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Carnalfex posted:Seeing those new hero art assets makes me want so desperately to be able to add custom heroes to the non-leader hireable lists. I want to make so many mummies with santa hats and skeletor halflings and everything in between. I'd be down for a TW style battle mode. Really between that and PBEM you'd have some really good multiplayer options.
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Jan 17, 2015 17:23
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madmac posted:I'd be down for a TW style battle mode. Really between that and PBEM you'd have some really good multiplayer options. Couldn't hurt! Would certainly be a little bit closer to what other similar games have to offer for multiplayer. Still couldn't sit down and just play through a real game in an afternoon with friends without the other current annoyances but hey, quick battles are good. TW and other games proved that little straight-to-combat mode can be a lot of fun. PBEM.....will exist. For those looking for all the excitement of taking one turn a day(if that), never speaking to other players, never actually playing against them in combat....well, they will get what they always hoped and dreamed for. Multiplayer straight from 1993. I jest, I'm pretty excited to have multiplayer getting some attention. Any attention is good, and hopefully such things will lead to the game in general getting more sales and players. Saying that we're getting really good multiplayer is weird, though. Some games have really good multiplayer. I would go so far as to say a big portion of successful games meant to be played with people make sure their multiplayer works well. AoW3 really doesn't match up favorably in that department yet. To be honest the nature of the game is inherently multiplayer.....you can simply choose to have AI fill in (poorly) for human players. As much as the devs have said plenty of times they're afraid of looking to really giving multiplayer the attention it could surely use, the amount of effort it would take to make a truly decent 4x AI has got to be pretty crazy as well. Plenty of games have decent multiplayer but I can't really think of many that have crafty AI that can produce exciting games. They generally just hand the AI a bottomless credit card to play with and/or omniscience and call it a day. AoW3 does both of these with their AI, which leads to very predictable games that are unintuitive to new players and discourage the player from all but a few units/strategies against them. Humans are waaaaaaaaaay more fun to play with, can provide banter, can come up with new strategies and learn from defeats, and don't require any AI coding! AI has it's place for sure. People love to throw them in as wildcards, or use them as punching bags, or as a big bad to team up against. It is just extremely difficult to write them well in a game as complex as aow3 so that they don't become predictable and boring relatively quickly. I know some time ago in this very thread people were discussing having different AI player settings for behavioral tweaks. Being able to have some AI be all out offensive, some turtling diplomats that could be staunch allies or backstabbing traitors once they see opportunity.. something like that would certainly help keep single player / comp stomps much more engaging I'm sure. Again, improving either AI or multiplayer would certainly be a heck of a task. Both are probably outside of what we can hope for from modders even if the game becomes more open to the community as well.
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Jan 17, 2015 18:06
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I just mean that you'd have more or less full suite of multiplayer options, skirmish mode for quick battles, PBEM for long-rear end games with 8 players that would be impossible to play out normally, and regular multiplayer for when you've got a whole day to kill. I mean Total War is a huge franchise and all people realistically do for multiplayer in that is skirmish. For sure regular multiplayer has issues, I just don't see most of them being something that can be reasonably worked out short of an actual sequel/new engine. For what it is it can still be pretty drat fun. 
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Jan 17, 2015 18:49
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Yeah, definitely. And yeah, the game is fun for all it's bumps. It is just pretty rare to see a gem like this, especially in a genre that was almost entirely dead. Really it speaks as to how much fans enjoy the game that they are constantly desperate for *just a little more* be it content, features, what have you. Also I have to give it to the dev team for doing the weekly dev journals, everyone loves them and it is a brilliant way to keep the hype train rolling nonstop. Hopefully if/when more stuff is opened up to the community we'll see a lot of content and tweak mods that will take stress off the dev team while still adding to the game. If the community can produce some really decent stuff it could even be picked up by the devs proper, similar to what games like dredmor or X3 or others have done with community created dev approved expansion packs. That sort of thing is a modder's wet dream, and a huge value addition to any player, especially ones that don't want to bother with the trouble of modding. Heck, valve essentially built their whole company by polishing up other people's mods, back when they were still more of a game developer and not so much a distribution service.
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Jan 17, 2015 20:31
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Man, the AI balance feels like a joke. King occasionally gives you a run for your money, but bump it up to emperor and a stack of 6 Shrines and 4 Exalted converges on your city before you can even research tier 3 stuff.
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Jan 23, 2015 03:40
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Carnalfex posted:Seeing those new hero art assets makes me want so desperately to be able to add custom heroes to the non-leader hireable lists. I want to make so many mummies with santa hats and skeletor halflings and everything in between. Yesssss, I would like that arena mode for some goofing off quick battles. So long as you also had the option to spend gold on unit ranks and wacky hero items.
