Warlords 3: Dark Force Rising -- Good?

[optimus2861]

I saw a few copies of Warlords 3: Darkforce Rising at Electronics Boutique last night for a mere $15. I used to get quite a bit of play out of Warlords 2, but ultimately I moved on from it. It's probably been, oh, 3-4 years since I last played it, maybe more. What's Warlords 3 like? Couple of reviews I read were quite positive -- I'm in particular pleased to see that you can influence other factions' view of you with gifts of gold and that they apparently don't gang up on you like they did in W2. Adding spells sounds kinda neat, too.

So who here's played it? Anyone still play it? Worth picking up?

[St Leo]

I play it. North against South random maps with Fog of War are quite enjoyable.

[Urban Ranger]

Yes, the campaigns alone are worth it.

[monolith94]

I liked it.

[Richard Bruns]

If I had the chance to buy that game for $15, I certainly would. I had a lot of fun playing it on a friend´s computer. This is an especially good buy because Warlords 3: Darkforce Rising includes everything from the original Warlords 3, so it is like getting two games.

Don´t get Warlords Battlecry, though. That game was fairly bad.

[MattyBoy]

I'm enjoying the original Warlords 3 at the moment.

[optimus2861]

Well I did go and buy it, just haven't had much chance to play it yet. Got to about turn 40 or so in one scenario, and while I've got the most armies & cities, I just lost my only hero to a vampire-lord hero whose stack had a high "Fear" factor . If they make a push on me (he's got THREE heroes, the bastard), I probably won't be able to hold them off. Disadvantage of having the most cities, is not knowing where they'll try to hit you.

[Urban Ranger]

Quick tip: mix and match units so you max out on possible bonuses. That means don't just keep producing heavy infantry (or whatever base unit you have). Make things with bonuses, such as sandworms, dragons, seige engines, etc. You can upgrade towns and build new production facilities.

Quick tip 2: use your heroes to search ruins and complete quests.

[optimus2861]

^ Yup, the hero-stack that lost really wasn't bad. Had the hero's Leadership bonus, plus Morale bonuses from a couple units, another unit with Missiles, and another that was +2 against cities I think. But the enemy's Fear proved decisive, it was higher than my Morale and all my units ended up -1 .

And my hero was on a quest when he got killed .