https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD2AoiQX8mo
Grand Ages Medieval releases in September. From reading about it, it is more of a city/empire builder and although the series is usually lite when it comes to combat it does seem interesting.
What say you?
Guess I need a lesson in embedding YT videos....Oops. :2funny:
http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=10885.msg278035#msg278035
Combine threads? The other one is almost a year old... :-\ (In fact, I was the last person to comment in it, and I had forgotten it even existed!)
I think a new thread is warranted for the new promo video and release date announcement.
It was more of a nod toward - 'if its got medieval, city builder, war, and swords' it's likely someone knew already
This does look good, although I'm somewhat worried about it being in real-time. Hopefully it moves at a speed akin to Distant Worlds or Paradox games.
Videos are up..Quill18 has six of them, representing about three hours of gameplay.
A little reminiscent of Rise of Venice..but better in many ways. In RoV, you were limited to the sixty cities, all in the same place. Not a lot of replayability.
In this game, you produce settler units, and you can build new cities where you want. This enables you to have the five resources types YOU want, to fit your developing kingdom. This alone will make it a must buy. Call it Civ meets Rise of Venice...a nice builder, coupled with a nice trading sim.
Here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0oStXVIBUU
Perused through the vids....an interesting looking game. One to watch.
Even without watching the video this is evolving into a day one purchase :)
Quote from: Gusington on August 31, 2015, 09:17:28 AM
Even without watching the video this is evolving into a day one purchase :)
+1
I really like Dennis' description of it as Rise of Venice meets Civ. I've wanted a game like that forever.
I never played Rise of Venice, but isn't it just another one of the Patrician-type games from the same publisher? Is there something that significantly distinguishes it from that series?
Quote from: glen55 on August 31, 2015, 12:25:56 PM
I never played Rise of Venice, but isn't it just another one of the Patrician-type games from the same publisher? Is there something that significantly distinguishes it from that series?
From watching the videos they made clear this is a land-based trading game, not sea. That would be one big difference.
Looks like there will be more city building management also.
The biggest difference between Rise of Venice and this title are the cities.
In RoV, there are 40 or so cities that are static. The five items they produce vary from game to game, but the cities themselves remain in their original locations, with no ability to set up new cities. Although this is an excellent game, this does tend to limit the replayability.
In Grand Ages Medieval, the game world is vastly larger, with 14 large "provinces", each capable of 10-20 cities, depending on their size. The beauty of this is that you can settle new cities. There is an interesting mechanic, similar to Civ, where you can see what resources are available when you settle a given area. You need food? Then settle an area with grain, or fish. Need metals and ores? Head for the hills, and settle there.
The trading and resource generation are much streamlined from RoV. Caravans are easy to set up, for trade, and are easily automated as well. The tech tree has about 40 areas, each of which can enhance gameplay in some fashion, either by production bonuses, or unlocks.
I am very excited for this title. This hits the sweet spot for me. Very large gamemaps, very real choices on when and how you settle, and 20 separate resources.
One other thing...each city has their five resources, but you can select any of a dozen or so other businesses to set up. Essentially, you can funnel base materials to another city to consolidate and produce finished products. This just wasn't possible in RoV, where you were at the mercy of the RNG.
Out September 25th.
This game looks like it's going to be a good one. Definitely on my to watch list.
The battles kind of look like cats fighting. I hope they can do better.
Quote from: Bison on August 31, 2015, 08:34:55 PM
This game looks like it's going to be a good one. Definitely on my to watch list.
Me too. It looks like a cross between Patrician and an old Eidos game called Trade Empires. I'm very excited for this!
Quote from: Sir Slash on August 31, 2015, 09:55:58 PM
The battles kind of look like cats fighting. I hope they can do better.
Sadly a trait of both the
Grand Ages and
Patrician series until now. But also a trait of Sid Meir's
Pirates, which the Patrician games were loosely remaking (and not so loosely remaking with their
Port Royale series).
I think the question was asked upthread what the salient difference is between
Rise of Venice and, say,
Patrician 4, seeing as how both are from the same publisher and seem to cover the same topic except in South Europe rather than North Europe.
I could learn to love it or ignore it if the rest of the game works well.
Well, I had a couple of birthday steam cards, and went ahead and pulled the trigger on this one, at 15% off. This gets a couple of DLC's as well.
Not a big fan of first day DLCs but I am 100% sure that this was a must buy for me in any event. I thoroughly enjoyed Port Royale 2, Patrician 3, and many other economic sims...and this one is all that, and more. The idea of settling specific areas, that provide specific resources is very Civ-like..and the combination of Civ-like settling, a decent economic sim, a decent tech tree, some nice combat AND a 4x overlay is just irresistable. I am estimating about 150 cities can be built on the large'ish European game map, each with its own, unique building and resource capabilities.
Unlocks in a couple of weeks...can't wait!
What kind of DLC?
Three of them..."Camelot", "Ancient Wonders", and a soundtrack.
No clue what the two game play ones are all about...but at 15% off first day price, the DLCs really weren't a factor.
I also preordered...
The DLCs are small....one is a special castle for your starting city and the second are special wonders you can find on the map...and the soundrack. The best is the discount. ;D
Just watched all the game's videos...growing tempted.
im currently sat like a praying mantis between nobunga, metal gear and this - waiting, waiting for my resolve to fold on one
^Just watched the videos for Nobunaga too...added to wish list :)
youre hopeless
Quote from: undercovergeek on September 07, 2015, 03:21:51 PM
im currently sat like a praying mantis between nobunga, metal gear and this - waiting, waiting for my resolve to fold on one
I have been weak of late...own all those and likely will pre order this one soon:( Very expensive month for me so far...
Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Grand-Ages-Medieval-Windows-select-Pc/dp/B00PS4I2IU/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1441664220&sr=1-1&keywords=Grand+Ages%3A+Medieval) is charging $39.99 for pre-ordering the retail boxed version of Grand Ages Medieval which includes the two DLCs Camelot & Ancient Wonders, and a Tech Tree Poster. The release date on Amazon is 29 September 2015.
Steam (http://store.steampowered.com/app/310470/) is charging $33.99 for pre-ordering Grand Ages Medieval which includes the two DLCs Camelot & Ancient Wonders, and the Digital Soundtrack. The release date on Steam is 25 September 2015.
I've read that a Kalypso account is required on the Steam version and assume it is also required on the retail boxed version of the game. Is that correct? Also, is there any other form of DRM?
Seeing that it is also available for the PS4 I wonder how well the mouse and keyboard will function on the PC version of the game.
I want so much to jump on the bandwagon and pre-order Grand Ages Medieval but I am concerned about the issues mentioned above.
Quote from: Greybriar on September 07, 2015, 06:38:18 PM
Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Grand-Ages-Medieval-Windows-select-Pc/dp/B00PS4I2IU/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1441664220&sr=1-1&keywords=Grand+Ages%3A+Medieval) is charging $39.99 for pre-ordering the retail boxed version of Grand Ages Medieval which includes the two DLCs Camelot & Ancient Wonders, and a Tech Tree Poster. The release date on Amazon is 29 September 2015.
Steam (http://store.steampowered.com/app/310470/) is charging $33.99 for pre-ordering Grand Ages Medieval which includes the two DLCs Camelot & Ancient Wonders, and the Digital Soundtrack. The release date on Steam is 25 September 2015.
I've read that a Kalypso account is required on the Steam version and assume it is also required on the retail boxed version of the game. Is that correct? Also, is there any other form of DRM?
Seeing that it is also available for the PS4 I wonder how well the mouse and keyboard will function on the PC version of the game.
I want so much to jump on the bandwagon and pre-order Grand Ages Medieval but I am concerned about the issues mentioned above.
There are several youtube video series on this one. I have watched about 20 hours' worth of videos...certainly enough of them to gain sufficient perspective and knowledge to base a purchase decision on.
No way I'm watching 20 hours of videos to try to find the answers to my queries about DRM, mouse, and keyboard. Isn't that what gaming forums are for? ???
Quote from: Greybriar on September 07, 2015, 08:51:23 PM
No way I'm watching 20 hours of videos to try to find the answers to my queries about DRM, mouse, and keyboard. Isn't that what gaming forums are for? ???
Didn't realise they still use their launcher. I think i have one game that requires it but it's not a big issue...useless but not a problem.
Mouse and keyboard shouldn't be a problem (according to what i've heard and seen in LPs). Gamesmind's team has been working on PC games only so far and i think they play on that first. Not worried.
Thanks, Anguille.
I just noticed on the game's Steam store page: "Incorporates 3rd-party DRM: Kalypso Launcher (Account registration optional)"
Now I wonder if the boxed version requires Steam to play. No mention of Steam is on its Amazon store page.
I asked the question on the Steam forums and said box version uses the launcher. Here was their response.
The "retail box" of Grand Ages: Medieval will install the Kalypso launcher-version of the game.
Except that, there is no difference between both versions. Even the retail pre-purchase will include both exclusive DLCs and the digital soundtrack.
Also on Amazon when Steam is required, the requirements section typically lists a Steam account is required to play and it currently does not show that. So I am assuming Steam is not required based on that unless the info is bad. Pretty sure the Tropico 5 box version worked the same way.
Quote from: Greybriar on September 08, 2015, 03:26:41 AM
Thanks, Anguille.
I just noticed on the game's Steam store page: "Incorporates 3rd-party DRM: Kalypso Launcher (Account registration optional)"
Now I wonder if the boxed version requires Steam to play. No mention of Steam is on its Amazon store page.
Could well be that it's only the Kalypso launcher. If i see a boxed version i'll check it.
Developer further confirmed the retail box...
The "boxed" version does not require Steam.
But the Kalypso Launcher is required and not optional like in the Steam version.
Thanks, Grim.
GOG.com is now offering Grand Ages: Medieval (http://www.gog.com/game/grand_ages_medieval) for 15% off, the same as Steam.
With or without the DRM launcher, one wonders.
Quote from: Greybriar on September 15, 2015, 10:47:09 AM
GOG.com is now offering Grand Ages: Medieval (http://www.gog.com/game/grand_ages_medieval) for 15% off, the same as Steam.
Aouch....didn't expected this...would have rather bought that version..... >:(
The gameplay videos of this one look great but I just don't have the $$ to buy it now at near-full price. I'll await the upcoming end of year holiday sales hoping for a bargain.
I really like the look of it but I'm not sure I will be so effective at the economics of the game.
Quote from: Gusington on September 15, 2015, 05:23:00 PM
I really like the look of it but I'm not sure I will be so effective at the economics of the game.
I just watched Kailvan's series of videos on the game.
This game is FAR larger than I thought it would be. The one I am watching, the player has about 15% of Europe, after 372 years of gameplay. This is about 20 hours of real life. There are many hundreds of cities, and his empire is next to last in size.
City spam, and the attendent micro'ing is orders of magnitude greater than any Civ game I have seen. I like 4x strategy sims, but this borders on the insane.
Still on the fence with this one....but my resolve is becoming weak...
