TBS Age of Wonders 1 & 2

[octavius]

Hey BING XI LAO, do you know what's up with the heavengames.com sites?

I've gotten this for several days when trying to download maps:
"Technical Error: Database Server Not Available."

 

[octavius]

Today the database server is available again.

This incident made me realize that the maps are not available anywhere else, except in "private collections", so I think I'll start downloading most of the maps for for AoW1 and 2.

 

[flyingjohn]

This incident made me realize that the maps are not available anywhere else, except in "private collections", so I think I'll start downloading most of the maps for for AoW1 and 2.

Pls share the link once you are done. I will upload a copy to my public mega folder.

 

[octavius]

OK, I made some collections of the highest rated/most downloaded AoW1+2 maps:

AoW1 maps and mods.

AoW2 maps.

 

[flyingjohn]

Adding backup links since google likes to delete stuff:
AOW 1:
https://mega.nz/file/Eeo3QDYL#nlgqLzrLQOO03tkWSjmMdLOc_M45UP1O0YrdzpC_W2o
AOW 2:
https://mega.nz/file/5ThAxZoZ#296nGMREXivFxooyq4kBdjDbO2cFUEz8CxOyMEuH03E

 

[Nas92]

Just finished the Keeper Campaign (the canon route) of Age of Wonders 1. I got the game for free on Gog a long time ago, I only bothered to play it after Sseth's video. Now I think it's the best turn-based strategy game I have ever played, I think I actually prefer it to HoMM and Disciples.

I've been thinking of giving AoW2 a spin, I played the demo a really long time ago and I remember liking it, but I watched a few gameplay vids and I'm not so sure. The 3D graphics just look utter dogshit and it just doesn't look as good as AoW1.

 

[catfood]

Just finished the Keeper Campaign (the canon route) of Age of Wonders 1. I got the game for free on Gog a long time ago, I only bothered to play it after Sseth's video. Now I think it's the best turn-based strategy game I have ever played, I think I actually prefer it to HoMM and Disciples.

I've been thinking of giving AoW2 a spin, I played the demo a really long time ago and I remember liking it, but I watched a few gameplay vids and I'm not so sure. The 3D graphics just look utter dogshit and it just doesn't look as good as AoW1.

AOW2 is just a stepping stone between AOW1 and AOWSM. I'd say the only reason you'd want to play it is if you want to experience the campaign. 2's is better than SM's, but not as good as the first. If you want to focus just on custom maps then skip 2 and head straight to SM. Just so you know though there are gameplay differences amongst all of the main titles of the series. In a way this is a good thing since no one game outshines the rest in every aspect so every game is worth playing for its own strengths.

 

[Reality]

I'm the biggest hater of AoW 2 but it's worth trying

Pros
+ Some very good songs
+ Increased density of neutral fights , with better rewards for them in general
+ New archer system let's then move and attack same turn
+ New action point system gives units 1-3 attacks depending on how far they move instead of 2 at all times
+ New retaliation system takes AP from next turn and means after 3rd hit there are no reteliation at all from enemy unit.
+ Many more alternative abilities in combat instead of just move and attack.

Cons
- only 9 songs total and some of them are nothing
- full health to death (for t1-2) is extremely common from spells, both from AI and neutral enchantment spells.
- increased city building adds excessive choice and let's you homogenize how you play.
- AI is obsessed with ballista no matter what race they play
- less RPG ish in that the game is a bunch of 2 mission sets then change race+ lose all research (also done SM campaign)

 

[anvi]

Yeah. And I liked being able to use fireballs with the catapult and it can hit an area instead of just the boulder which hits 1 spot. Also the city walls are better in AoW2 and beyond. There are lots of little improvements too like it showing a difficulty level on the treasure dungeon things. Also being able to trade with the AI was awesome, although exploitable I guess. I much prefer how magic works in Shadow Magic. I like being able to cast spells in my region. And I like being able to cast spells in battles, in addition to whatever your heroes are doing.

But some stuff got worse. Whoever decided to remove the hero's character sheet with arrows on each thing... and replace it with 3 dumb choices... They should not be allowed to work in gaming. Like a pedophile is not allowed to work at a school.