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Jan 23, 2015 03:42
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Todays dev journal gives some details on the new PBEM option: http://ageofwonders.com/dev-journal-the-return-of-pbem-multiplayer/ I really like the apparent ease of use with this sytem. PBEM isn't going to be everyones favorite multiplayer (Though the AoW2/SM diehards are fanatical PBEM players to this day, creating giant game threads and posting effort turn logs for months at a time.) but this looks really easy to get into and get some games going . It's pretty easy to join like 4-5 games and just play a couple turns a day after work or whatever. madmac fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Jan 23, 2015 |
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Jan 23, 2015 17:44
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E: ^^^ Beaten.   It might not interest me, but im glad to see it back! The various parts of the interface for it is super nice, what i'd hope to see for any game that plans to pass a saved game around alot, you know, Dwarf Fortress-likes.Edit: actually, the more i think about this, the more i like it. This might be perfect for doing big goon battles without worrying about having a few hours to kill in one go. Thyrork fucked around with this message at 17:50 on Jan 23, 2015 |
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Jan 23, 2015 17:46
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There's some interesting things in that screenshot if you look close enough, btw.  I don't think PBEM would ever replace normal multiplayer for me, but for what it does it's pretty fun. For playing long games with bunches of people in different time zones it's the only reasonable option, really. I'll totally be setting up some goon games when this goes live, in any case. madmac fucked around with this message at 18:58 on Jan 23, 2015 |
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Jan 23, 2015 18:03
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Same here, I'm excited triumph is doing this and even though it isn't really the improvement I had hoped for since I first experienced aow3 multiplayer I'll try it out. I'm also pretty excited that they mention that having their own central server system for multiplayer games opens up " central messaging, user kicking, ladders" which means the devs are aware that there are a whole lot of quality of life features common to current day games that are missing. Those three in particular aren't actually as important as things like UI work or a friends list to help players create and get into games more easily (something that will become more important by far if the player base grows) but it is the first I've heard about improving QOL stuff for multiplayer at all so I am thrilled.
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Jan 23, 2015 20:25
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Any tips for Really Nice arcane forge items? Beyond stuff I'm picking up I'm trying to outfit like: For ranged dudes Chest:HP regen every combat turn Hat:Seeker Shield:More ranged damage My 2 melee guys Feet:Tireless Shield:Static Shield Toss in First Strike, HP buffs, Vampire Bat and Fear on melee
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Jan 27, 2015 10:14
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Daktari posted:Any tips for Really Nice arcane forge items? Dominate/Charm/Seduce (which all have weird exceptions and overlaps) are really solid especially since a lot of good tier 3/4 units are easy to snipe. Specifically Warbreeds, if you're fighting a Warlord or get lucky with a Destruction Node, and Giants are pretty trivial. You can also grab Naga, tier 3 Serpents, Giant Spiders, most racial tier 3's, Trolls, etc. to pad out your army. And the items themselves are relatively cheap. If you can get it, regrowth for everybody is crucial. And you want to try to add as many different kinds of damage as you can, multiple damage channels will make you do more damage overall than just stacking one type of damage and let you get around annoying resistances. This goes for your ranged dudes as well, craft them the item that lets them shoot fairy fire. It pairs hilariously well with Seeker and other damage types. Other than that, volunteer is nice if you don't have any cost reduction from your class. As is an item that gives your hero the 'heal' ability which can be a lifesaver in combat.
