A First Look at “World of Legends”
The title World of Legends fits the new expansion quite nicely. From Polish Winged Hussars to Hercules of the Greeks, WoL certainly will make the Civ4 experience much more epic and legendary.
The main focus of the expansion are the “hero” units, super-powerful units which may mean an easy, fast victory or a swift, crushing defeat. What if, while leading an army, Robin Hood shot down the admiral Leif Eriksson, effectively ending the English-Viking war? Could Imhotep of the Egyptians, even with his famed magical capabilities, be a match against the ingenious Chinese strategist, Zhuge Liang? These interesting alternate historical possibilities, in which heroes pit against heroes, make history a lot more interesting, more epic, and more legendary.
About 150 heroes will be available, three for each civilization - two “military” heroes and one “national” hero. The military heroes, the stronger ones, each will have their own set of bonuses against certain types of units, so although they can still overpower most regular units, they might be more useful for assaulting cities, or hunting down cavalry pillagers, for example. “National” heroes, though quite strong themselves, are a little weaker. Their advantage, however, lies in the fact that they can each construct their civilization’s unique wonder. For example, you can use Zhuge Liang of the Chinese to build the “Art of War”.
However, each hero can only be built once, and once dead, is gone from the game forever. This forces players to use their heroes carefully; a hero could take out a couple of units, but against a horde of variety of units, the situation could be riskier. Therein lies the complex question that has always been in making decisions in Civ – “Should I? Or should I not?”
And what is an expansion without all the other fun features, like civs and units? Sixteen civilizations and twenty leaders for existing civilizations have been announced. Civilizations include Vietnam, Poland, Australia, and Canada, while leaders to play include the merciless Tamerlame, the witty Margaret I, the cultured Taizong, or the extremely annoying Pachacuti. Details on other matters, such as civics, units, and buildings, are more vague at this time, but the team making WoL has stated more information will hopefully come soon.
With many new interesting and epic new features, World of Legends hopes to entertain those that have been bored with the last expansion, Beyond the Sword, and to create a new, richer, more romantic game experience with mercenaries, civilizations, unique national wonders, and heroes, especially of all.
