Age of Wonders : Shadow Magic

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Trajanus
About the battering ram; it wouldn't be of much use as every unit with a melee strike can strike down gates (not walls!).

This was added when they removed the battering ram, and it is actually this rule that does not make any sense to me. It makes attacking a walled city too easy, which in fact should be extremely hard.

Originally posted by Trajanus
Besides there's plenty of units that can phase, fly, pass walls, crush walls etc, so there should be enough alternatives

Not that many, and ones that can are expensive.

[Traianvs]

Well there are enough alternatives for me personally, but it's possible that other people still like the battering ram.

Other units might be expensive, but if you play the game well that's not a big problem. On highest difficulty the enemy civs have 5 times as much troops as I have anyway and I still beat them. Some cheese such as the Air galley is needed tho .


PS: there are a lot of walled structures and it's not so practical to take battering rams along all the time. I hated the fact that I could not capture an empty watchtower in AoW1. At the start of the game a battering ram was needed, and it took a loong time before rams pass forests etc. The game in general is faster now and I don't mind

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Trajanus
Well there are enough alternatives for me personally, but it's possible that other people still like the battering ram.

It's not whether I like the battering ram, it's the requirment of it presents a strategic problem that a player must overcome.

Since the AI sucked at doing that, I was not surprised the battering ram was removed, but it's a cheesy move IMO.

[Jamski]

Didn't it just make the game slower and more boring?

-Jam

[Traianvs]

Yes!! I never liked that battering ram much because it was so weak and slow. Even the ram needed quite a few turns to kill a wall (if it's stone, wooden walls only take 2 turns iirc) and the ram is an easy target.

If the AI attacks your city and you only have a handful of units just destroy the battering ram(s) with archers/spells and the enemy retreats

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Jamski
Didn't it just make the game slower and more boring?

No. City defenses are designed in such a way that a small number of defenders can repel a large number of attackers. If sheer number instead of special devices could knock down city gates, what is the point of having them?

[GePap]

I concur- in Age of Wonders I had some very dramatic sieges, like when a command with 6 units and no hero's supported by another ocmmand of four beat back a very superior force of about 25-30 enemies (all units on all sides were level 2 or 1) by knowing how to channel the enemies through breaches in the walls. In fact, the battle ended when my one remaining war elephant one hitpoint from death killed the last remaining dark elf horseman.

[Urban Ranger]

Sounds very heart-pounding

[Traianvs]

It's all a matter of taste, I like powerful units
I especially like slaughtering 3x8 enemy stacks with only one 8 stack of my own and slaughtering them in 2 turns, and making the finishing touches in turn 3 and perhaps 4

Naturally I need my wizard to lend me a hand in destroying my opponent

[Japher]

I got it, played it for a couple weeks and was having fun with it... Then Dominions2 arrived and I haven't gotten back to it, maybe I will.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Trajanus
It's all a matter of taste, I like powerful units

I like powerful units too, but each unit has its place (if the game is properly designed ).

[Skanky Burns]

In the kitchen?

[GePap]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Sounds very heart-pounding

It was- I was well on my way towards utter and complete victory and these forces were simply guarding an area I though was in no danger when the largest section of the dark elf army decides to get their city back. The attack caught me completely off guard and I was not expecting victory at all, becuase my forces were so inferior- at the end I had 2 unit, him 1- my first unit attacks, fails, gets killed-so it came down to that one on one match..and then I win.

The thing was he had no real reserves, so my next turn I reenforced the elephant and went on to wipe him out.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


I like powerful units too, but each unit has its place (if the game is properly designed ).

i actually made a scenerio in which all races were there but no race had any units higher than level 2 (the one in which this battle occured.

Though I have to say some of my fiercests battles in AoW did include level 4's sometimes. one time when I had three commands (of 8) of good units (maily highmen) lead by a hero ambushed in a forest by a force of 4 commands (of 8) of orcs and undead it made for an incredible battle. I lost though.

I had another engagement in that game in which the odds were the same (sans hero), and that one I won with one survivor unit.

[Urban Ranger]

Undeads have some pretty grim units