Grand Ages Medieval

[DennisS]

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.

[Anguille]

Indeed...the game is not bad, not bad at all but requires long sessions.

[undercovergeek]

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 $$

[Gusington]

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).

[undercovergeek]

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?

[JasonPratt]

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.

[undercovergeek]

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

[Gusington]

I will not return this, the potential for me to love it is there.

[DennisS]

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!

[Gusington]

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.

[DennisS]

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.

[Huw the Poo]

So is this patch enough to put the game a level or two higher than it was?

[Gusington]

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.

[DennisS]

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!

[Huw the Poo]

Heh, thanks Dennis.