I dream of playing a game that takes all the good bits from AoW1/2/3 and puts them together in one game. Leaves behind all the bad ideas. It will probably be a competitor that does the best job.

 

[octavius]

I love both 1 and 2, or rather 1 and Shadow Magic. 2 had one critical flaw: no ship AI whatsoever.
In most respects I found SM an incline over 1. The new graphics style took a few hours to get used to. The map editing tools are more powerful, only you can't make campaigns. So the very best single user-made maps were made for SM.

 

[Kabas]

Sequels can't even reach the feet of the first game when it comes to the sheer level a visual beauty the later possesses.
Still, i disagree with the notion that AoM2 and SM look bad. Their graphics are charming in their own weird way.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Just finished the Keeper Campaign (the canon route) of Age of Wonders 1. I got the game for free on Gog a long time ago, I only bothered to play it after Sseth's video. Now I think it's the best turn-based strategy game I have ever played, I think I actually prefer it to HoMM and Disciples.

I've been thinking of giving AoW2 a spin, I played the demo a really long time ago and I remember liking it, but I watched a few gameplay vids and I'm not so sure. The 3D graphics just look utter dogshit and it just doesn't look as good as AoW1.

AoW is about combat and combat in 2/SM is better. It's also much more of a strategy game than rpg/tactical wargame combo with rudimentary strategic layer that 1 was, so a lot depends on whether that's your thing. Its one outstanding flaw is the horribly declined hero development/leveling system, there's no going around that one.

 

[Zeriel]

I'm the biggest hater of AoW 2 but it's worth trying

Pros
+ Some very good songs
+ Increased density of neutral fights , with better rewards for them in general
+ New archer system let's then move and attack same turn
+ New action point system gives units 1-3 attacks depending on how far they move instead of 2 at all times
+ New retaliation system takes AP from next turn and means after 3rd hit there are no reteliation at all from enemy unit.
+ Many more alternative abilities in combat instead of just move and attack.

Cons
- only 9 songs total and some of them are nothing
- full health to death (for t1-2) is extremely common from spells, both from AI and neutral enchantment spells.
- increased city building adds excessive choice and let's you homogenize how you play.
- AI is obsessed with ballista no matter what race they play
- less RPG ish in that the game is a bunch of 2 mission sets then change race+ lose all research (also done SM campaign)

At the time I felt the Wizard aspect was them trying to ape Master of Magic more directly, but it failed at that because it lacked all the extras Master of Magic had (the huge spellbooks and the awesome feeling of 10 book spells etc, item crafting, the fame and hero system being much cooler in MoM, I could go on for days).

They really needed to revamp the style of the game if they wanted to focus on Wizards over the leader being a carried over hero.

Town development has also remained too rudimentary in all the MoM clones and Age of Wonder games. Civ's influence in Master of Magic remains a huge advantage there. This works out fine in AoW 1 because it feels like it is doing its own thing, but if you set out to directly compete with MoM where the hero game is minimized in favor of the caster's empire, you have to make empire building actually compelling. I don't think any AoW game ever managed this. They just keep focusing on the tactical combat and now identityfagging with the char/race creator.

 

[Nas92]

Alright, so I started AoW2, I got used to the weird early 3D graphics quite quickly, in fact it can be sort of charming at times. I have experienced some of the downsides that have been mentioned here. Heroes becoming more of an afterthought definitely is a sore point. I also agree that having all these options when it comes to city building sort of feels pointless. It adds little to the experience, it's just not compelling at all.

Another question: Any way race relations have been changed? I started the first mission of the campaign and I took the tigran city to the south. I decided not to migrate it to humans since I appear to have good relations with the tigrans, no sense in ruining it. Then again, I'm still using AoW1 logic where I never migrated neutral race cities. Any reason I should migrate here?

 

[Reality]

I think it breaks alignment ties in favor of "most recently acquired town" so I've had ganes where I started as half lings, conquered one orc town abd then had my starting hero and some other units desert.

 

[The Brazilian Slaughter]

Heroes becoming more of an afterthought definitely is a sore point.

Wait, what? Heroes are definitively still OP in AOW2/SM. They're just less OP than the absurdly overpowered superheroes of AOW who could fight solo entire armies casually and had enough power to take on members of the Justice League.

