Year deduction when losing

LordLarry · #1 November 23rd, 2010, 03:49 PM

I'm checking out the demo and I have one question. The tutorial says that I have so many fixed years to complete the map, and every time I lose a battle, years keep being deducted from the total allotment so to speak. So if I have to do a section over several times, is it possible I can get near the end of the map and I will not be able to continue, from running out of years? Or being against the year 2000 I believe it is?

That would mean I would have to start the map over again?

LordLarry · #2 November 24th, 2010, 10:44 PM

No developers to answer this question? This is a game breaker for me, and until I find out the answer to this question I'm not buying this game.

MarkL · #3 November 26th, 2010, 02:51 AM

I am sure you are correct in that assumption.

Now I have almost completed all the campaigns in the full game all three time zones. Now I have lost a lot of maps up to 10 times and have not reached the limit yet.

I am only a casual gamer and it is mainly the late Bronze that has very hard maps. One campaign (wont mention it in case of spoiler) I am not sure if I will beat before I run out of time.

The game can be a bit frustrating when you first start and swap nations as you really do have to swap play style with each nation. Try to play on the easy setting first as well. That setting gives you more money to by units. (does not change game play)

If you like this sort of game, you can forget the campaign completely as the custom battle setup lets you play all the campaign maps and generated ones as well with any force mix you like.

So if you like the game play don't worry about the campaign too much as the battle generator will keep you going far longer until you tire of the game completely.

Cheers MarkL

LordLarry · #4 November 26th, 2010, 10:51 AM

MarkL, thank you for the reply! I was beginning to think this forum for this game was dead.

So let me get this straight. You have not had to start a map over from the beginning because of running out of years to complete it?

I watched the years amount when losing a battle and it still counted down towards the year 2000 BC (maybe 2200 BC?). I wish there were an option to not have this happen. I would hate to get near the end of the map and find out I have to start over from the beginning. Judging by what a message said while playing, this can happen. I would like to know though how tight this allotment is. How many battles do I have to lose for this to happen?

May need to hear from a developer of the game to find this out.

Alexander311 · #5 November 27th, 2010, 11:03 PM

Hi LordLarry. While it is possible to run out of years, it is almost impossible to do so in the Early Bronze Age. I think you'd have to lose 50+ times. However, if that bothers you, you can select an easier difficulty level (when you select the campaign). The easier difficulty levels have the same tough AI but give you significantly more years to complete the campaign. We added the "easier" difficulty specifically to address the issue of people not wanting to deal with time pressure.

Alex Kutsenok
Dreamspike Studios

LordLarry · #6 November 28th, 2010, 09:55 AM

Alexander311; Thank you for answering my post, and exactly what I needed to hear. Well, read that is.

With that said, I will buy the game now. I will play it on easy for a while.

Thanks!

Alexander311 · #7 November 29th, 2010, 01:24 AM

Glad to have helped. Please feel free to post any future questions here, and we'll do our best to respond.

tarot · #8 February 27th, 2011, 05:37 AM

Another tip is that, after you select an area from the strategic map, you can click the left mouse button (do not press the space bar) to look at the map. If at this point you decide that the map is too difficult, you can exit (before you start actually playing the map) without the years passing.

When you play the survival mode, it is an important skill to evaluate the starting position just by looking at the map, the civilizations, and the turn order (without actually playing the map). You need to tell whether you can win, and if not, use an emissary (or two).

It seems to me that the year limit is just there to provide a sense of tension or pressure, but the limit is so loose (even in Late Bronze Age) that it doesn't create any real challenge or barrier.

Alexander311 · #9 February 27th, 2011, 11:33 AM

I would have to agree with Tarot. The effect of the year limit is just to make you feel that you don't have infinite time. However, the time limit has been tweaked to ensure that it is easily possible to finish any campaign on time.