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IT'S GOING TO BE a big year for real-time strategy gamers.

Fans of the genre, already likely to be salivating over the imminent release of CDV's Cossacks: European Wars, will be driven into a mouse-clicking frenzy by Eidos Interactive's Fate of the Dragon.

Eidos is better known for its superb action game pedigree (Deus Ex, the Tomb Raider series, to name a couple) than its RTS offerings. In fact, Eidos may be unfortunate enough to be remembered for bug-ridden Braveheart as its only contribution to the genre to date. That game was developed by the aptly-named Red Lemon. Fate of the Dragon (FotD), on the other hand, is being developed by Overmax Studios. And where Braveheart collapsed well short of its lofty ambitions, FotD looks set to deliver a solid real-time strategy experience with some innovative flair.

Fate of the Dragon is more or less a historical RTS - though it does feature a touch of magic, in accordance with Chinese folklore. It is set in 2nd and 3rd century China, through the fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty, 60 years of strife, and the eventual emergence of the Western Jin Dynasty. During this period, three warlords ('kings' of their respective kingdoms of Wu, Shu, and Wei) vied for the title of Emperor.

The game's background is largely based on the accounts contained in the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which was written about 1350 AD. Having never read the book, I'm happy enough to take Overmax's word for it that this is authentic stuff. The important thing is that this setting gives you an excuse to become a meglomaniac warlord from one of the three kingdoms.

If this sounds like Shogun: Total War - well, yes, the concept is similar: a weak emperor, warlords struggling for decades to take over, alliances made and broken. In fact Sun Tzu, on whose famous strategy manual The Art of War Shogun is largely based, was actually a general and adviser to an earlier King of Wu in one of China's previous periods of warfare, around 500 BC.

But FotD's treatment of the subject material is quite different. This game is a far more classical RTS rather than the 'tactical battle simulator' that is Shogun.

Most of the genre's tried and true elements are present. The isometric 2D view. The unique technologies and buildings for different kingdoms. Sending peasants off to harvest your basic resources (wood and iron) and building the various buildings and 100+ upgrades you need to give you an army capable of winning the war.

But I'm happy to say that there is more to it than that - a whole lot more, in fact.

Firstly, the resource management is more complex than it might at first appear. Wood and iron allow you build farms and workshops. Peasants must be assigned to these structures, and assigned to a task within a structure. In farms they can either grow grain or farm pigs. In workshops, they can either make food (steamed pork buns by the look of it) or wine. There are interdependencies between the total of six resource types that this gives.

Managing the flow of resources is vital. Basic resources, plus gold from taxes on your population, are needed for unit and building production. Your fighting units need a continuous supply of food and wine to keep their strength and morale up. This in itself is not a revolutionary concept for an RTS - but the introduction of supply trains and encampments just about is.

Your warriors can only replenish their health, strength and morale by consuming food and wine inside your city walls. If they are out in the countryside, for example when mounting an attack against a rival city, they must first establish a camp through the use of support wagons. Wagons themselves only carry a finite amount of supplies, so if your warriors are going to be there for a while, you must also assign peasants to ferry supplies from your city to the various camps. In a nod to Sun Tzu and his observations about keeping your armies fed, you need to maintain a constant train of supplies to your armies. Using packhorses will dramatically increase the load peasants can carry.

In a departure from previous RTS titles, horses are actually separate units from their riders. Horses are bred separately and stand around dutifully until you either order a soldier to hop on (to create a cavalry unit) or tell a peasant to grab one and lead it around carrying goods. But the horses are still separate - you can order your men to dismount, and in fact they dismount automatically and leave their horses behind if they have to climb a siege ladder, for example. In a strategic twist, unguarded horses can be turned against you if attacking troops hop in the saddles.

Fate of the Dragon also features a cast of more than 350 distinct hero characters.

The system is very similar to that used in the under-rated Seven Kingdoms II. Heroes are recruited through an Inn, and serve as generals in your armies as long as you can keep them loyal. You keep them loyal by rewarding them from time to time, with money or a new, prestigious, and frankly wierd title such as 'Great General Who Crushes Barbarians'. It is worth recruiting and keeping heroes, because they can make a big difference to a battle. As they gain experience, they become more powerful and gain special combat spells such as Fury or Strength, which they can cast on themselves or another soldier.

You need to appoint heroes to various public offices in your kingdom. One hero must be appointed as Administrative Affairs Officer to allow you to access the diplomacy menus. Upgrades are accessed through the National Academy. In order to access the more advanced ones, you need to appoint one of your generals as a Science Officer. To keep your kingdom growing, you need to appoint a Public Security Officer to keep order.

The other obvious innovation in FotD is the use of multiple maps. Rather than having one large map, with opposing bases at each end, FotD has a territory map and multiple city maps. Cities are represented on the territory map by a single large building. By ordering your units into the building they move onto a city map. Switching between map views is as simple as clicking on the icon for the city you wish to view, or clicking on the thumbnail territory map.

You can order peasants to gather resources from the territory map, but building can only take place within your city, with the exception of camps, which can be established anywhere. You can capture other cities by taking the city's royal Court.

The demo of Fate of the Dragon is a pretty well-polished product. It features 4 single player and 2 multiplayer maps, and supports 8 player multiplay with head-to-head and cooperative options. There is a good tutorial and in-game help feature, though without a manual you may be scratching your head for a while trying to figure out some of the commands.

The full game promises a number of campaigns based on significant historical events, as well as skirmish mode and multiplayer. If innovative RTS gaming is your thing, and swords, spears and spells are your flavour - Fate of the Dragon could fit the bill nicely.

Show me the screenshots!

Check out the Official Site.