But since Rome Total War is pretty much just that, and is not half bad, that's already covered. Even so, after a while all the battles are the same, and the only change you can introduce is increasing the difficulty level. So don't expect Centurion to keep you entertained for days. Still it's good to have some quick fun without getting stuck in. Centurion: Defender of Rome - Manual The year is 275 B.C. Through conquest and careful diplomacy, the Roman republic has brought the petty kingdoms and city-states of Italia under its control. This is the moment at which the heirs of Romulus and Remus step onto the world stage. Preggie pops ginger.

Centurion: Defender of Rome - Manual The year is 275 B.C. Through conquest and careful diplomacy, the Romanrepublic has brought the petty kingdoms and city-states of Italia under itscontrol.

This is the moment at which the heirs of Romulus and Remus steponto the world stage. This is the humble beginning of an empire that willone day cover most of Europe, Asia Minor, and North Africa.As an ambitious young officer, you duty is to defend Rome.

Your hope is tobecome Caesar. Your fate - to rule the world.USING THIS MANUALBecause key commands and controlling devices vary with computer models, thismanual was written as a general guide to Centurion. In it you'll find agame overview, descriptions of the features, and historical notes. Forloading instructions, keyboard commands, and other information specific toyour computer, see the COmmand Summary Card included in the package.In this manual, 'select' means moving the arrow cursor to an item andactivating it by pressing an action button.

See selecting items on theCommand Summary Card for the action button on your computer.WHAT'S IN CENTURIONItalia - The Beginning of an Empire:When the game begins you only control the province of Italia. Thelegionnaire standing in Italia marks the single legion you command. To goto Rome, you must enter the province of Italia. See Entering Provinces onthe Command Summary Card.Rome Sweet Rome: You start at the rank of Officer. At this rank, you can'traise more legions or build fleets. And there's little you can do with theTwenty talents in the treasury.

The good news is that you can raise yourrank and increase your wealth by adding - and holding onto - provinces. SeeRuling Roman Provinces for details.Form Alliances: Winning Allies with the tongue is less constly thansubduing them with the sword. When you first move your legion into aprovince, you can try to negotiate alliances with your neighbors. SeeNegotiating Alliances for details on diplomacy and alliances.Civilize through Conquest: If the barbarians ignore your diplomats, theymay listen to the legion you brought with you. When you go to war, youchoose a formation and a tactic, and then start the fight. During thebattle, you can stop the action and direct individual units or cohorts.

Seelegeion specifications and land battle for details on legions, formations,and tactics.Fight Marauding Scum: Rome has no lack of enemies. Barbarian tribes fromthe north invade Italia looking for easy plunder. From the south, citieslike Carthago send out organized armies in hope of stemming Rome's rise topower.

As a soldier, you're obligated to protect ROme and her allies fromforeign attack. See Marauding Armies.Smash Enemy Fleets: Once you're high enough rank and you have enough moneymyou can build fleets to move legions overseas and fight foreign navies. SeeSea Battles.Race the famous Circus Maximus: With enough talents you can participate inchariot races in Rome.

Winning can earn you more talents and improve yourreputation. Watch out for agressive opponents and hairpin turns.

SeeChariot Races.Spill Blood in teh Colosseum: As a juvenal put it, the masses earn for 2things - 'bread and circuses.' Without a doubt, the masses are happier whenthey're entertained, and the blood that flows during gladitorial events isguranteed to increase your popularity. See Gladitorial Shows.QUICKSTART TO CENTURIONYour goal in Centurion is to rule the world and keep the people happy.While there is no single way to conquer the world, you may want to start byoccupying the Alpes.1. Select Italia I.2. Select Ultimatum.

If they won't negotiate further, select Go To War.3. Select Balanced Army.4. Select Frontal Assault.

The battle begins immediately, so you shouldpause the battle in order to get your bearings - See Directing IndividualUnits on the Command Summary Card.5. Direct Individual Units.

With the game paused, you can give orders toyour units. Go ahead and experiment. Try to use some of the tacticsdescribed under Scipio's Battle Notes.6. Once the battle ends, select next turn from the Map. A year will passand you can strengthen your legion, move it into another province, orhold a chariot race. Every year check to see if you have gone up in rank- the higher your rank, the more legions you can have.

And watch out formarauding armies!MAPThe Game Turn: The game progresses in single year increments or turns. Theturn limits the actions you can take in a year.

