I'm so relieved Age of Wonders 3 doesn't suck
[editline]5th April 2014[/editline]
[QUOTE=Bowser_nl;44439703]I'm so bad at the battles, even in lower difficulty i'm getting my ass kicked at times. Any tips? :v:[/QUOTE]
Ranged units are really useful, particularly if you exploit the fact that most ranged units suffer a range penalty if they're more than a few hexes away. Make the enemy archers walk towards you and you can decimate them before they even get a shot off.
Ugh I really miss a lot of the little things from AoW. Most notably how regular units can't capture watchtowers or walled cities or how flying units would actually fly and couldn't be hit by infantry.
A beta version of the first patch is available on Steam [sp]right-click -> Properties -> Betas tab[/sp]
Did anyone else notice that AI armies tend to randomly dissapear every now and then?
I've noticed multiple times that the AI has a couple of full stacks in a area, and they just dissapear the next turn, never to be seen again.
It might be a bug or just the AI managing upkeep costs, but its pretty weird to be besieging a city with 5 full stacks, and only having to fight 1 the next turn because the others dissapeared.
because why not
[t]http://cloud-3.steampowered.com/ugc/3300318629942193752/278CF77DC67468B358D1E1CD0E7CA749C1127862/[/t]
I feel like this should be better known. I've been having a blast in just my first couple playthroughs. Only complaints are how fast the game seems to progress. I guess i'm used to Civ V style long tech trees as opposed to being able to field the most powerful units really quickly.
I just posted this on the Reddit and figured I mind as well do so here:
[QUOTE]So I always enjoyed a lot of little things that made the original AoW feel much more realistic. I never got into the second games (though I'm loving the third) but the absence of these things is seriously bugging me.
Obstacles are obstacles
In the original, infantry units could not simply hop over the wall. If you wanted to breach a wall, you'd have to build siege equipment, get some sort of spy unit or a flier. This made it so independents couldn't just waltz over to your tower or castle and simply take it over.
Right now, siege equipment feels sort of unnecessary to me. I can simply have my infantry beat down the gate or climb the wall themselves, I no longer need the help of wall climbers to take anything. It also creates annoying situations where I'll leave a tower or town and some T1 indies will waltz over and simply take over my city.
The strategy that came with planning a siege and having to manage this also is lost with the removal of the feature. Dragons or spies or siege equipment felt genuinely useful for something other than murdering units because you needed them to break into a castle. Now, when everyone can scale a wall, their benefits seem much more muted.
This can also be seen with mountains, where only Dwarves or certain other units can climb up mountains, which made them awesome as ambushers. Water was a similar obstacle, which I made another point for below.
Flying units fly
This was probably removed because of how infuriating it could be to have your infantry be attacked by flying units but I personally loved it. In battle and on the map, your flying units actually flew around. As it is in AoW 3, they only fly when they move which I find silly and makes them seem more like cavalry with fancy moving animations.
When you needed to fight a flying unit in AoW, you needed to shoot it down with magic or arrows or what have you. Infantry could not attack them, only being able to retaliate to the flying attacks when the creature swooped down to fight them.
It made flying units feel super dangerous and unique. Even the smallest ones could be a pain because you couldn't just hit them with your infantry, even if they were super T5 ones.
Water being an obstacle
The waters in the original were blocked off to everyone, they could only be traversed by flying units or boats or water units. The water became an obstacle and it was genuinely surprising when you faced a sneak attack coming from the water.
Now, the usefulness of boats and water units in general is sort of gone when you can simply move your infantry across the water. Boats may be able to fight them, and they may be very helpful in island maps, but without us needing them to move across the ocean, they feel unnecessary on most maps. You can't transport units in the boats you build and they almost always have no one to fight besides other boats.
Branching story
I'm only in mission 3 so I can't say if this changes, but in the original Age of Wonders, it had a branching story. This was amazingly awesome for its time because I can't really name another game that had this, at least not a strategy game.
The choices were difficult to make, depending where you went you'd make new allies or enemies, it made multiple endings and it made me want to replay over and over again. It feels like a step back that we can no longer make these interesting choices.
I love AoW 3, I really do. It's one of my games of the year, definitely. However, I feel a lot of the sameiness I feel from units is stemming from a general ability for them to do just about everything. Air units feel like cavalry units because their flying only translates to move quickly. Infantry feel the same because all of them can do the same thing, and boats feel useless because I don't need them to actually use the water.
