TBS Age of Wonders 1 & 2

[octavius]

It's kind of ironic that I was never able to install Warlock rules back in the days.

 

[Nas92]

AoW is an unusually fickle program. It never starts the first time. The AoW.exe process is still runs in the background, but you need to double click the icon a second time for the game to start.
There was a time I could have correct aspect ratio without using dgVoodoo, but that suddenly stopped working, and now I'm forced to use voodoo again.
Also, for some reason AoWCompat.exe is not working for me, only the regular exe file. I also run in comp mode for Win XP, disable DPI and run as admin; not sure if all is necessary, though.

It plays the intro most of the time but immediately crashes afterwards. I had no such issues until recently. All I can recall since is that Avast has been fucking around so I first disabled and then uninstalled - yeah, I know, shouldn't have installed in the first place - but nothing changed. I fucked around on the Settings, all I achieved was that for some reason I can no longer play it in full screen mode, only windowed. It still only plays the intro, sometimes not even that and it crashes. I tried all that you mentioned with both the compat and the regular exe, nothing changes.

 

[Nas92]

Apparently, if I disable the sound, it starts working again. Still can't get it back into full-screen mode though, it's as if that setting just disappeared all of a sudden.
I don't get why the sound would suddenly become an issue of all things.

So anyway, I could get full-screen to work in the in-game settings, but the settings I get to through the Start menu always gives an access violation something or other error message. I can change stuff there but then it resets to windowed mode.
I tried reinstalling, same shit. I guess I won't be completing the Cult of the Storms campaign after all. Well, not with sound enabled anyways.

 

[cvv]

So I loved AoW3 - the complete edition with all the DLCs - but I'd never played 1, 2 and SM.

So I decided to rectify that sin.

Over the holidays sales I grabbed all that shit from GOG for a few pennies and started with 1. First a shoutout to BING XI LAO, couldn't make that ancient shit run but found your video and bingo, all set.
Played the first 2 missions and it's the good old AoW gameplay but... I don't feel like continuing. I guess I feel like I've played all this stuff to death during my 200+ hours in AoW3. In light of this the third game seems like a natural evolution that rendered the first game obsolete, at least gameplay-wise.

It's exactly what I felt when I finally played Disciples 1 or Homam 1 - like those first game have been utterly surpassed by the sequels and there's zero reason to play it.

So am I missing something? Should I go on, waiting for some dramatic improvement later on?

And also, is this the same with 2 and SM? Is the full AoW3 package also a straight upgrade of those two?

 

[cvv]

snip

Not sure if still actual but you have to run the settings .exe file directly from the folder, in the W7 compatibility mode and as an administrator.

Btw I also had some headaches with fucked up resolution ratios - game kept reverting to "window" or started with weird resolutions, all messed up, but finally it settled into what I needed. Not sure what I did tho, except a few reinstalls and following BING's video guide.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Kinda weird post tbh, since 1 vs 2/SM vs 3 are all p. different. 1 has a great campaign and is not even a 4X, but pretty much a Warlords-like wargame with added tactical combat and p. great rpg layer. The problem with it from today's pov is that the tactical combat, which is absolutely the meat of the series, is better in following installments. 2/SM starts the venture into 4X territory, makes leaders into stationary spellcasters residing in wizard towers, has multiple campaigns that aim for the homm3 feel, amazing visuals, improved combat (still feels too random often, I really loved 3 doing deterministic to hit), horribly declined xp system with random options on lvl ups like in homm - its outstanding flaw. They both have much cooler spellcasting than 3 and up, particularly of the strategic variety, and 8 unit stacks, which would incline 3/PF by a great deal if they kept it.

 

[octavius]

AoW (and SM) is worth playing for some of the user-made maps at least, which far surpass any of the original maps.

 

[adddeed]

So I loved AoW3 - the complete edition with all the DLCs - but I'd never played 1, 2 and SM.

So I decided to rectify that sin.

Over the holidays sales I grabbed all that shit from GOG for a few pennies and started with 1. First a shoutout to BING XI LAO, couldn't make that ancient shit run but found your video and bingo, all set.
Played the first 2 missions and it's the good old AoW gameplay but... I don't feel like continuing. I guess I feel like I've played all this stuff to death during my 200+ hours in AoW3. In light of this the third game seems like a natural evolution that rendered the first game obsolete, at least gameplay-wise.

