War of the Vikings patch today: 750MB, 7 or so documented changes. AoW 3 patch today: 70MB, well over 100 changes, balances, fixes, etc. Probably 2-300. Also, this game seriously needs a feature to export a hi-resolution picture of your leader, esp. the portrait version. But I sat playing it for an hour or two this evening and even after 30-35 turns of not really expanding much I wasn't bored. I still love how you can get three unit stacks and just slaughter the enemy.
Yeah it was a huge patch.. 11 pages of notes in the word document we used internally to keep track of it all. Actually going to do some multiplayer again this evening, been looking forward to that Glad you still like it ^^ (picture export is not something I see happening (soon), sorry)
Re AoW3, how is the lategame depth? I've honestly only played a few hours of the game, but from looking around the in game codex, it appears there isn't a great amount. Do endgame armies mainly consist of the same elite unit type for the player's leader class? Or does lower tier unit xp and perks allow them to remain viable?
Lower tier units are definitely still worth it in the endgame. Reasons: They cost less: Less to produce (50 gold instead of 300) Less time to build/summon (1 turn instead of 4). Less upkeep to pay (4 gold/turn instead of 32 gold/turn). Less buildings to build in the newly conquered city to be able to produce them (100 gold worth of buildings instead of 600). Flanking mechanism: Due to the flanking mechanism where a flanked unit gets more damage and cannot retaliate on the first hit, low level units can easily surround a high tier unit and kill it. Specific abilities of the units: Units can have specific abilities which make them worthwhile all throughout the endgame, examples: Scoundrels have Sabotage, which is very useful against dreadnought machines, Martyrs are cheap devout units that can protect other units (devout is nice as the Theocrat's Shrine of Smiting does more damage the more devout units are on the field) and Sorcerer Apprentices for example get upgrades through researchable skills so they end up with phasing and stun-chance on all their attacks, which makes them worth a lot. You need defenses everywhere: You shouldn't leave cities undefended.. but having a few T4's in every city is very costly, you usually want to fight with them. Lower tier units are ideal for defending cities, and thanks to walls a few archers can do very nice damage. Medals are gained more easily for lower tiers: Gold medal low tier units are significantly better than no-medal low tier units. I am interested how you conclude from the ingame codex as you call it that there seems to be little depth. If it is somehow easy for you to do I'd suggest to play on more difficult settings.
Thank you for that detailed analysis. I also want to apologize for what I wrote about their being little depth- in between edits I omitted some words. I was trying to say that top tier end game units didn't seem to have lots of numerical variety. The game has a large amount of depth, and to say otherwise is insulting. So again, apologies and thank you for a reply even more gracious under the circumstances.
No problem, you're welcome, and no insult perceived Also, I forgot another reason tier 1 units are worth it: Action points: Because a unit can only do 3 attacks (or until it kills) per round, if you have enough low tier units surrounding a strong one, at one point he cannot retaliate anymore, and because his retaliations drained his action points he cannot even act on his own turn anymore. This really helps weak units versus a strong one. About the great numerical variety.. Well, they are all somewhat similar numerically I guess, but 1 or 2 points in our system is really noticeable. Also, the way units differ is in their abilities: Do they float? -> They negate walls Do they have protections? -> May be immune to certain damage types, mind control, spells etc. Do they have a chance to daze or stun enemies? Do they have fearsome, or static shield (you really want to pay attention to those special abilities ^^), etc etc. There are a lot. A Manticore Rider flies and attacks in melee, a Horned God has an AoE attack but walks, an Eldritch Horror has a lightning breath attack and dominates and floats, a Shrine of Smiting has 1 huge PbAoE attack and ranged attack, but is very weak against melee otherwise,... I see a lot of variety.. One more: the juggernaut for example can deal a lot of damage, but as a machine it usually cannot be healed, and doesn't regenerate slowly over time like other units. So I'd say the variety is pretty big actually.. Also how they work together (Shrine of Smiting doing more damage if there are more Devout units on the battleflied, Eldritch Horrors being summons can be healed by apprentices, Juggernauts can be reloaded by engineers, etc.)
Shameless plug is shameless We've just released a new expansion! Golden Realms! http://ageofwonders.com/golden-realms-expansion-and-v1-4-released/ I'm really happy with it, and with all the changes we did in patch 1.4 which is released now at the same time!
