Age of Mythology

November 1, 2002, 18:48

I just pick up my game and open the box (Collectors Edition) and here is a list of what is inside the box. Infogrames Games please read this also, there is still time to make us happy.
1. 6 5X7 picture of Odin, Thor, Ra, Isis, Zeus, and Poseidon with text on the back of picture.

2. A 25"X35" Wall poster with picture of Zeus, the Dog guy and Thor and signature of the entire staff on the borders.

3. A 4" units the Bull guy.

4. A paper back book "Bulfinch's Mythology" 1" thick.

5. Game manual

6. 3 small charts of the Greek, Norse, and Egyptian 7" X 13 1/2".

7. 3 CD's Original Soundtrack, The game, and The making of AoM.

FrustratedPoet · November 1, 2002, 19:01

impressive.

Sarxis · November 2, 2002, 04:21

I played the trial version. Its good, and I may yet pick it up.

I expect that the 'minor' shortcomings will be cleared up by ES pronto; they've always taken the balance and gameplay of their AoE line of games very seriously.

But RoN is what I am waiting for.

The diplomat · November 6, 2002, 10:57

I am playing the demo and I am impressed. It is obviously still a typical RTS, but the mythology aspect adds a lot of personality that AoE sometimes lacked.

Additionally, the game has a more polished interface, graphics, and gameplay.

I noticed a few welcomed tweaks. Farms now never expire. So, you can build farms and know that you will have a steady source of food for the rest of the game.

I like the mithology aspect. Also, every time you advance you get to pick your god which gives you certain bonuses. This means that you get to choose what your bonuses will be. I like that!

I also noticed that you can only build town centers on settlements that are preplaced on the map.

General Ludd · November 6, 2002, 15:44

I've only played it a little bit, but so far it is the only RTS game that I've liked since StarCraft, mainly because it's the only that's actually added some interesting new things to the genre.

It's very nice how you get to pick gods to worship, and each culture accumilates power in a different way. Also, all three of the cultures are uniquely different (Possibley even more so then in StarCraft).

I especially like how you can construct building anywhere (it doesn't use a lage grid) and how it puts town cobbles and stuff around the buildings when they are complete (you can get some very nice looking towns. And, not to mention that you can build walls at any angel!

I haven't gotten a chance to test out all of the "miracles" yet, but so far they are very interesting - For instance, in one of the games that I have played, I built a fortified wall across a choke point in the map, then the computer created a "passage from the underworld" (or something like that) that allowed his units to come up out of the ground past my wall, so I froze his army in place and killed half of it before they thawed out, and delt with the remainders easily.

My only complaints so far is that the computer doesn't seem to be able to build walls (there are different AI settings which I haven't tried, though) and that the mouse cursor icons aren't always transparent where they're supposed to be (so I get a little black box around the cursor sometimes)

Guynemer · November 10, 2002, 00:50

Quick questions:

System requirements?

System recommendations?

Sounds pretty interesting... definitely not getting PTW, so maybe this would give me my god-complex fix.

FrustratedPoet · November 10, 2002, 05:34

Quote:

Originally posted by Guynemer
System requirements?

The back of the box I've got only lists the required specs, but here they are:

128 MB RAM

450MHz processor

1.5 GB of hard drive space

16 MB 3D graphics card

That's it.

(oh yeah, and if you want to play over the internet it says you'll need a modem

)

Guynemer · November 10, 2002, 10:58

Thanks FP. Surprised, I didn't think my old machine would be able to handle big new games like this one anymore...

The diplomat · November 10, 2002, 13:30

Quote:

Originally posted by Osweld
I haven't gotten a chance to test out all of the "miracles" yet, but so far they are very interesting - For instance, in one of the games that I have played, I built a fortified wall across a choke point in the map, then the computer created a "passage from the underworld" (or something like that) that allowed his units to come up out of the ground past my wall, so I froze his army in place and killed half of it before they thawed out, and delt with the remainders easily.

yeah, I like the various special powers. have you tried the "cease-fire" power? It freezes all combat for a finite amount fo time.

The AI built an underworld tunnel to my city, and brought this huge army to bear right outside my capital. I was unprepared since my army was not as big. I used the cease-fire power and it froze combat for like 20 seconds. I was able to build some more units and increase my army and eventually win the batttle as a result. pretty cool.

You have to be very careful because you can only use the power once, so you have to make a decision as to when you feel is the best time to use it.

tniem · November 10, 2002, 14:29

Wow the tunnel and the freeze time thing sound sweet. I am really looking forward to getting AoM for Christmas. It is just going to be an absolutely amazing game.

One questions, how are the scenarios, campaigns that come with the game?

The diplomat · November 16, 2002, 15:38

What do people think of the various dificulty levels?

