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MARKYMARK 2023-05-19

AOW4 from the point of view of an AOW3 player

After long AOW3 years one could expect a completely renewed AOW4, especially after the unofficial further development AOW Planetfall.

Well, new doesn't necessarily mean better, sometimes the old part is better, how does it play in this new complexity? Pantheon ?

What has changed to AOW3? Since I'm a CIV player myself, I'm also writing the review from the point of view of a CIV

or builder player. The first game was really bad, I actually wanted to play a campaign, but somehow I only found maps with or

no story... so i took the first map and made an elf... to match the map.

What went wrong? The development of the empire was really new and I didn't have an eye on it, but it's a very important element that partly ran through the research tree in AOW3, e.g. B. the property of waters of the units. The Tree....

I was desperately looking for settlers and pioneers, disappeared .... but found out pretty quickly that you can set up outposts and then convert them into cities with empire points, so I did that a few times until I exceeded my limit of cities by far became ... the result was a big minus, and after that my army greatly decreased. Only then did I realize how important Reich development was.

Welcome was the auto-scout mode known from CIV games, finally here! Which was also welcome...auto combat, without the hassle of losing your hero and if you weren't satisfied, you redid the battle manually without having to load the save again.

Two things were particularly annoying: the first, that you can assign a hero to a city, and the second, that you can assign a hero to a city. Why that? Really necessary, certainly a nice feature, but I found it annoying when it should happen automatically without a menu. The second annoying thing was the selection of the magic books, and my effort to click through that quickly, here you should be guided through the starting magic book, here I have actually already decided on an orientation. Okay, nice feature, but is it really necessary? Or does it rather make everything very complicated and couldn't it have been automated?

The building was very pleasant, I love to develop, but it was a bit too much from my point of view... you can even build a lot of special buildings that I never really used because I was mostly looking for a quick game. The fights were pleasant and exciting like in AOW3, it was noticeable that you can do more magic and even more often, clearly a fun factor.

The multiplayer made a buggy impression, the first game was characterized by crashes and various other bugs (games were no longer found), but overall it makes a pleasant and good impression, the separation of PBEM and online has been overcome and makes a fairly simple impression.

Speaking of multiplayer? Does one page make sense? I think yes, it's definitely a game that offers long-term fun and offers very good multiplayer options, but what's the point? I think a tool for creating random games and random fractions makes sense, because the menu is very extensive, and fraction creation and maps would have to be very adapted, you would have to think about a few things in advance. I'll probably finish the site in the fall, since some things have to be redone if I have the time at all.

Player

8 players possible, in AOW4 9 players are possible

Stacks

7 stacks max, in AOW4 6 stacks, more balanced

AOW4 is better because an AI thinks for itself, which means fewer problems with wrong mouse clicks and the advantage of 4 to 3 stacks is eliminated (sometimes had extreme effects)

Races/classes

AOW3 rigidly specified, AOW4 there are significantly more customization options or races/classes are summarized there under factions.

Unit Tier System

in AOW3 only up to T4, in AOW4 it was extended to T5, built in cities but can only be done with T3 (without spellbooks and research)

The maintenance costs have also changed. The expansion to 5 levels makes perfect sense.

Cure

Units heal slower in AOW4 (can no longer be pushed through tactical battles), however units in battle can be healed temporarily (it doesn't carry over on the strategic map)

Map creation

AOW3 classic with map size and/with UG (with a lot of detailed settings), in AOW4 you miss it, but many new options that you have to get to know first

Campaigns

AOW3 campaigns were very extensive and friendly, in AOW4 there is a pantheon but no more campaign, only story cards, I found it better in AOW3

Translation

Translation bad or partially incomplete in AOW4, AOW3 was better there, but there is still room for bug fixes

City screen

are now 2 queues, buildings and units. So you no longer have to decide between a building and a unit.

The negative thing is that he also deducts the costs from the queue, so you shouldn't let the queue get too big

Vassals

Missions now last longer, which also makes missions easier to implement .

Mobilization Instead of recruiting units from the vassals, mobilization waves are now running.

The units gather in the capital and are no longer widely scattered.

Research

Awkward (additional menus pop up) and wild about spell books, it's a little lost

Empire development

New feature, in AOW3 was partly done through research and global spells, you can expand your realm with additional properties, can be very powerful.

Diplomacy

Little new, already largely known from AOW3, but if you build cities too close to an AI empire, the relationship can suffer (border conflicts)

Unity Enchantments

Didn't exist in AOW3, enchanting is very powerful, you can sensitively influence the mana balance.

Global Spells

See also empire development, global spells on units can be very powerful

Conclusion

Altogether successful, for an AOW3 player it is definitely a must to deal with AOW4, both parts have their advantages, I think. Many points of criticism in AOW3 have been cleared up. Personally, AOW4 is a bit too complex for me, but it is definitely a game that will keep you busy for a long time. Beautiful multiplayer events and tournaments are definitely conceivable.

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