best game of the Settlers series, primarily because future installments changed the transport management aspect considerably. This popularity was recently acknowledged by Blue Byte's decisions to publish a remake of the game, The Settlers II 10th Anniversary for the PC, and a port to the Nintendo DS more than a decade after the original release.

Gameplay

Settlers II can be played in either campaign mode or through individual scenarios defined by the user. The user can also engage in a split screen match with a human opponent on the same computer with a second mouse. The player's main objectives are building a diverse economy and conquering every computer opponent. The player begins each map with a warehouse and a set amount of materials and tools. The economy is driven by serfs who transport goods through a network of roads and also populate a building once its completed, if the necessary tool to perform the building task is present in the warehouse. The economy is based on gathering raw materials which include food, rock, lumber, and ores. The player has control over what percent of a materials is transported to each building for processing. All raw materials are used to enable different economic functions such as food enables miners to mine, rock and lumber are used as material to construct buildings and other tasks while different ores are used to construct tools and war material.

The player has a limited territory (area of land) upon which he can construct buildings and roads. During the start of the game, the main warehouse is the main building granting territory around a specific radius. Territory can be expanded by creating one of four military complexes (Barracks, Guardhouse, Watchtower and Fortress) near the present territory border. Each complex must have at least one soldier garrisoned to receive the added territory bonus. Soldiers can be created by manufacturing a sword and shield, and using them to upgrade a serf. One "unit" of beer is also required to upgrade a serf to a soldier. Gold coins can also be added to raise the rank of a soldier making him stronger in combat. The player can send any amount of available soldiers to an enemy military complex where the soldier(s) must defeat all enemy soldiers housed in the building. If the player's units defeats all housed soldiers then the military complex is taken over by the player with the accompanying territory of the buildings radius.

The catapult can only attack an enemy's military buildings, such as Fortress, Watch tower, Guard house, or Barracks. As long as stones are supplied, the catapult will fire automatically. The possibility of a successful attack is about 2/3.

The player wins the scenarios once he defeats all opponents by occupying all their military complexes including the main warehouse or, in campaign mode, when he gains control of a specific area of the map that allows access to the next level. At this point, the game gives an option to either quit the game or continue playing even though all opponents are destroyed.

House	Materials	Input	Output	Worker	Tool
Woodcutter	2*board		wood	Woodcutter	Axe
Forester	2*board		tree	Forester	Shovel
Quarry	2*board		stone	Stonemasson	Pick-Axe
Fishery	2*board		fish	Fisher	Rod and Line
Hunter	2*board		ham	Hunter	Bow
Barracks	2*board	2*soldier, 1*coin	training	Soldier	Sword and Shield
Guardhouse	2*board, 3*stone	3*soldier, 2*coin	training	Soldier	Sword and Shield
Lookout Tower	4*board		view	Scout
Well	2*board		water	Worker
Sawmill	2*board, 2*stone	6*wood	board	Carpenter	Saw
Slaughterhouse	2*board, 2*stone	6*meat	ham	Butcher	Cleaver
Mill	2*board, 2*stone	6*grain	flour	Miller
Bakery	2*board, 2*stone	6*flour, 6*water	bread	Baker	Rollin Pin
Iron Smelter	2*board, 2*stone	6*iron ore, 6*coal	iron	Iron Founder	Crucible
Metalworks	2*board, 2*stone	6*iron, 6*board	tool	Metalworker	Tongs
Armory	2*board, 2*stone	6*iron, 6*coal	sword, shield	Armorer	Hammer
Mint	2*board, 2*stone	6*gold, 6*coal	coin	Minter	Crucible
Shipyard	2*board, 3*stone	6*board	ship/boat	Shipwright	Hammer
Brewery	2*board, 2*stone	6*grain, 6*water	beer	Brewer
Storehouse	4*board, 3*stone		store, recruit	Worker
Watchtower	3*board, 5*stone	6*soldier, 4*coin	training	Soldier	Sword and Shield
Catapult	4*board, 1*stone	4*stone	missile	Worker
Farm	3*board, 3*stone		grain	Farmer	Scythe
Pig Farm	3*board, 3*stone	6*grain, 6*water	meat	Pig Breeder
Donkey Breeder	3*board, 3*stone	6*grain, 6*water	Pack Donkey	Donkey Breeder
Harbor Building	4*board, 6*stone		store, recruit, harbor	Worker
Fortress	4*board, 7*stone	9*soldier, 6*coin	training	Soldier	Sword and Shield
Gold Mine	4*board	2*fish/2*bread/2*ham	gold	Miner	Pick-axe
Iron Mine	4*board	2*fish/2*bread/2*ham	iron ore	Miner	Pick-axe
Coal Mine	4*board	2*fish/2*bread/2*ham	coal	Miner	Pick-axe
Granite mine	4*board	2*fish/2*bread/2*ham	stone	Miner	Pick-axe

Data sheets

Material requirements for construction

Building	Planks	Stones
Headquarters	0	0
Hunter	2	0
Fishery	2	0
Quarry	2	0
Forester	2	0
Woodcutter	2	0
Well	2	0
Sawmill	2	2
Slaughterhouse	2	2
Mill	2	2
Bakery	2	2
Mint	2	2
Armory	2	2
Metalworks	2	2
Iron Smelter	2	2
Shipyard	2	3
Farm	3	3
Pig Farm	3	3
Donkey Breeder	3	3
Storehouse	4	3
Mine (any)	4	0
Harbor building	4	6
Lookout Tower	3	0
Catapult	4	2
Barracks	2	0
Guard House	2	3
Watch Tower	3	4
Fortress	4	7

Occupancy radius of territory

Name	Size (hex)
Fortress	10
Watch tower	9
Guard house	8
Barracks	7
Headquarter	8
Harbor building	3

Working radius of buildings

Name	Size (hex)
Hunter	24
Catapult	12
Quarry	8
Woodcutter	6
Mine (any)	2

Tools made by fans

The game has inspired a lot of fans to create their own modifications, additions and tools for the game. Over the time a lot of these tools have disappeared from the Internet, but some do still remain.

Map generators

There are two known map generators available.

• Landschaftsgenerator 2.5 by André Franke, able to create decent maps that can be played directly without any major modifications by the user. A newer version 2.7 is offered by Isch and Ivans Settlers II site
• The Settlers II Map Generator by Vesa Piittinen. It gives a base for creating your own maps by generating shape and giving ground variety.

Both of the map generators do not provide all the required information in the resulting files, which results the map seem "flat" in the map window when loading the map into the game. This problem can be solved by using The Settlers II Map Editor to resave the map (this tool is provided with the Gold Edition and Mission CD releases of the game).

Translation tools

There is one known translation tool available, the Ingame Strings Editor by Vesa Piittinen.

Object editor

Jörg Scholl has created Object editor. The version available requires registration, but the author has provided registration code for free use as stated by Isch and Ivans Settlers II site The tool can be used to place objects into maps and to create your own campaigns. It is only available in German.

Other tools

Jürgen Nagel Software provides several useful tools for modifying the game, however all of the programs are commercial. All of the programs are only available in German.

Similar games

Besides useful tools for The Settlers II, some fans even created their own game based upon its idea.

• A German group of fans is working on a free crossplattform rebuild, which uses the original game data and adds the ability to play over network and internet. The project is called "[/ The Settlers II.5 - Return to the roots]".
• Widelands is a completely free opensource game, which gameplay and look resembles the one of The Settlers II.

Notes

External Links

• The Settlers II (Gold Edition) at Moby Games