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Jan 27, 2015 10:25
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The Expansion needs to come out soon, I have so much planned, so much... I plan on doing full race guides then along with some other stuff, but for now just to scratch the itch, I might as well do that heroes guide I've been slacking on. Random dice roll says we're doing Warlord first, so what the hell. Every Hero class in this game has a completely unique set of skills along with some universal things like stat-ups and extra CP. and +20% resist to any element. They all have a unique starting ranged weapon and I believe an innate skill..Warlords and Dreads start with Armored, Rogues have Backstab, and Sorcerers get + 5 CP. I'm less sure about Druids and Theocrats off-hand. More importantly, in the Expansion...Well, that can wait. While Hero levels go up to 20, they stop getting new skills after level 13, and that's just the final CP upgrade. In terms of stuff you will actually take you have everything by level 11, basically. Also worth noting is that every hero starts with two random combat spells and will eventually have access to their entire list of Class Combat spells. Never make a spellcasting Dread hero, just don't. Enough rambling, lets talk Warlord Warlord heroes are really fricken good. They are the strongest of all the hero classes for simply beating the poo poo out of things, they have excellent leadership buffs, and you can get a lot of mileage out of just a few spells you will likely get for free. They do however take a bit of investment before they start to take off. Druids and Theocrats are more useful out-of-the-box, but Warlords become monsters with levels and gear. Warlords start with the Heavy Crossbow, which is an acceptable weapon, but one you will probably happily trade out for something else when you get the chance. It does good damage when flanking at close-range, especially stacked with armor piercing and overwhelm. (Yes, you can overwhelm with crossbow shots.) As a stand and shoot weapon it is obviously terrible. In terms of spellcasting, the really nice thing about Warlord is that your highest utility spells are the low-level ones. You will want Berserk, hopefully you won't have to buy it, but you will eventually want Berserk and one CP up so you can cast it twice per battle. Last Stand and Lions Courage are also solid spells, and Shout of Intimidation can be ok. The only spell you want badly enough to buy it is Berserk, though. For the curious, the last Warlord spell unlocked is Relentless Army at level 11. It's a good spell, but you'll want to stick to leadership and personal skills with the Warlord, trust me. Leadership Buffs! Level 1 Blood Honor (You get +morale when friendly units die) Defense Command Field Medic Level 3 Melee Command Ranged Command Level 5 Charge Command Level 7 Blood Brothers (10 points) All units Strong Will Fleet Command (3 points) All units Mariner Level 11 Toughness (Physical Protection, all units) So, things the Warlord can do as an army Leader: Provide Fast Healing, +1 Def, Melee, Ranged, give all units Charge, Strong Will, and 20% Physical Protection. Things the Warlord can't do: Provide any sort of resistance or elemental protection (Except Blood Brothers, which owns), increase morale, reduce upkeep or give bonuses vs specific unit types. So the Warlord is a very strong army leader, albeit a somewhat backloaded and specialized one. You will want to get Field Medic ASAP unless your Warlord doesn't have his own army yet. Defense Command is also really good. Melee/Ranged command are skippable unless you're floating points. Blood Brothers and Toughness are absolutely mandatory. Just Defense Command, Blood Brothers, Charge Command and Toughness makes for a very powerful melee army, something no other hero type can buff at the same level. Blood Honor deserves special mention for being weird. When a friendly unit in your stack dies, all your other friendly units get +100 morale for the rest of the fight. It's potentially quite powerful if you're planning to lose a bunch of units, but definitely not worth making a priority. It's cheap though, I can see picking it up in time for endgame bloodbath fights. To put it simply, what you want to do with Warlord heroes is focus mostly on making them Bruisers first, and then once they've leveled a fair bit, make them your best bruiser stack leader. Speaking of Bruising, the Warlord has no equal in that regard. Important skills: Level 1 Overwhelm Armor Piercing Level 3 Giant Slayer Martial Arts Level 5 Dragon Slayer Level 9 Tireless The Combination of Martial Arts, Tireless, Overwhelm and Armor Piercing, all for really cheap is what makes the Warlord such a beast. Stack on some stat bonuses and gear and the Warlord can become a nigh unstoppable melee steamroller, especially with the Toughness leadership skill added on. Seriously, I've had Warlords tank T4 units and just laugh at their piddly damage numbers. The Warlord does remain vulnerable to non-spirit damage though, you'll want to grab a few resist bonuses to cover weak points when you can. Giant and Dragon Slayer exist and you can take them but they're pretty far down the priority list unless you're actually being Dragon rushed or something. And that's the Warlord, no equal in splitting skulls, one of the strongest late game army leaders, and a solid utility caster, especially early game. Berserk will win you siege battles like nothing else.
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Jan 27, 2015 13:41
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Zore posted:multiple damage channels will make you do more damage overall than just stacking one type of damage and let you get around annoying resistances. This goes for your ranged dudes as well, craft them the item that lets them shoot fairy fire. It pairs hilariously well with Seeker and other damage types. I thought they nerfed this? Unless you just mean it's good despite +1 Ranged Strength passives not upping every damage type you deal and being overpowered as poo poo
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Jan 27, 2015 18:18
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I've found Ranged Command and Melee Command no brainers either super early on, when the small advantage can pay dividends in T1 battles, or way later on, when you're choosing between 3 points for +1 melee damage for your warlord or 4 points for +1 melee damage for your warlord and his/her party. Last Stand stacks hilariously well with defender units. I love having Warlords leading armies of Crusaders. hey girl you up fucked around with this message at 18:48 on Jan 27, 2015 |
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Jan 27, 2015 18:45
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The Royal Scrub posted:I thought they nerfed this? Unless you just mean it's good despite +1 Ranged Strength passives not upping every damage type you deal and being overpowered as poo poo It no longer says on info tooltip that seeker gives +1 to all damage types, but it still does, last time I checked. Try making a seeker helm and equipping it, and watch your ranged damage stats.
