More First Impressions?

[76mm]

Not many first impressions of the game so far...any thoughts from recent buyers?

How do people like the combat system? How do these games compare to the AGEOD games?

Is it possible to modify save game files? Asking to determine whether this game might be used as a strategic layer with battles resolved via something like FOG2. That would be awesome...

[Blathergut]

Am trying to get an AAR moved here in this forum so you can see my impressions of the game. Hopefully this will happen soon. The combat system is fine. Certain units do well on different terrains. To covert to FoG, you'd have to decide what a military unit consisted of. In Aggressors, you have a peltast or a warrior or a milites or whatever attack an enemy unit. You don't have combined troop types. You can though have 3 different unit types in one hex. Might be a bit tricky if you lost a unit in the game but didn't in the FoG battle!

[gwgardner]

The save files are editable. see my AARS in this forum as an indication of how much I love the game.

[76mm]

The save files are editable. see my AARS in this forum as an indication of how much I love the game.

Thanks, your Carthage AAR was helpful. What do you think led to the seemingly dramatic rise and fall of the various empires over the course of the game? Random events? Some built-in mechanisms which disadvantage large empires? Or some AI tweak that causes the other nations to gang up on an empire once it exceeds some power threshold?

Also, any idea if the save game files are in an XML format, or text, or what?

[gwgardner]

Take a look at the .ag files in the saves directory. I'm not sure what that format is, although it is text, and easily editable.

I don't know of any built-in disadvantages for major empires - I mean arbitrary disadvantages. They do have more territory to manage, with probably several different nationalities and ethnic groups they have conquered. Those peoples have to learn to love their new masters, and that can take some time in the course of the game, from a few years to many many years. It can be difficult to maintain overall happiness throughout the realm, and if happiness falls, watch out - people start to look at other countries as more disirable, so defect, production goes down, shortages start to appear, birthrate can't be maintained, etc. Other strong countries may try to influence border cities. Conquered peoples may rebel en-masse, because you've drawn away too many garrison troops. And then there are the rare catastrophes like earthquakes, plagues (random events can be turned off in options, but I like them when I play - they are indeed rare, and can be devastating, but other countries suffer them too.)

Wariness of large empires is indeed a factor. If a country gains a bad reputation, that effects how others might gang up or refuse trades, etc.

So many factors - ain't it great!?

[n0kn0k]

The save files are editable. see my AARS in this forum as an indication of how much I love the game.

Thanks, your Carthage AAR was helpful. What do you think led to the seemingly dramatic rise and fall of the various empires over the course of the game? Random events? Some built-in mechanisms which disadvantage large empires? Or some AI tweak that causes the other nations to gang up on an empire once it exceeds some power threshold?

Also, any idea if the save game files are in an XML format, or text, or what?

Sometimes the old factions do pop up also. But those are usually dealt with fast.
But the big factions can actually split down the middle in a civil war type of event also.
I didn't see that happen myself yet though.

[76mm]

So how does the AI cope on the random maps? I'm much more interested in those than the historical map. I think the random maps will be awesome in MP, not sure how the AI copes though.

[gwgardner]

It varies, and depends a lot on the setup options. You can give the AI advantages, in terms of starting number of cities and more research. You can tell the game to have all factions start the same. Or you tell it to have factions start with varying governmental types, or all the same.

In the complete custom game I played, some factions were easy, and a couple were real bears.

[n0kn0k]

So how does the AI cope on the random maps? I'm much more interested in those than the historical map. I think the random maps will be awesome in MP, not sure how the AI copes though.

I haven't played ramdom maps myself, but...
The AI isn't hardcoded towards certain locations on the standard map, so it should do as well on a custom map as on the standard one.
The standard map is of course designed with certain geographical features that promote good gameplay. Especially for Rome there's a nice flow in the game.
But the results with the mapgenerator have been good sofar in temps of mapdesign.

[Beorn]

So how does the AI cope on the random maps? I'm much more interested in those than the historical map. I think the random maps will be awesome in MP, not sure how the AI copes though.

I am currently playing at the third difficulty up on a random map. Gave myself a small starting advantage. And either the AI is very good or I am very bad.

The AI definitely handles population growth and economy better than I have so far. In terms of military, on this difficulty level, there is a certain amount of attacking very difficult positions, but not like Civ VI where stragglers come along to certain death. The attacks make sense -- they use cavalry with high withdrawal rates followed by stronger units. But I am not convinced that they are properly accounting for the number of units I have in the position, to distribute the repeat-defense malus. (Maybe at a higher difficulty level they are more calculating? That would be my guess.) In any case, they have lost a lot of units, but apparently they have them to spare because they are keeping the pressure up, and they are very good at keeping the overall goal in mind -- the resource locations. They are also very good at using cavalry to disrupt in multiple ways, even as I take some of their cities. And if I leave a weak point anywhere for even one turn, they exploit it.

