About This Game Civilizations come and go; common men and kings they get covered by the dust of time in the same way. Monuments and wonders crumble under their own weight. But the cultural legacy is not bygone. Stories and tales about ancestors and their deeds pass through generations, the old knowledge is not lost forever. Soon, new societies, new kingdoms, new civilizations rise from the seeds of the ones which predated them. Decadence is not the end.Will your legacy stand the test of time?Field of Glory: Empires is a grand strategy game in which you will have to move in an intricate and living tapestry of nations and tribes, each one with their distinctive culture.Set in Europe and in the Mediterranean Area during the Classical Age, experience what truly means to manage an Empire.Expand your dominion through wars of conquest and make your culture a beacon of light, but be careful though. The risk of Decadence is not trivial. Many civilizations have collapsed for not having seen in time the signs of impending crisis. The older your empire, the more challenges will lurk in the shadows. Just expanding your borders without carefully shaping your form of government and culture won’t be the wisest of strategies.Manage your Empire on a scale that fits you: adjust all the details of an important region, form provinces to oversee your growing realm.Construct buildings to enhance your army, the life of your citizens, and the economy. Establish and grow a trade network of goods and resources.The battle system is not just about who brings the larger force. Army composition and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of you and your enemy are decisive, so is choosing wisely the battlefield and the general to lead your troops.And, if you want even more direct control, Field of Glory: Empires lets you export and load your battles into Field of Glory II and then load the results back into Field of Glory: Empires!War is decided not just by battles though, but also clever manoeuvres. Simultaneous (WEGO) turn resolution means thinking ahead to intercept – or to escape! – enemy armies will be essential. Field of Glory: Empires offers a living world where every decision has an impact on every actor.And once you think you are ready to be challenged, play against real opponents in one of the largest asynchronous multiplayer system ever created. 7aa9394dea Title: Field of Glory: EmpiresGenre: StrategyDeveloper:AgeodPublisher:Slitherine Ltd.Franchise:Field of GloryRelease Date: Coming Soon Field Of Glory: Empires Activation Code [key Serial Number] field of glory empires skidrow. field of glory empires of the dragon pdf. field of glory empires beta. field of glory empires. field of glory empires pc. field of glory empires forum. field of glory empires challenge. field of glory empires release date. field of glory empires steam. field of glory eternal empire pdf. field of glory empires dev diary. field of glory eternal empire. field of glory empires wiki. field of glory empires gameplay. field of glory empires release. field of glory 2 empires. field of glory clash of empires pdf. field of glory empires download. field of glory empires - ageod. slitherine field of glory empires. field of glory empires review. field of glory empires vs imperator rome Field of Glory: Empires Dev Diary #3 - Buildings: One of the pillars of Empires is how regions, the basic geographical unit are handled. Regions are at the heart of the game and managing them properly will make or undo whole nations.We have already mentioned that regions have a population, split into different ‘population units’ and the buildings constructed in the region. Today we will speak of buildings, as they are every bit as important as the citizens and slaves of your regions, if not more even!Buildings are both a complementing to population, as they too can produce resources (money, manpower, metal, etc.) and have unique properties and aspects which complement each other and affects every sector of the game. Indeed, you can bet that with around 400 different buildings, there is one for each situation, from a mundane cattle ranch, to a more impressive trade emporium, to the complicated (in its usage, not its understanding) Black Market with its variety of intriguing effects.But before digging into some of the benefits they offer (and we won’t give a comprehensive list there, because of the sheer magnitude of possibilities), lets talk of how they are built, as this is a gameplay mechanism that diverges from what you usually encounter in most strategy games since the beginning of the (computer-gaming) world and Sid Meier’s Civilization I appeared at the dawn of it.Upon selecting a region and clicking on the build structure button, you will get the construction panel to pop-up, that might look like this one: like this one:As you can see, there are 6 buildings categories: Agriculture, Health, Infrastructure, Military, Commerce, Culture. For each of these categories, a choice is offered to you, in the form of a specific building. The list is far from being random though, although there is a random element as to what choices are available. What you are shown heavily depends of what you have already built in the region (including whether you opted to specialize the region or not?). What is the current population. If the region is a plain, in forest, bordering a sea. What is your government, your ethnicity. And so on.As you know, having meaningful choices is at the core of a good strategy game. Here too, you’ll have to weigh and decide which building you want the most from the 6 you have available. Will you want a wall to be built, because those pesky tribal raiders find your land such a pleasant place to be? Do you prefer to prioritize a ranch, to increase your food production while producing cattle you want to export? Choices … And they will be at times very difficult to make because intrinsically, all buildings provide benefits!And as soon as you have finished your current buildings, all choices are reshuffled. So the improved walls you wanted, and the less desired commercial