Shadow Magic Site Up

Games
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Never heard of it.[/quote]

They are releasing its spiritual sequel, Paradise Cracked, soon. Give it a try and let me know how it is.

olaf[/quote]

I’m on it. Thanks for the tip.

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Many new screenshots here.

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Here are some tidbits the devs have dropped over at the HeavenGames forum:

  • Spheres can be mixed, as in AoW1. So you can have a Wizard with 2 levels in Life and 5 in Fire, etc.

  • Polearm units get a defense/retaliation bonus against mounted and flying units.

  • Lower level Draconian units and Draconian Heroes now have Floating instead of Flying.

  • If an attacking stack flees a battle, all of its remaining movement points are used up.

  • Heroes require more experience to advance at higher levels.

  • Unit stats can be changed in the editor, so unique units can be created.

  • Breath weapons have been limited to 3 uses per day.

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My wife is going to be pissed about that one. Oh wait, this is not the new Homeland Security Bill thread in the EE forum. My bad.

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There’s a terribly written preview over at IGN that has a list of a lot of interesting changes. The Nomad race sounds incredible - you can actually just pack up your entire capital city if there’s an army headed your way that you know you can’t beat. And looks like the Orc Glutton finally has some competition for the title belt of “Best Unit” - its new cousin, The Harvester, does the same gobbling trick but then proceeds to defecate a Lava Demon out to fight by your side.

Word on the AoW2 forums is the end of July ship date is pretty realistic. I hope it makes a Euro release simultaneously with the American one.

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Well, I just read Gamespot’s preview, too. They are making the sieges even quicker. I thought the change from AoW1 to 2 was enough, but the people must have spoken. Also, I do not think any of you mentioned that Triumph has changed the magic system back to its original form. I liked the specialization from AoW2, but again, AoW luverz like Jason and Crypt must have liked the old way better.

These are some pretty heavy changes. It really does sound less like an expansion and more like an Age of Wonders 2.5. Has any other title gone in and made quite a number of changes and not called it another iteration? I would have whined even more like a little girl if they had called it AoW3, but the number of gameplay alterations is surprising.

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I don’t think I like the changes to the way sieges are done at all. While I think it is patently ludicrous that a single halfling slinger is often times able to defend an entire city from 5 or 6 other units, sieges are AoW2 at its best. Shadow Magic is going to add a gate crash spell (which, in addition to the fact that there is no longer a specialty sphere for each player, means that gates won’t stand up longer than the first couple of turns among serious players), more and cheaper siege units and EIGHT gates per city. That is just crazy. It means that if you want to keep units out, you need to have at least eight units to block the almost instantaneously destroyed gates. And while there is some speculation that only cities will have eight gates, as opposed to towns or outposts, which will have four, I think this is probably completely backwards - cities should be easier to defend than outposts, given their worth and their natural defenses. Eight gates is going to be murder to defend against even bad players.

Overall, though, I like the changes. And an extra plus is that it will be completely backwards compatible with AoW2, so you can continue your games in the new, supposedly speedier engine.

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Dude, are you just culling my posts for some of that patented Tyjenks Humor Fodder, or do you actually read them??!?!?

?!?!!!

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Dude, are you just culling my posts for some of that patented Tyjenks Humor Fodder, or do you actually read them??!?!?

?!?!!![/quote]

Well, I did re-read the whole thread, skimming for this mention as I did not remember. I guess your detailed description of the changes (as opposed to my layman’s one) was too darned confusing. :wink:

So:

I A AM BIG FAT DUMMY and Jason Lutes is the King of All Things Turn-Based. He has the knowledge of the gaming gods which he imparts on us daily and we should be damn glad he serves the forces of good and not those of evil.

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[EDIT] Post removed for NDA reasons.

  • Alan
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Even cooler!

33

:D I like eggs.

34

Hey Gang!

I have become, much to my wife’s annoyance, obsessed with all things concerning the development of Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic and I just read some potentially depressing news.

Who isn’t excited about the AI finally being able to use Pioneers? :D

BUT, if what Swolte (a one time fan now an actual member of the QA and exposer of AI Exploitables), said is true, the AI can use the Pioneers to repair razed sites BUT STILL CAN’T/WON’T BUILD OUTPOSTS!! :x

Beyond being a big letdown it sort of renders one of the newly promised Random Map Game Modes, Empire (a large sparsely populated world for you and the AI wizards lay claim to), kind of pointless against the AI. :cry:

35

Oof, that’s a serious bummer. I guess it sounded too good to be true, but… ouch.

36

Hey Gang,

I finally got some semi cryptic but official answers to the following questions about the RMG in AoW:SM:

  1. Can I play the AI in Empire Mode or is it strictly MP?

  2. Do these random maps go so far as to have triggered events and such or do they just keep stuff relatively simple?

  3. Are the random maps actually balanced w/o looking like some four sided mirror image? What about inherent race balance issues? Like will the map give the Frostlings an advantageous starting setup if right next to some Draconians?

  4. Can I have the AI pick the opposing wizards for me at random? Better yet, can I have it make customized wizards on the fly or is it going to be limited to the default stable of baddies?

  5. Lastly, can I setup my own future quick starts? Or will the customized map settings at least remember the last settings I gave them when I open it again next time?

Here are the officious answers from the main programmer for the game, Josh:

  1. Empire has cities on the map, just fewer of them.

  2. Random maps do not have stories/events.

  3. Maps are balanced by structure placement, but are not symmetrical.

  4. Wizards default to being randomly picked from the list for all players, and are always done that way for the AI.

  5. The Advanced settings are remembered until you quit the game.

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Hey, thanks a lot, LordGek! I hope you will keep bringin’ us the good word. Once Shadow Magic is out, maybe you can join us for some online AoW2 matches. We’ve been having a lot of fun lately.

The answer re: Empire Builder maps certainly seems to sidestep the issue. I’ll expect Pioneer settling AI to be braindead. Multiplayer’s always where it’s been at anyway, so it’s a disappointment but not a game-breaker for me.

38

Yeah, but who knows, he may be very restricted in what he can say about the game before it comes out. While I believe he is the main programmer for the game, it doesn’t give him the freedom to generate what may be seen as bad PR for the game. :cry:

But, don’t you worry, I will keep on this as I still would like a better answer for question #1.

I get most of my info from the Age of Wonders Heaven Forum:
http://aow.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forums/Ultimate.cgi

The official forum at God Games is pretty dead.

Personally I’m not much of a multiplayer gamer, but hey, maybe I’ll take you up on it sometime anyways.

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All I know is that the Dire Penguin is back and that’s a good thing. Not sure yet if it’s part of the Frostling retinue or just an ind. creature, but it looks cool.

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Neither is Lutes. :wink: You should get on one of his games one weekend with some other forum members.

Thanks for the news, too. All of the campaignning is winning me over.