Pirates are boring, Fey doko?
>>2515698Cartel rules, you're just mad you got flanked by Gooners again>Leverage>Leverage>Leverage>Leverage
>>2515721I only play Architects of Order.
absolute bangerhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueH4pDhrlg0>>2515723>Architects of Orderwell if you're going to be Ordermaxxing it might as well be the Architects, at least you didn't go HighHigh is such a shit culture
>>2515727Holy shit, it's Clouds and Feuds underneath. I love the callbacks to older tunes.
>>2515698Very fitting because the whole game is fucking boringI hate how fake customizability and modifier stacking took over strategy games
>>2515727Righteous Oathsworn is also a good choice for ordermaxxers
Time to reinstall again, though I don't have the money for the DLC atm.How are the updoot changes?
>>2515801Righteous Oathsworn might actually be the best for the Ordermaxxing Lawtist Good Paladin fantasy, I love that Nobility actually encourages you to engage enemies honourably head-on like a retardbut honestly any combat mechanic is better than the constant micromanagement slog High forces you to interact with around the Awakening units
>>2515819Yeah, High has just always sucked as a (mechanical) concept. I kinda can't believe they still haven't been fixed yet. It's also lame because all their units are balanced around Awakening, which means they're total shit without their culture bonus, even compared to other cultures.
>>2515763Cold, meme take Worst case scenario here you have 11 disntict cultures (factions) with subcultures without even counting all customization options which indeed change them a lot
So, do people typically play Seals? Or just, generally, which victories do you go for?
>sword and staff only has 3 range on the staff attack>and the staff attack also has a 1 turn cooldown for no good reasonMight as well have left the staff out entirely and just made the magic sword a one handed weapon if you were going to make the staff portion of it complete shit.
>>2515915How often do you really play them THAT differently, though?You pick different books to get different flavours of buffs, but still.Sure, you can build units, summon spam or necromancy, but putting those army-building methods aside.(To be fair, I haven't played since... sometime around giant kings I think, so there could be large overhauls I don't know about)
>>2515994it also blocks both the mount and shield slots, not impressed by it desu
>>2516154pretty often, builds based on production, summoning, and rallying are not very similar to each other
>>2515994>>2516189It's paying tax because it targets resistance The dmg is higher early on average because resistance is usually a third of the defence on non magic unitsBut i will agree that cutlass and pistol feels better considering you can be mounted
>>2515937I think most people go for conquest victoriesSeals and unity sometimesAnd i dont think Ive ever seen a successful magic victory considering you need to be able to defend 3 tier 3 wonders
>>2515804They nerfed outpost spam (r.i.p. barbaria s) by you requiring trade roads to get the resources But the sea now actually feels like a real zone and not lava+
>you have to turn your mind control into dominate and tank your xp to get 90% baseGood game design.
>>2516207I do magic victories all the time. Unless there's still a ton of rulers on the board and none of them are your ally or your economy is completely fucked, it's not that difficult to hold three gold wonders. In smaller games you might even only need two.
>>2516202The starting basic sword and crossbow deals 24 damage with its ranged attack, which has 4 range, no cooldown, and doesn't restrict your mount slot.Every sword and staff deals only 16 damage with its staff attack. I'd say a whopping 8 less damage more than makes up for the difference in damage you get for attacking resistance rather than defense, which on the vast majority of non-shield units is a difference of 1-2 points, having one less range, a cooldown, and being restricted from using mounts on top of that is just fucking absurd.That idea that it's so bad because it targets resistance also makes significantly less sense when you consider that sword and crossbow and sword and staff both have a base damage of 12 on their melee strikes.
>>2515698Is this game fun? What would be the main reasons to get it?
>>2516462I'd say so, yeah, though as always some autists will tell you to go play the old ones.The big appeal for this game is the customizability, it's kind of like fantasy stellaris.The gameplay itself is fun enough, and I do think it is the prettiest game in it's genre, and only really beaten out by Amplitude games for number 1 by virtue of the latter's style.
>>2516462I'd say it's a must buy if you like roleplaying.