harbor might not reappear the next time (rest assured, they are still there and the option is not lost for ever!). To help you decide and handle your construction plans, you have a few tools at your disposal though. First, you always see the complete list of possible buildings, for each category. This helps you to decide and plan ahead. Second, there is a reshuffle button, for the time where none of the buildings are what you want. The Reshuffle action don’t cost a lot and will probably be done in 1 to 2 turns in your region (and the code is smart enough to not propose again the same buildings as the previous list). Finally, you get another tool through a National Decision (more on that later) that will force the focus of your nation to particular types of buildings among several categories.So in the end, you have substantial control over what your regions will be made of, but this control is not complete. Hopefully you’ll come to appreciate this system, as it prevents players from being stuck doing always the same things in most of their regions (and that’s also why you get so many different buildings).To help you picture how diverse the buildings are, we will provide a few examples.The Vineyard is an agricultural building generating some income, plus the Wine trade good, that can be used by your own taverns and palaces or exported for profit to your neighbors. It is restricted to warm climates though.The Sanitation system is a Health building. As such, it will speed up population growth and prevent (most of the time) bad events like disease and plague in the region. It can be upgraded to a Sewer network.The Shrine to Epona is a military building, a building only available to Celtic nations. It will improve slightly the cavalry units recruited in the region, and should you manage to build the 4 different Celtic shrines in a region, then you are in for a nice surprise (some games would name that a ‘finisher bonus’).The Gambling Ring is a culture building (yes, it’s culture, as in ‘entertainment’!). In addition to providing some income, it will raise the loyalty in the region. Alas it has a drawback, one shared with many loyalty-boosting buildings: turn after turn it will add a bit of decadence to your nation. But rest assured, not too much, nothing to worry about, really…The Land Expansion is a rather special building that provides more room for even more buildings in the region (because you have a limit on the number of structures based on your population amount, this one increases it nicely).The Satrape Palace is a provincial palace. We will talk about Provinces in another diary, and each has a palace acting as the provincial capital. But the Satrape Palace, a building unique to the Seleucids does a few other things. As a drawback, it costs a lot (and really a lot!) to maintain, to represent how easily the appointed governors (former generals of Alexander the Great for many) adopted the extravagant life style of the Persian empire. But it has benefits too: It allows the levying of powerful local militias, should the region be under attack. If not, then it provides free units to the national army of the King of Kings.We will end up there, with this Seleucid Palace. That’s a tier II building, i.e. a building that is a bit more complex and involved than tier I buildings, like the vineyard, the cattle ranch and so on. We will let you discover the variety of effects of tier III buildings in-game, including the national unique and world wonders we have for you. In the meantime, stay tuned!. Field of Glory: Empires Challenge #2 – Carthage: With the Challenge #1, you have witnessed the birth of Rome and its military power in Italy. Now, it’s time to see what one of its first mortal enemies can do, on a bigger scale.Welcome to the Challenge #2 – Carthage!This time the Challenge goal will be different. While in the first one you had to focus mostly on the military aspect of the game, this challenge adds a new layer of complexity (and fun!).Carthage was renown to be a very wealthy civilization, establishing colonies in many Mediterranean regions and creating a successful trade network. Its defense was guaranteed by a powerful navy and a semi-standing mercenary army.To better reflect this historical situation, the Challenge #2 is shaped more on the economic element of the game. Challenge #2: Try to amass 7500 money in your treasury while reaching at least 20 regions in less than 50 turns and avoiding to be in the last tier in the progress & decadence chart.Nation Available: CarthageTurns: 50Map: All playableMechanics and features: All activeProgress and Decadence: Stay in the 1st and 2nd TierREAD HERE FOR MORE DETAILS[www.slitherine.com]. Field of Glory: Empires Dev Diary #4 - Commerce and Trading: Welcome to the fourth installment of the Empires dev diaries. This week, we will talk about trading and commerce, and how buildings are very important in relation to this.As you might remember from our previous diary on buildings, they provide a lot of opportunities and benefits. But many will need trading goods to work to their full capacity. They will still function even if the trading good is not available, but you’ll pay a hefty sum each turn, to simulate the convoluted ways by which you manage to get a trickle of the precious trade good. For some buildings, this is sometimes worthwhile as they might be instrumental in how you have setup your empire, but in other cases you will be better to disable or destroy the building.So … trade goods! There are a lot around, something like 50 or so. Some are naturally produced in regions, and you don’t have to do much to gain access to them, even if by themselves they won’t generate any benefits (you would still need an appropriate building for that). Here, we are talking of wood, stone and the like. Some are manufactured, like pottery, clothes, weapons, sails. And a third category are imported resources, which are produced by another region or country (although as you can guess, these too are either natural or manufactured).Buildings will often need a trade good. Some good examples