Another question: Any way race relations have been changed? I started the first mission of the campaign and I took the tigran city to the south. I decided not to migrate it to humans since I appear to have good relations with the tigrans, no sense in ruining it. Then again, I'm still using AoW1 logic where I never migrated neutral race cities. Any reason I should migrate here?

AFAIK in AOW2 your starting race is always your "primary race", whereas in AOW2/SM your main race is the race that is the majority in your domains.
So if in AOW1 your race starts as say, Orcs, your relations will be always that of the Orcs - which can be further altered in the campaigns by missions.

But in AOW2/SM, you start as humans, you can easily switch to using Tigrans if most of your cities are Tigrans.
Also my memory sucks but AFAIK migrating cities doesn't diminish race relationship in AOW2, it just makes the local populace unruly during the migration period.
One classic trick in AOW2/SM in case you're losing ground, is to set a city to migrate and then leave no garrison. The locals will 100% revolt and become a neutral city, and some AIs seem to not attack neutral cities, or prioritize them beneath attacking yours.

 

[octavius]

Anyone using Warlocks Rules in AoW1?

I've noticed that the new "prisons" introduced by the mods, like Gang Hide-outs and Magician Studies, never have any defenders. Is this a bug, or intended design feature?

 

[belated]

Anyone using Warlocks Rules in AoW1?

I've noticed that the new "prisons" introduced by the mods, like Gang Hide-outs and Magician Studies, never have any defenders. Is this a bug, or intended design feature?

I'm pretty sure I remember magician studies having defenders in various maps I've played. Maybe they've just been set to empty in the map you're playing?

 

[octavius]

Anyone using Warlocks Rules in AoW1?

I've noticed that the new "prisons" introduced by the mods, like Gang Hide-outs and Magician Studies, never have any defenders. Is this a bug, or intended design feature?

I'm pretty sure I remember magician studies having defenders in various maps I've played. Maybe they've just been set to empty in the map you're playing?

But shouldn't they have some default defender sets? I looked in the editor and ordinary Dungeons have Default Defender Sets, but Gang Hide-outs and Magician Studies don't.

So either my install is faulty in some way, or every map maker have forgotten to add defenders in the WR maps I've played. I'm loath to reinstall, since it took me twenty years to get this damned mod to work.

 

[belated]

But shouldn't they have some default defender sets? I looked in the editor and ordinary Dungeons have Default Defender Sets, but Gang Hide-outs and Magician Studies don't.

So either my install is faulty in some way, or every map maker have forgotten to add defenders in the WR maps I've played. I'm loath to reinstall, since it took me twenty years to get this damned mod to work.

Checking some magician studies in the Mirrors of Galadriel map I see the defenders are set to random with average strength. But if the mapmaker had switched from random to user-defined and just didn't add any defenders, then I expect they would be empty on map generation.
Can't remember if places without defenders are shown as already explored from the start or whether they can have rewards...

 

[octavius]

It seems like the map makers have to manually assign defenders. If they just use the default "random defenders", none show up since the Default Defender Sets are empty.
The released (random) prisoners turn up fine, though.

 

[Nas92]

I started playing AoW1 again (can't stand 2 tbh) and I have a problem. Out of nowhere, the game refuses to start up again. The intro plays but it crashes immediately on the main menu. I tried disabling DEP for AoW1, it seems that for everyone else on the internet that solved the same problem but not for me.

 

[octavius]

AoW is an unusually fickle program. It never starts the first time. The AoW.exe process is still runs in the background, but you need to double click the icon a second time for the game to start.
There was a time I could have correct aspect ratio without using dgVoodoo, but that suddenly stopped working, and now I'm forced to use voodoo again.
Also, for some reason AoWCompat.exe is not working for me, only the regular exe file. I also run in comp mode for Win XP, disable DPI and run as admin; not sure if all is necessary, though.

 

[Zeriel]

I think the "fickleness" is just due to modern operating systems changing. If you run it on an old operating system it's very stable.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

I've literally never had any problems with AoW1 up until and including w10. AoW2/SM is another matter, though. That one works fine on win7 and below, but on newer ones it suffers from various problems.