Age of Wonders III

It brings back good memories............ when we did pirate all the things. Bought the game for support, but i really think all DLC`S should come free for a ten year old game.
They were charging more for the DLC than for the game. So i pirated once again.
AND FGS.... ignore this dumb comments... you can log as a guest and play.

My gameplay stats speak for themselves - this is a fantastic game which I keep coming back to, over and above Age of Wonders Planetfall (haven't yet tried AoW4). I felt compelled to write a review as, having recently become a father, this game is extremely respectful of your time, and you can play it one-handed (whilst my 'strategic advisor' naps in the other).

This is such an amazing game. Better than civilization, although more complex and much more difficult. You can take on the four campaigns or you can choose a race (human, orc, goblin etc) and build your cities and fight your opponents on a randomi map. There are endless desirable elements included in the game such as magic, heroes, helpful hero items, tombs to explore, enemy cities to conquer, resource and city management and many more. Have come back to this after several years and beat the first campaign which wasn't an easy task. I am looking forward to discovering much more of this game, before I try the new version, Age of Wonders 4 which looks spectacular.

As a Shadow Magic veteran hosting about 30K worth of hours in multiplayer, i have to say AoW3 is not as good as SM in multiplayer at least, but maybe offers a better single player expierence, at the cost of some content with fewer races and basicly 1/2 of the spells that SM had by using ugly 3D models that weren't necessary in the first place for a tactical war game.
Cons:
Combat changes looked like an improvement to SM, until you faced its flanking ping pong abuse and its gets mandatory and repetitive exactly like the endless healing spam in combat, nothing of this existed in AoW1+2 and for good reasion.
6 units instead of 8 units, it escapes me how this could be an improvement?
Magic as mentioned is reduced by 1/2 of what SM was or even AoW1.
I do not like the alignment changes, fixed alignments helped to build up a good immersion in a fantasy world it also helped to balance the races with each other, causing frequently revolts, if you did not care for it, something that could break your neck in the late game, as otherwise nothing can stop you in the late game in a snowball 4X game like this.
Dwellings - Sorry i don't like them, overpowered Nagas and Feys and an easy research free way to get to T4 units does not match with the rest of the game design. AoW1 and SM did better and was more varied in high Tier units that did not cost research.
No Warlock class with demons, why Triumph?
Pros:
Leader Classes, allthough it would have been wiser to restrict them to only wizard sub classes, like Warlock, Necromancer, Druid, and so on, that way magic wouldn't have suffered in AoW3.
Nice and smooth classic interface, definately better than in the first 2 games.
Good rmg and maps look beautiful when zoomed out.
Combat is improved despite mentioned weaknesses with flanking ping pong and endless healing spam from unit abilities.
The (Dread) Reaper does not look as bad as in AoW4
I still recommend this game, because AoW3 did necromancy best. So upvote only because of the Eternal Lords DLC that absolutely saved this game from mediocrity.

I would absolutely recommend Age of Wonders III to 4x and Turn Based Tactics fans alike, as it blends those two genres well. I decided to pick of AoW3 over AoW4 and Planetfall, because the AoW community seems to hold this game in higher regard than those latter entries, and mentioned it was a good entry into the series.
I was skeptical after playing the campaigns. I was not a fan of their tendency to encourage the player to simply bum rush the enemies and objectives. I prefer to the “random map” mode, more akin to traditional 4x gameplay. For those who enjoy a story mode, its there, and its fine, but it didn’t give me a satisfying mix of empire building and grand strategy.
The ”random map” mode, however, is where I believe the game truly shines. There’s something for everyone. I purchased the Golden Realms DLC and found a satisfying mix of races and classes to choose from, that create a multitude of options for the player. I think the class system and race system create more replay ability than a traditional 4x game would! Say you enjoy the Orcs for example, you can play a bunch of games as the Orcs with the different classes, and the experience will be different each time. The classes do play differently and the asymmetric aspect of the game adds spice to the experience.
You can tailor your game to your liking. Don’t want to rush? Pick the “empire building” game pace. Want less random bandits? Turn the roaming armies to “fewer”. Game customization is great. My only gripe is the lack of variety of win conditions. Basically you can alliance mode, in which you kill everyone who is not in your alliance, kill everyone, or a king of the hill mode. Its hard to not compare AoW to Civ, being the gold standard for turn based 4x games. At the time of release, Civ5 had a many more varied win conditions.
Gameplay is fun! Games tend to be shorter, around 2 hours or so depending on map size and the victory conditions. I enjoyed the city building and management mechanics. I liked how you could spend turns just telling a city of make money or build more population, instead of feeling like you need to produce useless buildings or units you didn’t really need there. Some buildings feel more important than others but each one has a use and feels impactful to the grand scheme.
The turn-based battles are a treat. Very well done and I have no notes. I generally enjoyed the mechanics and depth of strategy they present. Having them in the game brings the gameplay to the next level, and carves out a niche for the AoW series.
All in all I really enjoy AoW3 and could see myself playing it for a long time to come, and even trying more AoW games in the future. If you enjoy turn based 4x games with a flair, this is a game for you.

An improvement on the M&M system, faster than Civilization and easier to play than both franchises. I really enjoy this game and I can even beat a 4 player map in an afternoon. Great time.

Well designed 4x game with plenty of different factions, units and upgrades. There are huge maps to explore in the story campaign, and the turn-based combat is challenging but fun. The reason why I didn't finish the game is because it is very, VERY time consuming. Completing 6 story missions (out of 16) took me over 40 hours. I can't spend so many hours in a game with limited story telling, especially since I have hundreds of other games waiting for me in my backlog.