would be a spinning mill, in need of cotton (or flax). A mint would need gold, and stables would need horses. This will generate trade between your region, where the structure is, and an exporting region. And, depending of how good your nation is at commerce, the exporting nation can be a neighbor, someone on the other side of the sea or one of your own regions (if it has the trade good obviously). The whole process is automated, and you don’t have to worry about who can provide what, as given the scope of the map and the possible size of your empire, this would become daunting to handle, and then, to put it simply, a source of tedium. Now, we did not say it was done randomly. There is a measure of your trading efficiency, named ‘Trade Acumen’, which will be used when there is competition between several potential sources of supply. As you can guess, your internal trade is much favored here, as well as trade with your allies. But sometime, a powerful trading nation, like Carthage, will literally snatch trading opportunities and get richer from doing this. And that’s how you end up with Carthaginian olive oil in Rome while some Sicilian farmers are discontented!Trade Acumen is something you can improve though, either at your national level, with the right decisions and a proficient ruler, or at the local level, by building trade ports, paved roads, trading centers. All in all, trading is a smooth process in which you can gain significant money, while providing your buildings with what they need. Now, sometimes, trade is not a possibility or is too difficult to achieve, so you’ll want to inspect the ledger and see where the nearest source of iron is and then snatch it from the hands of its current owner…You might think that’s all about trading, but definitively no! Because having a good availability of trading goods is much more useful than just having your buildings work without an extra fee. Trading goods also play a very important part in what the buildings will themselves produce. This is done through the mechanism of bonus trade goods. An example will probably be the quickest way to convey how it works.Let’s take a fairly advanced building, the Thermes, in which your citizens will wash, relax and gossip. The Thermes are a healthcare building, and as such give a health bonus in the region, which speeds up population growth while protecting (partially) against diseases. By itself it requires no trading good to work smoothly. But, should you happen to have, either in the region it is in, or an adjoining region, marble or perfume, then you’ll gain extra culture and money from the building, as it operates much more efficiently, being now so beautiful and sophisticated! So playing and optimizing these bonuses, although definitively not mandatory to get a good game and win, is one way of getting the most out of your nation. And this might be mandatory, if you like to play at a high difficulty level or against live opponents. For some, this will be the pleasure of enjoying the ‘mind game’ that this kind of gameplay demands, finding the right supply chain and combining buildings so that one needs a resource that will then be further used by another, etc. A game in a game, for those minded to paying close attention!And so, to sum up, the surface of trading and commerce will feel simple and easy for newcomers, and it is, as everything works by itself. But when you start delving into the numerous buildings, the goods they need and the goods that would provide extra bonuses, you get a quite rich system, strongly tied to the general economy.. Dev Diary #9 Addendum - Playing Empires Battles in FOG2: Playing Empires Battles in Fog2by Richard Bodley ScottFrom an early stage in development it was planned that, in addition to the in-game battle resolution system, Empires would also have the option to fight out battles in FOG2 if the player so chooses.The main objectives were:1)That Empires battles fought out in FOG2 should be varied and fun. (Number one priority!)2)That the armies of each nation should be represented by the correct FOG2 units for their nation.3)That general skill and traits, unit experience, unit effectiveness, hit points etc. from Empires should carry over into the FOG2 battles.4)That terrain should be representative of the terrain in the region where the battle takes place.5)That there should be no adjustments to make the battles more “even”, and no adjustments to take into account the FOG2 difficulty setting. The situation should be as per the campaign situation.6)That the export/import process and switching between the games should be as automated a process as possible.How does the game decide which FOG2 unit type to convert an Empires unit to?Empires has a database specifying which FOG2 unit type each Empires unit type maps to, with a quality adjustment for some. The mapping is different depending on the national archetype. This information is passed in the export file, along with various other factors affecting the conversion.The Empires system potentially gives "Heavy Foot, Warriors, Mercenary Foot, Urban Militia etc." to every nation. The FOG2 conversion system attempts to convert each nation's forces to FOG2 units that are appropriate to their historical prototype. So for example "Warriors" in a Gallic Army will translate to FOG2 Warbands, but those in an Italian army will translate to FOG2 Italian Foot. This means that Empires "Heavy Foot", for example, may translate to FOG2 Medium Foot for some nations, if the nation never actually had any troops that FOG2 would rate as Heavy Foot. Also some units translate to a mixture of FOG2 units, because this leads to more historically realistic armies. Pre-Marian Roman legionary units translate to a mixture of hastati/principes and triarii units, in approximately a 2:1 ratio. Horse archer units, if present in large numbers, translate to a mixture of Light Horse and Cavalry.How does the game decide how many FOG2 units each Empires unit maps to?The Empires : FOG2 unit conversion ratio depends on the unit type, because it is points based. This is because the