A BAD JOKE

[chorion]

this game is a bad joke,
It is impossible , games are supposed to be fun,
This wasnt fun,
I managed to get a cheat engine with infinite gold and mana.
EVERYTHING IS A CHORE, i am playing normal difficulty on the first map.
I am running at -30 gold and -30 mana, trying to finish all the quest as soon as possible.
just moving the tower is 45 mana, you cant save that much mana, specially when you have to summon wisps to take on loads of magical places with water and mountains.

NOT MY FIRST GAME.....
been playing games since 1987,

I will post another thread with the instructions for cheat engine and script....
If you find the game absurdly difficult.... it isnt your lack of skill, I finished deathtrap dungeon in 1995 and tomb raider.

This game hasnt been tested, And it is being launched on console without any updates.
This game makes you go up and down on hard missions when you barely can field 1 army
Not fun, an impossible chore...unforgivable for a game

i will post cheat details and links in the next post, since it is single player...
And even with infinite gold and mana it is a chore

[Kaysoky]

I'd say it shows just how well balanced it is. If infinite resources don't give you much of an advantage, then consider that something else may be going wrong with your play.

Plenty of people have beaten the game on Impossible without resorting to cheats.

[chorion]

Originally posted by Kaysoky:

I'd say it shows just how well balanced it is. If infinite resources don't give you much of an advantage, then consider that something else may be going wrong with your play.

Plenty of people have beaten the game on Impossible without resorting to cheats.

nah...
Been playing games for decades, i know a horrible balanced game when i see it.
For $25 and graphips from the year 2000 i dont expect miracles.
But they are launching on console too,.... without balancing the game.
Thousands of people have climbed the EVEREST.
It doesnt mean Everest is BALANCED for normal people... in fact hundres have died in the process.

This isnt ELVEN RING..... or dark souls.... this is an indie game of 9 gigas, with 2000 year graphics and sounds,

[Kaysoky]

Your choice of comparison games (Tomb Raider, Deathtrap Dungeon) is odd. Reminds me of another "review" (https://steamcommunity.com/app/1581770/discussions/0/3884976499348317452/) which fundamentally misunderstood the game. They compared it to an RTS. And you are comparing this game to Action titles.

Experience in those types of games does not translate into proficiency in turn-based strategy games.

[chorion]

Originally posted by Kaysoky:

Your choice of comparison games (Tomb Raider, Deathtrap Dungeon) is odd. Reminds me of another "review" (https://steamcommunity.com/app/1581770/discussions/0/3884976499348317452/) which fundamentally misunderstood the game. They compared it to an RTS. And you are comparing this game to Action titles.

Experience in those types of games does not translate into proficiency in turn-based strategy games.

i have finished AOW 1-2-3...... so i know what i am talking about

[Arakus]

Originally posted by chorion:

Originally posted by Kaysoky:

Your choice of comparison games (Tomb Raider, Deathtrap Dungeon) is odd. Reminds me of another "review" (https://steamcommunity.com/app/1581770/discussions/0/3884976499348317452/) which fundamentally misunderstood the game. They compared it to an RTS. And you are comparing this game to Action titles.

Experience in those types of games does not translate into proficiency in turn-based strategy games.

i have finished AOW 1-2-3...... so i know what i am talking about

In my eyes you are a troll, so you are blocked.

[CosmicAcidGuru]

maybe you're playing this game as if it was a different game. There are quests that you won't be able to complete until 2-3 weeks after you got them. This game is not a sprint.

Since the only thing you mention is your struggle with economy: You don't always have to have full armies. Just because you have a hero and 2 apprentices doesn't mean that you must fill up those armies. Just because you have open recruitment slots doesn't mean you need to recruit more troops.
Don't move your tower until you really need to.

Another thing: sell stuff you don't need.
And maybe try a different class. I found necromance to be the easiest one on economy.

I beat this game regularly on impossible setting. So it's not the game. You just haven't found the economical sweet strat yet.

And feel free to ask specific questions about the game and good strats on the forum. Except for your rant, this forum is pretty helpful.

[Archond]

100% agree with CosmicAcidGuru.
I also play on impossible with the hardest start and it's still doable, but ofc hard.

Some quests I do sometimes 20 weeks (~140 turns) later.