For example, you can moveor strenghten an individual legion only once per turn. Fleets can be movedonly once per turn, too. To go to the next turn, select End Turn from theMap.Game Control Menu: From the game control menu you can load or save games,start new games, adjust the difficulty level, or quit to DOS. Select anoption from the menu:Save Game - Save you current progress in the game. You can save up to ninegames. Select the number you want to designate as your current game. Note:You can't delete saved games, but you can save a game over an old one.Load Game - Load a previously saved game.

Select the game you want tocontinue (1-9).New Game - Begin a New GameAbout Centurion - Game CreditsDifficulty Levels - Adjust the difficulty level of your current game.Difficulty levels range from Galley Slave (EASY) to Emperor (HARD). You canselect fine tuning to raise or lower the difficulty level of a particularfeature - Land Battle, Racing Chariots, Gladitorial COmbat, and Navalbattle.Quit to Dos - Quit your current game. Be sure to save your current gamebefore quitting, if you want to continue it later.Continue Playing - Return to the game.RANKYou begin at the rank of officer. As you climb in rank, you can commandmore legions and the senate grants you new powers.Rank Legions Fleets New Powers-Officer 1 0 -Centurion 2 0 -Tribune 3 1 Command Cavalry, Legions, FLeetsLegatus 4 1 -General 6 2 -Praetor 8 2 -Consul 10 3 Command Consular ArmiesProconsul 12 3 -Caesar 12 3 -Increasing Rank: In Rome, your reputation determines your success.

Yourrank in the military depends on deeds and acts that distinguish you from therest of the Roman nobility. As your social status increases, you'll recievepromotions. Doing any of the following increases your social Status:Adding Provinces - Adding provinces (through conquest or negotiation)increases your status. Adding provinces that are rich in rescources -Aegyptus, Carthago, Macedonia, Parthia, or Gaul - brings more honors thanadding poorer provinces.Strengthening Treaties - Your reputation as a trustworthy administrator alsoaffects your status. Every time an alliance is strengthened your reputationimproves.Winning Chariot Races - Backing the Right Horse makes you look good. Whenyour team wins a race, you win the people's admiration.Building an Amphitheater - All levels of Roman society benefit from anamphitheater. This is a good way to win popular support.Holding Gladiator Events - Lavish spectacles can increase your popularity,but only when you fairly judge who should live and who should die.Maintaining Rome's Honor - It's your duty to uphold Rome's reputation as astrong power, reliable ally, and fair administrator.

Rome's honor istarnished whenever the people revolt. Plundering a province also tarnishesthe honor of the empire.Losing Social Status: Your reputation suffers whenever you lose a battle,fail at a game, weaken an alliance, or fail to protect an ally from foreignattack. But though your social status can weaken, you can never be demotedto a lower rank.Becoming Caesar: Conquering all the provinces in the world is not enough toacheive the ultimate rank as Casear - after all, Roman emperors wereworshipped as gods. To become Caesar you must also win the respect and loveof the people by sponsering games and races, strengthening alliances, andmaintaning Rome's Honor.RULING ROMAN PROVINCESOnce your in a Roman Province, you can direct legions in the area, set thetribute the province pays, build fleets, and hold games. If you'redesperate for money and you dont care about your reputation you can plunderyour provinces too.Morale: In Roman Provinces, the morale of the inhabitants depends on howmuch you demand from them - both in tributes and in manpower. The moretributes and soldiers you take from the province, the less content peoplewill be to roman rule. Of course, provinces that enjoy a good alliance withRome are more willing to give up talents and manpower - for example, yourdemands will have a smaller effect on the morale of allies.

The honor ofRome also affects the morale of every province. If Rome's honor istarnished because you let your army plunder every province it occupies, themorale of all of your subjects could plummet.

The morale of the people canbe Rebellious, Angry, Restless, or Content. A rebellious morale may be thesign that a province will soon revolt.Alliances: The Romans used a sort of graded system of punishment and rewardto rule the provinces of their empire. Roman citizenship, which measured apeople's rights under Roman law, was the greatest reward. It was a highlycoveted status and was granted only to deserving allies. In Centurion, analliance is formed whenever you add a province to the empire. There arefour kinds of alliances: Occupied, Colony, Ally, and Citizens.

An allianceautomatically improves over time providing the people's morale remains good.Manpower: Each province generates men that are obligated under Roman law toserve in the army. The manpower of a province is the current number ofrecruitable men in the area. The rate at wich manpower increases depends onthe population of the province.Courage: The courage shown on a province screen is the general courage ofthe soldiers in the area. Soldiers in a province can have Fierce, Good,Weak, or Panicky courage.