Quote from: Freyland on September 15, 2015, 11:54:11 AM
With or without the DRM launcher, one wonders.
Since it's GOG.com it should be "DRM-Free" but I'm not sure how it would handle muliplayer. The new Galaxy feature? Or use the Kalypso launcher?
Well, I caved of course, decided worth a shot at $26....can get at greenmangaming for steam version, use coupon code SAVE23-WITHGM-GSEP15
http://www.greenmangaming.com/s/us/en/pc/games/simulation/grand-ages-medieval/
^You filthy FILTHY bastard.
Quote from: Gusington on September 18, 2015, 09:14:27 PM
^You filthy FILTHY bastard.
Glad I could help feed your addiction:)
My reservation will expire in 10 minutes. I will play some drunken Dragon Age to try to forget about it.
The problem here is that the game may be great, but I am afraid I am going to suck at it.
No doubt I will suck at it as well, never do well....but just the fact it is about Medieval times, sucks me in..
It's like your the voice inside my head.
I'll suck too....i think i'll automate most of the trading anyway.....
I pre-ordered Grand Ages Medieval (http://www.gog.com/game/grand_ages_medieval) from GOG.com for $33.99 (15% off). I considered the physical copy with the Tech-Tree-Poster but then I would have had to use the Kalypso launcher. I also thought about buying the Steam version. But the GOG version won out because I wanted to support their DRM-Free business model.
Quote from: Greybriar on September 19, 2015, 07:25:56 AM
I pre-ordered Grand Ages Medieval (http://www.gog.com/game/grand_ages_medieval) from GOG.com for $33.99 (15% off). I considered the physical copy with the Tech-Tree-Poster but then I would have had to use the Kalypso launcher. I also thought about buying the Steam version. But the GOG version won out because I wanted to support their DRM-Free business model.
Do we know if the launcher is required with gog version?
Found my answer...
From the developers...
The Steam-version only requires Steam, Kalypso-Launcher is optional.
- The boxed version needs the Kalypso-Launcher and no other launcher/platform.
- Last but not least the GOG-version, which needs none of the above mentioned.
launcher paranoia - itll get you in the end :P
Only three more days.
Looks like a slew of improvements, including:
1) Setting a range for the drawing in of all military units. For example. You could click on Paris, and pull out a circle representing 100 miles, or 200, or 500 miles, and set a location for all units in that radius to go do. This would make it VERY useful to have theater, or tactical troops.
2) In the city improvement screen, you can now arrow over to the next city in turn. Civ has this, and this will make it much easier to evaluate your cities' needs for improvement.
3) You can now build (upgrade) your resources more than one resource at a time. This saves you from having to select a resource, select a level of improvement, back out, and select the next resource, etc. Now..you can select all five of your resources in a city, and upgrade them all at once.
4) Each empire now has a capital. If you capture the capital, you defeat that empire. Not sure what happens to all of their other cities...they may well devolve into neutral cities, to be gobbled up by adjacent empires. This will facilitate the end game..now, even on the lowest AI, the AI massively out settles and produces the human opponents. Well...all those with let's plays on Youtube!
A couple of thoughts on this game. This is the grand strategy/tactical/economic/building game I have been waiting for. Kailvan's youtube videos, for one campaign, are now up to #40, and he can't be more than a fourth of the way to total victory. One hundred hours? Two hundred? Not sure how long this will take, as each mature, heavily defended city is a campaign..taking months to collect up the military, and use a targeted attack.
I wasn't that interested in this initially, but the more I hear/see/read about it the more excited I become.
Yes...YES!!! Love #4.
Are sieges represented at all? I don't remember reading about them above.
Quote from: Gusington on September 22, 2015, 09:14:21 PM
Yes...YES!!! Love #4.
Are sieges represented at all? I don't remember reading about them above.
Sieges proper aren't in the game as there aren't any walls nor siege equipment{I think}, I also believe that once your capital if captured then your whole empire goes kaput. I also believe there are skills/upgrades you can pick which will make your city have a stronger defense, although don't quote me on it.
Yeah I think DennisS posted a few different ways that cities in general, not just capitals, are nicely customizable.
If trade can be automated before becoming too much of a bear, there is great loin moistening potential here.
In the earlier Patrician series and Port Royale, the captains could be programmed to visit different cities and carry on trade.
It would be surprising if the traders didn't have some kind of ability like that.
Indeed. And this game is far more empire-builder than the others. I think that can trade can be fully automated.
Since this is the first game by these developers with a real FoW, I'm more interested in scouting being automated.
Anguille you said the magic words in that last post. If I can build a medieval empire that is fun to run and automate the parts that have stymied me before, this could be one of my favorite titles.
And if trade is actually fun and no overly complex...well that's even more gooder.
The problem now is that my expectations are super high and I have never played a Grand Ages game before.
No sieges? That would be sad for me.
Quote from: Gusington on September 24, 2015, 07:15:22 AM
The problem now is that my expectations are super high and I have never played a Grand Ages game before.
Previous experience with Grand Ages games is irrelevant. Those were pretty conventional city builders, which is why some people (like myself) were initially disappointed with the direction the developers went with this time.
What about my super high expectations?
Quote from: Gusington on September 24, 2015, 07:15:22 AM
The problem now is that my expectations are super high and I have never played a Grand Ages game before.
There has been only one Grand Ages games before which was Grand Ages Rome, by Haemimont Games, and was the sequel to Glory of the Roman Empire and Imperium Romanum (great city-builders). Like tgb, i was initially disappointed by the change of game type but the team chosen was a good one. I don't have high expectations (i already ordered the game) but expect a pleasant game, very relaxing with great graphics. While i look very much forward to start playing the game tomorrow, i don't expect it to grab me as much as Knights of Honor did. It's going to be fun nonetheless ;).
If it can compare to Knights of Honor I will be pleased.
Quote from: Gusington on September 24, 2015, 12:54:39 PM
If it can compare to Knights of Honor I will be pleased.
Of course....
KOH was a wonderful game and I still have my boxed copy as well as the tech tree/map/manual that came with it. Remember the days when you actually got some content for your money rather than a silly digital key. Anyhoo here is a twitch from the developers showcasing multiplayer{I think}.
http://www.twitch.tv/kalypsomedia/v/17529234
Edit**
The manual is available on Steam and going thru it, it appears each region will have a special military unit. Britannia>Longbowman, Scandinavia>Beserker, Knight>France, etc. It appears there are 16 different military units and 5 different ships.
That makes me GIGGITY.
Quote from: Gusington on September 24, 2015, 01:31:33 PM
That makes me GIGGITY.
Well judging by some of the combat ive seen so far it seems pretty barebones and simplistic.
Combat seems to be pretty hands off. I'm fine with that since the focus is on exploration and economics, but other here may not be.
Ok with me if city building is deep. If I want better combat I can go to TW.
Knights will have France??!?
O0
Yes,
If you follow the link and look down on the right side of the page you can dl the manual which will tell you the units, etc.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/310470/
Game looks great but I'm all about the knifey knifey. Economy and building is the first thing I automate in Medieval Total War.
Sadly I don't think this is my kind of game. I sure wish it was, though.
My purchase finger twitcheth
Unfortunately I have to go out of town for work this weekend and won't be back until late Sunday. Fortunately that will give me an excuse to hold off and see what people think once the dust settles.
I just got it at GOG with the 15% off pricing. Was afraid that would end when the game is released.
I have this pre-ordered on steam, and will fire it up as soon as it is released.
I will try to post my first impressions on this, directly..but after watching perhaps 80 videos (even the ones in German and French!!!), I don't anticipate any surprises.
To this point, my only beef would appear that the AI turtles, and builds a gi-normous defensive army...while at the same time, very large armies are prohibitively expensive to maintain. I see wars being fought for one or two cities, then a period of expansion and rebuilding, to go after another couple of cities. This game has the look and feel of a huge, marathon-length Civ V game.
What video, if I were to watch only one, would be the most all-encompassing and show me the most?
And I love turtles!
And that happens to be my play style in well, everything.
Grand Ages and I may get along just swell.
So who is taking the plunge? The game is getting slammed in the Steam forums for being "slow" and "boring" but people who post there tend to be little more than konsole kiddies.
I would hope the reaction here is somewhat better.
I'm curious to hear informed reactions as well. I always take Steam forum posts with a huge helping of salt, but the initial response doesn't look very positive, like tgb says.
I'm surprised by the lack of a siege mechanic in this game. I'd be happy to play a game with pared down military that focuses on trade, economics, and city development -- but the melee/archer/cavalry military units seem a little too oversimplified and rock-paper-scissors-y to me... I loves me some trebuchets and fortifications.
GOG version is out. Downloading now (4 GB).
I pre-ordered the GOG version, installed it, and played it for a short time. The first thing that irritated me was not being able to rebind the keys the way I wanted, especially not to be able to set the space bar to pause the game (the space bar can only be used to speed up the game 10x). I got a merchant and set him out to hawk his wares. I sent a scout out to reveal the other towns on the map as well as to uncover hidden riches and places of interest. After discovering a couple more towns, I tried to get another merchant started on another route, but the game wouldn't let me do so. By then I was broke and tired of fooling with the game, so I quit.
Perhaps the PS4 version is the way to go and the PC version is just a poor console port. Or maybe it's just me. But so far I haven't gotten much gameplay out of the $33.99 I paid for the game.
Quote from: Greybriar on September 25, 2015, 04:04:47 PM
I pre-ordered the GOG version, installed it, and played it for a short time. The first thing that irritated me was not being able to rebind the keys the way I wanted, especially not to be able to set the space bar to pause the game (the space bar can only be used to speed up the game 10x). I got a merchant and set him out to hawk his wares. I sent a scout out to reveal the other towns on the map as well as to uncover hidden riches and places of interest. After discovering a couple more towns, I tried to get another merchant started on another route, but the game wouldn't let me do so. By then I was broke and tired of fooling with the game, so I quit.
Perhaps the PS4 version is the way to go and the PC version is just a poor console port. Or maybe it's just me. But so far I haven't gotten much gameplay out of the $33.99 I paid for the game.
One merchant per town that you own. Thems the rules. In practice, this works fine..as soon as one merchant serves three towns, you now have an extra.
Can scouts be automated?
Quote from: tgb on September 25, 2015, 05:42:20 PM
Can scouts be automated?
No. I wished they were. Too many "goodie huts", in any event. Many of these provide substantial numbers of resources, and require some micro'ing to obtain.
Quote from: Greybriar on September 25, 2015, 04:04:47 PM
After discovering a couple more towns, I tried to get another merchant started on another route, but the game wouldn't let me do so. By then I was broke and tired of fooling with the game, so I quit.
Were you playing the campaign? I started it tonight after the download completed, just to piddle around a bit. Seems like it holds your hand pretty well, at least at first...?
Quote from: DennisS on September 25, 2015, 05:09:24 PM
One merchant per town that you own. Thems the rules. In practice, this works fine..as soon as one merchant serves three towns, you now have an extra.
But I had four towns. ??? I guess I did something wrong; the game is far from being intuitive.
