AOE3 demo out - 366MB

[Nom Chompsky]

I suppose the moderator likes the game to make this a sitcky?

Yip.

 

[Darksun]

Downloaded the demo.
played it for a few hours and am impressed with the game.

Will definaltly be purchasing this game.

 

[Syzygy78]

I also liked it. After my very big disappointment with Empire Earth II... this is quite refreshing. Everything is intuitive and simple. Just learning all the hot keys, strategies, best unit formations and how to attack effectively with different units is the hard bit when it comes to multiplayer games ;p

Is anyone starting an AOE3 league for SA? Or are most of you going to be playing AOE3 on the intl. multiplayer servers?

Syzygy

 

[FireFLi]

Is anyone starting an AOE3 league for SA? Or are most of you going to be playing AOE3 on the intl. multiplayer servers? Syzygy

Good question, if your keen on starting up a local league I would be interested.

 

[Drusky]

The best RTS I ever played was Total Annihilation 1. Loved sending streams of bots across the map from mutiple factories. Wreakage everywhere. Lazer fire back 'n forth between the smoking debris, gunships and repair craft patrolling the battlefront.
And now (drum roll) Total Anihillation will be back in 2006 with shiny new robots and better graphics.
Hope they don't make a royal screw up of it like T.A. Kingdoms.

AOE never interested me much. Played the first one for a while and got sick of the trumpet "under attack" sounds and moaning clerics. Admittedly never tried the newer releases.

 

[useless]

The best RTS I ever played was Total Annihilation 1. Loved sending streams of bots across the map from mutiple factories. Wreakage everywhere. Lazer fire back 'n forth between the smoking debris, gunships and repair craft patrolling the battlefront.
And now (drum roll) Total Anihillation will be back in 2006 with shiny new robots and better graphics.
Hope they don't make a royal screw up of it like T.A. Kingdoms.

AOE never interested me much. Played the first one for a while and got sick of the trumpet "under attack" sounds and moaning clerics. Admittedly never tried the newer releases.

Supreme Commander is indeed looking very hot...

 

[FireFLi]

Played a couple of more hours with the demo last night. For the most part the game is smooth and I really like the concept of building up your home city which should give the multiplayer aspect of the game more longevity and allow you players to customise the game more to their play style.

The concept of choosing a government type when ageing up is something directly out of RoN which I think hasn't been implemented as elegantly as it was in RoN. Suffice to say I don't think it was neccessary to add it to the mix as the home city was already something different and unique, same can be said for the hero/scout unit.

I like the idea of the trading post and the ability to select which resource to boost. Would be nice to be able to define the default you want for each new trading post and to be able to simultaneously switch all of them at once to the same resource. The gameplay and animation is pretty smooth, my big gripe is the UI, it is big and takes up allot of screen real state. I find it clumsy and the buttons are not very explanatory I cranked the res as high as the options would let me and still very little of the map is viewable because of the UI. Problem is the higher the res the smaller the writing is when you hover over a unit or building so I had to really strain to read the stats on it. There is probably an option to enlarge but I have not found it.

The game will be a huge success no doubt, but right now I can't help feel that ensemble tried to be a jack of all trades and master of none.

 

[martin]

The best RTS I ever played was Total Annihilation 1. Loved sending streams of bots across the map from mutiple factories. Wreakage everywhere. Lazer fire back 'n forth between the smoking debris, gunships and repair craft patrolling the battlefront.
And now (drum roll) Total Anihillation will be back in 2006 with shiny new robots and better graphics.
Hope they don't make a royal screw up of it like T.A. Kingdoms.

....

Seconded, that and Dune 2.

 

[Faille]

Yello

Total Annihilation is an old favourite of mine. Hopefully Supreme Commander will be as enjoyable.

 

[Drusky]

Drusky

and Dune 2.

Ah... Dune 2 the first RTS I evah played. played it before I had a colour monitor or should I say before the family had a colour monitor.

DIE ORDOS DEVIATOR DIE DIE DIE he he he. Last time I played it was this year then I deleted it 'cause it would bomb on me now and then

I think i will go play TA 1 now.

 

[Jun]

I've been 'playing' the demo since yesterday.

System specs:
Windows XP Professional, Service Pack 2 (5.1 - 2600)
Intel Pentium 4, 3218MHz, 512KB.
326/1023MB GeForce FX 5700 displaying at 1280x1024 32bit 75Hz

In order to play smoothly, I had to step down on pretty much everything, going 'low', or 'medium' where I had the chance.

I'm quite impressed with the different way they've approached things, but don't get that confused with me being happy with the demo.

You gain experience from killing units, as well as making it through trade routes. This experience can be used to 'ship' in goods, such as gold/lumber/meat, or use 'one-off' 'cards', such as getting 10 laborers or 10 pikes men on the next delivery. These 'deliveries' make me think that different factions in the finished game will have a nice effect when choosing what team/factions to play as.