difference in effectiveness between various Empires units is often significantly greater than the difference between the effectiveness of their FOG2 equivalents. To get the same relative effectiveness as in Empires-resolved battles, the more expensive (and more effective) Empires units translate to more FOG2 units than the cheaper ones. Some of the cheaper Empires units may only map to 1 FOG2 unit, but some of the more expensive ones could potentially map to as many as 4 or 5 (cheap) FOG2 units in armies of nations that historically did not possess powerful units like Pike phalanxes or legions. Most units will have a conversion ratio somewhere between these two extremes.For example, because Italian Foot in FOG2 are cheaper (and less effective) than Warbands, the unit conversion ratio for Empires Warriors > FOG2 Italian Foot will be higher than the unit conversion rate for Empires Warriors > FOG2 Warbands. Also, where different Empires unit types convert to the same FOG2 unit type, the quality of the FOG2 units may be adjusted depending on which Empires unit type they come from. (Thus, for example, Urban Militia in some national archetypes may be extremely low quality versions of the standard units. They will also have a lower unit conversion ratio as they are much lower rated in Empires points).Because the points value ratios do not match up to an exact number of FOG2 units, there is a random element. For example, if the points system means that an Empires unit is equivalent to 1.37 FOG2 units, the system will generate at least one FOG2 unit, with a 37% chance of another one. So usually it will generate 1 unit, but 37% of the time it will generate 2. A damping system on the chances of selecting subsequent "partial" units is used to ensure that the overall strength of the army does not vary excessively (about 3% in tests), and a unique random number generator seed number for each exported battle ensures that if you play the same battle (from the same export file) in FOG2 multiple times, the OOBs (and map) will be the same each time. (Unless you go back to the pre-battle Empires save and re-export it, in which case there will be a different seed number each time).How does the conversion take into account Empires general skill and traits, unit experience, effectiveness and hit points etc.?Unit Experience and Effectiveness affect FOG2 unit Experience and Elan respectively. FOG2 unit Quality is the average of those ratings.Empires Hit Points represent current strength compared with full paper strength, so affects the unit conversion ratio.Generals use their Empires skill rating for attack or defence depending on which side counts as attacking in Empires. General traits applicable in the regional terrain add their modifiers to those skill ratings. If there is an overall difference between the skill ratings of the opposing generals, then usually an adjustment is made to the quality of the opposing units, representing the effects on morale, physical condition and state of preparedness of the troops resulting from the better general's more skilful pre-battle manoeuvres. Sometimes, instead of a quality adjustment, the lower skilled general will have some of his troops arrive late at the battle.Unit traits are not explicitly taken into account in the conversion process, because FOG2 already takes into account the different effectiveness of different troop types in different terrain.FrontageEmpires units convert to an average of 2 to 3 FOG2 units, some more, some less. We decided not to artificially constrain the frontage in FOG2 battles because it would severely restrict the tactical options – which would rather defeat the point of playing the battle in FOG2. We did not think it would be fun.Also, as FOG2 battles take some time to play out, we wanted a decisive result, so wanted all of the troops present to be able to take part.Therefore, the normal FOG2 map generation is used, based on the prevailing terrain in the Empires province. Hence a mountainous, forest or swamp province will result in a mountainous, forested or marshy map, which may result in choke points, but isn’t guaranteed to do so.This does mean that playing Empires with FOG2 battles will have strategic implications, meaning that the game will play out somewhat differently depending on whether you play all the battles in Empires or not. Personally, I resolve very one-sided battles in Empires and play the rest in FOG2.Siege assaults are left to the Empires system and cannot be exported to FOG2. Field of Glory: Empires - The Challenge: Fied of Glory Empires is surely a very ambitious project, aiming to bring to life the ancient world and its civilizations and to recreate the cultural intricacies of that time. To better explain the complexity an the scope of the game, we started writing a series of dev diaries covering the most crucial points around which Field of Glory: Empires is designed.Today we would like to expand this experience further. Welcome to the Challenge!The ChallengesThese are a series of events focused on special versions of the game. They are designed to explore step by step the game's mechanics but with a twist. These versions have certain areas and features locked, while others are allowed.But what kind of challenge are we talking about and who can participate?There is no better way to explain them than having a look at the first one: Challenge #1: Conquer Italy playing as Rome in as few turns as possibleNation available: RomeTurns: takes as few as possibleMap: Locked to the Italian Peninsula and its closest surroundings.Mechanics and features: All activeIn this race against time, there is room for only one winner.Who can join?Influencers and media members. The participation is mainly by invitation, but if you think you qualify to compete, write to us at challenge@slitherine.co.uk, with your name/nickname and your channel/media.Time and validity10 days from the announcement.In the 10 days of validity, we will gather the videos or the screenshots proving the completion of the challenge and will assign the scores. After all the Challenges have been