TransGaming Ports 3 Kohan Titles to Linux

Kohan_Rocks writes: "TransGaming today anounced the opening of their new 'webstore' which includes the brand new port of Three Kohan Titles. Probably equally amazing is the distribution method: All three games are available for download only (finally big name games available for download!). I'll probably buy atleast some of these games even though I have the old Loki version of the original Kohan - Loki's wern't network compatiable with windows, TransGaming's apparantly are (and its just such a cool game)."

Kohans - short review

[Dark Paladin]

A Kohan review in less than 60 seconds:

The core idea behind Kohans: Immortal Sovereigns deals with a group of immortal beings who can be resurrected at any time as long as you have their medallion.

The game is in the RTS genre, with some nice features. Micromanagement is largely out, since once you "claim" a resource, it's yours, unless one of your enemies goes to claim it.

Instead of having huge armies, it's organized into squads with 1 leader, 4 "primary" units, and 2 secondary units.

The squad system is unique, and adds some interesting strategy. Each Kohan (the immortal guys) have their own specialty, like "bonus to horse riding units", or "extra healing powers". And, as your Kohans, go into battle, they gain levels to get stronger (and can be carried from mission to mision.) You might want to do things like put the healing expert Kohan in charge of a defensive force, and have them protect the city, while a Kohan who gives bonuses to speed might be sent out to scout out enemy territory and claim mines and such.

One thing to remember - if your Kohan dies, they go back to Level 1 after you pay to "resurrect" them, so you start to get attached and have to weigh sacrificing a Kohan this time to win a battle, playing it safer to win the war, or hitting the "reload" button.

There was a lot to like about the game, and while most levels are usually just "go claim other cities and kick ass", and having a mass of squads in battle can really slow things down, overall Kohan is probably worth your time to check it out.

Now, if they would just make an OS X version, I'd be set....

Re:Does transgaming work for Mac OSX?

[akac]

Um, Mac OS X is completely UNIX. 100%. It can run XWindows, KDE, etc... A comment like Mac OS X is not UNIX enough is absolutely stupid and shows ignorance. The correct answer is - its the processor. If Mac OS X ran on x86 (Darwin does, but the upper layer - the window manager per se does not), then WINE and therefore transgaming could probably run with a few modifications.

Re:Does transgaming work for Mac OSX?

[Anonymous Coward]

Um, Mac OS X is completely UNIX. 100%.

No. It lacks (by default) the dlopen() interface to the dynamic linker, which Wine utilizes heavily. Big chunks of POSIX are missing.

The correct answer is - its the processor.

Correct. Kohan is packed with (in some cases, self-modifying) assembly.

If Mac OS X ran on x86 (Darwin does, but the upper layer - the window manager per se does not), then WINE and therefore transgaming could probably run with a few modifications.

Possibly? Yes. Probably? No.

Re:Which one

[mdwebster]

Kohan: Ahriman's Gift is the best for a number of reasons. The downside is that it's significantly harder than the first game, Immortal Sovereigns.

You get access to the new units. You get access to more campaign missions. If you play online (and that's where the longevity of these games lie), most people are using K:AG vs. K:IS these days. The campaign is a prequel in storyline vs. a sequel, so you're not really spoiling yourself (not that the stories GREAT or anything, but if it's a concern it shouldn't be ..)

My recommendation would be to play a number of skirmish missions to get a feel for the game mechanics before playing the campaign. Some people prefer the skirmish mode to the exclusion of the campaign as they can fine-tune the difficulty by chosing various AI opponents, their race, the map, etc. Then play the campaign using the easiest AI setting. I believe you can get some strategy tips at www.kohan.net forums still.

Downloading it now

[Fizzol]

I decided to spring for the original version of Kohan. You pay your money and then get directed to a download site. You get what I'm assuming is a custom version of winex (4mb) and the game (158mb). The manual is available in both PDF and txt formats while the game files are available in rpm, deb and tgz formats (tgz files weren't available but will be shortly according to the site). The internet connection is required because the first time the game runs it downloads a specially modified executable tuned to run only on your system. That part doesn't bother me as I'm the only one I know running Linux and I don't pirate software anyway. However, I am a bit concerned that upgrading my system (I fiddle and reinstall pretty often), or making changes might cause the game to decide it's running on a foriegn system. We'll see.

Re:Great, big downloads...

[crazney]

TransGaming's kohan package size are as follows:

* Kohan IS: 150 Mb
* Kohan SAE: 152 Mb
* Kohan AG: 226 Mb

Thats pretty good.

David

Re:Downloading it now

[crazney]

It may not run after some upgrades, but thats easily fixed as it will just re-grab a new executable that will run. (actually if it detects you as pirating the game it will still run, just with a nice easter egg *grins*).
No personal or statistical information is transfered to TransGaming in this process.

David

Re:Which one

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't buy all three! There are only two games here. Ahriman's Gift is one, and the other two are the same game. SAE has a few additions for multiplayer that the other doesn't. It's screwy since most of the SAE additions are available as a patch for the original version of Kohan IS.