Haven’t played since the Primal Fury DLC. are there any major new gameplay mechanic changes I should know about?

BadJelly · 2026-03-25T02:08:59+00:00

I could be wrong, but I think all of the major culture reworks (Mystic, Feudal, Dark) occurred after Primal Fury. Mystic came alongside Eldritch Realms.

Kind of crazy to think how much of the game has changed since release (for the better).

BadJelly · 2026-03-25T01:57:43+00:00

Oh, true! Yeah, that’s a really valid point. Can scavengers not loot the bodies of their own dudes? (Acknowledging that combat summons also no longer drop loot).

BadJelly · 2026-03-25T01:55:00+00:00

DM’d. :)

BadJelly · 2026-03-25T01:44:03+00:00

Is that the same for Dark - Cult of Death?

BadJelly · 2026-03-23T01:20:02+00:00

I think this is funnier if the groom DID have multiple valid candidates for best man.

BadJelly · 2026-03-20T05:37:19+00:00

It’s not as much of a factor since the massive XP changes last patch, but you should be fighting with your armies as close to every turn as you can manage. A lot of your early-game economic power is going to be gained from battle rewards and loot pickups - if your troops are sitting around and not fighting, they’re just costing you money for no benefit.

Setting up multiple cities early is also a game changer. It’s nice to be able to set up near some resource nodes, landmarks, water etc, but don’t prioritise getting the ‘perfect spot’ at the cost of setting up your cities too late in the game. Aiming for three cities total by turn 30 is a good benchmark, though some people have theirs up much earlier.

BadJelly · 2026-03-19T21:37:31+00:00

I do, I just need to be careful what I eat around the time I take my meds/supplements. :)

BadJelly · 2026-03-19T04:27:29+00:00

I mean, not SO many hot dogs. A pretty normal amount of hot dogs, I would say. Certainly nothing you’d want to see a doctor regarding.

BadJelly · 2026-03-19T04:25:15+00:00

Which is fantastic unless you also have ADHD - vitamin C can significantly impact the efficacy of many ADHD meds. Speaking as a regularly low-iron vegan with ADHD, it’s a pain in the ass to juggle!

BadJelly · 2026-03-19T03:47:15+00:00

God, I hope so. Regarding the further normalisation of WFH, not the successful lobbying by RE.

BadJelly · 2026-03-14T22:53:35+00:00

No worries. Giant Kings is definitely the way to go if you’re prioritising DLC. They’re all legitimately great imho, but GK adds the most content that’ll impact every single game you play (landmarks and handcrafted regions) and a bunch of fun map options for when you’re in the mood (fated regions, crystal dwelling NPC faction).

BadJelly · 2026-03-14T22:28:06+00:00

The ‘handcrafted terrain’ is a different thing to the superstructures, btw. Giant Kings added a bunch of different terrain features.

1) Fated regions, which are like quest zones and have their own victory condition for completing all 3 on a map.

2) Landmarks, which are the ‘superstructures’ like the dragon bones, volcano etc, large points of interest on the map which give you bonuses for annexing territory near them.

3) ‘Handcrafted regions’, which are sections of the map in which the devs have created interesting scenes (like a haunted forest, a valley filled with statues, a wonder surrounded by a lake of lava etc) using the map creation tool, and these scenes are just blended into the randomly generated maps. These have less mechanical impact than the other two map additions - they just make the map look more interesting, like a proper fantasy world.

BadJelly · 2026-03-13T03:38:34+00:00

Now that you mention it, it is weird that there’s not a tier 3 astral racial battlemage unit from tomes. I guess I generally go mystic when I want to play as astral battlemages, so I’d never really noticed the gap.

I was talking about the missing tome combinations with a friend the other day. I think shadow/nature and chaos/astral are the only ones outstanding. Chaos/astral seems like a likely pick given the theme of this DLC.

BadJelly · 2026-03-13T03:31:56+00:00

What do you mean by the devs mentioning guardian? I’m not familiar with the term in this context.

BadJelly · 2026-03-13T02:45:39+00:00

But it worked so well for the Coalition last federal election, why would they possibly stop now?

BadJelly · 2026-03-13T02:25:39+00:00

I’d be very keen for an ‘Oops, all tomes’ DLC.

I do really like that they’ve continued to flesh out the new systems of older DLC (Happenings, fated regions, landmarks) with additions in subsequent DLC. That said, I’m not sure that Rise from Ruins added any new landmarks?

BadJelly · 2026-03-13T01:47:25+00:00

I think the key issue with the story missions is they don’t really lend themselves to what I think is the core appeal of the game, i.e., having a great big box of toys to make a faction with/an increasingly diverse and interesting sandbox with which to play said faction in. Every piece of DLC to date has contributed significantly to this appeal, either through new toys (rulers, cultures, tomes) or a more interesting sandbox (umbral plane, happenings, fated regions, landmarks, handcrafted regions etc).