See Legion Specifications for details on theeffects of people's courage.THE MENUSLegions: Select legions to get the following options.Raise Legion - Form a new Legion. Select raise legion, then select the typeof legion you want to form. You cannot raise a legion without the necessarynumber of talents. The number of soldiers you recruit depends on themanpower available to you in the province.

In addition, there are minimumranks at wich you can raise cavalry legions and consular armies (see Rankfor details).Strengthen Legion - Recruit soldiers to strengthen a legion. If there ismoe than one legion in a province, you must select wich legion you want tostrengthen. Strengthening a legion requires talents.

The cost isproportionate to raising a legion. For example lets say 20% of yourinfantry legion (840 soldiers) was lost in battle.

To strengthen the legionback to its maximum, you'd pay 20% of the cost of raising an entirely newlegion (.2 x 20 talents = 4 talents). However, the number of soldiers youactually recruit may be limited by the manpower of the province.Move Legion - Move a legion. If there is more than one legion in aprovince, you must select wich legion you want to move. When the mapappears, select the province or fleet you want the legion to move into.Upgrade Legion - Upgrade an infantry legion to a cavaltry legion, or acavalry legion to a consular army. See Legion Specifications for details ondifferent kinds of legions.Legion List - List all the legions in the empire and their current statusand locations.Continue - Return to the main menu.Plunder: To plunder a province of all its wealth, select Plunder. When thebox appears select Yes to confirm your order or select No if you changedyour mind.

A Roman legion must be in the province you want to plunder.While plundering is a good way to fill up your coffers, the people you justrobbed dont appreciate it. And once other countries witness RomanExploitation, they may be less willing to roll the welcome MATT when yourdiplomats come knocking. You can only plunder a province once. Note: Youcan not plunder Italia.Tribute: Each province must pay a tribute for the order and protection Romegraciously provides. Select Tribute, then select the level of taxation.See tributes and tribute policy for details on exacting tributes. If youdon't want to change the tribute level, select continue to return to themain menu.Hold Games: Select Hold Games, then select with games you want to hold. Inthe provinces you can pay for games to keep the locals happy; in Rome youcan actually participate in chariot racing and gladiator shows.

If youdon't want to hold a game select continue to return to the main menu. (Seechariot racing and gladiator shows)Build Fleet: You can build a fleet in any province with access to a sea.If a province is not on the sea this option will appear red and cannot beselected. Select build fleet and select the kind of ship you want to build(see Ships for details about different ships). When the box appears selectthe amount of ships you would like to build. You must be at least a Tribuneto build a fleet.Tribute Policy: Select Tribute Policy to set a standard tribute level forall the provinces in the empire.

This option is only available in Italia.See tributes and trubute policy for details on exacting tributes.See Province List: Select See Province List to see the current status ofeach province - the last tax paid, the morale of the people, the type ofalliance you have, and the manpower available for recruitment.Continue: Return to MapNEGOTIATING ALLIANCESIn real Roman fashion, you begin serious negotiations with a foreign countryby marching a legion over their border. After receiving a scout's report onthe wealth and defenses on the land, you meet with the province's leader.To respond to the leader, select a statement.

There are six kinds ofstatements you can select: Friendly, Diplomatic, Offer Alliance,Aggressive, Ultimatum, Go To War. Only 3 responses are available at anytime - which three depends on the direction the talks are going.The statements you choose affect your success at negotiating, but otherfactors come into play as well. Your rank determines how serious a leaderyou takes you, and some leaders may refuse to deal with you if your rank isto low. The size of your legion can also affect a leader's judgement (biglegions make big impressions). Finally, the honor of Rome can also affect aleader's willingness to negotiate - talks may break down early if Rome isknown as a poor ally or bad master.TRIBUTES AND TRIBUTE POLICYYou set the level of tribute paid by each province. You can set a differenttribute level for each province, or you can insititute a tribute policy thatsets a standard tribute policy for the whole empire.

A tribute policy canbe instituted only from Rome. The exact number of talents you receive froma province depends on three things:Tribute Level - The more you demand, the more the province will have tocough up; however, the more you squeeze out of them, the less content theywill be with Roman rule.

If your tribute level places to much of a strainon the local economy, the province may revolt. Always monitor the morale ofyour provinces to see how close they are to rebellion.Wealth - Some provinces are wealthier than others and you can pay more.(This information is provided by your scouts when you first enter aprovince)Alliance - Rome's relationship with a province affects the number of talentspaid each year. The better the alliance, the more cooperative theinhabitants will be in paying their tributes.REVOLTSA rebellion can occur when Rome fails to protect a province, or when thegeneral morale sinks so low that the people percieve Rome more as a burdenthan a boon. If a marauding army invades an unprotected province, theanti-Roman faction in the province automatically takes control.