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Jan 27, 2015 19:10
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The Royal Scrub posted:I thought they nerfed this? Unless you just mean it's good despite +1 Ranged Strength passives not upping every damage type you deal and being overpowered as poo poo Seeker specifically adds +1/channel, most things don't anymore.
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Jan 27, 2015 19:13
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Edit: NVM, I'm an idiot, thought you were talking leader, not hero.
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Jan 27, 2015 23:46
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I kinda already did Leaders, so... btw, if you like Steam Snooping on the Expansion and Devs deliberately being silly about it, this might be your thread: http://ageofwonders.com/forums/topic/expansion-on-steamdb/ I guess I should try and tear myself away from PBEM games long enough to do another Hero Guide. Lets talk Sorcerer! Sorcerers are a radical hero class to have one of. Five Sorcerers, not so much. I would know, I played that game and it was silly. It's not that Sorcerers are bad, just specialized enough that they stack very badly. They are not very good stack leaders on the whole. They get a couple decent enough leadership skills to not make you completely hate your Sorcerer Leader bossing everyone around but for heroes you really don't want to build them for it unless, again, five loving Sorcerers in one game. What Sorcerers own hard at is spellcasting, ranged attacks, and a dab of generalist support. I'll break it down into sections. Sorcerer Heroes start with an extra 5 CP, just like Sorcerer Leaders. Their starting ranged weapon is the Shock Wand, which is one of the best. Targeting Resistance is almost always better damage then targeting defense, and only a small handful of units resist shock damage at all. On the flipside, very few creatures take extra damage from shock either, but overall it's easily the most consistently useful elemental type. Leadership Skills: Level 1 Charged Army Magic Affinity Level 3 Dragon Slayer Party Spirit Shield Level 11 Master Illusionist (15 Points!) So yeah, I think the problem here is obvious enough. Charged Army and Magic Affinity are actually drat good, Sorcerers just don't go anywhere after that. It's not usually worth building a Sorc as a stack leader because almost any class will surpass them at it in the long run. Master Illusionist is actually kinda loving amazing in Multiplayer, but good luck managing to afford that on anything but your Leader. Spellcasting: I'm not going to type out the Sorcerers full list of Combat Spells, I'm not some drat masochist. Suffice to say no other hero class comes close. You want Chain Lightning? Of course you do. Sphere of Protection? Hot drat. Cosmic Spray? Oh yes... Chaos Rift is at level 13, as it happens. I don't think I have to emphasize how crazy that is on a hero, but you'll need roughly all the Sorcery upgrades, so...eh. Fortunately, you get to save points by not putting anything into leadership, but just buying a couple spells and Sorcery upgrades will drain you fast. Don't go too crazy, because there are a couple passive skills for the Sorc that are absolutely must have have. Personal Skills: Level 5 Floating Strong Will Level 7 Inflict Stun Phase Level 9 Inflict Spirit Breaking Projectile Reflection Now Float is somewhat situational because you can't bring an army along, but it's a good skill to have alongside a bunch of floating summons or something similar. At the same time it's useless for a Leader Sorc because they can just spam summon mount until they get something with wings. Strong Will and Phase are always good, and Projectile Reflection is amusing. Inflict Stun and Inflict Spirit Breaking though, are the best things the Sorc hero has. Yes, even better then the spells. Inflict Spirit Breaking reduces Res, making targets even more vulnerable to being stunned, and Shock Damage works against almost anything. Throw in any other resist weakening status effect from items and you have a stun-locking machine. I've built Sorcerers that checked like 5 status ailments on every ranged attack and could reliably stun-lock Manticores. Even if they shake off the stun they'll still be eating a lot of damage. Don't underestimate Ranged Sorc Builds. Finally, there's the utility skills, where the Sorc is one of the most useful heroes. They get Break Control, Dispel Magic and Steal Enchantment, all at level 1. (Warlords, by contrast only get Break Control) No hero is better at aggressively clearing enemy enchantments then the Sorc. They also get Mend Magical Being at level 11, which takes forever but is incredibly useful for summoners. Overall the Sorcerer is a complicated and fragile toolbox who can do a surprisingly large range of useful things for you, as long as you never ask him to lead an army or hold a sword. No one should ever turn down a Sorcerer. Just...don't get five of them. I seriously can't emphasize enough what a bad idea that is. madmac fucked around with this message at 10:44 on Jan 28, 2015 |
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Jan 28, 2015 02:19
