Qvadriga
Qvadriga is a chariot managment/simulation game developed by Turnopia and published by Slitherine. Although not very complex, it's one of the most addictive games I've played in quite some time.
You start off with 3 teams of aurigas (chariot riders), chariots and horses and you enter races to build up your reputation and bank balance. As your reputation increases you can move to higher ranked arenas where the prize money is higher. As you make more money you'll sometimes find aurigas, chariots and horses that are better than your own to purchase. You also need a healthy balance in case your aurigas and horses are killed or your chariot broken.
There are 6 different attributes in the game which can be upgraded- two each for aurigas, chariots and horses. Aurigas with higher skill take corners better and are better at crashing and whipping opponents. Aurigas with better constitution have less negative effects after taking damage.
Chariots have quality which improves acceleration and size which means they both are more resistant to damage and do more damage to opponents. Horses have speed which is their max speed and endurance which makes them slow down less if they've taken damage. Aurigas are the only that can improve through racing whereas the others can only be bought.
At the start of the game you choose a faction to represent eg. nobles, commoners, priests or military. Each has a different combination of being at level one in 3 of the above attributes. The only one I think is considerably less useful is chariot size, although horse speed is probably more useful early on whereas horse endurance is more useful later in the game. The reason for this is that the size of the tracks both in terms of length and number of lanes varies. This ranges from 4 lanes to 8 with the early ones generally being shorter and narrower. The number of aurigas in the race also varies from 4 to 16. The more aurigas on track the more chance of you and your horse taking damage and the longer the race the more times you are likely to whip your horse.
The races play out in turns. Each turn you have many different things to choose between, You can accelerate, whip your horse, brake, change x number of lanes left or right. If their are other aurigas nearby you might decide to crash into them or whip them or their horses. If you want to just avoid damage you can choose watch: avoid aggressions which nullifies any opponents attempts at damaging you or your horses. the final option is control which keeps you at your current speed but makes you turn slightly better. Each race also has a random effect before you start. Some of these include the crowd throwing things at the person in the outside lane, rivals who have an increases chance of attacking you or the damage from a previous race not being cleaned up. Each race you have to pay close attention to the damage you and your rivals are taking. If your horses are tiring you may need to focus on blocking those behind. If you see an opponents horses tiring in front that may lead you to want to whip your horses more in order to catch up. Other times a bad start may mean the best you can do is just nurse your way home safely as finishing outside the top 3 still get you more money than not finishing at all.
There are 2 campaigns to be played. In the normal campaign fame is gained quicker and winning requires three victories at the Circus Maximus- the highest ranked arena in Italia. Completing this took me 50 races so probably about 6-8 hours. The epic one requires you to have the Auriga with the most number of victories as well.
Rating 8/10
normal price $19.99
Sale price (-75%) $4.99
You start off with 3 teams of aurigas (chariot riders), chariots and horses and you enter races to build up your reputation and bank balance. As your reputation increases you can move to higher ranked arenas where the prize money is higher. As you make more money you'll sometimes find aurigas, chariots and horses that are better than your own to purchase. You also need a healthy balance in case your aurigas and horses are killed or your chariot broken.
There are 6 different attributes in the game which can be upgraded- two each for aurigas, chariots and horses. Aurigas with higher skill take corners better and are better at crashing and whipping opponents. Aurigas with better constitution have less negative effects after taking damage.
Chariots have quality which improves acceleration and size which means they both are more resistant to damage and do more damage to opponents. Horses have speed which is their max speed and endurance which makes them slow down less if they've taken damage. Aurigas are the only that can improve through racing whereas the others can only be bought.
At the start of the game you choose a faction to represent eg. nobles, commoners, priests or military. Each has a different combination of being at level one in 3 of the above attributes. The only one I think is considerably less useful is chariot size, although horse speed is probably more useful early on whereas horse endurance is more useful later in the game. The reason for this is that the size of the tracks both in terms of length and number of lanes varies. This ranges from 4 lanes to 8 with the early ones generally being shorter and narrower. The number of aurigas in the race also varies from 4 to 16. The more aurigas on track the more chance of you and your horse taking damage and the longer the race the more times you are likely to whip your horse.
The races play out in turns. Each turn you have many different things to choose between, You can accelerate, whip your horse, brake, change x number of lanes left or right. If their are other aurigas nearby you might decide to crash into them or whip them or their horses. If you want to just avoid damage you can choose watch: avoid aggressions which nullifies any opponents attempts at damaging you or your horses. the final option is control which keeps you at your current speed but makes you turn slightly better. Each race also has a random effect before you start. Some of these include the crowd throwing things at the person in the outside lane, rivals who have an increases chance of attacking you or the damage from a previous race not being cleaned up. Each race you have to pay close attention to the damage you and your rivals are taking. If your horses are tiring you may need to focus on blocking those behind. If you see an opponents horses tiring in front that may lead you to want to whip your horses more in order to catch up. Other times a bad start may mean the best you can do is just nurse your way home safely as finishing outside the top 3 still get you more money than not finishing at all.
There are 2 campaigns to be played. In the normal campaign fame is gained quicker and winning requires three victories at the Circus Maximus- the highest ranked arena in Italia. Completing this took me 50 races so probably about 6-8 hours. The epic one requires you to have the Auriga with the most number of victories as well.
Rating 8/10
normal price $19.99
Sale price (-75%) $4.99
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