History VideoGame / Eador

At first glance Eador (pronounced ''eh-ah-dOhr'') may seem like ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' or ''VideoGame/AgeOfWonders'' clone, but scratch the surface and you see a complex empire building game similar to ''Dominions'', ''Civilization'' and (somehow) ''EuropaUniversalis''. You simultaneously fight tactical battles not unlike ''KingsBounty'' or ''VideoGame/AgeOfWonders''; develop your home castle, build upgrades in provinces; keep an eye on population growth and mood; send your heroes on quests, to invade neighbouring provinces, into dungeons or to explore lands in search for resources; make alliances and trade with other players; buy and repair equipment or powerful artifacts for your heroes; learn and use rituals that affect the world and simple spells useful in battle; react to random events that influence the economy, world and your alignment... This is a big game.

At first glance Eador (pronounced ''eh-ah-dOhr'') may seem like ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' or ''AgeOfWonders'' clone, but scratch the surface and you see a complex empire building game similar to ''Dominions'', ''Civilization'' and (somehow) ''EuropaUniversalis''. You simultaniously fight tactical battles not unlike ''KingsBounty'' or ''AgeOfWonders''; develop your home castle, build upgrades in provinces; keep an eye on population growth and mood; send your heroes on quests, to invade neighbouring provinces, into dungeons or to explore lands in search for resources; make alliances and trade with other players; buy and repair equipment or powerful artifacts for your heroes; learn and use rituals that affect the world and simple spells useful in battle; react to random events that influence the economy, world and your alignment... This is a big game.

* FragileSpeedster: Pegasi, the only castle unit that has base speed of five, but they are very squishy for their tier. Luckily, they have the First Aid skill that somewhat mitigates this.

* HumansAreAverage: Every Master uses humans as his default race, all heroes are humans too. Player can have an alliance with other races and they provide additional units and buildings.

** This is even aknowledged InUniverse, under the name of The Law of Kharma.
* LegendFadesToMyth: On the material plane, so much time has passed from the Cataclysm that this event is considered nothing more than a legend by mortal races. Most people don't even believe that Eador was once whole, and think that it has always been broken into shards. On the Astral Plane, where time works differently, things are not much better. Only few counted individuals witnessed the Cataclysm, and among those few even less know the truth of what actually happened.

** As of regular units, while your melee fighters often get new perks that may seriously improve their performance, for caster getting a new spell can make that unit exponentially more useful and even change the unit's role on the battlefield.

* MagicIsEvil: All units from sorcery family (shamans, sorcerers, etc.) have evil alignment. It should be noted that they are not necessary evil per se, but rather wilful and unscrupulous. This is reflected in them having only slightly evil alignment. However, warlocks (Tier 4 units) are an exception, they are described as pure evil.
* MagicKnight: The Dark Knight (Warrior/Wizard hybrid) and the Battlemage (Wizard/Warrior hybrid) classes are this, with them both having access to Warrior and Wizard skillsets.

** ChaosIsEvil

* OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame: Yep. Their [[ElvesVsDwarves rivalry with elves]] is really prononunced only in the backstory, and otherwise not that noiceable, but apart from that they're as same as it gets.
* OurElvesAreDifferent: Of Wood variety with some elements of High as well.
* OurFairiesAreDifferent: Fairies are present as neutral units in the game, they can be recruited through certain province sites. Also, one of the Masters is the queen of fairies Vianta.
* OurOrcsAreDifferent: Of the Tolkienite type.

* RiskStyleMap: The shard map is organized like this.
* SealedBadassInACan: Garros, Eador's god of war was one of few gods who managed to survive the Cataclysm and demons' hunts for them. Fittingly for a god of war, he accomplished this by virtue of being [[TooSpicyForYogSothoth too tough for demons to destroy]], so instead they sealed him in a certain magical artifact. Hint:[[spoiler: it hangs from Doh-Gor's neck]].

* VancianMagic: Combined with having all spells except the most basic ones needing crystals to be cast.
* WarriorMonk: Western type variety. We have monks of the White Eagle order, that even look like typical catholic monks. They can heal your troops and blast your enemies with holy powers granted to them by the Lord of Light, plus cast some support spells. Their senior cousins, Priests, can do the same but better. And finally we have Paladins who can perform minor healing and inflict additional damage on evil creatures due to the power of their faith.

-->-- '''From the game's description at [[GOGDotCom GOG.com]].'''

