Burntime

Hello all,

One of my favorite themes in games in the Post Apocalyptic theme, not that I am looking forwards to the end of our civilization but I am always curious of what happens after it.

On the PC I played such games as the Fallout series, and Bad Blood.
There is also Wasteland, Fallout's 'grandfather', but I have not given that one a try yet.

These were in general pure RPG or Action Adventure games, with perhaps some hints of survival.
While these games had some elements of hardships in the wastelands of future Earth it in general was more of a backdrop.

Several years ago I discovered a game called Burntime by Max Design (from Anno fame) which was also a RPG esque game but less focused on story telling and more on surviving the conditions of the wasteland with the eventual goal of reuniting all surviving outposts under one leader.

Its even questionable if Burntime is really a RPG and not more of a strategy game with RPG elements.
In order expand the player's control of the wasteland people have to be hired that are divided in three classes; Fighters, Technicians, and Doctors

These people on their turn demanded resources for their aid which the player had to gather; most often food.
Going through the ruins of old buildings, shacks and tents the player might find useful resources like bottles, scrap metal, wood, pieces of a radiation suit and so on, which can be used for trade or be used by the player.

Technicians for example can also make useful things from scraps like traps which can be used to capture various animals that can be eaten.

Other work people that work for the player can do is protect settlements from hostiles, collect food, and heal the player.

The player could also visit large cities that could not be taken over and meet traders who could sell the player various useful things in return for items; weapons, munition, and so on.

I have been watching some of the gameplay videos on Youtube and have wanted to try it out myself but I have some difficulty with getting the right settings.

I wanted to ask people what they thought of Burntime.
The game differs very much from for example Fallout as it has no extremities in factions like religious groups or large armies.
Things like governments seem to have been eliminated completely other than on a tribal or settlement level, and while there are mutants and wild animals, in the end the player's greatest enemies are still his or her fellow survivors and not a hidden organization.

This in my opinion gives this game its own atmosphere which is much more depressing and hopeless.
There are no bigger than life figures working from behind the shadows are building something from the ruins, there are just survivors who try to make the best with what is left.

Hope to hear from people

I don't think I've ever played this game... although I've tried so many it is hard to remember. When I get time I will see if I can get it to run and take a look.

Well I have been giving the game a try, and while I like the game concept in general the reviewers in the old Amiga magazines were not kidding when they said that the path finding AI is terrible, when I instruct my characters to walk to a certain place it is sometimes the question if they go there and not decide to go around completely, or get stuck in some kind of loop.

The combat is also quite terrible as its not clear if you hit an enemy sometimes or not.

Also and I wonder if this is an emulator related problem, the disk exchange sometimes doesn't work.
The program keeps asking for another disk but even when I put it in it doesn't go on.

In general I think this game probably works better on an Amiga with HD or on the PC.