It's exactly what I felt when I finally played Disciples 1 or Homam 1 - like those first game have been utterly surpassed by the sequels and there's zero reason to play it.

So am I missing something? Should I go on, waiting for some dramatic improvement later on?

And also, is this the same with 2 and SM? Is the full AoW3 package also a straight upgrade of those two?

For me AoW1 has the best campaign and missions, best visuals/aesthetic, best music and a more straightforward gameplay. So personally i consider it well worth playing and dont consider AoW3 or 2 a straight upgrade or AoW obsolete because they exist.

 

[BING XI LAO]

So I loved AoW3 - the complete edition with all the DLCs - but I'd never played 1, 2 and SM.

So I decided to rectify that sin.

Over the holidays sales I grabbed all that shit from GOG for a few pennies and started with 1. First a shoutout to BING XI LAO, couldn't make that ancient shit run but found your video and bingo, all set.
Played the first 2 missions and it's the good old AoW gameplay but... I don't feel like continuing. I guess I feel like I've played all this stuff to death during my 200+ hours in AoW3. In light of this the third game seems like a natural evolution that rendered the first game obsolete, at least gameplay-wise.

It's exactly what I felt when I finally played Disciples 1 or Homam 1 - like those first game have been utterly surpassed by the sequels and there's zero reason to play it.

So am I missing something? Should I go on, waiting for some dramatic improvement later on?

And also, is this the same with 2 and SM? Is the full AoW3 package also a straight upgrade of those two?

Correct me if I'm wrong as I never played aow3 much, but they heavily restricted overland summons and enchantments, didn't they? Like you can't summon a fire elemental and send it off by itself on the map. And AoW3 has ladders autospawn for attackers in sieges, and transports autospawn onto rivers, right? Granted I wouldn't play aow1 single player any more, but multiplayer is great. I even made a map on which you can summon spellcaster heroes, and those spellcaster heroes can summon more spellcaster heroes.

 

[Zeriel]

So I loved AoW3 - the complete edition with all the DLCs - but I'd never played 1, 2 and SM.

So I decided to rectify that sin.

Over the holidays sales I grabbed all that shit from GOG for a few pennies and started with 1. First a shoutout to BING XI LAO, couldn't make that ancient shit run but found your video and bingo, all set.
Played the first 2 missions and it's the good old AoW gameplay but... I don't feel like continuing. I guess I feel like I've played all this stuff to death during my 200+ hours in AoW3. In light of this the third game seems like a natural evolution that rendered the first game obsolete, at least gameplay-wise.

It's exactly what I felt when I finally played Disciples 1 or Homam 1 - like those first game have been utterly surpassed by the sequels and there's zero reason to play it.

So am I missing something? Should I go on, waiting for some dramatic improvement later on?

And also, is this the same with 2 and SM? Is the full AoW3 package also a straight upgrade of those two?

Yes, you are missing everything. It's like playing MM9 and saying it made 1-8 obsolete. I dunno, maybe you just can't get over the age, but at the very least AOW1's writing blows 3 out of the water.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Correct me if I'm wrong as I never played aow3 much, but they heavily restricted overland summons and enchantments, didn't they? Like you can't summon a fire elemental and send it off by itself on the map. And AoW3 has ladders autospawn for attackers in sieges, and transports autospawn onto rivers, right? Granted I wouldn't play aow1 single player any more, but multiplayer is great. I even made a map on which you can summon spellcaster heroes, and those spellcaster heroes can summon more spellcaster heroes.

Enchantments yes, but there still are multiple and they still play a very significant role. That's in 3 though, in PF it was declined into nothingness.

Summons no. In fact, there are multiple classes heavily focused on summons, you can very much summon stuff and let it run wild. It goes much further than that, though. There are multiple class-specific summons on top of the magic-specific ones, unique ways to buff them, evolving mechanics for a lot of summoned stuff etc. It's fukken gr8.

Logistics were indeed "streamlined for broader audience" - animals build boats on the fly, everyone can climb mountains (although there are still traits that make movement in certain terrain easier) and sieges were made into homm-like single wall with magical ladders spawning. This is were the decline is most visible, together with visuals and the overall atmosphere.

It's still gr8 tho, pretty much the only strictly post-decline title that I would consider a classic and I can only, yet again, recommend that you try it.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

So I loved AoW3 - the complete edition with all the DLCs - but I'd never played 1, 2 and SM.

So I decided to rectify that sin.

Over the holidays sales I grabbed all that shit from GOG for a few pennies and started with 1. First a shoutout to BING XI LAO, couldn't make that ancient shit run but found your video and bingo, all set.
Played the first 2 missions and it's the good old AoW gameplay but... I don't feel like continuing. I guess I feel like I've played all this stuff to death during my 200+ hours in AoW3. In light of this the third game seems like a natural evolution that rendered the first game obsolete, at least gameplay-wise.

It's exactly what I felt when I finally played Disciples 1 or Homam 1 - like those first game have been utterly surpassed by the sequels and there's zero reason to play it.

So am I missing something? Should I go on, waiting for some dramatic improvement later on?

And also, is this the same with 2 and SM? Is the full AoW3 package also a straight upgrade of those two?

Correct me if I'm wrong as I never played aow3 much, but they heavily restricted overland summons and enchantments, didn't they? Like you can't summon a fire elemental and send it off by itself on the map. And AoW3 has ladders autospawn for attackers in sieges, and transports autospawn onto rivers, right? Granted I wouldn't play aow1 single player any more, but multiplayer is great. I even made a map on which you can summon spellcaster heroes, and those spellcaster heroes can summon more spellcaster heroes.

Summons are still viable and strong in AoW III, but most summoning spells are tied to your class. The sorcerer class is basically built around summoning units while other classes are a mix of summoning and building units, like the druid and necromancer. You can get a couple of summons outside of your class by picking specializations, which work similar to the the magic spheres from AoW I. But you only have 3 specializations slots and there are also specializations that don't focus on magic. Overall your research options are determined by the class of your leader and the specializations that you pick. Spell research competes with other research in AoW III, which makes spells often a second choice, since empire upgrades are often very powerful and more important. You also have to unlock class units by research. Depending on your choice, you can play with very little magic or with a lot of magic. Summons can be cast on fields adjacent to your heroes and cities and the summons can roam freely. Summoning spells cannot be cast by secondary heroes, they can only be cast from your "main casting queue".
Individual unit enchantments that can be cast outside of combat are nonexistent in AoW III. There are still combat enchantments, but due to the action economy in combat, their usefulness is usually limited and conditional. AoW III, however, has more city, realm and hero enchantments. The city enchantments typically either apply to all units in the domain of the enchanted city or they apply to units built by them. The hero enchantments usually apply to all your heroes and provide boni to the units in the stack lead by them. The realm enchantments typically apply to either all of your units or some type of units, like summons for example. One-shoting units with magic is also almost impossible in AoW III. All in all I would say that spells and magic in AoW III take more of a backseat and are designed to synergies with your units, instead of being a force of their own.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Druid is basically as summon oriented as sorcerer, particularly since hunter is no that gr8 of a unit for some races other than scouting and early game power-stack (and I'm still butthurt that goblin hunters don't use poison darts). The important caveat about the non-class, perk summons is that they are among the strongest in the game or, in case of lower tier ones, often provide you with an option you might be lacking, like an early game flying scout.

A lot of strategic enchantments in 3 are basically empire upgrades that use mana and can be dispelled. The game lacks the strategic map influencing options that previous titles had, although climate warfare is present and can be quite intricate/fun, especially since it combines so well with the rich happiness/morale mechanics.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

Druid is basically as summon oriented as sorcerer, particularly since hunter is no that gr8 of a unit for some races other than scouting and early game power-stack (and I'm still butthurt that goblin hunters don't use poison darts). The important caveat about the non-class, perk summons is that they are among the strongest in the game or, in case of lower tier ones, often provide you with an option you might be lacking, like an early game flying scout.

A lot of strategic enchantments in 3 are basically empire upgrades that use mana and can be dispelled. The game lacks the strategic map influencing options that previous titles had, although climate warfare is present and can be quite intricate/fun, especially since it combines so well with the rich happiness/morale mechanics.

Your right about summoning, arch druids have some of the best "all purpose" options with wild/eldritch/gargantuan animal summoning spells. I initially remembered spamming hunters with longbows as elven druid supported by wild animal summons and forgot about the higher tier variants of the spell. I haven't played the druid class often but the movement point upgrade for archers and supports units is great with normal unit spam.

 

[BING XI LAO]

So I loved AoW3 - the complete edition with all the DLCs - but I'd never played 1, 2 and SM.

So I decided to rectify that sin.

Over the holidays sales I grabbed all that shit from GOG for a few pennies and started with 1. First a shoutout to BING XI LAO, couldn't make that ancient shit run but found your video and bingo, all set.
Played the first 2 missions and it's the good old AoW gameplay but... I don't feel like continuing. I guess I feel like I've played all this stuff to death during my 200+ hours in AoW3. In light of this the third game seems like a natural evolution that rendered the first game obsolete, at least gameplay-wise.

It's exactly what I felt when I finally played Disciples 1 or Homam 1 - like those first game have been utterly surpassed by the sequels and there's zero reason to play it.

So am I missing something? Should I go on, waiting for some dramatic improvement later on?

And also, is this the same with 2 and SM? Is the full AoW3 package also a straight upgrade of those two?

Correct me if I'm wrong as I never played aow3 much, but they heavily restricted overland summons and enchantments, didn't they? Like you can't summon a fire elemental and send it off by itself on the map. And AoW3 has ladders autospawn for attackers in sieges, and transports autospawn onto rivers, right? Granted I wouldn't play aow1 single player any more, but multiplayer is great. I even made a map on which you can summon spellcaster heroes, and those spellcaster heroes can summon more spellcaster heroes.

Summoning spells cannot be cast by secondary heroes, they can only be cast from your "main casting queue".

Ja, this is the part i strongly dislike. In AoW1, any hero anywhere can cast spells in their vicinity. The whole concept of spellcasting domain is decline.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

You can summon stuff wherever your hero(es) go, the domains work mostly for strategic map's economy and city enchantments. There's no casting domain in AoW2's sense.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

So I loved AoW3 - the complete edition with all the DLCs - but I'd never played 1, 2 and SM.

So I decided to rectify that sin.

Over the holidays sales I grabbed all that shit from GOG for a few pennies and started with 1. First a shoutout to BING XI LAO, couldn't make that ancient shit run but found your video and bingo, all set.
Played the first 2 missions and it's the good old AoW gameplay but... I don't feel like continuing. I guess I feel like I've played all this stuff to death during my 200+ hours in AoW3. In light of this the third game seems like a natural evolution that rendered the first game obsolete, at least gameplay-wise.

It's exactly what I felt when I finally played Disciples 1 or Homam 1 - like those first game have been utterly surpassed by the sequels and there's zero reason to play it.

So am I missing something? Should I go on, waiting for some dramatic improvement later on?

And also, is this the same with 2 and SM? Is the full AoW3 package also a straight upgrade of those two?

Correct me if I'm wrong as I never played aow3 much, but they heavily restricted overland summons and enchantments, didn't they? Like you can't summon a fire elemental and send it off by itself on the map. And AoW3 has ladders autospawn for attackers in sieges, and transports autospawn onto rivers, right? Granted I wouldn't play aow1 single player any more, but multiplayer is great. I even made a map on which you can summon spellcaster heroes, and those spellcaster heroes can summon more spellcaster heroes.

Summoning spells cannot be cast by secondary heroes, they can only be cast from your "main casting queue".

Ja, this is the part i strongly dislike. In AoW1, any hero anywhere can cast spells in their vicinity. The whole concept of spellcasting domain is decline.

