Ara: History Untold

[Razpor]

Trade routes should be a thing though as the naval game becomes of little importance without it.

true

 

[user343744]

Trade routes should be a thing though as the naval game becomes of little importance without it.

Nothing better than having your carrier strike groups enforcing freedom of navigation and free trade.

 

[KayAU]

I feel like the Encarta series has not gotten quite the attention it deserves. They provide historical background, gameplay footage, and strategy. If the 2 minute "First Look" videos for Civ 6 deserved their own threads, then surely the Encarta videos do too.

In an effort to give the videos a bit more attention and provide a place to discuss each nation, I will start creating threads for each of them today.

 

[Razpor]

when are they going to start sharing some gameplay!! just 20 days left for release

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

when are they going to start sharing some gameplay!! just 20 days left for release

Well there is some gameplay that's been released, just not from the devs themselves

 

[Razpor]

Well there is some gameplay that's been released, just not from the devs themselves

not much to go by tbh,we are still to see any middle to late era gameplay and game is just 2 weeks away

 

[UncivilizedGuy]

Very intrigued and excited about this. I just don't like buying games at this price point without seeing other people's reviews. Hopefully we'll see something more before release date.

 

[Razpor]

Combat feels a little too automated for my taste,but lets see

 

[Revolutionist_8]

Since there are no Unique Units (as far as we know, right?), will civilization / nation specific units exist? I saw in some videos Samurai units, but... anyone will be able to build / create those? Do we have any info about how will it work?

 

[KayAU]

I don't think there's any info, at least not that I am aware of. Maybe something will be revealed as we approach release, perhaps through a dev diary or an Encarta-video? I got the impression from the last one that they intend to release those more frequently during the last couple of weeks before release.

My impression from is that while this is already going to be a big game on release, the developers are intending to expand it. So just because a feature isn't there on launch, that doesn't mean it will not make an appearance later on, as has is often the case for these kinds of game.

 

[Tonas1997]

New German gameplay/review video. A few commenters seem surprised with the harshness of some of his takes

 

[CivLuvah]

New German gameplay/review video. A few commenters seem surprised with the harshness of some of his takes

I believe Writing Bull was in a German-language panel on Civ7 at Gamescom. Make that what you will

 

[Thormodr]

I am a big fan of the Victoria series and I like engine building boardgames so this crafting mechanic is intriguing to me. It's something the Civ series really hasn't done so it could help Ara carve out its own niche.

 

[KayAU]

I am a big fan of the Victoria series and I like engine building boardgames so this crafting mechanic is intriguing to me. It's something the Civ series really hasn't done so it could help Ara carve out its own niche.

It is interesting, and I really like the idea of producing goods in a city which can be used as amenities to boost different cities. Let's say you have some mountainous area which has valuable minerals, but it's surrounded by desert and it would be hard to develop any significant settlement there. In Ara, you could support the city with food amenities produced elsewhere, and in return, the minerals you extract in your mountainous city could be used to benefit other cities. It also opens up some interesting strategic possibilities, like disrupting the production chains of adversaries. Or trading to compensate for such disruption.

 

[Tomice]

I watched the Writing Bull review as a German native speaker.

There's a lot of speculation what parts of the game may not work because they deviate from the tried and proven 4x formula, but must of the time it's speculation and not actual playing experience.

From the parts he actually played, he disliked region-based movement in the exploration phase, because it mostly ignores terrain. He calls pathfinding for the first scout a "minigame" he enjoys in Civ6.

In his opinion, the early game might be a bit too relaxed with passive animals and no early barbarians.

He acknowledged the amazing graphics, but relativized them because you'll mostly play zoomed out.

He also stated that the more complex strategic and luxury resource system will speak more to an experienced 4x audience, and that the game might be relatively complex for beginners.

Overall, there was nothing in his criticism that's a deal breaker, he's just not fully sold yet. But this kind of reserved feedback is very typical for Germans, so take it with a grain of salt

 

[Tomice]

Personally, I think this game is criminally underhyped!
It's Civ7 in all but the name, and might be the hottest topic around if it came from an established studio.

They clearly take the game very seriously, with a custom high performance engine tailormade for the genre. They also employ historians for authenticity and aim for deep, complex simulation-style gameplay. They seem to aim for a hybrid between Civ and a Paradox game, which might be niche but sounds very promising to me.

Combat might be divisive with simultaneous turns and no direct unit control, but I think it will work. Imperator: Rome from Paradox had a similar system where the challenge is in army composition, size, predetermined formations and timing of battles. It might be different, but I found it rather enjoyable. I also read somewhere that battles might take more than a single turn sometimes, allowing for reinforcements, so it might be deeper than one might first imagine.

I'm very interested in the resource and production system, especially because it might allow for realistic moves like buying advanced weapons when you don't have the tech yet, something Civ games usually couldn't simulate.

I really hope they ramp up marketing in the last two weeks!

 

[Tonas1997]

Huh, the region-movement mechanics are interesting to speculate about. One of the commenters in his video mentions how "rough" terrain such as forests or hills ends up penalizing movement anyways because their regions are intentionally made to be smaller? e.g. it will still take you more time to cross 3 small forest regions than 1 big desert.

Also, do we know if terrain offers combat advantages? Even with simultaneous turns there should be some concept of attacking vs. defending, I'd wager.

 

[Razpor]

Huh, the region-movement mechanics are interesting to speculate about. One of the commenters in his video mentions how "rough" terrain such as forests or hills ends up penalizing movement anyways because their regions are intentionally made to be smaller? e.g. it will still take you more time to cross 3 small forest regions than 1 big desert.

Also, do we know if terrain offers combat advantages? Even with simultaneous turns there should be some concept of attacking vs. defending, I'd wager.

terrain does effect combat ,i have heard that being discussed in one of the dev diaries i think

 

[KayAU]

What is the meaning of the shortening ARA ? A Real Adventure ??

Good question, I don't know where the name comes from. I don't think it's an acronym though. On the official website it is written as "Ara". Perhaps it refers to the Ara constellation? Apparently, "ara" means "altar" in Latin.

The question was just asked on the Insider forums, and we now have an official answer:

Great question, xxxxxxxxxxx !

The word Ara can be found in many languages across the world with different meanings, including “King” in Armenian and “Altar” in Latin.

The team took specific inspiration from a creation myth from the people of Borneo that describes two great birds - Ara and Irik, as having formed the earth and sky.

History Untold speaks to the heart of the game - every game of Ara is a chance to write a new, previously untold history of the world - with your leader and your choices at the center of things.

I think it was a lovely answer, and I'm taking the risk of re-posting it here. Hopefully Oxide won't come after me for this.

 

[ZDY]

The question was just asked on the Insider forums, and we now have an official answer:



I think it was a lovely answer, and I'm taking the risk of re-posting it here. Hopefully Oxide won't come after me for this.

I guess they would likely not. They've already answered this in a Steam thread.