That mission was definitely tough on max difficulty. My advice: there is an orc city west of the starting area on an island. Capture the orc city, and use pioneers to see the starting area portion of the map. I made like 5 pioneers and was generating 300+ gold per turn.
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Age of Wonders III |OT| Follow The Leader
- Thread starter SparkTR
- Start date
I guess I could try that strategy if I do this mission again 
Oh, just noticed: they released the official timeline between Shadow Magic and AoW:3. It's quite interesting for people interested in lore.
Edition : ... Elves's pregnancy last 8 years?!... I think I need to check just how long a year in the AoW universe actually last.
Anyhow, completed the 4th mission rather quickly (60 turns +/-). I shamelessly used a killer pack with my 3 heroes and 3 fire giants to steamroll the opposition, and basically only used a few other packs consisting of fire giants and boats, and a lot of scouting crows. Had to do some manual battles though (those succubuses...). I completly skipped the western island filled with treasures, same for the north-eastern one, and didn't really explored the southern one either (I kinda wanted to finish this mission ASAP).
Oh, just noticed: they released the official timeline between Shadow Magic and AoW:3. It's quite interesting for people interested in lore.
Edition : ... Elves's pregnancy last 8 years?!... I think I need to check just how long a year in the AoW universe actually last.
Anyhow, completed the 4th mission rather quickly (60 turns +/-). I shamelessly used a killer pack with my 3 heroes and 3 fire giants to steamroll the opposition, and basically only used a few other packs consisting of fire giants and boats, and a lot of scouting crows. Had to do some manual battles though (those succubuses...). I completly skipped the western island filled with treasures, same for the north-eastern one, and didn't really explored the southern one either (I kinda wanted to finish this mission ASAP).
Deified Data
Banned
So what's with the AI instantly spawning armies of 6 every turn? I've only encountered this in the campaign. They just teleport in out of nowhere.
Never encountered this, and I'm playing on max difficulty.
Deified Data
Banned
Just playing on normal. I'm on the second scenario in the Elven Court campaign, taking cities from the Orc. I'll sit outside his city waiting for the rest of my forces to catch up and boom, a full stack of Orc Impalers appears next to his city in a burst of light. This will happen every turn until he's got 4-5 stacks totally surrounding his city. It's a real pain in the ass.
Oh yeah, and it looks like regular summons?
I have encountered this actually. Seems to only be low tier units though, so I don't mind.
LurkerPrime
Member
Oh, wow. That explains a lot. I was wondering why the AI would waste turns mass-producing such weak, tier 0 units. I thought it was just a terrible A.I. bug, but if it's scripted then that's a bit easier to understand.
If that's the case, they seem to prioritise building high-tier units, but unfortunately their economy is crippled partway through the campaign because of the player's conquests. The tier-0 spawns may be an attempt to keep them in the game later on. The later portions of Elven Court level 2, 3, and 4 are good examples of this, from what I've seen.
It's difficult for them to remain competitive without it being completely unfair, I think. They certainly have the forces to win the game at the beginning of a level, however it would be boring if every level boiled down to "survive/defend and then steamroll."
Deified Data
Banned
So how are you supposed to lay siege to a city guarded by half a dozen cannons and fire tanks? Every time I enter the battle preview it tells me I have a very high chance of victory - manual battle seemed hopeless after a couple tries and auto battle results in defeat every time without a single casualty on the opposing side. I know the game is typically pretty loose with its battle predictions, but is this a bug? Perhaps the game means to tell me I have very little chance of success?
You need siege equipment, and a lot of flying type infantry. Exalted, Succubus, and Flyers all work. The very likely victory is because only your armies are being assessed. It doesn't take stuff like walls into consideration.
Yeah, the game's predictions are almost useless for attacks on walled cities. I've held attacks where it thought I had no chance, and it told me that I have a high chance of victory for what I considered suicide attacks.
Siege weapons + patience solved all my issues with city attacks so far. Another fun end-game option is to simply nuke the enemy army with global spells.
Siege weapons + patience solved all my issues with city attacks so far. Another fun end-game option is to simply nuke the enemy army with global spells.
Jag
Member
If you have a Sorcerer, Chaos Rift is insanely OP and needs a nerf.
LurkerPrime
Member
Disclaimer: I've only ever played HoMM5, but here's my take on it:
They both have turn-based strategy maps, turn-based combat, magic, monsters, and mighty armies... similarities in basic concept. In AoW, there is more of a focus on individual units, as well as their experience level and preservation. Combat and spellcasting are much more intricate than anything I've encountered in HoMM as well, though to be honest I always felt I was playing that game wrong.
Deified Data
Banned
The battle in question was the siege of the Dwarf Dreadnaught's throne city in act 3 of the elven campaign, if anyone was wondering. Ended up beating it by taking out the cannon on one end with trebuchets and creating a path to let my Firstborns to take out the fire tanks. All the enemies on the map then started herding themselves in tight-knit groups towards where I broke the wall, where I was able to spam AoE spells and exploit the explosive death function of spy drones to create chain reactions of death.