played, we will declare the final winner by calculating the cumulative points gained in all the episodes.Check all the rules here: http://www.slitherine.com/FogE_Challenge Are you eager to see the Challenge in action? Then don't miss DasTactic tomorrow April, 9th attempting it on our official Twitch Channel at 6 pm BST / 1 pm EDT / 10 am PDT. Field of Glory: Empires - Ask Us Anything: Field of Glory: Empires is definitely an ambitious project. Set in the Ancient World roughlyfrom the fall of Alexander the Great’s empire,Its aim is to deliver strategic empire management carved in turn-based gameplay with a high level of historical detail.On May 23rd in an exclusive event on Reddit, game designer Philippe Malacher will answer all questions for 24 hours in a live AMA!Have all your questions answered by visiting https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/ on May 23rd , starting at 11 AM EDT / 8AM PDT / 5PM CEST. Field of Glory: Empires Dev Diary #9 Battle System: Warfare in EmpiresOne of the major components of Empires is waging wars. Ultimately, you will win if you gain more Legacy than any other nation, but conquering your objectives and holding rich regions, some with world wonders, is definitely the most straightforward way to achieve that.Once you have defined the objectives for your military campaigns, you’ll have to assemble your units into armies. And this process is not something to do at random, because, as you all know, battles are often won before they are actually fought.This was one of our design goals in Empires. To have the players enjoy a bit of ‘theory crafting’, by thinking what the force composition is needed to secure your goals as efficiently as possible. We tried hard, and we believe have succeeded for the most part, in having no unit that excels at everything. Sure, if your economy is ten time as strong as your opponent, then you can probably drown him under the sheer number of your legions, to cite one of the best units of the game. But even legions have weaknesses, like not fighting that well in forests and mountains, and being pretty costly, both to recruit and maintain.So how does it work, in a situation where you have a decent economy, but need to recruit a powerful force to defeat your enemy? You’ll have first to identify if your opponent’s strongholds are in difficult terrain or not. If yes, then the heavier units might not fight much better than the lighter ones, while being much more costly (so if you are not careful you may end up using an expensive, inefficient, army that is outnumbered, and out-classed by your opponent’s cheaper troops). If he has large walled cities, then again, some units will perform much better. You’ll also want to combine your powerful melee units with support units, as these weaker units are essential when the actual battle starts. For example, your army might be cut into shred by weaker infantry, if they benefit from skirmishers or archers in the support line and you lack these lighter troops. Then you have cavalry units. On the strategic map, they are very fast and will allow you to do all sort of things, like acting as a fire brigade, or snatching an enemy region then pillaging it. In the tactical battle, some cavalry on the flanks (or in reserve) will go a long way in winning a battle, and if this does happen then their ability to pursue will greatly inflate the losses of your defeated opponent.Then there is the matter of the navy. Never move unescorted your units through a sea, as this is a sure recipe for a disaster if they are intercepted. Losing precious and costly phalanxes, when their transports are sunk by humble light warships really is a waste of good men. Ships will also be almost mandatory to conduct successful sieges against cities with harbors. Don’t think you can starve a garrison that has the backup of an unblockaded harbor.It is also said that an army marches on it’s stomach. This is quite true in Empires. Supply will be given automatically to units from adjacent friendly regions, but beyond that, if you don’t maintain your supply lines, then your units will weaken over time and will be of no use. Equally a large army in a poor region, or where the land is already pillaged, will suffer supply shortages.But without further ado, on to battle! Once two enemy armies meet in a given region, a battle will ensue, unless if one side has retreated behind the walls of a city (in this case there will be a siege, with a possible assault, at the besieger’s initiative). The first important factor is the terrain. Terrain has two main effects in battles: how much they provide in defense, simulating that the defender had some time to set up and prepare positions; and, what is the frontage, or battle width for the following combat. Frontage is a concept known by veterans of the AGEOD games and is very important in battles. Depending if you have enough troops to fill the battleline or not, the battle will shape very differently. For example if you are fighting in a forest, then the frontage is 6 in fair weather and 5 in harsh weather. If your army has 12 or more units, then your deployment will be optimal, as 6 can fill the front rank and 6 will provide support to the melee.Now imagine you get caught in the open field, like a plain, a steppe. Frontage here is 12. Your army of 12 units will deploy in its entirety in the frontline! Imagine your archers and slingers to the front having to fight a melee with better equipped troops … Chances are that, unless the opponent is not too numerous, you’ll be beaten.But frontage provides another interesting benefit to how the game plays. It really reduces the effect of ‘death stacks’, i.e. stacks that can overwhelm their enemy through sheer numbers. Because once you have filled your battle line, the rest of your army will be in reserve, and will only fight if there is a draw when they can replace weakened units in a subsequent round. Otherwise, they will do nothing (apart from cost you money and supplies). Think of the Thermopylae battle in 480 BCE as the perfect illustration of a very low frontage