Hello everyone!

Thanks to the incredible work of MisterCoderman, it is now possible to play Cossacks Back to War directly in a browser.

I have used that repo and had a little talk with LLM.

Presenting: Cossacks Persistent Multiplayer Mod

- Build, defend - or simply have a visit in a city that you built
- each building is re-done - and provides bonuses to the campaign faction
- peasants and units are not click-to-spawn - work like BattleRealms- steady income of peasants, you send them to barracks and they train there to selected unit

- trade, produce (new goods system), climb in ranks - build more, field more units - get a permit for artillery - give resource to your faction for research and merit

-battles of 3v3+1 - or 2v2v2 etc.. 7 slots as per original game (hard limit) during 3v3 - one additional slot is purchased for in-game merit currency (to allow 3v4)

- decision making (diplomacy, artillery allocation) based on in-game ranks and vote system - all done by players

- Currently Alpha Test (edit: yes the flags will be historical eventually :D) - looking for testers - https://cospm.online/

since the game is still under active copyright, you do need steam account to verify you own the game if you wish to play.

If you wish to help me with testing and development, please join the project discord (link on website) and i can give you debug login for the time being.

Me again :)

I've been pretty busy with European Warfare 2 lately. After spending the last few months modernizing the old American Conquest engine, moving it to 64-bit, Visual Studio 2022 and GPU rendering, I've finally had more time to focus on gameplay and new features.

And quite a lot has happened since then.

Conquest Mode, which I introduced in v0.94, has already grown considerably. It's essentially a turn-based strategic campaign layered on top of EW2's real-time battles. You move armies, capture towns, manage troops, fight battles or auto-resolve them, with surviving units and their experience carrying over.

With v0.95 I've expanded it further with trade routes, naval blockades, military passage agreements, town plundering, army transfers, improved battle presentation, fortifications and a proper tutorial campaign, alongside plenty of other improvements.

But there's another feature I'm particularly happy about.

You can now create your own single-player missions without coding!

One thing I always disliked about Cossacks and American Conquest was that creating missions required actual programming. I remember spending hours as a kid making missions in Age of Empires because it was so simple and fun.

So I finally built a Mission Editor directly into EW2's map editor, with 22 trigger conditions and 54 actions. You can now create and publish your own missions without writing code or compiling DLLs.

There's also a new Rules Editor for setting objectives, reinforcements, time limits and unit restrictions directly inside maps.

Besides that, v0.95 brings more AI improvements, better river crossing behavior, automatic building repair, improved fog of war, additional editor objects and plenty of bug fixes.

EW2 is still a free total conversion mod for American Conquest: Fight Back, covering 18th-century warfare across Europe, Asia and the Americas.

The project has grown far beyond what I originally imagined, and there's still quite a bit I want to do with it.

Download / full changelog: European Warfare 2: The Age of Reason file - ModDB

As always, feedback, suggestions and bug reports are welcome!

Me and my brother used to play this game a lot when we were kids. Then later we also played Cossacks 3. It was also fun although I preferred the graphics of the original but that came with some nice quality of life changes so it was a better experinence. But then after playing that for a while I realized that they seemingly have not changed anything about performance and max unit numbers so the game ran into some issues at huge battles. It bothered me, but there was nothing I could do and also life was in the way so we kind of stopped playing for many years. In the meantime I became a software engineer and spent many years working in the field.

In the past couple of months I had a ton of free time so I was looking for something fun to do. Out of coincidence I found a source code from ereb-thanatos from 2017 online for this game and I started digging into it. I thought since this has worse graphics this must play better than the 3, I just needed a couple quality of life changes to it. So I started with adding an option which disables mortars as I really hated them (I only play agains AI). Then went for the zoom out and 4k support. Took quite a while but the game was already waay better. Then I thought what about the unit cap? Hmm the game has performance issues... And then I started going down this rabbit hole and spent the last couple of months just adding things to the game what I liked and thought was fun and sharing it with my brother. This became kind of a hobby/obsession for me. As he really liked it now we are at a point where I realized this might be interesting also for others so I thought it would be fun to made a kind of a trailer for it. Not sure what to call it, I really feel like it is more then a mod now but maybe not a remaster because visually only the ui is upgraded I don't know. I did not want to touch the originals, tried upscaling/new models but it just didnt feel right :/ But here is a "trailer".

There are also a lot of other things, I can make a changelog I guess but this is the highlight.

