Thanks for the feedback, all this is very important to us, and we'll be trying to fix all issues as soon as possible. I'm planning to send a patch out today in fact. 1. We needed the first tap on an existing building to give the player the option to demolish or upgrade, then we wanted to show what are the changes when they tapped again on upgrade. If we had the second click automatically do an upgrade, there'll be two clicks more to 'reset' for a player who just wants to know what is the upgrade. 2. You can hire troops and build directly from the Top Menu actually. We could arrange to include some form of a sort, but it's really very useful already. You can zoom onto specific Officers or Provinces from that menu as well. 3. The research tree was an option early on, along with an option that allows you to choose one of three decrees as rewards for conquering a province, but we chose to simply the system in the end. Nothing wrong with any of these directions, but it just happened that we finally decided to do it this way. Now we have a combined list of 80 decrees (and growing), and we made sure that only decrees that the warlord can benefit from are given to them. 4. You mean the two-finger panning in the original? When we went Universal for AD 1, we added an option for (and made default) one-finger panning + brush icon because it seems more natural for iPhone players. I'll have to talk to the others to see if we can put back one-finger panning as an option now, but I note that the only other difference between modes is now it handled group select. Okay, I'll ask Gamedboy to see about removing it. Ha! Warned ya about them. I don't know if I'll change the timings because we want some missions to be tight, but I'll check them again to make sure the timings aren't TOO tight.
Kirua, Thanks a bunch for the speedy reply, i'll keep to the bullet leist for ease of reading: 1. The buildings bit makes a lot of sense, I didnt realize that some of the late game building upgrades also add othe bonuses. Aso, nice touch on needing one military building to keep the watchtowers around. That keeps the player from opting to continuously scrap military buildings when they're expanding and rebuild them around the periphery. That became the only viable way to play TW and it was lame. 2. The dropdown menu at the top does have a lot of shortcuts, and im finding out that the loading screen tip about "tooltips being hidden everywhere" was funny and true. I think the numeric values for the citties' order/espionage/diplo status really help. I was actually gonna ask earlier if that was a thing before i found out. I've painted half the map as of right now, and still think a "next province" button placed within then main province interface would streamline late game building quite a bit. 3. Talking about it now, i think yall were right in randomizing the decrees, because in retrospect, a tech tree would pidgeonhole most players into choosing an "optimal" strategy. I've been playing strategy games since the late 80s, adn i really think you guys struck creative gold here with the decree system and the progressive province invasion system. Very original and incredibly mechanically well done. 4. I don't know much about coding, but if a two finger alternate control scheme would be possible, that'd be amazing. The brush button makes sense for the iphones, i don't game on mine so i didn't consider that. However, i really did feel like i was painting a picture while playing the original two finger control scheme on the ipad. Also, from a gameplay standpint, it's much more efficient (imo) to immediately be able to draw a circle around a group instead of moving the finger to push the button and then drawing the circle. I realize the difference is of about a second, but on the harder difficulties that could cost the game. Im also having some trouble deselecting individual or grouped units because the map pans. That's really why im asking if the two finger pan is at all possible as an altenate choice to be added to the options. The button takes a bit of the organic artistry out of actually controlling the game. I didnt realize you guys changed it in the forst one as well, haven't played the original in awhile. After i wrote up this essay lol, i went back and played a skirmish map, and came up with two other questions if you dont mind: the original had smoother performace during the real time battles, not really sure if the speed slider on fast made a difference in perception pr not. Are the new unit models a lot more graphically intensive, because the maps seem smaller overall. Im playing it on a 3rd gen ipad, just for a hardware benchmark reference. Second, in warlords, if i select a unit and draw a path for it that ends on an enemy unit triggering an attack order, the path is automatically replaced with a straight line, making the unit potentially cross rough or dissadvantageous terrain. Is that on purpose? Its about the only aspect of Warlords that seems a step back from its predecessor. Im sure the pathfinding algorythms from the first game would offer some clue as to why this happens. Either way, thanks again for your reply, and congratulations again on an amazing game. I hope you guys not only recoup the development costs, but make a hefty profit in the long run. PS: btw, releasing the original for free was not only a classy move, but a great way to pick up a new fan base before the next game came out. Whoever came up with that idea deserves a raise lol.
Thanks for the support again Calin. I don't think there is a hardware issue and we'll probably be implementing a speed selector like before. Let me get fernfreak to get back to you on those two issues, my impression is that the auto-pathing is the same as the original, if you drag onto an enemy unit there will be a black straight line drawn to indicate that your unit is now on auto-attack, but the (arrow) path it draws is the shortest path to reach the enemy. And while we wait for him, we got our official trailer done!
Personally I really like this new control scheme in Warlords. So if anything is changed, please make it optional!
Wow, just... Wow! I really liked the first game, but with the 4x elements here I am loving this one so much more! You guys really knocked it out of the park with this one! You know you have a good game when you got me up until almost 3AM playing it when I got to get up in three and a half hours!
Hi all, we fixed all the reported bugs and they'll be going into tonight's patch along with some minor improvements we made earlier, but we'll have to test the new changes out thoroughly so we might not be able include all the additional non-bug stuff (load confirm button is killed). We also changed the way units path in this patch, they will now follow your path before trying to engage the enemy, but if you draw pass impassable terrain, they would still take the shortest path. One thing that worries me though, some of the reported bugs were actually fixed in the latest version (which should be the same one you get from the app store).... We'll keep you guys posted as usual.
