RPGWatch Feature - Expeditions: Conquistador First Impressions
 

There's around a week to go on Logic Artists' Kickstarter for Expeditions: Conquistador - currently sitting on $55k of a $70k goal, it looks promising but they certainly need every donor they can get. We had the opportunity to play with an early press build, so read on for our impressions:
Read it all here.
More information.

Thanks to Logic Artists for the access and best of luck with the Kickstarter.

Ooooh, hexes! Looks nice, thanks for the preview, Dhruin. I'll check out the Kickstarter page.

Not sure if they're going to reach their goal with this one. They've got $55,428 out of $70,000 but only 9 days left in the kickstarter. It doesn't look like something that I'd be interested in, but I wish them luck. The mechanics seem solid enough.

I think it will make it. Kicktraq shows it just getting there and when you factor in the usual last-minute rush, I'm confident.

http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/212…-conquistador/

This game is looking great, thanks for writing a preview Dhruin, interesting read! :D

Daniel.

Hope you're right, Dhruin. I'm betting they make it, too. Be a shame if they didn't. Game looks very nice. Thanks for writing this up.

I wonder if their funding structure was a little off. Is $15 the most common for game-download in a KS drive? I wonder whether $20 would have done the trick faster. Hmm, where's the market price?

Just do what I did and back the game at &30, because I don't think you can really play it properly without Esteban. :p

I backed it at $30, it's a good option as you get to join in the beta testing if you like and includes a full copy of their latest build which we'll get once the kickstarter ends! :D

Daniel.

Does the game encourage you to wipe out entire civilizations like the Mayan and Inca?.

It has went up by $2,000 from when this article went up so I think it will make it. I will probably back this but it will have to be towards the end.

I don't believe so, from what I've seen it lets you make your own decisions, you can play as a peaceful diplomat if you wish. I suspect you will be attacked on occasion whether you like it or not though!

Daniel.

For what purpose? To conquer is one thing, to wipe out is something else. You do know that the most destructive force with disastrous results was the introduction of foreign diseases by the Europeans such as small pox that literally decimated the entire native population of the Americas, right?

oh i hope so, genocide in games is awesome. Nothing like wiping another civ right off the earth!

I backed at $30. They are nearly at $59K now which means about $4K today which isn't too bad. And with some extra media attention like this article that hopefully that is enough and I suspect they will squeak over the finish line.

Not my favorite time period or subject but I will keep an open mind. What convinced me was reading through some of the dialog in screen shots. Not PS:T but looking good enough to back. Also I love Tactical RPGs so it doesn't hurt either.

So then it was OK for the Spanish to burn their libraries, written records, and destroy most of their culture and self-governance?

A good point, because - while germs certainly didn't make live easier for the native population - the mindset of the Conquistadors (literally: conquerors) wasn't excactly one of peace, love and 'let's chew some coca-leaves together while we trade'.

I'm curious how the drive to colonize, gain riches and convert will be reflected in the game. Will I be able to branch away from that? Will there be a campaign that lets me lead an ill-fated Mayan revolt? Just some thoughts. I'll probaby back it anyway, since I admire the setting they chose and am curious on how it will play.

Everybody always clamors they want to play the evil guy. Well, here is your chance to play a real evil.
Personally, I find it interesting to explore, even if it's just a game, that period and to find out if my own decisions will be any different from the real Conquistadores.

No, I never said that. My point is the following: During the 16th century, the native population was drastically reduced to a small percentage and when seeing the numbers, one would assume that the Spanish must have massacred all those people. The fact is that the main cause was the introduction of deseases to which the natives had no natural resistance. Yet many believe it was due to an organised systematic extermination and are quite vocal about it. And your post contained a tone that seemed to support that believe hence my remark.

What bothers me is the ignorance in historical facts, finger pointing, and hypocrisy especially from those whose nation has a colonial past as well.

The conquistadors, a very interesting subject.

Hernando Cortez - http://library.thinkquest.org/J002678F/cortez.htm

…referred to in Neil Young's 'Zuma' album track "Cortez the Killer" —>

"Hate was just a legend and war was never known, the people worked together and they lifted many stones, they carried them to the flat lands and they died along the way but they built up with their bare hands what we still can't do today"

..beautiful…the factual subject matter of the conquistadors is as deep and historically interesting as a game concept can be, as to how much of this will be transposed or interpreted into the game-play storyline, we will have to wait and see.
………………………………………………
This project will only be funded if at least $70,000 is pledged by Wednesday Sep 12, 5:25pm EDT.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/…r/posts/286653

Ah, but would the Spanish have considered themselves evil? I think not, since the colonization of South-America was (among other things) condoned and justified by the Catholic church. This is quite interesting from a roleplaying-perspecive, don't you think?