As I am seeing it at the moment, the central struggle is about population. If you have big cities/high population, your technology will advance, and you will be able to acquire and hold territory which holds resources. But every unit you build cuts into that population, nicking away at tech advancement. So... as I am seeing it, the AI I am seeing is holding up pretty well militarily, but more importantly, it is racking up population. To this point, I have not figured out how... although by mid-game, my main enemy really helped himself by forming a federation with another nation and then absorbing that nation. But he was doing very well with population, even before that.

[76mm]

Interesting, thanks. Another question--roughly how many units/fleets are you commanding? Does that number increase dramatically as the game goes on?

[n0kn0k]

Interesting, thanks. Another question--roughly how many units/fleets are you commanding? Does that number increase dramatically as the game goes on?

Playing with Rome I end up with about 20 fully upgraded units on land and 15 on the sea.
But I heavily invest in city upgrades and pacify cities before I move on usually.
When not doing that I would probably need another 10-15 units to quell rebellions and babysit cities.

[tarhunnas]

Sorry but I must say I am disappointed so far. Feels like someone reinvented Civ3, only with a more fiddly interface. Game play is repetitive, combat hopelessly un-realistic. Trade is mystifying. My neighbour agrees to a trade treaty I suggested (after going through 3 screens in the fiddly interface) then they cancel it next turn for unclear reasons. I try again, same thing happens three turns in a row! And the language in the interface feels like Snoop Doggy Dogg wrote it. This game did not live up to the hype in the description.

[76mm]

Thanks Tarhunnas, good to get some negative impressions as well.

[pavelk]

Hi tarhunnas,
we are sorry to hear that. We will certainly try to fix bugs we find on the way and make it more enjoyable for you.

Trade is mystifying. My neighbour agrees to a trade treaty I suggested (after going through 3 screens in the fiddly interface) then they cancel it next turn for unclear reasons. I try again, same thing happens three turns in a row!

This is probably a bug, I already created a thread on Steam to identify this bug and address it.

[76mm]

Sorry, a few more questions:

Having read some of the AARs, it looks like the world starts in a state with vacant (neutral) cities, and you need to race to occupy them before your neighbors. When you start a game is it possible to specify that:
1) all the nations have more or less established boundaries (with maybe a couple of independent cities scattered here and there? and
2) there are no "blank spots" on the map, at least for some radius from your home country?

Also, one more question--how are players informed of diplomatic and military results for other nations? Am I completely unaware of them, are the visible on the map, do I receive text notices of various wars, peaces, etc.?

I am hoping that this game will be a more "realistic" version of something like Civilization,which I never cared for--I don't like stumbling around through blacked-out tiles when it seems like my nation should have a pretty good idea about the territory just beyond its borders.

[pavelk]

all the nations have more or less established boundaries (with maybe a couple of independent cities scattered here and there?

Most of the factions have already cities and boundaries set. More populated areas at that time are already entirely "taken" but tribes like German tribes have some space around to settle down and expand (to the north of Danube). There is currently no way how to change initial setup automatically. It can be changed in game editor before you start playing though.

there are no "blank spots" on the map, at least for some radius from your home country?

I am not sure what do you mean by blank spots, but you probably mean that every nation has some knowledge about its surroundings...? If so, it is definitely like that for most of the factions. Some tribes do have just limited knowledge about further lands but for example Roman Republic sees the whole
Mediterranean.

how are players informed of diplomatic and military results for other nations? Am I completely unaware of them, are the visible on the map, do I receive text notices of various wars, peaces, etc.?

You are informed about signed and revoked fedreations and confederations. You are not informed about every war declaration of all the players but you can see current state in the political map where you can select each player and check its relations.

I am hoping that this game will be a more "realistic" version of something like Civilization,which I never cared for--I don't like stumbling around through blacked-out hexes when it seems like my nation should have a pretty good idea about the territory just beyond its borders.

You might get similar experience when you play customized world, but the campaign map is much more like a grand strategy game.

[76mm]

Thanks, very helpful.

By "blank spots" I mean the clouds or blacked out tiles. Can the "known range" be modified in the editor? For instance, if I wanted the whole world to be known, or locations within x tiles of my homeland, can that be set in the editor (while leaving FoW for troops, etc.)?

Generally this sounds really good, and its sounds like the items that I would want changed can be tweaked in the editor...

[pavelk]

By "blank spots" I mean the clouds or blacked out tiles. Can the "known range" be modified in the editor? For instance, if I wanted the whole world to be known, or locations within x tiles of my homeland, can that be set in the editor (while leaving FoW for troops, etc.)?

Absolutely. You can pretty much modify anything related to the game in the game editor. It is very easy.

[76mm]

Absolutely. You can pretty much modify anything related to the game in the game editor. It is very easy.

Sounds awesome, thanks!