Dogs Of War Vu

Sim/Strategy/War => Games Discussion => Topic started by: Asid on November 20, 2018, 02:30:44 PM

Title: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on November 20, 2018, 02:30:44 PM: (http://www.matrixgames.com/files/spotlight/1268_image.jpg)

Field of Glory: Empires

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?

Product page: Here (http://slitherine.com/products/product.asp?gid=789)
Official forum: Here (http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=534)
Game engine: Archon

Note: If a player owns and uses FOGII then certain aspects of the game expand

Manual: PDF
Editor: Moddable Data Files
Theatre: Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Britain, Mediterranean
Turns: Turn-Based WEGO
Unit Scale: Operational
AI: Yes
Players: 1-6
PBEM: Yes

Field of Glory: Empires - Announcement Trailer

https://youtu.be/To5b4Q9mPeM

About This Game

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 in Field of Glory II!

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.

(http://slitherine.com/files/games/789/20181116032415.jpg)

(http://slitherine.com/files/games/789/20181116032402.jpg)

(http://slitherine.com/files/games/789/20181116032525.jpg)

(http://slitherine.com/files/games/789/20181116032404.jpg)

(http://slitherine.com/files/games/789/20181116032418.jpg)

(http://slitherine.com/files/games/789/20181116032528.jpg)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on November 20, 2018, 02:48:12 PM: Field of Glory: Empires - Gameplay Stream Reveal

https://youtu.be/a4O91Xtev_4

Published on 20 Nov 2018
Here's the VOD of our recent live event where we announced Field of Glory:#Empires as well as showed you some gameplay and answering your questions.
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: zakblood on November 21, 2018, 08:51:08 AM: must admit, this is one to look out for, came out of the blue and has the heavy weight of Ageod behind it, and add's in a tactical layer as well as an option, so thumbs up for me
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on November 27, 2018, 12:37:22 PM: Field of Glory: Empires Beta Test

Field of Glory: Empires (http://slitherine.com/products/789/details/Field.of.Glory.Empires) – the upcoming Ageod grand-strategy game set during the Classical Age – is ready to enter Open Beta Phase.

If you are eager to help us in polishing and testing the game, then look no further and join now here (http://slitherine.com/beta/).

Field of Glory: Empires (http://slitherine.com/products/789/details/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.

Get more information on its official Product Page (http://slitherine.com/products/789/details/Field.of.Glory.Empires)

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Art/FOG_E/FoG_Empires_fb-post_join-the-beta.jpg) (http://slitherine.com/beta/)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on February 06, 2019, 12:00:51 PM: Field of Glory: Empires Dev Diary #1 - A Brief Overview

(http://slitherine.com/files/spotlight/1316_image.jpg)

Welcome to the first Field of Glory: Empires (http://slitherine.com/products/product.asp?gid=789) developer diary! We felt we ought to start off with a summary of what the game is, and what you can expect. We will be following on with detailed explanations in subsequent diaries.

FoG: Empires (http://slitherine.com/products/product.asp?gid=789) is a strategy game set in the Ancient World roughly from the fall of Alexander the Great’s empire. It seeks to provide strategic empire management together with the AGEOD staple of turn-based play and historical detail. We believe we have unique features to deliver these, while also remaining familiar and easy to understand for the fans of the genre.

Speaking of the features themselves, we certainly have plenty of them in Empires, closely interconnected with one another as it should be in a grand strategy game.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Screen_00000024.jpg)

Region and population management. In Empires (http://slitherine.com/products/product.asp?gid=789), the map is divided into Regions. Each region has its own population, represented by abstracted units. Each population unit has a culture (which can change) and a status – citizen or slave.

The regions can host a number of buildings depending on the level of population. We have a lot of different buildings in the game, both generic and nation-specific. There are a lot of possible synergies in building up your empire-wide infrastructure, but you do not have total control over what is available to build in a certain region at a given time. You will need to adapt to circumstances and make the best of it.

Every region also shows its major city/settlement on the map, which can be fortified via building choices to resist siege attempts by the enemy.

Finally, trade happens between regions. While it is automated, you will have a lot of influence over it via buildings and other choices.

We will talk about all this in detail in the next diary!

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Screen_00000023.jpg)

Battle system. Our battles are much more than just trying to pile up the most number of units in the same place. Unit abilities, quality, and leadership are decisive and will influence your approach to battles and how to conduct your wars. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your own forces and those of the enemy will decide the winner.

Progress and Decadence. This mechanic simulates the dynamics behind the rise and fall of empires. It has been tried in a few games before, but we believe our approach should please you, as it captures particularly well the momentum some countries can get, and the ebb and flow of successful empires trying to deal with their own success and with new challenges.

The details will be the topic of a separate developer diary. The gist of it is, that you will feel pressed to move your nation upward on the "ladder" of nations, but with moving ahead you are sowing the seeds for an eventual decline and possible collapse. A collapse that in turn can lead to a rebirth and restoration, or the start of something new. A fall is not inevitable, but it does not mean game over, either.

There are a lot more we want to cover (provinces, decisions, types of nations, etc), but we hope to have given you a general idea on what we are aiming for with the game.

Stay tuned for the next Diary!

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Screen_00000025.jpg)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: zakblood on February 07, 2019, 03:45:04 PM: got some really big competition with the big guns coming out first, wish it well and hope it does well, great developers and plays well, just hope :winner out doesn't mean better, but not long now to wait until the AAA ones out :howdy
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on February 07, 2019, 04:55:11 PM: Quote from: zakblood on February 07, 2019, 03:45:04 PM
got some really big competition with the big guns coming out first, wish it well and hope it does well, great developers and plays well, just hope :winner out doesn't mean better, but not long now to wait until the AAA ones out :howdy

You mean Imperator: Rome?
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: zakblood on February 07, 2019, 05:09:54 PM: yes
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on February 07, 2019, 05:15:27 PM: Imperator: Rome DLC.....Never ending......

(https://i.chzbgr.com/full/7060927744/h7148B7A9/)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: zakblood on February 07, 2019, 05:42:31 PM: must admit i'm not a huge fan,

while i like content, and do like DLC's, and agree it does give a developer money to continue to add etc etc

but when it comes to a given amount, like in the Total war series etc and other games have now gone the same way, it does make you wonder now where it will stop, as it's DLC city for some

Wars Across The World for one.

total war series is another poor one.

and yes you have already mentioned one of the worse ones

paradox dlc madness as per there 1000 post on it on there own forums

Code: [Select]
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/dlc-madness.599186/
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on February 07, 2019, 05:44:37 PM: (https://i.imgur.com/tG05e98.gif)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: zakblood on February 07, 2019, 05:48:08 PM: i have friends who buy everything they make and love them to bits, but now even them are saying the same thing, and feeling somewhat fleeced

a helmet and shield, that will be $3 please, thanks :doubt
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on February 19, 2019, 12:30:54 PM: Field of Glory: Empires Dev Diary #2 - Region Management, Population, Loyalty

(http://www.matrixgames.com/files/spotlight/1323_image.jpg)

During the next few weeks, we will aim to show how you manage a country in Field of Glory: Empires (http://slitherine.com/products/789/details/Field.of.Glory.Empires). So let’s get stuck in!

The map of FoG Empires is divided into Regions. Although as your realm grows you will be able to organise these into Provinces, Regions are where the game “happens” – your armies move from Region to Region, and your population, buildings, and trade are all linked to individual Regions.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/DevDiary2/The-Arcadia-region,-famous-for-his-gymnasium.jpg)

As you can see, the population part dominates the whole panel and it is in the middle while doing so, and for good reason. Their production determines what you get out of a region (although buildings affect this as well), and their loyalty determines if the region is in unrest. Their loyalty in turn is determined by their status and ethnicity. But more on that later!

The four rows of population show which production category they are assigned to. These are (as is also written to their right where total output is shown): Food, Infrastructure, Money, and Culture. Let’s look at these for a moment:

Food has three uses: feeding the existing population, population growth (when you have a surplus) and feeding armies in or adjacent to the region.

Infrastructure is used to construct buildings, and to maintain existing ones. As such, the more buildings you have, the more population units you will need to keep them up and running. You can also gain extra Infrastructure points from several buildings, but beware: a region can only have as many buildings as it has population units, so you need to make choices. Buildings themselves are a long and interesting subject so we will cover them separately.
Money might not buy you happiness, but it is useful for a great number of things. It is mainly used to recruit and maintain military units (especially mercenaries), but also a great deal of it may be needed to push through some of the Decisions available to your nation. Money, unlike the previous two, goes into your national stockpile, not the region’s.

Culture is probably the most abstract of the four. It represents an aggregate of cultural life, works of art, luxuries etc. While it does add to your national total Culture, it has both national and regional uses.

On the regional level, Culture reduces Unrest and helps keeping the local population content with your rule. There is a limit to that though, and for populous regions, you’ll need to boost loyalty with dedicated buildings.

Nationally, your overall Culture production drives your progress in the Progress & Decadence mechanics defining your nation’s age and status. This is a key and fairly unique system that we will be covering in a separate diary.

On the left of the population units, you can see the buildings in the region. These are organised into the same rows as the population are and they largely relate to the production row they are in, although not entirely. We have six building categories: the four outlined above plus Health and Military buildings.

To the right of population you see the aggregate of the region’s outputs. The four main ones we have just summarised. The other three resources are derived from your overall population level and your buildings. They concern military units:

Manpower and Metals are national resources that are required for the recruitment and maintenance of units. How much, depends on the unit type. As you might expect, armoured units require a lot of metal, whereas almost naked tribal warriors will not use that much.

Equipment is a regional resource and represents the region’s ability to equip and field new military units. It can be stockpiled (within limits) so you can gather up a reserve that will let you react to unforeseen challenges relatively quickly.

To finish summarising the general overview of the region panel, we should also mention the top row of the panel, which contains some general information (such as terrain, defence value, Loyalty) and icons of any good or ill conditions that apply to the region.