The original Age of Wonders had a really odd realism in this regard and it translated awesomely to the game. It felt like a world that has magic, not a world about magic.
I understand it's of course too late to add this, and many people don't want it, but I just wanted to say this. Maybe some sort of AoW restoration mod will come around?
[/QUOTE]
Kinda somewhat necro-ing this, but it might get people to buy it again if it comes up in the sale (Seriously, go vote for it in the category containing it, Age of Wonders III is a fantastic game)
Also, just thought I'd post an interesting update from the devs for any FPers who play it.
[quote=Lennart Sas, 14th June]Hi guys, just a quick post that we’re making great progress on lots of new Age of Wonders goodies for you. The upcoming update should include Steam Workshop support and Cloud Saves. This should make it easier for you to exchange user made scenarios and manage save games across multiple computers.
The tech team is working hard on porting the game to Mac (and likely: Linux). Already did most of the graphical side of things; the release will likely coincide with an expansion.
Then we’ve got lots new features and content in the works. The first new race (one with –ling in the name) is nearly complete with others in development. New races are a lot of work: core units, class unit variants, leader and hero assets, City and TC graphics, new abilities, balance, etc). We also have an exotic new dwelling, new monsters, music, classes and a new campaign in the works. We’re also testing some exciting new mechanics that include new victory conditions and a new type of quest.
Stay tuned, as the Development Journals will return in the near future![/quote]
Source: [url]http://ageofwonders.com/development-update-and-return-of-development-journals/[/url]
If there are any people here still interested in Age of Wonders III, the latest couple of dev journals have been interesting.
[quote=Lennart Sas, 27th June]Hello everyone! As the first post-release Development Journal, we’re going to talk a bit about the creation of the Seals of Power, which is a new Victory Condition for both random maps and standalone or campaign scenarios. As with other upcoming new features, we can’t give an exact date of when they will be implemented. Note that some new Dev Journal features presented will be part of expansions, while others will be included in patches / free updates.[/quote]
Source: [url]http://ageofwonders.com/expansion-dev-journal-seals-of-power-victory-condition/[/url]
[quote=Tombles, July 4th]Hello Everybody! In this second post-release. Dev Journal we’re going to talk about the new mechanics that are being developed for disjuncting and protecting spells. [/quote]
Source: [url]http://ageofwonders.com/expansion-dev-journal-seals-of-power-victory-condition/[/url]
[quote=Narvek, July 11th]Hi again! In today’s expansion development journal we’ll be talking about a new type of city upgrades that we have in the works. These Mystical upgrades unlock unique new and powerful improvements to your town, making a city’s location matter more than ever.[/quote]
Source: [url]http://ageofwonders.com/development-journal-mystical-city-upgrades/[/url]
All this is set to land in a patch that coincides with the first expansion, which in an unrelated thread on the dev forums I managed to get a dev to pin as somewhere from September to November for a release date.
[url=http://ageofwonders.com/golden-realms-expansion-announced/]Looks like the expansion's been announced.[/url] I've heard a lot about the Halflings from players of the previous AoW games and I can't wait to see their versions of the existing units.
New expansion, The Golden Realms, has been announced!
[quote=Lennart Sas, 21st August] Set sail for a new world, where exotic monstrosities, lost treasures and new empire building opportunities await!
Golden Realms greatly expands Age of Wonders III’s empire building mechanics and introduces bucket loads of new content. These new features are used in random maps, new scenarios and a new story campaign, where Halfling survivors settle in a distant land filled with danger and treasures never seen before.[/quote]
Source and detail: [url]http://ageofwonders.com/golden-realms-expansion-announced/[/url]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw4cbFq7gJM[/media]
Looks like there's another expansion coming soon, along with another bundle of features to be added to the base game.
For a game that's getting so many additions and changes, AoW3 still feels really complete as it is. The last major patch I remember buffed the AI players when it comes to diplomacy and combat. They're a lot more ruthless and intelligent and less prone to unreasonable demands or failing to navigate random maps.
So, a new expansion is in the works, due to be announced formally by the end of the month and released, probably, at the end of March (but that is really just a guestimate based on the Q1 2015 release window they gave and the fact that March 31st is the anniversary of release). From SteamDB fuckery, we know that its (working) title is "Eternal Lords"
And it is fugging huge. Two new races, several specialisations, a new class.
