Today's dev journal is either not very interesting or very interesting, depending on your inclination.
[quote=Upcoming Beta & Mac/Linux Update]
This is an announcement that we’ll have a public Steam Beta for the Update/Patch 1.5 in a couple of weeks. This free update will launch officially together with the upcoming expansion. It will be loaded with new features such as Diplomatic AI profiles, overhauled diplomatic relations and you’ll be able to test the awesome new PBEM mode. (PBEM is now the most played game mode here at the office!).[/quote]
[url]http://ageofwonders.com/upcoming-beta-maclinux-update/[/url]
[b]Edit:[/b]
Oops, I jumped the gun on that - actual Dev Journal too!
[quote=Dev Journal: Structures of Frost and Darkness]
Today we take a look at a selection of new locations for the upcoming expansion. This set is associated with the cold north and the awakening of dark necromantic powers in the world of Athla.[/quote]
[url]http://ageofwonders.com/dev-journal-structures-of-frost-and-darkness/[/url]
[QUOTE=Mericet;47108407]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][/QUOTE]
Yes. The soundtrack is fantastic.
[quote=Dev Journal: Vassals and Enhanced Diplomacy]
After the previous weeks saw some journals heavy on content, this week’s journals is about indepth underlying mechanics.
[b]Race Relations[/b]
[...]
[b]Vassals[/b]
[...]
[b]AI Profiles[/b]
[...][/quote]
[url]http://ageofwonders.com/dev-journal-vassals-and-enhanced-diplomacy[/url]
Too much in that one for me to quote dump, so just follow the link and read it, and admire. ALSO, confirmation that the announcement of the expansion (formally) should be next week, and that they also hope to start the beta for patch 1.5 next week.
Being able to read into AI opponents to some extent is a relief after so many games of thermonuclear war with Ghandi.
[quote]
[b]ETERNAL LORDS[/b]
The major, second expansion for the acclaimed strategy game Age of Wonders III - Marking one year of continuous development since its release, Eternal Lords introduces the Tigran and Frostling races and the new Necromancer class. players must adapt to a world on the brink of cataclysmic change. New mechanics such as the Race Governance system, which allows players to tailor the features of each race in their empire to meet their strategic needs, add new layers of depth to empire development and diplomacy. Embrace forbidden powers and reign for eternity! [/quote]
[video=youtube;6KfC8b2vxow]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KfC8b2vxow[/video]
[url]http://ageofwonders.com/eternallords/[/url]
[b]AND[/b]
[quote=Triumph Studios]
[img]http://ageofwonders.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/OpenBeta-625x369.jpg[/img]
Note some of the complementary features of V1.5 latch into bigger systems of Eternal Lords, but on its own the v1.5 Update still constitutes a large list. Here are the key features:
[b]Vassals:[/b] As your relations with Independents improve through better race relations and completing quests, you can convince independent towns to serve you as Vassals. Though they retain independence, Vassals have many benefits: they provide you with trade income, grow in population and maintain their own defenders. If they like you enough, Vassals will occasionally give you units for free, and you can demand tribute in the form of resources or units in cases of emergency.
[b]Race Happiness:[/b] Relations are now tracked per race, making decisions about who you make war with much more important. Declaring war on an Elven city might give you a quick conquest, but don’t expect your Elven citizens to be happy about it afterwards. Something to take into account, as you can now expand your realm without warfare. In Eternal Lords, Race happiness will be further expanded with the Race Governance system and new victory condition.
[b]Added diversity for Core Races:[/b] The Dwarves have doubled down on their defensive character, as well as the defensive strike ability that allows them to attack and guard in the same turn. Dwarven support units, such as Shamans and Apprentices, are now all armored. The keen senses of the High Elves, on the other hand, allows them to respond to attacks that would catch other races off-guard, all their support units now have the Total Awareness ability, meaning they cannot be flanked by attacks from behind. The Draconians have a host of new tricks, with the Charger being able to fly in tactical combat and the Raptor doing melee fire damage. These changes should make your choice of race more important than ever!
[b]Diplomacy AI Improvements:[/b] The AI now uses personalities, with them adopting diplomatic, neutral or aggressive playstyles with accompanying alignment and specialization choices. The AI has learned more actions and feels less like a black box. For example there’s a set of new messages giving reasons for declined proposals. Settling near an AI’s domain, trespassing its domain or demanding a tribute are sure ways to provoke a response. Computer opponents now request alliances to take out a very powerful player and also learned new negotiating tricks like counter offering, demands and gifting.
[b]Random Map Generator Overhaul:[/b] Features include overall more geography variation, carefully crafted starting areas that fit your race, better structure distribution with higher level pickups now having defenders. For sessions with fixed Teams, maps now have more balanced starting positions. Of course the RMG has been prepared for the many structures Eternal Lords will bring to the table on release.
