Warlock 2: The Exiled

[Metro]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J4SZ96E/

The SUPER DELUXE edition is $5 on Amazon right now -- pricing error, this will be fixed soon so grab it if you see this post.

Price fixed.

 

[Helly]

Got it, thanks bro

 

[Great Deceiver]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J4SZ96E/

The SUPER DELUXE edition is $5 on Amazon right now -- pricing error, this will be fixed soon so grab it if you see this post.

Grabbed, thanks.

 

[Dim]

Thanks. If I like the game enough I owe money to AZ or Paradox?

 

[Dim]

Research and city queues a must.

 

[Markman]

Research and city queues a must.

Wut? Would you like the game to play itself and you just hammer the END TURN button and after a random turn it will tell you if you won or lost?
holy shit man

 

[Dim]

Wut? Would you like the game to play itself and you just hammer the END TURN button and after a random turn it will tell you if you won or lost?
holy shit man

Yeah man ! I want that for life with like an AI and stuff.

 

[Markman]

Wut? Would you like the game to play itself and you just hammer the END TURN button and after a random turn it will tell you if you won or lost?
holy shit man

Yeah man ! I want that for life with like an AI and stuff.

Dude, game is easy on the micro. Demanding a research que cause you're too lazy to click every 9th turn to select a spell and calling it a "must" is stupid. But hey, what do i know.

 

[Dim]

And that is why i am such a fan of Distant Worlds (kind of) and Master of tactics and C-evo and can't play Civ much. Does Warlock2 allow mods in multiplayer?

 

[Ashery]

Research and city queues a must.

Wut? Would you like the game to play itself and you just hammer the END TURN button and after a random turn it will tell you if you won or lost?
holy shit man

How the fuck does having a queue imply that the game plays itself? You're still making every decision.

 

[Markman]

Research and city queues a must.

Wut? Would you like the game to play itself and you just hammer the END TURN button and after a random turn it will tell you if you won or lost?
holy shit man

How the fuck does having a queue imply that the game plays itself? You're still making every decision.

Of all the things to bitch about he picks q's as a must. Of all things. Game is easy on the micro, there is 1 research spell at a time, not 15 of em, there is a city limit and you build buildings when the city grows. Theres a unit build queue but you cant build alot of those either. Not alot of clicks there and going all "omg, i gotta preload those clicks" is just stupid.The game is not a mega epic space complicated 4x game with a trilion of planets and stats.
Lil' Dim is trying to play Fantasy Distant Worlds and this game is not that. Pretty much like lots of assholes are trying to play it like its a Fantasy Civ5 and get all whiny when they discover that the game does not play like it.

 

[Ashery]

Research and city queues a must.

Wut? Would you like the game to play itself and you just hammer the END TURN button and after a random turn it will tell you if you won or lost?
holy shit man

How the fuck does having a queue imply that the game plays itself? You're still making every decision.

Of all the things to bitch about he picks q's as a must.

Fair enough, but that wasn't how you phrased your complaint about his complaint.

Bitching about how queues are, if they're present at all, low on the priority list of additions? Sure, I can see that.

Doing the same about how queues will detract from the game or how the game will somehow play differently if queues are introduced? No.

 

[Dim]

There are 3 costs to playing a game; paying for it, getting it to run properly and doing difficult or stupid tedious repetitive tasks. Imagine how much more money a game could charge if it just fixed the second two. And just think of how many 30$ games run on the civ 5 engine. You would think SOMEONE would have told them about C-Evo. Seriously, everyone go play C-evo. Play it and WEEP! as i did for all the time and brain cells killed by civ's stupid interface. Edit:

 

[sser]

What games use the Civ5 engine?

 

[Metro]

I believe Warlock and Warlock 2 use the Elven Legacy/Fantasy Wars engine (circa 2007). The Civ 5 engine was built for Civ 5 and is possibly a modified Gamebryo.

 

[Markman]

Oh well, Dim is still trying to play a different game than Warlock 2 while playing Warlock 2. I give up.

 

[Dim]

http://ino-co.com/en/about-us/ http://warlockmota.wikia.com/wiki/Warlock:_Master_of_the_Arcane My mistake. What engine does Pandora use?

 

[Misconnected]

AFAIK Firaxis are the only ones using their modified engine.

Like Metro said, Warlock's evolution was Fantasy Wars -> Elven Legacy -> Warlock 1 - > Warlock 2. The reason the games look so much like Civ5 is that Firaxis let themselves be inspired by the Fantasy Wars series, and Ino-Co in turn let themselves be inspired by Civ5. The devs explained as much in the press back around the time Warlock 1 came out.