We have mentioned earlier how important a region’s population is, so let’s take a closer look at it.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/DevDiary2//Carthage-is-converting-the-conquered-population-to-his-culture-and-ethnicity.jpg)

A population unit in FoG Empires has three attributes: its Status, Ethnicity, and Unrest.

Status can be either Citizen or Slave. Citizens are your free population. They grow based on your Food production. Slaves are obtained via major battles, or events and Decisions. Citizens perform better when assigned to Money or Culture production. Slaves are very inefficient at those tasks, but they are more efficient than Citizens when it comes to Food or Infrastructure production.

Ethnicity is the cultural identity of the population unit. Each nation has a primary Ethnicity, and if the pop unit’s is different to this it affects its Unrest negatively, especially if the nation in question is at war with the pop unit’s perceived brethren (i.e. a country with a primary Ethnicity matching the population’s). Population units can, in time, convert to their region’s majority Ethnicity (only true for citizens).

Unrest shows how dissatisfied the population unit is with their lot in life. As mentioned, this is affected by Ethnicity but also by the region’s overall Loyalty rating, which is derived from a number of national and regional factors. In fact, let’s have a closer look at it!

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/DevDiary2/Seleucids.jpg)

Regional Loyalty is one of the cornerstones of the game, because it meshes with others major features, like progress and decadence, army recruitment, supply, and productivity. Usually at start, loyalty is not a major issue (except for the Seleucids and a few other nations). That’s because your starting regions are of the same ethnicity as your nation’s government, plus the population is not so high that the bored citizens demand too much from the state.

As you expand, and as time passes, you’ll probably conquer new regions, and they might be populated by citizens from another ethnicity group than yours. Say you are Rome and past Italy, you start conquering Gaul. Gaul is made of Celts, and Rome ethnicity is Italic. This alone will make the subdued population much more restless. With some effort and the passing of time, you might convert them (shall we say Romanize?) to your ethnicity, but it won’t happen quickly. Slaves too have an ethnicity, and they are never converted, so expect troubles from a massive influx of German slaves for example.

In addition to that, each of your national citizens, when your main cities grow bigger, will demand more and more from the state, and this translates to an increase in their unrest, which in turn can lead to revolts. As you can guess though, you have several possibilities to fight off unrest. A major one is to build loyalty-boosting buildings. Some are rather virtuous in their use, like the line of religious buildings, which provide a moderate loyalty boost and an increased chance of converting the local population to your ethnicity. But for larger effects, it will be required to build structures like an arena, a gambling ring, a pleasure house, a noble district, and many more. And in the short term, they are doing exactly what you need, they will up the regional loyalty quite a lot. All is well, right?

Not so. In the long run they distil their poison… They will produce a bit of decadence over time. Which in turn will perhaps make your nation regress and have larger issues, like a civil war! But we will talk more about Progress & Decadence in another diary, as this is a major feature of our game, with a quite original approach.

Thanks for your time, we will continue explaining the game’s regional-level features next week!

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Art/FOG_E/FoG-Empires_follow-us-on-fb-button.png) (https://www.facebook.com/fieldofglory.official/)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on February 21, 2019, 12:59:57 AM: Field of Glory: Empires Steam Page is live – Whishlist it now!
From the publisher:

"We are pleased to announce that one of the most anticipated grand-strategy game of the year, Field of Glory: Empires, is going to be released on Steam (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1011390/Field_of_Glory_Empires/) too!

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?"
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on February 25, 2019, 01:42:55 PM: Field of Glory: Empires Dev Diary #3 - Buildings

(http://www.slitherine.com/files/spotlight/1329_image.jpg)

One of the pillars of Empires (http://slitherine.com/products/789/details/Field.of.Glory.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 complement to population, as they too can produce resources (money, manpower, metal, etc.) and have unique properties and aspects which are compliment each other and affects every sector of the game. Indeed, you can bet that with around 400 different buildings, there is one for situation, from a mundane cattle ranch, to a more impressive trade emporium, to the complicated (in its usage, not

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:

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev3/Some-buildings-have-a-special-effect-in-addition-to-their-resource-output.jpg)

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!

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev3/Having-at-least-3-buildings-of-the-same-category-allows-for-rarer-and-more-powerful-buildings.jpg)

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).

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev3/Babylonia-suffers-from-the-plague,-probably-because-of-its-high-population-count.jpg)

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!

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Art/FOG_E/FoG-Empires_follow-us-on-fb-button.png) (https://www.facebook.com/fieldofglory.official/)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on March 06, 2019, 01:16:47 AM: Field of Glory: Empires Dev Diary #4 - Commerce and Trading

(http://slitherine.com/files/spotlight/1334_image.jpg)

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).

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev4/1.jpg)

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!

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev4/2.jpg)

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.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev4/3.jpg)

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!

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev4/4.jpg)

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.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Art/FOG_E/FoG-Empires_follow-us-on-fb-button.png) (https://www.facebook.com/fieldofglory.official/)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on March 11, 2019, 05:57:30 PM: Field of Glory: Empires Dev Diary #5 Governments and Rulers

(http://www.matrixgames.com/files/spotlight/1341_image.jpg)

Hi and welcome to the 5th developer diary for Empires, our upcoming grand strategy game set in the Ancient Era.

Governments come and go, but nations stay. Well not always, these too can disappear in Empires, although we will only brush lightly on this subject today, as it will be the topic on our 6th diary when we turn our attention to culture and decadence!

Still, governments in Empires are a fundamental part of how your nation operates. They are sorted in 3 levels, that we call ‘Civilization Levels’. Within each level, 5 possible governments exist. At the very bottom in development, your nation can be a tribal horde or a tyranny. Perhaps a sect even! Then as you progress, your nation can transform, for example, into a Republic, a City-State. Finally, upon reaching the last level of civilization, you can become an Empire or a Federation!

And all this is not just cosmetic, as you can guess. Each government has specific traits also called modifiers, and there are dozens possible. A City-State might have a bonus in commerce, while a Monarchy allows more experienced troops to be trained in your barracks. Combining these traits with other possible modifiers derived from your ruler (or political party for Republican Rome and Carthage), so that each state ends with a very diverse profile, and these can work together or, on the contrary, can help to offset a specific penalty.

This means that most of the time you’ll see that a clear identity is created for a nation, through its government, its ruler and its national modifiers. For example, Carthage is a merchant oligarchy and has some good bonuses for trading and commerce. On the other hand, it has great difficulties in levying en masse its citizenry, so it will have to rely on mercenaries to compensate for this lack of manpower. But Carthage being Carthage, the national treasury should be sufficient to recruit quite a lot!

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev5/The-Hannonid-Family-is-ruling-Carthage.-The-head-of-the-faction-is-a-shrewd-negotiator-and-can-probably-end-wars-or-forge-new-alliances.jpg)

Then there is your ruler. He too comes with modifiers related to his profile. Here again, there is a wealth of possibilities and rulers are generated randomly for near infinite combinations. Rest assured though, there is a sound logic applied when a ruler is generated, and mutually antagonistic traits won’t appear. You can then end up with a good administrator which is also a reformer (if you are lucky). But on the other side of the coin, should you be unlucky, a depraved and cowardly king is always a possibility! This will in turn greatly influence what you’ll do with your nation. For example, some rulers will allow easier conquest, either through giving a bonus to your military or how well they can administer the new conquered, unruly, regions. But some will cripple and syphon away your money or will negotiate so badly that a war might erupt from their blunders (try coming at the negotiation table and insulting a tyrant, see how it goes!).

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev5/Azinacas-is-the-pre-eminent-figure-in-Achaia.-His-superior-abilities-in-warfare-might-create-a-desire-to-expand-the-nation-by-force-of-arms.jpg)

Another important strand in this multi-layered approach to your nation profile is your government status, which is strongly tied to progress and decadence. Over time, your government will have a change of status and might become stable, old, decadent even? This, in turn, will influence how you can play your nation and can even influence when and how your ruler dies! Perhaps you’ll then wish ‘good riddance’ to the old fool who was ruling your nation if he decides now is a good time to wrestle a bear in an arena!

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev5/A-good-ruler-can-bolster-loyalty-through-the-whole-nation,-helping-to-end-revolts-and-civil-wars.jpg)

Next week, you’ll see how governments mesh together with culture and decadence to create the sense of ‘rise and decline’ for your nation. Stay tuned!

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Art/FOG_E/FoG-Empires_follow-us-on-fb-button.png) (https://www.facebook.com/fieldofglory.official/)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on March 19, 2019, 11:39:05 AM: Field of Glory: Empires Dev Diary #6 - Culture and Decadence

(http://www.matrixgames.com/files/spotlight/1343_image.jpg)

One key feature in Empires (http://www.slitherine.com/products/789/details/Field.of.Glory.Empires) is how it deals with the progress and decline of nations. This impacts how your empire will evolve in a major way and is a focal point for gameplay.

Practically, these mechanics first act as a limit on simply conquering as fast as possible as it is hard to assimilate your new gains without increasing your decadence. Thus your quickly acquired Empire might be impressive but will probably prove to be ephemeral. The new territories will be unruly, and in turn this can cause large issues for your government and ruler. However, decadence is not just a problem for the over-ambitious conqueror, it will affect almost every nation over time, no matter how grand, making long term stability a real challenge. Once you pass into relative decline, citizen loyalty will drop, civil wars and revolts will become more common making the risk of major collapse very real.

Of course, even if this does happen, your previous greatness will have generated a lot of legacy (a topic for another diary), ensuring your reputation lasts – and that you have a good chance of winning the game despite your current problems. In Empires, with this ebb and flow, and added difficulty in maintaining stable large nations, nothing is a given.