>>2515763I have been seething about this since launch, getting rid of unit modding was such a massive step back
>>2516462I think it's fun>What would be the main reasons to get it?faction customisation and roleplay I think are the stand out featuresbetween race bonuses, cultures/sub-cultures, society traits and how your empire naturally evolves with racial transformations and enchantments you pick from researching tomes no two empires are exactly alikeand the roleplay potential is excellent too, you can recreate your generic fantasy tropes like chaos affinity barbarian orcs, astral affinity mystic elves or materium affinity industrial subterranean dwarfsor you can just throw that shit out the window and make whatever the fuck you want, my first ruler in the Silver Seas DLC is just a thinly veiled parody of the little mermaid, made a redhead pirate princess and called her Ariel
>>2516462I like that it's a combat focused game so you don't run into the problem some 4X games suffer from where if you don't have an active war ongoing you're just managing build queues for 400 turns straight. And there's always lots to fight around the map even from turn 1, and I find the combat layer really fun but I don't know if other anons enjoy it because they never bring that part up, only the customization part.
>>2516462As others have pointed out, the main selling point of the game is the faction customization.Some people don't like it, and to be honest I get why. The huge amount of customization options undermines the classic fantasy characterization that the older games in the franchise had, where you had elves who love nature and archery, orcs who are strong and love melee, etc. In AoW4 there's nothing stopping you from making orcs who love nature and archery, or elves who are strong and love melee. So you end up with far less defined lines between factions.At the same time, that's a choice you can make. You don't have to play your orcs as hippie archers any more than you have to play them as melee brutes. You can even tailor your custom realms to only have the factions you like. The devs also have a history of providing options for people who have issues here. Like RNG races always using racial presets instead of random traits, and players being able to disable visual effects they don't like to keep their race more in-line with the aesthetics they prefer.Aside from customization, I'd say AoW4's strength is the combat. I can't think of any 4X game that has better battles, unless you start going into entirely different (sub)genres like Total War. The huge variery of units and spells gives you a lot of freedom to fight battles the way you want and while of course things get a bit different in sweaty PvP matches, in singleplayer or even casual PvP almost everything is viable as long as you build for it. And if you somehow hate the combat (or just feel it takes up too much time) the autoresolve is less shitty (I won't call it good, but still) than almost every game of its kind.You don't ask for it, but I would say the game's main weakness compared to the other AoW4 titles is its weak story, and its main weakness compared to other 4X games is its shallow empire management (and diplomacy, but that's bad in most 4x games).
>>2516714>compared to the other AoW4 titlescompared to the other AoW titles
>the autoresolve is less shitty (I won't call it good, but still) than almost every game of its kind.The autoresolve actually just straight plays out a full battle, which is almost unheard of in these type of games.
>>2516794That's true, but sometimes it still gives dumb results because the AI doesn't know how to effectively use some units.
Heads up.
>>2516865Gotta bully my friends to try it out with me. I remember enjoying 3 for what it was, but I hated that every hero unit was basically the same unit type.One day, I want to make a game like AOW, but in real time. I don't know how I would make the combat play out, though.
Weird ass sail configuration on these ships.
>>2516930>One day, I want to make a game like AOW, but in real time. I don't know how I would make the combat play out, though.that's just total war
>>2516950looks like what would happen after a wizard took one look at a polynesian ship and decided he could do better
>>2516950it looks like this is the designated "weird" ship design for everyone that doesn't want a galleon or war junk
>>2517174iirc the intent was to be a more fanciful "high elf" kind of ship design, something like pic related. They look cool from the side, like how you see them in the faction creator, but when you see them from the front, back, or top and you realize every sail is facing a different direction and surrounding the ship like a bubble it just looks awkward.
>>2516950That's what SD 1.5 would hallucinate when asked for a ship at full sail.
free weekend
>>2516930>>2516970Total War:40k seems to be taking a lot of inspiration from AoW>Premade and 4x generated campaigns>Game designed around custom factions mostly, not premades (which exist anyway as well). Tutorial doesn't even make sense if you are playing as a premade faction>Can customize a Chapter Master of your faction or an equivalent in other races>Custom faction creation is supposed to include both customizing their look and picking unique traits>Even meta progression system between campaigns where you retain your tech, veteran units (at least), XP on characters, even turn countObviously will be more rigid since it's established setting, but it really looks like they decided to rip off a lot from AoW3/Planetfall/4
Can someone explain what makes Architects so strong/how to make them work? When they first released I understand they got bonuses from all crafted affinity monuments but now they're only limited to +4 affinity incarnate so where do they go from there?
>>2517265>>Even meta progression system between campaigns where you retain your tech, veteran units (at least), XP on characters, even turn countmaybe with TW40K around Triumph will feel more pressured to add an empire mode equivalent
What are the larps you are doing with the new patch runs?I am bringing straight righteousness chud oathsworn vs the other four being like BBEG types to cleanse a holy archipelago. (since I haven't played Oathsworn that much and the later order tomes from Archon Prophecy, and I also didn't have the money to buy the DLC)Thinking classic negromancers, the classic Orc Barbarian, and some Skaven larping reavers. Anyone got a cool idea for the number 5 of the rogues gallery. Don't want to do UA this time though.
>>2517340Since you're running oathsworn righteousness you could make one of the enemies oathsworn strife and give them more bonuses to make them your big bad nemesis
>>2515698Does this game have so much kino as the first and second game?>Will they believe the same lies, and follow the same lusts? Demons streak the sky, searching for me. They will find me soon. I must hide this record and destroy myself. Only then will I, or this record, be safe from the powers of Inioch. My prayer is in memory. Remember. Remember the days when once flourished Elves, Dwarves and jubilant Halflings. Believe the good, when faeries kissed verdant hillsides. A time when satyrs and nymphs danced freely in sacred groves. Wee things blossomed. All thrived in an Age of Wonders.
>>2517890It's way less story-based than the first three games, so the simple answer is no.
what's up with the review bomb?is it the Turks again? did Paradox piss off brown third world nationalists by criticising some shit ass dictator yet again?
>>2518088Apparently since the last patch a lot of people have been having the game hang on the AI's turn, so all the new people trying it during the free weekend are getting this bug and leaving negative reviews.
>>2518118Hung up on me too. Not a good look for the free week.
>Finished my first game thanks to the free weekend>Decide to make autistic spell casters that can into necromancy>Mix it up by making the ruler a female- first one was male>Significant amount of the female ruler costumes have the ruler be barefootWhat did Triumph Studios mean by this?
>>2518170>Yaka is a pervert who wants to fuck his mystic cat girls>Klarissa the Red is a barefoot slut>Nimue is a barefoot sluttoo many Godir are becoming perverts, this must be looked into
>>2518118Guess they forgot the important advice of "don't release patches right before free week".
>>2518170being barefoot is natural, shoes are weird and distort our feet as we grow up
>>2518088Poorly timed free weekend. People are having bugs with the AI not taking its turn, and multiplayer has become less stable again. With the sudden influx of new players during the free weekend, it's getting more negative attention than usual.Also just a lot of the usual whining from the poors. DLC bad, game too expensive, etc.
>>2518183>becoming pervertsKarissa was always a pervert, Yaka has become a bit of a meme but he's always been a weirdo egomaniac who created a race of catpeople, and Nimue was nude in her first appearance apart from a few strips of seaweed.
Never playing a huge map again, it is turn 80, there hasn't been a single player war and I'm only just about to finish my Vision of Promise. (cause the thing spawned in the middle of the map and I'm playing underworld). I haven't even met the other underworld faction I put in to be my rival.
>>2518349huge maps are more for the other victory conditions
>>2518832I mean I am doing Seals but still.Anyway, I really need to kill people rn because I am about to lose lol.
Even after playing with it I still have no idea why Tome of Eternal Ice was added to the game. As far as I see, its only function is to give frost battlemages (and shadow architects) a functional endgame.
>>2519161i appreciate it because shadow is half-cannibalized by undead so trying to make a non-undead shadow build is a lot easier now
>>2518349So I got the Map reveal skill from the shadow tree, why do half the AI only have one city lmao.Like the Goblins have been doing apparently nothing except sit in their area forever. Did they just get lost and not find a way out? Or have all of them been too busy faffing around in the Abyss?
