field of glory EMPIRES

[Life of the Party]

After Rome and Carthage, it’s time to let you feel some pressure, and what’s better than having to fight for your own survival?

Welcome to Challenge #3 – Antigonos at War

For this Challenge, you’ll have to show your best tactical skills, as Challenge #3 is totally devoted to let you experience the integration between the strategic layer of Empires with the tactical layer of Field of Glory II.

Playing with Antigonos you’ll have to prove to your adversaries you are the most skilled among the Diadochi and show the world that the Alexander the Great Legacy is not dead with him!

Challenge #3: As Antigonos, defeat at least once the three Diadochi that stands between you and your just claim of Alexander the Great empire. To do so, you'll need to win in a battle against Macedonia, Seleukos and Ptolemeos at least once each. Each battle must have at least 20 enemy units and be done using Field of Glory II to qualify. Each time you win, you'll be notified with a message. You have 50 turns to achieve this feat of martial skills.

Nation Available: Antigonos

Turns: 50

Map: All playable

Mechanics and features: All active

Who can join?

Influencers and media members. The participation is mainly by invitation, but if you think you qualify to compete, write to us at challenge@slitherine.co.uk, with your name/nickname and your channel/media.

Time and validity

10 days from the announcement.

In the 10 days of validity, we will gather the videos or the screenshots proving the completion of the challenge and will assign the scores. After all the Challenges have been played, we will declare the final winner by calculating the cumulative points gained in all the episodes.

If you have doubts about the Battle System and the Integration with FOG2, please refers to Dev Diary #9 (Battle System) and Dev Diary #9-Addendum (Playing Empires Battles in FOG2)

Check all the Dev Diaries here

Are you eager to see the Challenge in action? Then don't miss DasTactic on Thursday6th attempting it on our official Twitch Channel at 6 pm BST / 1 pm EDT / 10 am PDT

 

[Life of the Party]

Mark the date into your calendar (Julian Calendar of course), as Field of Glory: Empires will be released on July, 11th!

In a month you’ll be able to forge your civilization and lead it toward the heights of History!

Get more information on its official product page

Are you still on the fence about Field of Glory: Empires? Maybe this short video will help you!

Check out "Field of Glory: Empires in 2 minutes"

 

[Edija]

I was considering a buy until I saw the whole "export your battles" thing. There are better ways to be greedy, for example, just having the manual battle icon greyed out if you don't own Fields of Glory 2. And then, if you actually own it, just switching over to manual battles inside Empires. Now it is cumbersome and counter-intuitive even if I buy both games. I can't be bothered to switch around all the time.

 

[Beowulf]

I was considering a buy until I saw the whole "export your battles" thing. There are better ways to be greedy, for example, just having the manual battle icon greyed out if you don't own Fields of Glory 2. And then, if you actually own it, just switching over to manual battles inside Empires. Now it is cumbersome and counter-intuitive even if I buy both games. I can't be bothered to switch around all the time.

On the hand you are right. It''ll be cumbersome.
On the other - FoG II is a very robust battle engine with AI that's not brain dead. Many people that like fighting battles in a decent historical sauce own it.
The two games will complement each other and provide a campaign structure for good battles for those that like FoG more, and the ability to play major battles in a more detailed way for those enjoying the grand strategy side of it.

But yeah - it's Slitherine, and they are a shitty publisher. They are known for selling overpriced garbage and overpriced decent games using the "niche product" argument.
I guess they might incorporate FoG II battle engine at some point, or perhaps in the inevitable sequel, but I think it's beyond their technical capabilities now (and they won't throw more money on the development).
Albeit they are doing some good steps to change their image in the recent years, like having their games available on Steam - that's better version control, than having to manually connect to their ftp servers for updates; and even doing decent sales (sic!), which were a big no-no for them.

 

[Tigranes]

I would pay full price for both games, but I would still baulk at the idiotic idea of not having seamless integration where you click the fight button to immediately load the battle total war style.

 

[Inspectah]

When I saw that the battle system wasnt integrated in the base game I was a bit disappointed since I have way more experience with FoG than with the AGEOD games. That said, the game still massaged me in the right places so fuck it

 

[Life of the Party]

 

[Jimmious]

Oh so there is SOME sort of battle system in the game. You just get the extended version if you want through FoG2. Ok, that's better.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

People actually thought that FoG2 is required for battles?

 

[Jimmious]

People actually thought that FoG2 is required for battles?

I thought they'd be "auto-resolved" or something like that without FoG2

 

[Morkar Left]

People actually thought that FoG2 is required for battles?

The first thought I had was that you need FoG2 to be able to influence battle. I thought without it you only get some result based on the units numbers. But it does look like they have a small battle system light with some positioning.

