Knights and Merchants recreates the era of the Middle Ages. Apart from the purely fictitious geography of our world, all game elements and scenes are based on the Anglo-Saxon period, ca. 1200 A.D. And we haven't used imaginary elements like fabled creatures, either. The player takes on the role of an ordinary captain in the Palace Guard. A conspiracy against the king catapults the captain into a situation where he finds himself responsible for the defence of the last royal province. This is all that remains of the shattered kingdom, which has been split into numerous small principalities and fiefdoms. And now even the king himself, ensconced in his capital, is threatened by enemy armies. This is the starting point of your Middle Ages adventure. Now you must win back all those provinces which once belonged to your king.

Knights and Merchants can be described as a strategic economy simulation. In the main, the economics play a major role in this real-time action game. The player can manufacture different products, making use of numerous buildings and producer goods of the Middle Ages period. He can use his serfs to construct and maintain buildings and roads. The economical structuring is very specific. You manufacture finished products using various raw materials which go through your production processes. All these manufacturing systems are highly detailed and visually understandable, enabling fast and dependable control of your economy. All the graphics (with the exception of the landscape), are bitmaps, which are either "pixeled" or calculated using Autodesk's 3D MAX program. They are flexibly structured and merge perfectly with the light and shadow conditions of the corresponding background.

• Lush realistic landscapes based on the European countryside
• Over 30 Single Player Missions
• 10 Multiplayer maps with a variety of scenarios. Players can choose from battles or village building scenarios
• Up to 6 can take part in multiplayer battles through an IPX network, TCP/IP Internet or a direct modem-to-modem or serial connection
• About 25 different buildings, including horse stables, farms, schoolhouses and gold mines
• More than a dozen different types of characters including winemakers and town wenches
• Over 10 different troop types, including archers, scouts and knights
• Instant action. On screen hints and tutorials provide easy guidance to get started
• Realistic landscape display using complex Gouraud shading techniques
• Production processes and movement of military units portrayed in detailed animation- rendered cut-scenes