As you all know, the Roman Empire had its times of crisis, some minor, some more serious, to the point that it was, sometimes, on the edge of collapse much earlier than the date it did collapse historically. But it recovered, more or less, several times and the Western part lasted centuries, until 476 CE. All the while, it managed to expand from Scotland to Mesopotamia. And yet, over time it suffered many civil wars, usurpers and rampant inflation.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev6/Big-empires-have-big-troubles.-After-smashing-through-Antigonos-up-to-Syria,-the-Seleucids-AI-is-faced-with-numerous-revolts-and-resurgents-nations.jpg)

This is what we aim to simulate, albeit in perhaps a gentler, less frustrating way, in Empires! We want you to consider, seriously, that your nation is a complex, fragile construct. If you manage it well through several simple yet subtle mechanisms, then -- most of the time – things will be all right. If you throw caution to the wind, by conquering rabidly and neglecting the welfare of your citizens, then there will be an internal reaction that sends your nation into turmoil and revolts.

Ok after this long preamble focusing on the core design principle, let’s get practical! One of the very important measures of the progress of your nation is the Culture of each region. It comes from assigning your population to the Culture task, supplemented by your buildings. As with other types of ‘production’, this can be further modified by traits at the national level, from your ruler, government, etc. At the national level, there can also be events that change how much culture you generate. An artistically minded ruler can lead to benefits across the nation.

Culture is pivotal to the game, because it serves many purposes. The most straightforward and direct usage is ‘welfare’, a bonus to loyalty, which you get if you have population assigned to Culture production. Thus you can offset unrest by placing your population in ‘unproductive’ (compared producing food or money) activities. There is a limit to how much bonus to loyalty you can get from welfare, so this tool has its limits, but it works well as a ‘first line of defense’ against discontented and demanding citizens.

Because, as you might have guessed, citizens, and population in general, are not always fully happy with their condition. The more numerous the population of a region is, the lower the loyalty will be, due to citizens expecting services, welfare and entertainment. Slaves bring different challenges in this respect compared to citizens. They, oddly enough, want to change their condition by revolting, or at least escaping. This too lowers the overall loyalty in the region. And when loyalty is too low, you can get revolts, either from the slaves, or from the citizens. They might even turn back to their former nation or master, if they are not from your main ethnicity. People are so ungrateful!

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev6/Carthage-has-been-torn-apart-by-a-civil-war,-and-only-the-western-part-remains-loyal-to-the-legitimate-senate.jpg)

The second, slightly less direct use of Culture, is to fight off Decadence. Decadence in the game appears under several conditions. First, as your government grows older, some decadence appears over time. Second, when your nation grows and conquers other people, you get extra decadence, coming from the turmoil and instability of having to assimilate new territories. And then you have what your nation is made of, its infrastructure. Some buildings are very nice and will greatly help you, but they come with the cost of generating decadence over time.

And so, you have on one side the overall culture of your nation, and on the other side its decadence level, giving you a ratio between them. If the ratio is good, you are a nation that is progressing in terms of civilization.

This ratio is compared to all the other nations in the game and will place you into one of three ‘tiers’. At the top, you have momentum and perhaps you might even be qualified as being glorious, like the ‘Glorious Roman Empire’. Then there are other nations that are in the middle of the chart. For them, nothing special. They can go either way. And then there are the ones losing ground, in term of progress. For those in the bottom tier if they do nothing to deal with their problems, bad things will happen.

All of these effects are very gradual. You don’t switch from being a young and dynamic empire to a crumbling kingdom made of senile senators and pampered citizens in a few years. You’ll have time to react and adjust, but doing so may demand considerable effort though!

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev6/Acanthis-generates-some-decadence-every-turn,-coming-from-the-old-wonders-of-Ancient-Egypt.jpg)

All this leads to the status and civilization level of your nation.

Your status can be ‘young’, ‘stable’, ‘glorious’, ‘old’ or ‘decadent’. Civilization level gives the tier of your government. For example the Republic is a civilization level II government, as is the Monarchy. And an Empire is a tier III government. Status and Civilization level are combined, depending of your progress in civilization and how decadent you are. It is entirely possible to be the ‘Glorious Roman Republic’ but later on the ‘Decadent Roman Republic’. It will depend on how well you handle the progress and decadence of your nation.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev6/Imperial-Rome-is-still-glorious,-but-the-seeds-of-decadence-are-weigting-more-and-more.jpg)

There are rewards from being a nation progressing through the civilization levels. As time passes, if you maintain a glorious status long enough, then you might evolve to a new civilization level. And this is how the Republic might transform to an Empire for Rome! And then if you are already at the top civilization level, being again Glorious has its own reward, with the fabled Golden Age!

So we talked about how nice it is to have significant culture in your nation. We also spoke of Decadence and how it is gained. Rest assured, you also have some tools to remove decadence, even if they are rarer. First, when you manage to make your nation evolve, moving from young to stable, or even from a civilization level to another, you remove half of the accumulated age of your government, which automatically will remove quite a lot of decadence. Then when you conquer a region, over time turmoil will recede and this will in turn remove some decadence. And then a few buildings will remove decadence over time, like an Academy for example. But for the most part, the more powerful buildings tend to have some drawbacks…

This is where we have almost come full circle back to our loyalty issue we talked about initially (as you can see the game features mesh with one another). It won’t be possible, if you want large populous regions, to fight off disloyalty only with the welfare bonus from culture. You’ll need something else. It happens that we have a lot of buildings in the game (400). Several of these (circuses, gambling rings, theaters, noble districts, brothels, monuments, gladiator arenas, etc) will greatly boost loyalty in your region. In a very ‘panem et circus’ way of the Romans (we want bread and games!). The only issue with these buildings is that they generate decadence over time. And so we are back to the problem of fighting off decadence.

We said earlier that we did not want to be too punishing and frustrating, it’s a game after all. Depending of your difficulty level and rate of expansion, it will be entirely possible for a player paying some attention to his empire to avoid the more acute crisis that struck the roman empire (civil wars mainly). But you’ll have to make choices and be watchful of your expansion rate and how your citizens feel. Failing that, a usurper is always around the corner!

As you can guess the AI nations too are subject to this ebb and flow of progress and decadence. This makes for a rather dynamic map where empires expand, splinter and reform. Some nations can even be reborn because their old master is crumbling in decadence! So there are opportunities to grab desirable regions, if you see that your neighbor is rife with internal problems…

Field of Glory Empires is on Steam too! Wishlist it now! (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1011390/Field_of_Glory_Empires/)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on March 26, 2019, 12:38:54 PM: Field of Glory: Empires Dev Diary #7 Provinces

(http://www.matrixgames.com/files/spotlight/1350_image.jpg)

Scaling up your Empire: Provinces

One 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.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev7/The-Syrtica-province-needs-at-least-one-extra-region-to-be-formed,-but-they-are-held-by-the-Garamantes.jpg)

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.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev7/Holding-this-province-provides-African-War-Elephants.jpg)

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.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev7/Melita-is-the-region-with-the-biggest-infrastructure-bonus,-so-citizens-are-more-productive-in-this-task.jpg)

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!

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev7/Rome-at-this-stage-can-recruit-no-less-than-4-legions-at-once-in-Rome,-as-Latium-produces-a-lot-of-military-build-points.jpg)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on April 08, 2019, 09:36:37 PM: Field of Glory: Empires - The Challenge

(http://www.slitherine.com/files/spotlight/1355_image.jpg)

From Slitherine

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 Challenges

These 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:

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Challenge1/FoG_Empires_twitch-cover_challenge1-nodates.jpg)

Challenge #1: Conquer Italy playing as Rome in as few turns as possible

Nation available: Rome

Turns: takes as few as possible

Map: Locked to the Italian Peninsula and its closest surroundings.

Mechanics and features: All active

In 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 validity

10 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
(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Challenge1/FoG_Empires_spotlight-challenge1-twitch.jpg) (https://www.twitch.tv/slitherinegroup)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on April 17, 2019, 04:02:57 PM: Field of Glory: Empires - The Challenge has been accepted

(http://slitherine.com/files/spotlight/1362_image.jpg)

Field of Glory: Empires is a very ambitious project. It’s perfect combination between empire management and grand-strategy, united to a set of unique mechanics, will set a new standard for strategy games.

To better introduce players to this upcoming masterpiece, we have launched a great Challenge series of events, inviting influencers and media members.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/PDF/FOGEmpires/Info_600x.png) (http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/PDF/FOGEmpires/FoG_Empires_infographic_challenge1.pdf)

And the participation has been great so far! With only few days remaining to complete the competition, we are delighted to see such interest.

We have gathered in a playlist (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQrYLOdjwRhQIL0LAeH4NZc-rh3c__Gjx) the main efforts played so far, so you can have a look at first hand how the game unfolds, even in more strict environment.

You can watch some sample below:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/X8YRiu73AZE

https://www.youtube.com/embed/OsP7tPJfJ7g

https://www.youtube.com/embed/F6LvluXe0_c

Stay tuned for further updates!

Check the Dev Diaries:

Dev Diary #1 - A Brief Overview (http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=547&t=91320)

Dev Diary #2 - Region Management, Population, Loyalty (http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=547&t=90408)

Dev Diary #3 - Buildings (http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=547&t=90542)

Dev Diary #4 - Commerce and Trading (http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=547&t=90664)

Dev Diary #5 Governments and Rulers (http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=547&t=90758)

Dev Diary #6 - Culture and Decadence (http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=547&t=90863)

Dev Diary #7 Provinces (http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=547&t=90961)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on May 01, 2019, 12:53:42 PM: Field of Glory: Empires Dev Diary #8 Legacy

Winning the Game

In Empires, you are building your nation so that it endures the passage of time, and your achievement is measured through the legacy you’ll leave, even if in the end, your nation is no more.

There are several ways to achieve this goal of being first in Legacy. It’s not just something to be only achieved by conquering part of the map, although that approach remains a possibility, rest assured.

