Combat Seems to Take Too Long

[Frozen Esper]

I'm trying to like the game, but I feel that combat just seems so slow. Like the units and spells don't seem to be doing a lot of damage and it just drags the battle on and on. AOW 3 combat seemed much faster and less tedious. I don't know. I'm gonna keep playing and maybe I'll learn to like it. AOW 4 does have some nice features, and I am looking forward to war coordination in the Golem update.

[~ Fabulous ~]

have you tried demoralize build? you can decimate enemy army withing 3 turns. Its glorious.

[sheep from hell]

Originally posted by ~ Fabulous ~:

have you tried demoralize build? you can decimate enemy army withing 3 turns. Its glorious.

its not glorious, its exploiting a balance problem

[AnemoneMeer]

Originally posted by Frozen Esper:

I'm trying to like the game, but I feel that combat just seems so slow. Like the units and spells don't seem to be doing a lot of damage and it just drags the battle on and on. AOW 3 combat seemed much faster and less tedious. I don't know. I'm gonna keep playing and maybe I'll learn to like it. AOW 4 does have some nice features, and I am looking forward to war coordination in the Golem update.

A lot of it comes down to units and build. If you're leaning on Shield units, they do poor damage in exchange for their myriad defensive benefits. Without a method to drag their damage upwards, they will struggle to kill quickly. Likewise, first tier spells struggle in terms of damage output.

If you want to kill quickly at the start of the game, play Dark. Have your Shock units isolate individual units, and then rain hell with archers. When the enemy acts, the Shock units will bash them again, letting you double dip their damage output, and Dark has some great archers. They're a very glass cannon faction, but you will not struggle to get kills quickly.

Feudal and Industrious should be avoided if you want to kill quickly. Both are gradual grinder factions of different styles. Feudal's best build tends to rely on Defenders being impressively bulky for how many of them you can spam to drown the target in durable bodies, typically with an alternate win condition attached like demoralize. Industrious instead goes into retaliation spam to break the enemy off your melee line.

[Frozen Esper]

Originally posted by AnemoneMeer:

Originally posted by Frozen Esper:

I'm trying to like the game, but I feel that combat just seems so slow. Like the units and spells don't seem to be doing a lot of damage and it just drags the battle on and on. AOW 3 combat seemed much faster and less tedious. I don't know. I'm gonna keep playing and maybe I'll learn to like it. AOW 4 does have some nice features, and I am looking forward to war coordination in the Golem update.

A lot of it comes down to units and build. If you're leaning on Shield units, they do poor damage in exchange for their myriad defensive benefits. Without a method to drag their damage upwards, they will struggle to kill quickly. Likewise, first tier spells struggle in terms of damage output.

If you want to kill quickly at the start of the game, play Dark. Have your Shock units isolate individual units, and then rain hell with archers. When the enemy acts, the Shock units will bash them again, letting you double dip their damage output, and Dark has some great archers. They're a very glass cannon faction, but you will not struggle to get kills quickly.

Feudal and Industrious should be avoided if you want to kill quickly. Both are gradual grinder factions of different styles. Feudal's best build tends to rely on Defenders being impressively bulky for how many of them you can spam to drown the target in durable bodies, typically with an alternate win condition attached like demoralize. Industrious instead goes into retaliation spam to break the enemy off your melee line.

Thank you for the detailed information, AnemoneMeer. I am playing with feudal and have only tried feudal.