[b]New Hero Join Interface:[/b] you can now turn down heroes you don’t like, and when available, a new hero of another class and race will spawn in the next turn.
[b]Selling Hero Items:[/b] Strapped for some quick cash? It is now possible to sell excess items from the hero inventory in return for gold and mana.
[b]Improved Overview Maps:[/b] New Map Glyphs and Labels for cities make the Overview map a lot more readable.
[b]PBEM BETA[/b] Last but not least; the new “asynchronous” Multiplayer Mode. In PBEM games, a player takes their turn in their own time and then uploads it to Triumph’s servers. Once it is uploaded, an email is sent to the next player in the game, who may then take their turn. This allows players to play when they like, without needing to set aside a large amount of time with other people to play a game. We expect the PBEM service to stay free, but this is pending bandwidth usage.
[b]Plus many, many balance changes to classes, abilities, etc[/b]
[b]Opt in through the Steam Beta System![/b][/quote]
[url]http://ageofwonders.com/open-beta-for-update-v1-5-kicks-off/[/url]
AoW3's generosity with race/class combinations is good, but there definitely needed to be a higher degree of specialisation going on as you reach the end of a random map. Most of my armies end up being a hodgepodge of independents and conquered races or having a trophy Tier 3 or 4 who doesn't exactly fit with the other five units.
Didn't know that the patch was going to change racial bonuses as well as add the happiness/governance system.
From what I've seen this patch has been really good for increasing the racial diversity and synergies, though I sometimes wonder if Draconians are getting buffed too much (With the addition of Lesser Flying on their spear unit), as they were always a very powerful race.
Total Awareness on Elf Supports is pretty cool though, and War Cry/Defensive Strike are good buffs to orcs and Dwarves respectively (War Cry being of especial interest to me as I usually play an Orc Theocrat).
Halfling Monster Hunters get Fire Fireworks instead of Light Crossbows too, now, which is very cool. And Human Evangelists (again, I play Theocrat a lot) now get Spirit Bolts, which puts them up there with Draconian Evangelists as one of the more versatile ones.
Oh, and in the class balance changes, probably the most significant is that the Warlords get a T1 Irregular Scout unit, and that Rogue's get an end game research called Dark Pact, which basically bumps their troops up half a tier with some neat boosts and new abilities (Succubi get a ranged attack, Bards get Dominate, etc)
Tombles showing off the double threat of a Frostling Necromancer army for 20 minutes. You can set up some horrific debuffs to morale and resistances which units can exploit, like the Frostling Icescaper against frozen, petrified or stone enemies whose frost resistance has been brought low by stacks of Chilled. And the Lost Soul unit the Necromancer gets as a scout unit can get extremely high damage off on enemies in Despair from attacks by other undead (which tanks their morale as it is).
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMSX3lTgdYs[/media]
I keep forgetting about this game but the new expansion is looking damn fucking good.
Can't wait to play as the kitty people and spread love and lovely violence all over.
[QUOTE=Demoness;47504127]I keep forgetting about this game but the new expansion is looking damn fucking good.
Can't wait to play as the kitty people and spread love and lovely violence all over.[/QUOTE]
It's looking awesome, and speaking of the Kitty-cats....
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWK11CZpHb4[/media]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgFqQrzOQBA[/media]
I miss the Azracs :(
I'm just glad my Frostlings are back though. I missed the buggers.
The frostlings look like a total bitch to deal with if they're played well.
Awesome.
[QUOTE=Demoness;47509771]The frostlings look like a total bitch to deal with if they're played well.
Awesome.[/QUOTE]
Dwarves will probably be their hard counter. No real weaknesses, and their T2 Support and T3 Infantry both deal fire damage.
Gonna be fun to dick around with the Tigrans as well, what with their increased movement and more damage in attacks of opportunity and vs bleeding/crippled targets.
[QUOTE=Demoness;47511050]Gonna be fun to dick around with the Tigrans as well, what with their increased movement and more damage in attacks of opportunity and vs bleeding/crippled targets.[/QUOTE]
I'm feeling spoiled for choice as a (mostly) Theocrat player, both races look like they'll make interesting Theocrats, and Necromancers will make for fun opponents (and fun to play, too, by the looks of it)
Even after a decent few hours I'm not that great at the game. Anyone got some good tips?
[QUOTE=Demoness;47513462]Even after a decent few hours I'm not that great at the game. Anyone got some good tips?[/QUOTE]
What specifically is giving you problems?
Is it a specific race/class combo? What AI level are you playing against, etc?
Might be easier to discuss on steam, idk.
Just general 'good' race/class combinations. What I should be doing early game. Things like that.
[QUOTE=Demoness;47513521]Just general 'good' race/class combinations. What I should be doing early game. Things like that.[/QUOTE]
Well, my go-to race/class combination is an Orc Theocrat, but Theocrats are one of the harder classes to play well as they have a particular flow to them.