If you take a military approach, then you’ll want to plan your campaigns so that you conquer and hold your objective regions. These regions are set for each nation and represent loosely their historical progress or areas of interest. Some nations will have objectives set in a concentric way, around their capital, so they will expand outward in each direction. Other nations have several possible ‘tracks’ to follow, and when they get an objective in one of the tracks, then they are provided with another. For example, Rome has a track that represents its progress against Carthage, including Spain and Africa. Another track will let the Republic fight Epirus, Macedon and then go to Asia Minor, and so on.

Another possible approach to gaining Legacy is to make your regions very cultured, so that they produce legacy points by themselves. There are two levels here, and both demand substantial investment in the right buildings and decisions with the second level being quite a challenge to achieve. But if you devote your nation to the creation of prestigious buildings, it’s a possibility.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev8/Some-nations-can-get-Legacy-Points-through-special-features.-For-example-Ptolemy-can-have-a-bonus-if-he-controls-a-large-fleet.jpg)

Yet another option is to pursue actively those national decisions that provide Legacy Points. These can include domestic reforms, or mounting a far away expedition to the border of the known world.

A final way to generate legacy is to try enduring the difficulty of managing a nation past its glory. Like Sparta perhaps, that clung to life for centuries well beyond its climax. This has no doubt left a lasting impression to the future generations, as few people know nothing about Sparta, even nowadays. Practically speaking, when your government is old or decadent, each turn you manage to survive the vicissitudes happening to your nation, then a significant amount of Legacy Points will be given.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev8/Syracusae-is-an-objective-for-Carthage.-Once-it-is-conquered,-the-next-one-will-probably-be-in-the-boot-of-Italy.jpg)

If you can build, and sustain, a substantial legacy lead it is possible to win the game before its actual end-date of 190 CE. This might reward a high risk strategy where you try to gain legacy quickly and accept the inevitable problems such a focus will bring. A modern equivalent of the traditional Spartan instruction to ‘return with your shield or on it’? Equally possessing substantial amounts of legacy will help you during the game as there are a number of rewards to being seen as an impressive state by your contemporaries.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev8/The-heart-of-the-Seleucids-empire-is-made-of-several-regions-that-are-quite-cultured-but-they-generate-also-some-decadence.jpg)

So the game is much more about painting the map in your color. Even if in the end all nations are trying to generate more legacy than their rivals, you can still get these points from different approaches, although admittedly it is probably better to try a balanced approach perhaps with a focus on one.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev8/The-old-monarchy-has-troubles-ruling-his-subjects.-On-the-other-hand,-being-on-the-verge-of-decadence-produces-some-decent-legacy-by-itself.jpg)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on May 01, 2019, 12:54:00 PM: Field of Glory: Empires Dev Diary #9 Battle System

(http://slitherine.com/files/spotlight/1367_image.jpg)

Warfare in Empires

One 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.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev9/1-Syracuse-is-firmly-under-siege-while-the-Carthaginians-tetraremes-block-the-harbor.jpg)

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.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev9/2-A-fight-in-Germania-Magnia,-Cheruscii-versus-Saxones.-Note-the-small-battle-width.jpg)

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.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev9/3-Velites-fall-back-through-the-legions-after-a-quite-devastating-fire.jpg)

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 charge
For 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.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev9/4--This-exhausted-mercenary-stands-no-chance-against-a-phalanx-supported-by-Lydian-archers.jpg)

From all the dice you roll, between one and three depending, each one is re-rolled until at least a minimum value is reached. And this minimum value is given by the sum of your experience and effectiveness! Let’s take an example. A veteran German warband has level 2 of experience and has an effectiveness of 3. It means that you are guaranteed that each of your dice roll is at least a 5! If now you have a good general, like a rating 2 general, then you get to roll 3 die, and you take the best. Chances are that the ‘random part’ of the duel will be from 8 to 10 reliably! Then this random part is added to our final combat value, and you get our final duel score.

And that’s how you can end up with Germanic warbands fighting in forest with a competent general soundly beating Imperial Legions led by a complacent and not that skilled Consul.

Although this appears to be an extreme case, be assured that if you understand and play with the system, you’ll be able to achieve your goals much more easily, and with much less resources committed. And sometimes, in single player against the AI or in PBEM against live opponents, this will definitely be the difference between victory and defeat.

There are others features for battles that play an important role too. For example flanking units, if your opponent is unable to fill out (or if you have destroyed some of his units in the early duels) all the line will play a significant role. Skirmishers will fatigue their opponent, even if they get defeated. Cavalry can evade some damage if they fight slower units. Now combine several traits in one, and you end up with units like Horse Archers, in the Parthian or Nomad style, that add insult to injury by hitting you with arrows while avoiding most damage in return. So your powerful legions are vulnerable to particular opponents in the terrain where they, this time, have all the advantages.

We think, and our beta testers do too, that Empire’s battles are quite fun while being involved, with some real thinking to do if you like to fine tune your armies (and if not, that’s ok too, but it will be prudent to play against an easy AI until you learn the ropes of the system, as the AI can be quite relentless). But there is more, as you probably know. Most of the battles of Empires can be alternatively played in Field of Glory II, as fully developed tactical battles and the result will be ported back into Empires once you are done. And there is no need for any DLC from FOG2 to get all the possible units from Empires. So … best of both worlds?
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on May 23, 2019, 12:20:07 AM: Field of Glory: Empires - Ask Us Anything

Field of Glory: Empires is definitely an ambitious project. Set in the Ancient World roughly from 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

(https://www.matrixgames.com/files/spotlight/1387_image.jpg)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on May 23, 2019, 12:24:14 AM: Check the latest screenshots!

(http://www.matrixgames.com/files/spotlight/1385_image.jpg)

Hi Everyone,

We got something special for you. Developers have gathered together a vast array of screenshots showing different situations you might find in Field of Glory: Empires. They range from in-game events, tactical battles, special buildings and many many more, and guess what? The developer will answer every question about them! Every question!

So don't be shy and take a look at the first group being posted below!

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Batch1/A-Temple-to-the-Huntress,-such-world-wonders-provide-a-range-of-benefits-but-also-are-very-attractive-to-would-be-conquerors.jpg)

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Batch1/Although-trade-routes-are-fully-automated,-creating-the-need-for-such-trades-can-involve-a-lot-of-thinking-and-judgement,-if-you-enjoy-this-type-of-activity.jpg)

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Batch1/An-abysmal-diplomat-but-a-very-good-general,-Abgaros-of-Armenia-is-probably-a-bully.-Plus-he-is-bald.jpg)

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Batch1/An-example-of-how-devastating-Ranged-fire-can-be.-Here-the-velites-fall-back-having-weakened-a-number-of-the-Gallic-warbands.jpg)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on May 24, 2019, 03:26:17 PM: It's time for another group of screenshots, highlighting some unique features and mechanics. The developer will answer every question about them! Every question!

Stay tuned for further updates!

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/batch2/Besieging-powerful-harbors-can-lead-to-problems-when-coastal-fortresses-fire-on-your-ships.jpg)

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/batch2/Insults-and-Threats...-Enjoy-almost-500-contextual-lines-of-insults-and-cajoling-from-your-neighbors.jpg)

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/batch2/Naval-Battles;-nothing-can-stop-the-Carthaginian-ships.-Except-perhaps-quinqueremes.jpg)

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/batch2/Scorched-Lands.-From-time-to-time-the-desert-will-get-sandstorms-that-block-movements.jpg)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on May 27, 2019, 07:26:04 PM: Field of Glory: Empires - Dev Diary #10 - Units: Abilities and Modifiers

Units in Empires have very diverse profiles and different roles. Some are heavy hitters, like phalanxes, legions and other heavy infantry. These units cost a lot to recruit and maintain, and will use a lot of metal, so can’t be mass produced easily. They have drawbacks too, like being relatively slow and not fit to fight in terrain like forests or mountains.

Another category is the medium infantry, which is apparently less powerful, more affordable and has the useful ability of being a besieger, meaning it will provide a bonus when you siege a city. This reflects the value of these formations in being able to construct heavy siege engines on the spot (you did not drag siege towers along your army when you were on the march). Given they are more affordable, you can field a lot of these troops, and this might be necessary since battles have an important concept of ‘frontage’, which is the width of the battle line. Previous players from AGEOD game will be well aware of this feature, as it appeared in 2004 with Birth of America, and it never ceased to play an important and realistic role in all our games. Failure to fill out your available front line will leave you very vulnerable to being outflanked or forced to commit your skirmishers to actual hand to hand combat (not a good idea!).

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev10/2-Some-units-like-these-Cameliers-not-only-fight-well-in-desert-regions,-but-also-have-reduced-supply-usage,-making-them-perfect-in-this-kind-of-terrain.jpg)

The skirmishers are another sort of unit. They are not costly, although the manpower they need is close to the types above (so make a lot demands on your population to fill out their ranks from the pool of conscripts used for units). In melee, they are quite weak, but this is not where they should be used. They are there to help support your main infantry, by providing a combat bonus to them. A medium infantry unit backed by a skirmisher is as strong, if not more so, than a heavy infantry without support. Add to that they will weaken the enemy before melee through their missile attack, and you will quickly come to see that they are not optional to a good army composition.

Cavalry is another subset of units and plays an important role on the battlefield and the strategic map. Light cavalry will perform as skirmishers but most types can also flank the enemy. It means that should your opponent don’t fill up the battle line, then they will deal bonus attacks against the enemy. Should you manage to inflict a defeat to your opponent, then their pursuit bonus will deal significant damage during the retreat phase. On the strategic map, they are faster than even skirmishers, so can act as a fire brigade of sort. But they are not ideal if they have to fight on their own as they are rather brittle, except perhaps if they are heavy cavalry or cataphracts. Plus skirmishers help a city resists a siege, while cavalrymen don’t do much but eating the food stockpile in this situation!

