Hegemony III: Clash of the Ancients - Kickstarter campaign

Started by Martok, December 11, 2014, 10:11:58 AM

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Martok

Looks like Longbow's next title is going back to the very early days of Rome, when they were just another city-state, and rule of Italy was completely up for grabs.  Interesting that they're turning to KS to complete the project this time. 


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/longbowgames/hegemony-iii-clash-of-the-ancients


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Anguille


Nefaro

I'm tempted to do it but:

1) I haven't even tried the latest one yet, despite owning it.

and

2) There is no telling when they will finish this thing.  The last one took much longer than expected and this one is just as, or more ambitious. 

But maybe it won't be so bad since they were probably rewriting the engine for the second one and don't need to make those changes again?  I dunno but I'm hesitant to kickstart something that may not see the light of day for years.

I think the Early Roman period is a better setting for a grand strategy game, more so than just running an already large and powerful Rome rough shod over neighbors.  To be able to play as the myriad of other factions would be nice.

sandman2575

Yeah, I own Hegemony: Rome but have barely scratched the surface. It did take much longer to materialize than was anticipated, as Nef says -- and weirdly seemed a bit of a stumble, coming on the heels of the amazing polished and innovative Hegemony: Philip of Macedon -- still, to me, one of the most impressive indy titles in recent memory. But Hegemony Rome seemed plagued by bugs and half-baked concepts / UI functionality, and I don't know if this stuff has yet been solved?

I like Longbow and want them to succeed -- I may have to pony up for KS in that case --

Jarhead0331

To me, the biggest problem with Rome is that it just took too long to come out. In the interim, Rome II Total War came out which pretty much became my "go to" Rome game. There just wasn't enough in Hegemony to draw me away from Rome II.
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tgb

I was hoping they would fix the screwy diplomacy with Romes, and they didn't.  This is a wait-and-see title for me.

Martok

Quote from: tgb on December 11, 2014, 02:08:42 PM
I was hoping they would fix the screwy diplomacy with Romes, and they didn't.  This is a wait-and-see title for me.
Diplomacy in general is a feature that seems to have long been lacking in the Hegemony series.  If they could rectify that, I would definitely be more interested. 

"Like we need an excuse to drink to anything..." - Banzai_Cat
"I like to think of it not as an excuse but more like Pavlovian Response." - Sir Slash

"At our ages, they all look like jailbait." - mirth

"If we had lines here that would have crossed all of them. For the 1,077,986th time." - Gusington

"Government is so expensive that it should at least be entertaining." - airboy

"As long as there's bacon, everything will be all right." - Toonces

sandman2575

In fairness, diplomacy has long been a feature missing in, well, nearly all games I can think of!

I honestly can't think of a game that has a genuinely enjoyable and interesting diplomacy layer. The 'transactional' diplomacy model of Civilization is (like most things inherited from Civ) far too prevalent in games, mostly 4x but also, say, Paradox titles like Europa Universalis, great game though it is.

Of course, if compelling diplomacy were easy to model, some clever devs would've come up with something by now. But I struggle to think of a game where diplomacy isn't just some ancillary annoyance that boils down to "please trade with me so I can have $$" or "please don't attack me, you're stronger." 

....I dunno, maybe that's what real diplomacy boils down to anyway.  Realpolitik, dammit!   8)

Nefaro

Sure but there was only one method of diplomacy in Hegemony:  Bribing neighbors to not attack you.  And then they would just request higher rates until you couldn't afford them and eventually attack you anyway.  That is much worse than the pre-Shogun 2 Total Wars where your allies would just revoke the alliance and attack you without provocation (or any sense at times like when Georgia would attack Russia). 

They all use a point-based system with various bonuses & penalties, although some are more detailed in that regard.  EU4 being a prime example of the latter situation.

Longbow's games barely even bother with that bribery mechanic.  Evidently it's still the same in the Caesar sequel.

I liked their first one, but it had some glaring weaknesses.  Maybe they will alleviate them with this one but I wouldn't expect to see it materialize for quite awhile yet to even know.

panzerde

I enjoyed the first one too - I bought it directly from the developers as they were sitting at a booth at Gencon. There are some weaknesses in the game, but at the time the ability to zoom all the way from a tight tactical view out to a big picture strategic view seamlessly was unheard of. They did a lot right in that initial release.

Unfortunately it didn't seem to me that Rome had kept up with the times. I haven't bought it, though perhaps it's time for another look, particularly if it's on sale.

The new one will have to be something special to get me to throw in on another Kickstarter. Too many projects I funded have fallen short of their promises to the point where I've started to associate "Kickstarter" with "incomplete and of poor quality."
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sandman2575

Quote from: Nefaro on December 11, 2014, 03:34:48 PM
Sure but there was only one method of diplomacy in Hegemony:  Bribing neighbors to not attack you.  And then they would just request higher rates until you couldn't afford them and eventually attack you anyway.  That is much worse than the pre-Shogun 2 Total Wars where your allies would just revoke the alliance and attack you without provocation (or any sense at times like when Georgia would attack Russia). 

Yeah, that's true -- I had forgotten how minimal the first game's diplo was -- in fact, I think it initially had no diplomacy at all -- whenever you encountered a new faction, you were automatically at war with them, so you had a weird incentive *not* to explore your surroundings too much, or to really pace yourself anyway...

Still, the diplo in TW Rome 2 is pretty atrocious in its own right.

Nefaro

Quote from: sandman2575 on December 11, 2014, 07:59:25 PM
Quote from: Nefaro on December 11, 2014, 03:34:48 PM
Sure but there was only one method of diplomacy in Hegemony:  Bribing neighbors to not attack you.  And then they would just request higher rates until you couldn't afford them and eventually attack you anyway.  That is much worse than the pre-Shogun 2 Total Wars where your allies would just revoke the alliance and attack you without provocation (or any sense at times like when Georgia would attack Russia). 

Yeah, that's true -- I had forgotten how minimal the first game's diplo was -- in fact, I think it initially had no diplomacy at all -- whenever you encountered a new faction, you were automatically at war with them, so you had a weird incentive *not* to explore your surroundings too much, or to really pace yourself anyway...

Still, the diplo in TW Rome 2 is pretty atrocious in its own right.

You're correct.  The original Hegemony had no diplo at all (I don't recall if there was even a sandbox).  But the Gold re-release added that stuff.  Fortunately Longbow is a reputable developer when it comes to their DRM and re-releases.  I got the Gold version for free since I had purchased the original before Gold was announced.  Such integrity is probably why I'm still on the fence about kickstarting the next one.

The diplo in Rome 2 is still a big improvement over those in NTW/ETW and earlier.

Boggit

I liked the first one. Apart from the diplmacy, my only other gripe was the handling of the skirmishers - there was no skirmish mode for them and you had to micromanage them, which was a chore. Have they fixed this yet in Hegemnony Tome?
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bwithers

The developers are going to do a live stream of the early alpha gameplay, the new game editor and also a developer Q&A on Thursday (december 18th) at 8pm GMT/ 3pm EST.

So check the new developers twitch channel on Thursday if you wan't to know more about the game and you can ask questions about it if you are not sure about pledging.

Twitch channel: http://www.twitch.tv/longbowgames

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