Hobo Elf
Arcane
Sad to see that most people are hung up by the sci-fi setting rather than the fact that it'll probably be just as shallow as AoW3 as it seems to be a reskin of that.
Sad to see that most people are hung up by the sci-fi setting rather than the fact that it'll probably be just as shallow as AoW3 as it seems to be a reskin of that.
The game will feature:
General information:
- 6 “major” races. Pre-release name: Space Dwarves made it into the game! \o/
- Various “technologies” which roughly correspond to classes or spheres of magic of the previous AoW games.
- Permanently flying unit mechanics have returned as the game now has a stronger focus on ranged combat, with cover and overwatch mechanics built in.
- Larger battlefields than AoW3 with interactive objects that can used for cover and even destroyed under sustained fire.
- Leader and hero units with many capable of being upgraded and changed to meet different threats. This keeps low tier units competitive through micro-management.
- A similar dwelling system to AoW3 with 4-5 races being featured such as the “undead” in the form of cyborg warriors. They may have a greater impact on the game.
- Sector system is a refined and upgraded version of the mystical city upgrades from AoW3.
- Sector system lets you snake across the map and effects where your settlements can be built.
- Sectors can be broken apart by the enemy further incentivizing economic wars.
- Random Map Generator content during the campaign. Main story lines are fixed, however, most of the maps will be randomly generated. This results in secondary storylines which effect later campaign levels!
Mod tool details:
- In contrast to AoW3, your Race is flavoured by your Class, as each race has its own unique mechanics.
- Diplomacy will be more relevant than in AoW3.
- Adjacent hex system has returned.
- Stack size remains at 6, akin to the AoW3 model.
- The overflow of excess production and research points has been confirmed.
- The possibility of battlefield concealment abilities, such as cover (Perhaps this means stealth too?).
- Strategic maps are based around a single planet. (Perhaps campaigns are system or galaxy wide.)
- Existence of magic has neither been confirmed nor denied. If its there, its much lesser of an impact. Though technology should may replace it.
- In tactical combat, you can call in orbital bombardments or call in marine reinforcements from space.
- Strong liklyhood mod tools will be released during the games launch.
- We will be able to craft new tactical combat maps, and partially randomize them. For example, you could make a fort and then randomize the locations of the trees and rocks around it, in an area you specify. To a site, you can assign a list of possible tactical combat maps, and a random one will be picked.
Well, there we go. Good thing they listened to my comment
- In contrast to AoW3, your Race is flavoured by your Class, as each race has its own unique mechanics.
Mod tool details:
- Strong liklyhood mod tools will be released during the games launch.
Sad to see that most people are hung up by the sci-fi setting rather than the fact that it'll probably be just as shallow as AoW3 as it seems to be a reskin of that.
Color me interested. One thing that has always bothered me about AoW campaigns was their "only play once", "only win if you know what's coming" and "rush or die" nature.Here's some more info -
The game will feature:
- The Random Map Generator is hooked into all areas of the game, including the campaign for maximum levels of replayability. Core sectors will remain the same for plot reasons, but what you find in between may be different every time and is likely dependant on your difficulty settings.#
The alien creature does look overdesigned. Aliens can be literally anything, they can be clouds made out of microscopic organisms or organic geometric shapes that reflect light in strange ways, yet devs default to very specific, animal-like designs.
To be fair, Star Trek is limited by the constraints of its budget and the need to have its aliens playable by members of the Film Actors' Guild. Star Wars actually had some fairly alien aliens that WEREN'T simply humans with rubber forehead appliances, with aliens that absolutely did NOT breathe the same atmosphere or communicate in human language: You saw aliens that were wearing breathing gear to enable them to breathe in the same room as the main cast, and aliens that just communicated with each other via funny noises and were simply incapable of human speech.I think that Star Wars (and Star Trek to some extend) did a massive disservice by popularizing this trend, where aliens are just altered humanoids (mostly). Or they did the smart (business wise) move, and created them guessing right on what the general audience wants - a story within familiar bounds?
To be fair, Star Trek is limited by the constraints of its budget and the need to have its aliens playable by members of the Film Actors' Guild. Star Wars actually had some fairly alien aliens that WEREN'T simply humans with rubber forehead appliances, with aliens that absolutely did NOT breathe the same atmosphere or communicate in human language: You saw aliens that were wearing breathing gear to enable them to breathe in the same room as the main cast, and aliens that just communicated with each other via funny noises and were simply incapable of human speech.I think that Star Wars (and Star Trek to some extend) did a massive disservice by popularizing this trend, where aliens are just altered humanoids (mostly). Or they did the smart (business wise) move, and created them guessing right on what the general audience wants - a story within familiar bounds?
And probably use those ranges for communication, but the human audience cannot hear those sounds, and therefore, will not perceive them. For all we know, Han has a relatively limited comprehension of Wookiee because he cannot hear the full range, and doesn't even try to reproduce those sounds.And dogs are also incapable of human speech and communicate with each other via funny noises and more. But they are also able to perceive sounds outside of human perception frequencies.
There is no worse mission design than that which places full armies in your backyard the moment you do event X in the campaign.
Not knowing that will happen = restart mission (in a game where you already played for an hour up to that point).
Knowing that will happen = easy win.
Both variants suck, and there is no in-between.
Isn't that a problem with the mission design, rather than the map itself? I usually dislike random elements because they feel samey and sometimes nonsensical. It works for multiplayer, where playing the same maps over and over is boring, but not for a campaign that should be handcrafted and that's how devs show mastery in their medium. It's easy to get into the trap of designing a map like a puzzle, however, where you have to do something specific to get the ball rolling, the second (?) map of the "evil" campaign of HoMM2 comes to mind, where it's really tedious and hard to win the "legit" way, but it's very easy if you get the genies that are conveniently placed close to your castle. Spawning armies is cheap and weak design, something that won't be fixed by map randomization, or any randomization.
It is a problem with mission design, yes.Isn't that a problem with the mission design, rather than the map itself? I usually dislike random elements because they feel samey and sometimes nonsensical. It works for multiplayer, where playing the same maps over and over is boring, but not for a campaign that should be handcrafted and that's how devs show mastery in their medium.There is no worse mission design than that which places full armies in your backyard the moment you do event X in the campaign.
Not knowing that will happen = restart mission (in a game where you already played for an hour up to that point).
Knowing that will happen = easy win.
Both variants suck, and there is no in-between.
Play the first AoW,it have a lot of branching,it is pretty hard to remember all the missions. I did enjoy the the second game because it felt like actually you are building,expanding and accomplishing something. I really hate games that ignore the progress from your last map and just give you a new random generated map and call it a day.It is a problem with mission design, yes.Isn't that a problem with the mission design, rather than the map itself? I usually dislike random elements because they feel samey and sometimes nonsensical. It works for multiplayer, where playing the same maps over and over is boring, but not for a campaign that should be handcrafted and that's how devs show mastery in their medium.There is no worse mission design than that which places full armies in your backyard the moment you do event X in the campaign.
Not knowing that will happen = restart mission (in a game where you already played for an hour up to that point).
Knowing that will happen = easy win.
Both variants suck, and there is no in-between.
The randomization might make it somewhat less likely for a dev to design crap like that, though. Of course, it is still possible, so I guess we'll see...
I usually like random elements because hand crafted ones I can enjoy exactly once and that's about it.
I've lost count with how often I attempted to replay the AoW2-3 campaigns, just to give up a few missions in because I already know everything.
Of course, if you took a typical AoW campaign and made the terrain a bit random, that wouldn't do much of anything, so I hope they do a bit more than just that.