Line #17 VideoGame/Cossacks


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1cossacks.jpg]]
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3	''Cossacks'' (''Козаки'' in Ukrainian) is a series of historical RealTimeStrategy PC video games for Windows created by [[UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}} Ukrainian]] developer Creator/GSCGameWorld (which later made the ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' series). The series covers the major UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}an conflicts from the early [[TheCavalierYears 17th century]] to UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars (including conflicts in Eastern Europe involving, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin well]], UsefulNotes/{{Cossacks}}) and, so far, consists of:
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5	* ''VideoGame/CossacksEuropeanWars'' (2000) and its two {{expansion pack}}s:
6	** ''Cossacks: The Art of War'' (2001)
7	** ''Cossacks: Back to War'' (standalone, 2002)
8	* ''Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars'' (2005) and its expansion pack:
9	** ''Cossacks II: Battle for Europe'' (2006)
10	* ''Cossacks 3'' (2016). Has some DownloadableContent:
11	** ''Days of Brilliance'' (2016), ''Rise to Glory'' (2017), ''Guardians of the Highlands'' (2017), ''Path to Grandeur'' (2017), ''The Golden Age'' (2017)
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13	GSC Game World also released ''VideoGame/AmericanConquest'' in 2003, which is basically ''[[SpiritualSuccessor Cossacks]] [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace in the Americas]]''.
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15	!! Tropes present across the franchise:
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17	* BaselessMission: Some of the hardest missions in the campaigns give the player a limited number of units to manage without any base to bring reinforcements or farm resources.
18	* CallThatAFormation: Troops begin without being in a formation, although they can form basic shapes. Sufficient numbers can form a regiment, that can assume a formation. Not all units can form regiments even if they have the numbers and a officer, and are usually easily killed by units that ''are'' in formation, as formations provide strong offensive and defensive bonus.
19	* CannonFodder: The player's units on the battlefield, naturally. Especially when they are not fully upgraded and going against upgraded enemies.
20	* CripplingOverspecialization: Most ranged units can not fight in melee (save for 18th century musketeers and grenadiers, who have [[BayonetYa bayonets]]) and try to escape when the enemy is too close.
21	* {{Leitmotif}}: Like in ''VideoGame/AmericanConquest'', in ''II'', every nation contributes one piece of music to the soundtrack:
22	** France has a military fife motif, reminiscent of revolutionary French music.
23	** Britain has a Scottish drums and pipes motif.
24	** Austria has a waltz music motif.
25	** Prussia has a dark, drum and strings-heavy march-of-doom motif.
26	** Spain has a Flamenco-like guitar, trumpet and castanet motif.
27	** Egypt has a drum-heavy ''Saidi'' motif.
28	** Russia has a motif inspired by Russian dances and folk music, featuring snippets from the ''Song of the Volga Boatmen''.
29	** The Confederation of the Rhine has a generic motif incorporating bells and trumpets.
30	** Poland has a heroic drum and strings-heavy motif faintly reminiscent of ''Polonaise'' music.
31	* MillionMookMarch: The ''huge'' number of units available to the players is the series' best-known trademark. The latest installment, ''Cossacks 3'', has a global population cap of 16000.
32	* RapePillageAndBurn: Implied: when your units capture enemy buildings, they have a chance of automatically catching fire. It's not unusual for entire settlements to be destroyed this way.
33	* SpitefulAI: The CPU makes extensive use of its frame-prefect reflexes to suicide every capturable unit it can before they fall into enemy hands.
34	* WeHaveReserves: The aforementioned high population cap (in fact, theoretically infinite in ''Back to War'') and the fact that some units can be trained in literally ''less than a second'' means that this is a perfectly viable tactic.
35	* VideoGameRemake: ''Cossacks 3'' is not a sequel or a remaster. ''Cossacks 3'' [[CompilationRerelease IS]] ''Cossacks: European Wars'', right down to the game mechanics, with graphical overhaul. There are new campaigns, however.
36	* YouRequireMoreVespeneGas: There are ''six'' resources for player to collect and keep track of.
37	** Food. Used to keep your people fed and do research. Food is constantly consumed, so players need strong economy or store food before creating their armies.
38	** Wood and Stone: Used to build buildings. Fortifications, whether they're made of wood or stone, constantly consume wood and stone too, and a strong production of both is needed as a result.
39	** Gold: Used to pay upgrades, or hire merceneries. Mercenaries use gold like normal troops use food, and if you run out of gold they will rebel against you. Artillery also uses gold to fire.
40	** Iron and coal: Used by gunpowder units to fire and to produce units. If you do not have iron or coal, your gunpowder units can not fire.

Context VideoGame / Cossacks