I'll just do what I did for the Golden Realms and post a huge info dump from all the dev journals, with links to the actual articles - which you should follow, I am only posting snippets here
[quote=Cities of the Dead]Here is the next update on the Necromancer Class Design, thanks everybody for the feedback. Here is some of our progress that hopefully answers some of your questions and may be it incorporates some feedback here and there. There are many aspects to this class, but we’ll start at the root which are the mechanics for Undead towns and transformed undead races.
[img]http://ageofwonders.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/NecroTCCity-625x342.jpg[/img][/quote]
[url]http://ageofwonders.com/dev-journal-cities-of-the-dead/[/url]
[quote=First Necromancer Units]Today we take a look at the conceptual designs for first Necromancer Units. As we posted in our last dev journal, the Necromancer can turn many types of living units into Ghoul variants using the Great Transformation spell, but of course, the Necromancer comes with its own unique unit roster. Today we’re going to take a look at the first lower tier Necromancer units.
[img]http://ageofwonders.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Necro_LineUp-Reanimator-and-creeper-625x459.jpg[/img][/quote]
[url]http://ageofwonders.com/dev-journal-first-necromancer-units/[/url]
[quote=The Bone Collector and Deathbringer]Hi there, today we introduce the second batch of Necromancer units, that we are currently developing for the upcoming expansion.
[img]http://ageofwonders.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/BoneCollector6.gif[/img][/quote]
[url]http://ageofwonders.com/dev-journal-the-bone-collector-and-deathbringer/[/url]
[quote=Necromancer Skills]Hi everyone, we don’t need a botched Halloween tie-in this year, we have the real deal! Let’s continue our journey into the dark arts by having a look at the first Necromancer Skills.
[img]http://ageofwonders.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/corpusfuria4.gif[/img][/quote]
[url]http://ageofwonders.com/halloween-journal-necromancer-skills/[/url]
[quote=Cosmic Events]With all the Necromancer posts you might think the upcoming DLC is just about dead things. But there is *lots* more to it. Today we take a look at one such other feature: Cosmic Events!
The great changes taking placing on Altha are sending ripples through the cosmos. Strange phenomena appear in the skies, causing dread amongst the population. The world’s great leaders need to learn to adjust their strategies to deal with these events. For some events it might mean a high state of alert, while other events can create the perfect opportunity to deliver a painful blow to one’s enemies.
[img]http://ageofwonders.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/CosmicHappening04-625x379.jpg[/img][/quote]
[url]http://ageofwonders.com/dev-journal-cosmic-events/[/url]
[quote=Improving Race Variety & Starting Perks]As well as working on new content for the upcoming expansion, we’re also working on refining the content that’s already in the game. These refinements will be released in a free update at the same time as the DLC, and will be available for all players.
[img]http://ageofwonders.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/3-Goblin-Butcher-625x517.jpg[/img][/quote]
[url]http://ageofwonders.com/improving-race-variety-starting-perks/[/url]
[quote=Don’t Fear the Reaper]… or maybe you should. :-)
Today we return to the reveal of the ultimate Necromancer Units for the upcoming – still unnamed! – Expansion.
[img]http://ageofwonders.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Reaper_14.gif[/img][/quote]
[url]http://ageofwonders.com/dev-journal-dont-fear-the-reaper/[/url]
[quote=The Frostlings are Coming]Today we reveal the first information on the Frostlings, who return as a revamped, fully loaded playable race in the upcoming Expansion
Frostlings are a race of humanoids that settled in the cold northern regions long ago. Gradually adapting to the harsh winter clime, they possess a pale complexion and large, beady, deep-blue eyes. Often called Snow Goblins or Ice Devils the Frostlings have been at constant war with people living in more comfortable climes.
[img]http://ageofwonders.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/City_impression_frostling_lowres-625x351.jpg[/img][/quote]
[url]http://ageofwonders.com/dev-journal-the-frostlings-are-coming/[/url]
[quote=The Frostling Army Core]Today we reveal three new Frostling units, the Raider, Harpoon Thrower and the Mammoth Rider
As we saw in the previous development journal Frostling blood has mixed with the enigmatic and feylike Frost Witches. This has changed some of them to better resist the cold and be larger in stature and stronger in power.
Today however, we’ll take a look at the main Frostling army – the footsoldiers, archers and cavalry – who have stayed quite similar to ages past, wearing thick fur to protect themselves against the biting cold and relying on their experience in hunting and their magical weapons to deal damage.