The important thing to remember is that through quite a lot of fine tuning and testing, we have managed to give each unit a role that defines them well. And also that costlier units are not always better in all circumstances, so if you enjoy tweaking your army composition, then you should have some fun testing out combinations.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev10/1-These-warriors-fom-Lusitania-are-very-good-fighter-in-hills-and-manage-to-hold-a-charge-of-Carthaginian-elephants.jpg)

But there is more to it than that, as units also have some custom abilities contextual to some terrain. For example, many Celtic nations have light and medium infantry which are woodmen, so they are better when fighting in the huge forests of Gallia. In the same way, German warriors benefit from this trait too, given how large and continuous, almost overwhelming, was the big Hercynian forest where many lived.

You’ll also fight mountainmen, if you have to deal with Celtiberian tribes, or people from Armenia or Colchide. Arabia Felix or the vast expanses of desert bordering Carthage proper will see cameliers with the desertmen traits, etc.

But some traits are not a bonus, they are a drawback. For example, elephants dislike cold terrain, and Phalanxes are not fit to assault a city.

Other traits are about how units fought on the battlefield. For example, skirmishers, horse-archers and light cavalry can deal damage even when they lose a duel, or to add insult to injury, they can even shave off part of the damages they received by evading the melee! As some of you know, the battle of Carrhae was a major defeat for Rome against Parthia, mostly because the latter had a lot of horse-archers (backed up by supply wagons to replenish their stock of arrows) while the legionnaires were trying (and failing) to reach the enemy line. In Empires too, I would not bet on the mighty legions if they have no support from archers or skirmishers, against a full battle line of Parthian horse archers!

Hopefully this will give you an idea about how Empires manages units and the different possible battles you will experiment.

But traits, also called modifiers, are everywhere in the game. Rulers have traits, ranging from being a superior administrator to being paranoid. The variations are numerous, and the chance to get the same ruler twice is very small. This in turn will shape your nation and alter your strategy, as a good military ruler will provide a lot of bonus which will be a boon to your army, while someone who despises the idea of expanding his realm will be an issue if you wanted to conquer and gobble your neighbor.

Units and rulers have traits (or modifiers) but each government is also different using their own range of abilities. For example, a tribal government will provide a bonus to manpower, and that’s fitting as units filled with warriors will need a lot of men and not that much heavy armor to be recruited. A merchant oligarchy like Carthage will enjoy extra bonuses for commerce but will be heavily penalized on manpower, thus lending to a style of gameplay where you’ll need to recruit a lot of mercenaries (and the ones for Carthage are rather good!).

In the end, through the judicious (or so we hope) use of modifiers, you’ll see that all the nations play rather differently from one another. Because their units are different, or perhaps their government. And then there are the custom buildings with special abilities! Here, we are mostly not talking about something like “Get +10% from that or that”, this would be dull… Buildings have specific abilities or behaviors that significantly alter the game and how you will tackle a nation. Judea with the possible, but difficult, task to rebuild the Solomon Temple (coming in no less than 7 levels of upgrades!), Saba with the impressive Ma’rib dam which can be either a boon or a curse (depending if you repair it or not), Dacia with its mountain fortresses, etc.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Dev10/3-Several-nations-are-made-of-clans-and-until-they-reach-a-higher-civilization-level,-the-death-of-their-ruler-can-lead-to-a-civil-war.jpg)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on June 13, 2019, 12:14:13 AM: Field of Glory: Empires out on July 11th

Mark the date into your calendar (Julian Calendar of course), as Field of Glory: Empires (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1011390/Field_of_Glory_Empires/) will be released on July, 11th!

In a month you’ll be able to forge your civilization and lead it toward the heights of History!

Get more information on its official product page (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1011390/Field_of_Glory_Empires/)

Are you still on the fence about Field of Glory: Empires? Maybe this short video will help you!

Check out "Field of Glory: Empires in 2 minutes"

(https://www.matrixgames.com/files/spotlight/1406_image.jpg) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmCw9XZuhIQ&feature=youtu.be)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on June 21, 2019, 02:48:50 PM: Field of Glory: Empires Manual

Field of Glory: Empires release is nearing and it's time to reveal its Manual. No preview, no sneak peek, the full manual.

In over 200 pages you'll find precious information about basic gameplay, key concepts (like the Legacy and Decadence System), National Traits and more!

Click on the cover below to get the full PDF file! You can also download it through the Download section (http://slitherine.com/products/789/downloads/) of its product page (http://slitherine.com/products/789/details/Field.of.Glory.Empires)

Field of Glory: Empires will be released on July 11th

Important! Field of Gory: Empires will have a printable pdf manual, but not the hardcover

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Art/FOG_E/Manual_Cover.jpg) (http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/PDF/FOGE/FOG Empires Manual Final.pdf)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on June 28, 2019, 01:20:34 AM: What is Field of Glory Empires in Latin

https://youtu.be/0ucGwNkjuhw

Published on 27 Jun 2019
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on July 09, 2019, 12:29:37 AM: Field of Glory: Empires Tutorials - Military Operations

Learn how to recruit units, to employ generals, how the terrain impacts your movements, which stats affect what, and much more!

https://youtu.be/H7CG3e-LkEc
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on July 10, 2019, 02:16:15 PM: Field of Glory: Empires Tutorials - Diplomacy and the State

(http://www.slitherine.com/files/spotlight/1422_image.jpg)

Hi everybody!

Field of Glory: Empires is releasing tomorrow! (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1011390/Field_of_Glory_Empires/) Are you excited? We have two more Tutorial Videos to introduce, covering Diplomacy and The State.

As for the previews videos, DasTactic will be your Virgil through all of the key elements you'll need to know.

Diplomacy is a relatively straightforward but nonetheless crucial mechanic to keep a balance of power among your enemies and allies alike.

The State is about knowing the nation modifiers, traits, rulers and government types.

https://youtu.be/qS5nFW8MPPQ

https://youtu.be/4YTe1B87eKg
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on July 12, 2019, 11:28:35 AM: (http://slitherine.com/files/spotlight/1423_image.jpg)

http://slitherine.com/products/789/details/Field.of.Glory.Empires
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on July 12, 2019, 11:30:54 AM: (http://slitherine.com/files/spotlight/1424_image.jpg)

About this bundle

Be the ultimate Ruler of the known Ancient World with the Masters Edition of Field of Glory!

This Bundle allows you to integrate Field of Glory: Empires grand strategy layer with the tactical depth of Field of Glory II.

Items included in this bundle
Field of Glory: Empires
Field of Glory II

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.

Field of Glory II is a turn-based tactical game set during the Rise of Rome from 280 BC to 25 BC. It allows you to fight large or small battles for or against Rome, or between the other nations who are as yet unaware of the Roman threat, or what-if battles between nations that never came into conflict historically.

The games are standalone of their own and they don't need each other to be played.

The integration is an optional feature for everyone willing more direct control over the battles. In fact, 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.
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on July 18, 2019, 02:56:11 PM: Field of Glory: Empires - Tutorials

(http://www.matrixgames.com/files/spotlight/1425_image.jpg)

Here (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQrYLOdjwRhSYMZYwbqNszMD5DiDAlmvB&jct=MeN0LrS3Hv7To3lpkn1q1p13FUQnFw)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on July 18, 2019, 02:58:41 PM: Field of Glory: Empires updated to version 1.0.2
18 Jul @ 2:37pm - SlithFox

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/7152a10ee5834604da6c97e258652d5189b5d519.jpg)

Hi everyone,

Field of Glory: Empires has received its official update!

Version 1.0.2 brings improvements on Gameplay, AI behaviour, Multiplayer and on other fields.

All save games remain compatible with the update, but if you want to log in into multiplayer, updating to version 1.0.2 is mandatory.

Version 1.0.2 Changelog

GAMEPLAY
• Limited population boom events to regions under 25 pops
• National citizen can never go above 8 unrest each
• Rome special civil war eased up
• Periplus decision twice rarer
• You need to have some legacy to enact the emergency army decision
• Pyrrhus scenario: if playing SP in easy or balanced, extra income per turn
• Dacian provincial HI are converted to heavy warband in FOG2
• Melita town repositioned
• Fix to endless shuffling in a province not building anything
• Fix to losing fifth token the turn you evolve
• Fix to emperor not named in due time
• Show a sea battlefield for naval battles in dual terrain
• Fix to 2 late wonders not proposed at a proper date
• Fix to no pirate raiding possibility under some circumstances
• The Weird Parade is better than before

AI
• Less eager dogpiling on countries already at war
• AI: If under severe threat, AI will be more inclined to disregard the other nation holding some of its objectives
• AI less aggressive in unbreached assaults
• Slightly less aggressive AI overall

UI-QoL
• If Rome can be subject of a civil war, you’ll get two advance warnings.
• If the death of your ruler can lead to a Civil War, you’ll get an advance warning
• Invasions are preceded with an advance warning
• Added tooltips (English) for visual options, battle export button, message log restore button, multiplayer new game settings.
• Show only a single progress bar during AI processing.
• Various minor edits on text typos

MULTIPLAYER
• Fixed error displaying multiplayer challenge list

MISCELLANEOUS
• Rare audio crash fixed
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on July 24, 2019, 01:30:35 PM: Field of Glory: Empires Nation Modifiers – Which faction has the best set?

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/683321b1665c23856a40eab4b1767f39897ce407.jpg)

One of the most important features of Field of Glory: Empires is how different and unique each one of the 77 factions plays.

The ability to build efficient fleets, emergency levies, glorious traditions, huge benevolence over populations of your same kin, type of governments and ruling parties, the list is endless.

Have you already found the set that fits best your playstyle? Or would you see featured something completely new? Let us know in the comments!