Dumb question but are you trying to recruit from the same town as the first?
I tried to recruit a second merchant from the same town as the first and couldn't. So I tried a different town and didn't have any luck there either. I'll try again tomorrow if I feel like playing Grand Ages: Medieval. It may have had something to do with me being broke. :-[
In-game or real life? Or both?
I wanted to like this game but after a short bit with it I thought the best thing to do was ask for a refund. They are notorious for adding DLC so I may give it another looksee during a sale.
I have it..but haven't grasped it yet...hoping it clicks at some point.
In game, Gus.
Fortunately for me, I have been spared bad luck, bad health, bad investments, and other financial disasters in recent years...at least so far. *crosses fingers*
I've just been looking over the Grand Ages Medieval poster and game manual and feel they could have been designed to be more easily used by us gamers. For one thing, the poster is too large; had the lower half been split into a page each for Production, Infrastructure, and Military it would have been so much easier to access and use.
Quote from: AchillesLastStand on September 26, 2015, 03:18:47 PM
I wanted to like this game but after a short bit with it I thought the best thing to do was ask for a refund. They are notorious for adding DLC so I may give it another looksee during a sale.
balls - ill give a few videos a try tonight but if theres no inspiration it may have to be Blood Bowl 2 instead
No one likes it?? Should I even bother installing it on my when it arrives? Dammit all to hell. :'(
Quote from: Gusington on September 26, 2015, 04:18:33 PM
No one likes it?? Should I even bother installing it on my when it arrives? Dammit all to hell. :'(
You bought a physical copy? I ended u buying for only $15 so I don't feel so bad if it never clicks with me:)
Gus bought a physical copy? Damn he's old! :P
No digital >:(
But get the hell off my lawn.
im disregarding the steam hate - those fkrs would hate on santa
im going to watch maybe an hours worth of video and see if it grabs me - some guys done 40 episodes, he must have at least enjoyed it!!
Quote from: Gusington on September 26, 2015, 04:18:33 PM
No one likes it?? Should I even bother installing it on my when it arrives? Dammit all to hell. :'(
I am still in the learning process (played about 2 hours). I am playing the campaign. So far i like it even though the game doesn't look as good as i wished on my system (don't know if my computer isn't powerfull enough or if something have to be tweeked).
I am very surprised by all the negative reviews on steam and think that most of them are there because didn't know what they were buying (the title may be misleading). It's not a Total War game and it's not a city-builder. It's something between a Civ game and economic game.
^OK. That calms me down. I am going into it thinking of it as you described.
I'm gonna wait for a sale. In the meantime I've noticed I have Grand Ages Rome in my Steam library. I wonder if that's any good?
Ask Anguille.
Do we still have to stay off your lawn?
Quote from: undercovergeek on September 26, 2015, 04:45:05 PM
im disregarding the steam hate - those fkrs would hate on santa
lmao! :2funny: :2funny:
Quote from: bbmike on September 26, 2015, 05:45:01 PM
I'm gonna wait for a sale. In the meantime I've noticed I have Grand Ages Rome in my Steam library. I wonder if that's any good?
Grand Ages Rome is imhao the best looking city-builder with Roman theme. I really recommend it. Beware however that it has a very unique system of gameplay. If i remember well it's called the "flow". In other games, maybe you need 3 woods to build something but only once. In Grand Ages Rome you have to keep the wood production above the need of your buildings at all times otherwise buildings can start to burn. If you don't forget that, it's a very enjoyable and beautiful game (i think it has very good ratings on steam). I have a small preference for their previous game (Imperium Romanum). Both are great and play differentely.
Cheers
I have played this perhaps ten hours. Here's my initial impressions:
Don't eff around when settling. You have to make this a priority, or you will be steamrolled by the relentless building of the AI.
Don't spend a DIME upgrading your production without carefully considering the consequences. In my first game, I upgraded the crap out of my wood and brick, thinking that I would build a nice supply up, to service my soon-to-be newly settled cities. All this accomplished was to dramatically increase my labor costs, and drive my only city into strong deficit spending.
There is only so much money when you start, and you need to be very sure of what your expenditures plan is. Tight as hell...but in a good way.
You can spend money to purchase sympathy from the neutral cities around the map, with the goal toward annexation. Cool concept, but hella expensive. Jury is still out on whether this is a viable early game strategy...it MAY be.
More to come.
^Are you having fun playing?
Quote from: Gusington on September 27, 2015, 09:19:25 AM
^Are you having fun playing?
Absolutely. I liked Rise of Venice, and the trade mechanics are about the same.
My biggest concern at this point is micro-managing sufficiently well as to not destroy my chances late game.
To be sure, the end game will take a vast army to take over individual cities...not for faint of heart.
Quote from: Anguille on September 27, 2015, 02:12:53 AM
Quote from: bbmike on September 26, 2015, 05:45:01 PM
I'm gonna wait for a sale. In the meantime I've noticed I have Grand Ages Rome in my Steam library. I wonder if that's any good?
Grand Ages Rome is imhao the best looking city-builder with Roman theme. I really recommend it. Beware however that it has a very unique system of gameplay. If i remember well it's called the "flow". In other games, maybe you need 3 woods to build something but only once. In Grand Ages Rome you have to keep the wood production above the need of your buildings at all times otherwise buildings can start to burn. If you don't forget that, it's a very enjoyable and beautiful game (i think it has very good ratings on steam). I have a small preference for their previous game (Imperium Romanum). Both are great and play differentely.
Cheers
Thanks! I'll have to try it.
Quote from: DennisS on September 27, 2015, 05:00:47 PM
Quote from: Gusington on September 27, 2015, 09:19:25 AM
^Are you having fun playing?
Absolutely. I liked Rise of Venice, and the trade mechanics are about the same.
My biggest concern at this point is micro-managing sufficiently well as to not destroy my chances late game.
To be sure, the end game will take a vast army to take over individual cities...not for faint of heart.
having watched the first 5 of the 40 youtube episodes and skimming the other 35 im not convinced this is for me
Thanks Dennis
I think anyone playing the game needs to be thinking along two lines, in a mixture.
1.) There's a strong Civ/MasterofMagic vibe: you start with a small city in a giant fog, and you send out a scout to find cities and to find small resource nodes which you can raid with some small armies, and you're building up your city (except without walls, which is inane, but whatever), and so forth...
...mixed with...
2.) Sid Meir's Pirates. This game is a DIRECT DESCENDANT to Pirates, via Kalypso's ambitions to constantly remake and update that game to include city management. Your trader == the initial fleet of a small ship, sailing around from port to port buying and selling things. Kalypso married that with city building; and have now married that with more Civvie mechanics (except in real time).
Also, I suspect the campaign is mandatory for learning how to play effectively.
Quote from: Gusington on September 26, 2015, 04:18:33 PM
No one likes it?? Should I even bother installing it on my when it arrives? Dammit all to hell. :'(
I like it a lot (for my limited playtime so far), but see previous posts about what the game is actually doing.
its this or blood bowl 2 - im still researching
Quote from: JasonPratt on September 28, 2015, 10:12:39 AM
I think anyone playing the game needs to be thinking along two lines, in a mixture.
1.) There's a strong Civ/MasterofMagic vibe: you start with a small city in a giant fog, and you send out a scout to find cities and to find small resource nodes which you can raid with some small armies, and you're building up your city (except without walls, which is inane, but whatever), and so forth...
...mixed with...
2.) Sid Meir's Pirates. This game is a DIRECT DESCENDANT to Pirates, via Kalypso's ambitions to constantly remake and update that game to include city management. Your trader == the initial fleet of a small ship, sailing around from port to port buying and selling things. Kalypso married that with city building; and have now married that with more Civvie mechanics (except in real time).
Also, I suspect the campaign is mandatory for learning how to play effectively.
Sid Meier's Pirates....I would have never thought there to be a connection between this new game and that old one. I've been on the fence with this game and after reading your post, I am still firmly affixed there. Thanks for the honest assessment!
I wish I hadn't pre-ordered it and instead bought it when it and its DLC was on sale for 80% off.
Eh, my interest in this was growing up til launch, but amid very lukewarm reactions I decided to just fire up a new game of Crusader Kings II instead -- only to be reminded once again of how incredibly freakin' amazing CKII is.
ok watched Quills set of vids instead - a lot more informative and entertaining - in almost every comment on all the GAM players video threads there is a multitude of players advising them they are not setting up trade routes right - although the game bears no comparison i feel theres a correlation to Banished here - if you got it wrong, you were going to die slowly or quickly it didnt matter - if you got it right you were golden until the next challenge
its got trade, its got medieval in it, castles and axemen - i should love it, after watching Quill i do more than yesterday - i just feel im trying to convince myself to like it, and im sure, deep down thats not right
I've seen some people comment that there are clear holes in content where DLCs will be aimed.
Not that I've played it myself however, so I can't comment.
Well I'm taking this one off my wishlist.
From what I've seen I'd pick it up on sale for $15-$20 or less. Certainly not $40.
The game is focused around creating trade routs, but the economic model is to simple for a long run. It feels like simpler Patrician IV. Combat is meh, and bandits and animals are annoying. At first glance game looks fine, but after a while you get disappointed, because it lacks content in every department.
A small, but vocal minority on the steam forums demanded walls. Not for any effect on gameplay, just because.
I just do not understand the hate here. It is a very good game, very deep, polished, and with interesting game dynamics.
I heartily recommend this to anyone that wants to spend 100+ hours on micro-managing a massive empire, fighting against AI opponents that have three times as many cities, and ten times as many army units. This is on normal mode. I hesitate to see what gameplay advantages they get on hard.
Biggest word of advice is to guard your pocketbook very, very carefully, and really think about your expenditures. Also..you can buy sympathy, and eventually annex the nearby neutral towns...but wait for the sympathy values to increase over time, due to your trade. BIG money sink there, that can be better utilized to build up your own empire. Good stuff!!
Quote from: undercovergeek on September 28, 2015, 04:59:46 PM
ok watched Quills set of vids instead - a lot more informative and entertaining - in almost every comment on all the GAM players video threads there is a multitude of players advising them they are not setting up trade routes right - although the game bears no comparison i feel theres a correlation to Banished here - if you got it wrong, you were going to die slowly or quickly it didnt matter - if you got it right you were golden until the next challenge
its got trade, its got medieval in it, castles and axemen - i should love it, after watching Quill i do more than yesterday - i just feel im trying to convince myself to like it, and im sure, deep down thats not right
The trade routes they are referring to are those where you establish maximum and minimum prices. The automatic trader does quite well, and I have no issues with it.
What I find myself doing is to put all traders on automatic, except one, and use that one manual trader to bring specific resources to specific towns, for specific reasons. Building a new granary and need wood? Manually get the wood, and take it where it is needed. The computer may eventually spread out your resources to where it is needed..but if there are intervening stops between your resource and need that ALSO need it...the critical resources may be intercepted and sold off to a neutral city.
