The Kings of the Dark Age Patch

The Kings of the Dark Age provides great medieval atmosphere to player with its realistic in-detailed economy, military and political management, 45 minute original soundtrack, complex and exciting battles and castle siege and colorful and eye-catching graphics.

Player has to survive through 17 levels (14 different medieval European counties). Beside campaign mode the player can also enjoy both single and multiplayer battles.

Dissatisfied with kings who had been imposed to them, French and German dukes have decided to have a meeting in Aachen, from where Charlemagne used to reign, to solve this situation in their own advantage. French king, Charles 4th, and German king, Henry 2nd, where installed by the Pope, Stephen 9th, who in that way wanted to strengthen church power to the detriment of secular rulers, that is to have high-level rulers heavily influenced by him and through them hamper dukes' and even earls' power, in the first order having the choice of bishops in mind, who wouldn't be assigned by low-level rulers, than kings, on his instructions of course.

French dukes: Hugo the Great, the Duke of Aquitaine, Alan 2nd, the Duke of Brittany, Raoul, the Duke of Burgundy, and German dukes: Arnulf Bavarian, the Duke of Bavaria, Conrad 3rd, the Duke of Franconia, Henry 3rd, the Duke of Saxony, and Burkhard, the Duke of Swabia, in that meeting in Lorraine capital choused Otto, the Bishop of Aachen and the leader of the reform-minded part of the Christian Church, for the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. With that decision they have also resolved Lorraine conflict, because Lorraine was too long after bloody clashes swinging from French to German hands and inversely.

Otto's first move after the installation on the Emperor's position was wedding with Adelaide who is the widow of Louis of Provence and Carolingian line, therefore heiress of inheritance right on emperor's reign, and head of United women believers, whit whom, and this was a public secret, he already had a grown-up son. On the day after the wedding-day, he organized a solemn crowning and he extended an invitation to all subordinate rulers to come and recognize him his authority.

Since Italian king, Berengar 2nd, had also been appointed by the Pope and had have no obedience from low-level rulers, he has taken the trouble to prevent them to organize and request to become the emperor's subjects and he has left them behind with this purpose. He showed up at the emperor Otto, who secretly saw him after the wedding. On the next day at crowning that act provoked a big astonishment and therefore heads of two dukes and one earl arrived from Italy, who had their cunning plan, were cut the same day.

That the crowning day was even more exciting, speaks the fact that on the ceremony didn't come either king of Arles, Lothar 3rd, or lower-ranked rulers from the Kingdom of Arles, the Duke of the Northern Burgundy, Louis 5th, and the Duke of the Southern Burgundy, Rudolph 3rd. In the Kingdom of Arles the situation with holders of power is just the opposite than in the surrounding kingdoms.

Namely, that two dukes aren't only very good friends, than even lovers, and they, when it was expected the Pope to assign a nobleman disposed toward them, to everyone's amazement, was publicly expressing willingness to comply with him and they was even sending to the Pope letters in which it was written that he, the Pope, by all means install that nobleman for king. But the Pope didn't like it and he appointed another candidate for king and the name of that candidate was Lothar 3rd. Soon it turned out that the dukes, by arrangement with Lothar 3rd, fulfilled an artful plan and it was evident from their joint wedding, because they both married to Lothar 3rd's daughters and on the celebration they all ate a lot and with good appetite, they hit the bottle hard and they threw a great party in the atmosphere of considerable togetherness.

The emperor has resolved this situation in that way that he has also assigned Lothar 3rd for the King of Arles and for the Chairman of the emperor's council, which members are all earls and what is a empire's parliament of its own kind. On receipt of the emperor's decisions, Lothar 3rd went right away with his happy fellowship, with his sons-in-law, on a trip to Aachen to bow down before the emperor. The story goes that organized celebration was the best ever among them that took place in Aachen!

But the emperor was eager for greater power than he was given and he installed himself for the King of Germany, and he call Frenchmen to decide themselves who will be their king. The emperor wanted in that way to weaken the power of the French dukes, which wasn't little. The last emperor's decision that we mention now is placing his son, Liudolf, for duke of his own dukedom and he gave him this title: the prince of Lorraine.

Here are some key features of "The Kings of the Dark Age":

· OpenGL graphic engine with full antialiasing resolutions: 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, 1280 x 960, 1280 x 1024, 16bit or 32bit · A complete DirectX 9 compatible sound engine · 17 European medieval counties and levels divided in three large chapters realistic husbandry, military and economical models as well as diplomatic relationships · More then 30 army units and siege weapons · Battlefields with hundreds of units and special effects like flamed arrows, weather effects, blood, flora and fauna... · 40 minute original high quality stereo soundtrack · AI that uses realistic tactics and behaves natural (panic, fear, high moral, grouping and regrouping on the field) · Complex castle siege with highly detailed castle models and army · Local network area multiplayer, Internet play (TPC/IP), match-making service up to 4 players · Step by step playable tutorials