* NightOfTheLivingMooks: The Necromancy magic school allows you to rise your units as various kinds of undead during battle, and the Necromancy skill allows you to keep undead units in your army permanently. Having an army made solely of undead is not only possible, but it is quiet an effective strategy as well.

''Eador: Genesis'' was released in 2009 in Russia and [[NoExportForYou nowhere else]] until December 2012 when it was released internationally via GOG. ''Eador: Masters of the Broken World'' is an UpdatedRerelease with 3D graphics (genesis had 2D sprite graphics) and features that came out in 2013 and is available on Steam and GOG. The first expansion for MotBW, ''Allied Forces'' was released June 2014, adding a swathe of new units, chiefly variants on the demihuman/humanoid units which can be recruited via an alliance. May 2016, a new expansion, ''Eador: Imperium'' was announced and placed on Steam Early Access.

''Eador: Genesis'' was released in 2009 in Russia and [[NoExportForYou nowhere else]] until December 2012 when it was released internationally via GOG. ''Eador: Masters of the Broken World'' is an UpdatedRerelease with 3D graphics (genesis had 2D sprite graphics) and features that came out in 2013 and is available on Steam and GOG.

* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: ''Genesis'' gives you only one autosave slot in lieu of standart save system. However, at any moment you have the option to go back to previous turn and try some things differently, or go back to the Astral Plane to a point before you invaded current shard. This comes at a cost of lowering your total score for the shard in the former case and permanently lowering your energy income in the latter. InUniverse, you travel back in time when you do this.

"Eador is a universe made of countless shards of land drifting in the Great Nothing. Each of the shards is a little world unto itself, with geography and citizens of its own. The power over the shards is bitterly contested by Masters, the immortal beings mortals believe to be gods.

"Take the role of a mighty Master and shape the destiny of Eador, on land and within the astral plane itself. Explore the land and rule provinces as you see fit, defend them, and keep the populace in line or they may rebel. Choose from thousands of items--swords, spells, weapons, armor, and more--to outfit the heroes you recruit so they may best meet any challenge. Keep your heroes healthy and they will grow stronger as they gain experience from battle. Forge alliances and engage in the delicate art of diplomacy as you negotiate trade agreements or wage war against a mutual foe. Eador with its many wonders and adventures awaits, will you answer the call?" (from http://www.gog.com/gamecard/eador_genesis)

* BackFromTheDead: You can resurrect your fallen heroes as often as you like, provided you can pay the required price in gold and crystals. The prices get progressively steeper the more levels your hero has, and the hero's body must be delivered back to your capital first before you can bring him back to life. This can take very long, so it's better to keep your heroes alive. Additionaly, the "Resurrection" and "Reincarnation" spells allow you to bring your units back to life right on the battlefield, and the Champion hero has this as a class ability.
* BadPowersGoodPeople: Continuously using chaos or necromancy spells takes a toll on your alignment meter. Yet nothing is stopping you from using it and maintaining an otherwise benevolent rule (and in fact, these spells often do wonders to give your strength a needed shot in the arm).
* BeefGate: Neutral provinces' guards and parties of monsters that inhabit the lairs get progressively stronger the further they are from the players' starting positions. This means that you can't advance far from your home province without a strong army. The fan community uses the term "ring" to describe this mechanic.
** To elaborate - provinces are classified by "ring," i.e. how many concentric rings from a starting province it is. Province guards and dungeon denizens in ring 1, the adjacent provinces, are notably weaker than those in ring 2 (and those in ring 2 weaker than ring 3 etc), encouraging you to conquer every province adjacent to your starting hex before advancing on ring 2. Note that every player, including the AI, faces this sort of BeefGate on every map, meaning that expansion gets progressively harder as you move outward from your capital - until you're halfway between your capital and someone else's, at which point it gets easier again. Of course, unless your opponent has been napping, you'll probably encounter his border around the halfway point too...

* HarpingOnAboutHarpies: Harpies can be fought in various neutral sites, and you can recuit them if you manage to find their nests. [[ThievingMagpie They are attracted to shiny things]], which makes them steal and accumulate treasures in their nests and also makes them good at stealing skirmishers' ammunition right on the battlefield.

* {{Precursors}}: The Ancients. Their civilization collapsed some time around the Cataclysm, however due to their longevity few remnant individuals managed to survive up to somewhat recent times, but by the time the game takes place in they are all extinct.