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I'm not really liking my format for hero discussion, to be honest. There's not enough to say about any individual hero to fill a full post but I'm too lazy to do several at a time, so... For now, lets talk about Archdruids I like Archdruid heroes a lot, they're one of my favorite types to get early, but much like Sorcerers it can be frustrating when you have piles of them, because they're not versatile enough to cover multiple roles effectively. Archdruid heroes specialize mostly in creeping. With early powerful ranged attacks, good healing, and some useful utility skills (Charm Animal) they are one of the best turn 1 heroes you can have. The issue with Druids is mostly that the things they start out being good at don't scale too well into late game, where they are more useful as being pretty good spellcasters but not Sorcerer level. Archdruids start with the longbow, which is easily the best starting weapon outside it's reliance on physical damage. It's well worth dumping +2 into ranged attack with your first level-up, especially since Druids don't actually start healing until level 3. Leadership Skills: Level 1 Natures Resistance (+1 Res) Warm at Night (Cold Resist) Level 3 Natural Healer (Fast Healing) Level 5 Natural Immunity (Blight Resist) Spirit of the Land (Spirit Resist) Level 9 Sustainable Warfare (8 points, give Volunteer to stack) Level 11 One with the Trees (Forest Concealment) As an army leader, the Druid is interesting. Early on they get Healing+Natural Healer, which is very good. Also they are the only class that gets a +1 Res skill plus 40% protection from 3 different Elements and the only class that can protect from cold damage at all. In terms of offering an overall package of protection from magical damage, they are one of the best. Unfortunately, they don't cover Shock or Fire Damage which is why I find them less useful in this role then Dreadnaughts. They are also the only class without a single offensive leadership buff. So overall Druid stack leaders are kinda weird. They are good early, and potentially very good in specific situations, if nothing else Warm at Night should be a much more useful skill when the expansion comes out. Overall though you're going to want a different stack leader more often then not, which makes building them as leaders an iffy proposition. In terms of spellcasting, as I said, Druids are only second to Sorcerers. Hornet Swarm is a stronger chain lightning that doesn't work on some enemy types. Rust Strike is a brutal anti-machine spell, Vengeful Vines is handy but not as good as it used to be with the AI aggressively disjuncting it now. Twisting Roots is good for shooting stacks and Savage Rage is a devastating buff if you have any animal or monster units to cast it on. Druid spellcasting is good but they don't have a Chaos Rift level capstone spell so it's not worth investing in to the same extent as a Sorc. You probably don't ever need more then 50 CP, if that. Personal Skills: Level 1 Befriend Animal Cure Disease Free Movement Level 3 Healing Level 5 Swimming Level 7 Entangling Touch Undead Slayer Level 9 Inflict Bleeding Wounds So yeah, Druids. Potentially useful bits spread out a little too far, that's the Druid in a nutshell. Bleeding Wounds is nice but you aren't going to care about it much at level 9. Healing is the thing you will always get at level 3, no exceptions, and Befriend Animal is very good to get ASAP and start nabbing those free units. Free Movement and Swimming are mostly there so your Druid leader can keep up with his Hunter/Shaman stacks but they can be useful to grab in general if your Druid is slowing you down because of race differences or whatever. Entangling Touch is also very powerful and always worth taking, especially since it's not like you've got any melee buffs going on. ArchDruids are a jack-of-all trades class and this carries over to the Hero version. Druids can do a bit of everything and are at their most useful at the start of the game. Unfortunately that means they are outshined by more specialized heroes at every stage of the later game and can't really specialize in different areas so having multiple Druids may well be worse then multiple Sorcerers. madmac fucked around with this message at 13:49 on Jan 28, 2015 |
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Jan 28, 2015 11:15
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madmac posted:I'm not really liking my format for hero discussion, to be honest. There's not enough to say about any individual hero to fill a full post but I'm too lazy to be several at a time, so... Its not the best thing you've contributed with but its still interesting to go over. I never really give my heroes much thought outside of "Will i use this, will it be cool?" when it comes to building them.
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Jan 28, 2015 13:33
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Thyrork posted:Its not the best thing you've contributed with but its still interesting to go over. I never really give my heroes much thought outside of "Will i use this, will it be cool?" when it comes to building them. It's an interesting exercise for me because honestly I don't usually break down the skills down by level either but I'm not that into writing about it which is becoming painfully obvious. But then that's why I stalled so long on writing about Heroes to start with, the information is worth presenting but there's not a whole hell of a lot to comment on. Pretty much every hero has 1 or maybe 2 really obvious builds and then a couple of "did you know?" skills hardly anyone uses. It's all stalling and filler content until the expansion comes out, regardless.