Thanks!
In addition to what LurkerPrime said, AoW is also a lot more 4x-like in the strategic gameplay. E.g. a fundamental difference is that in AoW, you can settle your own cities and build roads (as well as forts) between them.
LurkerPrime
Member
Hrm, a similar thing happened to me now that I think of it. The A.I. - as a defender - doesn't handle broken walls during a siege very well. They clump their units to cover the hole, even if they're all melee and you have ranged units. This makes it trivial to pick off most of their forces with little-to-no resistance.
I hope they fix the A.I. up a bit for those situations, because it feels a lot like cheating.
Only one solution: keep expanding!
Deified Data
Banned
I'm still pretty new too but the rhythm I've established is founding as many new cities as possible, staffing them with small, cheap standing armies, and only investing in their infrastructure if they're close to the front lines of an on-going conflict. No need to research a barracks for two cities standing right next to each other, for example, unless your need to push out armies is that great. Basically I max out research for my throne city and establish military outposts as needed.
And as birdcity said, never stop expanding. Use every army you have to take as many cities as you can, because the opponent AI is doing the same.
One generally applicable hint would be to use more summoned units. I've found that I almost always have more mana than money. Whenever you don't need to cast any other world spell, summon something.
Also, maximize your use of hero abilities and items which reduce upkeep. That is, keep your units with the highest upkeep in the army of heroes which reduce upkeep.
LurkerPrime
Member
Once you can summon Dire Penguins you won't want to summon anything else.
#4Dire
#4Dire
Screw Horned Gods. #TeamDirePenguin
Deified Data
Banned
Still do!
Deified Data
Banned
Anyone know if Quill18 is still streaming his playthrough? I've been catching up on YT but it hasn't been updated in weeks.
Jag
Member
Beta patch up on Steam. Patch notes too big to post but available here:
http://ageofwonders.com/forums/topic/v1-092-huge-beta-patch-available-on-steam-2/
http://ageofwonders.com/forums/topic/v1-092-huge-beta-patch-available-on-steam-2/
Deified Data
Banned
Just beat Act 4 of Elven Court in 38 turns. This map had me extremely frustrated for hours until I just threw caution to the wind and made a power stack of heroes and giants. Reskar's Vengeful Vines was an absolute must-have for this scenario. Easily the toughest map yet, made all the harder by my natural inclination to want to slowly build up my forces. Had to restart the map three times because I just kept getting overwhelmed trying to hold all the cities I captured. This time I just razed them all and kept on moving. Merlin didn't seem to care!
Did I mention this is my GOTY so far?
Did I mention this is my GOTY so far?
That mission was a total pain for me. On max difficulty it's hard. I eventually beat it by spamming orc outposts near the starting coast.
Deified Data
Banned
So what effect does parking your units on cave entrances have? Does it prevent opposing units from passing through from the other side?
In the previous games afaik instead of blocking, you would be forced into combat.
Deified Data
Banned
Anecdotally speaking during Act 3 when you're fighting the Dwarf I blocked off both of his cave entrances and he never emerged. I wasn't sure if that was because he was blocked or he simply didn't want to leave his throne city. He was launching regular raids on me until I blocked off the caves. Maybe the Knight-level AI just avoids it?
microtubule
Member
Deified Data
Banned
Love it when enemy leaders decide to play hide and seek right when you're on the cusp of victory. On Act 6 of the Elf campaign and
is nowhere to be seen. I took his throne city and half of his lands but he's not showing up. Basically my only strategy is to wander around the map indefinitely until I either find him or one of his allies gangs up on my hero stack.
Edit: Aaaand I did it. I reloaded a save before I took his throne city and I just parked out front until he came to defend it.
Emperor Leonus
Edit: Aaaand I did it. I reloaded a save before I took his throne city and I just parked out front until he came to defend it.
Deified Data
Banned
Yep, they have as much power at 1 HP as they do at max so kill them as soon as you get the chance.
microtubule
Member
Wow at that patch. I was expecting it to be 2GB. Can't wait to try it out now.
LurkerPrime
Member
Wow, the patch is out already? Hrm... I was expecting a week or two for testing. From what I read a few days prior, it seems to bring some huge changes; I'm not sure how ready I am...
Anyways... well done, Triumph!
Anyways... well done, Triumph!
Deified Data
Banned
Triumph do what Triumph do, exceed all expectations.
Deified Data
Banned
Any news on when we might expect an expansion/add-on?
LurkerPrime
Member
A brief search of the official site lead me to this post on the Age of Wonders 3 forums:
Sounds exciting to me. I wonder what race it is? My instinct tells me it is Undead/Archon, but I'm not clear how that would work without a Necromancer class.
I suppose I'd have a better idea if I actually used the Archons at some point, but they've not yet been a tactically sound addition to my empire.