This game is very similar to Rise of Venice, at least for the trading. After that, the city settlement aspect is pure gold. RoV coupled with Civ V is a winner.
What kind of holes have people said are there for future DLC? Are walls on of them?
Quote from: DennisS on September 29, 2015, 06:37:00 AM
I just do not understand the hate here. It is a very good game, very deep, polished, and with interesting game dynamics.
reading through as much feedback as possible i get the distinct impression, however much faith i had in humanity, that a lot of people bought it because it looked like Total War with an economic DLC - ive read a review where a guy genuinely expected it to be ALL Medieval 2 but with a massive economic engine bolted on, some bought it because the pictures (yeah, pictures!!) looked like total war with a logistics bent - who in their right fkng mind buys a game today because the 'pictures' looked like XXXX and the you 'thought' it would be like ZZZZ?!?!?
Quote from: DennisS on September 29, 2015, 06:37:00 AM
....I just do not understand the hate here....
Although I do not hate
Grand Ages: Medieval, I believe there are games that are much more fun to play than it is. The keys cannot be remapped to my liking. The manual leaves a lot to be desired and the tech tree .pdf poster is practically impossible to be viewed, therefore gameplay is guesswork and planning is impossible. I simply refuse to view hours' worth of YouTube videos to learn how to play a game that should be easy to learn had the documentation provided with the game been adequately presented.
On a completely incidental and yet perhaps relevant note: the game runs chuggy on the best Surface Pro 3.
Sigh. I am sad.
Quote from: Greybriar on September 29, 2015, 09:53:18 AM
Although I do not hate Grand Ages: Medieval, I believe there are games that are much more fun to play than it is. The keys cannot be remapped to my liking. The manual leaves a lot to be desired and the tech tree .pdf poster is practically impossible to be viewed, therefore gameplay is guesswork and planning is impossible. I simply refuse to view hours' worth of YouTube videos to learn how to play a game that should be easy to learn had the documentation provided with the game been adequately presented.
I didn't even know there was a tech poster! GOG simply lists it as "poster" in their downloads section which I assumed it was some useless eye-candy like most downloadable extras. I'm having no trouble viewing the tech poster. I DO think it was horribly designed though. The list of descriptions below the charts are only partly in order. It's like someone reorganized the chart after making the list and then didn't bother updating the order of the list. The descriptions also seem very poorly translated. What the hell is "production of pomp"? They have separate posters for USA and EN languages but they use the English word 'plough' in the USA poster when it's 'plow' in the USA. Haven't actually played the game yet so any other comments will have to wait.
Quote from: bobarossa on September 29, 2015, 01:23:08 PM
What the hell is "production of pomp"?
Don't worry, it's only a circumstantial building.
(And now I wait....)
Quote from: JasonPratt on September 29, 2015, 02:05:26 PM
Quote from: bobarossa on September 29, 2015, 01:23:08 PM
What the hell is "production of pomp"?
Don't worry, it's only a circumstantial building.
(And now I wait....)
The proper response would be to ask "under what circumstances is it produced?" But I'm marching to a picky drummer.
I got it last night, played about 3 hours, and I am having a blast. My only real fear is all this stuff I am hearing about how aggressive the AI is & how viciously it cheats. I'm sorry, but I want a laid-back game like this to be kind of easy and not require perfect play the first time through, IOW, I like to WIN! (Think the original Majesty.) Question: once I get past the campaign into the sandbox mode, are there sufficient AI/difficulty settings to make it not quite such a cast-iron beeyotch as everybody seems to be saying?
Pro tip: when there is a fight going on, zoom out and there will be a little icon of the battle. Put the mouse pointer on it and you will get a little box that gives you a running tally of the relative strength of the two sides. You can zoom in and watch and listen to the battle instead. DON'T DO THAT - it will hurt your eyes, ears and delicate sensibilities. You have been warned.
In other words, anybody who is looking for a combat game, steer far clear. Combat is laughably horrible. But still, I am getting a very nice sense of regional strategy, kind of in-between operational and grand strategy. At least once the city-building aspect of the game becomes available. Tentative thumbs up.
^Nice. I have renewed hope!
Quote from: bobarossa on September 29, 2015, 01:23:08 PM
....I'm having no trouble viewing the tech poster....
How are you viewing it? I would think it would be awkward accessing the tech tree poster ingame. When I open the .pdf its display is at 39.3% of its normal size and the print is too small for me to read. If I enlarge it to 100%, it doesn't even display 1/6th of the poster on my 23 inch monitor. I thought about printing out the bottom half of the poster a third at a time so the Production, Infrastructure, and Military tech trees would take up about a page each, but the .pdf doesn't seem to allow any type of editing.
Obtaining the tech tree poster was the main reason I was considering buying the retail boxed version of the game, but I refuse to spend an additional $40 just for that.
Quote from: Greybriar on October 02, 2015, 09:26:27 AM
Quote from: bobarossa on September 29, 2015, 01:23:08 PM
....I'm having no trouble viewing the tech poster....
How are you viewing it? I would think it would be awkward accessing the tech tree poster ingame. When I open the .pdf its display is at 39.3% of its normal size and the print is too small for me to read. If I enlarge it to 100%, it doesn't even display 1/6th of the poster on my 23 inch monitor. I thought about printing out the bottom half of the poster a third at a time so the Production, Infrastructure, and Military tech trees would take up about a page each, but the .pdf doesn't seem to allow any type of editing.
Obtaining the tech tree poster was the main reason I was considering buying the retail boxed version of the game, but I refuse to spend an additional $40 just for that.
I'm using Foxit Reader to view it at 83% zoom (shrink?). I agree the text is a little hard to read but I have a 26" wide screen at 1900x1200. I can just get everything to show at that zoom level. I wouldn't advise printing as with the dark background will use up all your ink. You can use "Select Text" to copy out the text descriptions but that won't get you the images. Of course if you rearranged the text to be an order related to the image positions, you could get away without the images.
Quote from: bobarossa on October 02, 2015, 09:55:59 AM
I'm using Foxit Reader to view it at 83% zoom (shrink?). I agree the text is a little hard to read but I have a 26" wide screen at 1900x1200. I can just get everything to show at that zoom level. I wouldn't advise printing as with the dark background will use up all your ink. You can use "Select Text" to copy out the text descriptions but that won't get you the images. Of course if you rearranged the text to be an order related to the image positions, you could get away without the images.
At 75% on my monitor I can view the writing but the images and titles at the top of each of the three trees isn't visible (as well as the map, of course).
I agree with you about not printing the poster due to the ink usage. When I discovered there was no way to change the background from dark brown to white, I gave up on printing out any part of the tech tree poster.
Just played a little with my campaign and the patch has made lost of improvements in terms of economics....my merchants finally bring in some money so i can continue the campaign and not start from scrach :)
As soon as someone says something definitive about the positives of the game I'm all over it
At the minute there's no one shouting from the rooftops about its awesomeness
IT'S AWESOME!!! 'GEEK SHOULD BUY ME!!!
Oh, don't encourage him.
..and come down off that bloody roof.....
:-[ Ok.....
Quote from: undercovergeek on October 04, 2015, 10:07:23 AM
As soon as someone says something definitive about the positives of the game I'm all over it
It isn't looking like a thirty quidder is it? Stick it on your wishlist and wait for a sale/inevitable goatee edition with loads of DLC.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on October 04, 2015, 11:27:25 AM
Quote from: undercovergeek on October 04, 2015, 10:07:23 AM
As soon as someone says something definitive about the positives of the game I'm all over it
It isn't looking like a thirty quidder is it? Stick it on your wishlist and wait for a sale/inevitable goatee edition with loads of DLC.
Despite MDs sales pitch - im thinking this might be it - however, its not the price its just whether its gooder-er or not
*ahem* 'more gooder' is more proper-er
Many youtube videos show money bleeding away from the treasury to support a large army. Large armies are not optional to capture cities.
This latest patch reduces the cost of armies substantially..making ability to field large armies much easier.
This is important, for a couple of reasons. Prior to this patch, any local campaign would end with the majority of your armies being disbanded...just too expensive to maintain. This resulted in any new armies being recruited at level one for experience. Kind of defeated the notion of keeping -- and maintaining -- a high quality army.
Now, a core army can be kept, and maintained for defense, and augmented for aggressive campaigns. The game, pre-patch, just wasn't working for human players..who would absolutely be unable to maintain an army more than about 20% the size of the other massive civilizations.
No real word on what army sizes are feasible...I haven't played for a week or so (moving!!!). I'll play some today, and report back on what I have been able to achieve.
That sounds pretty accurate to history. Are mercenaries in the game?
Quote from: Gusington on October 05, 2015, 06:03:02 PM
That sounds pretty accurate to history. Are mercenaries in the game?
yup
Which part?
The part where he caved and bought the game ;)
Quote from: MetalDog on October 05, 2015, 06:46:44 PM
The part where he caved and bought the game ;)
Lol no caving - there's mercs in all the YouTube vids
Have you caved yet today?
Still no - watched a few vids yesterday - my regulars, quill18, and arumba have now moved on which is disturbing, I could only find one English vid that had been updated within a week
Whereas blood bowl 2 looks a blast and I think I'll be all over that
I think it's also a matter of guys like Quill getting so many new games that they have to keep recording fresh stuff.
Disbanding most of a standing army would be historical and would work well, if the computer somehow kept track of experience gained. When the troops have to be called back up, a variable fraction of that experience (modified by various policies, time, proportion of veteran survivors to new recruits etc.) ought to be retained.
Quote from: tgb on October 06, 2015, 08:24:59 AM
I think it's also a matter of guys like Quill getting so many new games that they have to keep recording fresh stuff.
Absolutely understood - but when there are updates to ckii and eu4 games you've got to wonder if they've just left it behind
I've been playing it off and on the last couple of weeks - probably 15-20 hours - and I'm still on the tutorial! The tutorial is huge, and it's also bloody hard.
If you just follow the instructions you are given, you will absolutely lose every time, no matter how well you play. In particular, I'm talking about when they tell you to build military units. DON'T, YOU WILL DIE. You absolutely must beef your economy up before you can even think about buying units.
The other thing is that the game doesn't let you get away with over-production. Overproduce and you will lose. You must track supply and demand in your territory and purchase enough businesses to meet demand. No more. You have sliders on your businesses that you can use to reduce production, but usually it's better to demolish an existing business than to turn the sliders way low.
This short video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFlmrP4yhow - shows you how to figure out how to produce the right amount. The money part starts 2 minutes in.
Once you've got that figured out, you can win the tutorial. Build businesses when you can afford to until you meet demand of every product - not much more, not much less (but keep a pad in food, wood, bricks and metal wares). This will make you a profit. Save up maybe 200,000, it varies, and bribe away another city. This will build up demand, but there will also be duplicative production - destroy the extra, and build until you can meet your demand, save your 200K, rinse and repeat.
While you're doing all that, perform the steps in the tutorial about building units, etc., when you can easily afford to. You can win the tutorial this way! Hurrah!!!