But those are visual similarities only. Warlock evolved out of traditional TB hex wargames like Panzer General. A very different animal from Civilization. You'll notice the Warlock games actually play exactly as if they were traditional TB hex wargames with a few 4X elements thrown in... Unsurprisingly, considering that's exactly what they are.

That evolution also goes a long way to explain how Warlock 1, a relatively obscure budget title, managed to have the best tactical AI of its kind when it released: it wasn't the least bit new, but rather the third generation of an AI that had been around for years. Though honestly, if you really want to see how good it is Elven Legacy does a better job of showing it. And if you're into Panzer General type games with a fantasy coating, the Fantasy Wars/Elven Legacy series is absolutely worth playing.

 

[Galdred]

That evolution also goes a long way to explain how Warlock 1, a relatively obscure budget title, managed to have the best tactical AI of its kind when it released: it wasn't the least bit new, but rather the third generation of an AI that had been around for years. Though honestly, if you really want to see how good it is Elven Legacy does a better job of showing it. And if you're into Panzer General type games with a fantasy coating, the Fantasy Wars/Elven Legacy series is absolutely worth playing.

Actually, the AI in Warlock is still more impressive than in Fantasy Wars/EL because the maps are random, while FW/EL maps are much easier to script.
On the other hand, the utter weakness of their strategic AI is for the same reason, because the game evolved from one without any strategic management at all.

 

[Misconnected]

Actually, the AI in Warlock is still more impressive than in Fantasy Wars/EL because the maps are random, while FW/EL maps are much easier to script.
On the other hand, the utter weakness of their strategic AI is for the same reason, because the game evolved from one without any strategic management at all.

Absolutely. That's why I suggested it's easier to see how, relatively speaking, good the AI is if you look at Elven Legacy.

 

[sser]

Warlock's AI was pretty challenging before they implemented heroes. The AI just didn't know how to "build up" their own heroes or fight human player's own heroes.

 

[Misconnected]

Quite. When Warlock 1 came out there - to the very best of my knowledge - had never been an tactical TB hex AI that good before. The problem is the 'everything else' AI. That one is fucking stupid. It doesn't know what units to build, where to build them, or where to send them when they've been built. It just barely knows to use direct damage spells some of the time, but it doesn't understand unit de-/buffing at all. And it is a moron at expanding. Oh and it tends to wrap barbedwire around the diplomacy options and fuck itself in the ass with them.

If you're lucky and run into 5+ units in relatively close proximity who're controlled by the same AI, then suddenly the AI plays surprisingly well. It unit-shuffles, uses ranged units appropriately and uses unit special abilities, both passive and activated ones. But the rest of the time it really isn't very impressive. Playing on Impossible, Rival Great Mages essentially beat themselves, because when they expand past a certain point they become so spread out that they can no longer deal with the random spawns fast enough/at all. Allying with one gets you shared vision, and man... It's hilariously depressing to watch the massive fail that is everything but the tactical combat AI.

 

[Metro]

I'm sure I mentioned it before (because I always do) but the 'opponent' AI in Warlock has always been shitty. They simply don't know how to use units and expand. As such the game is mostly a 'PvE' experience. Turn based Majesty.

 

[Metro]

So after picking this up for $5 during the pricing error I've finally gotten around to playing three or four hours starting with Exiled mode. Stand by my prior opinion: this is just a glorified expansion/DLC for Warlock 1. The 'shards' are only slightly different from the 'pocket dimensions' from the first game albeit with a bit more variation/tile artwork. All of the improvements like research tree, city improvement menu, etc. should have been done free of charge as a patch in Warlock 1. The quests are basically the same. Most of the units are basically the same. The opponent AI is still mediocre to poor. Still a fun game and if you've never played the first you're best off ignoring it and picking this one up. If you played the first wait for a discount as it's just more of the same with few differences.

Oh yea, the city limit mechanic is REALLY stupid. I know you can increase it by managing morale and researching perks but... wtf... I could fit five cities on one shard... never mind only being able to do five (increasing to around 9-10) for ALL the shards. Extremely hamfisted mechanic.

 

[Dim]

Oh yea, the city limit mechanic is REALLY stupid. I know you can increase it by managing morale and researching perks but... wtf... I could fit five cities on one shard... never mind only being able to do five (increasing to around 9-10) for ALL the shards. Extremely hamfisted mechanic.

Some ppl want more micro while i want less.