Newbie's first impressions

[PDF]

PCarrol, did you try something like Combat Mission (if anything else exists that is "like" CM ) ?
Games are rather short and fast paced compared to Dom2 et al., and it requires some "battlefield tactics" sense more than analytical brains - surely that's why I suck at it, I was able to make strategy articles on it then get blasted by one of my readers that managed to apply it, while I couldn't !! .
Also it's graphically more rewarding than top-view 2D strat game as it's in full 3D with free camera, even if now it's not really up to date graphic-wise ...

[PCarroll]

PDF said:
PCarrol, did you try something like Combat Mission (if anything else exists that is "like" CM ) ?

Yep. I played the demo several months ago. It's apparently one of the most popular games around, but I didn't care for it. The 3D graphics that impress everybody else are a turn-off to me. I don't like things looking that realistic.

[Edi]

PCarroll, if you want other games besides Dom2, try the original Age of Wonders, if you haven't already. It has almost none of the micromanagement of AoW2 and AoW:SM, and while it still has some 3D look, very little compared to its sequels. It's also, in my opinion, more beautiful because the maps don't look so cluttered. The magic system also works much better than in AoW:SM, because any spellcaster can cast spells, it's not all dependent on one caster.

There are alsoa couple of mods for the original AoW, Warlock's Ruleset which was done by reverse engineering, and some others that were added when Triumph Studios released the dev editor which made it possible to do modifications without reverse engineering (but was still a lot of work).

Edi

[PCarroll]

Edi said:
PCarroll, if you want other games besides Dom2, try the original Age of Wonders, if you haven't already. It has almost none of the micromanagement of AoW2 and AoW:SM, and while it still has some 3D look, very little compared to its sequels. It's also, in my opinion, more beautiful because the maps don't look so cluttered. The magic system also works much better than in AoW:SM, because any spellcaster can cast spells, it's not all dependent on one caster. . . .

Thanks. Unfortunately I gave my copy of the original AoW away a couple years ago. I barely remember the game now, but I do recall being more disappointed than pleased with AoW2. Until now, I thought I was the only one who felt that way. For a long time after getting AoW2, I kept playing the original AoW. But eventually the scenarios all looked too familiar, so I let it go.

My wife, a longtime Master of Magic fan, plays AoW3:SM while hoping for a MoM2 to come out. The main thing she likes about AoW3 is the random map generator; she hates scenario-based games (including campaign games with strung-together scenarios). The one thing she complains about in AoW3 is that there's no numerical score at the end of a game--no "hall of fame." She wants to know how well she did so she can try to beat her best score next time.

Since I'm rambling, I'll mention that years ago I used to love the game Conquered Kingdoms. Its graphics were obsolete even when the game was first released, but the game played well and was quite challenging and interesting. Evidently, it's due for a comeback sometime soon: http://www.lostadmiralreturns.com/co...dkingdoms.html

I tried the Lost Admiral demo (I hadn't played that game back in its day), and it's pretty good--as a game. The user interface is painfully awkward, though. I'd recommend these games to anyone who doesn't mind ancient 2D graphics and a chesslike feel to their games.

[Molog]

AoW2 was a dissapointment to me too, but then I found dominions 2 and all was good.