[img]http://ageofwonders.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/FrostlingUnits-625x359.jpg[/img][/quote]
[url]http://ageofwonders.com/dev-journal-the-frostling-army-core/[/url]
[quote=Frostling Queens and Royal Guards]In this concluding journal about the Frostling race units we show you the mighty Ice Queen and her Royal Guard
Frostlings are a proud and sturdy race, which have been moving towards a matriarchal society since the Frost Witches first befriended them. Their Kings today are always chosen by the High Queen and it is she who ultimately rules all the Frostling clans in the Kingdom together with her chosen husband. It is quite common for a High Queen to go through multiple Kings during her reign. The clans have a high degree of independence, but the situations where a clan goes against the explicit wishes of its High Queen are rare and usually fuelled by powerful Frostling women.
[img]http://ageofwonders.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Frostlings05-625x351.jpg[/img][/quote]
[url]http://ageofwonders.com/dev-journal-frostling-queens-and-royal-guards/[/url]
[quote=New Race Upgrade System]Happy New Year! Today we resume our Dev Journals, this time it is one of the free features we plan to release together with the upcoming Expansion: Race Command.
Race Command will unlock race specific bonuses as you spend more time with cities of that race in your empire. Those bonuses fit the overall race theme, thereby strengthening race diversification. Each race has five levels of race command upgrades, which come in two flavors for a total of ten bonuses per race. At each level you get to choice between the two mutually exclusive perks: which are either Empire or Military upgrades. The top level race command upgrades are designed to be ultimates and will likely have a big effect on the end-game
[img]http://ageofwonders.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/racial_upgrade-548x625.jpg[/img][/quote]
[url]http://ageofwonders.com/dev-journal-new-race-upgrade-system/[/url]
[quote=ShadowBorn Specialization]The upcoming DLC isn’t complete with new things to specialize your leader in. Today we reveal the Shadowborn specialization, which has its sinister skills distributed over Adept and Mastery levels.
First a bit of Lore.
[CAMPAIGN SPOILER] [sp]The secret society called Shadowborn have been integral in setting up the conflict between the Elven Court and the Commonwealth. Their ultimate goal is destroying the barrier between worlds, which was put in place by Merlin and unleash powers from the days of the great Wizard Kings.[/sp] [END CAMPAIGN SPOILER].
[img]http://ageofwonders.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/FallenAngel.jpg[/img][/quote]
[url]http://ageofwonders.com/dev-journal-shadowborn-specialization/[/url]
[quote=The new Leaders in 3D!]Hi there! In today’s Development Journal we’re taking a look at the new Leader 3D assets. The art team has been hard at work on this for months, and is now nearly done creating all the race-class combos and an unprecedented set of extra customization options for the upcoming expansion.
[img]http://ageofwonders.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Draconian_Necro-625x424.jpg[/img][/quote]
[url]http://ageofwonders.com/dev-journal-meet-the-new-leaders/[/url]
[quote=The return of PBEM multiplayer]We are bringing back the PBEM system, a classic turn-based game mode that offers you an option to experience AoW multiplayer in short brackets of time, in your free moments during the day.[/quote]
[url]http://ageofwonders.com/dev-journal-the-return-of-pbem-multiplayer/[/url]
[quote=Grey Guard and Keeper of Peace Specializations]Hi there! Because this new expansion is so big, we still have more development journals to bring you before we can announce it (and you can play it ;-) ) . There’ll be a video, name, and full feature list presented at least a month before release. Today we’ll be discussing the Grey Guard and Keeper of the Peace specializations. As with the previous Shadowborn specialization, they come in adapt and mastery levels and are strongly tied to a particular alignment. You’ll see that some of these news skills connect to new systems which are part of our efforts to diversify world map game play, making race relations and economy more important.
[img]http://ageofwonders.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Angels-588x625.jpg[/img][/quote]
[url]http://ageofwonders.com/grey-guard-and-keeper-of-peace-specializations/[/url]
[quote=The Tigrans Part I]Yes – we have another race lined up for you for the upcoming expansion, and as many of you have already guessed that race is the Tigrans! These warmth loving cat people make for a great contrast with the Frostlings (we already have some cool terraforming maps in development) Also with their Egyptian inspired culture, they make for a great fit in the Necromancy theme.
[img]http://ageofwonders.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Cheetah_c-625x347.jpg[/img][/quote]
[url]http://ageofwonders.com/dev-journal-the-tigrans-part-i/[/url]
Shame the game isn't selling all that well. It's one of these gems that completely went by under the radar.
[editline]8th February 2015[/editline]
Are they even making profit with it yet?