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Jan 28, 2015 13:48
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madmac posted:It's an interesting exercise for me because honestly I don't usually break down the skills down by level either but I'm not that into writing about it which is becoming painfully obvious. But then that's why I stalled so long on writing about Heroes to start with, the information is worth presenting but there's not a whole hell of a lot to comment on. Pretty much every hero has 1 or maybe 2 really obvious builds and then a couple of "did you know?" skills hardly anyone uses. It's appreciated filler! While im sure the cookie cutter builds are obvious, its nice to have someone else's input.I missed Berserks usefulness, for example, until you did the warlord thing. Even the obvious can be overlooked. Thyrork fucked around with this message at 13:54 on Jan 28, 2015 |
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Jan 28, 2015 13:52
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Archdruids own if only because Spiders and Elephants are amazing, especially if they're free. I had an elite Elephant with Savage rage take out many many t4 units on its own. Love those bastards.
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Jan 28, 2015 14:06
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Last time I played and got a Sorcerer hero I kind thought if if there is something that prevents Sorcerer to be a melee powerhouse? He would need tireless from crafted items of course, but Inflict Stun/Spirit Breaking, Projectile Reflection and Phase are all skills that are awesome in melee as well as ranged and its not like there are some class limit that would prevent Sorcerer to pump Melee Strength/Defense/HP. Plus Inflict Stun + Spirit Breaking + Static Shield sounds like hilarious combo.
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Jan 28, 2015 14:35
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Lt. Lizard posted:Last time I played and got a Sorcerer hero I kind thought if if there is something that prevents Sorcerer to be a melee powerhouse? He would need tireless from crafted items of course, but Inflict Stun/Spirit Breaking, Projectile Reflection and Phase are all skills that are awesome in melee as well as ranged and its not like there are some class limit that would prevent Sorcerer to pump Melee Strength/Defense/HP. Plus Inflict Stun + Spirit Breaking + Static Shield sounds like hilarious combo. It's just generally easier to build the Sorcerer for ranged combat/spellcasting, especially early on when they're still squishy and those are their strong points relative to other classes. (They don't get that Stun/Spirit Breaking combo until level 9 after all) If you want a melee platform there are better options but that doesn't keep the Sorcerer from potentially being a melee powerhouse late-game with a bunch of gear and levels, same as any other hero. quote:Archdruids own if only because Spiders and Elephants are amazing, especially if they're free. I had an elite Elephant with Savage rage take out many many t4 units on its own. Love those bastards. Druids are just great for clearing all around. Good shooting, good healing, and you get to collect bonus units as you go. The fact that he can mega-buff those free units is icing on the cake.
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Jan 28, 2015 15:05
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madmac posted:It's an interesting exercise for me because honestly I don't usually break down the skills down by level either but I'm not that into writing about it which is becoming painfully obvious. But then that's why I stalled so long on writing about Heroes to start with, the information is worth presenting but there's not a whole hell of a lot to comment on. Pretty much every hero has 1 or maybe 2 really obvious builds and then a couple of "did you know?" skills hardly anyone uses. I haven't really gotten around to playing/posting much recently, but for what it's worth I'm still quite enjoying your write-ups, filler or not.
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Jan 28, 2015 20:11
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I love having Druids lead a stack of draconian units. Sure, they don't have an attack buff, but the combo of cold protection and way too much healing makes them nice and useful. Plus they can mostly keep up with Fliers.
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Jan 28, 2015 21:06
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madmac posted:It's an interesting exercise for me because honestly I don't usually break down the skills down by level either but I'm not that into writing about it which is becoming painfully obvious. But then that's why I stalled so long on writing about Heroes to start with, the information is worth presenting but there's not a whole hell of a lot to comment on. Pretty much every hero has 1 or maybe 2 really obvious builds and then a couple of "did you know?" skills hardly anyone uses. Actually I still find them useful - they help lay out something that is often confusing, unclear, or requires more effort than I'm willing to spend to figure out most of the time  Specifically, in a lot of games like this, when you have a 'build tree', or 'skill tree', or any sort of customization + levels, it's often possible to screw yourself by either picking up suboptimal choices, or outright bad choices because they don't lead to really good (and fun!) stuff, or they slow down your progression a lot. It's not all about being a minmaxy munchkin either, sometimes you're legitimately missing out on fun gameplay if you don't know this stuff ahead of time. Probably the best example I can think of is Heroes 5 - each of the different hero types had a really unique and powerful ultimate skill - but they all had very specific prerequisites, and if you didn't get them, welp. And there was no way to figure this out from the in-game UI, you had to have the (really good) fan made strategy guide deal open in a window next to you to map it all out. When you saw it laid out on a page, it made sense, but in-game, with the in-game ui and lack of info about the big picture, nope. AoW3 isn't quite that bad, but it's hard to shake the lingering feeling you're loving something up when you invest skill points into one skill out of ten possibilities. TLDR: They're still useful summaries. You don't have to make a long post for it to be a useful post. (Probably one of the hardest things I had to learn while writing honestly, when laying out information for people I'd tend towards the excessively detailed and specific. Took me years to shake that habit and aim for brevity.)