Personally I absolutely like the idea of combining games. Having separat games allows a level of complexity you couldn't get with just one game (because lack of resources/funding and economical viability).

 

[Tigranes]

yes, i also thought that. good to know i was misinformed.

 

[Life of the Party]

 

[astrosmurf]

The first thought I had was that you need FoG2 to be able to influence battle. I thought without it you only get some result based on the units numbers. But it does look like they have a small battle system light with some positioning.

No, the built-in battle system is just a graphical auto-resolve with no player input. Check the video above at 37 minutes.

 

[Hoggypare]

No, the built-in battle system is just a graphical auto-resolve with no player input. Check the video above at 37 minutes.

It is still miles beyond anything that Paradox has ever produced though.
I also understand their decision - they had basically two choices - to invest a lot of resources into making a basic battle system that would be easily exploitable by any half-decent player, or to make a decent auto-resolve system, that allows some player input with army composition.
I wish it was more involved (to allow for some positioning or rudimentary battle plans, some basic dominions-esque stuff), but what they went for has its merits. AI's for strategy games, especially those with any amount of complexity are notoriously bad. Giving the player another way of stomping the AI by exploiting manual battles and achieving a total military supremacy would be horrible for any grand strategy. This is a hurdle for any developer to overcome and clearly something that Arch never understood (this was also his main criticism of Oriental Empires' battle system). To prove my point, look how many cheats AI needs to keep up with the player in Total War games, and everything outside of battles in those games is basic at best. Now imagine You have way more complicated systems at play. However, by allowing You to use FoG2 system, that has its own, well proven battle AI, they basically alleviate any problem on that part. It is clunky, sure, but I can't think of any better solution - integrating two games would probably be much harder than most think, considering those are 2 different development studios.

And considering how many 'amazing' strategy games set in antiquity we had recently, I will take what I can get

 

[fantadomat]

Fuck,this looks like something i wouldn't be interested even if i was before. Too much die throws and random shit. The combat looks like shit and you don't even have a choice of composition. It tries to be a serious,yet it have the typical retarded 4x building type. As a whole,nothing that makes me interested in it,sad. Also the ai cheats.

 

[Stone Dog]

Isn't the combat basically standard AGEod fare with a 3d visualization? Why were people expecting something different from the people who used basically the same system across ~15 games?

 

[Wyatt_Derp]

Isn't the combat basically standard AGEod fare with a 3d visualization? Why were people expecting something different from the people who used basically the same system across ~15 games?

Original Ageod member Phil left to go back to board game design or something. Plus new engine with entirely different focus, less board game/hand drawn art approach, more Total War/EU map painter approach. Throw in the FOG battle gimmick and you get a new coat of paint on a very old French war horse.

Couple of reviews are out. Bit of a mixed bag so far.

 

[Morkar Left]

Fuck,this looks like something i wouldn't be interested even if i was before. Too much die throws and random shit. The combat looks like shit and you don't even have a choice of composition. It tries to be a serious,yet it have the typical retarded 4x building type. As a whole,nothing that makes me interested in it,sad. Also the ai cheats.

Go back to Paradox!

Couple of reviews are out. Bit of a mixed bag so far.

What seems to be disappointing for me is the simple diplomacy.

 

[oscar]

 

[Makabb]

So how is it ?

 

[Hoggypare]

So how is it ?

I enjoy it. So far played a little Carthage, but I was a little overwhelmed due to learning the mechanics and how overstretched their empire is, so now switched to easier and more compact Macedonia.
The building system and trade are very well done, and integration with FoG2 makes for an amazing wargame (though I don't mind the auto-resolve system in FoG:Empires itself). It is also way quicker and more seamless than it appears - about 3-4 clicks are required to switch between games
It is not without faults, AI makes sometimes dumb decisions (like sending attacks unable to defeat your garrisons) and the diplomacy is barebones (which is a bigger problem than it seems, because of the decadence system that kind of forces You to slow down with expansion - well, when in war with someone You can only keep conquering their territories, or just make peace to end war. No status quo, no region trading, no vassalizing, no contributions - no such options)

 

[Makabb]

Do i need to have fog 2 for enjoyable battles or are the battle in empires good enough?

 

[gogis]

Need more reviews, plox. Weekends are upon us and I have nothing to play

 

[Hoggypare]

Do i need to have fog 2 for enjoyable battles or are the battle in empires good enough?

They are serviceable, but nothing really special. Your input is limited to army composition and strategic layer. I would say fog2 is highly recommended, even if You export 1 battle in 20, the ability to do so is what makes this game stand out