It has still some small issues which I don't mind and know, but before sharing it I would want to fix them. So if people are interested I would share this, some kind of patch for the original game or source code which needs the original not sure yet. I have tested it on the GOG version so far. I just wanted to share what I have. What do you think?

TLDR: for people who didn't watch: 16 players, battles of 200,000 soldiers, multithreading for significant performace improvements, zoom out to the whole map in up to 4K, giant maps and the map generator, the upgraded AI, invite-code multiplayer, no servers, completely new UI and a ton of smaller things

Hello everyone,

I’m very happy to share some great news regarding Cossacks: Back to War!

Thanks to the incredible work of MisterCoderman, it is now possible to play Cossacks directly in a browser with little to no performance loss. It runs via WebAssembly and is available in versions for different operating systems.

One of the features I’m personally most excited about is the ability to set up a Docker server with built-in multiplayer support. This means that if you and your friends want to play together, you can simply host a Docker server and have your friends connect to the IP address, for example, using Hamachi or Tailscale. No setup is required on your friends’ side.

I think this is a huge step forward in keeping Cossacks: Back to War alive, especially considering that setting up multiplayer has notoriously been a finicky process.

New single-player content

The project also includes some great new single-player content:

• New campaign: Glory of Ushakov — 5 missions (available in Single Mission)
• New campaign: Science of Victory — 10 missions (available in Single Mission)
• Three new single missions:
  • Battle of Kolin
  • Battle of Naseby
  • Battle of Rocroi

Cheats

There are also several cheats available, including a new ai cheat:

You can check out the entire project here:

https://github.com/MisterCoderman/cossacks-1.52-platform

Or, if you just want to jump in and play the single-player version, you can do that here:

https://playminigames.nl/game/cossacks-back-to-war

Hey, it's me again :)

European Warfare 2 v0.94 is here, and this is probably the biggest update I've done so far, bringing together several months of engine work and a lot of new features.

EW2 is now 64-bit, finally removing the memory ceiling that had reached the point where I had basically stopped adding significant new content. That limitation is now gone, so EW2 can continue expanding.

The new GPU renderer is also now part of EW2, bringing much better performance in demanding situations, smooth zoom and transitions, improved sprite rendering, completely new fog of war and enhanced water.

The biggest gameplay addition is Conquest Mode — a new turn-based strategic campaign layer connected to EW2's real-time battles.

There are already three Conquest campaigns included in v0.94:

• Bohemia 1757 — Prussia vs Austria
• Seven Years' War — European Theater
• French and Indian War

They include multiple playable sides, strategic AI, persistent armies, reinforcements, fortifications, supply and attrition, forced marches and other campaign mechanics.

Beyond that, 0.94 contains a huge amount of work on AI, multiplayer/netcode, controls, objective battles, graphics, the editor and stability, along with a long list of fixes and smaller improvements.

One important note: v0.94 is highly experimental. A massive amount has changed under the hood, so while testing has gone very well, there may still be problems on some systems.

For that reason, v0.93 will remain available for download. If 0.94 doesn't work properly for you, you can simply reinstall the previous version.

Anyway, enough from me. :)

European Warfare 2 v0.94 Released — 64-bit, GPU Rendering & Conquest Mode news - ModDB

Have fun with v0.94, and let me know how it runs!

Hey guys, I am a giant fan of Cossacks Back to war and I have an idea.

Lately I have seen a lot of videos how people - recreated great games like Minecraft or Plants Vs Zombies, using a couple of prompts and ChatGPT ASTRA.

For about a year or two I’ve had the hope, that AI Advances far enough, that it can build whole games with 1-10 Prompts.

I think the time is finally here.

Is anyone capable of using AI and recreating Cossacks back to War - with more nations etc
Just a little bit more features than there were back 20 years ago

Hello beloved strategy fans

Shoutout to u/PeroTheLegoman for the amazing new mod for American Conquest and Fightback!

The game is back on the menu and boy, it's a blast.

My recommendation for getting into it, check the game speed (options/game options/game mode) and make it fast, there is even a slider to adjust, 3/4 is my actual recommendation.

-> Check by start of the match, if the game speed is set correct, sometimes it takes a slower speed than set in the menu. But you can change it anytime during the match.