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Jan 29, 2015 13:55
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Tl;dr: Never not post more guides.
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Jan 29, 2015 16:35
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Agreed. Especially since you don't have to spend your level up points, it's nice to see the level list and remember "Oh yeah, I want to save up points on level 6 to get Team Strong Mind as soon as it's available."
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Jan 29, 2015 17:08
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When is the exp pack estimated to come out
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Jan 29, 2015 19:34
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Was having internet issues this morning, which is why the next class isn't up yet. quote:When is the exp pack estimated to come out The only official word we've gotten is first quarter 2015. They let the Expansion name leak out on Steam though, so Friday might be interesting. Personally speaking, I don't think it will be too too much longer.
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Jan 29, 2015 19:55
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victrix posted:Actually I still find them useful - they help lay out something that is often confusing, unclear, or requires more effort than I'm willing to spend to figure out most of the time That was a really annoying thing about Heroes 5. Even if you knew the correct skills to get it, the game could put you in a situation where you had to choose a skill that barred you from it, because your skill picks were randomized. Fortunately you never truly needed it and some of them were pretty underwhelming. The real powerhouses in Heroes 5 were heroes with a specific set of skills and traits like having a ballista with triple flaming arrows that exploded on impact. (Deleb  )I'm enjoying madmac's posts too, but I'm burned out on this game at the moment. I like the combat but it's get's old fast when you're fighting the millionth siege battle that goes the same way as all others before did. All my games inevitably end up in an endless grind where I attack the AI with overwhelming force because they never dare to venture out of their cities. (And that loving settler bullshit in siege battles needs to go away ASAP) Anybody feeling the same way?
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Jan 29, 2015 20:46
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fspades posted:I'm enjoying madmac's posts too, but I'm burned out on this game at the moment. I like the combat but it's get's old fast when you're fighting the millionth siege battle that goes the same way as all others before did. All my games inevitably end up in an endless grind where I attack the AI with overwhelming force because they never dare to venture out of their cities. (And that loving settler bullshit in siege battles needs to go away ASAP) Anybody feeling the same way? Don't play large or extra large maps. OR if you are playing large and extra large maps, enable seal victory. Seal victory is great way how to avoid the usual late-game siege grind - the AIs are really pro-active about conquering then, will come at you HARD once you get at least half of the points needed to win and successfully defending the 3 or 4 or 5 seals against constant onslaught of AIs usually means that you are powerful enough and would win the conquest victory anyway.
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Jan 29, 2015 20:56
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Honestly man, if you're burned out just take a break until the expansion. It really is a massive improvement on the game and it would be sad to burn yourself out right before everything gets more awesome. (I've been coy about this, but seriously, I've been playing the expansion and it is amazing.) You wouldn't think it from my posting but even I take (very) long sojourns from this game. I don't really do long grindy maps either, I'll inevitably either go for a Seals victory or just stop and create a new map when I feel like I've had my fun. Seals Victory tend to be hard fought and down to the wire, they're basically the opposite of slowly grinding through the map and it owns. Also, it's not an option just yet but PBEM is legit fun as hell. It's totally painless to get into and gives you a lot of the tension of regular multiplayer while still letting you play at a chilled out pace. It's a really good way to dip your toe into multiplayer without the time commitment or needing to rush through turns.
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Jan 29, 2015 21:16
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Yeah, I guess I'll wait for the expansion. I thought about PBEM and while it would have been great for any other strategy game I'm not sure how this one is going to handle it. Without tactical battles, the game would be considerably more shallow. I guess we'll see how it's going to turn out with new features added to strategy layer.
