AoE2 HD: The African Kingdoms

[wwsd]

I'm up for a game of old-school AoE2 if one can be arranged. I've got AoC with the userpatch, no idea what everyone else is playing. I've never actually played it in MP until recently, when I took out two friends in a 2v1. But they were even less experienced with the game than me, so it wasn't really a contest. Although I only ever played against easy-peasy AI opponents, I know how the game works and I know about the strengths and weaknesses of factions, how to expand properly instead of just dallying about, etc. One of them had some experience, while the other had never played before (we did a practice run againt some AIs, who basically just sat there and attacked my castles with militia), so it's not like I'm brilliant at it. But that one game certainly left me eager for another one, so if it can be done, then sure. We just played some ancient version of AoC on LAN without any clients, since we were in the same room. If I need to download any particular client to play, then I would be happy to do so. No idea how this is normally done with AoC.

 

[dibens]

We should def make a brofist betting tournament of AoE2 some day.

Back on topic.

Ressonancebro made an overview of each new civilization. They all seem pretty interesting tbh. Some very unique team bonuses.

Portuguese



Berbers



Malians



Ethiopians

 

[Havoc]

Ethiopians with food? Historically inaccurate.

 

[MilesBeyond]

Well. This is a significantly better expansion than The Forgotten.

 

[Volrath]

I bought it

 

[Douchebag]

Well. This is a significantly better expansion than The Forgotten.

Does it feel like it was made in 2000 by ES?

Portuguese

They need to give this sweet new theme to the Byzantines. It was always weird seeing mosques and Middle Eastern architecture attached to them.

Wait is that garbage iRockband edit going to be the new theme? They can go eat shit with their amateur work.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

What are the campaigns like? Any interesting things in there, or is every mission build base then kill the enemy?

 

[Douchebag]

What are the campaigns like? Any interesting things in there, or is every mission build base then kill the enemy?

They replaced Build and Destroy with Search and Destroy. Age of Empires being no Warcraft I found it tedious to move your units across immense maps doing nothing but repeatedly kill small groups of enemies one by one. The forgotten campaign is even worst. Voice acting is very bad, and there's a lot of small details that make the new content stand out among the old content in a bad way.
I regret buying HD in this new sale. It also has occasionally low framerate (wtf) and bugged pathfinding.

2/10. I think there's still a lot of places that sell the old version for a penny.

 

[Whisky]

The Portuguese campaign narrator sounds sort of like Strong Bad. It makes me feel uncomfortable.

 

[Douchebag]

Is there a way to get a refund from steam if you played a game for more than 2 hours?

 

[Delterius]

The narrators suck but are the campaigns themselves any good?

 

[Douchebag]

See my post above. I tried ranting on their steam forum and found out that they have been made by a single amateur from the community. I don't understand why they think it's ok to hire a young map editor kiddie instead of a game designer.

Really disappointing. I sent a refund request I'll see what comes out of it.

 

[catfood]

See my post above. I tried ranting on their steam forum and found out that they have been made by a single amateur from the community. I don't understand why they think it's ok to hire a young map editor kiddie instead of a game designer.

Because it's cheaper.

 

[Beastro]

The campaigns. . Designed with the dudebros in mind.



vs AoE 2



Understand these two games were meant for different crowd.

Brofist you if I could.

Remember installing AE3 expecting the same campaign themes and to delve into an era I didn't really know much about, only to be given some limp wristed kids story.

The worst part of the story wasn't simply Russia invading through Alaska but them brining the Tsar Cannon with them, a weapon that was never meant to be used as a weapon and more to do with the Russian love of always building the biggest shit even if it's never used.

My favourite AoE2 campaign story was the Huns and the end about who the monk had been.

 

[MilesBeyond]

Okay, played the expansion a fair bit now. Really liking it so far (well aside from some launch shenanigans).

Haven't touched the campaigns yet, dunno if I will. Not really a big draw for me, so if your main thing is campaigns, might want to skip this post as it may not be helpful.

New additions are awesome. Naval combat has been massively improved as a result of Fire and Demo ships being given Feudal Age variants, and having one tech that upgrades all three ship types to their Castle age versions (still separate techs for Imp age, though). Huge, huge difference IMHO. Now you'll actually see diverse and interesting naval battles rather than just Galley spam. Fire Ships are maybe still a tad on the weak side but at least they're no longer fighting an uphill battle due to coming an era later than Galleys (the unit they're ostensibly a hard counter to) and as a result being hugely outnumbered.

Arson tech is also a much-needed addition. I actually find myself sometimes using Swordsman line now, and Infantry civs are more viable. For those unfamiliar, it's a Castle-age tech from the Barracks that gives all Infantry (Swords line, Pike line, plus whatever unique units - except (I think) Eagles) bonus damage vs buildings. Considering how underwhelming infantry were in this game until now (rarely seen aside from Pikes), I've been a big fan of this change so far. Infantry civs like the Goths and the Japanese are now a lot more interesting.

They added a new unit, the Siege Tower, designed to make offense a bit more viable in the Castle age, giving players another option than teching right to Imperial to get the good siege. Honestly, haven't played around with it much.

A lot of general rebalances, too, that are nice. Particularly reworking Scorpion mechanics a bit to make them more useful, and finally categorizing Camels as something other than a ship. Axemen are still shite but what're you gonna do?

I haven't played around with the new civs too much yet. The new art style doesn't stand out too much, and they seem reasonably balanced. But like I said, haven't messed around with them too much yet.

In any case, IMHO the strength of the expansion pack is more in how it fixes and revitalizes core gameplay than in new civs or campaigns. Whether that's something worth spending money on is probably going to come down to what you enjoy about AoE.