There are two modes of playing the game that complement each other – adventure mode and strategic mode.
In strategic mode the player fights computer opponents and human players exercising his strategic and tactical skills to achieve objective victory. He trains and commands units, hires and develops heroes, acquires powerful artifacts and conquers strongholds and villages. The gameplay in this mode adds new dimensions to the RTS genre.
There are two separate adventures in CK: The Punic Wars. The first follows the Carthaginian general Hannibal during his famous crossing of the Alps, which posed the greatest threat to Rome ever. The second campaign follows the expansion of the Roman republic into a dominating power in the ancient world culminating with the total destruction of the city of Carthage.
Nations
TPW has four nations the player could choose from: Romans, Gauls were featured in the original game while Carthaginians and Iberians are totally new.
Carthaginians
The people of Carthage belong to an ancient civilization of merchants. The wealth and safety of their homeland had convinced them that their civilization would last for eternity. Although skilled in the art of war, they emerge victorious because of the overwhelming power of their armies and not because of the bravery of their men. In fact, their warriors were mercenaries from nearby tribes in North Africa, Spain and even Macedonia.
The Carthaginian customs were barbarous to the extreme. When a battle was won they would sacrifice their most handsome prisoners to the gods; when a battle had been lost the children of their most noble families were cast into the furnace.
Iberians
Iberians were brave and independent people. The Roman historian Estrabon told that Iberian warriors used to carry a poison and they did not hesitate to take it rather than being captured. A sentence ascribed to Emperor Augustus best describes them: “First to be invaded… last to be dominated”. Yet Iberians were peaceful people dedicated to farming and rarely inclined to wage war.
Women played an important role in Iberian society. The Roman historian Estrabon says “Daughters are the ones who inherit and choose wives for their brothers”.
New features list:
- • Two new nations: the Carthaginians and the Iberians, complete with their own historical units (War Elephants, Libyan Infantry, Numidian riders, Slingers, Mountaineers, three new catapult models) and buildings. The handling of every nation is completely different.
- • A single-player campaign featuring the campaign of Hannibal Barca (Sagunto battle, the crossing of the Alps, Cannas battle)
- • A single-player campaign featuring the development of the Roman Republic during the Punic wars (the invasion of Sicily, the conquest of Hispania, the destruction of Carthage)
- • Completely new terrains, now including desert
- • New custom maps
- • New music and more than 100 new sound effects
- • Players can choose their race while playing on custom maps and the game modifies the map to fit the stronghold they’ve chosen
- • New unit specials including regeneration (units heal faster and eat more food), bleeding attack (in addition to its normal attack the unit takes 10% off the enemy health), rage (the unit increases its damage spending its own health) and full armor (reduces the damage from all attacks).
- • New ways to obtain resources and new upgrades including additional options for the Gaul and Roman nations.
- • Dozens of additions to the CK engine: automatic training of warriors, capturing of supply mules, aimed arrow shooting from towers and more.