Aggressors: Ancient Rome

[dbemont]

Aggressors: Ancient Rome releases next Thursday (Aug 30).

This one is Matrix/Slitherine and looks to be quite a different animal than Paradox's Imperator Rome.

Turn based. Tiles. Quite deep. A large number of factors go into economic and military success, but no control of battles.

Excellent UI information (and apparently documentation in general) but the map is not particularly appealing to the eye.

An option to play the historical Mediterranean but also the the option to play random maps. Made with customization and mods in mind.

Seems to be a cross between grand strategy and 4X. The developer has said that he was influenced by earlier Civ titles, but to me this looks a whole lot deeper and more sophisticated than any of those games.

DasTactic Let's Play: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... D195mPqs6c
Gameplay on Twitch -- DasTactic again struggling at a higher difficulty level. With some commentary by developer: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/298541482

[dbt1949]

It does look interesting.

[jztemple2]

I've been following the designer diaries on this. It has some promise but I'm afraid I'd have a hard time getting into it because I've kinda burned out on the Civ games over the years.

[dbemont]

If you are looking for a quick video overview:
http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtop ... 19&t=87480

[jztemple2]

If you are looking for a quick video overview:
http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtop ... 19&t=87480

Thanks for posting about this video, it gives me a better overall understanding than some hour long "Let's Play" ones.

[Lorini]

Have they mentioned a price for it? Das Tactic has been doing a ton of videos for it, maybe I'll watch some.

[dbemont]

Have they mentioned a price for it?

I cannot find it. For some reason I have assumed all along it would be about $25, but I have no idea where I got that from.

It is odd that with release next week, they are not taking pre-orders yet.

[dbt1949]

I would expect $30-40 myself.

[baelthazar]

Usually, I defer to TGB's judgement on games like this from Matrix/Slitherine. He may, however, be under an NDA and can't talk about it.

I have not seen him in a while though, hope he is ok.

[Lorini]

I just bought it. I'll post impressions later. It's $29.99. The manual is on the Store page.

[dbemont]

I also picked it up. Grandparent duties kept my time with the game down, but I played the basic tutorial and found it excellent. Thorough and clear. Also great tooltips and manual.

Started a game on a random map and promptly made a horrible UI error. An accidental left click on a unit can cause it to do its default action, which, in this case, was a terrible error. But I started anew and have been enjoying the game. I started using mostly default settings including "barbarian" which means just a very few units, start your first city from scratch. At first, it is all about setting up roads to keep early units supplied in the field, and to up production from mines. And fields, to increase food so population can expand. But even fields have to be "invented."

Just met my first neighbor, the Germans, who want no part of peace. Map is interesting -- some very important mines in the area we met, so I assume abouthalf way between our starting positions. I suspect early conflict is inevitable.

First impression very positive, but it is very early.

[baelthazar]

There is a playable tutorial? Where do you find it? I booted it up and dived in when it was not apparent there was a tutorial and found myself completely lost.

[Lorini]

You have to choose Rome to get the tutorial. There might be other countries, but Rome for sure.

[LordMortis]

Apparently I've had this wishlisted forever and it's $5.69 right now. Is it worth my time?

[Carpet_pissr]

Apparently I've had this wishlisted forever and it's $5.69 right now. Is it worth my time?

ALL SIGNS POINT TO ‘YES’

76 Metacritic
80% Steam reviews
‘Diamond in the rough’
‘Mix between Civ style 4x and a war game’
‘Excellent tutorial’
‘Surprisingly deep’

‘This game is not Total War style or CK2 or EU4 style - if I have to compare it would be to Civ 4 but without the emphasis on civilization building, more like stripped down to the pure war elements. Hugely affected by economic conditions and resources and political events.’