My wording was a bit imprecise. I meant to say that you have a fixed number of spellpoints per turn associated with your leader and only these spellpoints can be used to cast summoning spells. Secondary heroes have their own spell point pool but can only cast spells in combat, no global spells. The summoning spell itself can be cast around any hero, even secondary heroes. But you cannot use secondary heroes to prepare summoning spells.
I no longer remember exactly how it worked in AoW 1 to be honest. I thought there was a also a casting range limit on the global map or am I remembering this wrong? Can you summon units anywhere on the map in AoW 1, regardless of the position of the caster? I thought a hero had to be around although the range was many fields and not just adjacent ones.

 

[BING XI LAO]

In AoW1 summons always appear in the stack with the summoner, most spells have 12 hex range from the caster, a few (mostly global enchantments) are unlimited range.
The big decline is how in AoW2/3 the secondary heroes can't cast out of combat. Pure declinated pussy shit.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

In AoW1 summons always appear in the stack with the summoner, most spells have 12 hex range from the caster, a few (mostly global enchantments) are unlimited range.
The big decline is how in AoW2/3 the secondary heroes can't cast out of combat. Pure declinated pussy shit.

I dislike the magic tower domain system from AoW II/SM the most. The best would be a mix of AoW I and III. I still think Triumph should do a best-of game based on AoW I and III, that would be brilliant. Its a shame that AoW IV didn't go in that direction.

 

[Igge]

In AoW1 summons always appear in the stack with the summoner, most spells have 12 hex range from the caster, a few (mostly global enchantments) are unlimited range.
The big decline is how in AoW2/3 the secondary heroes can't cast out of combat. Pure declinated pussy shit.

I dislike the magic tower domain system from AoW II/SM the most. The best would be a mix of AoW I and III. I still think Triumph should do a best-of game based on AoW I and III, that would be brilliant. Its a shame that AoW IV didn't go in that direction.

I think an important part of AoW1 was that it is a passion project, a rare example of strategy game where gameplay, story, lore and scenario maps are in perfect synergy and all of them are great. Other such games either lack story at all (most of 4X sandboxes) or scenario maps barely fit in the story and logic in general (HoMM). It is unlikely that even the same devs could make another such strategy game.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

I dislike the magic tower domain system from AoW II/SM the most. The best would be a mix of AoW I and III. I still think Triumph should do a best-of game based on AoW I and III, that would be brilliant. Its a shame that AoW IV didn't go in that direction.

Your leader sitting on his/her ass in the tower might be a bit disappointing, but having clearly defined roles of leader-casting, heroes-fighting is still an improvement. Your leader/heroes having all those amazing combat skills, items and what not and then wasting an entire turn if you want to cast anything feels very restrictive and schizophrenic. Particularly so in 3, where the stacks are smaller and casting for double points from your leader is rarely viable.

Making casts strictly CP based is probably the one good change PF did. I would love to see it backported into 3.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

I dislike the magic tower domain system from AoW II/SM the most. The best would be a mix of AoW I and III. I still think Triumph should do a best-of game based on AoW I and III, that would be brilliant. Its a shame that AoW IV didn't go in that direction.

Your leader sitting on his/her ass in the tower might be a bit disappointing, but having clearly defined roles of leader-casting, heroes-fighting is still an improvement. Your leader/heroes having all those amazing combat skills, items and what not and then wasting an entire turn if you want to cast anything feels very restrictive and schizophrenic. Particularly so in 3, where the stacks are smaller and casting for double points from your leader is rarely viable.

Making casts strictly CP based is probably the one good change PF did. I would love to see it backported into 3.

Casting was a tad too restrictive in AoW 3. I didn't like the one spell per round limit, no matter how many heroes you had. Every hero should have been able to cast one spell per round. I think the casting cost for absent leaders was ok, but I wouldn't have minded it if there had been some building to remove the casting point malus when you park your leader in that town. Could have been a good addition to the grand temple or the palace.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

Does someone know tools that can take screenshots in AoW I/II GOG versions? I usually use FRAPS or MSI Afterburner, but neither tool works. Using Win10 screenshot works but is a hassle since it takes a shot of the whole screen of my dual monitor setup and I would have to crop the images.

 

[dehimos]

Shift+S+Windows key. Open Snipping tool, Rectangular snip.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

Shift+S+Windows key. Open Snipping tool, Rectangular snip.

Thank you, I didn't know that one. It seems that you can go directly to rectangular snip by Shift + Print.