I've actually been kind of enjoying it, but I'm a big agog at what a project the tutorial is. Of course, you could do it a lot faster if you run the game on super-speed, but that's just not fun to me. I want to watch the little counters move around the map, thank you very much.
I'm still interested enough to look forward to FINALLY getting to try the main mode and see how that goes. . . .
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I may actually attempt to play Grand Ages Medieval again. O0
I just picked it up last night, but I thought the whole military-breaks-your-economy business had recently been fixed.
Yes thanks Glen - another quick question - is there music in-game? Is it apprpriate/medievally?
Question - in the videos I've seen sooner or later the focus of a trade route gets changed, usually from "balanced" to "production", or whatever - but I can't find a way to do it. I don't see it mentioned anywhere in the manual or the in-game help, and I've tried clicking on everything that makes sense.
Quote from: Gusington on October 09, 2015, 08:46:24 AM
Yes thanks Glen - another quick question - is there music in-game? Is it apprpriate/medievally?
I always just listen to itunes. My weird mixture of the Beatles, Kanye, Taylor Swift and Radiohead may not be all that medieval.
Quote from: tgb on October 09, 2015, 08:43:44 AM
I just picked it up last night, but I thought the whole military-breaks-your-economy business had recently been fixed.
That patch was in before I started playing. Military units are still quite expensive and during the first part of the tutorial, your economy is hanging by a thread. Apparently the hidden point of the tutorial is to absolutely force you to balance supply and demand.
It must've been pretty horrible before the patch.
Kanye...oh my.
Quote from: glen55 on October 09, 2015, 12:33:53 PM
Quote from: tgb on October 09, 2015, 08:43:44 AM
I just picked it up last night, but I thought the whole military-breaks-your-economy business had recently been fixed.
That patch was in before I started playing. Military units are still quite expensive and during the first part of the tutorial, your economy is hanging by a thread. Apparently the hidden point of the tutorial is to absolutely force you to balance supply and demand.
It must've been pretty horrible before the patch.
The tutorial was almost unbeatable..but if you don't master the basic economic game balance, the sandbox game WAS unplayable.
Quote from: tgb on October 09, 2015, 10:44:58 AM
Question - in the videos I've seen sooner or later the focus of a trade route gets changed, usually from "balanced" to "production", or whatever - but I can't find a way to do it. I don't see it mentioned anywhere in the manual or the in-game help, and I've tried clicking on everything that makes sense.
Select the trader, and you can cycle through foci under the "Route Settings" tab.
In reply to an earlier question, yes there is in-game music, yes it has a CK2ish sort of flare and is quite pleasant (Mom remarked on it in passing while I was checking how well the game would play on my Surface Pro 3 -- answer, not well, but that's okay, the house is fine).
No, it is not really medieval style music, but it's the kind of music that sounds period-appropriate. I gather from some Steam comments that there isn't nearly enough of it, and that it gets repetitive fast, but everyone who mentions it seems to agree with me that it sounds good.
Well, I played a bunch more . . . my enthusiasm is waning a bit, just because it's so damned hard.
First, I never finished the tutorial. Maybe I was close, but after I built up my economy to overwhelming mass, with 30 million in the bank, I was tasked with a new sort of goal, also seemingly difficult, to start a city basically behind enemy lines and grow it to be larger than any of my current cities. I think I know how to do this - basically, found the city, destroy a bunch of my existing production facilities, and rebuild them in the new city, but jeez, it was going to be a huge job, and I could only think there was going to be another and another and another huge job waiting behind those. I usually don't think of playing a tutorial as being a way of life (like, e.g., WITP/AE).
So I gave up on the tutorial and fired up a sandbox. There are a number of difficulty settings, and I gave myself all the advantages I could, and played a fair bit of the weekend . . . only to lose TWICE because I just couldn't turn a profit with my startup economy. Even when I took a million gold as my startup stakes, and placed my cities with great care on a meticulously-explored map, I then proceeded to lose the whole million.
I love the map and the scale, but it's just too damned hard to figure this thing out. The manual tells you practically nothing about what you need to know to win, and so does the tutorial. There are a few youtube how-to videos, but there are not enough obsessive nerds playing this game and spilling all its secrets on the internet.
And there also just isn't enough information in-game. I want reports! Which items are raking in the big profits? Where is the bottleneck? Where exactly do my costs come from?
Maybe there are answers to these questions - obviously, I'm still in the tutorial phase, so I'm hardly a font of all GMA wisdom. But if there are answers, I'm just having too much trouble finding them.
^This...this is not good.
Yeah, sounds like those of us who waited dodged a bullet.
With the little gaming time i have, i am still in the campaign and still Learning. While, at least since the patch, i don't have too many problems, i find that the gameplay is very very slow. Maybe it's because i don't get everything but at this point i am supposed to reach a population of 4000 and it takes me forever to get there. You need a lot of time to play that game.
I like the map, the music, the trade. There's a lot of nice thing in the game but it requires a lot of patience.
I don't like too much the time needed for battles.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on October 14, 2015, 12:40:45 AM
Yeah, sounds like those of us who waited dodged a bullet.
My thoughts exactly. Whew!
This is not a fast game. It requires patience. I wasn't kidding when I stated earlier that this game would take longer than a Civ 5 game, using a huge map, on marathon.
It IS daunting to see that capturing even one city, late game, is a campaign, that may take a couple of hours.
The biggest suggestion I could make is to have your capital city build an upgrade warehouse, that stores all 20 different products, in quantity. This will cause a much more even distribution of goods amongst your empire, thusly increasing the growth rate, and your ability to crank out settlers and traders.
Indeed...the game is not bad, not bad at all but requires long sessions.
Quote from: Anguille on October 14, 2015, 08:39:15 AM
Indeed...the game is not bad, not bad at all but requires long sessions.
there it is - the golden ticket - i needed one of these for good or bad to swing the final purchase decision - i havent got long sessions - im not happy because if i had im sure id like it, but im also glad i didnt waste the $$
Well I did jump early and now I'm afraid to click the desktop icon. It's not the game length that worries me but the complexity without a good tutorial and documentation.
That said I may like medieval history enough that my love of the content will trump the difficulty (crosses fingers).
Quote from: Gusington on October 14, 2015, 11:44:41 AM
Well I did jump early and now I'm afraid to click the desktop icon. It's not the game length that worries me but the complexity without a good tutorial and documentation.
That said I may like medieval history enough that my love of the content will trump the difficulty (crosses fingers).
youve got ye olde steam refund option no?
Three things occur to me (mostly from reading, as I've been finishing up other gaming projects and not playing this much yet):
1.) It seems likely that strategies appropriate to the Patrician and Port Royale series are meant to work here.
2.) It seems likely that the gameplay is just different enough that those strategies won't work correctly here.
3.) It seems likely that one such difference is just how vastly huge the gameworld and consequent city-network is.
Quote from: JasonPratt on October 14, 2015, 11:51:25 AM
Three things occur to me (mostly from reading, as I've been finishing up other gaming projects and not playing this much yet):
1.) It seems likely that strategies appropriate to the Patrician and Port Royale series are meant to work here.
2.) It seems likely that the gameplay is just different enough that those strategies won't work correctly here.
3.) It seems likely that one such difference is just how vastly huge the gameworld and consequent city-network is.
just the 3? :P
I will not return this, the potential for me to love it is there.
Quote from: Gusington on October 14, 2015, 11:44:41 AM
Well I did jump early and now I'm afraid to click the desktop icon. It's not the game length that worries me but the complexity without a good tutorial and documentation.
That said I may like medieval history enough that my love of the content will trump the difficulty (crosses fingers).
This game is not difficult at all, once you understand the delicate balance between expansion and development. You just cannot over produce in this game, the labor costs will kill you.
Conversely, if you do not have sufficient resources for your empire, it will atrophy, and die. Your development must be in lockstep with gradual increase in population, and increased resource requirements.
This does place a premium on your ability to get goods from point A to B...or worse, from point A to all the other points you own!
New patch released, including the following features, which sound quite delightful:
New feature: City Walls
Towns and cities can now be fortified with palisades and city walls to slow the decline of citizens' morale during sieges. Construction is commissioned at the workshop, so they become available as soon as the workshop is unlocked.
Palisades and walls only need to be constructed once per city, and grow automatically as the city gets larger.
New feature: Trebuchet Master
To capture cities fortified with town walls more rapidly, trebuchet masters stands ready to assist you as a new military unit. They can set up their trebuchets near hostile cities and bring down city walls. However, they should never venture out without protection, because being unable to defend themselves, they are a popular target for enemy troops.
New feature: Military Leader
Previously, a competitor obtained the title for a region as soon as he controlled a certain share of that region. This makes the entire region visible to the competitor.
We have supplemented this region title mechanism: each time a competitor obtains a new title, the region's military leader joins his ranks. Each military leader affects a particular bonus on nearby friendly troops. Military leaders cannot die - however, once defeated they flee to the nearest town. A region's military leader will also defect if you lose the title. Let the fighting for the regions begin!
New feature: Colony Ships
In addition to settlers, you can now build colony ships. These - very expensive - ships can sale an unlimited distance and found a new settlement on any coast. It can extend your existing empire as a port town or become the first town of a new colony.
New feature: Battle Options
You can now command your troops to take a particularly defensive or aggressive stance when a battle is underway. You can also order an automatic withdrawal when a troop has declined to 20% HP.
Battle options only apply to the battle at hand. The options are deactivated as soon as a battle and adjacent skirmishes are over.
New feature: Pirates
After a prolonged playing time (no earlier than the rank of Grand Duke), pirates will begin to appear sporadically and loot merchant vessels. They can be hunted and destroyed with warships.
Improvements, balancing and bug fixes
Fixed an error that involved AI growth. It now grows more slowly in the early stages of the game.
Regional map under "Your Empire" tidied up and revised to show military leaders.
Minor adjustments to fighting power of several troops (Sabres Fighter, Beserker, Flailsman, Crossbowman, Spearman, Horse Archer, Knight, Mounted Warrior).
Scouts now have twice their previous HP.
If the fast-forward button is activated via the Options menu and pause is deactivated during dialogue, fast-forward will remain activated even when opening a dialogue window. This speeds up multiplayer games (particularly in the beginning).
Resolved two issues involving the alerts "Excess production" (city dialogue) and "Balance" (cash).
Manual merchants now emit an acoustic signal upon reaching their target town.
Diplomacy: Revised the demand to attack an enemy's town. Players can now only select the demand if the other party is willing to comply.
For example, if one is to attack a hostile competitor by diplomatic means, the competitor's colour will be displayed in the dialogue.
Resolved a number of minor text issues and bugs.
Resolved an issue that occurred when taking over trade routes after taking over a competitor. The captured trade routes are now shorter and more efficient.
Quote from: Gusington on November 19, 2015, 09:43:31 PM
New patch released, including the following features, which sound quite delightful:
New feature: City Walls
Towns and cities can now be fortified with palisades and city walls to slow the decline of citizens' morale during sieges. Construction is commissioned at the workshop, so they become available as soon as the workshop is unlocked.