** [[UnholyNuke SmiteGood]]: The evil counterpart of the above skill is also present in the game, but none of default creatures has it. It's there for modders.

* UnstoppableRage: Some units have this as an ability (namely, Barbarians, Minotaurs, etc.). When hit with a single strong enough attack, the unit becomes enraged for the remainder of the battle, gaining bonus to attack, immunity to morale damage and attack penalties for low heatlh.

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Nothing stops you from picking evil choices. Sell food for sky-high prices to starving provinces, sell bodies of those who died during epidemics to necromancers, make nifty trinkets out of captured magical creatures, rob your own provinces, take CannonFodder units in your army and turn them into undead or use as sacrifices to summon demons. Enjoy your [[ForTheEvulz evulz]], as well as (usually much bigger) [[PragmaticVillainy short-term rewards that may be more necessary for you right now than the long term bonus and good karma points that the good choices give]]. See EvilPaysBetter above.

* WarriorMonk: Western type variety. We have monks of the White Eagle order, that even look like typical gregorian monks and can heal your troops and blast your enemies with holy powers granted to them by the Lord of Light, as well as cast some support spells. Their senior cousins, Priests, can do the same but better. And finally we have Paladins who can perform minor healing and inflict additional damage on evil creatures due to the power of their faith.

* ALoadOfBull: Minotaurs. Here they are creations and servants of Eador's god of secrets. They can be most often be found in their mazes scattered across different shards, where they can be fought and occasionaly recruited. Getting them into your army is difficult (as it depends on random result of the maze exploration) but well worth the trouble.

* SorcererKing or SorcerousOverlord: All Masters qualify to a various degree, [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg except]] [[DumbMuscle Doh-Gor]].

* AchievementSystem: Fulfillng certain requirements on shard map will give you various achievements, that add to your total score.
* AfterTheEnd: The world of Eador is literally broken into shards.

* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: Your shard gets attacked several times throughout the campaign. You get some benefits from fighting on your home territory, but if you lose it's GameOver. On a smaller scale, if you lose your home province on the shard map, you lose battle for that shard.

* TimedMission: [[spoiler: The campaign. It has to be finished in a fixed amount of turns (the exact amount depends on the difficulty level) unless you want to EarnYourBadEnding.]]

* EvilPaysBetter: Random events that occur on the shard map have good and evil options t resolve them. In most cases, being evil or oppressing the local populace comes with large amounts of gold or other resources attached.

* BeefGate: NEutral provinces' guards and parties of monsters that inhabit the lairs get progressively stronger the further they are from the players' starting positions. This means that you can't advance far from your home province without a strong army. The fan community uses the term "ring" to describe this mechanic.

* BeefGate: The guards protecting neutral provinces as well as parties of monsters inhabiting the lairs get progressively stronger the further they are from the players' starting positions. This means that you can't advance far from your home province without having a strong army. The fan community uses the term "ring" to describe this mechanic.

* EvilPaysBetter: Events occur over the course of a map which offer options to either raise or lower your karma score. In most cases, being evil or oppressing the local populace can grab you large rewards of resources, usually badly-needed ones.
** For instance, it's possible to encounter a halfling farmstead while exploring your province. Trading with them yields +1 gold/turn, imposing a tax yields +3 gold/turn, while plundering and razing the settlement yields 200-300 gold immediately. Given that most of the early maps are conquered in 100 turns or so, being kind or just will never pay off before the game ends and the only reason not to murder them all is to avoid the negative karma.

* ScoringPoints: The game keeps score of how you play, both in campaign as a whole and on each separate shard, and ranks you according to your score.

* BeefGate: The guards protecting neutral provinces as well as parties of monsters inhabiting the lairs get progressively stronger the further they are from the players' starting positions. This means that you can't advance far from your starting province without having a strong army. The fan community uses the term "ring" do describe this mechanic.

* CriticalExistenceFailure: Averted. When unit's health drops lower than half, unit's attack starts getting progressively weaker.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Western-type variety. They like to hoard treasures, occasionally raid your settlements for tribute but usually just stick to their lairs, and they are, not surprisingly, the strongest single units in the game, being [[LightningBruiser flying Lightning Bruisers with magical ranged attack]] and [[AntiMagic having magic immunity]]. Taking out even one can be tricky if you're not smart, and late in the game you can stumble upon sites guarded by EIGHT dragons at once. One of the Masters you may encounter is (or rather, [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence was]]) a dragon. He has a bad temper, and [[OhCrap he can deploy dragons in his armies]].