Apart from experience, you also have the typical gold, lumber and meat. These are gained by harvesting (like hunting animals, chopping trees etc.) and can also be gained through the trade routes, or by using experience. You can also trade one for another, excepting experience, in the Town Hall (If I remember correctly).

-

Unfortunately, I haven't got further than 15-20 minutes into the game. It keeps bombing on my machine. Every time. I've recently scan-disked, defragged, removed my spyware and cleaned up any viruses to try and remove any problems, but it hasn't changed anything.

It is still extremely bug-ridden. For example, I once built 3 monks and they came out sideways. Although it was quite a laugh to see them walking parallel to the ground, it was irritating. And problems like these will most likely end to the game crashing.

The worst part of the game crashing is that it doesn't have a Save function. As far as I know, there is no Save function. Apart from trying all the F1-F12 keys, hoping to find a quick-save/load function, I couldn't find anything on screen that allows saving.

-

While searching to solve my own problems, I found this post on another forum.
It's a decent list of stuff to try before giving up.

-

I'll be sure to post again/edit if I'm able to solve my own problems.

 

[jjtoymachine]

This game sux!

 

[Silent_Bob]

will be downloading it soon. i cant wait! i am keen to play the full version online, what do u think would be the best, have a league or sumthing???

 

[FireFLi]

The worst part of the game crashing is that it doesn't have a Save function. As far as I know, there is no Save function. Apart from trying all the F1-F12 keys, hoping to find a quick-save/load function, I couldn't find anything on screen that allows saving.

This is usually the case with demo's, how else are they going to get you to buy the full version .

This experience can be used to 'ship' in goods, such as gold/lumber/meat, or use 'one-off' 'cards', such as getting 10 laborers or 10 pikes men on the next delivery.

Only gripe with this is when sending resources you have to assign a villager to actually harvest the crates.

 

[Jun]

This is usually the case with demo's, how else are they going to get you to buy the full version .

What you say is true, but with plenty of people having problems with the demo, they should of had a save function. With only two missions to complete, there isn't much replay value.

-

I was able to clear up my problems. After doing what was mentioned in my previous post, updating drivers for both my sound card and video card and then reinstalling the AOE3 demo, I was able to play with no problems.

For those who haven't downloaded the demo, here's a brief outlook:

You get to play 2 missions. These take part in Act III of the game. Looking at the demo, there's most likely only going to be three acts.

Act III is based around the Black family, your hero being the female counterpart. Her goal is to establish train tracks through America so that she can get paid and the war mongerors can get supplies through the land.

Your first mission is based on trying to build trade points on all the trade routes on the map. A very simple stage, even if played on the 'medium' difficulty. Just keep gathering resources and put them towards your warfare, keeping in mind that you need to advance your city to be competitive in power.

The second mission is the clichéd 'defend your base'. You have your castle in the middle with a lack of resources and places to gather them from. The focus is on defending your base while trying to keep the trade routes going on the outer perimeter of the map. On 2 of the outer points of the map, there are 3 bases. One north-west, two south-east. After a time limit has passed, roughly 15 minutes if I remember correctly, reinforcements arrive and you are assigned to destroy those bases, belonging to the Spanish Mexicans.

Like mentioned in my previous post, you can 'order supplies'/'use cards'. This involves using your experience to either summon resources or units over a short period of time. When you complete the first mission, you are able to upgrade your cards. There are dozens to choose from, each in their own tabbed categories of 'marketing/warfare/navy' etc. I can imagine this is going to make the full version quite dynamic in terms of having strategies.

The negative side of this is that you are offered sea/navy options, but they aren't even featured in the game. So if you're reading this and are still to play the demo, be sure not to buy 'cards' for any sea-orientated deliveries.
-

I was quite disappointed to see that there were only two missions to play. You advance quite quickly in the first mission, having all units and buildings available to your faction. It was a bit of overkill.

In my opinion, the first and second mission should of been quite limited in the units you can build and then have a 3rd mission where everything would become available.

-

Overall, even though I would like to add AOE3 to my collection of games, I would probably only play it shortly and then it'll stand gathering dust.

I doubt it's going to stand in popularity compared to new RTS which will be released soon... let alone even ones that have already been made.

 

[Genius Jim]

I finished the demo and loved every minute of it. Will definately add it to my collection.

 

[FireFLi]

I was soooo looking forward to this game after playing and thoroughly enjoying RoN, but I must say I am slightly dissappointed. I have found myself looking forward to rise of legends looks like bighuge have taken the mantle from ensemble when it comes to RTS IMHO.

 

[robmugaap]

I hope the game is better than the demo. It is unplayable IMO - but I think they excluded a lot of essential aspects of the full version.

 

[FxpForce]

Been a long time, should be a great strategy game, graphics looks good.

 

[SeanH]

I downloaded the demo from the microsoft site and installed it but when i try to run it, it comes up with a blank blue screen.... help!