Whoever thought Triumph was done with this game was wrong. A new patch, called Poseidon, is in open beta:
http://aow.triumph.net/the-v1-8-poseidon-patch-in-steam-open-beta/
There are some neat options there for expanding your domains over water.
Woop woop.
Excellent!
I hope they talk about their upcoming game soon…
Awesome. I love those guys.
Holy crap, water fortresses!
Skimming the news post on the official forum I did learn the new game they are working on is using a brand new engine, and we already knew it’s “something AoW3 fans will be excited for” so I’m really hoping it’s an Age of Wonders 4 built on an all new 64-bit engine. Also confirmed - the new game is indeed a turn-based strategy game. It sounds like they all but confirmed the new engine is 64-bit.
I’ll be in my bunk.
If they’re writing a new 32-bit engine, someone needs a slap across the face with a soggy handkerchief.
Yay for new engine! I’ll be very excited if (assuming it has multiplayer like AOW3 did) they clean up the horrible UI unresponsiveness in simultaneous turns. That was my major complaint with the engine.
It was also confirmed the new project can be “played by email” as that’s how most games are played in the office, which would imply to me multiplayer is indeed a thing.
Hopefully the new engine will address your specific concern (though to address that in AoW3 turn animations off and it will be a lot better, in my experience). I did stop playing simultaneous turns just because with animations off turns go by crazy fast and the AI always had priority with multiple things happening at once in Simul which always bugged me.
I play against the AI with simultaneous turns on just to speed up turn times, plus the AI can use every advantage it can get ;)
Also 75% off on Steam now, down to $7.49.
I still haven’t picked this up, though I’ve heard good enough things about it that I apparently put it on my wishlist at some point. What makes it better/different than Endless Legend?
Everything! Heh. It’s my favorite 4X of all time, alongside Imperialism II and Civ IV, which are also my favorite 4Xes of all time ;)
Specifically vs EL:
- Much, much better tactical battles. They’re a distraction in EL and a wonderful centerpiece here.
- Streamlined strategic layer. Some people find it too light, but AOW is a wargame first and foremost, and it works great with the design here. Overall it’s just a more focused game than a do-everything game like EL.
- Exceptional balance. It’s really, really solid across the board.
- Functional AI. It’s legitimately good in battles, and ok-to-meh strategically (aka better than 95% of strategy game AIs)
- A UI that doesn’t make me want to put my monitor through a woodchipper. I realize this is a ‘me’ problem ;)
I’m not a big fan of the pacing for Endless Legends - it feels like it takes a really long time to get into a game of EL to me. AoW3, by comparison, sets you up with a decent starting army and let’s you immediately start claiming resource points like mines and attempting dungeons, caves, ruins, and the like to improve your heroes and level up your troops. You’re starting with useful spells right away, and researching very useful and entertaining spells and abilities from turn 1. Your cities are simple but very powerful - like Master of Magic you don’t research buildings but rather just build as you have the resources.
And the AI is actually able to play the game very well, too - for the most part, at least.
EDIT - I keep thinking of more differences, from the combat to the way the RNG maps are laid out - trust me when I say it’s worth $7.50 to check it out, at the least.
I think this is the most significant difference. So much better than EL in this area.
I played AOW 3 some but was turned off a bit because of the lack of building options. Playing AOW3 to me was like playing the Mongols in Civ in that it was all about churning out units and attacking until everyone is dead. I heard the latest expansion added more building-type options to the game. Is that correct and is it worth getting?
There are a LOT of buildings - but you only see the ones in the build list you have unlocked. You may have not realized that initially? Also, the expansions and some of the patches as well have all added yet more buildings.
I believe at some point it was also confirmed to be not AOW4 but something new (my guess is new franchise)
Yeah, they said it was something new. I’m curious what it is.
See above about it being the best 4X ever, but tbh if you’re a passive builder AOW probably isn’t the game for you. It really is a wargame at its core. (So are all the Civ-alikes, which are really Empire-alikes, no matter how many poorly thought out culture victories get bolted onto the design, but that’s another topic for another day!)
That said, it definitely has a rush-boom-turtle dynamic. Teching up to better units with which to do the smashing is absolutely viable…but there’s still killin’ to be done, at the end of the day.