Field of Glory Empires

  • In the vein of Imperator: Rome and Aggressors: Ancient Rome

  • Coming soon, probably in June

  • Published by Slitherine

  • Developed by AGEOD, using a new game engine

Turn-based, grand strategy game, not much like the tactically oriented Field of Glory II, although they do have a setup where you can, if you wish, export your battles to Field of Glory 2 and play them out there (if you own both games)

  • Massive map of the ancient world
  • Like IR, begins shortly after the death of Alexander
  • A high number of playable nations, but not as total in this regard as IR

Battles involve a lot of strategy, involving leadership, troop types including support units, and terrain. But no in-battle tactics (unless you export to FOG2). DasTactic did a very good video showcasing this. Das Tactic: Conquer Italy Challenge

imho, this looks like more fun that IR battles, but it does not do much to address historical realism. Casualties are high, and I have seen nothing to indicate that the treachery of generals in the period is included.

The game focuses far more on culture and decadence. I cannot tell whether this works, but the idea is close to my heart. Map painting games that reduce the internal stresses of expansion strike me as being roughly as grounded in truth as the westerns my Dad’s crowd used to love. Apparently, in this game, as you grow, you are forced to do a lot of cultural things to maintain cohesion, but those things have a strong tendency toward decadence.

The game also does some interesting things with trade. Both the trade, and the culture/decadence mechanics are at least somewhat shown in this second DasTactic video: DasTactic: Carthage

As far as I can see, though, the game totally lacks characters and their internal political struggles. Which is really too bad. They have governmental types, and they have generals, but unless I have missed something, it stops there.

Lots of Dev Diaries are on Steam.

We can have the great Ancient Grans Strategy face-off!

AGEOD? In.

I did love their previous Ancients game, but this one is a completely new genre for them.

Who am I kidding, I’ll most likely get it…

Their last attempt at grand strategy produced ProN. Wait and see for me.

That game was definitely using an engine for a task it was not designed for…

They made a grand strategy porn game?

(I kinda want to play that…)

Careful what you wish for.

And for certain grognards, AGEOD games are pr0n. ;)

See, I’m thinking about Catherine The Great’s come hither smile and hair toss in Civ IV here.

And it did so much cool stuff. It was a shame it was too unplayable to ever actually get to see those things.

Hmm that seems really nice.

I have spent some more time looking into the game’s non-military side. As far as I can tell so far:

Each region can have natural (inherent) trade goods plus manufactured trade goods created in buildings.

Building construction is WAY beyond what is offered in Imperator. There are about 400 different buildings, some amount of randomization, and a great deal of strategic planning.

At any one time, you are offered the option to build an Agriculture, Health, Infrastructure, Military, Commerce, or Culture building. One of each category is offered at any one moment. Some buildings can only be built in certain kinds of location (requring, say, fertile land or ocean). And more advanced (level 2 buildings) require level 1 buildings. But even with such limits, there can be quite a few options that could theoretically pop up. (Level 1 Commerce buildings include Blacksmith, Garum shop, Usurer, Slave Workforce, Fishery, Crafter District, Bank, Drydock, Furnace, Port). Which one is actually offered in each of the 6 categopries is randomized, although you are allowed, for a 2 turn penalty, to ask for a re-roll of your options.

Furthermore, the usefulness of each option is always impacted by the trade goods already in this region, or available to that region through trade. Some trade goods are needed to construct that building, but very often specific trade goods add bonuses to the building’s benefits, often dramatically. So a lot of strategic thinking goes into the use of neighboring regions.


As a result of your building decisions, your region gains various levels of food, infrastructure (ability to build things in a reasonable amount of time), money, culture (which makes the people see themselves as being members of your nation), manpower, metal, and equipment. And decadence. And available types of military units. And manuractured trade goods, which, in turn, affects the power of existing and future buildings, local and neighboring… But unlike the typical game, you cannot be sure that after this construction, I will construct building X, because it might not turn up as an option for a while. Furthermore, you also can emphasize or de-emphasize areas by the number of citizens assigned to each area, with citizens being more effective than slaves, particularly in certain areas.

Money and equipment is crucial for building good troops. If you want a lot of legions, the demand for both will be very high. However, if you devote yourself to just the ingredients of a war machine, your lack of varied new goods will make your overall operation far less effective, and your lack of culture will lead to unrest among a population that does not feel a legitimate part of your nation. And if you neglect to supply excess food, the population will not grow, and that limits the number of buildings the province is allowed.

From what I have gleaned, you do not need to immerse yourself too deeply in this part of the game in order to play, particularly at low difficulty levels. But this is at the heart of getting good.

Oh! I think I like that combination of randomized choices with the option of resetting have a slight penalty, it sounds like the sweet spot between the same choices all the time and feeling too constrained by the rng .
I’ll be really interested to see how this works in practice…

DasTactic is currently three videos into a Lets’ Play as a small tribal nation.

Avernian Warriors
Buildings and Combat
Culture and Progress

The second and third video do a really good job of showing the mechanics which had not previously been clear, particularly how culture and decadence and legacy actually work.

He is praising the game very strongly.

That sounds pretty good!

If only AGEOD could team up with Paradox to make a strategy game…

Are you being ironic, or do you not remember that disaster?

Release date is July 11.

What is Field of Glory Empires in Two Minutes

As a big fan of Field of Glory II I can’t help but be really excited about this one.

Was hoping it would be sooner, but I kind of figured it would be later since they kept not announcing the date. I’m really excited for this one!