Economy:
Yes, at the first weeks you just have 1 army and it will be hard until late game.
Units above lvl 5 may get the follower trait as lvl-up always! take this. As aritfactor you can craft a follower rune. As mentalist you have a spell to make living units follower.
Also salves are free but weaker.
Dwarfs may have a gold trait +2 Gold at level up, Elves and Undead +2 Mana. so T1 units and slaves can even produce ressources. You don't need to do anything with them, just keep them alive somewhere on the map. I keep 2 easy spawners from the start alive to farm xp for these units.
As necomancer you can also summon allfire and mana T1 units.
Don't use spells just because you can. just use spells which you really need.
And there are more ways to tweak your economy. Rooms, Spells, Quests, Map locations...
-30 Gold and -30 Mana. That is like 10 T3 and 10 T2 units or the half fully buffed. That is almost endgame. You will need 20+ weeks to upkeep such armies.

Try to keep your reputation with other circle mages as long as possible high.

The game is designed that you can't do everything at once so just don't rush and just do what you can do.

[easytarget]

Originally posted by chorion:

Originally posted by Kaysoky:

Your choice of comparison games (Tomb Raider, Deathtrap Dungeon) is odd. Reminds me of another "review" (https://steamcommunity.com/app/1581770/discussions/0/3884976499348317452/) which fundamentally misunderstood the game. They compared it to an RTS. And you are comparing this game to Action titles.

Experience in those types of games does not translate into proficiency in turn-based strategy games.

i have finished AOW 1-2-3...... so i know what i am talking about

This genuinely made me laugh.

[chorion]

Originally posted by Archond:

100% agree with CosmicAcidGuru.
I also play on impossible with the hardest start and it's still doable, but ofc hard.

Some quests I do sometimes 20 weeks (~140 turns) later.

Economy:
Yes, at the first weeks you just have 1 army and it will be hard until late game.
Units above lvl 5 may get the follower trait as lvl-up always! take this. As aritfactor you can craft a follower rune. As mentalist you have a spell to make living units follower.
Also salves are free but weaker.
Dwarfs may have a gold trait +2 Gold at level up, Elves and Undead +2 Mana. so T1 units and slaves can even produce ressources. You don't need to do anything with them, just keep them alive somewhere on the map. I keep 2 easy spawners from the start alive to farm xp for these units.
As necomancer you can also summon allfire and mana T1 units.
Don't use spells just because you can. just use spells which you really need.
And there are more ways to tweak your economy. Rooms, Spells, Quests, Map locations...
-30 Gold and -30 Mana. That is like 10 T3 and 10 T2 units or the half fully buffed. That is almost endgame. You will need 20+ weeks to upkeep such armies.

Try to keep your reputation with other circle mages as long as possible high.

The game is designed that you can't do everything at once so just don't rush and just do what you can do.

Having mines run out of gold at 15 turns+ having to move the tower is 45 mana is just bad design . Also no quest log????

Also the developers are only focused on porting the game to consoles, not in development, barely anyone talks about this game here either...
42 PLAYERS on game right now.....for a new game.....for a fantasy genre 4x..
something is REALLY WRONG HERE.
https://steamdb.info/app/1581770/charts/

[Long Dead Fingers]

Hey chorion, sorry to hear of your frustrations.

If you are playing on Explorer, might I suggest you try Story Mode? Based on what I'm reading here, it is strongly recommended that you start with that. Maybe try a few games with it at least before throwing up your hands in sheer frustration and heading for the door.

If you stick to the easiest difficulty and follow CosmicAcidGuru and Archond's suggestions, I bet you'll do fine. All your woes with mana and gold will soon fade once you start casting spells and building tower rooms that find more, replenish them, increases yields, etc.

I think the learning curve for this game is steep for some people right at first because it does play a little different from other games that are -- on their surface -- very similar, but it is easy once you get over that hump.

[egos]

you dont learn anything since 1987
gratz

[father nurgle]

I think it might be time to hang up the gloves. Time gets us all.

[father nurgle]

(Or read one of the many more polite threads where people ask for advice on playing the game.)

[chorion]

Originally posted by egos:

you dont learn anything since 1987
gratz

yeah , not to waste time on new games with 40 concurrive playerbase

[Long Dead Fingers]

When the game released in February it had far more players. It continues to rate well so I doubt they all went away because they hated it to the extent that you do. It's probably more that just with its one and only (albeit huge) map with mostly fixed locations, it was never going to be as replayable as other more traditional 4X's with random maps, editors, etc.

I paid $20 and feel I got far more than my money's worth.