At the end of the day, you might like to sit back and relax with some classic old gaming. With so many possible games for your system to choose from, which one should you play? Which ones will actually be worth your valuable time? Well, would a game that requires you to strategize and comes with many maps sound worth your time?
About TripleA
TripleA is the answer for you! If you’ve ever heard of Risk, it is a strategy board game in which you have to conquer the entire world, one region at a time. TripleA is very similar to Risk, but it also includes a few extras as well. Oh, and did I mention that it’s cross-platform and open source?
Installation
Installation of TripleA should be fairly easy. You can get the necessary files from here for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Some Linux users may even be able to find TripleA in their repositories. Ubuntu users will need to add the PlayDeb repository until the release of Ubuntu 12.04, where TripleA will then be included in the default repositories.
The choice between the stable and “unstable” (in reality just beta) is up to you, but I can say I’ve had no problems with the “unstable” builds so far. Please note, however, that you’ll need to have the Java runtime installed on your system for TripleA to work.
Running The Game
Launching TripleA will bring you to a welcome screen where you have many options to choose from. Not only can you start a single player game, you can also host or connect to multiplayer sessions, find online games in a lobby server, download new maps, and start a saved game.
When you click on “Start Local Game”, you can first pick out a map that you’d like to play on. Then, you’ll be presented with 7 nationalities, where you must choose which are human-controlled and which are controlled by the computer as well as their difficulty level. Every nationality is fighting for its own survival, so choosing to be in control of two nationalities if you’re playing by yourself might not be as fun.
Gameplay
Gameplay is pretty quick, as you’ll see when you start. It’s likely that some nations will have their turns before yours, so you’ll need to wait a minute or two before it’s actually your turn.
From there, you can build factories and machinery, raise armies, and more. You can also move units into combat or move them to a better location for the time being.
Combat is pretty interesting because it’s slightly evolved from simply rolling dice. Most of the complexity of battle can be seen in the screenshot above. Even though the concept still revolves around rolling dice, TripleA does a good job of making it a little more visually interesting.
There are a few other features here and there that are pretty cool to see. For example, TripleA, unlike Risk, introduces the idea of capital cities as well.
Conclusion
TripleA is a fun game that you could spend hours playing if you’re up against a good opponent. Even better, there are some pretty impressive maps in existence for TripleA, including an entire solar system with multiple planets, ready for you to conquer them. So really, what excuse do you have to not play this game?
What do you think about TripleA? Are there any suggestions you’d like to add? Let us know in the comments!
Image Credit: Jay Adan
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