TheMarshmallowBear
Benelovent Chieftain of the Ursu Kingdom
Well I pre-ordered it.. it looks fun... and might be just a fun way to kill time because clearly Civ 5 hotseat isn't doing it for me.
Age of Wonders 3
- Thread starter Red Key
- Start date
Victory is typically achieved by eliminating all other leaders or making them your allies through diplomacy if you have enabled "allied victory". In AoW3 your leader is represented as a unit in the game. Your leader can participate in battles same as any other unit. AoW3 also has a "throne city" concept. If your leader dies in a battle he will be resurrected a few turns later in your throne city. If your throne city is captured it takes a few turns to make another city the throne city. Thus, your leader and throne city are important to protect because if both are killed/taken at the same time you lose.
Quests can be created that establish other victory conditions that are different from the typical conditions, but you would not see these in randomly generated maps. Only specific scenarios created by the devs or users (level editor included with game) would have other conditions. There is no "Spell of Mastery" that wins you the game as in Master of Magic. Even though there is not a variety of victory conditions, I like how the game keeps the focus on combat and the only victory condition I would recommend adding is a civ-style "Domination" victory that could be enabled or disabled (would be great for large maps with max players).
Quests can be created that establish other victory conditions that are different from the typical conditions, but you would not see these in randomly generated maps. Only specific scenarios created by the devs or users (level editor included with game) would have other conditions. There is no "Spell of Mastery" that wins you the game as in Master of Magic. Even though there is not a variety of victory conditions, I like how the game keeps the focus on combat and the only victory condition I would recommend adding is a civ-style "Domination" victory that could be enabled or disabled (would be great for large maps with max players).
I think this is the first game I have preordered. I haven't had the game crash in weeks so there does not seem to be any easy to find game breaking glitches left in singleplayer or hotseat. I haven't tried the online multiplayer so there might be some synchronization issues there still but it has been tested by others. I have no major complaints about the game just minor nitpicky things like I think the alignment (good/evil) system needs more impact to make players care more about it.
Overall I highly recommend AoW3!
Overall I highly recommend AoW3!
MyopicCat
Chieftain
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2014
- Messages
- 73
This game looks really promising, I'm really looking forward to playing it! I especially like the direction they're taking the tactical battle mechanics. Some interesting ideas compared to Civ 5:
- 6 unit stacking per tile on the strategic map ...
- .. but all units on the attacked tile and surrounding tiles go into battle (so epic 18 vs 24 unit battles can occur)
- the battle maps contain plenty of hexes for army maneuvers, with more realistic ranges for archers and cavalry charges
- 3 action points that can be used for movement, multiple attacks or multiple reaction attacks (so units that survive three attacks are pinned down)
- attacks of opportunity (moves within or out of a unit's zone of control are subject to a reaction attack)
- rules for flanking and guarding (fortification)
AI could use some improvement but it seems okay from what I've seen. Not great but enough to satisfy me so far. I would say AoW3 AI is better than Civ5. Its been a while since I have played Civ5, but from what I remember the Civ5 AI was pretty stupid with its armies. I can't remember at the moment if the AI gets advantages that humans don't, but I think there might be a few. I am satisfied with my SP experience so far, but I imagine some skilled players might find MP to be the only challenging way to play after a while.
Less than a week to go until release! A lot of let's play type videos have come out on Youtube. If you want to see multiplayer check these out. Some videos made by a beta tester on how to play can be found here plus another preview video.
Barathor
Emperor
- Joined
- May 7, 2011
- Messages
- 1,202
I've just discovered this series last week through Steam and I'm eagerly awaiting its release! I preordered it after looking up some previews, videos, and some feedback online. 
I don't know how I've missed it all these years, especially since I also used to be a big fan of Heroes of Might and Magic (until it starting going downhill and then Ubisoft destroyed the series last hope with Heroes 6 -- it had so much potential and Black Hole made so many good design decisions!). Though, it seems more like Civ than HoMM, so that's a good thing since Civ is at the top of my TBS list. History is fun, but this game will satisfy my fantasy cravings very nicely -- I gave Fallen Enchantress a try, but it just wasn't doing it for me.
I don't know how I've missed it all these years, especially since I also used to be a big fan of Heroes of Might and Magic (until it starting going downhill and then Ubisoft destroyed the series last hope with Heroes 6 -- it had so much potential and Black Hole made so many good design decisions!). Though, it seems more like Civ than HoMM, so that's a good thing since Civ is at the top of my TBS list. History is fun, but this game will satisfy my fantasy cravings very nicely -- I gave Fallen Enchantress a try, but it just wasn't doing it for me.
