How much late game have you played?

[Ita Bear]

Hello folks,

Perhaps I'm just too good of a player ( ) but I find that by the time late game content is coming into the mix (swordsmen, pikes, advanced baths and so on) the game is already decided and there is little to no time or point in building these things. Have you had any games where late game units or buildings played a decisive role? I find this slightly disappointing because although the game flirts with the early-medieval era, there's little opportunity to experience it.

Kind regards,
Ita Bear

 

[PiR]

Same, but late game means also low performance for my computer, so I'm OK with winning sooner for that reason...

 

[topsecret]

Well I haven't played enough to figure that out on a consistent basis, but I always guessed setting difficulty/AI Aggression higher would make such things more relevant.

 

[PiR]

Not sure if you would just have the beginning of the game more challenging but still a turning point where all is decided, or if it would really increase game duration.

 

[Poldworld]

I had several games with highest tech military.
For the late game tech buildings: I hardly ever build them. Mostly I build them in some non-competitive games - mostly to have my cities look more nice.

 

[Heathcliff]

I usually play Old World Map.
On a large map you tech fast and get to lategame techs.

I think the lategame buildings are mainly for reducing unrest, so you dont have to deal with rebellions of unhappy families because of unrest.

 

[Stringer1313]

I've recently gotten a good run for my money on the Great difficulty, set on Role Playing mode (where the life spans are "realistic" and event rate is high) and also reach late game. But i'm facing major performance issues as well (they had gotten better a month or two ago, but seem to be bad again). I always play Medium map and try really hard not to infiltrate territory b/c infiltrating is what seems to dramatically slow performance. All graphics settings are on minimum. I might switch back to Small maps for that reason.

 

[Heathcliff]

Thats weird I have an old computer and never had any performance problems lategame even if largest map.

 

[PiR]

(they had gotten better a month or two ago, but seem to be bad again).

same here

I always play Medium map and try really hard not to infiltrate territory b/c infiltrating is what seems to dramatically slow performance.

hehe, same also, check this though, it will help us to restrain ourselves

Thats weird I have an old computer and never had any performance problems lategame even if largest map.

how much RAM do you have?

 

[Heathcliff]

8 ram and 4 on graphics card

 

[nolegskitten]

Hello folks,

Perhaps I'm just too good of a player ( ) but I find that by the time late game content is coming into the mix (swordsmen, pikes, advanced baths and so on) the game is already decided and there is little to no time or point in building these things. Have you had any games where late game units or buildings played a decisive role? I find this slightly disappointing because although the game flirts with the early-medieval era, there's little opportunity to experience it.

Kind regards,
Ita Bear

Late game units are decisive. I don't think anything can stand in the path of Cataphracts and late game siege. It's very hard to do with comparative late game units, impossible without. Late game laws also completely change the order aspects.

I'm not sure what you call late game buildings ? the latests unlocked buildings come quite a bit before end of the line units.

 

[PiR]

8 ram and 4 on graphics card

Same. Dont you get to very high usage of RAM?

 

[PiR]

I'm not sure what you call late game buildings ? the latests unlocked buildings come quite a bit before end of the line units.

Cathedral, mill, bath, library. I never use them. Even markets. If I unlock them, I'm too close to win without them. But again, probably a difficulty setting.

 

[nolegskitten]

Yeah difficulty plays a role but to be honest, OW tends to favour military action even more than other 4Xs, so economy building does have to happen early to really matter.
As most Buildings/Urban improvements in OW work as multipliers, one mostly should build them in cities that are already productive in the desired yield.
So markets are interesting in cities already generating money, usually because there are bullion or luxury resources around, libraries are only meaningful if you made significant investment in city based science production (i.e. specialists, which are often quite situational themselves), etc.

That is less true of courthouses and barracks because there is a significant base training and civics per city (8 each plus family, nation and resource modifiers) to be multiplied.

I do like baths as a solid tool to fight discontent without mobilizing city build queues, but I tend to get to architecture mostly for the laws.
I haven't played around with the new mills (+100% instead of +60%), but with their tech being combined with torsion as well they're way more interesting than they were before, specially considering ore mines and marble quarries : the training and civics (i.e. production) gets multiplied too.

All in all, unfortunately they are a bit situational. Their bonuses are significant enough but the priority on military capabilities mean they will usually come online too late to really matter.
I guess that's part of what makes OCC interesting to me, as this kind of variant plays strongly incentivise economic play and a very large city like this variant generates always benefit from multipliers/urban improvements.

 

[FinalDoomsday]

A lot of the late game units like Longbowman and Pikeman are a bit weird because of they look like Mid-Late middle ages units. Given the games span I would have thought the late game units should be based around late classical or early middle ages.

Even more jarring when you think most of the civs are mediterranian/ middle east cultures and they get these very Western Europe looking units for their late game.

So I guess my issue with Old World Late game is its having a bit of an identity crisis.

 

[Poldworld]

A lot of the late game units like Longbowman and Pikeman are a bit weird because of they look like Mid-Late middle ages units. Given the games span I would have thought the late game units should be based around late classical or early middle ages.

Even more jarring when you think most of the civs are mediterranian/ middle east cultures and they get these very Western Europe looking units for their late game.

So I guess my issue with Old World Late game is its having a bit of an identity crisis.

Interesting points - I personally cant see the strong western look in the units.
- The standard units generally look rather neutral to me - few tendencies for iconic units chariots:egyptianish, longbow-englishish, swordsman-romanish, phalanx-greekish, camels-arabicish.
- Axes, warriors, etc seem very neutral to me.
- The unique units fit the style of their nation.
- I feel the graphics are overall doing a great job on being balance and neutral in this regard.

Regarding time span (not an expert, happy for corrections)
- The starting leaders roughly range from ~1000BC-300BC.
- The late game units by graphics seem to stretch into ~1200-1400AC, which loosly fits to the muslim conquests, reconquista and crusades.

 

[FinalDoomsday]

Interesting points - I personally cant see the strong western look in the units.
- The standard units generally look rather neutral to me - few tendencies for iconic units chariots:egyptianish, longbow-englishish, swordsman-romanish, phalanx-greekish, camels-arabicish.
- Axes, warriors, etc seem very neutral to me.
- The unique units fit the style of their nation.
- I feel the graphics are overall doing a great job on being balance and neutral in this regard.

Regarding time span (not an expert, happy for corrections)
- The starting leaders roughly range from ~1000BC-300BC.
- The late game units by graphics seem to stretch into ~1200-1400AC, which loosly fits to the muslim conquests, reconquista and crusades.

To be clear I was only discussing the late game units, the Pikeman, The Longbowman and the Crossbowman.

The other units are fine it would be nice if there was some variety for generic units between Eastern and Western cultures but that is another topic.

The longbowman seems to be based off the English Longbow of Hundred Years War fame, he's wearing the rimmed helmet. I can understand they wanted a late game archer upgrade but to me having the english longbow in there as a generic unit feels really weird.

The pikeman also looks very medieval and western to me.

Its probably a non-issue for most but these units always killed the sense of being in the classical world for me and look very strange alongside the unique units. Late Rome and Sassanid empires would be good references for what late game units could look like.

 

[Angst]

I mostly play multiplayer horde mode and there it rarely gets to lategame techs.