situation…So our armies are setup, with melee units to the front and supporting units behind them. The very first phase of battle will be the ranged phase, where each unit capable of ranged attack will do so (the others will only throw insults at the other side). As a cosmetic enhancement, the skirmishers will appear to the front of the melee units, perform their attack and then retreat through the frontline to their final position at the back. That’s cosmetic, but it’s nice to watch! Seeing a line of legionnaires throwing their pilum, while the Velites to their front harass the enemy, and then fall back through the cohorts, is quite pleasing for the would-be Imperator.hen the main phase will begin, the melee phase. There will be a series of duels, between each melee combatant of each side. If one side has extra units (because he is more numerous than the opponent), then flanking attacks happen to the unlucky wing of the enemy.The battle system is an example of the Triangle Rule. The Triangle Rule is the very core design element of all battles. We thought hard to have a system where winning was not simply the matter of maximizing a given parameter and forcing your way to victory by exploiting this aspect. It had to be subtler. We want the player to balance and consider three things at once (so the Triangle Rule…):How powerful a unit is;How experienced and what is its current fighting condition; and,How good is the general in chargeFor us, it was very important that none of these 3 aspects outweigh the others. Said differently, you must design your armies and conduct war in such way that each of these 3 criteria are the best possible, knowing that having ‘only’ one of them as very good will not compensate for the others.So back to our duels. The aim is to achieve the highest possible duel score. This score comes from two things: the total combat value of the unit, and the dice rolled.The total combat value of the unit is made of the base combat strength of the unit. For example, a medium warband will have 3, a legion 5 (well, there are 3 generations of legion, so I’m speaking of the pre-Marian one here), and a phalanx 7 in attack but only 5 in defense (most units behave differently in attack and defense). Note also that this value by itself might have been modified by the terrain. A legion fighting in wood would be worth only 3, like, for example, a mundane medium infantry.To this value is added the support value, between 1 and 3. The best support units are the Archers (but they are rare for most nations, costly and have no extra abilities). Many skirmishers will provide a value of 2, and the simple fact of having another friendly unit as a support (even another melee unit) will provide a 1. So, as you see, having superior numbers is important, but having a similar ratio of melee and support units is more important (although the melee units are more likely to be lost in combat so you need some replacements for them, even if you are victorious).This combination of factors will tend to produce a value between 2 to 8, in most cases. Now for the second part, the dice rolls. That’s where the two other sides of our ‘Triangle’ kick-in…Each unit will add up his best dice (ten-sided dice) to his combat value. And a unit will get one dice roll plus one per rating of the general in charge. This rating varies from 0 to 2 (again generals have attack and defence scores and will use this is appropriate if they are leading the attacking or defending army). So the best general would be a 2-2 general, with this possibly modified by an appropriate trait (many Generals are better – or worse – in certain circumstances …). Now there is an added twist to the formula, and this is where unit experience and effectiveness (a combination of fatigue and morale) comes in to play, the third and last facet of our Triangle rule.From all the. Field of Glory: Empires - The Challenge: Fied of Glory Empires is surely a very ambitious project, aiming to bring to life the ancient world and its civilizations and to recreate the cultural intricacies of that time. To better explain the complexity an the scope of the game, we started writing a series of dev diaries covering the most crucial points around which Field of Glory: Empires is designed.Today we would like to expand this experience further. Welcome to the Challenge!The ChallengesThese are a series of events focused on special versions of the game. They are designed to explore step by step the game's mechanics but with a twist. These versions have certain areas and features locked, while others are allowed.But what kind of challenge are we talking about and who can participate?There is no better way to explain them than having a look at the first one: Challenge #1: Conquer Italy playing as Rome in as few turns as possibleNation available: RomeTurns: takes as few as possibleMap: Locked to the Italian Peninsula and its closest surroundings.Mechanics and features: All activeIn this race against time, there is room for only one winner.Who can join?Influencers and media members. The participation is mainly by invitation, but if you think you qualify to compete, write to us at challenge@slitherine.co.uk, with your name/nickname and your channel/media.Time and validity10 days from the announcement.In the 10 days of validity, we will gather the videos or the screenshots proving the completion of the challenge and will assign the scores. After all the Challenges have been played, we will declare the final winner by calculating the cumulative points gained in all the episodes.Check all the rules here: http://www.slitherine.com/FogE_Challenge Are you eager to see the Challenge in action? Then don't miss DasTactic tomorrow April, 9th attempting it on our official Twitch Channel at 6 pm BST / 1 pm EDT / 10 am PDT. Dev Diary #9 Addendum - Playing Empires Battles in FOG2: Playing Empires Battles in Fog2by Richard Bodley ScottFrom an early stage in development it was planned that, in addition to the in-game battle resolution system, Empires would also have the option to fight out battles in FOG2 if the player so