DaviddesJ
Deity
BTW, I don't know if it's worth starting a separate thread for, but Warlock 2: The Exiled is also coming out soon. This looks to be more HOMM-like, while AOW3 is more Civ-like.
I've played the first Warlock and it is a fantasy knock-off of Civ5, but is good for a little fun. AoW3 is a mix of Civ & HoMM plus more.
Release is almost here! Just over 12 hours to go... http://countingdownto.com/countdown/age-of-wonders-3-steam-release-countdown-clock
Maniacal
the green Napoleon
Notch agrees AoW3 is better than Minecraft.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/21trce/age_of_wonders_3_is_out_today_on_steam_looking/cggiqb4
Being a major funder of the game though, he may be biased.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/21trce/age_of_wonders_3_is_out_today_on_steam_looking/cggiqb4
Being a major funder of the game though, he may be biased.
tbh i played only a bit but its clearly the best MOM successor and the only one who tried to just clone mom instead of changing a perfect gameplay
there isnt much innovation and thats the reason the gameplay is super solid and very fun
but still its very modern, you play and you feel its a 2014 games, the basic idea of mom is all there, refined to work in a more interactive map, and with more skills and units
sieges are very fun, skills are fun, research is fun and compelling, unlike horsehockys like warlock where you spam research and spells you never gonna use, it seems in AOW 3 things matter much more (ofc not all of them, there are so many...)
im not totally sure about the game flow since you "progress" from town to town making it a bit snowballing, but unlike warlock and similiars maps are way smaller and there isnt much time to snowball
maybe all is a bit too "scripted", but i only tried campaign
there isnt much innovation and thats the reason the gameplay is super solid and very fun
but still its very modern, you play and you feel its a 2014 games, the basic idea of mom is all there, refined to work in a more interactive map, and with more skills and units
sieges are very fun, skills are fun, research is fun and compelling, unlike horsehockys like warlock where you spam research and spells you never gonna use, it seems in AOW 3 things matter much more (ofc not all of them, there are so many...)
im not totally sure about the game flow since you "progress" from town to town making it a bit snowballing, but unlike warlock and similiars maps are way smaller and there isnt much time to snowball
maybe all is a bit too "scripted", but i only tried campaign
DaviddesJ
Deity
Is there no clear answer as to if a Mac version will come out, or when? I spent a few minutes trying to look this up and couldn't find anything definitive.
Ailedhoo
wonderer
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2012
- Messages
- 7,798
My current random map game is involving the rise of Heagel van Hindenberg... a sligh mistake about the van instead of von...
...his goblin empire rises...
...along with his throne city...
...and he is in war with a fellow dreadnought.
Note: the human garrison fled the city, I guess to reinforce the enemy dreadnought's throne city.
Anyway: I am enjoying this game!
Spoiler a dreaded goblin emperor :
...his goblin empire rises...
Spoiler out of date map :
...along with his throne city...
Spoiler the capital and the second city to its west :
...and he is in war with a fellow dreadnought.
Spoiler FEAR GOBLINS+GUNS! :
Note: the human garrison fled the city, I guess to reinforce the enemy dreadnought's throne city.
Anyway: I am enjoying this game!
ok the initial joy is fading even more as i play
late game is really bad and unfun
(ok this is typical with every strategy game ofc if the game is balanced when you have 2 cities and opponents have 10 it cant be when you have 6 and they have 6 too)
but most of all the balance is COMPLETELY GONE
all it matters is t4 units, all the rest is pretty much useless apart from few t3 with specific bonuses
even heroes dont matter cause of the melee unbalance and the fact you can cast anyway you dont really need them that much
you just have to spam t4 units and spam and spam and enemies do the same and there is no other strategy
also cities go completely broke, you have infinite gold, mana and you dont even need it, it just stands there for no reason...
while its someway cool to have epic units (But then they shoudl have HIGHLY limited them, making viable to have a couple for each player not 50) i just dont get how the city balance might have slipped the devs... cities are just pointless, a boring and bad balanced gameplay
late game is really bad and unfun
(ok this is typical with every strategy game ofc if the game is balanced when you have 2 cities and opponents have 10 it cant be when you have 6 and they have 6 too)
but most of all the balance is COMPLETELY GONE
all it matters is t4 units, all the rest is pretty much useless apart from few t3 with specific bonuses
even heroes dont matter cause of the melee unbalance and the fact you can cast anyway you dont really need them that much
you just have to spam t4 units and spam and spam and enemies do the same and there is no other strategy
also cities go completely broke, you have infinite gold, mana and you dont even need it, it just stands there for no reason...
while its someway cool to have epic units (But then they shoudl have HIGHLY limited them, making viable to have a couple for each player not 50) i just dont get how the city balance might have slipped the devs... cities are just pointless, a boring and bad balanced gameplay
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