Ooh, I should totally do that. Did you go full Emperor on the AIs or just King or whatever? Anything less than King and you’d be able to immediately steamroll the first AI and snowball the surrender from there, I suspect.
Not emperor, that is just asking for a game I’d never finish to the final bloody end. One other facet I forgot to include was that seals were off - it was only total conquest. It does end up being a fairly long campaign with conquest.
Ahh, AoW3…full disclosure: I was a beta tester and I put alot of time and effort into beta testing the game.
I may be somewhat biased lol:
IIRC, the AI will not spam cities, because it follows the following formula:
human player + 2.
So, however many cities you have, the ai will build up to that limit, and then 2.
Start on a medium or large map, with no cities on the map, and a settler start. You’ll pay attention to the map then, especially MCUs (special sites on the map, such as dungeons, that unlock different building options).
One thing I think doesn’t get enough attention is that there are so many settings and ways to play the game. Start with a small army, no army, a huge army, map full of cities, map with no cities etc.
EL always has you starting with nothing but a settler.
EL is very glossy, and the opening cinematics are great, and their faction design is an interesting way to approach things, as in differentiate based on mechanics, e.g. one faction can’t declare war, one has only one city. But when you ahve 3 units per faction and a bunch of mechanics to play with, it’s pretty easy to create “diverse” factions.
But, I think the class+race matrix of AoW3 generates many more possibilities (9 races *7 classes= 63 start comboes, let’s not even count specialisations, or various map settings)
Problem with EL is once you figure out what each factions needs to make it tick, there is no reason to ever go back. I tried every faction at release and I tried really really hard to like this game, but it is ultimately so shallow, boring and to me, lacking in personality, that I just can’t go back, even though logically it ticks all the right boxes (multiple resources, reactive map, ways to interact with resources, a decent attempt at varied factions).
It’s just such a tedious game.
It does have one mechanic that I think is superb, and that’s the way armies reinforce each other without having to be right next to each other. That I quite like, as it makes area control more interesting.
AoW3 isn’t perfect, but I have 1832 hrs played and look forward to more, as I am still learning stuff.
I’m still a newb, but I’m really impressed by this game. Everything about it is so polished: the UI, the massive help tome, the tutorial campaign. I suppose the graphics could be crisper, but then again I may not have the game on its highest resolution (I’ll check next time I play). I keep saying to myself, “wow, there’s a LOT of stuff in this game.”
And yeah, the tactical AI is pretty good! In one fight I got impatient and moved my leader too far forward, and the enemy punished me by focus-firing on the leader, sending her into the 3-turn void (also a nice design feature, incidentally). I really loved that. It made me realize I need to think about the tactical battles.
Can’t wait to play some more tomorrow.
Does the AI build outposts yet, or just cities still?
I assume you mean forts? And, no, it doesn’t.
Yeah, I meant forts.
Oh well.
Since interest in this is picking up - any interest in starting up a PBEM (play by email)? The game centrally manages things (forwarding turn reminders and diplomacy chat). PvE/creeping is essentially unchanged, whereas PvP must be auto-resolved.
I recall we did a bunch when the game was newer.
I’m not ready for PBEM myself; still learning the game, and I’m looking forward to trying various single-player challenges.
I have a couple questions about combat. How does one take a walled city? If I bring a trebuchet, I can get a wall down, but I take a lot of losses. The next turn the defenders apparently repair the city, so I can’t exploit my breach. Will the wall damage persist if I follow my trebuchet team with another team on the same turn?
Also, is there a way to bring more than six units to one combat?
Flying units, units with wall climbing, and teleporking units can also traverse the walls. You can also bring more than 6 units by making sure your stacks are adjacent (it’s a little more than this, but you’ll figure it out when you see the layout of the pre-battle screen) on strategic overland map before starting the fight (this works for all but indoor treasure locations etc).
Some units besides trebuchets can also attack walls (like some sort of war elephant, and uhh, maybe giants, and probably other stuff I can’t recall), different races/classes get them at higher tiers. And the wall damage persists round to round unless the walls have regeneration.
Almost all units can attack the gates, but rams get a huge defensive bonus.
Is this a first in a turn-based strategy game?
[quote=“Spock, post:2188, topic:74060”]
Also, is there a way to bring more than six units to one combat?
[/quote][quote=“kerzain, post:2189, topic:74060”]
stacks are adjacent (it’s a little more than this, but you’ll figure it out when you see the layout of the pre-battle screen) on strategic overland map
[/quote]To describe in words, all stacks surrounding the hex being attacked will be pulled in, for up to 7 stacks.
This usually gives the attacker the advantage barring choke-points, since a defender cannot arrange for 4 stacks to always be adjacent.
[quote=“Spock, post:2188, topic:74060”]
I’m not ready for PBEM myself; still learning the game, and I’m looking forward to trying various single-player challenges.
[/quote]IIRC I think PBEM also supports AI, so if more people are comfortable with a comp stomp, that can be done as well.
Yea, I typed that out on my phone and that was a last minute edit, since I was well past my why-the-fuck-do-I-type-novels-on-my-phone limit and just wanted to stop thinking and poking at my screen.
Hmmm…not so sure. The defender chooses the type of terrain, usually has some defensive structure, acts first, and doesn’t feel the urge to do anything in the battle (the attacker looses if there is no damage in 5 consecutive turns). Yes, he/she can have only three armies adjacent to each other on the world map, but that’s 18 units on the battlefield out of 42, and those other advantages are nothing to scoff at.
At the end, it all depends on the context. Imagine a shrine of smiting, a theocrat, and 16 (orc?) crusaders defending a stone-walled city (it can be achieved not very late in the game). A real nightmare.
Thanks for the replies! OK, I will give the walled city another try. :)
It only takes about a 1.5:1 ranged advantage (2:1 to avoid too much attrition) to clear enemy archers from the walls. Fliers and teleporkers are obviously great as well, but if you only have one or two such they tend to get squished pretty good after they kill an archer.
Elves are pretty disgusting with their t2 cavalry that can telepork from level one, and the silliness of longbows. Tigran and gobbo archers ignore the obstruction penalty. Pretty much every class has a bunch of ways to deal with things. Remember Sabotage (ability, common to Dreadnought+Rogue heroes and units) can target walls as well as gates and is a 3x attack.
I agree with all @inactive_user wrote, with the added note that teleporking units only get one attack after they 'pork, so you want to save it for round 3 or so when other units are in a better position to support them (Stone Skin and other defensive spells work well here).
One of the greatest strengths and beauties of this game is an enormous multitude of battle options and potential combinations. There is no definitive strategy here.
Phasing can grab the victory for you in one battle, and be totally useless in the next. Unicorn riders can’t use the main advantage of the cavalry (namely, the ability to charge) in the same round after phasing. They are still extremely useful against archers, flanking them and keeping them engaged, though. Or just to arrive in time and maybe save another unit. But if someone wants to use them that way against pikemen or orc black knights, he/she might find the things are not that easy…
Thanks! I conquered the walled city, taking some losses, and had fun doing it. This game is really interesting. :)