* UnstoppableRage: Some units have this as an ability (namely, Barbarians, Minotaurs, etc.). When hit with a single strong enough attack, the unit becomes enraged for the remainder of the battle, gaining immunity to morale damage and attack penalties for low heatlh.

* BeefGate: Hexes are classified by "ring," i.e. how many concentric rings from a starting hex it is. Province guards and dungeon denizens in ring 1, the adjacent hexes, are notably weaker than those in ring 2 (and those in ring 2 weaker than ring 3 etc), encouraging you to conquer every province adjacent to your starting hex before advancing on ring 2. Note that every player, including the AI, faces this sort of BeefGate on every map, meaning that expansion gets progressively harder as you move outward from your capital - until you're halfway between your capital and someone else's, at which point it begins getting easier again. Of course, unless your opponent has been napping, you'll probably encounter his border around the halfway point too...

* CrystalDragonJesus: The Lord of Light. Interestingly, it is implied that he may actually not exist, unlike the rest of the gods. But the powers that his monks and clerics wield are very real, nonetheless.

* EvilPaysBetter: Events frequently which can occur over the course of a map which offer options which will either raise or lower your karma score. In most cases, being evil or oppressing the local populace can grab you large rewards of resources, usually badly-needed ones. For instance, it's possible to encounter a halfling farmstead while exploring your province. Trading with them yields +1 gold/turn, imposing a tax yields +3 gold/turn, while plundering and razing the settlement yields 200-300 gold immediately. Given that most of the early maps are conquered in 100 turns or so, being kind or just will never pay off before the game ends and the only reason not to murder them all is to avoid the negative karma.

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Nothing stops you from picking evil choices. Sell food for sky-high prices to starving provinces, sell bodies of those who died during epidemics to necromancers, make nifty trinkets out of captured magical creatures, rob your own provinces, take CannonFodder units in your army and turn them into undead or use as sacrifices to summon demons. Enjoy your [[ForTheEvulz evulz]].

At first glance Eador (pronounced ''eh-ah-dOhr'') may seem like ''HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' or ''AgeOfWonders'' clone, but scratch the surface and you see a complex empire building game similar to ''Dominions'', ''Civilization'' and (somehow) ''EuropaUniversalis''. You simultaniously fight tactical battles not unlike ''KingsBounty'' or ''AgeOfWonders''; develop your home castle, build upgrades in provinces; keep an eye on population growth and mood; send your heroes on quests, to invade neighbouring provinces, into dungeons or to explore lands in search for resources; make alliances and trade with other players; buy and repair equipment or powerful artifacts for your heroes; learn and use rituals that affect the world and simple spells useful in battle; react to random events that influence the economy, world and your alignment... This is a big game.

* ArmorPiercingAttack: Comes in two flavours - one that ignores fixed amount of opponent's close/ranged/magic defence and one that ignores half of it. Most units have either type, but heroes may combine two by using appropriate equipment.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Foreign units that you get from allying with any non-human race are arguably this. Sure, these units give you a better alternative to some of your castle units, but almost all of them belong to Tier 1, and perfroming the quest necessary to get them can be very tricky, time-consuming and may require considerable amount of luck. Unless you rush, by the time you get them the match has probably reached the point when they don't really matter. Of course, there are reasons to form an alliance besides getting new unit.
* BackFromTheDead: You can resurrect your fallen heroes as often as you like, provided you can pay the required price in gold and crystals. The prices get progressively steeper the more levels your hero has, and he must be brought back to your capital first before you can bring him back to life which can take very long time, so it's better to keep your heroes alive. Additionaly, the "Resurrection" and "Reincarnation" spells allow you to bring your units back to life right on the battlefield, and the Champion hero has this as a class ability.

** It should be noted that the game mechanics discourage using your troops as CannonFodder - part of a total experience obtained for a sucesfull battle is equally divided among all troops, even dead and summoned ones (that disappear after battle), meaning, that if you habitualy use your troops as disposable meat, your surviving units will level slower.

* FakeLongevity: The main point of criticism for the ''Genesis'' campaign is how dragged out it feels - the battle for each individual shard can take very long time and the shards are very similar between each other with no unique features on them. ''Masters Of The Broken World'' tries to adress this by making intervals between plot events shorter and adding new shard conditions and terrain.

* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: ''Genesis'' gives you only one autosave slot in lieu of standart save system. However, at any given time you have the option to go back to previous turn and try some things differently, or go back to the Astral Plane to a point before you invaded current shard. This comes at a cost of lowering your total score in the former case and permanently lowering your energy income in the latter. InUniverse, you travel back in time when you do this.

* NintendoHard: The game requires to plan your macro strategy far in advance, and can be very brutal if you don't know what you're doing. Lampshaded by the game itself when it averts EasyModeMockery - when you choose your initial difficulty level for the campaign, if you hover the cursor over the "Beginner" level (the easiest one), it will show you a tool-tip that says "A reasonable choice". On the other hand, the "Overlord" difficulty gives you "Don't even try!".

* UnstoppableRage: Some units have this as an ability (namely, Barbarians, Minotaurs, etc.). When hit with a single strong enough attack, the unit becomes enraged till the end of battle, becoming immune to morale damage and attack penalties for low heatlh.
* UselessUsefulSpell: Averted. Some spells may be situational but none of them are completely useless. Additionaly, many of the spells have some [[NotTheIntendedUse additional, and sometimes completely different effect or property]] that is not apparent from spell's name. Read the descriptions, seriously!
* VideoGameCaringPotential: Pick good choices during random events, send food to provinces where hunger occurs, dedicate funds to combat epidemics, save innocent non-humans from [[AngryMob angry mobs]], reward your subjects for jobs well done, light magical fireworks for village fairs and enjoy your good karma and all benefits that come with it.

* YouRequireMoreVespeneGas: Gold and magic crystals on shard map, energy on Astral Plane.

* ClassAndLevelSystem: For your recruitable heroes. You can recruit a Warrior, a Mage, a Commander and a Scout to be your chosen champion to lead your armies on any given shard (and can recruit more than one for extra cost). Each class in turn has further sub-classes that they can spec into after reaching level 10.

* ArmorPiercingAttack: Comes in two flavours - one that ignores fixed amount of opponents close/ranged/magic defence and one that ignores half of it. Most units have either type, but heroes may combine two by using appropriate equipment.

* ForTheEvulz: Many choices during random events allow you to paint yourself as cartoonishly evil villain, but two cases deserve special mention. During the event with a captured unicorn you can order to make chops out of it, and during the event with a captured mermaid you can similarily order to make a soup out of her. You are an incorporeal entity inhabiting the astral plane, so you physically cannot eat food. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Besides, the unicorn chops taste terrible]]. [[spoiler: However, in mermaid's case the soup option is the only one that allows you to gain something - the scales your cooks peel off her tail net you some gold. All other choices from her event give you nothing.]]

* KarmaMeter: Recognized in-universe. Building certain buildings or recruiting certain units will swing your karma meter one way or another (reflected in your statistics page with monikers such as "the Pure" or "the Dark"). With chaotic or necromantic spells, simply '''casting''' them gives you negative karma each time.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Western-type variety. They like to hoard treasures, occasionally raid your settlements for tribute but usually just stick to their lairs, and they are, not surprisingly, the strongest single units in the game, being [[LightningBruiser flying Lightning Bruisers with magical ranged attack]] and [[AntiMagic having magic immunity]]. Taking out even one can be tricky if you're not smart, and late in the game you can stumble upon sites guarded by EIGHT dragons at once. One of the Masters you may encounter is a dragon (or rather, was, see AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence above). He has a bad temper, and [[OhCrap he can deploy dragons in his armies]].

* {{Precursors}}: The Ancients. Their civilization collapsed around the Cataclysm, however due to their longevity few remnant individuals managed to survive up to somewhat recent times, but by the time the game takes place in they are all extinct.

* TreacherousAdvisor: Danur, who [[spoiler: kills you at the end of tutorial map. Subverted in that he was actually your servant, and was acting according to your orders.]]

''Eador: Genesis'' was released in 2009 in Russia and [[NoExportForYou nowhere else]] until December 2012 when it was released internationally via GOG. ''Eador: Masters of the Broken World'' is an UpdatedRerelease with new graphics and features that came out in 2013 and is available on Steam and GOG.

''Eador: Genesis'' was released in 2009 in Russia and [[NoExportForYou nowhere else]] until December 2012. ''Eador: Masters of the Broken World'' is an UpdatedRerelease with new graphics and features that came out in 2013 and is available on Steam.