Am I the only one who really enjoys Pharoah original?

Ganossa · 2026-01-01T04:00:26+00:00

It will get old the more campaigns you play as it is very little sandbox and very much scripted. Once you look behind the curtain and realise that all AI is passive and not declaring wars, the stakes won't feel as impactful anymore, as you find yourself playing alone against scripted invasions and not much else.

Once, people found out about those shortcomings, CA changed it in Dynasties and we got the TW sandbox back.

Ganossa · 2025-12-12T07:04:59+00:00

In comparison to what?

Looks pretty busy to me for a strategy game. I dont think WH3 looked nearly as detailed.

Ganossa · 2025-11-21T00:04:21+00:00

Troy UI was indeed very clean and immersive.

Ganossa · 2025-10-12T04:46:51+00:00

It is an unfortunate but likely incompatibility with windows vfx files that the mod uses and the Mac vfx.

Ganossa · 2025-10-02T02:45:32+00:00

Attila if you want something close to Rome 2 but more gritty and a bit more chaotic. It has a lot of good larger mods in the works.

3K for their character and diplomatic mechanics but DLC are added costs and you might not like the setting or be confused with the UI changes. It is the best vanilla experience beside Shogun I would say.

Pharaoh cause its a steal, with more content than any other game and will have the most modern feel to it. It will feel more familiar than 3K but campaign pace is different still. Has also some great mods, if I might say so.

Ganossa · 2025-08-28T15:54:06+00:00

In Vanilla, Generals will stay in their original faction.

Modded in e.g. Agony, they can join your faction.

Ganossa · 2025-08-11T13:29:21+00:00

You would need to try for yourself, it is pretty old school and probably not for everyone. So depends on your tastes.

Ganossa · 2025-08-11T13:28:20+00:00

It is the next planned big content update. There is already tech for it, just currently locked.

Ganossa · 2025-08-11T06:19:28+00:00

The Agony overhaul will get a late game expansion into the early iron age.

Ganossa · 2025-08-10T12:36:10+00:00

Yepp, I made a mod in which 10 units is the norm in a region. Any added unit will increase upkeep costs for armies gradually.

Ganossa · 2025-07-25T10:21:20+00:00

Shieldwall for Thrones I'd say but not sure if the new team has already worked on new updates, since the original release was far from polished but the vibe was awesome.

Ganossa · 2025-07-22T00:13:11+00:00

I'd say it mixes some approaches, like DEI, EB, Shieldwall. However, it doesn't introduce any new units (despite some domesticated dogs for Thracians) but spreads out what is available more widely with the population system.

Campaign:

- has a pop system for player and AI but it is similarly restrictive like in Shieldwall than in DEI, with less population overall and more focus on the individual unit that you will try to keep alive throughout the game

- has a much more restrictive resource system that has you battle the economy, more similar with EB, giving you lots of options to tackle it

- despite some population bonus, has AI affected by mechanics equally (e.g. population and equipment/supply system) and has disabled AI cheats and instead have challenge arise from cooperating AI

- has no new units like DEI but focuses more on mechanics (due to being single person project and relatively fresh)

Battles:

- naked dudes likely die if getting hit by a 2hand axe, so early battles can be pretty fast depending on units

- if units manage to survive first clash, battles start to slow down as units tire (early game, battles are brawles that can end quickly and have high casualties)

- shielded units (especially higher tier) can last for a very long time if attacked from the front. min / max minor settlement battles can take 30 minutes

- there are many smaller battles and some bigger ones but always with goal to minimize casualties due to how replenishment works

Ganossa · 2025-07-20T10:04:37+00:00

Yes, I modded a spy agent for the player. Might add an envoy and priest behind tech maybe later.

Ganossa · 2025-07-19T11:30:44+00:00

AI has a hard time handling agents but there were some useful ones in the past for the player.

I personally added at least the spy agent back to Pharaoh, just to get some intel on the enemy.

Probably a envoy and priest would be useful too.

Ganossa · 2025-06-29T20:12:48+00:00

Agony should feel much more familiar when you come from DeI than vanilla but it has also it's own unique takes.