chooses.The main objectives were:1)That Empires battles fought out in FOG2 should be varied and fun. (Number one priority!)2)That the armies of each nation should be represented by the correct FOG2 units for their nation.3)That general skill and traits, unit experience, unit effectiveness, hit points etc. from Empires should carry over into the FOG2 battles.4)That terrain should be representative of the terrain in the region where the battle takes place.5)That there should be no adjustments to make the battles more “even”, and no adjustments to take into account the FOG2 difficulty setting. The situation should be as per the campaign situation.6)That the export/import process and switching between the games should be as automated a process as possible.How does the game decide which FOG2 unit type to convert an Empires unit to?Empires has a database specifying which FOG2 unit type each Empires unit type maps to, with a quality adjustment for some. The mapping is different depending on the national archetype. This information is passed in the export file, along with various other factors affecting the conversion.The Empires system potentially gives "Heavy Foot, Warriors, Mercenary Foot, Urban Militia etc." to every nation. The FOG2 conversion system attempts to convert each nation's forces to FOG2 units that are appropriate to their historical prototype. So for example "Warriors" in a Gallic Army will translate to FOG2 Warbands, but those in an Italian army will translate to FOG2 Italian Foot. This means that Empires "Heavy Foot", for example, may translate to FOG2 Medium Foot for some nations, if the nation never actually had any troops that FOG2 would rate as Heavy Foot. Also some units translate to a mixture of FOG2 units, because this leads to more historically realistic armies. Pre-Marian Roman legionary units translate to a mixture of hastati/principes and triarii units, in approximately a 2:1 ratio. Horse archer units, if present in large numbers, translate to a mixture of Light Horse and Cavalry.How does the game decide how many FOG2 units each Empires unit maps to?The Empires : FOG2 unit conversion ratio depends on the unit type, because it is points based. This is because the difference in effectiveness between various Empires units is often significantly greater than the difference between the effectiveness of their FOG2 equivalents. To get the same relative effectiveness as in Empires-resolved battles, the more expensive (and more effective) Empires units translate to more FOG2 units than the cheaper ones. Some of the cheaper Empires units may only map to 1 FOG2 unit, but some of the more expensive ones could potentially map to as many as 4 or 5 (cheap) FOG2 units in armies of nations that historically did not possess powerful units like Pike phalanxes or legions. Most units will have a conversion ratio somewhere between these two extremes.For example, because Italian Foot in FOG2 are cheaper (and less effective) than Warbands, the unit conversion ratio for Empires Warriors > FOG2 Italian Foot will be higher than the unit conversion rate for Empires Warriors > FOG2 Warbands. Also, where different Empires unit types convert to the same FOG2 unit type, the quality of the FOG2 units may be adjusted depending on which Empires unit type they come from. (Thus, for example, Urban Militia in some national archetypes may be extremely low quality versions of the standard units. They will also have a lower unit conversion ratio as they are much lower rated in Empires points).Because the points value ratios do not match up to an exact number of FOG2 units, there is a random element. For example, if the points system means that an Empires unit is equivalent to 1.37 FOG2 units, the system will generate at least one FOG2 unit, with a 37% chance of another one. So usually it will generate 1 unit, but 37% of the time it will generate 2. A damping system on the chances of selecting subsequent "partial" units is used to ensure that the overall strength of the army does not vary excessively (about 3% in tests), and a unique random number generator seed number for each exported battle ensures that if you play the same battle (from the same export file) in FOG2 multiple times, the OOBs (and map) will be the same each time. (Unless you go back to the pre-battle Empires save and re-export it, in which case there will be a different seed number each time).How does the conversion take into account Empires general skill and traits, unit experience, effectiveness and hit points etc.?Unit Experience and Effectiveness affect FOG2 unit Experience and Elan respectively. FOG2 unit Quality is the average of those ratings.Empires Hit Points represent current strength compared with full paper strength, so affects the unit conversion ratio.Generals use their Empires skill rating for attack or defence depending on which side counts as attacking in Empires. General traits applicable in the regional terrain add their modifiers to those skill ratings. If there is an overall difference between the skill ratings of the opposing generals, then usually an adjustment is made to the quality of the opposing units, representing the effects on morale, physical condition and state of preparedness of the troops resulting from the better general's more skilful pre-battle manoeuvres. Sometimes, instead of a quality adjustment, the lower skilled general will have some of his troops arrive late at the battle.Unit traits are not explicitly taken into account in the conversion process, because FOG2 already takes into account the different effectiveness of different troop types in different terrain.FrontageEmpires units convert to an average of 2 to 3 FOG2 units, some more, some less. We decided not to artificially constrain the frontage in FOG2 battles because it would severely restrict the tactical options – which would rather defeat the point of playing the battle in FOG2. We did not think it would be fun.Also, as FOG2 battles take some time to play out, we wanted a decisive result, so wanted all of the troops present to be able to take part.Therefore, the