mkk

There hasn't been much talk about this game here so I thought I'd share a tip on a modification for the user interface, being made and updated by a guy calling himself Ekanta. The main idea behind this modification is to provide more information on less space, and I think that it works out really well.


As a long time fan of the Age of... series and betatester of their previous game AoM, I was fairly disappointed with AoE3 at release. However that feeling has eased somewhat after recent patches and this UI modification. How about the rest of you? I'd also be happy to try answering questions about the game for those who may have some. I've also done a mini-mod of some artillery stats and victory conditions, but as it wouldn't work while playing online I don't feel like I should push them onto anyone.

g35x

hmmm....got it....im no good at all at RTS games.....what do i do at that 1st part soon as i start the game??? lol

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Vikingod

I was a fan of AoE2, haven't hardly played an RTS since (a little warcraft 3, but even thats old). How does the gameplay compare to AoE2? How are the units in the game? Resource mining, upgrading, etc, how do these compare to the previous game. I am looking for something different from the FPS and RPG's I've gotten bored with. Oh yeah, and is the learning curve steep, or is it something that isn't too bad to pick up and play?

g35x

well i got it and cant complete the 1st level so no its not pick up and play but hey i havent played any aoe before this so u may have an easier time.......

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mkk

If you want a tip on a decent early game: Put all villagers except one on hunting deer or other huntable animals, and use the food you get to pump out villagers as quickly as possible. (the Dutch uses gold for villagers) The one villager left behind will automatically gather the boxes with resources that lie around the towncenter, put him on wood after he's done. Focus new villagers mostly on food in order to keep producing additional villagers until you have the 800food necessary to reach the next age. After that the options are much more varied.

I understand. After Age of Mythology I was really burned out on the RTS genre. Unfortunately in this case, AoE3 is keeping very much to the basics that has been its signature. If you are bored on the RTS genre in general you would probably have to be interested in the historical era of 1500-1800 to find a driving interest in this game. Try the demo some day when you think you'd like a new RTS again.

Being familiar with AoE2 you already have most of the basics covered. A lot of details have changed but as some new elements were introduced others were made easier to avoid overloading the player. Perhaps the biggest new element is the concept of shipping goods, techs or units from the home country for points earned by fighting, exploring or building tradeposts. Another is the possibility of building posts by native settlements to be able to train troops from there, troops that take up no slots in the population cap. Things having been made a bit easier is for instance that there is no more need to have villagers go to a gathering site to drop off harvested resources. For longer games there are also a number of buildings that can produce resources.

mkk

Ah, the first mission in the campaign. Yes I see how it can be a bit of a shock to the new player. That's probably intended. Where most seem to get stuck on that mission is when it comes to following the commands one gets to do certain things outside the main camp in order to finish the level. Otherwise there will only be more and more waves of enemies. Just start over and try again, perhaps on the low difficulty setting.

g35x

hell i mean the very 1st part where it says move my crossbow to defend the gate or something....i cant even figure out how to move people lol i gota find some time to sit down and figure it out

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Vikingod

Just thought of something else... how are the ships? Does naval combat come into play at all. That was one thing I liked about AoE 2, having ships and ports, etc. Does AoE3 expand on that at all?

mkk

You should go through the Learn to Play section in the game first.

I've kinda felt that the naval part of this game series has been a weak point but now finally they have really improved it. It's more meaningful to have control over the seas since one can get not only food from fishing but also gold from whaling. There's also a bombard class of ship that has the most powerful ranged shot in the game, with wich one can dominate the coasts. Fleets are now also made up by fewer but larger ships, making for more interesting battles compared to just massing galleons on each side like a typical AoE2 water game. Ships also no longer count towards the population limit, but instead have their own limit on the number of ships per type. This means that as long as you have a good economy you can have both a strong land force and a strong navy at the same time. So I'd say that water maps are more interesting than in previous games, and sea battles look fairly spectacular on high graphics settings with cannon fire and wooden splinters flying about. It's just a bit sad that with the ships good looks they still don't move about like real ships, but after all it's an RTS game and not Sid Meyers Pirates.

Zardon

I hated the demo of AOE3, but the full game is much better as you can decrease the size of the bottom tool pallette etc. Was quite easy however and not a great deal of variety although I still enjoyed it.

Beat it over the period of a week or so.

Vikingod

Thats good to know about the demo. the updated version is supposed to have the new UI. I just DLed it and will maybe give it a shot tonight.

Necrosis

I'm on vacation this week so I'm not doing much. This game is one of the things I'm doing. BTW, this is the first time I've played this series. I love it so far.

dj_stick

the demo didn't impress me all that much, I just oculdn't get into it the same way as the original games

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Callandor

Nothing ever beats the original.

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