Palisades and walls only need to be constructed once per city, and grow automatically as the city gets larger.
New feature: Trebuchet Master
To capture cities fortified with town walls more rapidly, trebuchet masters stands ready to assist you as a new military unit. They can set up their trebuchets near hostile cities and bring down city walls. However, they should never venture out without protection, because being unable to defend themselves, they are a popular target for enemy troops.
New feature: Military Leader
Previously, a competitor obtained the title for a region as soon as he controlled a certain share of that region. This makes the entire region visible to the competitor.
We have supplemented this region title mechanism: each time a competitor obtains a new title, the region's military leader joins his ranks. Each military leader affects a particular bonus on nearby friendly troops. Military leaders cannot die - however, once defeated they flee to the nearest town. A region's military leader will also defect if you lose the title. Let the fighting for the regions begin!
New feature: Colony Ships
In addition to settlers, you can now build colony ships. These - very expensive - ships can sale an unlimited distance and found a new settlement on any coast. It can extend your existing empire as a port town or become the first town of a new colony.
New feature: Battle Options
You can now command your troops to take a particularly defensive or aggressive stance when a battle is underway. You can also order an automatic withdrawal when a troop has declined to 20% HP.
Battle options only apply to the battle at hand. The options are deactivated as soon as a battle and adjacent skirmishes are over.
New feature: Pirates
After a prolonged playing time (no earlier than the rank of Grand Duke), pirates will begin to appear sporadically and loot merchant vessels. They can be hunted and destroyed with warships.
Improvements, balancing and bug fixes
Fixed an error that involved AI growth. It now grows more slowly in the early stages of the game.
Regional map under "Your Empire" tidied up and revised to show military leaders.
Minor adjustments to fighting power of several troops (Sabres Fighter, Beserker, Flailsman, Crossbowman, Spearman, Horse Archer, Knight, Mounted Warrior).
Scouts now have twice their previous HP.
If the fast-forward button is activated via the Options menu and pause is deactivated during dialogue, fast-forward will remain activated even when opening a dialogue window. This speeds up multiplayer games (particularly in the beginning).
Resolved two issues involving the alerts "Excess production" (city dialogue) and "Balance" (cash).
Manual merchants now emit an acoustic signal upon reaching their target town.
Diplomacy: Revised the demand to attack an enemy's town. Players can now only select the demand if the other party is willing to comply.
For example, if one is to attack a hostile competitor by diplomatic means, the competitor's colour will be displayed in the dialogue.
Resolved a number of minor text issues and bugs.
Resolved an issue that occurred when taking over trade routes after taking over a competitor. The captured trade routes are now shorter and more efficient.
The big one here is slower AI growth. It was near impossible for a human player to not fall behind, and then with his 20 unit army go against an empire of 500 units.
So is this patch enough to put the game a level or two higher than it was?
I don't know, I still haven't fired it up...still smarting from my defeat last night and don't want another ass-kicking so soon.
I do know that players were clamoring for better siege characteristics like walls, etc...so hopefully this patch will help with that.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on November 21, 2015, 02:56:18 PM
So is this patch enough to put the game a level or two higher than it was?
A qualified yes. The prior mechanics required an immense level on concentration on expansion. You had to devote ALL your time to expansion, or risk being crushed by the other empires.
Even now, you just cannot turtle and expect to survive. The enemy AI have HUNDREDS of cities, with production bonuses. It really was unfair..only less so now.
I haven't gotten to the mid-game yet with this patch..I'll report back on whether I have a realistic chance of winning this time!
Heh, thanks Dennis.
Playing this reminds me of how much better Knights of Honor is in almost every way. And with the 1.05 patch it even runs under Win 10, so Yay.
Quote from: tgb on November 23, 2015, 07:18:16 AM
Playing this reminds me of how much better Knights of Honor is in almost every way. And with the 1.05 patch it even runs under Win 10, so Yay.
Funny you should mention this. I also love Knights of Honor, and play the hell out of it. What's different is that Knights of Honor has fixed city locations, and an interesting trade mechanic. I have found that getting five merchants, and setting up trade routes with the five largest empires makes KoH a cakewalk. Very easy to expand, very easy to win.
I like the strategic and tactical nature of GAM, in that I am free to settle where I want, and to set up the production chains how I see best. Each game truly is unique.
My God, Knights of Honor doesn't that bring back some great memories. I still have the box/manual/tech tree intact and need to reinstall and play some. While the battles were quite average the campaign blew away anything with the words "Total War" in it. Its only downfall were the average battles and the resolution locked at 1024x768. KOH really needs a remake/sequel.
So, GAM is 65% off on Steam and on my wishlist, but this thread seems to hold mixed responses to it. Anybody played it recently and have views on whether it's become more attractive in the last few months?
Quote from: Father Ted on April 02, 2016, 02:26:46 PM
So, GAM is 65% off on Steam and on my wishlist, but this thread seems to hold mixed responses to it. Anybody played it recently and have views on whether it's become more attractive in the last few months?
I was just about to post the same question when I saw yours. It's been on my wish list since it came out. I hope someone replies with an update.
Yeah I'm vaguely tempted too, but the reviews on Steam make it sound like a horrible game.
I have the game since release....and have played only about 10 hours so far...i can't say i am very much into it but i want to give the introduction campaign a new try. One thing that kept me from playing is that the game is demanding on the graphic card and it doesn't run so nicely on my computer.
There has been a big patch in december that improved the game a lot. Now, that being said. It's first an economic game. If you like games like Port Royale, you may like it. If you're mostly looking for a medieval warfare game (there is some), then you should think twice because you might find the game boring.
Imho, they made two major mistakes in the marketing.
1) Call it Grand Ages because many expected a follow-up to Grand Ages: Rome and it's a very different game.
2) Make it sound like a strategy game because it is only partially.
Thanks Anguille. I am actually intrigued by the the idea of an economic game, so I think I'll keep thinking about this.
Anguille is one of the most forgiving gamers I know. He always tries to find the best aspects of a game and focus on them. If he doesn't' like a game rest assured it sucks.
I own GAM...got it on sale a few months ago and will dive in to it once I get Age of Charlemagne out of my system. I bought it after the big patch was released and IIRC they improved the tutorial.
I was so disappointed with GA:M, the economic and trade are very simple, and the game overall is so boring. Really, any older economic/ trade games are better in every aspect, even some city builders focused game such Anno 1404 has better and deeper economic gameplay.
Thanks guys.
This is a tough one. I can usually get a picture of whether I'd personally like a game by seeing what others (on grogheads) have said and watching videos, but this time I just can't figure it out. The sale price is very good, and if I was just dying for a new game to play, at this point I'd be diving in. I'm not, though, and all bets are off when Stellaris comes out next month anyway. I guess I will reluctantly pass for now.
Quote from: Gusington on April 02, 2016, 08:22:44 PM
Anguille is one of the most forgiving gamers I know. He always tries to find the best aspects of a game and focus on them. If he doesn't' like a game rest assured it sucks.
It's true... :)
I usually manage to get a few hours of fun even of crappy games...
There are of course also games that are just not for my taste...
I ain't lyin' 😀
Raied's comments depress me, though...they mirror most of the user and pro reviews I have read on the game.
So as backup I may play some Medieval 2 Total War which, despite it being one of my favorite games ever, I haven't played in a long time.
Quote from: Huw the Poo on April 03, 2016, 03:28:09 AM
Thanks guys.
This is a tough one. I can usually get a picture of whether I'd personally like a game by seeing what others (on grogheads) have said and watching videos, but this time I just can't figure it out. The sale price is very good, and if I was just dying for a new game to play, at this point I'd be diving in. I'm not, though, and all bets are off when Stellaris comes out next month anyway. I guess I will reluctantly pass for now.
I'm going to pass as well. Not because I think it's necessarily a bad game - I've just got a ton of other games which I should really give my attention to (eg 7 Years War - bought and not even looked at yet) before I buy another one on spec.
It's a good game, but it will take hundreds of hours to complete. The AI is given such massive bonuses that conquering even one city, mid game or later, is a one week project. Nice game, but there are pretty severe balance issues.
Any patches expected to help with the issues?
Quote from: Gusington on April 03, 2016, 06:14:55 PM
Any patches expected to help with the issues?
I don't think there are many bugs left. The game itself is solid but the question is imho more about the gameplay. It's a new mix (part econ, part strategy etc). It's really not a bad game and they invested a lot of time into it...
I think the team still wants to bring a new update to the game but not sure how big it would be and when, considering the lack of success of the game. They seem to continue to visit the forums on steam on a very regular basis.
Thanks Anguille, I am looking forward to trying this out soon.
Quote from: Gusington on April 04, 2016, 06:51:53 AM
Thanks Anguille, I am looking forward to trying this out soon.
Did you buy it?
I think the current discount price is worth it. I probably wouldn't buy it again for the price it was when it was released.
^I've had it for months, I think I bought it during the Steam winter sale, 20.00 IIRC.
All this discussion had a positive effect...i am finally playing the game and have almost finished the tutorial. I am having some real fun now. O0
You're welcome!
I hope it has the same effect on me.
The more i play this game, the more i like it and it's slowly climbing the ladder to be a new favorite of mine. :smitten:
I just wished they had made a decent manual...i have to see youtube videos to find information i can't find elsewhere.... :tickedoff:
This bodes well :)
How are you finding the city builder parts of it? Fun? Minor?
Quote from: Gusington on April 12, 2016, 06:37:42 AM
This bodes well :)
How are you finding the city builder parts of it? Fun? Minor?
There's not really a city builder part....you select 5 production types and you see these buidlings in your city. Houses are built automatically with your population. There are a few other buildings (army, Church etc) you can build but that you cannot place yourself.
The view of your cities is really nice with people walking around and do their things. Animation of the map (cities, animals, sees etc) is one of the nicest thing in this game.
Hmmm.... maybe I should give it another try.
Quote from: Raied on April 12, 2016, 06:55:59 AM
Hmmm.... maybe I should give it another try.
Maybe...you seem to be a specialist in these economic games. While the early game can be easy to set up trade routes, the game gets more complex in time especially as you have to increase the population of your cities to expand the territory you control while at the same time keep the economic balance of your trade routes....
^You have single-handedly turned this thread around!
Quote from: Gusington on April 12, 2016, 05:36:52 PM
^You have single-handedly turned this thread around!
LOL....but too late for last week's Steam sale.
I am not a specialist, but I enjoy these type of games usually, the thing that turned me off was not the lack of difficulty, rather than the concept of the game, the game sat in medieval theme, but for me I do not see any medieval city or feudal system here, you can change it to any other theme and it will work just fine.
The thing is I was expecting more from the game, the price suggest it has more to do rather than just trade route and get almost all the resources you need from trade or building new cities, diplomacy and warfare are really shallow, and the city or province system can be much more improved.
Maybe my expectation was too high, that is why I just didn't continue to dig deeper into the game, I stopped playing before the second patch came, I think I should take the game less seriously and try it again.
