Roadwar 2000 and Roadwar Europa

[SoulBlazer]

Just started playing these classic games again and wondered if anyone else was farmilar with the games.

 

They were made by SSI in the late 80's and ported to the IBM PC, Apple, and C64. Very fun games, and rather difficult at first.

 

I was surpried there was nothing out there as far as a FAQ/Walkthrough so I started putting one together. I was curious if anyone else had played the games, could help contribute material, or would mind reading it.

[nonner242]

Played them around the same time I played thru Wasteland (89/90)....but dont remember anything but Wasteland and the music that I had on in the background while playing it.

Weird huh.

[SoulBlazer]

Turns out they also ported enhanced versions of the game to the Amiga and Atari. I didn't know the game had been ported that much!

 

Been playing the PC version, and finished Roadwar 2000 last night.

 

Checking around online, I found that there are some hints and tips scattered here and there, but no central file. I'm going to get permission from the authors and pull everything together and add my own notes and observations, and then post it on GameFAQ's.

 

Then I'll start working on Roadwar Europa.

 

What's really funny is that I did a review of both games for the now-gone Home of the Underdogs website a few years ago. When the site went down and was restored by someone else, the credit got lost. So I saw my reviews scattered all over the web without any credit.

Edited October 11, 2011 by SoulBlazer

[Tempest]

Did you ever put this walkthrough together? I was considering trying 2000 on my Apple IIgs next. Too bad Europa never had a IIgs version, but the Apple II version works on the IIgs.

[SoulBlazer]

I have a rough version, Tempest. If you'd like, feel free to PM me and I'll share what I have.

[louisg]

I'm gonna bump this-- I started getting interested in Roadwar again, and found this topic from a web search. All roads lead to AtariAge I guess! I'd love to have some playing tips- the game seems so particular in how it wants you to play. I'm surprised the manual doesn't contain some tips to get players started. I remember having the budget rerelease from the 90s and doing nothing but dying!

[newtmonkey]

Nostalgia overload! I first saw this series of games in the catalogs that came with the SSI games I got on my C64 back in the day. I got my C64 pretty late so there weren't many C64 games left on the shelves, so I never got to pick up Roadwar. I did play it a bit later on my friend's Atari ST.

 

The CRPG Addict has an informative write-up on Roadwar 2000 which might provide some tips (he did finish the game):

https://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2017/02/game-242-roadwar-2000-1986.html

(For anyone not familiar with his site, he is playing and completing every RPG released on home computers in chronological order, and is up to 1992 currently).

Edited April 17, 2019 by newtmonkey

[youxia]

It's one of my favourite series ever, from the days when SSI had the golden touch. I hadn't played them in years (decades?), but their time is coming soon...maybe imminent

 

Can't offer any tips becasue it was so long ago but the main combat part seemed pretty straightforward, and I had no acces to manuals back then. I had more trouble figuring out what to do in Europa - I think it was about finding something in cities (bombs?) but don't recall ever being able to do that.

[louisg]

That CRPG Addict article is very good! I really should be playing the full combat mode; I remembered that being a lot of fun, and I didn't realize you could add to your max vehicle limit that way. It's hard for me to want to spend so much time in a tactical combat scale though when everything else is scaled to an hour gametime per turn! It makes me impatient Though, I loved Car Wars as a kid, so that kind of combat is right up my alley.

 

It's funny that the article mentions Wizard's Crown. I was talking with my brother about Roadwar, and we went right into discussing Wizard's Crown because of the similarities. It also mentions having trouble finding reviews and info on it. It's so weird-- I looked on eBay and there are practically no copies. I can hardly find reviews. But I saw this and its sequel every week at the local computer game store, saw ads in mags.. it's definitely not niche, and obviously did well enough that a sequel came out right after. I wonder what the story is.

 

I have such a big wishlist when I play this game. I'd love more clues and interactions in towns so I can make more informed decisions, more of a difficulty curve, an ability to flee person-to-person combat... it's such a cool game but also has so much room for improvement. I gave Europa a shot and they fixed up a couple things, but it's definitely sticking close to the original. Honestly, I'd love a game like this that had a simplified combat system and was more about menu-driven encounters as you move along the map.

Edited April 17, 2019 by louisg

[youxia]

For me the detailed combat model is where this game shines, it's also what made SSI's Goldbox games such as Pool Of Radiance amazing. It was a time when Mad Max films were hot stuff and being able to relive these kind of encounters in total-control turn based fashion was a dream come true for me (still is I guess).

 

If you're into strategy car combat in general you can try Auto Duel, another classic CRPG/Strategy hybrid from that era. There's also one modern roguelike in development which does similar stuff in simplified fashion: Auto Fire.

[louisg]

For me the detailed combat model is where this game shines, it's also what made SSI's Goldbox games such as Pool Of Radiance amazing. It was a time when Mad Max films were hot stuff and being able to relive these kind of encounters in total-control turn based fashion was a dream come true for me (still is I guess).

 

If you're into strategy car combat in general you can try Auto Duel, another classic CRPG/Strategy hybrid from that era. There's also one modern roguelike in development which does similar stuff in simplified fashion: Auto Fire.

 

 

I inherited a boxed Auto Duel, but I have yet to really dive into it. I hadn't heard of Auto Fire-- that looks rad!

 

OK, serious question: Is anyone so good at Roadwar 2000 that you *never* randomly die near the beginning (before amassing a decent sized crew)? I'm thinking that stage of the game is often down to luck, and it doesn't shift to being more skill-based until you have some antitoxin handy and have enough people to survive random encounters (even if you lose a lot of people)... I think that's why Europa has you design your initial crew and gives you that head start.

[Paranoid]

On 4/17/2019 at 7:55 PM, youxia said:

For me the detailed combat model is where this game shines, it's also what made SSI's Goldbox games such as Pool Of Radiance amazing. It was a time when Mad Max films were hot stuff and being able to relive these kind of encounters in total-control turn based fashion was a dream come true for me (still is I guess).

 

If you're into strategy car combat in general you can try Auto Duel, another classic CRPG/Strategy hybrid from that era. There's also one modern roguelike in development which does similar stuff in simplified fashion: Auto Fire.

What I hate about modern turn-based CFRP engines is they all use either 3D 1st or 3rd person perspective or 3D isometric perspective and have animated graphics. 

Simulate a pen and paper game with a top down tile based perspective - let my imagination work the visuals. Bring back Ultima III style games. Ultima IV started up with that paladin, "D&D doesn't have to be satanic," morality quest stuff - and Bards Tale made everyone else decide that it had to be as graphic as possible, all the way up to Skyrim. 

Not that I don't enjoy those games - but the more I go back and play old retro 8 and 16 bit RPGs - the more I realize that today we could do an INCREDIBLE example of a game like Car Wars or Ogre or any hex or tile based FRP game using this classic style of engine - and it would be awesome. 

Hell... you could do all of this - and have the actual results of encounters and rolls appear in a window on the display in full 3D graphics from 1st or 3rd person perspective... but I'd prefer it just to digitally recreate a real paper FRP. 

 

[Spudz]

Just wondering if anyone else out there is still playing these. I recently dug out my original copies of both 2000 and Europa. Played through 2000, but I've hit a snag in Europa. I never beat that one back in the day. I've disarmed all of the bombs, but I don't know where to go from there... I've taken over a handful of cities, run around the map a bit, but nothing tells me how to track down the terrorist lair. No guides or FAQS out there that I could find either.