American Conquest

American Conquest is a historical real-time strategy game by ukrainian game developer GSC Game World which was released in late 2002. The player may take control of one of 12 (later 17, with Fight Back) nations engaged in the Americas from the 16th to the 18th century. Like the previous game from GSC Gameworld, Cossacks: European Wars, American Conquest features massive battles, now with up to 16.000 units on the battlefield simultaneously and historically inspired missions and campaigns. The game features eight campaigns ranging from Cortez' expeditions in latin america in the early 16th century to the American War of Independence in the late 18th century, nine scenarios, a skirmish mode as well as a multiplayer and a feature-rich editor. The game has two stand-alone expansion packs, American Conquest: Fight Back, released in 2003 and American Conquest: Divided Nations, released in 2006.

American Conquest: Fight Back

American Conquest: Fight Back is the first stand-alone expansion to American Conquest. It adds five new playable nations, Germany, Russia, the Haida, Portugal and the Netherlands, bringing the nation total to 17, as well as a new campaign.

American Conquest: Divided Nation

American Conquest: Divided Nation is the second stand-alone expansion to American Conquest. It is focused on the American Civil War, adding the Confederacy, Mexico and Texas as playable nations. It also emphasizes tactical gameplay in the campaigns, cutting back on the base building.

Known Issues

Game running too fast/slow

Like Cossacks, the previous title from GSC Game World, American Conquest features a unique engine timing system. While the games' speed is still dependant on the CPU clock, like many older titles, they offer a flexible speed setting in the options menu to enable the user to tweak the speed to his liking.

On modern machines, it is advisable to set the "Game Mode" to "Slow Mode" and the "Game Speed" slider to about 80%. Note that adjustments to the "Game Speed" slider affect everything, even the scrolling speed, so it is recommended to adjust the "Scrolling Speed" slider after one has found a comfortable "Game Speed" setting.

Note further that due to the game's heavy focus on micromanagement, the AI has a significant advantage to any human player. A slower game speed will allow the player more time for micromanagement and decision making, while at faster speeds, untrained player will be overwhelmed quickly. Therefore, the "Game Speed" slider is effectively a difficulty modifier (and arguably more so than the "Easy/Med/Hard/V. Hard" options) and can be set to lower percentages if the game is perceived as too difficult.