AoW3 is a fantastic game, and it also has something pretty rare- a competent and enjoyable AI. The only thing I dislike about it is that it can see stealthed units, which is a bummer in single player. If you’re gonna multi, though, those stealthier guys can be a ton of fun, and that makes up for the single player deficit there.
Yeah, concealment is almost an mp-only mechanic. Plenty of meat in sp without it though
Yup, agreed.
I have been playing PBEM w my friends for years, since the game was launched. It’s great fun. We crank the difficulty all of the way up to keep it challenging.
You might want to consider the PBEM balance patch, it’s attempts to even out some of the largest issues:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=661597466
Oh nice, I’ll scope this next time I jump back in for a few rounds of AOW3. Is this a different lineage or a continuation of previously popular balance mods?
It’s a continuation. I found it referenced in some of the larger competitive tournies on the AoW forums, it’s popular.
Excellent. I’m almost done being annoyed at losing in my latest fling with Imperialism II, so I’m probably about due for another tempestuous weekend or six with AoW3.
I suppose there’s no reason not to get the expansions when it’s only $5 more, but for the sake of argument, what would I be missing without them? (Let’s assume my gaming time is quite limited.)
Heh, I just finished a game of Imp2 and also thinking of trying something else.
From 6 races and 6 classes in the base game, to 9 races and 7 classes with all expansions.
Plus some extra skills.
Also boatload of treasure items and sites.
It seems alot of the the mechanics improvements came with the patches, although there’s a few things locked to expansions, like new victory conditions and RNG events and maybe other stuff that’s unclear to me.
Like the others have said, it’s just more content in the base game. It’s not like an RPG with post-game content or anything, it’s just a wider variety of things from events and races to new spells and items you’ll potentially encounter when you play a random map (the best way to play - it’s sort of like playing an amazing board game).
The expansions add a ton of variety to the map and should be considered mandatory imo.
I keep bouncing off of AoW, and it should be an easy fit with my love of MoM, but it’s been years of re-installing, playing for 30 minutes, and quitting to go play MoM. I wasn’t a fan of HoMM or TA, so maybe this just isn’t my style of game, despite it seeming to be a spiritual successor to MoM. Or maybe I just haven’t been able to stay interested long enough to get to the depth I keep hearing about. Wish I could figure it out. Until then, there’s a sorcery node with sky drakes that needs clearing and I have just the flying elf lords to do it with.
Multiplayer helps with that a bit. It’s one thing to slog through single player games against some CPU enemies. It’s quite another to play against someone and experience the successes and failures of each class/race/unit. And having your buddy rib you on something you did wrong just drives you to explore new attempts at taking them out.
To be honest, it’s the same thing that drove me to love the entire HOMM series, though it peaked for me with HOMM 3, which is the last time I played it in bulk with multiplayer.
Interestingly, I felt the same as you about AoW: it should have been a perfect fit. I played the tutorial and hit a brick wall. On the tutorial. There was something that was so intrinsically different about the experience that, even though I played and was a huge fan of HoMM, I didn’t care for AoW. Perhaps it was the speed factor. I felt I needed to hurry my pace to survive when I am, unfortunately, a cautious, slow but steady builder. It worked for me in most every other TBS, but caused me grief in AoW3. Not being one that plays multiplayer, that’s not an option in order to better test the waters.
Honestly, I probably didn’t give it my best shot and will likely return once the expansions are a decent price on GoG to fill out the base game. It’s keeping me from going back because I don’t want to spend the money if I don’t like the experience, but don’t want to waste the time on the base game when the extra content adds so much to it.
Thats me as well - I have it, and all the expansions, and LOVED the first one, but for some reason I can’t get into this version of Age of Wonders.
Lennart and Co are some of my favorite developers ever, but for some reason, I bounce off this game completely.
AoW is not a game that rewards turtling very well. You will get crushed by someone who is out actively clearing lairs and expanding their territory. For one, you get a jackload of XP, gold, and items from clearing lairs. For another, you get income from bringing them into your territory.
Aggressive expansion is rewarded more than any other playstyle, no doubt.
Listen to this guy. Turtling up in AOW 3 is a death sentence. You need to get out there, explore, and conquer. Or befriend. Since befriending is a thing :)
Strange, as HoMM was very anti-turtle too. You really had to be out there clearing resources just like AoW3.