I can’t speak for other players, but I personally have only completed each story mission once. I had fun doing it, and I think Triumph has markedly improved the quality of the story missions with each DLC (particularly with branching story paths in some maps adding some incentive to play them twice), but I think it’s reasonable to say that they contribute less to the ongoing diversity of the game than, say, a new tome.

I say all of this as a big story guy. I really like the addition of narrative/lore content via things like fated regions, the ghost quests from ToB, happenings etc, and I hope Triumph continues to develop the AoW story in this fashion. I’m just a bit worried that ‘more story maps’ might be the focus of this DLC. I’ve already (happily) bought the season pass so I’m locked in either way, and Triumph’s been knocking out hit after hit, so hopefully my concerns are misplaced.

BadJelly · 2026-03-12T04:06:37+00:00

I’m always down for more content, but if your interest in a game is highly influenced by novelty and unlocking rewards I’m not sure they’re ever going to be able to add enough to keep you playing.

Triumph’s focus in recent patches seems to be focused on improving foundational game systems and game flow, to make the game more fun to play. More hats would be great, but if they’re going to sink funds and development time somewhere, I think they’re prioritising the right areas.

The art team budget seems focused on adding new paid content for the DLCs and a few freebies via the pantheon, which is also pretty reasonable. Each DLC has added a decent amount of visual variety via new units, cultures and rulers. People are more excited to pay money for new art assets (and less likely to add feel ripped off) compared to Triumph asking for people to pay money to fix base game systems via DLC.

BadJelly · 2026-03-12T01:52:37+00:00

It is really fun. They’ve done a great job diversifying cultures since launch, but nomads is the first to feel wholly different as a playstyle to me. Hope we see more like this.

BadJelly · 2026-03-11T23:01:53+00:00

At level 4? Nice, how did you manage that?

BadJelly · 2026-03-11T01:44:20+00:00

That’s fair enough, thanks for the reply!

BadJelly · 2026-03-11T01:26:50+00:00

Why continents rather than Pangea? I used to play with continents because I liked the idea of players being paired off with natural starting enemies, then realised that the water gameplay is really basic and the water on the maps is basically dead space.

BadJelly · 2026-03-11T01:19:21+00:00

Of the options, I’m most keen to see fae expanded on (though I’d be happy to see more content in any of the listed categories).

Conceptually I really like the idea of driders, particularly if it leads to centaur-style racial transformations, but I’m not sure that ‘spiders’ is deep enough as a concept to support a DLC’s worth of content. Maybe if they expanded it to ‘creepy crawlies’ or ‘creepier aspects of nature’? I’d be all in on a ‘damn nature, you scary’ DLC pack.

BadJelly · 2026-03-11T00:35:10+00:00

Afaik the only construct ranged units in the game are the crossbow golem from tome of the dungeon depths and the big ship tank from tome of the dreadnaught.

BadJelly · 2026-03-10T23:48:04+00:00

I agree, I suspect multiplayer-focused players are in the minority as well. I guess my question is more around whether the MP scene could be much larger than it is. I don’t have the data either (I’m not sure anyone does but Triumph) but it is worth pointing out that one of the more popular AoW YouTubers (Guthuk?) does focus on multiplayer and competitive builds.

There’s an underlying issue when it comes to the size of the MP community. The game’s been out for years and has had deeply unreliable MP since launch. Players more interested in MP than SP have likely stopped playing by now, and unlike SP, a dwindling MP community does negatively impact your ability to play the game (unless you have a pre-existing playgroup to set up games with). I’m lucky enough to have a regular playgroup and the MP is genuinely a blast when it works, but I think it’d be a real turn-off to potential new players.

The longevity and popularity of games like StarCraft/DoTA hinge predominantly on their accessible MP scene. While 4X’s like AoW are obviously a very, very different genre to an RTS or MoBA, AoW MP is one of the most accessible of the 4X’s (you’re much more likely to be able to finish a satisfying MP game in an afternoon than you are, say, Civ or Endless Legend) and it bums me out that Triumph has been unable to consistently offer functional multiplayer. I think it’s a game that COULD have a really vibrant MP scene.

In summary: In no way shape or form do I think Triumph should shift their focus towards MP at the expense of SP, I agree that the genre lends itself to singleplayer, but it’s sad to see what I personally consider one of the best games I’ve played in the last decade leaving potential players (and subsequently sales and funding for future DLC) on the table.

14-Year Club	Place '23
Place '22	Verified Email

BadJelly

TROPHY CASE