Real Edit for Realsies: I'm very happy that they're planning to add new races already, I was expecting a much larger delay for such significant additions.
Lennart Sas (Managing Director / Co-Owner of Triumph Studios) said:
Sounds exciting to me. I wonder what race it is? My instinct tells me it is Undead/Archon, but I'm not clear how that would work without a Necromancer class.
I suppose I'd have a better idea if I actually used the Archons at some point, but they've not yet been a tactically sound addition to my empire.
Real Edit for Realsies: I'm very happy that they're planning to add new races already, I was expecting a much larger delay for such significant additions.
Deified Data
Banned
Excellent news! Thanks.
No point adding undead to the game when you can already find them in dwellings.
LurkerPrime
Member
I don't know that Archons and Undead are the same sort of thing.
In a lot of ways, Undead make sense to me as an addition to the game. Mechanically, they would be one of the only races that likes Blighted(?) terrain, which would also make them one of the few aided by a Blight domain. This would create more interesting scenarios for domain powers and devout units, and would synergize well with a Necromancer class and the Death spell category, which I consider to be likely additions down the road.
In the future, if they have a Shadow expansion (I hope they do, the Shadow folk are so neat) the Undead would, I believe, also be one of the few races not crippled in the Shadow realm.
The Undead might actually end up being Archons though, because that would reconcile their need for summoners (Necromancers) and open them up to play as any class.
The other sensible addition to the game would be the Frostlings and the Ice spell category (or does Air cover that, I'm not certain). Like the Undead, they would take advantage of a neglected type of terrain, but in this case it would be snow/ice.
Deified Data
Banned
From watching LP's of Age of Wonders II it appears as though undead and Archons are two separate entities within the world.
Edit: According to Age of Wonders II Heaven:
Archons
These otherworldly beings fight fiercely for life, order, and good. Their soldiers strike with the holy power of the living. Archons fight for just causes, and preach virtue and obedience to their subjects. They seldom seek to overrun any kingdom, but instead seem to appear where they might most likely be overpowered. Still, they persevere and are fearless in the face of death.
They appear as tall, sturdy, humanoids with striking features and a radiant aura that has led many to tremble before them. They are particularly powerful against the Undead.
Historically, the Archons have shared close relations with the Elves, but in recent centuries the Elves and Archons have known their share of strife. The Archons claim that the Elves betrayed their promises and have gone astray. Though the Archons were defeated in their claim and were forced to reconsider their indignation, they clearly despise the dishonesty found among some Elven leaders. Archons guard their powers with holy orders and rituals that prevent deception.
Undead
Hungry, devoid of passion, save the endless hunger to return all matter to dust, the Undead creep in the shadows of every ruined place. They haunt the graves of beings whose lives passed too quickly. They feed upon fear, and breathe nightmares. They speak to men through lustful beings of pure flesh, which drain the lifeblood of the living to sustain their powers. They have no children save the dead.
Death knows many secrets, which is part of its appeal to necromancers. Undead whisper their secrets, empowering their leaders with the ability to learn more, for the stiff price of death's allegiance.
They have no homes, save heaps upon the earth. Their structures are the ruins and great mounds formed literally from the bodies of their conquered. As they gather the tattered flesh and carnage, they swell with power, until the very forces of death walk the earth, withering all in their path.
Edit: According to Age of Wonders II Heaven:
Archons
These otherworldly beings fight fiercely for life, order, and good. Their soldiers strike with the holy power of the living. Archons fight for just causes, and preach virtue and obedience to their subjects. They seldom seek to overrun any kingdom, but instead seem to appear where they might most likely be overpowered. Still, they persevere and are fearless in the face of death.
They appear as tall, sturdy, humanoids with striking features and a radiant aura that has led many to tremble before them. They are particularly powerful against the Undead.
Historically, the Archons have shared close relations with the Elves, but in recent centuries the Elves and Archons have known their share of strife. The Archons claim that the Elves betrayed their promises and have gone astray. Though the Archons were defeated in their claim and were forced to reconsider their indignation, they clearly despise the dishonesty found among some Elven leaders. Archons guard their powers with holy orders and rituals that prevent deception.
Undead
Hungry, devoid of passion, save the endless hunger to return all matter to dust, the Undead creep in the shadows of every ruined place. They haunt the graves of beings whose lives passed too quickly. They feed upon fear, and breathe nightmares. They speak to men through lustful beings of pure flesh, which drain the lifeblood of the living to sustain their powers. They have no children save the dead.
Death knows many secrets, which is part of its appeal to necromancers. Undead whisper their secrets, empowering their leaders with the ability to learn more, for the stiff price of death's allegiance.
They have no homes, save heaps upon the earth. Their structures are the ruins and great mounds formed literally from the bodies of their conquered. As they gather the tattered flesh and carnage, they swell with power, until the very forces of death walk the earth, withering all in their path.
I think it forces a 1v1 fight since they can't surround you with additional troops. Good for a single tough stack to defend against swarms of lesser stuff.