normal FOG2 map generation is used, based on the prevailing terrain in the Empires province. Hence a mountainous, forest or swamp province will result in a mountainous, forested or marshy map, which may result in choke points, but isn’t guaranteed to do so.This does mean that playing Empires with FOG2 battles will have strategic implications, meaning that the game will play out somewhat differently depending on whether you play all the battles in Empires or not. Personally, I resolve very one-sided battles in Empires and play the rest in FOG2.Siege assaults are left to the Empires system and cannot be exported to FOG2. Dev Diary #7 Provinces: Scaling up your Empire: ProvincesOne of the common issues for strategy games is moving from a small nation with a handful of things to do per turn to a bigger one with dozens of decisions to make. What was fun and thrilling in the early game, like deciding if you want to build a cattle ranch or a sawmill becomes more mundane. And yet, sometimes for specific reasons, you still want to check, as the wise ruler you are, what’s going on in a precise location.Many games try to create tools for this reduction in micro-management. But most if not all adopt a ‘forced approach’, where at some point the game tries very hard to make you do things in a very specific way. In Empires we decided that you can eat your cake and sell it too … with Provinces!Provinces are a grouping of regions, the basic geographical unit in the game. You can create a province when you have at least 51% of the regions belonging to the same provincial area. These are fixed on purpose, because they are grouped logically and historically. Plus, there are a few perks attached to them, like a regional unit. For example, the Sicilia province is made of 5 regions, the ones making up Sicily plus Melita (Malta). In our case, having 3 of these 5 regions allows you to create the province.[www.matrixgames.com]At this point many of you will think: “I don’t want to create a province and have my precious regions handled by the AI”. And some might add say, “by the stupid AI”So let’s talk about eating your cake, and selling it. Twice! First, we adopted a reverse approach to how other games try to reduce micro-management. Creating a province provides bonuses. Not creating provinces mean you don’t get bonuses, but you don’t suffer any penalty. If you don’t want to create any province, then that’s fine, have it your way. But you’ll want to create them, believe us.One of the reasons is that when regions are handled at the province level there is no mandatory automation. A region, as part of a province, can still be accessed and have all his population reshuffled to your liking, and you can order the buildings it should construct as before. But should you don’t want to do that, then you can use the Province panel to decide what the governor AI should do. For population and for buildings (one set of options for each), you can decide that the focus should be on a job (like producing more money, or constructing extra agriculture buildings). You can also decide to have the governor try to balance production with the needs. Here, the not-that-stupid AI will take into consideration the need at the region level, for each region, and at the national level. So for example if you have a severe lack of money, then clicking on balancing will result in more population than usual put into the money-making job.[www.matrixgames.com]The AI will also check your upkeep, so as not to overbuild structures that you would have trouble maintaining. It is even capable of checking which of the regions have particular bonuses and have them focus on something specifically. If you look at this screenshot, I have requested a balancing of production for Sicilia. And yet you see we are far from having the population split evenly within each region. For example, Melita has a lot of people in infrastructure. If you checked Melita specifically, you would see that the region is the one with the biggest Infrastructure bonus within the whole province!So all in all, we believe these AI governors do quite a decent job. We will be honest (sometime it pays off ), the AI is not equal to a veteran player who can fine tune everything each turn. But it plays like a competent opponent…As you see, Province management has never been so easy. You can automate in different ways, including handling everything manually. But there is more. There are province-specific bonuses.A Province pools some of its resources and then redistributes them either equally (for food), or where it is needed (for infrastructure). So for food, it means that regions with poor land (like a mountain or an underdeveloped forest region) will benefit from the food sent by other regions, within the province, helping them grow. Also, if you have large body of troops, it might be difficult sometimes to sustain them from a single region. With a province, supply will arrive from several regions, easing the logistic challenge of feeding your army.As for infrastructure, all regions can help the process of creating new buildings, so you end up with your structures built much faster, in a more focused way. And again, you might use this trick to funnel infrastructure from powerful regions to a poor one, helping it develop much faster.[www.matrixgames.com]Recruitment is also handled at the provincial level. Each province has a provincial palace, and this is the place where all units are recruited. And each province has its own special ‘provincial unit’ that you would not have access too otherwise. For example the Africa province (centered around Carthago) would provide African War Elephants, to any nation holding it. Or Crete will allow the famous Cretan slingers…All in all, we have tried with provinces to provide you the tools so that your games scale up well when your empire grows, while staying as discreet and unobtrusive as possible, for people who like to micro-manage. We hope that you’ll come to appreciate our Province system as much as we do![www.matrixgames.com]
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