Even if youtry to protect the province and fail, the province will revolt. The onlyway to win back a rebellious province is to re-conqueror it.MARAUDING ARMIESOccasionally marauding armies set out to raid foreign lands. Some wander,searching for weak provinces to invade; others set out with the sole purposeof sacking Rome. If you have a fleet you can intercept marauding armiestravelling by boat.RANDOM EVENTSSometimes things just happen that are beyond your control. Your luck can begood or bad, and there's nothing you can do when fortune smiles or frowns onyou but accept the consequences.

Oh well!LEGION SPECIFICATIONSYou can command three types of armies: infantry legions, cavalry legions,and consular armies. Your rank determines wich kind of legions you can have,Legions cannot be combinedType Maximum Infantry Maximum Cavalry-Infantry Legion 4200 -Cavalry Legion 4200 300Consular Army 6000 600Difficulty Levels: The difficulty level set under the Game Options menuaffects how the soldiers are divided into Cohorts. At the lowest difficultylevel there are more soldiers per cohort. While this gives you fewercohorts on the field, it actually works to your advantage - the moresoldiers you have per unit, the less likely they are to panic under attack.Higher difficulty levels give you cohorts that are less resistant to directassaults, which places a greater emphasis on wise tactical use of yourunits.

• Manufacturer: ELECTRONIC ARTS
• Machine: Sega Genesis

Electronic Arts is turning out to be the redemption of sophisticated and eclectic Genesis owners. While other publishers spend most of their energy churning out side-scrolling shooters or Mario-style slugfests, EA seems to be producing a line that spans strategy, arcade, sports, martial arts and the totally unclassifiable. Centurion is yet another of its meticulous PC-to-Genesis conversions, and it's a real smorgasbord of a game: an overall flavor of strategy/war gaming with a lot of arcade sequences, superb graphics and sound effects on the side.

The game is one long, towering task of conquest: you must rise from the lowly rank of legionnaire in the province of Italia to become ruler of all of Europe, including portions of Asia and Africa. This is liable to take many hours. While the game lacks a battery backup, EA has included a password feature to preserve your progress in the game. It's a big password, but Rome wasn't built in a day.

Conquest is only part of the equation. You can't expect your armies to do their best if they're taxed beyond reason, bored or otherwise demoralized. You'll spend a lot of time and money just trying to keep all your subjects happy: holding gladiator fights and chariot races, throwing Christians to the lions or participating in any of several bloody extravaganzas. This is where much of the fun arcade play comes to bear. Holding these events calls for many talents (the coin of the realm), so when money is scarce, you may find your-self having to plunder recent conquests and play pure strategy for a while to line your coffers.

It's impossible to please everybody all the time - particularly those you've subjugated by invading their province and declaring yourself their ruler. So aside from issues of taxation and entertainment, the game mainly consists of pitting your legions or fleets against those of rebellious citizens, invading armies or neighboring provinces.

The battles give you a chance to try out your war-gaming strategy. No hexes here; each side is given a representative number of troops and you decide how best to deploy your side: flanking maneuvers, frontal assaults, wedges and other formations. You can also change tactics in the midst of battle, but this rarely seems to affect the outcome. In fact, the overriding factor in all these battles is numbers. Whoever has the most men wins..independent of battle strategy. The outcome didn't always make sense to me. I had enemy generals waving a white flag within moments of the start of the battle, but his troops never retreated. Eventually, my own general ended up surrendering too - and I lost the battle.

Many of the graphics are lush, digitized pieces of art, very atmospheric and highly detailed. They're the same as the graphics of the IBM VGA version, so the use of color and shading is excellent. Actually, a TV is hardly capable of doing these visuals justice. However, during battle sequences on both land and sea, the scale of the on-screen objects is quite small, so those parts of the game are graphically unimpressive. The sound effects are great. You'll actually hear the whinny of horses (which is nearly constant and almost annoying in battle), the trumpeting of elephants, the clang of swords, the rumble of hoofbeats and more.

Kill any Draugr that stand in your way, before turning around to look above you. Deer god walkthrough.

If you're seriously into war-gaming, Centurion may be a little too thin for your tastes. Likewise the arcade-style play, since you may have long stretches without such game play. But if you're up for a little of this and a little of that, Centurion offers a satisfying menu.