Is It Worth It?

[Biggus Dickus]

So I have come to love Grand Strategy games like HoI3 and I love the Roman period of history and found here, a Roman Grand Strategy game. But I read terrible things about this developer, mainly that while their games are good, they don't know how to make optimized games and that they are super slooooooooow and turns can take forever. I don't want to support a lazy developer and was wondering if this game in particular is as bad as their other ones.

Thanks.

[BroJo]

The turns in Alea Jacta Est are relatively fast compared to their other games, so that shouldn't be a problem. Personally, I love the game and think it is one of the best strategy games depicting ancient warfare.

[EagleFlight]

I've been playing Paradox games since 2001...starting with Europa Universalis and the original Crusader Kings. Grand Strategy games are my passion, as is history. I can't reccomend Alea Jacta Est enough. It's an incredible game with enormous depth. The scope is different than Paradox games, so know that going in. It also has a pretty good learning curve..BUT if you stick with it, watch some youtube videos you will get the hang of it. At which point you will feel a great sense of accomplishment. Great game...get it!

[Sruba]

You may look at my game time count. Alea Jacta Est is for me the best game made to this day. Forget Rome Total War (Which on tactic level is quite nice), but here you actually feel like Caesar, Pompey, Sulla, Hannibal and every other anceint general, statesman in time o war. Best strategy game for me, and I'm quite sure best strategy game with ancient warfare historical theme.

One tip: try it on PBEM (you can find opponents on AGEOD forum), this game shines there.

[playoftheyear]

Familiarity with the maps, to me is crucial to enjoying the AGEOD games. Not having to scroll/locate around all the time is great. Clicking on names in the text will take you to the spot also.
Interest in the area, time and conflict are what make each game fun in their own way.

[Vuud]

Is the game entirely war focused? Or is there a lot of diplomacy and politicking as well?

[playoftheyear]

You will always have a direct motive no matter what, how you go about it is up to the player.
There is alot of political maneuvers, but in essence everything is political. Assigning generals to an army, troop placement, directing ships for supply etc. and more all effect what your enemy and other forces do.
Then there are the political options themselves that are available at certain times and will be highlighted when ready, those can be stuff like spreading influence, fertilizing land or pillaging etc. and more.
Then there are the every turn options such as increase food supply, get reinforcements etc. and more.
This is only the tip of the iceberg, depending on all types of circumstances there are available options to put into play. This is not a resouce gathering game or a 4x necassarily. There is a reason why people call games strategy games, then you hear the term paradox strategy and that implies a certain type of game, well there is also AGEOD strategy games and they are far different from anything else.

[Nikiforos V Fokas]

Be sure to look out for Charles ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥'s tutorial video youtubes series.

[Max Tyberius]

Is an exquisite strategy game but the battle resolution is terrible. The only option is to autoresolve, and you can lose battles that could be easily won if there was a player tactical management. I played some games and then rage quitted when one enemy legion defeated 3 of my fresh legions consecutively despite being severely weakened. Is like playing an overly detailed and improved big picture of Rome total war without the possibility of actually fighting your own battles. I pass

[playoftheyear]

Its like playing a game of micro managing, when a situation seems like a breeze and ends up disaster, you can't reload a phase and redo the turn. Endurance is a factor for the player to take every move with the utmost precision to guarantee a victory, or like the poster above stated the impossible may occur.
That severely weakened enemy legion mentioned in the post above may have some benefits to it that turn on only in certain situations such as maybe being weakened and backed into a corner, that leader gets a major bonus OR the attacking leader has low troop cohesion etc etc, if you get the idea, that is why I always play with historical, not random leader traits. So I can get to become familiar with which leader is good at which situations.
Also supply is the utmost important number in the game, as it can trump army population almost every time excluding massive attacks. This is important with a travelling army into enemy territory, steamrolling through and capturing provinces. The supply line can easily be shut down behind this army by one regiment taking an area back. Building supply depots and trailing armies are sufficient to prevent this.
THIS is the type of game AGEOD's are - The clock is always running and you are always on the attack and defensive. NOT really a RTS, it is a TBS with all the time to think and plan, BUT once the scenario begins until the ending, every move counts.

[欣怡 (Nathalie)]

Its great! Though look up their new game FOG empires if you like ancient history, and that one is more a Europa style sandbox (one of the AGEOD's founders actually created the original Europa Universalis boardgame)

As for this one, its one of my fav AGEOD games, lots of gd scenarios and very realistic. Its a war game, so not one that covers much diplomacy or politics. Supply and logistics are important for example, and the comments made by Max Tyberius is stupid, and un-true. The manual explains how battles are resolved and these include various factors such as terrain, weather, cohesion, moral leadership. Just like in real life numbers don't always matter (though often if you have double their force you will probably win). Sieges are long and largely down to luck unless you are very prepared. In my last game in the 2nd punic war, I attempted to seize corsica (which was as stupid as it sounds). I wasn't beaten by an army, but the siege dragged on so long my men all starved or gave up, the fleet i'd sent to support was beaten by Rome so I couldn't retreat.

The other great thing is WEGO, makes wargames so much more immersive and fun IMO. Also if you do get the game, pick up Birth of Rome as it has some smaller scenarios which are good for learning.

As for optimisation. most comments on that are lies or exaggerations. This one in particular runs fine for me, and frame rates are never an issue. Sure it doesn't run at 60fps, but why would a game like this need to? Often I feel most negative reviews are by people who jst don't enjoy proper wargames, where logistics and patience is required.

[Big Malone]

If I remember correctly, one of the AEGOD devs said they want auto resolve because they played games where they could easy exploit the dumb AI and win against impossible odds. Also the auto resolve reflects how in real life very unexpected and dumb stuff can happen, stuff sometimes very out of your direct control.

[欣怡 (Nathalie)]

Originally posted by Citizen Townes:

If I remember correctly, one of the AEGOD devs said they want auto resolve because they played games where they could easy exploit the dumb AI and win against impossible odds. Also the auto resolve reflects how in real life very unexpected and dumb stuff can happen, stuff sometimes very out of your direct control.

Completely agree, its worth noting this is not the simplistic paradox auto resolve either, but a very detailed system that mirrors historical warfare really well.

[Exocet]

Ageod games are great historical strategy games. User interface may be confusing, but in my opinion, Ageod games are the best historical grand strategy games available. When you fight as Caesar against Pompey, it the situation really feels like historical set up as far as I can say.

[playoftheyear]

Field of Glory Empires is the new AGEOD engine!

[BroJo]

Specifically, AGEod is now using the new Archon Engine, which is Slitherine's in-house engine.