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Jan 29, 2015 22:18
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Next page on our hero spotlight tour goes to the Dreadnaught For a hero ostensibly devoted to machines the Dread is an incredibly handy guy to have around for any class. Great army leader, tanky, and a master of almost-close quarters combat. Dread heroes start with armored and a musket and are the only hero with an innate aoe ranged attack option at higher levels. In battle, I like to think of Dreads as ranged-tanks. They can take a hit better then almost anyone but actually stabbing an enemy seems so disgraceful and low class when you could just be shooting them between the eyes like a proper gentleman. They are also, more then any other hero, the best possible pickup when you are already playing Dread. Having another stack leader who can repair machines and reload cannons is just that useful. On the other hand, a spellcasting Dread build is not even worth thinking about. You will probably start with flash-bang, and even cast it once in a great while. Live with it. Leadership Skills: Level 1 Imperial Authority (+200 Morale) Lightning Rod Banner (Shock Resist) Level 3 Forge Aprons (Fire Resist) Wizard Hunters (+1 Res and Summon Slayer) Level 5 Pest Control Squad (Animal, Fey, Monster Slayer) Level 11 Bomb Squad Front-loaded, to be sure, but there's not a bad skill in the whole bunch. Shock and Fire resist are both incredibly useful and only granted by Dreadnaughts. Imperial Authority is one of the best Leader skills generally, and Wizard Hunters/Pest Control Squad are incredible value. Would you like army-wide +1 resist and slayer vs virtually any non-humanoid enemy? Of course you would. The Dread actively counters Sorcerers in particular with the combination of Shock Protection, boosted Resistance, and Summon Slayer. Bomb Squad can be a mixed blessing (Exploding on death doesn't leave a body, to say nothing of chain reactions.) but it's also hilariously deadly to yourself and anyone you come in contact with. As good as they as leaders, and they are very good, between a fairly modest range of leader skills and the shortest spell list of any class, the Dread has a rather extensive list of personal skills. Personal Skills Level 1 Cure Disease Repair Machine Tunneling Level 3 Inflict Immolation Rapid Reload True Sight Level 5 Throw Net Wall Climbing Level 7 Bestow Iron Heart Fire Bomb Physical Protection Level 9 Tree Crusher (10 points) The thing you'll notice with the Dread is how much his skills swing between "virtually useless" and "holy poo poo!" You probably don't need tunneling unless you're doing some heavy underground exploring, and I don't advise Tree Crusher. While technically you can use it to clear paths through the forest for slower units to follow it locks the Dread into moving at a snails pace through forest terrain, even if he's flying. Trust me, you don't want it. Repair Machine and Rapid Reload are a given if your main leader is Dread, otherwise you can pass but Repair Machine at least is still a very good skill combined with Trebs. Inflict Immolation is the best personal skill he gets for a long while, you'll probably want it as soon as you hit level 3 or immediately after. It works with both melee and ranged attacks and is especially powerful combined with fire bomb. Remember, Immolation isn't just DOT like bleeding, it's a DOT combined with a potent debuff, there's never a bad time to immolate. (3 Fire Damage+ -2 Melee, -1 Def/Res and -400 Morale for the duration.) Level 7 is the big level for Dread Heroes. At that point you have access to every really good ability you are going to have and you'll probably want to save enough points to get all three skills immediately. Bestow Iron Heart is a solid heal combined with a solid buff, it's only once per battle but you'll never regret having it. Physical Protection makes your Dread that much harder to take down, and Fire Bomb is just solid gold. Once you have Fire Bomb your Dread never needs to resort to melee again, you can just keep cycling between single target and aoe ranged attacks forever. It ignores cover and ranged penalties, making it an especially powerful skill when attacking cities. Once your Dread learns how to chuck grenades everywhere there is nothing left to teach him. And that's the Dread. Inspiring Leadership, ducking punches, and shooting monsters in the dick. No hero is classier. madmac fucked around with this message at 04:18 on Jan 30, 2015 |
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Jan 30, 2015 04:12
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No official announcement yet, but this week two new specializations are revealed, including the long awaited rise of the hated neutrals! http://ageofwonders.com/grey-guard-and-keeper-of-peace-specializations/ (Grey Guard owns so much) It might also be worth pointing out that they pretty much said they've got weeks of dev journals left to release the same day they released two new specializations and T4 units at the same time. Speculate as you will. madmac fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Jan 30, 2015 |
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Jan 30, 2015 17:38
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 07:42 |
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madmac posted:No official announcement yet, but this week two new specializations are revealed, including the long awaited rise of the hated neutrals! Holy poo poo, Cardinal Cutting sounds devestating, especially against Dreads who get by spamming musketeers.
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Jan 30, 2015 17:56
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