AoE DE suffered from poor tech, but also from the fact that they didn’t update the game, like AoE 2 HD did. They didn’t try to add balacne or fix things that AoE 2 got right.
And that pissed me off. I would like to play AoE DE but with all the fixes that support that AoE 2 HD had.
Some people that have insight to what is going on, T90 and Zach from EscapeAoE, seem more positive about what the outcome will be for AoE 2:DE. I’ll remain skeptical until it releases though. If they do pull off an awesome DE though it would be great to get the community unified on one edition.
I’m spending my end of year vacation time catching up on some AoE2 games and KSL. Hoping IBM lets us keep our end of year vacation time when the merge completes next year.
Oh wow, I actually remember this one from back in the day:
Is it any good?
Unsure, as I don’t remember playing it, only its existence.
Ugh something about the graphic for those tank-things is triggering a very vague memory of another strategy game from the late 90s/early 00s. Won’t be worth trying to figure out what it was; the tanks don’t actually look that much like whatever I am thinking of; more just thinking about games from that era reminded me in general. It was not a major success release, maybe even turn based. Ugh, this is gonna bug me all day long.
Oh man, good luck with that. I looked at the tanks and thought they look like every other tank from that era.
Oh, that was surprisingly easy. I was thinking of Deadlock, I think. The weird little tanks in that game. I seem to remember really enjoying trying to tech up to the super powerful ones, but sadly none of the screenshots I can find really show them in action. But they had that kinda chunky faux-3D look to ‘em, albeit in a very poor 2D game from the mid-90s’ level of graphics :)
Man, no one has high res screenshots of this game (even if it is just stretched all to hell)
Oh man, I loved both Deadlock games a LOT.
That sprite belongs in a museum!
Seriously though, they were great. A year or two ago, my Secret Santee had one or both on their wishlist and it reminded me of them. I can’t imagine they hold up especially well now, but I really wanted to buy em on GOG and find out at the time :)
I totally own them both on GOG, I’ll have to load 'em up and see how they hold up.
Hey, this seems like a good thread to ask this question:
Which of these would I like the most: Northgard or Frostpunk??
I keep going around and around on whether either, both, or neither of these games are for me. Let me give you my RTS/city-builder profile:
GAMES I LIKE THAT MIGHT BE RELEVANT
Impressions City Builders
Anno Series
Age of Empires 2 (campaign)
Tropico
Settlers 7
Kingdom: New Lands
LIKES
Big building projects (e,g., cathedrals and pyramids)
Slow, calm, meditative pacing
Interesting but not convoluted resource chains
A touch of story mixed with the strategy
Boardgamey mechanics
DISLIKES
Fielding huge armies
Grimdark futures
Survival death-spirals
Obscure systems
Does any of that add up to match one or the other of these games?
Although they’ve both got colony/city management elements,
Northgard is an RTS and Frostpunk is a survival game. I prefer Northgard for its flexibility, pace, and long-term replayability. Based on your preferences above, Northgard is definitely the game for you.
Judgment: Apocalypse Survival Simulator is better than either of them*. JASS!
-Tom
* I’m actually not kidding. Much.
I would prefer Frostpunk and Northgard over JASS.
:p
Frostpunk is thematically very much on the dark side. And, more important, once you did it wrong it’s game over. There is no coming back. At least I was sentenced to death/banned after an hour or so. Had to restart. I was not expecting this.
Northgard: There is not much to build/building is very specific. Like Starcraft. Build the right things at the right time. Everything else you mentioned should fit. It really is far away from Impressions’s games, Anno and Tropico. Not too far from Settlers 7.
Regarding Tom’s recommendation: It’s better than it looks and there is lots to build/building is meaningful. There is story. Production chains are kind of there and it is not overly obscure. Combat/defending mechanics are alright. (you can pause, if I remember correctly). Survival was not that hard. It’s a bit dark, not grimdark. It might fit for the slow-paced-build-your-own-little-empire-experience incl. combat and resource management.
To answer you question:
+1 for Northgard.
“Survival death-spirals” : while it seems Northgard will be more in your alley, be careful with this point, as it’s also possible to fall into this state in the game.
Unquestionably Northgard, although it does have survival death spirals of a sort.
It doesn’t really have grand projects though. It has equivalents, but they don’t have anything like the resonance of an Anno or Impressions style grand project.
As Tom says, it’s an RTS, not a citybuilder. But it feels more like Settlers 7 than any RTS.
I can’t help but feel like I just read an unusual Playboy bio sheet.
I haven’t played Frostpunk yet, but from what I know about it I’d cast a vote for Northgard too.
Well thanks a lot. Now I wish I’d bought the game when it was on sale (Northgard) and I have to sit around waiting for it to go back on sale again. Bah!