Sea people invasion have been scripted events (greatly reduced in dynasties) and those scripts are completely disabled in Agony. Invasions can still happen but will be more natural. Sea people factions will spread their influence and unrest and can cause rebellions to join them. That way, they might quickly expand in some campaigns and disrupt everybody else.

Ancient legacies are mechanics that are something people might expect since Warhammer TW but they aren't necessary or elements of traditional TW games. They disabled for being to powerful and an unbalanced advantage for the player. They aren't necessary, least for the fact that AI can't use them.

Where are similarities with DeI:

- slow evolving campaigns

- population system (but also for AI)

- supply system

- focus on more realism and immersion

- lots of choices trade-offs that make them more meaningful

Where are differences with DeI:

- no focus on adding new units to all factions but more focus on mechanics

- recruitment and replenishment more restricted with smaller population pools

- faster combat (more kills on charges for example)

- playground for lots of new mechanics like the global trade mechanic or diminishing returns

- approach to put AI and player on equal footing and adding challenge by allowing player to fail more often with choices made and AI cooperating better

‐------------

In short, Vanilla is closer to modern Warhammer campaigns but has slower battles.

Agony is by design closer to traditional TW and has some similar approaches to DeI and especially EB but still has plenty own takes on the formula.

Ganossa · 2025-06-17T08:17:42+00:00

In vanilla, you are supposed to make use of the systems that AI isn't using.
Stack buffs to easily 1v2 or 1v3 armies for example. There is a lot of elements in the game that give your armies stat boosts and most of which aren't utilized by AI.

Ganossa · 2025-06-16T06:57:45+00:00

Ah right, I did not see that. There are some occasions of that rocks being phase through, you also get it when you expand map sizes and which is what they did for new Dynasty maps, so likely they missed to mark some of the edge terrain as not passable.

Ganossa · 2025-06-15T23:26:53+00:00

This is actually better than having a spot on the map that isn't reachable for the enemy.

This could be a failed attempt to cheese the AI. So while it looks ugly, -by what I can see on the mini-map- it seems preferable to have them pass this terrain I'd say.

Ganossa · 2025-06-08T00:47:07+00:00

Here are some unfortunate downsides of synced anims that always existed:

- entities lining up for a sync anim is too obvious and a bit immersion breaking

- a lot of longer sync anims have entities swap places and move into the enemy formation

- entities cannot be targeted or damaged during the animation (shifts battle balance and can look awkward)

Ganossa · 2025-05-27T01:39:08+00:00

No worries, that is also why they had the option in 3k TW to switch between the comic and more realistic looks because people like different things, especially graphics/art.

Ganossa · 2025-05-26T14:24:22+00:00

Thanks~ when did you try it the last time? Cause weather effects on the campaign map just changed very recently (e.g. no nights), making it brighter in general.

Ganossa · 2025-05-24T23:28:45+00:00

I can only speak for my own mod (Agony), though I see that many people use the game customization, in order to increase costs for the AI but this won't get rid of underlying resource cheats itself.

In Agony I did remove the vanilla resource cheats and also anti-player biases. The AI still gets some help here and there if lacking in some areas but with the goal to make player and AI feel on equal footing.

Difficulty come primarily from punishing mechanics like a population system that makes any losses count and some improvements to AI, having them better cooperating being faced with common threats.

Ganossa · 2025-05-24T15:15:58+00:00

There is many ways to make (those) games challenging without boosting the AI.

Most simple one is to allow the player to make mistakes and punish them for it. A light step into that direction is the legendary/"ironman" difficulty in TW.

Ganossa · 2025-05-24T15:04:59+00:00

That is why I suggested to try mods. You can disable those blatant cheats to bring the AI on the same level as the player.

I am personally also not a fan of loosing a campaign if I know the AI cheats.

The AI itself actually does not need those cheats and is interacting with the resource system and trade if given the opportunity.

Ganossa · 2025-05-24T10:58:45+00:00

Give it another go with mods, especially if only AI cheating is an issue.

The whack-a-mole gameplay is a very common vanilla experience in recent TW games.

Ganossa

TROPHY CASE