Quote from: Raied on April 12, 2016, 10:45:07 PM
I am not a specialist, but I enjoy these type of games usually, the thing that turned me off was not the lack of difficulty, rather than the concept of the game, the game sat in medieval theme, but for me I do not see any medieval city or feudal system here, you can change it to any other theme and it will work just fine.
The thing is I was expecting more from the game, the price suggest it has more to do rather than just trade route and get almost all the resources you need from trade or building new cities, diplomacy and warfare are really shallow, and the city or province system can be much more improved.
Maybe my expectation was too high, that is why I just didn't continue to dig deeper into the game, I stopped playing before the second patch came, I think I should take the game less seriously and try it again.
I understand you and i have to say that this is also what disappointed when i started to play in september. I was too much expecting a Knights of Honor experience and was underwhelmed at first. But once i played again last week, it sucked me in. I've also played some Patrician III lately and in Grand Ages you can do so much more. I also think that city walls helps to give this visual medieval flavour. It's not perfect but the game world is so well done....
Some videos helped me really get into the game:
Before DLC:
After DLC:
Quote from: Rayfer on April 12, 2016, 08:52:25 PM
Quote from: Gusington on April 12, 2016, 05:36:52 PM
^You have single-handedly turned this thread around!
LOL....but too late for last week's Steam sale.
Yeah, sorry. I am sure it's going to be on sale again soon.
Thanks Anguille, I will install it this weekend, seems a lot of nice visuals added in the later patches.
Funny enougth, this made me start my first real campaign of Lords of the Realm on my netbook (handy whilst on the go) :D
I played Lords of the Realm 2 a lot back in the days....
How many patches have there been? It is the patches that appear to really have turned the game around.
Quote from: Gusington on April 13, 2016, 06:51:21 AM
How many patches have there been? It is the patches that appear to really have turned the game around.
Don't think so.
As far as i can see, there's been 2 patches and one large update (or bigger patch). I believe the biggest reason for the negative reviews lies in the wrong expectations. Conquest comes only late and is not the main aspect like in Knights of Honor for instance. It's a slow and relaxing game where you have time and space to expand before it gets crowded.
Well then I can certainly dig that as well.
Bloody hell, Anguille. You've made me add this game (back) onto my Steam wishlist.
Damn you. :P
Quote from: Martok on April 17, 2016, 02:25:40 PM
Bloody hell, Anguille. You've made me add this game (back) onto my Steam wishlist.
Damn you. :P
Yeah I'm kind of regretting not buying this in the recent sale too. Anguille must be silenced....forever!!! >:D
Sorry guys!
Guess i'll have to watch my back from now on.... :coolsmiley:
Now I don't know what to play next...Grand Ages Medieval or Pillars of Eternity.
I am really curious to have your opinion about Grand Ages M. ;)
Me too! I think I will fire it up tonight.
Ok so I played through about an hour of the tutorial campaign and I have to say the attention to detail is excellent - it's clear that the developers love the subject matter. Question - the campaign has assigned me to sell 300 barrels of any combo of commodities in the town of Constanta. Right now it doesn't look like that town has enough money to buy...do I just wait and speed up the game until they have enough money?
Sell them 300 barrels of Gold Bars and then they'll have the money. ;D
Quote from: Gusington on April 20, 2016, 07:27:30 AM
Ok so I played through about an hour of the tutorial campaign and I have to say the attention to detail is excellent - it's clear that the developers love the subject matter. Question - the campaign has assigned me to sell 300 barrels of any combo of commodities in the town of Constanta. Right now it doesn't look like that town has enough money to buy...do I just wait and speed up the game until they have enough money?
They should have enough money. Use also one merchant that you control manually to speed up the sale.
I only had have one merchant...not sure what I am doing wrong.
Quote from: Gusington on April 20, 2016, 04:33:25 PM
I only had have one merchant...not sure what I am doing wrong.
You can have one merchant per city. If you have already more than one city, you can hire one in the Inn. Don't worry...you're very early in the campaign. Take your time. Pressing the space bar increases speed if needed. ;)
Ok so I guess I am probably way to early in this tutorial to stop and switch to sandbox mode, eh? Everything was going swimmingly until this city could not buy my wares. I am intent to learn this game though...your description of it as a nice relaxiing title makes me want to love it.
Quote from: Gusington on April 20, 2016, 05:13:14 PM
Ok so I guess I am probably way to early in this tutorial to stop and switch to sandbox mode, eh? Everything was going swimmingly until this city could not buy my wares. I am intent to learn this game though...your description of it as a nice relaxiing title makes me want to love it.
I think so. You really need to have at least a few cities you can manage before trying the sandbox (but even there, you'll get some advices). I am sure the city can buy the goods, it takes maybe a little time, thus pressing the space bar is sometimes necessary.
Quote from: Gusington on April 20, 2016, 07:27:30 AM
Ok so I played through about an hour of the tutorial campaign and I have to say the attention to detail is excellent - it's clear that the developers love the subject matter. Question - the campaign has assigned me to sell 300 barrels of any combo of commodities in the town of Constanta. Right now it doesn't look like that town has enough money to buy...do I just wait and speed up the game until they have enough money?
I have restarted the campaign so i can follow your first steps into the game... ;)
Did you activate the trade route between Sofia and Constanta?
I'm not at my computer now but IIRC I did. Built the road too. Now I am tasked with getting a trade license and selling 300 barrels of any commodity.
Quote from: Gusington on April 20, 2016, 06:16:23 PM
I'm not at my computer now but IIRC I did. Built the road too. Now I am tasked with getting a trade license and selling 300 barrels of any commodity.
It will take a while.
My advice with the tutorial is this: do not focus on the tutorial goals. Just focus on building up your little economy and the goals will take care of themselves. Don't over-spend! In particular, don't build a military unit just because the tutorial tells you to. Wait until you're certain you can handle a significant financial drain for maintenance.
(I don't know whether any of this advice has any applicability to your current situation or not.)
Thanks...no time tonight to sit down with it but I should be able to tomorrow.
Quote from: glen55 on April 20, 2016, 07:11:44 PM
Quote from: Gusington on April 20, 2016, 06:16:23 PM
I'm not at my computer now but IIRC I did. Built the road too. Now I am tasked with getting a trade license and selling 300 barrels of any commodity.
It will take a while.
My advice with the tutorial is this: do not focus on the tutorial goals. Just focus on building up your little economy and the goals will take care of themselves. Don't over-spend! In particular, don't build a military unit just because the tutorial tells you to. Wait until you're certain you can handle a significant financial drain for maintenance.
(I don't know whether any of this advice has any applicability to your current situation or not.)
It's too early in the campaign and i think it has been corrected with the patches. Tutorial goals are important but also how the economy works. Later on, make sure you're making profit with your trade routes.
^I had a trade route set up, I just didn't let enough time go by for enough commodities to come in. Starting to get the hang of trade...supply + demand, etc. The game does a lot of things for the player once the proper infrastructure has been built. In a way it's a lot like a puzzle game, I think. The pace is very slow...I see what you mean when you say it can be a relaxing game. Does it become much more difficult in the sandbox mode? After a couple of hours I am starting to get the hang of it and if I stick with it I can see myself enjoying it a lot.
I made some good progress tonight by building additional buildings, upgrading my main office, buying additional carts for my trader, opening up trade with Budapest and Split, and right before I finished for the night the Normans landed to the west of my city (Sofia). I haven't had any military dealings yet at all.
It can become quite difficult when you start fighting off competitors. They are building up as you are, and they have a clue about it.
Fortunately, there are enough difficulty modifiers that you can dial up a sandbox that is just as hard or difficult as you like.
I noticed that even in this intro campaign. Traders from other towns started expanding with multiple carts to ship more stuff just as I did the same.
The AI is very efficient when it comes to trade routes and increasing the population of cities... ;)
Even in this tutorial campaign?
I'm going to have to agree with you Anguille and others above that said the initial bad reviews must have been from people expecting a combat game. It's very polished and well put together. Other than expecting something else I don't get the hate.
OK I have three cities now and the Normans have declared war on me, but they are not that strong so it is not that much of a threat. My economy fluctuates regularly from + to -...anywhere between -15,000 in the red to +50,000 in the black...how can I stabilize it?
Also there is a scarcity of tools, so I cannot build workshops in my cities that lead to being able to build walls to protect them. I produce tools myself and early game was able to trade at the inn for more but they are scarce now...any suggestions?
In the sandbox mode, are the end game parameters adjustable? For example in recent TW games there are short, long and epic victories. Anything like that here?
Quote from: Gusington on April 24, 2016, 05:09:43 PM
OK I have three cities now and the Normans have declared war on me, but they are not that strong so it is not that much of a threat. My economy fluctuates regularly from + to -...anywhere between -15,000 in the red to +50,000 in the black...how can I stabilize it?
Also there is a scarcity of tools, so I cannot build workshops in my cities that lead to being able to build walls to protect them. I produce tools myself and early game was able to trade at the inn for more but they are scarce now...any suggestions?
In the sandbox mode, are the end game parameters adjustable? For example in recent TW games there are short, long and epic victories. Anything like that here?
The fluctuation you have is really big. I would say that for three cities, one merchant should be enough but you should increase the number of charriots he has. Do you have enough raw materials for the production of Tools? Tools are super important and everyone needs them. You should always have enough wood and clay as well. Check the following videos. Make sure you don't have too many troops cos they are expensive....the idea is really to hire troops just before you go to war and the let most of them go when you don't need them anymore. I don't think you really need walls at this point in the game.
Good advices on how to be profitable.
It's an open-end game so you can stop the game whenever you want. I think however that you can set victory conditions on multiplayer games but i haven't tried it.
Thanks for the above Anguille will watch later. I only have one company of mercs right now and 1 or 2 scouts. I started futzing with raw materials, etc., to supply my tool factory but I guess I have found the perfect balance yet. Will keep futzing. I have to say that combat is not as terrible as some reviews led me to believe...it's not Total War but it's perfectly serviceable. And this tutorial campaign is very good, it covers a ton of stuff and is very well paced as I enter my 5th hour of play :)
Tools are just the bottleneck for a while in the tutorial campaign. You have to get the tech, you have to get the metal and coal and bring it together, and it just takes a while.
At that point in the tutorial campaign where it tells you to build a unit, in my experience it's a disaster to build a unit at that point in time and I was never able to recover my economy when I had done it. Instead, I just go slow. Without that military unit, you should be turning a profit. Let your profits build up - settle a couple more cities in areas with resources you don't already have. Not only does this give you those resources, but even more importantly you can build an extra trader for each city and start getting goods where they need to go in a timely fashion. I always prioritize upgrading roads.
Once you get a couple more cities built up, get their economies rolling and get them integrated into your trade routine, you should be able to easily afford a unit. By this time you should have done enough research. I spend a couple of points on axeman and swordsman, so my first unit is a swordsman, who can take care of himself. The next upgrade on that path is the special Bosnian saber unit, whatever it's called.