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/FactionModifiers/Rome.jpg)

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/FactionModifiers/Sparta.jpg)

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/FactionModifiers/Venitii.jpg)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on July 25, 2019, 11:23:34 PM: DECADENCE IN 4X/GRAND STRATEGY GAMES | A Field of Glory: Empires Guide
25 Jul @ 2:20pm - SlithFox

Decadence is one of the most important factors in Field of Glory: Empires, and it's something that I think can change the face of 4X and Grand Strategy games.

HForHavoc will be going over what decadence is inside the game, what factors determine it, and how other games can learn from this type of mechanic.

https://youtu.be/2NiJflPklnc
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on July 30, 2019, 12:18:27 AM: How to bring your battles into Field of Glory II
29 Jul @ 1:09pm - Sharon

A new video by HForHavoc showing how to export and play your battles in Field of Glory II.

https://youtu.be/LTOuhx8uFaQ

Did you know that if you own Field of Glory II AND Field of Glory: Empires, you can play your battles manually instead of auto-resolving??? Now you do.
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on July 31, 2019, 01:48:49 PM: Field of Glory: Empires has been updated to version 1.0.3

(http://slitherine.com/files/spotlight/1440_image.jpg)

The second official update for Empires is finally here, with remarkable changes and improvements.
It’s been two intense weeks after the release, with many positive feedback from the community along with some constructive criticism.

Developers haven’t rest on their laurels and after fixing the most important bugs after release, they have worked hard in keep improving the whole gameplay experience.

Version 1.0.3 brings many changes and additions, among the most important ones are:

Abandoning a region

You can now under some circumstances abandon a region to its fate. Know though that bandits will rapidly take over and who knows what nation can emerge from these unclaimed lands.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Uploads/Abandonallhopes.jpg)

New buildings and unrest fighting

Three new buildings to fight off unrest in your large cities! But it might come at a cost... We also have strengthened (slightly) the effects of some existing buildings.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Uploads/Naumachia.jpg)

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Uploads/Olympic.jpg)

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Uploads/Tabularium.jpg)

Alternate Power Display

Some were confused with the 'combat power' of their armies. And others were fine with how it was displayed. So, how about 3 options?

- As before (Combat Power)

- Unit count

- Categorized count (Heavy/Medium/Light)

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Uploads/AlternatePowerDisplay.jpg)

Additionally:

* Rebellion will now not take over the city walls, only the countryside. Have fate in your garrisons to fend them off. Although we recommend sending a professional army!

* Units rebalancing

* Smarter AI, with more sensible declaration of war, less loitering (and pilfering) in your land from allies

... and more than 30 extra entries about rebalancing, tweaking and fixing bugs!

Full changelog here!

This is a massive one: let us know what you think of the changes in the posts below. As usual your feedback is extremely important to us.

Changelog:

GAMEPLAY (improvements and fixes)

- Mercenary decision won't pick slaves as a valid mercenary army
- Cotton Field structure can now be built again (Egypt and India)
- You can abandon a region which has the 'Under Conquest' modifier or is pillaged. It costs one government age per population as a limiter.
- Rebels conversion to a reborn nation won't happen in contested regions (fix some issues)
- Units in neutral territory can be moved away toward closest friendly region (up to 6 regions distance)
- When a region rebels, garrison is mustered, and you keep the walls.
- Slave decimation in case of revolt is one slave pop per 5 units raised (was 10)
- Can import or export up to 24 (each) different trade goods per region
- New Capitol building provided for free at all difficulty levels
- Fix to Judea temple decision could cause a crash
- New buildings and tweaked buildings (geared toward easier crowd control):
+Olympic Games (World Wonder, restricted to Hellenes nation)
+Tabularium (National Wonder, restricted to Italic ethnicity)
+Naumachia (gladiator games on water)
- Pleasure District (National Wonder) loyalty 25>30
- Coliseum, Circus Maximus (World Wonder) loyalty 50>60
- Circus, Racing Track loyalty 30>40
- Prison loyalty 10>15
- Fix to an improper evaluation in the 'Support Science' decision
- A region already defined as the main capital should not move to another region.
- Fix to Provincial units, if different per civilization level not given properly (e.g Galatian Hvy Inf.)
- DOW probability lessened and use extra factors.
- An enemy can't steal anymore a region only defended by an ally
- Provincial capitol will move to the correct region
- Ensure that auto garrisons raise against invasion and post-battles checks
- Fix to 2 late wonders not added properly (again)
- All nations are 'switchable' once they appear on the map
- 2 fleets made only of transports won't attack each other.
- Transported units don't skirmish or evade.

AI
- Will merge more often weak groups
- Allies should loiter less in other territories
- If under severe threat, will favor grouping and defending around capitals

BALANCING
- Master Fletcher can improve skirmisher ranged attack (provided it is not 0) and provides 5 XP
- Slightly bigger bonus for Peace chance from war duration
- Population with 2 or 3 unrest (was 2 only) are green in the region panel
- Heavy Infantry balancing (for non clumsy HI):
- Scots now have +15% "Money Increase cost"
- Rex Custodiae will cost a bit more (Are unique so not exploitable)
- Lin Teata will cost a bit more money but less metal, thematic with their gear (Are unique so not exploitable)
- Britonnic, Goths, Galatians, Pictish, Dacians provincial heavy infantries: They retain their excellent stats, but cost more in manpower and "Money Increase cost" is now 35%, not 25% as others prov. units.
- Brythonic infantry has the besieger effect
- Removed Phalanx from CAR
- Roman Fort and Limes can be disassembled
- Slave Market decision given more often (+50% frequency)
- Carthage initial treasury increased (1500>2500), friendlier neighbors.
- Mauretania hold on most regions removed
- North African nations don’t get cameliers until Imperial Level.
- Removed ahistorical phalanx to some nations.
- Rome objectives slightly more spread out (and far reaching)
- Cavalry balancing:
+ Heavy Cavalry and Cataphracts now place themselves between HI and MI and gain +1 hit point
+ War chariots get +1 hit point
+ Companions get +1 effec
+ Castrum Equitatum works for Med Cav too

UI-QOL
- Remappable hotkeys for common panels (K diplomacy | Nation panel | Ledger | Build structure | Unit recruitment | Trade panel)
- Added diplomacy button to UnitPanel, can contact a nation without territory.
- New context and gameplay texts for Rome and Epirus in Pyrrhus scenario
- Move camera to an army location when selecting a faction with no regions in diplomacy panel.
- Show recruitment spending as spent rather than part of the delta on faction bar and military recruitment tab.
- Army display options: Unit Count, Combat Power (as before), Categorized
- Fix to missing title in the 'one of the Civil War Warning' for Rome
- Upgrade buildings show as slot usage zero
- Fixed ambiguous or misleading UI behavior when ordering intercepts.
- Leave Trade Info open when switching Region Panel tabs
- In structure info and construction, moved description to the right; modifiers, unlocks, and misc stats to the left.
- Show Ally Battle option (default off).
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on August 27, 2019, 11:52:06 AM: (http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Uploads/Empires_DevInterviewPodcast_spotlight.jpg)

Philippe Malacher, the Lead Designer from AGEOD, gave an interview for the last episode of Single Malt Strategy, the bi-weekly podcast focusing on the world of digital wargaming and strategy games.

They talked about the recently released title Field of Glory Empires, as well as the brand new engine powering this new game. They also covered how this game will impact the future of AGEOD.

Listen to the Podcast on Speaker (https://www.spreaker.com/user/single_malt_strategy/single-malt-strategy-episode-42-field-of), Player.fm (https://player.fm/series/single-malt-strategy) or Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/single-malt-strategy-42-field-of-glory-empires-interview/id1148480371?i=1000447428182)!
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on September 21, 2019, 12:53:42 AM: Field of Glory: Empires Update 1.04 Preview
Published on September 20, 2019

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Update_104/Empires_TriumphUpdate_spotlight.jpg)

Update 1.04 will land very soon and as you know it will bring numerous improvements, from the AI to gameplay balancing.

Among all the new things and changes, there are 4 that we'd like to highlight to you in advance, so to give you a taste of what's coming with the "Triumph" Update:

Military Buildings overhaul
(https://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Update_104/Military%20Academy.jpg)

Build enough of them, and your military expertise will translate into better leaders and soldiers.

Cavalry in battles
(https://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Update_104/SEL%20Cavalry%20(AI).jpg)

Cavalry is now able to flank attack armies relying only on foot soldiers. Horse power!

Retaliate Expedition
(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Update_104/Retaliate.jpg)

Do you have enough of these pesky barbarians raiding your land? Retaliate against them, but don't take their filthy villages!
An army with a leader can attack with a 'Retaliate Expedition' order that will make them not conquer the region (and still fight the enemy)

Better Naval AI
(https://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Update_104/naval%20Battle.jpg)

A better naval AI building more ships and protecting troop convoys

Stay tuned for the official full release!
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on September 26, 2019, 05:04:22 PM: Field of Glory: Empires “Triumph” (1.04) Update is out
26 Sep 2019

(https://www.slitherine.com/images/news/2295/spotlight_image.jpg)

Field of Glory: Empires “Triumph” Update is out. Version 1.04 brings tons and tons of improvements and additions, the most important (as previewed last week) are:

-   Military Buildings overhaul (see below dedicated paragraph)
-   Cavalry overhaul: in some terrains part of the battlefield is for cavalry only
-   An army with a leader can attack with a 'Retaliate Expedition' order that will make them not conquer the region (and still fight the enemy)

But other game features have been looked into, such as an Administrative Burden increased for developed nations has been added, now there is a naval interdiction link in Mesembria, Imperial Roman Legion decision won't be given before being an Empire, and many more.

