Ozymandias: Ozymandias: Bronze Age Empire Sim, streamlined board gamey 4X

[Galdred]

This game looks quite interesting: It boasts a competent AI that doesn't rely too much on cheating, and a streamlined gameplay suitable for multiplayer.
I only played 2 games, but I think the game works for what it intends to do. I cannot tell how deep the game is, but it feels like a competent board game on PC. It is closer from Tiny Empires than Eclipse (ie, even for a board game, it would be considered quite streamlined).

 

[Silva]

I'm starting to play this and I'm quite overwhelmed, which seems an embarrassing thing to say, seeing as the game is much simpler than its Civ forebears?

Any tips?

 

[Malakal]

I'm starting to play this and I'm quite overwhelmed, which seems an embarrassing thing to say, seeing as the game is much simpler than its Civ forebears?

Any tips?

Learn terrain types, some are better than others and should be prioritized. Invest into fast expansion focusing on cutting enemies off and grabbing best land. Trade for other things than food - a well placed research trade can give you vital yield tech boosting your economy significantly. Don't overspend on military power, its often better to surrender some tiles to buy more armies and fleets to win in the long run. Stockpile mercenary cards for surprise offensives. Finally remember that fleets can sail and fight inland.

 

[Silva]

Thanks, Malakal! I've played two games so far and the AI kicked my ass in both.

Learn terrain types, some are better than others

What are those differences and where can I find them?

 

[Malakal]

Thanks, Malakal! I've played two games so far and the AI kicked my ass in both.

Learn terrain types, some are better than others

What are those differences and where can I find them?

Its in the technology tab, some terrains have basic income researched, they also differ by possible maximum incomes.

Finally some opportunities allow you to go over the normal cap for resource generation and those can be game changing in certain areas.

You also research basic military power of a terrain type there, grabbing some early game can win you clashes with enemies over claiming the land and also defend your borders.

 

[Silva]

Its in the technology tab, some terrains have basic income researched, they also differ by possible maximum incomes.

Finally some opportunities allow you to go over the normal cap for resource generation and those can be game changing in certain areas.

What defines the starting terrain values? Civs? Map? Are they random?

And are you saying those opportunities that give more yield/production tech go above the usual 3 levels? That sounds insanely powerful. If so, is there a hard limit for it or can I keep rising it indefinitely?

The AI kicked my ass again. I'm finding 7 stars games long. I'll try setting 5 stars next, at least while learning the ropes.

 

[Malakal]

Its in the technology tab, some terrains have basic income researched, they also differ by possible maximum incomes.

Finally some opportunities allow you to go over the normal cap for resource generation and those can be game changing in certain areas.

What defines the starting terrain values? Civs? Map? Are they random?

And are you saying those opportunities that give more yield/production tech go above the usual 3 levels? That sounds insanely powerful. If so, is there a hard limit for it or can I keep rising it indefinitely?

The AI kicked my ass again. I'm finding 7 stars games long. I'll try setting 5 stars next, at least while learning the ropes.

Terrain yields are preset, river tiles give more food at the start always, for example.

And yes, the opportunities can bring tiles above the maximum, for example a sea can be 1-1-1 normally but with finishing the right opportunity it can be 2-1-1. 1-2-1 or 1-1-2. I have never seen more than one increase in a tile type tho. But yea if you have 40 sea tiles +1 is big anyway.

The AI is competent and some starts are way easier than others. Try Asia map and play the western plain nomads, they are extremely simple with one dominant tile type and weak enemies.

 

[JarlFrank]

I got all the achievements on it, Huns on Asia were fucking hard.

The opportunities that give you bonus yield on tiles are the most valuable you can get because the bonus stacks with your research.
AI doesn't get opportunities at all, so when you play harder civs, making effective use of the ones you get is key to victory.

Don't get military unless you absolutely need to because it's expensive.
Invest in yield, pay money to lower waste (a certain percentage of your stockpile gets lost every turn due to waste, reducing it is important).
In the early game, don't save up resources but spend them ASAP, stockpiling is ineffective due to waste.
Researching power technologies gets exponentially more expensive, but is extremely important in winning fights. Each power tech level gives you +1 strength in the respective terrain type. Got a mountain border with a strong enemy? Pump mountain power tech.
Sea is expensive to claim, and sea yield techs are expensive to research, but most maps with an ocean have lots of sea tiles and most AI won't care about the sea (unless they're an island nation) so much of it has little contest to grab. Even though sea never provides a lot of yield, a ton of sea tiles translate to a ton of yield once you have the tech.
Sea tiles have zero yield without tech though, so don't prioritize it early on.

The tech window tells you exactly how many resources you get from each tile type. Obviously, since techs apply to tile types, it's more profitable to acquire tiles of the same type. If you got 40 forest tiles, researching a forest yield tech of +1 gold per forest gives you a whopping +40 gold, while if you only have 5 plain tiles and get a plains yield tech that only translates to 5. Simple maffs.

