This or Galactic Civilizations III?

[Pattar]

Please tell me what you think is better and why I like how they both look and cannot decide. What makes this game better in your opinion or what keeps you coming back to it?

[Sticky Wicket]

First off I have to say; a wierd choice, since the 2 games are totally different, but here goes...

AOW 3 wins for me without any doubt.

GC3 is bogged down in highly idiosyncratic game mechanics and completley unecessary micromanagement that makes the game feel pointless and a chore to play. The different factions feel contrived and stereotypical, The ai is absolutley terrible, and the space combat is utterly laughable: watching ships bash and ricochet off each other with no means at all of ANY meaningful tactical nor strategic options. (Master of Orion II managed to do that better over 20 years ago, and the new MOR game is far far better than GC3 even though on the surface it may seem *simpler*). If you want a good space game, GC3 would be the very last on my list (speaking as someone who played well over 300 hours trying to like it).

AOW 3 has probably the best turn-based tactical combat in any game ever. RPG-ish type decisions for heros and units make a lot of difference, and the choices you make in terms of deployment, faction/unit knowledge, and on-the-field tactics swing the battle. You can outwit a superior force with mindful playing; in other words your choices really make the difference between victory or death, and you are much more in control of what goes on. Outside of combat AOW 3 has a very simplified empire/city management; but one that works eloquently; and there are again lots of meanigful choices to be made that will directly impact how things go.

AOW 3 is, quite simply, a much more fun game to play; there are some strange inconsistancies with some aspects of it for sure, but all things considered is a very player-choice oriented type of game, with mostly better thought-out and well-implemented game mechanics that feel intutive, The diplomacy system is also more meaningful.

[Pattar]

Wow you brought up really good points, when I have the time I will get a steam card and buy this game, it sounds awesome and now I am excited to play it, I'm glad I did not end up buying Galactic Civilizations 3 because this game looks great! All of those things sound awesome too especially turn-based tactical combat including heros. You sold me on this game for sure, thank you!

[sheep from hell]

Originally posted by Pattar:

Wow you brought up really good points, when I have the time I will get a steam card and buy this game, it sounds awesome and now I am excited to play it, I'm glad I did not end up buying Galactic Civilizations 3 because this game looks great! All of those things sound awesome too especially turn-based tactical combat including heros. You sold me on this game for sure, thank you!

you know the many turns in 4x games you just press next turn? well, not the case in aow3. every round counts, every round there is something to do.

with the dlc's you have 398 different units (more with mods) with a unique combination of 434 unit abilities, you have 9 races and a handfull neutral dwellings, there are 7 classes, all of them unique with own strengths and weaknesses, and these 7 classes can choose out of 424 skills and spells and tons of equipment. treasures, power, units and lost knowledge can be found 73 different locations, each of them with a unique battlefield, many of them with special conditions.

combine this with one of the best tbs combats with line of sight, attacks of opportunity, retaliation, flanking, cover mechanics on generated maps with different visuals depending on the terrain and you have the most diverse turn based wargame in existence. i guarantee you, even after hundred hours you will find new tricks to play the classes, new cool synergies and combos with spells and units.

[Balin]

and then combine it with some of the most frustrating and often most boring multiplayer experience. Nobody else can do anyting while there is a battle ongoing, they can watch it if you have it set to observe but that will get old very fast as you will be unable to do anything. You cant even read up on the log entries about the units fighting which i have found to be quite funny as every time something moves it resets the scroller and you need to start looking for the place you left off. As a single player this game is great, although it might wear out, as a multiplayer side, it just has so much potential but is just frustrating as hell to play.

[Balin]

And before you tell me that you can autoresolve, who does that in the early and mid game? Nobody who wants to actually have units in their army, thats who. Necromancers early on are pretty much forced to do every battle manually as they dont heal like everyone else, a half dead unit to them might be as good as dead in the next battle when autoresolving.

[sheep from hell]

did you ever play galactic civilizations in multiplayer? :D

[Balin]

no, i just got it because why not. The point wasnt to propagate galciv 3 but to just bring out some of the negatives in aow3 as despite some people hailing it as a perfect tbs that one feature is just so off putting to the group i usually play with. Aow is a good game, it just has its strong negatives and strong positives.

[sheep from hell]

fair point