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Age of Empires IV

Started by Greybriar, February 17, 2018, 07:03:16 AM

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Jarhead0331

Quote from: Gusington on October 30, 2021, 09:01:39 AM
Thanks al and JH. On Green Man Gaming I can get it for 47.00...

...interesting about the landmarks too. And I really like the news about civ buffs, etc. I admit I am surprised at the initial positive reviews, I did not expect them, to be honest.

Maybe I'm getting old and crusty.

Have you tried any of the campaigns yet?

I'm playing the Norman campaign that starts in 1066 with the battle of Hastings.
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Grim.Reaper

Since I have as part of Game Pass, going to download and give a try.  For those that are buying the full version stand alone, you may want to look into a Game Pass subscription.  Good library of games and more and more being released on it.  In my opinion, better than paying $50 for one game.

Jarhead0331

Quote from: Grim.Reaper on October 30, 2021, 12:35:45 PM
Since I have as part of Game Pass, going to download and give a try.  For those that are buying the full version stand alone, you may want to look into a Game Pass subscription.  Good library of games and more and more being released on it.  In my opinion, better than paying $50 for one game.

+1...Halo, Flight Simulator, Gears of War, Age of Empires, etc. etc. etc.
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Zulu1966

Quote from: Grim.Reaper on October 30, 2021, 12:35:45 PM
Since I have as part of Game Pass, going to download and give a try.  For those that are buying the full version stand alone, you may want to look into a Game Pass subscription.  Good library of games and more and more being released on it.  In my opinion, better than paying $50 for one game.

Wow - thanks for this. I have game pass for my son. Was about to spring for this on steam until I saw this - wonder what else I have bought I didnt need to...
"you are the rule maker, the dictator, the mini- Stalin, Mao, Hitler, the emperor, generalissimo, the MAN. You may talk the talk and appear to be quite easy going to foster popularity, but to the MAN I say F*CK YOU." And Steve G is F******g rude ? Just another day on the BF forum ... one demented idiots reaction to BF disagreeing about the thickness of the armour on a Tiger II turret mantlet.

al_infierno

#19
I've been diving back and forth between this and AoE 2, and my overall impression is that AoE 4 is, at current state, very much a Campaign focused release.  The campaign content is awesome, and the core game mechanics are really solid and fun.

However, the multiplayer/skirmish content is sadly lacking, such as very low number of civs and skirmish variety, and a lot of little nitpicky complaints like not being able to switch your team color in skirmish, no way to unlock MP teams so you can do diplo and betrayals, stuff like that.

The combat feels a little dumbed down in 4 - for one thing, all your melee units use firebombs when they attack buildings, a la AoE 3.  IMO this mechanic made more sense in 3 because that was set in the 18th century and the mainline troop was a Grenadier.  I prefer how in AoE 2, if you send a group of spearmen to attack a castle, they literally just stand there and stab the bricks and very, very slowly chip away at its HP.  That said, it's still very solid RTS action, and I'm really happy that there's a good AoE game being released in 2021.  I'm looking forward to picking up any expansions and DLC they release.

---

Also, I wanna share a funny story from an AoE 2 online game last night.  Me and my good buddy got back into AoE 2 after a decade-plus hiatus and have been doing some cooperative skirmishes against AI teams.  Last night, we set up a free-for-all game with us and 3 bots, and I accidentally locked the teams so we couldn't ally for a combined win.

My buddy is best described as having only one tool in his gaming toolbox, which is a blunt object that he uses to smash the nearest enemy to pieces.   :knuppel2:  This applies to all games, by the way - not just strategy.  :)  I spent a good portion of the game building walls and towers so that when he inevitably attacks, he's funneled down a convenient killing field into my base.  He did not build any walls or defenses to speak of, but spent all his resources upgrading and amassing an army of elephants, camels, and trebuchets.  This actually worked out for him because I never got the chance to harass his base due to his incessant pressure.

Anyway, when the bots are all dead he reveals his hand by sending this deathball straight down my killing lane.  Both our armies get almost completely wiped, forcing us into a stalemate.  We rebuild our armies and repeat this same process several times.  We were talking over voicechat, and he was chest-pounding pretty smugly about every upper hand he pulled on me. 

Eventually, he noticed I had a Wonder just outside my town, surrounded by walls and towers.  For anyone who's never played AoE, a Wonder is a top-tier hyper-expensive building that basically wins the game for you if it's not destroyed within a countdown.  This is a core mechanic of AoE because it means turtling and playing defensive is a viable strategy.  This countdown to victory is announced and displayed clearly in the UI to all players.  Anyway, he asks me what a Wonder does, and I go "Oh, it's just a sick important building."  His units start attacking it on their own, but he decides to stop them and pull them back to his own base for some reason.

