Age of Wonders 4

[Lacrymas]

Some "leaked" (i.e. the devs posted the dev diary early by mistake and took it down, but they were already saved by someone) screenshots:

I particularly like the chaplain model.

 

[thesheeep]

Definitely looking forward to the "build your own race" deal.

Just wondering if that will end up with all races feeling too samey (if you make the same choices).

 

[Lacrymas]

Definitely looking forward to the "build your own race" deal.

Just wondering if that will end up with all races feeling too samey (if you make the same choices).

This was discussed and is still being discussed to death on Discord, but the answer to that question is that races don't have anything unique to them anymore. They will be exactly the same if you choose the same culture and traits.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Which is another example of p-dox design seeping in regardless if it fits core AoW model or not.

And is it a t4 unit with just one ability that I'm seeing? What happened to my nu-triumph.

 

[Lacrymas]

Units go to T5 now.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

And yet they kept maximum stack size at 6, lul.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

Does armor now reduce by a percentage instead of absolute value as in AoW3? And does AoW4 reintroduce hit chances?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Does armor now reduce by a percentage instead of absolute value as in AoW3? And does AoW4 reintroduce hit chances?

I think melee is always gonna hit, not sure where I read that though.

 

[Lacrymas]

Does armor now reduce by a percentage instead of absolute value as in AoW3? And does AoW4 reintroduce hit chances?

I think melee is always gonna hit, not sure where I read that though.

This is true and it's a holdover from PF. It's a subtle way to make melee more viable.

 

[Gaznak]

I still don't know what do TBSs need 3-D visuals for. It only hampers the gameplay, not to mention it's just not pleasant to the eye.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

Does armor now reduce by a percentage instead of absolute value as in AoW3? And does AoW4 reintroduce hit chances?

I think melee is always gonna hit, not sure where I read that though.

This is true and it's a holdover from PF. It's a subtle way to make melee more viable.

So its going to be like Planetfall. And damage taken is damage*0.9**armor? My initial impression with Planetfall's combat was not so good, but I haven't spent enough time with it yet, especially compared to my hours with AoW3. I don't think that ranged is too powerful there, but resistance clearly had an edge over physical armor, due to blocking much more damage types and effects and way how flanking works. Overall, I would have liked a return of AoW3 combat mechanics with some tweaks.

 

[Suicidal]

Definitely looking forward to the "build your own race" deal.

Just wondering if that will end up with all races feeling too samey (if you make the same choices).

This was discussed and is still being discussed to death on Discord, but the answer to that question is that races don't have anything unique to them anymore. They will be exactly the same if you choose the same culture and traits.

In the preview video they were selecting the race it showed popups with racial bonuses (like orcs getting + melee damage). Is that not the case anymore or are the bonuses so minor they don't matter?

 

[Lacrymas]

Definitely looking forward to the "build your own race" deal.

Just wondering if that will end up with all races feeling too samey (if you make the same choices).

This was discussed and is still being discussed to death on Discord, but the answer to that question is that races don't have anything unique to them anymore. They will be exactly the same if you choose the same culture and traits.

In the preview video they were selecting the race it showed popups with racial bonuses (like orcs getting + melee damage). Is that not the case anymore or are the bonuses so minor they don't matter?

That melee damage can be replaced. You get two traits at race selection, one physical and one mental, and races have default ones selected, but they can be freely changed. Races are purely cosmetic.

 

[Suicidal]

Definitely looking forward to the "build your own race" deal.

Just wondering if that will end up with all races feeling too samey (if you make the same choices).

This was discussed and is still being discussed to death on Discord, but the answer to that question is that races don't have anything unique to them anymore. They will be exactly the same if you choose the same culture and traits.

In the preview video they were selecting the race it showed popups with racial bonuses (like orcs getting + melee damage). Is that not the case anymore or are the bonuses so minor they don't matter?

That melee damage can be replaced. You get two traits at race selection, one physical and one mental, and races have default ones selected, but they can be freely changed. Races are purely cosmetic.

Man that is so lame.

Ever since they introduced the race+class system in AoW3 I was hoping they would improve upon this system and add something like class+race specific buildings or units for each combination. Planetfall took baby steps in that direction by having unit upgrades and you could do interesting things with different race + tech combos but it still wasn't quite there. There's even a dedicated autist PF modder that is slowly making mods like this: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2126820537. I think he's done 3 of the 8 (?) techs at this point at a rate of 1 per year.

How cool would it be if every race actually had something unique about them that also varied based on your other choices. Like picking feudal frogmen would give you something like a catapult mounted on the back of a giant frog and picking barbarian frogmen would give you a shaman unit that summoned exploding tadpoles or something.