I start this post, because there are not many informations about the different factions and tactics, the best source of information seems to be: https://americanconquest.fandom.com/wiki/

Therefore, I played a few matches against AI, with friends online and alone.
The european factions seem pretty powerful, today I tried the Iroquios for the first time (since like 2003?).
And I won against 3 other players, but until the end of the game, I still had no clue what their Pros are...
I mean, I built 3 barracks and 3 stables and had an amazing economy. There still was never enough wood for more barracks or stables, even with nearly 1k peasants on wood. So faster production was not possible, especially since there aren't any technologies to speed up production.

Their peasants are a pain when attacking you, because they set everything on fire. But as soon as you have some blockhouses or shooting units inside buildings, you don't have to fear anything anymore. They run away nearly instantly.

Let's check the units:

Tomahawk warrior: nice, but buildtime too long (200 frames), storm-force of 10 not worth it for sieges

Archer: very fast buildtime (25 frames), therefore the only real spammable unit. Lesser range than peasants, but they don't run away that fast

Native shooter: good blackpowder unit, with a very good range of 18.5 (other native shooters have a range of 12, american fusiliers have 19) - but also the buildtime is way too long in my opinion (150 frames)

For cavalry, their only option is the horseman, which seems to be really fast and good, but with a creation time of 4500 frames, you never get above 70 units, even with 3 stables. Stealing mines with them is a blast:)

What are your experiences so far?
Please share what your thoughts are if you have any tips or advices.

I will first check out the other native tribes and then the south americans.

Thank you guys, have a great day
Murky

Me again :) I know I only posted the ACR public beta release here about a week ago, but I've been busy since then 😅

Patch 1.53 is out! It brings further AI improvements, a bunch of bug fixes (including some ancient vanilla ones), editor/QoL improvements, and proper in-game language selection — now supporting English, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Turkish, Chinese, Russian and Polish.

Thanks again for all the feedback and support since release. A surprising amount has already been found and fixed thanks to you guys! :)

ACR Patch 1.53 is out! news - American Conquest Remaster mod for American Conquest - ModDB

Me again :) And no, this time it’s not another European Warfare 1 or European Warfare 2 post.

I’ve been working on something a bit different for a while now, and I’ve finally released the first public beta of American Conquest Remaster.

The idea is pretty simple: keep American Conquest feeling like American Conquest, but make it work properly on modern systems and improve the things that have aged badly over the years.

It now has modern rendering, scalable UI, improved controls and pathfinding, better AI that can actually use brigades, restored online multiplayer with a new server and relay support, huge maps working again, editor fixes, a bunch of old vanilla bugs fixed, and quite a few other improvements.

It also supports both the original American Conquest and Fight Back.

I’m calling this a public beta because I really want feedback from people who actually know the game. Especially on anything that feels wrong compared to vanilla, things that still annoy you, or things you think should or shouldn’t be changed in a remaster.

Trailer: American Conquest Remaster

Download / more info: American Conquest Remaster mod - ModDB

If you still play AC, or haven’t played it in years but remember it, give it a try and let me know what you think.

I played Cossacks 2 Battle for Europe, and Cossacks 3.

Loved Cossacks 2. Really cool mechanics. The morale and the shooting area are really cool.

Recently I was complaining about how RTS games became just a meta slave game where you try to rush your enemy asap to win asap.

I play a lot of AoE2, but im getting tired of rushing with just 6 archers again some skirms. It is quite annoying and boring.

So I was looking more for an RTS game where you can turtle and boom and then fight with big armies, instead of having to constantly care for the economy and rushes at the same time.

So I was recommended to try American Conquest.

I just dont understand why American Conquest specifically.

I dont know what it is. Its maybe the contrast, or the dark effect. Anyone shares the same opinion?

Whenever I want to start the game, it takes a couple of minutes for it to load up. Is there a fix for this, or is it an unavoidable problem?

Hello!
We were having a discussion with a friend about having an RP diplomacy skirmish with a couple of other friends.. we were talking a lot about it but hit a rock when we realised there is no diplomacy option in the game itself. We were not even able to find any modification that would allow such.

My question is if there was any attempt on modding this feature in the game or if you have any ideas how we could go about this, anything would help, thank you

This subreddit alone seems so small, is there not a single wiki as there would be for AOE or Stronghold? The game is still fantastic if you can make it run. Graphics remind me of AOE and Anno, especially with those nice ships.

But some aspects and technology are confusing. If I research artillery accuracy, does it count for ships too? And does granular gunpowder improve their damage?

It’s me again — this time with European Warfare 2

Some of you may remember my previous posts about European Warfare, my long-running American Conquest mod and engine-modernisation project.

Well, I am also working on a second title in the series: European Warfare – The Age of Reason, set during the Seven Years’ War period.

It spans three continents and 14 playable nations, covering Europe, North America and India. The basic idea is something between Cossacks 1 and American Conquest, but with my own changes to brigades, artillery, naval warfare, formations, morale, stamina, AI and large-scale battles.

After quite a long time, a new EW2 version is finally here. Some of the engine improvements were already seen in recent EW1 patches, but v0.91 now brings all of that accumulated work into EW2 together with changes made specifically for this game.

The update adds modern OpenGL and Direct3D 11 renderers, easier multiplayer hosting through UPnP, improved performance, better brigade pathfinding, road marching, reworked building assaults, more detailed artillery mechanics, directional naval armour, independent broadsides, ship repairs and a lot of editor and old-engine bug fixes.

European Warfare 2 v0.91 – Finally Here news - ModDB

Hope you try it and enjoy it :)

Well... me again. 😄

I've been sharing the progress on European Warfare here from time to time, and today I finally released version 1.27.

This isn't one of those updates with dozens of new units or factions. Instead, I've continued focusing on something I personally find much more valuable: modernizing and polishing a 20+ year-old RTS engine while keeping the original gameplay intact.

Some of the bigger additions in this update include moving the game to OpenGL and Direct3D 11, improving performance (I've seen close to 2× higher FPS on some systems), further AI improvements, multiplayer fixes (including proper co-op against AI), a much more stable map editor, numerous gameplay and visual improvements, and another long list of bug fixes—including some that have existed since the original game.

The goal has never really been to cram more content into the game. Instead, I'm trying to see just how far I can modernize and polish American Conquest while preserving what made it special in the first place.

If you're into classic RTS games like American Conquest, Cossacks, or other historical strategy games, I'd genuinely appreciate any feedback. Every release has been shaped by player reports and suggestions, and they've made a huge difference.

Trailer: European Warfare Napoleonica

Download: European Warfare: Napoleonica re-release file - ModDB

As always, thanks to everyone who's been following the project, testing builds, reporting bugs, and encouraging me to keep going. It really does help.

Didnt ever have a problem with this game, until I got a new PC. At first it showed a gray screen but launched eventually after a few tries, second time as well it needed a few tries. Now every time when I launch it all it does is lag my entire system to even less than 1FPS and even crashes taskbar and other apps in the background, and when I stop it with task manager all the apps are fine again.
Running as administrator, running in win 7 compatibility mode, running without fullscreen optimizations, reinstalling the game, changing the resolution in the files, all of that did nothing.
Deleting the profile.cfg file fixes it, it launches the game, but at undesired settings, and whenever I go to edit them in settings, just clicking the settings button freezes the game instantly and gets my system back into that 1fps state, and every next launch after doing that it also gets my system in that state and doesnt launch the game. Deleting the profiles fixes it again, but once again, with no way to change settings.

I've been working on European Warfare for a very long time.

The original version was released back in 2007 as a total conversion for American Conquest. In December 2024 I came back to the project and started working on it again, initially just planning to fix a few old issues.

That quickly spiraled out of control.

Since then I've spent countless evenings and weekends modernizing the game, improving compatibility, reworking AI, fixing long-standing bugs, rebuilding brigade movement and pathfinding, expanding naval warfare, restoring huge map support, and generally trying to make the game I always wished it could have been.

I'm releasing version 1.26.

It's not a flashy graphics remake. It's still built on a 20+ year old RTS engine. But after nearly two decades of development, patches, fixes, experiments, and community feedback, it feels closer than ever to the vision I had when I started this project as a teenager.

If you played American Conquest, Cossacks, or old-school historical RTS games, I'd genuinely love to hear what you think.

Download at: European Warfare : Napoleonica mod for American Conquest - ModDB

Hello Guys i searched a lot for the last mission on Cossacks 3 that was kind of Bugged (Siege of Belgrade). At first I thought it was mere luck to get the Ferry Task Activation (the one after you land and in order to get Gunpowder again)

I guess i find a solution for this this is what i did

1- I put the Ferries on the position of the Northwest Mark

2- Save the game in a NON autosave file

3- Destroy the Ferries

4- Restart with the post message game

5- Load my save file

AFter that the task instantly Triggered and i Could continue the mission properly