Fast forward a few minutes later.  His army of elephants and camels rolls into my base, and his trebuchets deploy to start attacking my Wonder.  Just as he was on the cusp of wiping out my base, he gets hit with the Defeat screen and the sound of me over voicechat going "OH GEE, WHAT JUST HAPPENED THERE?  IS THAT WHAT A WONDER DOES?"

Of course, he was a bit pissed and tried to make me feel bad for not telling him what a Wonder does.  But it was a friendly competition, he has just as much experience with the game as I do, and I know for a fact if the situation were reversed, he would have given me a similarly coy response instead of surrendering the fact that he's about to pull a sneaky victory on me that I'm fully able to prevent. 

I actually have another friend who's really into classic RTS but for some reason never played AoE.  I bought him the game recently and have been teaching him to play.  If it were him I was playing against, I absolutely would have told him what the Wonder does.  But between my other friend's experience and smugness, I couldn't let the opportunity pass to pull a fast one on him that I'll never let him live down.   :2funny:
A War of a Madman's Making - a text-based war planning and political survival RPG

It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge.  War endures.  As well ask men what they think of stone.  War was always here.  Before man was, war waited for him.  The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner.  That is the way it was and will be.  That way and not some other way.
- Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian


If they made nothing but WWII games, I'd be perfectly content.  Hypothetical matchups from alternate history 1980s, asymmetrical US-bashes-some-3rd world guerillas, or minor wars between Upper Bumblescum and outer Kaboomistan hold no appeal for me.
- Silent Disapproval Robot


I guess it's sort of nice that the word "tactical" seems to refer to some kind of seriousness during your moments of mental clarity.
- MengJiao

Gusington

^Warms my cockles to read that AoE4 is campaign-focused.


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

al_infierno

I would not hesitate to recommend the game to someone who's campaign focused.
A War of a Madman's Making - a text-based war planning and political survival RPG

It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge.  War endures.  As well ask men what they think of stone.  War was always here.  Before man was, war waited for him.  The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner.  That is the way it was and will be.  That way and not some other way.
- Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian


If they made nothing but WWII games, I'd be perfectly content.  Hypothetical matchups from alternate history 1980s, asymmetrical US-bashes-some-3rd world guerillas, or minor wars between Upper Bumblescum and outer Kaboomistan hold no appeal for me.
- Silent Disapproval Robot


I guess it's sort of nice that the word "tactical" seems to refer to some kind of seriousness during your moments of mental clarity.
- MengJiao

Gusington

 O0 Fantabulous  <:-)

Just waiting for some time to go by and the discount train to get a-rollin'


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Rayfer

Quote from: Gusington on November 04, 2021, 05:12:35 PM
O0 Fantabulous  <:-)

Just waiting for some time to go by and the discount train to get a-rollin'

Sadly, that's me with every new release...gotta wait for the sales, even if it takes years.   :-[

Gusington



слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

ArizonaTank

#25
I had an experience with AOE multi-player that turned me off from it. I played a guy who used a bunch of what I thought were gamey exploits...not cheats per se, but just taking advantage of the way AOE was set up. For example instead of building a stone wall, building a wall with Siege Workshops (one workshop right next to another), there must have been 30 shops in the "wall." Then he used those shops to spam an army of ballistas that for some reason my troops could not resist. While I appreciated his creativity...the experience made me cold toward AOE.

Anyway, now many years later, hearing all this good stuff...maybe time to look at it again.

Johannes "Honus" Wagner
"The Flying Dutchman"
Shortstop: Pittsburgh Pirates 1900-1917
Rated as the 2nd most valuable player of all time by Bill James.

Gusington

^That anecdote is one reason of many why I don't use MP.


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

al_infierno

That anecdote is why I only play RTS multiplayer with/against good friends.  Random people online are either way too good or know too many gamey exploits.
A War of a Madman's Making - a text-based war planning and political survival RPG

It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge.  War endures.  As well ask men what they think of stone.  War was always here.  Before man was, war waited for him.  The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner.  That is the way it was and will be.  That way and not some other way.
- Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian


If they made nothing but WWII games, I'd be perfectly content.  Hypothetical matchups from alternate history 1980s, asymmetrical US-bashes-some-3rd world guerillas, or minor wars between Upper Bumblescum and outer Kaboomistan hold no appeal for me.
- Silent Disapproval Robot


I guess it's sort of nice that the word "tactical" seems to refer to some kind of seriousness during your moments of mental clarity.
- MengJiao

Gusington



слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Destraex

Got this recently (only played the tech demo way back before). Really enjoying it. Finished the Norman campaign and have started the Rus one. But most rewarding is playing coop with friends who have it on gamepass or steam.
Found it on Amazon for $30 or so as a steam or Xbox live key.

A lot of really cool paths to take and some really cool factions. Elephants, pavises to deploy, stakes for english archers etc. But in the end if you are against the AI you generally just end up on Trebuchet escort duty.
I have a long way to go to learn this game. It's very relaxing. Where Chivalry II is cathartic.
"They only asked the Light Brigade to do it once"