Check out the full changelog below

You can download the update from here (http://ftp.matrixgames.com/pub/FieldofGloryEmpires/FieldofGloryEmpires-UpdateComp-v1.0.4.zip)

Version 1.0.4 Patchnotes

GAMEPLAY (improvements and fixes)

Very important
-   Military Buildings overhaul (see below dedicated paragraph)
-   Cavalry overhaul: in some terrains part of the battlefield is for cavalry only
-   An army with a leader can attack with a 'Retaliate Expedition' order that will make them not conquer the region (and still fight the enemy)

Important
-   Abandoning a region now costs legacy, no aging (tied to population amount)
-   Administrative Burden increased for developed nations (approx +10% to +30% increase depending of context). See also new manpower and metal cap from the Military Buildings overhaul.
-   Sudden Death Victory (winning instantly by having the proper legacy ratio) needs now 100 turns before being evaluated, not 50. New quick game option!
-   Objectives can be given dynamically too
-   Regions have 4 steps in culture generating Legacy
-   Distance to center split in 4 categories for better deployment in battles (e.g. HI in wood is not dead center, mountainmen are more central in mountains, etc.)
-   Regions with a small initial population will have hard time grows past a certain level.
-   Conversion rate reduced by one fifth
-   Foreign citizens generate one third less manpower
-   Free Unit Upkeep is now limited to 20 money, 5 metal and 5 manpower per unit
-   Inflation cost in money is now factored partially in upkeep

Other
-   Archers get a specific deployment priority in battles (after militia if the front must be filled, but before if in the rear)
-   Fix to moving capitals
-   Minimum garrison defending an independent region down from 6 to 3
-   A client-state will stop ongoing wars not also involving his protector
-   If in money deficit, only half of it removed per turn, with a minimum 100 money of debts removed
-   Fix to a loyalty bug for national citizens - slightly easier now
-   If you have too many of the +5% global commerce structures, you risk losing money
-   Fix to regional harbor used for transportation not always the best one
-   Mercenary decision won't pick slaves as a valid mercenary army
-   Absorbing a nation provides no legacy from it.
-   Health cap (of 65%) not applied to events tests (Pop boom, plagues and epidemics)
-   If possible, a new unit will appear within a city wall, not outside
-   Armies that can't retreat are always destroyed
-   A besieged region can still build a structure (with penalty). Prevent unwanted reset of important buildings under construction.
-   Famine in regions thrice as hard as before (regarding population loss)
-   Rulers in decadent nations degrade their health faster (from 'unhealthy life style')
-   Tyranny modifier bug fixed
-   Slave decimation further upped in case of revolts (1 per 3 units raised)
-   Fix to abandon region not working if another nation had an army
-   New option (MP compliant): Quick game. Win with a 2 to 1 ratio in Legacy (not 3 to 1)
-   Slaves will never be put in commerce or culture (governor AI)

Military buildings overhaul
-   Military Expertise modifier appears if you have not enough or a lot of military buildings in your nation (comparison is made using sum of buildings tiers versus regions amount)
-   Max Metal and Manpower have a cap partly based on Military Expertise
-   In a province, each military building providing XP will give half its amount to capital region, within a limit of 25 XP and 2 extra levels.
-   Rebate in building cost also given (at a 50%) from buildings in all regions of a province.
-   Autogarrisons get bonus XP from the sum of military buildings tiers, either in their region or the full province (Stronger garrisons with proper structures).

AI
-   AI has much more chances to propose peace if without any region
-   AI is slightly more interested in building high tier structures
-   Rome as AI in higher diff gets some free legion camps
-   In higher difficulty, AI more prone to war against legacy leader
-   More sensible DOW evaluation for AI – also now factors relative economic advantage
-   AI will build more ships
-   AI will never build ships in lakes
-   AI fleets will intercept more
-   AI fleets will escort more
-   AI boarded units will be much more prudent
-   AI will have Increased interest to unblockade harbor
-   Province AI builds more structures
-   Structure valuation refined (more high tier buildings, handle better specifics functions)
-   AI Ally can give back previously owned region
-   AI vassal can be fully absorbed if having a last surrounded region
-   AI can reply or propose peace even without region
-

BALANCING & SETUP
-   Lalandia and Seladia regions names reversed
-   Judea Barrack can recruit HI
-   Provincial units from Gaetulia, Mauritania (occ. and or.) and Numidia are now Light Cav with extra perks
-   Farm and flax field slightly changprovince.ia objectives spaced more (too bunched, leading to easy progress)
-   Light infantry from various ethnicities get the Agile modifier (+1 attack in wood or hill)
-   Heavy Infantries cost +1 metal in upkeep
-   Added naval interdiction link in Mesembria
-   Druid Covenants tweaked (weaker standard version, stronger specialized version)
-   Imperial Roman Legion decision won't be given before being an Empire
-   Owning the Archimedes Workshop provides (permanently) a new type of unit (which acquires a new ability at elite level)
-   Balkanic Mercenary Infantry is now the Dacian Falxman (hit harder but not protected against ranged fire)
-   Hierasia provincial unit is now the 'Bastarnae Warrior' and is a Dacian Falxman (dmg+ prot-) with Mountainman.
-   Tisiae provincial unit is now the 'Iazygian Lancer', a cataphract with extra speed and flanking.
-   Dacia inferior provincial unit is now the 'Rhoxolani Cavalry', no change in stats (extra attack and effectiveness compared to regular Hvy Cav)
-   Sparta starts with Hoplite Infantry and get access to Phalanx Infantry in Civilization Level III (Kleomenes III reform)
-   These two units gain the Besieger trait. Phalanx loses extra hit though.
-   Silver Shields are closer in profile to the Hellene Phalanx but better.
-   Roman Archers (Sagittarii) are now added with the Imperial Legion reform
-   Fixed: Tar Deposit could never be built (added to Tanis initially)
-   Large quarry bonus resources now give an extra 2 money each
-   Military Store upkeep down to 2
-   Granary does not require a farm anymore, but will be proposed rarely except if you have grain nearby
-   Tarentum (Greater Greece) now have a land army
-

UI-QOL
-   Right hand modifications precision level is an option (5 possible choices)
-   Correct tooltip feedback when can't build an unit in a province
-   Close nation panel and select region when selecting an objective.
-   Show count of stacked modifiers on nation panel.
-   Next and Prev Idle Region buttons.
-   Attempt to more clearly show that structure bonus income is included in the income
-   More detailed provincial loyalty tooltip. More attention to revolt risk.
-   Added Trade Income and Accumen to Ledger.
-   Changed faction trade income to be net.
-   Added anti-aliasing option to options UI

OTHER
-   Various engine speed up
-   Experimental extended font support.
-   Several Multiplayers fixes
-   Display a different message when potentially responsible for a PBEM data mismatch, and give an opportunity to exit and fix the issue without playing a turn.
-   Fixed error playing a custom scenario in PBEM
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on October 02, 2019, 02:54:22 PM: Field of Glory: Empires - Faction Highlight: Seleukos
02 Oct 2019 13:39

(https://www.slitherine.com/images/news/2301/spotlight_image.jpg)

One of the most intriguing features of Field of Glory: Empires is the care put into creating unique traits and playstyle for every playable Faction.

Every Nation has a distinctive culture, type of Government, tradition, Lineages and weaknesses.

In this first Faction Highlight, we'd like to talk a bit about the Seleukos Nation, which offers a good example of the extreme attention to details and variety depicted in the game.

At the beginning of the game, this Factions is already a large Empire, comprising many regions and provinces in the East.

Being one of the Diadochi – heirs of the Alexander the Great Generals – the Faction has access to a greater Leader Force Pool and to particular advantages toward a population of Hellenistic Culture.

From the Administrative stand-point, Seleukos can employ the Satrapy System, a relatively efficient structure of de-centralized Provincial Governments that grants a good flow of income and units.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/FOGE_Seleukos/seleukos_modifiers.png)

The twist with the Seleukos lies with the Decadence mechanics. In fact, being a Diadochi brings some disadvantages too, in this particular case represented by your shared heritage. You’ll need to avoid Decadence at all cost, as you can lose regions to the other Diadochi if your Nation becomes old or decadent (even if you are not at war with them).

(https://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/FOGE_Seleukos/20191001131112_1.jpg)

Your neighbours could drag you in multiple conflicts and given your size you could find hard to fend-off invasions or incursions coming from different directions. A good Strategy should involve stable trade relations as long as you can, to make your overall economic growth robust enough to sustain the impending periods of crisis.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/FOGE_Seleukos/20191002110032_1.jpg)

In the beginning, you are at war with the powerful Antigonos on the West and at Peace with Maurya o the East frontiers with India.

With a wise mixture of internal reforms and selective military interventions, Seleukos can steadily gain the upper hand in the balance of power in the region, bringing full glory to the Seleucos lineage.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/FOGE_Seleukos/20191002110024_1.jpg)

What do you think? What have been the hardest challenges in playing with Seleukos?
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on October 10, 2019, 02:30:02 PM: Field of Glory: Empires has been updated to version 1.05
10 Oct 2019

Hi everybody,

Field of Glory: Empires has been updated to version 1.05.
This version brings many improvements and changes, from gameplay mechanics, Balancing to AI and more.

