Warlock 2 + Renaissance Mod: Fine Fantasy 4X

Is the AI still horrible?

Thanks for pointing this out - probably not something I would have found otherwise.

@Alstein - “Major AI improvements” is one of the listed features of the mod, but someone in the comments did lament that Impossible was still easy for them and wished for compatibility with the Legendary AI mod.

@Daagar, did you play the game with the Legendary AI mod? What’s your opinion?

Oh heck no. I’m someone that wouldn’t know Civ VI or Ascendancy AI is bad without being told so. I’m much more of a “look at all the new mages” type person. I can’t strategy myself out of a wet bag.

I thought the AI was quite good. I payed attention to it closely. I was not happy with the AI in Fallen Enchantress, for example, and it turned me off from that game. With this mod the AI was aggressive, would declare war opportunistically, use a good mix of troops, and try to hold important objectives.

It was the best AI of all of the fantasy 4X games I played.

In the DasTactic video above, he says he had to drop from Impossible to Challenging with this mod.

What DLC is recommended (or required)?

For the mod? All of them. If you read the reviews, some people only consider the game worthwhile with the mod (the full kaboodle is ~$20 right now).

Where are you seeing that price? I see $33. And I already own Warlock 2 on steam.

image

Sorry! It was part of the Autumn sale, which I didn’t realize already ended :(

It should go down again for the Christmas sale.

Someone on another forum had trouble with early game and asked for help. I started a new game and paid attention to what I did, here are my tips.

In summary, each unit counts, go slowly, and the most important thing is to know the enemy’s vision radius (r-click on them as soon as you see them). Other tips:

  • Do not use your last movement to enter unexplored fog, you may step into a monster’s vision radius. Only step forward if you know you can step back. (Yes, sometimes its a dragon lair in the fog.)

  • Do not leave archers exposed. The AI is smart enough to walk around your front lines and chomp your ranged units, don’t leave them a path.

  • Hover over an opponent before you attack them to see how much damage will be done. Its non-random damage (except crits), so think each attack through and do not lose a unit unless it for a strategic gain.

  • Remember to use spells. Fireball and its cousins will win fights. I was going against Bears with 2 melee + 1 archer, and the only reason I won consistently was because of fireball. (Those same units can handle that fight by themselves after a few upgrades.)

Playing with those tips in mind, on a new random map, I was able to tread carefully and get +3 settlements built by aprox turn 30. I was using one group of 2 melee 1 ranged for the first 15-ish turns, and then added a second group of the same 3 units for bigger fights.

Very helpful tips @milspec especially this one. I bought it during the sale and after a couple of false starts I now have four cities. How can you tell the population size of your city and where do you see the unrest level?

NM I figured it out.

Thanks, I liked Warlock 2 but it had some pretty severe balance and pacing problems (mostly related to the placement of dwemer shards) that ultimately killed it for me. I gather this is a pretty drastic overhaul so hopefully it preserves the good while losing the bad.

Btw, I was able to get the whole kit and kaboodle for just north of $16 on the win game store (Steam keys), if anyone is considering.

Edit: Apologies. The deal seems to be over now.

I am trying this out now, currently progressing through a loop of restarts after ‘relearning’ some of the game, and also trying to find a sweet spot balance between challenge and enjoyment.

Okay, forget the name, but one of the preset leaders is a very powerful dragon unit. No starting race or city, but you can capture stuff very easily with just this dragon. I am wondering . . . is this “easy mode”? It effectively gifts you an uber stack right from the get go . . . . I would welcome the perspective of anyone more clued in to the nuances . . . .

. . . . ooohh, and just now figuring out that the thread title says “fine” rather “final”, after puzzling over what the heck the link was to Final Fantasy :-P

OK, picked it up on steam today, no idea why it’s on sale now given the t-day sale just ended, but whatever.

Just wanted to pause w/ my initial impression and say it’s quite favorable. I’ve no idea what the Renaissance mod is doing since I’m playing with it from the jump, but initial impressions are I’m probably going to be playing this for a bit.

And frankly anything that currently gets me to stop playing AI War 2 is impressive just off that alone. ;)

Thanks for the heads-up. I’ve had the base game of Warlock II for years but never was as interested in playing it as I was the original. This thread about the Renaissance Mod has aroused my interest and since I just purchased all its DLC, I’ll give it a go.

In case anyone is interested the Warlock II: The Exiled Complete Edition BUNDLE includes the base game Warlock II: The Exiled, soundtracks for both Warlock & Warlock II, the Warlock II E-book: The Great Mage Game, and all five Warlock II DLCs for $20.58 U.S. Since it’s one of those “COMPLETE YOUR COLLECTION!” offers, you don’t have to pay for the parts of it you already own.

OK, played about 3 more hours into my first campaign following the suggested set up at the top of this thread and I got to say, this is a over looked gem I’m very happy to of stumbled across.

No idea really what I’m doing yet, I just build cities to expand (until I discovered you hit a severe penalty for building too many), ran into the other mage and we’re fighting it out.

In my most recent battle the first archer unit I recruited and had continuously enhanced fell at the gates of the other mages biggest cities. Turns out they’re pretty well defended and the enemy mage isn’t shy about throwing some heavy duty magic at you. I salute you my fallen comrades.

Glad you are enjoying it. Cities and defensive structures have good ranged attacks. Yours does also, don’t be shy about using it.

I think the AI here is quite magical. It feels to me like a human player. That’s the reason this was my favorite of about 8 other games in the genre.

I have had the AI declare war on me opportunistically, press the attack on weak cities, defend their own cities with masses of troops, and seen the AI fight other AI (with more Wizards) effectively.