I played a random map on titan level. I got creamed. I reached the classical age the first, but had not reached the heroic age yet when all of a sudden an underworld tunnel pops up RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF MY TOWN, and out comes a huge army: game over!

I wonder how much the comp cheats.

Solver · November 18, 2002, 09:37

FP, those requirements wouldn't get you too far, though. You need to have 256 MB RAM, and at least 16 MB video memory. For an enjoyable game, I say 750 MHz, 256 RAM and 32 video, anything more goes for better. With the minimum specs of 450 MHz and 128 MB RAM, you can play, but don't expect to enjoy 4v4 games.

The game is very polished... Ensemble Studios sent me a beta a month before the release, and boy I was impressed... game of 2002 for me.

DinoDoc · November 18, 2002, 10:17

Quote:

Originally posted by Solver
FP, those requirements wouldn't get you too far, though. You need to have 256 MB RAM,

You can get by fairly well with 128 MB of RAM. Trust me. I speak from experience. You'll need better than the minimum requirements for the rest though.

Does anyone have any tips for the "Tug of War" mission?

Solver · November 18, 2002, 10:31

I also speak from experience, having played it on both 128 and 256. And the difference wasn't too hard to notice - for instance, when playing 2v2 games with the comp, the extra memory did help.

November 18, 2002, 21:18

Quote:

Originally posted by DinoDoc
You can get by fairly well with 128 MB of RAM. Trust me. I speak from experience. You'll need better than the minimum requirements for the rest though.

Does anyone have any tips for the "Tug of War" mission?

I'm not sure which mission that is. I lost my game on the mission where the bad guy is breaking the door down. Did not know that I was suppose to defeat the bad guys and not worry about the ram.

alofatti · November 18, 2002, 21:44

My personal experience with the game:
I have played the first 19 scenarios of the main campaing and I must say that this game is quite good indeed.
At the beginning I was a little bit upset with it because it didn´t look much different than AoE or AoE II but later on it starts to get more interesting.
Graphics are very nice, specially the egyptians one.

DinoDoc · November 18, 2002, 22:47

Quote:

Originally posted by joseph1944
Did not know that I was suppose to defeat the bad guys and not worry about the ram.

You're suppossed to knock down two boulders and then focus all of your efforts on the ram, IIRC.

The Tug of War mission is in the middle of the Egyptian part of the campaign...I think.

FrustratedPoet · November 19, 2002, 03:43

Quote:

Originally posted by DinoDoc
You're suppossed to knock down two boulders and then focus all of your efforts on the ram, IIRC.

Yeah, you are. I did this mission last night.

Attack the two boulders first to block off the enemy re-enforcements and then throw everything you've got against the ram.

DrSpike · November 24, 2002, 08:35

Loads of people must have this by now. Should I get it?

Guynemer · November 26, 2002, 20:04

Quote:

Originally posted by DinoDoc
You're suppossed to knock down two boulders and then focus all of your efforts on the ram, IIRC.

The Tug of War mission is in the middle of the Egyptian part of the campaign...I think.

I think I've beaten that one... I'm on mission 15, "Tug of War" rings a bell. Is that the one where you've gotta bring in the piece of Horus into your town before Kemsyt gets it into his? The map is more or less shaped like an "S"?

MattyBoy · November 27, 2002, 00:58

How about this?
I bought a packet of breakfast cereal last week that came with a CD advertising and demoing AoM and including AoE1.

I have never played any "Age of" games. Should I install and play AoE1 or is it a crock?

tniem · November 27, 2002, 01:21

Play AoE. It is really good. And the demo for AoM is fantastic. I am looking forward to getting it soon.

DrSpike · November 28, 2002, 18:55

Hmm, acquired this today, and it doesn't work. Bit of a bummer really, was looking forward to it.

FrustratedPoet · November 28, 2002, 19:02

Any idea why it doesn't work?

DrSpike · November 28, 2002, 19:04

The clue is in the word 'acquired'.

FrustratedPoet · November 28, 2002, 19:11

yeah ... sorry, I'm a bit slow today.

have you given up on it, or are you going to get it by more conventional means?

DrSpike · November 28, 2002, 19:14

Yeah I think I will. Do you know how many active MPers there are?

FrustratedPoet · November 28, 2002, 19:20

thousands (I'm not one of them, though)

DrSpike · November 28, 2002, 19:22

You should be, MP rocks

I guessed there'd be quite a few since AOE2 was so popular.

FrustratedPoet · November 28, 2002, 19:28

I'm thinking of getting into MP.
I've recently tried playing the AI on Hard difficulty and setting it's tactics to "Aggressive Rusher", which should reasonably approximate MP tactics.
I'm winning more than I'm losing, but humans are always better than the AI.

I can't decide whether I like Loki (norse) or Hades (greeks) as my prefered faction yet. I like Loki's ability to summon Myth Units in battle, and I like Hades' Sentinel power (good rush defence) and improved archers.