AoW3 was perfectly playable in auto-resolve multiplayer mode but opened up a whole new layer with tactical combat.Īnother thing that podcast made me think about is how many of the later 4X games dismiss progress. Even Total War series is not as good with balancing it (maybe 3K is close). And it's objectively wrong! AoW3 is one of the best 4X games ever, and I'd argue the only one (before AoWPF at least) that realized the player dream of tactical combat inside of an empire-building game.

I remember at one point Rob was very dismissive about Age of Wonders 3, saying that Endless Legend was the only good 4X (apart from Civ series probably) and saying AoW3 is not close. Originally posted by BBB:Use search my friend, lots of discussion on this, that can't be accurately summarised.Ĭombat isn't quite Planetfall (but was never stated to be, but some people got it into their head that it was Xcom, but it really is not)Įmpire management isn't quite Civ (or other 'pure' 4x) which also disappoints someone.Here's Michael Valentine referred to as Dr. the maps are cluttered (AoW3 had a clean looking map)Ĭombat isn't quite XCOM! (but was never stated to be, but some people got it into their head that it was Xcom, but it really is not)Įmpire management isn't quite Civ (or other 'pure' 4x) which also disappoints some. Map readability is sometimes difficult, i.e. This doesn't exist in AoW3)Ĭritiques of Planetfall are basically summed up as such:ĪI can't quite manage all the variables (but then again, I think most Humans fail here too!) Planetfall is sci fi, larger battlefields, fewer units overall (but as much or more unit types, I just mean you may have 50 units in an aow3 game but 30 in PF) much more involved city and empire management, and mod system (equip your units with different modifications, meaning your basic infantry unit has effectively an infinite variety of permutations. Use search my friend, lots of discussion on this, that can't be accurately summarised.ĪoW3 is fantasy based, smaller battlefields, more walls, larger numbers of units on the map in general, less empire management, less city management, more melee based combat.

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