For a relatively new player, the recommendation is generally a Sorcerer, and any race bar the Goblins (Goblins tend to be one of the harder races to play due to the fact that they are quite squishy and require judicious use of their T2 racial support unit to get the most out of their heavy blight damage line up, but once you master it, they have one of the best racial archer units). Sorcerers are a good class because you will learn the racial troops of the various races pretty quickly, being as the only "produced" unit that the Sorc has is the Apprentice unit, and the heavy reliance on summons means that once your mana economy is up and running and you have a decent supply of CP that you can replenish troops on the move, so long as the stack has a hero.
Warlords are also pretty good, especially circa 1.5 where their scouting deficit has been addressed with the addition of the Scout, being a pretty brainless "Build units, go kill people" class and very effective at that. Elves make very good Warlords, because they get one of the best Mounted Archers, but... so do Halflings, especially if you have your stacks lead by non-Warlord hero classes such as Theocrats or Dreadnoughts - ones that have morale bonus abilities, because high damage units that are Lucky? Terrifying.
Order of ease to play for classes is probably something like Sorcerer = Warlord > Archdruid (Hybrid of the Sorc and Warlord in terms of balance between production and summoned units) > Rogue (Relies on harassing enemies and using scouting to pick off cities away from the front to cripple enemy production etc) = Theocrat (Heavily reliant on spirit damage which is the second-most commonly resisted damage channel, simply cannot deal with machines until their endgame enchantments are up - or, at least, not easily) > Dreadnought (The hardest class to play, but destructive once you learn how to balance their armies. Patch 1.5 has made them a bit easier to play, though)
Specialisations - This one is really a matter of taste and playstyle, but they can be used to cover weaknesses of your race choice or to accentuate strengths, so try to bear that in mind.
Early game - Your goal is to clear the immediate area around your Throne city, both the treasure sites (focus on low tier ones - Magma Forges, Gold Mines, Great Farms, etc) and Monster Spawners (Bandit Camps etc, these are priority targets - left too long they start spawning more powerful stacks that can really screw up your day) - and to make contact with as many nearby independent cities as possible. There is almost always one nearby that is the same as your starting race - either through conquest or through diplomacy absorb that as a proper city (not a vassal) ASAP. With regards to the other races you encounter... decide which ones provide things you like for your class (Use the Tome of Wonders to look up the quirks of the race combinations of your units) and absorb them, vassal the rest OR migrate them if you don't mind a relation hit with the race you're moving on. Research wise... there is no hard and fast rule here - I usually hit up whatever researches make units cheaper or give benefits to them, then start researching my class units, occasionally dipping into the spells I have available for research depending on how long things are looking to take.
Awesome. That should help out a bit.
Thanks.
1 day to go hype?
[QUOTE=Demoness;47519121]1 day to go hype?[/QUOTE]
Yup, can't wait. GTA V is going to tide me over but once Eternal Lords is released I will be dropping it like it's hot.
Been playing an Elf Arch Druid for about 20 turns and quite liking the druid's spells and abilities so far. Summoning shit is cool and the way you can both positively and negatively effect the land/armies is awesome. Really liking the sound of the Thorn Hedge Walls as well.
[QUOTE=Demoness;47520333]Been playing an Elf Arch Druid for about 20 turns and quite liking the druid's spells and abilities so far. Summoning shit is cool and the way you can both positively and negatively effect the land/armies is awesome. Really liking the sound of the Thorn Hedge Walls as well.[/QUOTE]
Archdruid is a lot of fun, but as a class also has trouble with Dreadnoughts - but you do get access to some spells that lower the defence in TC pretty early, unlike a Theocrat.
Triumph just posted this, is relevant to your earlier questions Demoness
[url]http://ageofwonders.com/beginners-strategy-guide/[/url]
Lotta good stuff in there. Thanks for the link, definitely learned some new stuff from it.
Eternal Lords is out, time to become this:
[IMG]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/pnkbe6xfjpygnxd/2015-04-15_02-29-06.png?dl=0[/IMG]
[QUOTE=Ripper Roo;47529282]Eternal Lords is out, time to become this:
[IMG]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/pnkbe6xfjpygnxd/2015-04-15_02-29-06.png?dl=0[/IMG][/QUOTE]
i really have to catch up with prequel
Is it just me or do the female Tigran look like ass? :v:
Males are alright but the females look so cartoony and weird.
[QUOTE=Demoness;47531022]Is it just me or do the female Tigran look like ass? :v:
Males are alright but the females look so cartoony and weird.[/QUOTE]
I haven't actually looked at them bar the one who shows up in the campaign as an opponent, and she looked fine to me.
Goddamn though, Eternal Lords is such a damn good expansion.
Anyone know how much they're making? I really hope they've been profiting.
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