What's the most OP build in the game right now?
>>2519403>powergaming in larplarp sahur the gameEither way, not sure, if you are interested, this guy prob tells you what is busted.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e99nGm_FHv0
>>2519411>hashinshinHaven't heard of him in a while.
>>2519161It's the tome of chaos channeling but for shadow
>>2519161It exists to make a cold build more viable. Used to be only two tomes that really focused on cold damage, now you've got a functional endgame tome with a nice spread of features.
I hate how the AI will just attack your smuggling routes like it's nothing, defeats the entire purpose of the thingit's so fucking retarded the game lets you build a smuggling route to a free city you're at war with and the very next turn it just gets attacked by the city's army
just got the game and the production value is excellentplaying my first match as halflings, but my city is sad and starving
>new character and game>sailing the high seas>suddenly new ruler met>I have gained a grievance because they built an outpost nearby>Neten-Dragoo (a past character I had that is a dragon lord with Israel race theme)>Traits: Chosen Destroyers, Vision of PromiseThe game writes itself. Time to destroy the chosen ones before my merchant state gets toppled.
>>2520013you're the one who wrote that though>>2520007hate halflings because they refuse to wear foot armor for no reason
>just le roleplay bro!!!!>meanwhile minmaxed builds are literally impossible to fight against
>>2520024skill issue
which tendie should I go with? probably wouldn't even play the morgen high queen until they give swordstaffs mounts
>>2520024Unless you're playing MP you're not going up against minmaxed builds.>>2520014Halflings not wearing shoes comes straight from Tolkien. The soles of their feet are said to be hard and leathery like the sole of a shoe, so they don't need to wear shoes and very rarely do so.
>>2520036The Dominions version of Morgen doesn't have a mount though, so clearly it's more accurate that way. For that matter, she doesn't have a sword either.
>>2520014Yes, but it's still RNG for a specific godir to appear in a game with godirs set to random which is the default option, greatly so if you already have a shit ton of godirs created (dragon lord rulers also have lower chances of appearing). What I'm talking about when the game writes itself is that when playing on the latest dlc map that's filled with seas/oceans is that my first interaction with that ruler which I stated I played/created before while also writing out/stating the theme of that race/godir and it's traits. That first interaction upon meeting him being that he built an outpost near my solo capital which earned grievance. Like there's no you met this ruler, it's an instant you met this ruler and here's the grievance which is comedic timing with the theme I wrote that character for. Such timing can't easily be produced in game and is just a rare happenstance. Okay I now explained the joke.
>>2520057She's amphibious in Dominions and with no seamare mount she has to get on a boat for water combat so I'd prefer the mount. I gave her the sword and staff because I thought it would be more fun than pure staff and because there is some hope (cope) that they'll buff sword and staff combos to have mounts. I could sidestep all of these issues by making the ruler one of the Ys national heroes.
>>2520059>staff and no armor on land >armored with a lance in the waterPretty strange loadout. I'd just give her a lance and take the mount desu.
>>2520073The unmounted sprite is just for when her mount dies. The Morvarc'h actually transforms on land (and can breathe fire).
>>2519161>As far as I see, its only function is to give frost battlemages (and shadow architects) a functional endgame.The point was to give an endgame for Frost separate from the undead shit yeah. Obviously.
>>2520075I mean I'd give her a lance and go with the mounted and armored version for your AoW recreation of her.
>start new game>population grows by itself>game tells me i can expand with a new province>do this a few times>happiness/stability goes negative>every timedo i ignore the option to expand or what am i doing wrong to keep my people happy?
>>2520113You have to keep up with the happiness buildings. You can also put whispering stones into cities to giver happiness.
>>2520113When you reach city tier 2 you unlock the tavern and bathhouse which provide positive city stability, and when you reach city tier 4 you get free city stability per population, which basically solves the issue from them on. You don't have to worry too much about your cities dropping to the first level of unhappiness either. It just gives like a 10% penalty to that city's income, which isn't great, but it's also not the end of the world.
>>2520113play dark tyranny and ignore the plight of the peasants
