Age of Empires III

[Lord Thanos]

First off thanks Requiem for this new board section

I don't know how many of you are RTS fans, but have you seen Age of Empires III lately? this game is shaping up beautifuly

Am not sure if the game mechanics have changed much (what more can you do to an RTS), but it's looking good!

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/...reenindex.html

Don't want to direct link too many pictures from Gamespot, so I will do just a couple, you can follow the link above for more




Release Date: 10/18/2005 !

Another game am looking forward to is Civilization IV, though it doesn't look like they upgraded much

[Vorph]

Yea, this game looks incredible, and I'm saying that as someone who absolutely despises the RTS genre, save for Myth 1 and 2.

[PatrickStar]

Already got my pre-order in. AoE started me on RTS gaming and I'm absolutely salivating.

The graphics are obviously a huge upgrade but I hope it doesn't detract from the gameplay. Sometimes all that jazz just makes shit more confusing. What I enjoyed about AoE was well it was freakin easy to manage. I just want to build shit and kill my buddies. Some of these recent RTS makes it where I have to manage way too much.

[Fadaar]

I'm really looking forward to this and Supreme Commander -- which if you don't know is Chris Taylor's (Dungeon Siege I/II, Total Annihilation) next big project. Basically it's Total Annihilation 2 without actually calling it that, he has dubbed it the "spiritual successor to TA."

[Modo Icecrown]

It's going to be hard for them to top Age 2 Gameplay, I really hope they find a way.

I've been looking at screenshots of this game for months and every time it just makes me want to find my Age 2 discs and network it with a few friends and alot of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

God damn Age 2 was amazing.

[Zanna'Dar]

I'm definitely loving the looks of this game so far. I was a die-hard fan of Age of Empires I. Age of Empires 2 was great too if not as fast paced as the first one but gameplay definitely beat the first one.

Anyway, I already picked my civilization, going for Ottomans for sure! They look like a good civ to rush. So glad they put my nation in the game.

October is not a bad date at all, it's pretty close 2 months or so.

[Cadrid]

While the game looks amazing, I'm wondering how it will play, in terms of combat, city management, etc. If anyone has any info on how this game will be different from the other "Age of..." games I think we'd all appreciate the opportunity to be lazy and have you post it for us.

[Kiksar]

I went to the GDC presentation where they talked about this engine and I was pretty let down. I thought the game looked great in screenshots, and I still think it looks fine, but it seemed to actually lose something in motion. They were proud of putting Havoc physics in the game, but they exaggerated some of what they did with it a bit too much, it came off as silly rather than cool.

The water is pretty and easily editable in terms of wavelength, speed, color, etc. but when asked "How do you handle intersecting bodies of water, like a river meeting the ocean?" in the Q&A session they responded with something like, "Well, it doesn't work too well, so we just avoid that in level design." It was just a simple example that sort of summed up the feeling I got while watching the whole thing, which was that they focused on a few things and ignored many others.

Which isn't to say anything about how good the game will be overall, but seeing the engine in motion was less impressive than I was expecting.

[Wanand]

I hope they go for the age of empires 2 gameplay that game was what got me hooked on online gaming that really was a great game.

If they go for age of mythology(ithink it was called) gameplay i will not be buying it that game was a real disapointment

[Burf]

Agreed on Age of Mythology. I really enjoyed the story mode, but the normal Me vs. Computer wasn't very good.
It cracks me up that if you build a wall completely around your base, the computer will find a weakness and attack there. But, if you build a wall around your base, except for one opening, and then put all your defenses at that opening, the computer will try and keep coming through that spot (hey, there's no wall, so it must be the easiest way in!).

I would build a zig-zag of walls that led into my base, and put a bunch of towers and ranged units there and just pick off the computer as it came through.

PS - Before anyone says that I should just play Me vs Another human, I was deployed to Iraq at the time, so I didn't really have the network option.

[masteen]

Originally Posted by Lord Thanos

Another game am looking forward to is Civilization IV, though it doesn't look like they upgraded much

From what I've read on Civ 4, most of their work was on the AI.

They are trying to make the computer opponents behave in more rational ways, not constantly violate your territory unless they are invading, enabling a richer diplomatic experience, as well as the tweaks to unit combat they always make.