Rising Lands

Story

 A massive meteor threatens to destroy the planet and every nation on earth joins together to destroy the incoming threat by firing nuclear missiles at it. The mission fails however, and leaves Earth scarred as several fragments of the meteor hit the planet. Only a fraction of the world population survives the disaster as they gradually regroup and start forming into four clans: the Blue Bloods, Yellow Rebels, Red Bandits and the Green Jackals. These clans all have the same goal; to rebuild what once was, to rule the Earth. Only one clan can rise to rule all of Earth however, and isn't soon until the clans start forming armies of their own.
Beyond the other Clans threatening each other there's the Assassins Guild. A Guild whose sole purpose is to kill and plunder, they have no Allegiance and seek to destroy all four of the clans so they alone can claim dominion over the Earth. And at last there's the Shadow Creatures. Monsters that only recently started showing up, leaving a path of destruction in their wake.
The player is the leader of the Blue Bloods clan, and must lead his clan towards greatness in order to rule the Earth.

Gameplay

You start each mission by selecting a field of research in which the player wishes to advance. The research done through each mission is kept and saved, meaning the player can use previous technologies in future missions. This means there's no preset tech tree at the start of each mission, since a player chooses his own technologies over the course of the campaign. The thief unit is capable of stealing technology for the player, which will be added and saved much like regular research.
There's four types of research that the player can choose from:

• Agriculture: Puts a heavy focus on the economy and welfare of the town, providing upgrades such as faster harvesting speed for food and a crop harvester which allows for mechanized harvesting. This field of research is mostly about increasing the players income.

• Mechanics: Puts a heavy focus on machinery, opening up an assault vehicle and several flight capable such as the Balloon. This field of research is mostly about utility.

• War: Puts a heavy focus on assault units, opening up units such as the Flamethrower and the Rhino. This field of research is helpful for aggressive players.

• Religion: Puts a heavy focus on magic, opening up units such as the Druid and the Hellfire. It also develops spells which the player can use to gain the upperhand. This field of research is a mix between utility and aggression, providing a fair amount of both.

After choosing the field of research the player can start the mission. Each mission has it's own objective, some of which are races or resource gathering mission, but usually it's a Free For All against the other clans. You have 3 basic resources with which you can build structures and units, Food - Stone and Metal. These resources all have to be stored in warehouses before the player can use the gathered resources. If there's no more space left in the warehouse every gathered resource is dropped on the ground outside the warehouse.
Food can only be gathered by Farmers or Crop Harvesters and is the basic resource for creating units.
Stone can only be gathered by Construction Workers and is the basic resource for building structures.
Metal can only be gathered by Mechanics and is the basic resource for creating vehicles.

Another important resource is colonists. These units have no direct role such as the farmer or the mechanic, but they are extremely vital to any tribe as they are used to train units and occupy buildings. Colonists are created by placing 5 bags of food into a Theater.
After a new building has been built it is considered a "neutral" building and needs a unit to occupy it before it becomes yours and functional. During this time it is possible for an enemy to take over your building with one of his units. Any unit can occupy a building, but that unit is not a colonist it will be turned into one as it occupies the building. This means you'll have lost resources on the training cost of this unit.
It should be noted that buildings can only be placed on plots of grass, and since grass is limited it is vital to not waste space and expand wisely.

Another gameplay feature is hunger. Hunger is present on every non-garrisoned biological unit in the form of a counter. The counter starts out completely filled and gradually runs empty. Once the counter is empty the unit will start going towards the closest food source, including random food sacks that could possibly be surrounded by enemies. If the hunger is not satiated by eating a sack of food the unit will start loosing health over time, eventually killing it. This means that outgoing skirmishes should always have filled bellies before venturing out, or a steady supply of food around them.
Mechanical units and garrisoned units do not have a need to feed.