[QUOTE=jonoPorter;47096335]Shame the game isn't selling all that well. It's one of these gems that completely went by under the radar.[/QUOTE]
Especially since TB did a very positive video, and that's usually a licence to print money.
Personally, the game didn't quite gel with me for whatever reason. Kinda like Civ V before the expansions I guess. I haven't had time but I'll give it a proper shot when the expansion goes on sale.
I tried it, I still vastly prefer Shadow Magic, which is my favorite turn based strategy game, like, at all.
The next expansion should be pretty revolutionary, what with the racial governance feature, revamped race relations (which ties into racial governance and how you earn the upgrades, but also causes additional things like - a race whom you have a city of, whom you have a bad relation with but an opponent has good relations with, may offer to help your enemy when they attack your city by providing militia units inside the city walls, opening the gates, etc), revamped alignment system, a new class with a lot of unique mechanics. Also, the cosmic events, improved racial diversity, the new races, etc.
The thing to remember is that the game is not trying to be a remake of AoW2/SM - It is the same kind of step change evolution sequel (for better or for worse, and it is both. Some things I really miss from Shadow Magic, but I find that I'd rather play 3 these days, since the Golden Realms) rather than trying to cling to and milk their old success.
(The devs have hinted, and the campaigns have been building up towards, that if this expansion does well, they may do a third and final expansion that brings back the Shadow Realms)
Is the Golden Realms expansion worth getting if you haven't played all that much yet? 12 bucks for an expansion seems like a decent price if there is enough content.
[QUOTE=Demoness;47098880]Is the Golden Realms expansion worth getting if you haven't played all that much yet? 12 bucks for an expansion seems like a decent price if there is enough content.[/QUOTE]
I bought several copies (myself and friends) at that price, and I don't regret it in the slightest. The Seals is a much needed way to bring the late game drag on large maps down to a minimum, the mystical city upgrades lend each city a unique output of troops, and you'll try to achieve the synergies as best you can, and the Halflings themselves are just fun to play. In fact, if you haven't played much yet, the Golden Realms is an almost fool-proof purchase because it changed the games in subtle but profound ways, and you won't have any bad habits from the early version to unlearn.
[b]HOWEVER[/b], what I would probably suggest is this: Get the Eternal Lords expansion when it comes out, as it will add quite a bit more (And probably have a higher price tag to boot), and hope that they put the Golden Realms on sale at the same time to celebrate release, and grab it then.
Golden Realms features (such as Mystical City Upgrades) will probably have impact on the EL features (Especially if they add new Treasure Sites), and with that massive content infusion into your game at once, it'll feel completely new.
If it means an enhanced game experience I don't mind paying full price for the expansion right away considering how (relatively) cheap it is already.
I'm eagerly awaiting the expansion. It seems they'll flesh out cities and realm management a bit more which I felt was a lacking point in the game.
Wow this seems like quite some good news, I will definitely give the game another go once that pack is released. Some things really needed some reworks.
Still it is a damn shame how poorly it sold
Does FP want to play sometime?
[QUOTE=jonoPorter;47106488]Does FP want to play sometime?[/QUOTE]
I think when PBEM comes out we should try and hold a little FP tournament or something. PBEM allows us to neatly sidestep the problems with ensuring that everyone is on at the same time etc.
I'd be up for a match but I'm too shit to play against other humans right now. :v:
[QUOTE=Demoness;47106709]I'd be up for a match but I'm too shit to play against other humans right now. :v:[/QUOTE]
Could do a friendly TvT if we can work out enough players. I fully expect that other players will wreck my shit because I'm too accustomed to either playing SP or Comp-stomps with friends.
I probably got some time this week and definitely during the weekends to do some comp-stomping, throw me a pm if anyone wants to.
[QUOTE=Demoness;47106916]I probably got some time this week and definitely during the weekends to do some comp-stomping, throw me a pm if anyone wants to.[/QUOTE]
I'm busy through the week, but I might try and set something up for this weekend, will drop you a PM
I really liked Age of Wonders 1 but the game always seem so imbalanced. You could lose so fast and the HoMM style movement made it really difficult for me to battle the AI. Thought the game was quite unforgiving.
Soundtrack is ace though.
The soundtrack is one of the best things about AoW3. I don't know if it was randomly dictated or a fixed choice, but the first track I heard in the campaign was stuck in my head for weeks afterwards.
[video=youtube;XReC6V8xuNs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XReC6V8xuNs[/video]
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