 

[Malakal]

I got all the achievements on it, Huns on Asia were fucking hard.

The opportunities that give you bonus yield on tiles are the most valuable you can get because the bonus stacks with your research.
AI doesn't get opportunities at all, so when you play harder civs, making effective use of the ones you get is key to victory.

Don't get military unless you absolutely need to because it's expensive.
Invest in yield, pay money to lower waste (a certain percentage of your stockpile gets lost every turn due to waste, reducing it is important).
In the early game, don't save up resources but spend them ASAP, stockpiling is ineffective due to waste.
Researching power technologies gets exponentially more expensive, but is extremely important in winning fights. Each power tech level gives you +1 strength in the respective terrain type. Got a mountain border with a strong enemy? Pump mountain power tech.
Sea is expensive to claim, and sea yield techs are expensive to research, but most maps with an ocean have lots of sea tiles and most AI won't care about the sea (unless they're an island nation) so much of it has little contest to grab. Even though sea never provides a lot of yield, a ton of sea tiles translate to a ton of yield once you have the tech.
Sea tiles have zero yield without tech though, so don't prioritize it early on.

The tech window tells you exactly how many resources you get from each tile type. Obviously, since techs apply to tile types, it's more profitable to acquire tiles of the same type. If you got 40 forest tiles, researching a forest yield tech of +1 gold per forest gives you a whopping +40 gold, while if you only have 5 plain tiles and get a plains yield tech that only translates to 5. Simple maffs.

You did Caananites on Middle East? Its the only I can't despite several tries, you are too weak and too pressed by others and even if you survive initially by that time someone else wins...

 

[JarlFrank]

I did Canaanites on Middle East but I don't remember how I did it, it's been a couple months.
It was the hardest of them all, you have to hope for some luck along with executing a good strategy.

 

[Malakal]

Huns are actually easy when you realize you have to do the historical thing and invade China as soon as possible...

 

[Silva]

Ok, this time I managed to go 2nd place as the Assyrians in the "Fertile Crescent" map, and only lost because the Elamites came behind and snatched the game. I guess I underestimated them.

Couple more questions:

1) do Cities project power/conquer enemy lands like armies do? I thought I've seen this happening?

2) what are the best maps for noobs and overall (more fun, balanced, etc)?


P.S: game reminds me of the Scythe boardgame, with the predefined "openings" that you can memorize for each side like in Chess, until chaos ensues as everybody clashes at the center of the board. Really digging it so far.

 

[Malakal]

Ok, this time I managed to go 2nd place as the Assyrians in the "Fertile Crescent" map, and only lost because the Elamites came behind and snatched the game. I guess I underestimated them.

Couple more questions:

1) do Cities project power/conquer enemy lands like armies do? I thought I've seen this happening?

2) what are the best maps for noobs and overall (more fun, balanced, etc)?


P.S: this game reminds me of the Scythe boardgame, with the predefined "openings" that you can memorize for each Civ like in Chess, until chaos ensues as everybody clashes at the center of the board. Really digging it so far.

In my experience the China map is most balanced, every faction there feels strong. Mediterranean/Middle East Egypt/Carthage is overpowered, Asia has OP nomads but other than that its fine.

Cities project power yes but don't think they conquer land.

And yes, this is definitely a board game and its quite great.

 

[JarlFrank]

Cities don't project power outside your borders, but they do project power inside your borders. The bigger the city, the more power it projects. I think it's simply 1 power per population. That's why it's worth placing cities close to your borders, they help you defend.

 

[Silva]

Thanks.

We can only build cities in hexes surrounded by other, conquered/explored hexes right? I mean, I can't build one right at a border hex? At least that's my impression.

And Mediterranean map seems pretty low effort. Full of anachronistic civs (Bretons, Gauls and Carthage are Iron Age, not Bronze) and has two OP civs together. It's my least favorite so far.

 

[JarlFrank]

Lol the new Aegean Sea DLC map comes with their first "Impossible" rated civ.

And it really is. You start on Crete, which is tiny compared to western Anatolia and mainland Greece which the other two factions get all for themselves. You can only expand into the sea, which is worthless unless you invest a big amount of research, but when you finally reach the point where you can afford it, it's already too late as your enemies turned into unstoppable deathballs.

 

[Dickie]

You did Caananites on Middle East? Its the only I can't despite several tries, you are too weak and too pressed by others and even if you survive initially by that time someone else wins...

I just completed this one by setting the victory condition to "to the death" and murdering everybody. I'm not sure if that's cheating.

 

[JarlFrank]

You did Caananites on Middle East? Its the only I can't despite several tries, you are too weak and too pressed by others and even if you survive initially by that time someone else wins...

I just completed this one by setting the victory condition to "to the death" and murdering everybody. I'm not sure if that's cheating.

That's how I got half my achievements

The new Aegean Sea DLC really has an impossible civ though. I have no idea how to win with Crete.