Bought this one as a thank you for making the first free. Seems fun, but I didn't have much time to play unfortunately I also found the change to controls a bit weird at first - hard to use it properly on iPad
Game Impressions Two thoughts return to me as I explore the Autumm Dynasty: 1. This is amazing. There is no undue hype here. 4X-RTS deserves to be a genre of its own, and ADW is not only one of the first and the few to do it, but one of those who do it best. And with some expansions to the 4X mode, ADW could stand proudly on the PC as one of the most innovative, polished and best tactical strategy experiences of all time. 2. After having played the game, I can see absolutely no reason why the full 4X-RTS mode could not work in online (seamlessly integrated async/realtime) multiplayer. I hyperbole you not when I say that that might haven been the best multiplayer strategy experience so far, of all platforms, of all known time, next to the perennial Civ. I think I understand why it will not happen, but I believe it could be done beautifully.
I just bought the game and I must say, GREAT job! This is a truly deep and engaging game, as well as graphically beautiful. This game is now a benchmark for all future iOS strategy / 4x games! A real joy, and I thank you!
Yes but your missing the fact that starbase Orion, which I have and love to play, it totally turn based. The RTS element adds a whole other layer that, IMO, could be problematic. I enjoy long async as much as the next guy but having to stop turns until you can play online at the same time can easily turn into years. I'm mean I'm only a few turns in and I've probably play over 20 rts events. Maybe if they did auto resolve for the battles but again, IMO, I don't see that as being fun.
I love how the low rating on App Store complaining about a white screen all seem to be people with iphone 4. I mean C'mon, were they really expecting a game this new and advanced to run smoothly on ur anchient device?? I mean it says in the description "OPTIMIZED FOR IPHONE 5" smh I'm playing on ipad mini retina and iphone 5. Runs great in both so far and is an extremely deep and entertaining game. I'm loving it so far. Even better than the first.
No, I'm not missing that fact. I'm counting on it as a part of the brilliance of a multiplayer version of Autumn Dynasty Warlords (I understand why it will not happen, at least no in the foreseeable future. Just discussing that I think it is not only possible, but would be one of the most engaging and sophisticated and durned fun multiplayer experiences for any platform. Wishful thinking expressed out loud )
Glad you enjoyed our game! We did already specify which devices are supported, but to be fair I think we should state again which devices are not. Makes everyone happy (1 stars hurt!).
I like it better than the first game already. My biggest problem with Warlords so far is that I had multiple "battles", where I stood 6 against 1, so it was a matter of "send them in and wait 2 minutes doing absolutely nothing". Even worse: Attacking a fort without any units definding it. That's definitely not tense! The battles of roughly equal forces are amazing, though. A lot of tactical positioning of the different unit types involved. The empire management meta-game seems deep with lots of options (building, diplomacy, warfare, espionage etc. and lots of connections between all of those, e.g. spying on an enemy province gives you more strategic options on how to approach battles) but at the same time it's quite streamlined, which is great. I can see it becoming a bit tedious the larger your empire gets, though, when you have to move/give orders to every single army and check all the provinces (sort of a Civilization style problem maybe).
Yeah, now that I've gotten into it more, I'm beyond blown away. I can't really add to the suggestions, as the ones that have been made cover the whole two little nitpicky things I took notice to (the confirmation loading and the real time combat speed bar). Aside from that, all I can do is offer up more praise. This is only the second 4X RTS title that I've ever played. What little research I've done on them, I've only found a couple titles that fit in with the whole RTS/4X type gameplay (Imperium Galactica 1&2 [I have IG2, but no iPad anymore, so I can't really play that anymore], Starships Unlimited and Sins Of A Solar Empire [Which I REALLY need to get n play] - but it definitely seems like an untapped genre. Even with this in mind, not having much to compare to, the game is incredibly solid and well made. With the menu icons for moving around your empire fairly quickly, the management of everything doesn't feel tedious at all and the real-time combat is just as smooth, entertaining and tense as it is in the original AD (Playing on Hard, no idea what the other difficulties are like, but I'm guessing Brutal is even more heart-pounding). The amount of missions that the generals can go on and how much they can effect what goes on around your territory is pretty surprising, in a very good way. Really, after playing (and LOVING) the original Autumn Dynasty, I did not expect this sequel to be as deep as it is. As it stands right now, this is my favorite game of 2014. And while I didn't think that anything would be able to pull me away from XCOM and FFVI, I haven't touched either since installing Warlords on my phone. I wish nothing but the best for you guys and this project. =oD
I'll be hard-pressed to choose between BH2 and Warlords for my favourite game of 2014 so far (and indeed, including the latter parts of 2013), and I doubt more than a small handful of games for the next year will come even close. I don't think I can think of more than 5-10 iOS games I enjoy as much, and rather few desktop titles as well.
Really wanted this game but wasn't sure where I would find time to play it (BH2 taking up all my play time). Well after reading this thread I decided to go ahead and pull the trigger. With people saying it's right up there with XCOM as far as a strategy game how could I say no?
I nearly insta hit the buy button last night but held out, for similar reasons to you. Are they right about it being as good as XCOM in terms of quality?
The two games are absolutely incomparable by any standards, especially something as vague as "quality". X-com is a tac rpg, and a poor port of a much more fleshed out PC game. Warlords is a 4x rts, and an impressive achievement considering its breadth of options for a mobile game. It's got compatatively shorter battles than the original AD, because there're no bases in the time battles. Instead, you plan out your recruitment and building on the main map, and then you command them in the real time battles. The strategy doesnt come from how you use your units like in the first one, but what unit composition an invading army has. Stack it full of spearmen and two artillery units can wipe the floor with your stack, even the odds are 4:1 in your favor, numerically. The game has just the same level of "quality" as its predecessor. Clean drawings for the terrain, slightly more colorful sprites for the units, caricature-ish portraits for all the characters. I dont understand how this and X-Com are comparable. Its like asking if an apple and a bunch of grapes are comparable. Yea, they're both fresh, and yea they're both fruit...but that's about it.
