Travian is an anomaly in the browser game genre: it’s a remarkably deep and addictive multi-player strategy title. It’s spawned several clones, including an Ultima-flavored one. Developed by German studio Travian Games, it’s apparent to this reviewer that the staff has drawn inspiration from another German-made game: The Settlers of Catan. And I mean that in the best way possible. Travian, for those who have played it in its handful of other versions since 2004, is a different kind of strategy title that helps to while away the boring hours at work like no Zynga game can. Equal parts military strategy, city building, and exploration Travian has a lot to offer for the low price of “free.”
A Model She Ain’t
The visuals for Travian won’t be winning an award anytime soon. While the art is charming and not without a style of its own, everything’s completely unanimated. Essentially, Travian is a throwback to the days of old PC games when still pictures were all you needed to have fun. Now I’m not saying the visuals need to be good either. As a browser-based game, one has to value the speed at which all the data on your village can be accessed, and from pretty much any browser the player chooses (from IE to Chrome). But I think it’s safe to say that Travian’s visuals aren’t its strongest attribute. There’s also no real sound to the game, so don’t go into this historically-themed strategy title expecting to hear clashing of swords and shouting of warriors. The bulk of the title’s appeal is in its character and city building, and to a different extent its player versus player content.
My Brain Hurts
The seasoned Travian veterans out there will scoff at this, but Travian isn’t exactly a newbie friendly experience. The tutorial you’re treated to after founding your first town is enough to get you started on the basics on resource management, adventuring, and town-building but beyond that you’ll be largely left to a pretty extension FAQ and help from other players on the forums. It’s not the mechanics that are hard to learn, as Travian is basically a game about gathering resources, keeping yourself defended, and expanding your empire through force. But where new players will get tripped up is in just how to do all of that and take advantage of the many things the game offers.
There is a wealth of things to manage and keep tabs on in Travian. At first it’ll seem simple enough. Build farms for food. Mines where there is iron. Clay pits where there is clay. But as your village grows, you’ll need to “level up” each mine, farm, or pit to sustain all your people and keep the village thriving. You’ll also need to send out your “Hero” on adventures to get more forces, more money, and in general to help establish your defenses. The ultimate goal of the game is to advance your city to the point where you can construct a Wonder of the World… but to do that you’re going to have to withstand a great many enemy onslaughts. It’s a many-layered and complex experience, but one that’s worth diving into if you don’t mind learning as you go.
A Fighting Chance
When you begin the game you’ll pick to be a part of one of three factions: the Gauls, the Romans, or the Teutons. Romans build faster, Gauls defend better, and Teutons are more offensively geared. But each advantage of the three factions can be outweighed by proper advancement and persistence by the player. There’s a fourth NPC tribe called the Natars, but they only come into play towards the end of each Travian game cycle (240 days after the start of a server’s game). They’re basically just there to cause trouble for the remaining players trying to build Wonders.
You begin with just one city under your lead, but as the game progresses you can establish and take over other cities via hostile means. That’s right, Travian is a PvP game. There’s no safe haven other than the first few days you sign up and start your city. Once the 72-hour period of safety is up, you’d better have built some walls, some crannies to store and protect your goods from invaders, and get prepared to go on the offensive when able.
In that vein, Travian is a game that’s heavily geared towards cooperative play. For all intents and purposes, it’s pretty much going to be impossible for one player to win, but a strong alliance of players will be incredibly formidable. If you don’t want to get left behind or completely ransacked constantly by the opposition, it’s best to find an established alliance and offer your goods and services to them early. That’s pretty much the only way your village will be anything more than another place for your enemies to pillage.
The Slow March of Dimes
Which brings us the somewhat distressing way in which Travian operates as a whole. All games need a way to make money, and Travian does so by offering players the opportunity to buy coins which will allow them to speed up construction and pretty much any other task in the game. You see progression in Travian happens in real time… realslow time. You want to build something? It’s gonna take half an hour or more. Check back later. But with gold coins, you can essentially buy it to completion with a click. This leads to the obvious imbalance of paying players quickly outpacing others. Which can be fine and good if you’re in an alliance with a mix of folks, but there are plenty of alliances who will simply boot out the casual players that don’t wish to spend money or be at the game’s beck and call all day. Travian seems like a casual experience, but the competitive nature of the title makes it infinitely not so.
There’s got to be a better way to earn money than by making it tied to speeding up production so your little hamlet can stay safe, right? I’m no businessman, but something tells me that you’re going to drive away more customers than you could get when those few willing to plunk down cash are the ones consistently driving away the casuals. But then who knows: it’s highly likely that casuals would never spend a dime (I wouldn’t) and Travian is content to let the folks who do spend hours and dollars rule the servers. That’s really, if we boil it all down, their target audience. Travian serves players willing to spend a little money much more than it serves freeloaders. Perhaps that’s as it should be, and it’s certainly an aspect that’s not changing anytime soon.
Fun But Not For Everyone
The end result is a strategy game that’s great for a precious few people with the patience, wallets, and friends to enjoy it. Travian is by and large one of the best browser games around. There’s no incessant need to bug your friends or send free gifts a la the new crop of Facebook games. It’s also one of the deepest competitive titles out there and won’t cost you a penny if you don’t want it to. But the drawbacks are that it’s a little less newbie friendly than it needs to be, and the players who succeed will be those who spend some money and plenty of time in front of the monitor. As an open PvP game, where life goes on even if you’re not there, that’s just the nature of Travian. That said, I do heartily recommend trying it out. If your schedule permits little five-minute check-ups every so often throughout the day, and you don’t mind spending five bucks here or there to keep pace with others, than you’ll probably love the heck out of it. If on the other hand you want to build your city and advance your Hero in peace and you prefer to do all of your gaming in one sitting, you’re probably better off playing something else entirely.
Pros
- Works on pretty much any browser and machine
- Wealth of character and town advancement options
- Interesting PvP mechanics
Cons
- Charming, but dated unanimated visuals
- Real-time but very slow progression
- May be frustrating to newcomers
