Anyone know how or what the multi-player is played? Is it fun or just kind of a tack on like it Stronghold?

This is in reference to Cultures 2, as opposed to #1.

I haven't actually played multiplayer with somebody to know if there's problems with it or not, but I own the game and can see what it consists of, assuming it works properly. (So far I see no reason why it shouldn't, but you never know.)

Multiplayer seems to have a bunch of scenarios, similar to the single-player ones you can choose to play alone.
I'm going to assume you don't own the game, just so I can be a little more thorough with the explanation.

The singleplayer game consists of a story campaign, where you go from mission to mission completing objectives.
It also has a Freeplay mode which consists of singleplayer scenario's, and 'Extra: Multiplayer Training.'

The 'Extra: Multiplayer Training' are the singleplayer versions of the maps you can choose for multiplayer.
A few examples are:

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Economy: Big Country
4 viking tribes live together peacefully. It is up to you to organize diplomacy and trade!
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Economy: Co-op
2 Players: Defend yourself with your partner against a powerful enemy and collect resources!
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Military: Big Country
4 viking tribes fight for supremacy in this vast realm!
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Military: The Cave of Wonders
Your ship has run aground on the shore of a inhospitable island. In front of you is an insurmountable mountain, and there is hardly any room to spread out. However, it looks like there is a hidden path that leads into the mountain ... map for 6 players!
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Special: Island Rule
Capture the Flag: 6 island tribes fight for predominance over four secret places
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There are 7 economy maps, 9 military maps, and 2 special maps. Some of them rehashes of each other; such as the economy and military Big Country ones.

Overall it seems multiplayer should be pretty enjoyable. Whether you choose more peaceful open existence, or objective-ish driven play.
No random map generator like other games have; but this game is unique enough that I feel that's a reasonable sacrifice.

Feel free to ask if you have any further questions.

Vince

anybody know if there is a splitscreen available like in settlers 2? probably not :(

It would be nice just to play multiplayer, I have been trying to play a multiplayer game with a friend using tcp/ip and no matter what we try it wont work.

An help appreciated.

@oteckre
No split-screen multi-player, which is unfortunate for those who only have one pc.

@boldee
There are a lot of possible reasons for this.
I haven't attempted to set up a multi-player game with a real person yet, but from what I saw here's how I think it should work:
1) From the main menu, the host chooses 'Multiplayer' enters their name and clicks 'Ok' then selects 'Create Game.'
2) The host will then need to provide his IP address to the client who will be joining.
2a) The IP address is shown in-game at the bottom, but if this IP doesn't work you may need to try your other one.

This one can be found by entering the Command Prompt from Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt
Here enter the words ipconfig -- this will display your primary IP address under 'IPv4 Address
and your Local IP Address under Default Gateway.
(All this *might* vary based on your OS.)

3) The client can then enter the Multiplayer menu, enter their name, and click Join Game.
3a) The client then should enter your IP address.
The primary IPv4 should be the one that works, but if you're more local to each other, you might need to use your local address (Default Gateway)

Your primary and local IP Addresses should look nearly identical, perhaps with only the last 3 digits differing.

I also noticed when entering Multiplayer, Windows asked if I'd like to allow the game through my Firewall.
If the game can't get through, this might be another reason for the issue you're having.
Another possible solution related to that, is to run your game as an Administrator.
(Right-click the desktop shortcut, click 'properties,' go under the 'compatibility' tab,
tick 'Run this program as an administrator,' click Apply and Ok.)

Running the game as an administrator might help with Firewall issues.
Alt-Tabbing while setting up the game as a host, might reveal a pop-up to allow the game through the Firewall,
if it hasn't already been Allowed.

I'm not sure if that will help you or not, if it doesn't, I might be able to come up with more ideas,
but hooking up multiplayer games over the internet isn't one of my strong-suites.

Vince

Thanks for the info Vince, we tried all of what you suggested accept the administrator idea, we will try it like that and see if we have any luck.