Field of Glory Empires

Games
81

I played for a few hours yesterday and came away with a very positive impression.

As a learning game, I tried the Germanic tribe the Cheruscii. Isolated, strong army, ought to give me time to learn the game, right? Just conquer the cream of the unowned surrounding provinces, build up my civilization and culture, play friendly with any possible threats until strong enough to handle them. The old Civ drill.

Ha Ha Ha!

Out there in the barbarian forests, it is all against all. There is a reason why these people had trouble building up their civilizations, no one is going to allow you a moment to do so. Including regions that do not even look like factions.

My first impression is that they have nailed the situation in the Germanic north, and there are no quick and formulaic solutions. (Or at least such formulas were not apparent to me.)

I was quite surprised, though, to find that despite having watched some videos and having read a lot in the manual, a fair number of game pieces and rules were not so simple.

I thought that battles in forested regions always favored my medium infantry over heavy infantry, but it looked as though this were not the case when defending walled cities. I thought that it took three “killed units” in a battle to equal a victory and a pursuit phase, but that does not seem to be the case and I do not yet understand what triggers battle victory. I thought I understood the impact of support units behind front line infantry troops but found it difficult to know when this modifier would kick in.

And – crucial to gameplay – I found that if you lose a key region for a single turn and then re-take it the next turn, you have to “pacify” the region for quite a while before it reverts to its previous value. Rather a big deal if you plan to be a blob in the midst of weaker barbarian enemies, where you can beat anyone but cannot possibly prevent temporary incursions everywhere simultaneously. (Not to mention raiding)

Lots to wrap my head around, but an extremely interesting game, which so far strikes me as capturing the historical reality far better than other games.

82

I’ll check that out, thanks.

83

My initial impressions are also very positive to the degree that I probably spent 5 or 6 hours playing. My Messalia game went for most of that time but eventually my lack of manpower couldn’t keep up with constant barbarian incursions. Didn’t help that I wasn’t able to deal with my decadence problem early enoigh and ended up with a bunch of negative modifiers.

Playing as Macedonia now which feels like a very different game so far. Athens was kind enough to declare war on me without enough allies to back them up. Hoping I can secure the rest of Greece quickly before messing with any of the other successor states.

There is still a lot I don’t understand so it’s probably time to revisit the manual.

84

The email from Slitherine is hilarious.

“Disappointed Imperators have a second chance!”

Shots fired.

85

Hmm, looks like this is part of a bundle on Steam with Field of Glory II. If you already have FoG2 you get Empires at 25% off, which makes it only $30. Damn it, I don’t think I can resist that and the interlocking battle system between the 2 games.

86

Just so I’m clear, to use the cross-game battle system, I don’t need any of the Field of Glory 2 DLC?

87

Correct.

88

Thank you! I guess I’m in for this then!

89

I’m wondering if people who have played already have some guesses on how long a full campaign game would take? And I’m guessing it would be much longer if you play the battles out in FOG2?

90

I’m guessing you’re right since FoG2 battles can possibly take up to an hour depending on how many forces there are on the field. I think you might only want to do it for the most important battles where you want total control.

91

The strengths of armies differ if you spin it up in FoG2 though, right? It may create some weird incentives from a min-max perspective.

92

Here’s what Tim Stone has to say: Flare Path

93

I haven’t tried out the battle exporter yet and so far haven’t felt a strong desire to. However, it’s good to know that the people who have seem to really like that aspect. So far the strategic side of the game has been way more interesting to me that Imperator. The level of management is just about perfect for me.

94

Oh, I give up. Resistance broken. So many people praising the game.

I just bought it using that bundle deal to make it $29.99. (I already had FOG2.)

95

I was already primed to get this, but the slew of really strong reviews, the comparisons to Imperator that heavily favors Empires, and the nice $10 discount as part of the ‘Masters Edition’ all pushed me to take the plunge now.

Looking forward to digging into this.

96

Sigh, yeah, y’all wore me down as well. Can’t wait to try this. I’ve been itching for a more high-level grand strategy game.

97

Et tu? Some people need help resisting buying everything that sounds like it may be good :-)

98

Some people need to mind their own. Son.

99

Wouldn’t it be cool if someone made a game about not buying every game that sounds good?

I’d buy that game in an instant.

100

I think there needs to be a Game Collector Tycoon. Complete with Steam Sale DLC!