I'm still gonna get the game because I'm a huge AoW fang but ever since Shadow Magic, despite enjoying the games, I've been angry and disappointed when I think about what could have been.

 

[Lacrymas]

Oh, and certain cultures will restrict certain traits. You won't be able to be cannibals if you are a high culture.

 

[Zeriel]

My expectations for this are in the basement after the direction they've gone. Shit sucks but Triumph is a joke nowadays.

 

[Edgetard]

I have two hopes that I feel wont come to pass, but hopefully they will try this.
1 MAKE RACES UNIQUE orcs and elves should not feel the same because I play warlord on both of them quit that shit
2 MAKE MAGIC DESTRUCTIVE AGAIN total destruction mode like in the first 2
Do that and I wont hate this game like I did 3

 

[vota DC]

Oh, and certain cultures will restrict certain traits. You won't be able to be cannibals if you are a high culture.

Traits exclude each other. In the devblog the chosen uniters was incompatible with cannibals, no idea of choosing the other trait (imperialist) and cannibal would work with High culture.

 

[Johannes]

as i see the biggest problem of aow3 combat is still there. Direct unit damage is too strong, and all play with buffs/nerfs/healing is less viable. why bother casting spells/using unit skills if unit die in 2 hits? this lead to shit like aoe healing for basic casters :-/

another issue seen on LP, late tier units make lower tiers redundand. On LP giant is tanking whole players party for multiple turns, while the tier 1 just die like flies. this will lead to making DoomStack of only T4 units (like in aow1 or aow3), which is lame (if you think different, then you are wrong)

No idea about the new game, but that doesn't sound like an accurate description of AoW3 at all from what I remember. Buffs, nerfs, and spamming lower tier units all made a lot of sense to me.

You're just dragging the game for no reason if you wait until you have a stack of T4 units, even if the AI of the game is braindead and does allow you to do that, it's not a smart way to play.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

In single you can do anything, and have fun of course, since AI isn't very good in these games and also can be cheesed very easily. In multiplayer tech-rushing for t4 and making balls of them is very much a thing.

Ever since they introduced the race+class system in AoW3 I was hoping they would improve upon this system and add something like class+race specific buildings or units for each combination. Planetfall took baby steps in that direction by having unit upgrades and you could do interesting things with different race + tech combos but it still wasn't quite there.

?? Literally all PF did was switch focus to race vs class, whereas in AoW3 it was the other way round. AoW3 also had way more permutations, because apart from race and class you also chose perks. And they had not only spells, but also upgrades and units. Then they added race xp on top of that. Which is yet another cool and huge thing that went awol in PF for some inexplicable reason, replaced with precisely nothing. And I'm willing to bey my left bollock that it will be absent in AoW4 as well, especially with all this "race is only cosmetics" talk.

But the biggest point is that with all the race+class+perks+racial xp perks options in AoW3, a lot of them offered a lot of actual, cool synergies. This is not the case at all in PF, there are very few natural synergies between races and classes and most amount to basic "get some mods that boost your dmg channel/debuff". You don't really have stuff comparable to gobbos+druid+master destruction.

Honestly, I would be happy with the same stuff that was in AoW3, cause it was already really fucking good, but add one or two classes and/or races that were like necro. Meaning - actually different, assymetrical gameplay that also offers further combos depending on other perk choices you make. But nope - they're just gonna keep declining and stripping features and their 20 man-strong fanbase on p-dox and steam forums will keep lapping it up.

 

[Lacrymas]

It's traits + culture + tomes it seems, but traits range from very uninteresting (+% dmg) to giving you an extra button to press (cannibalism). They obviously aren't as impactful as destruction, shadow adept and so on from AoW3.

 

[Johannes]

In single you can do anything, and have fun of course, since AI isn't very good in these games and also can be cheesed very easily. In multiplayer tech-rushing for t4 and making balls of them is very much a thing.

Is that more of a thing for Sorcerers and whoever else could summon t4's? Even if that works, you're still buying gold troops from cities on top of that, so lower tier units are not made redundant regardless.

 

[Lacrymas]

Is that more of a thing for Sorcerers and whoever else could summon t4's? Even if that works, you're still buying gold troops from cities on top of that, so lower tier units are not made redundant regardless.

In theory no, but in practice yes. The more and the faster you churn out T4s the better.

 

[vota DC]

It's traits + culture + tomes it seems, but traits range from very uninteresting (+% dmg) to giving you an extra button to press (cannibalism). They obviously aren't as impactful as destruction, shadow adept and so on from AoW3.

Also affinity with that tree since tomes seems to cover only military stuff.

 

[Lacrymas]

Ah, right, I forgot about that. Also, here's an example of a trait: