How complex is this?

[Horseman]

Hi all,

So the ancient period has long been my favourite period to both study and game in (started my table top War gaming fighting ancient battles with my Dad)

There have been some gems over the years (anybody remember ancient battles on the old Spectrum and Comodore 64?) But turn based games seem few and far between.

I like FOG 2 pretty much, and this one looks pretty interesting but how complex is it?

[Gray Fox]

It's more like chess than checkers. In addition, Empires has the unique game mechanic of Decadence. This eats away at your faction so that what goes up may come down. Plan a campaign without doing the logistics side and your victorious army will just starve away. If you do purchase it, check out my Carthage AAR. I uploaded my save game at several stages so anyone can DL it and see what's going on. You can even play Carthage from the save games as a sort of tutorial. Good luck!

[Soar]

It's not as complex as very hardcore games that go really deep into minute simulation like the Victoria or Gary Grigsby's War in the X series, but I rate it as more complex than the Europa Universalis, Total War (as regards to the strategy layer) and most likely Civilization series (at least the ones before Civ V, I haven't played the latest 2 entries very much). Compared to most older AGEOD games (Alea Jacta Est, American Civil War, etc), it is less complex on the military side but more complex on the economy.

[Horseman]

Thank guys.

Sounds like it sits at a nice level - the war in the X series is on my "to complex for what I want in game" list. Things like Total war and the civ series are good to go but I can cope with a bit more complex than those.

Think this one will gonon my wishlist - a good campaign game set in ancient world is right down my alley. As much as I loved Rome totalwar (and rome 2) they're so still a little arcade style!

[stormbringer3]

One of the reasons that I didn't buy this after it was released was that the micromanaging of slaves seemed to be an issue to many of the players. There have been quite a few patches since. Has slave management been changed at all?
Thanks.

[Gray Fox]

Slaves go to the nearest region with a slave market or to your capital, if no market is available. An event allows you to buy, sell or move them around. Some players wanted to control the placement completely. I play the game fairly well and I don't have a problem with slaves.

Some people have a problem with Santa Claus, which shouldn't obscure the fact that it's still Christmas.

[Soar]

I don't recall ever hearing about slave *micromanagement* being an issue. The main thing people have been complaining about as regards to slaves is their capitol filling up with excessive amounts of unruly slaves from conquests, which can happen, especially if you don't have slave markets in other regions for them to go to instead. In response, the developers increased the amount of slaves that die during unsuccessful revolts, to help the problem take care of itself. The upcoming Persia DLC also adds a regional decision to redistribute excess slaves away from a specific region.