Asdraguuhl mentiones finger pointing by those who come from countries with a colonial past. My own nation has quite a sad history in that respect. I'm glad to live in a timeframe in which cultural values have shifted. So, while I don't condemn a game that lets me play a role such as this, I would label a lot of the historical Conquistadores' actions as 'Very Nasty'.

You could label most actions of the human race since the beginning of time as 'Very Nasty'.

Anyhow this game is doing well, just hit 60K! :D

Daniel.

Actually, regarding your comment about the condoning and justification of the colonisation, things are not that simple and black on white. Obviously, the Church was happy with the spread of religion but many representatives of the Church were in fact appalled by the treatment of the indigenous people as was the Spanish Crown. Many policies and rules imposed by the Spanish Crown were not necessarily followed by the Spanish rulers in the New World.

The Spanish friar Antonio de Montesinos severely criticised the colonists and their treatment of the natives and had an active role in imposing laws that would in principle improve their situation.

Also, a quick Google search leads to an article that states how Columbus and the first Spanish colonists did not see eye to eye with the Spanish Crown and the Catholic Church.

As you can see, things are actually quite complex. But you are right in saying that there are plenty of good role play opportunities in a game that were to include all these complex issues and shades of grey.

Exactly. I think in the real world what we consider evil is generally done by people who feel perfectly justified in their actions. Rarely will such acts be committed as deliberate evil, e.g. acting in willfull violation of a set of moral values that are actually accepted within the group committing the "evil". What happens is that a society (or a group within, or even an individual), generally reacting to historical dynamics or specific circumstances, shifts its own value system in such a way that it can justify such acts based on a perceived overriding need or justification.

Which would mean that evil is only suffered, but never commited…

In that case.. I want a tech tree that allows me to choose between smallpox, cholera, and syphilis.

So you are reading into my tone massacres of people rather than wiping out civilizations, which I specifically wrote? Seems like you are purposely dodging the point I was very explicitly making. And then saying it is OK because other countries did the same thing? Rather childish reasoning there.

????????

Can you please point out exactly where I say this?

You're making excuses for the Spanish wiping out civilizations because other countries also were colonialists. Rather than making excuses, you should simply agree that what the Spanish did to the Inca and Mayan civilizations was a truly horribly evil and leave it at that. :)

You do know this is a game and no real people will die ( hopefully). Right?

Just a game. Take a deep breath.

Well this part of the Euro expansion into the "new" world I find as one of the most heinous acts ever committed in the history of man. Destroying entire civilizations in the name of gold, God, and conquest. Sorry, my feathers get ruffled. ;)

C'mon, you cannot point out any sentence of mine because I didn't say any of that of which you accuse me of.

Btw, The Mayan civilisation that you mention no longer existed when the Spanish arrived. The Mayans as people still existed but ther civilisation was well past their prime and were no longer the famous empire as they were eventually conquered by neighbouring tribes prior to the European colonial era.

Wow! You are still making excuses and revising history to make it look like Spain did not destroy the Mayan culture? Is this what they teach you Spain to try to absolve you of your sins?

Fact Check:

from de wiki of infinite correctness… ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish…f_Yucat%C3%A1n

One of the dumber arguments I've seen here in awhile. :)

As I said, the Mayans still existed. But the great famous Mayan civilisation that we all know of did not. The two great civilisations during the colonial era were the Aztecs and Incas.

I was born and raised in the Netherlands and got my education there.

So destroying a civilization that is broken into fragments already is not such a bad thing? Why else would you mention it? If not, what is your point?

Again, can you please point out where I explicitly say that that is NOT A BAD thing?

When you mentioned the Mayans, I assumed that you were referring to the famous Mayan civilisation in which case I was merely trying to point out a historical inconsistency. Nothing more, nothing less.


I have simply been providing some historical data without accusing any party nor justifying anything in order to get a more balanced picture. But if it makes you happy, I shall gladly burn in hell for you for all eternity.

I fear that I do not entirely know what your point is. Would you please clarify?

I certainly won't defend the actions of the Europeans in the New World, but let's face it, the Mayans, Aztecs and the rest would probably have done the same had the tables been turned. It's not like they built their empires on mutual respect and peace. The world has been a very, very nasty place since the beginning of time.

Well said. That's the story of human race in the past 10000 years.
The Aztec have wipe and submitted all the cultures around them. The Incas and the Mayans were not only love and flowers.
I really can't see why playing from the Spanish side is playing from evil side.