Roadwar Europa

Roadwar Europa is a turn-based strategic videogame published in 1987 for Amiga , Apple II , Atari ST , Commodore 64 and MS-DOS computers by Strategic Simulations . It is the sequel to Roadwar 2000 of 1986 and differs little from the predecessor [1] , apart from the scenario that in this case is Europe instead of the United States, under the same conditions of post-apocalyptic barbarism .

In the 21st century, Europe is in a state of partial devastation following a biological war, and armed bands and mutants can be found on the territory. In this scenario, the terrorists have just destroyed a European city with a hidden nuclear device and threaten to destroy another five inaccurate ones. The UN sends a group of expert street fighters, equipped with modified civil vehicles and light weapons, to cross the continent, find and defuse the bombs, and finally attack the terrorist headquarters.
Game mode

In a new game you must first define your band in detail, or re-use a previous band of Roadwar 2000 saved on disk. Using text menus you define the vehicles, the crew and the supplies, spending separate points for the three things. The initial vehicles are up to 6, chosen from 19 models ranging from motorcycles to trucks and work vehicles. Each has many features related to capacity, driving and combat, which can be further modified for each vehicle. The crew members are 5 types corresponding to different levels of training. Supplies are food, tires, weapons, fuel and medicines.

The game screen then shows a map of Europe around the current position of the player's band. The map is composed of ideal boxes and the band moves as a unique pawn in the eight directions, taking into account roads and terrain types. In the Amiga, Atari ST and Commodore 64 versions, the screen is vertically divided and on the right side you can also see a lot of information on the status of the band. On Amiga and Atari ST you have four drop-down menus for the particular commands, in other versions the keyboard is used. Every move or other action consumes hours of the day. The map of the entire game area is only available on paper in the original editions.

On the territory you can meet other groups, hostile or not, not visible on the map. The cities are visible and when reached, you can explore a selection of their men, to try to understand who controls and defuse the eventual bomb. Especially in the city you can search for new vehicles, people and supplies. If you can contact allied agents you can get clues about the positions of the bombs. Groups of people with different skills can offer to join the band. There are also special characters not available at the beginning: doctors, military instructors and politicians (for diplomatic skills).

In the event of a fight between motorized bands, the disposition of men and weapons in automatic or manual vehicles can be chosen first. So you can choose between combat calculated automatically or played in detail by the player. In the second case it can be fast, with simplified rules and setting some parameters, or complete tactical. The tactical combat shows each individual vehicle on a local map and checks each move in turn, with complex rules for driving and firing with the passengers' weapons. You can also ram and board the opposing vehicles. Defeat determines the game over, the victory allows to seize new vehicles, supplies, people and get promotions for existing people.