Speaking of upgrades I just did my first three yesterday, can't remember which. But I was thinking the same thing below, just disband that one unit of mercs. Not sure their cost but I'm sure it's high. I will disbandit during my next session.
Quote from: Gusington on April 25, 2016, 05:26:21 PM
Speaking of upgrades I just did my first three yesterday, can't remember which. But I was thinking the same thing below, just disband that one unit of mercs. Not sure their cost but I'm sure it's high. I will disbandit during my next session.
Not good enough. You absolutely need to do something about datbandit as well.
I dunno I kinda like datbandit.
What about Da-Udderbandit?
^F him.
Spent the last hour messing with my production in each of my cities and my economy is still fluctuating insanely...time to watch the videos above :/
Is a good Capitalist approach of, "Just leave it the hell alone" even possible in this game?
Quote from: Sir Slash on April 25, 2016, 09:49:39 PM
Is a good Capitalist approach of, "Just leave it the hell alone" even possible in this game?
There's a lot of that involved. You can sure get burned badly if you do too much.
I may be doing too much...it is addicting, though. I sat down to play for 20 minutes and an hour later decided I had to go to bed.
This is starting to sound like a game that might scratch the same kind of itch as does the Anno series. Would that be accurate?
Funny I am going to fire up Dawn of Discovery next, my first foray into the Anno games.
So if I was looking for a game taking place in the Middle Ages where I could build up a small town into a huge city and trading empire making tons of money becoming very powerful.... Should I play this, "Patrician 4", "Rise of Venice" or "Anno1404"?
Quote from: Huw the Poo on April 26, 2016, 06:45:13 AM
This is starting to sound like a game that might scratch the same kind of itch as does the Anno series. Would that be accurate?
I haven't played much in the Anno series, just a few hours of 1602, but my recollection of that is that it was pretty clicky. GAM is not clicky. There's a lot of watching and waiting. Of course, there are time controls, so you can speed it up to "clicky" if you like. Personally, I like slow games.
Thanks Glen. Me too.
I do like slow but I'm starting to think there may be too much slow here for me. I'm starting to grow tired of the balancing act. There is a good, even great game here, but I'm starting to grow impatient. Going to watch the tutorials above in a second, maybe that will help me recover.
Totally forgot about Rise of Venice...how is that?
Quote from: Gusington on April 26, 2016, 08:00:22 PM
I do like slow but I'm starting to think there may be too much slow here for me. I'm starting to grow tired of the balancing act. There is a good, even great game here, but I'm starting to grow impatient. Going to watch the tutorials above in a second, maybe that will help me recover.
It's not so easy to make a lot of money with 2-4 cities only. You should focus on the goals of the campaign. When you have 10 cities or more, money will come in more easely.
Quote from: mikeck on April 26, 2016, 10:51:30 AM
So if I was looking for a game taking place in the Middle Ages where I could build up a small town into a huge city and trading empire making tons of money becoming very powerful.... Should I play this, "Patrician 4", "Rise of Venice" or "Anno1404"?
Anno 1404 is very much a city-builder. Rise of Venice and Patrician 4 are mostly economic simulations with ships. GAM is really about building an empire based on trade.
I'd guess that Grand Ages Medieval fits better to what you discribe, followed by Anno 1404.
BTW: Grand Ages Medieval is
on sale on GOG
https://www.gog.com/promo/bundleopolis_massive_battles_monument_270416 (https://www.gog.com/promo/bundleopolis_massive_battles_monument_270416)
Anguille the tutorials, while short, were helpful...like me. Thanks!
When it was on the Steam sale I looked at all the negative reviews and thought no.
Then read all the above (after the Steam sale had ended) and thought wish I had bought after all when it was on sale.
Now Anguille tells me it is on sale on GOG - bought and downloading now :)
So now it's your turn to post your own back and forth :)
Just played for another hour or so and while futzing with everything, my income just kept going steadily down, down, down until I was at like -50,000 every ten weeks! Then it would bounce up for a very short time and go through the same cycle again. Getting frustrated with it so instead of punching through my monitor I am just going to put it aside for now...I attempted to tweak production, minimize building costs, etc. as prescribed in the tutorial videos and nothing I did helped. Going to move on to Anno 1404 - Venice.
Quote from: Gusington on April 28, 2016, 05:37:23 PM
Just played for another hour or so and while futzing with everything, my income just kept going steadily down, down, down until I was at like -50,000 every ten weeks! Then it would bounce up for a very short time and go through the same cycle again. Getting frustrated with it so instead of punching through my monitor I am just going to put it aside for now...I attempted to tweak production, minimize building costs, etc. as prescribed in the tutorial videos and nothing I did helped. Going to move on to Anno 1404 - Venice.
I don't want to try to talk you out of your choice or get you to the point where you try to repair your computer with a hammer, but . . .
Did you disband your unit?
Are you frequently comparing overall supply and demand by checking the "all towns" tab, and if so, did you demolish production facilities for over-produced goods? Goods have per-unit costs, so when you produce goods you don't sell you are throwing money away.
Yes that is exactly what I was doing...disbanded my one mercenary unit a while back too.
Quote from: Gusington on April 28, 2016, 07:43:59 PM
Yes that is exactly what I was doing...disbanded my one mercenary unit a while back too.
You're beyond my help! :buck2:
Quote from: Gusington on April 28, 2016, 05:37:23 PM
Just played for another hour or so and while futzing with everything, my income just kept going steadily down, down, down until I was at like -50,000 every ten weeks! Then it would bounce up for a very short time and go through the same cycle again. Getting frustrated with it so instead of punching through my monitor I am just going to put it aside for now...I attempted to tweak production, minimize building costs, etc. as prescribed in the tutorial videos and nothing I did helped. Going to move on to Anno 1404 - Venice.
Mmmh...i guess you made too many expenses at some point. The campaign is a kind of tutorial but not necessary an easy one. First time i played it, i had the same problem...couldn't get out of my debts and restarted from scratch later.
I would recommend to leave the campaign and start an open game instead. Give yourself a lot of money and choose a smaller map. This will allow you to try different things.
You know, the fact that you mentioned that you had the same issue your first go around makes me feel a lot better. I didn't delete the game off my drive in nerd rage, I just put it aside for now. Once I get my confidence back up I will come back to it. I really find a lot to like in this game, it just doesn't find a lot to like in me :)
Its an economic game, it dislikes a shortfall.
Do you mean, Short-Fall, Gus' professional name when performing at the Renaissance Fair? BTW, The game's on sale at GOG for $9.99. That's less than Gus charges for his Flaming Juggling Act at the fair. ;D
Well, at least you confidence won't have far to climb to get back up.
Its only $9.99 if you buy it as part of a bundle. Alone its $13.19.
Which bundle is it part of.
NM, I found it
https://www.gog.com/promo/bundleopolis_massive_battles_monument_270416
"Massive Battles" == featuring GA:M, a game without massive battles per se. ::) :P
The other games are pretty neat, and can feature some decent battles. Warrior Kings: Battles, despite its goofy title, is an interesting little medievalish RTS that stresses good town and territory design.
^10.99.
That's still cheaper than Short-Fall's Sword-Swallowing Show at the fair.
Not on Wednesdays.
Finally got down to playing the (semi-tutorialish) campaign this weekend; up to the goal of hiring my first merc unit, which I am definitely not going to do until I'm sure I've got a good infrastructure for it. Specifically, first I'm going to get a new town set up (outside the tutorial's scope) in the mountains at the river crossing heading toward Constanta on the Black Sea coast: an area I can get both coal and metal, and so can make metal tools. (And fish.)
I suspect success in this game will involve checking what's not being produced in nearby towns, and then setting up a new town on the road between them and my central hub (Sofia in this case) in a region that allows me to build what's missing; and then using the new trader thus provided on an auto loop between those three towns. Every "leg" thus created gets its own auto-trader, and I keep one trader in reserve (from my hub town in effect) to manually meander around going for the 50% profits on "foreign" towns and 20% profits on "my" towns.
The tutorial campaign may not let me test that very effectively, but I'll try to test it for a sandbox start later.
PSA: on sale for $4.50 at Gamersgate (http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-GAM/grand-ages-medieval?caff=2088091&aff=cj) for the next ~44 hours. (Steam key)
Thanks steve58...been thinking about this one for a long time....it's time to get it!
Open your mind and get in a learnin' mood.
Quote from: Gusington on August 30, 2016, 08:30:40 PM
Open your mind and get in a learnin' mood.
Haven't had time to fire it up yet. These incredible sales are a mixed blessing. It's all about time, not money these days.
I certainly hear that. A double edged golden era of gaming.
GAM is on sale right now for $7.49. For those that have it and played, is it good and more than worth the price.
It's definitely worth it for that price but be ready for a learning curve.
Quote from: JasonPratt on May 02, 2016, 10:29:59 AM
Finally got down to playing the (semi-tutorialish) campaign this weekend; up to the goal of hiring my first merc unit, which I am definitely not going to do until I'm sure I've got a good infrastructure for it. Specifically, first I'm going to get a new town set up (outside the tutorial's scope) in the mountains at the river crossing heading toward Constanta on the Black Sea coast: an area I can get both coal and metal, and so can make metal tools. (And fish.)
I suspect success in this game will involve checking what's not being produced in nearby towns, and then setting up a new town on the road between them and my central hub (Sofia in this case) in a region that allows me to build what's missing; and then using the new trader thus provided on an auto loop between those three towns. Every "leg" thus created gets its own auto-trader, and I keep one trader in reserve (from my hub town in effect) to manually meander around going for the 50% profits on "foreign" towns and 20% profits on "my" towns.
The tutorial campaign may not let me test that very effectively, but I'll try to test it for a sandbox start later.
You've got the right idea about conducting trade, and also about prioritizing, it appears. Worry about the economy first and foremost and meet the goals of the tutorial as afterthoughts. If you concentrate on the goals, you'll get slaughtered.
I think it's more than worth the price, BUT! -- it's important to understand what you're getting.
Basically what you're getting is a version of Pirates, except set on continental Europe / Med / Near Middle East (the standard sort of mother-of-wars map), during a loose medieval period, and with less actual pirating and more town trading management. Also, the story campaign is pretty good.
I think it's closer to the Patrician games but on a larger scale.
Patrician games == Pirates on a larger scale (as far as the land side of the game).
See also: Port Royale games. Which are literally remakes of Sid Miere's Pirates, taking the improvements from the Patrician games and putting them back into the Caribbean setting.
Thus I trace back to the Pirates root. (Though Patrician, Port Royale, and even Rise of Venice are really closer to Sid's Pirates than GAM. But the root gameplay elements are still there. Minus much of the extra detail introduced in those variations, ironically, but with 95% less naval gameplay elements. ::) )
Not sure I'd call the Port Royale games remakes of Sid's Pirates. I mean, there not even any dancing in the Port Royale games. ::)
There wasn't in the original Pirates either, iirc. :buck2:
^Methinks you recall correctly. But I've had a wee bit of McCallan 12 so I can't be 100% sure. ;D
I wasn't half bad at the dancing in the Pirates remake.