Be sure to download the update from here (http://ftp.matrixgames.com/pub/FieldofGloryEmpires/FieldofGloryEmpires-UpdateComp-v1.0.5.zip)

Or through Steam

Version 1.0.5 Changelog

GAMEPLAY (improvements and fixes)
-   Fix to population growth penalty occurring in all regions
-   City garrisons revised and improved in diversity
-   Fix to resource cap being applied before upkeep
-   In balanced difficulty, players don't pay extra upkeep from veteran units or rare units (with Money Increase Cost)
-   Max stockpiling of metal increased by 50%

AI
-   AI Dogpiling against player reduced a lot in balanced difficulty (easier game)

UI
-   Dynamic route coloring option (see the Options Window to activate it)
-   Supply overlay: Seas adjacent to a friendly coast show in blue
-   Fixed legacy from regional culture being overreported in UI for AIs
-   Show top legacy producing buildings in wonders tooltip on legacy panel
-   Added sort by Human Players to Faction, CDR, and Legacy ledger pages

BALANCING & SETUP
-   Elephants can now be recruited more easily (in particular by PTO)
-   Roman Fort can now only be built by Roman
-   Rome Civil War: less chance and longer delay between two in balanced difficulty
-   Rome early legion & Alae quality slightly lowered when exported to FOG II

Various adjustments
-   Rome: Tiberus: +1 Random Commerce Building Campania: +1 Random Culture Building
-   Campania (Rome): + Market
-   Initial equipment stockpile: 80>105
-   Sparta: +Harbour + Flax Field +1 Citizen - Laconia has now an iron resource
-   Syracusae: + Crafter District
-   Saguntum: + Random Commerce Structure
-   Armenia: +Market
-   Byzantion: +Crafter District
-   Carthage: +2 Citizens, + Random Commerce Structure
-   Oea (Leptis Magna): +1 Citizen
-   Septa: +2 Desertic Slaves
-   Epirus: +3 Populations, +2 Random buildings, +Farm (in mountains), +Harbour
-   Nestus (Lysimachos): +2 Hellenic Citizens, +1 Balkanic Citizen, Walls
-   Orcadia (Celtic Indep.): +Cult Site
-   Dacia: +1 Citizen, +1 Slave
-   Dacia & Getea can now recruit Balkanic skirmishers
-   (Reminder: Dacia can still recruit slingers, but you need to conquer Agrianes)
-   Dacia starts with 4 Balkanic skirmishers and no Thracian slingers
-   Getae starts with 4 medium infantries and 4 skirmishers
-   Byzantion can recruit Thracian slingers
-   (Reminder: Macedonia can recruit them at CL 3)
-   Seleucids: Babylonia: Paved Road Carmania: Oil Mill Uxia: Marble Mattianus: Road
-   Antigonos: Osroena: +Potter's Workshop - Market + 1 Random Commerce Building
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on November 21, 2019, 01:28:34 PM: Provincial Units Infographic - Full List
21 Nov 2019

(https://www.matrixgames.com/images/news/2367/spotlight_image.jpg)

In Field of Glory: Empires (https://www.slitherine.com/game/field-of-glory-empires) almost every province in the game has a unique unit. These units are often quite powerful or have unique traits but the cost of each unit will increase as you raise more.

Provincial units are usually slightly more effective than the generic unit of their type. In addition, some are very useful such as archers and some cavalry units. Others are a very powerful and valuable addition to any army.

Wondering what type of Provincial Unit will you unlock in Hiberia? Or are you in desperate need for some good Infantry Unit and want to know where to recruit it?

Check the infographic below and discover how massive the world of Field of Glory: Empires is.

(http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Prov_Units_Infographic/FinalMap-v2.jpg)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on December 04, 2019, 11:11:45 PM: Field of Glory: Empires updated to version 1.0.6 (with a news about Diplomacy)
04 Dec 2019

A new version is available for Field of Glory: Empires - 1.0.6 - and it is dedicated to adding some custom content for Kolchis and Armenia, a very interesting tweak in the Nation Panel and may other improvements.

You can download the update from here (http://ftp.matrixgames.com/pub/FieldofGloryEmpires/FieldofGloryEmpires-UpdateComp-v1.0.6.zip)

But before diving into the new content, some pleasant news. Version 1.0.6 is meant also to prepare the game for something very special. Brace yourselves as the Diplomacy Update will be the next one. We will give all the relevant information in the next announcement, so stay tuned for further updates!

Version 1.0.6 Custom Content

Kolchis custom content

The nation of Kolchis, located along the coasts of Pontus Euxinus (also known as the Hospitable Sea, or the Black Sea) possesses several thriving cities where Greek merchants prosper. In the hinterland, rough mountain tribes are often a problem, but they do provide the cities with fearsome warriors, very adept in hills and mountains warfare.

For this update, Kolchis benefits from a heavily revised setup, as they are now a Kingdom with the Hellenistic tradition and with a merchant perk. Their cities will be more advanced and their standing army more powerful. But that’s not all, as they now gain access to no less than 8 Missions to perform!

Missions are optional goals to pursue, with very diverse possibilities. Subdue a neighbour, establish a trading route, drain the swamps that plague part of Kolchis and more.
A new reports tab in the nation panel will let you follow the current mission status.

(https://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Update_106/Missions%20and%20Reports.jpg)

(https://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Update_106/Kolchis%20Content.jpg)

Armenia custom content
Armenia enjoyed some independence under the Persian Empire, as a satrapy with loose control from the Persian court but was dominated by the Seleucids up to 190 BCE when it gained full independence. Artaxias expanded the realm in the Caucasus region and under Tigranes the Great, the realm reached Antioch and Damascus and defeated the Parthians. At this time, the Armenian Kingdom was de facto an Empire, and Tigranes named himself ‘King of Kings’ as he had several client-states.

In this update, Armenia receives 3 new custom buildings, one custom unit, and several missions.

3 Custom Buildings
• Tigranocerta (Special prestigious building)
• Levy Camps (Quickly recruits low quality troops)
• Naphta Workshop (enhance siege resistance)

1 custom unit
• Azatavrear Cataphract (Elite noble cataphract)

(https://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Update_106/Armenian%20Nobles.jpg)

3 Missions
• Create Greater Armenia (expand Armenia to what Tigranes the Great managed to do)
• Be the King of Kings (have at least 2 client-states, as Tigranes who had 4)
• Between two giants (manage to be friends with both Rome and Parthia, no small feat)

Nation Panel

The nation panel now let you access an interactive mini-tree where you can navigate, starting with your current government status, the various possible stages of your nation. What will happen if you evolve, what will be the result of the decadence of your empire? Everything is now accessible, with a list of possible effects!

(https://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/Update_106/Progress%20and%20Decadence%20Mini-Tree.jpg)

Full Changelog

EXTRA MAJOR CONTENT
• Kolchis setup revised, with 8 Missions to perform.
• Armenia gets 3 missions, 3 new custom buildings and an extra unit.
• Government Aging and Progress UI (access it by clicking on the government button, nation panel)

GAMEPLAY and SETUP (improvements and fixes)
• Smarter dynamic objectives
• Fixed issues with Builder Guild and late wonders
• Added exclusivity to well and irrigation canal
• Fix to tools factory
• Fixed hospital chain of buildings
• Fixed Babel Tower modifier not properly given
• Capital region food need for growth increased
• Brigantes now have Tin resource, not lead.
• Caucasian ethnicities don't have access to phalanxes
• Tweaked pop growth formula - harder to get really big population
• Fixed issue with Hunting Grounds & Master Hunter
• Military buildings have greater importance in max metal and manpower stockpiles
• Deficit spending and modifiers – the bigger the deficit you run, the higher the penalties!
• Fixed Sagittarii not provided to Rome in some cases
• Improved how the game determines who is defending (outside of assaults)

AI
• AI will have less animosity against the legacy leader.
• Slightly less AI ship building
• AI doesn't snatch a siege from player

UI
• Government Aging and Progress UI
• New reports tab for ongoing mission(s)
• next region shortcut: ENTER, next idle region shortcut: SPACE
• Changed colors of a few provinces
• Make T hotkey behave exactly like the trade tab button
• Show leader portrait with red skull overlay at end of battle if they died.
• Update ledger when cancelling construction
• Fix stockpiles not initially showing current expenses in recruitment

Other
• Various engine optimizations and speed up
• Display error when failing to save game
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on December 13, 2019, 12:01:57 AM: Diplomacy Open Beta
Thu, 12 December 2019

Field of Glory: Empires developers didn't rest on their laurels. As previously anticipated, the next big thing about Empires is the Diplomacy Update, designed to enhance greatly the way the game makes players and AI kingdoms interact through diplomatic efforts. You won't have to wait any longer as today is the D(iplomacy)-day.

(https://www.matrixgames.com/images/news/2392/spotlight_image.jpg)

Since this update is significantly massive and would probably affect the overall balance and gameplay mechanics in multiple ways, we opted for releasing the Update as a public Open Beta. Everyone willing to help us with feedback and thought is very welcome to download it and to try it.

The update is a separate installer, meaning that it will be like downloading a separate game, so no one will be forced to play with the Update in place if that is not his intention.

The Diplomacy Version can be downloaded in the members area section accessible through the "My Page Area". We have created a dedicated sub-forum thread here (http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=585).

But how the new Diplomacy system work? What are the new features and mechanics that would be added in the update?

I – Legitimate ownership
Now when you are at war and conquer a region, it is flagged as ‘war-occupied’. It means that if you were to make a peace which returned the original regions to each side you would also cede back the conquered region. Said differently you no longer instantly gain regions you conquer in a war; it must be claimed during the peace negotiation.
Note that during a peace deal, you can also ask any region owned by the opposing side and are not restricted to demanding just what you managed to conquer.

(https://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/DiplomacyBeta/Empires_warscore_616-banner.jpg)

II – Warscore
When war erupts, a warscore will appear in the Diplomacy Interface. That’s the measure of how the war is going on. A positive value means you are winning (slightly or substantively, depending of the value). A negative value means you are losing. Three things affect warscore:
Region conquests
Leader deaths
Battles

Warscore is used as the currency when settling peace.

(https://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/DiplomacyBeta/Empires_Peace_616-banner.jpg)

III - Peace Treaty
When a side wants to settle peace, and once you have clicked on the ‘Peace’ button, a new panel will open showing you the current warscore (although you can always see this from the main diplomacy interface), the stance you are adopting in the negotiation and a list of possible clauses.

If you are winning the war (positive warscore), you can ask the defeated to give, relinquish or accept clauses for your benefit. There are 12 possibilities so far.

If you are losing the war (negative warscore), then you can only cede items (including regions). You can’t bargain and ask for a few things while mostly giving away other items.

As you ask for items, as the winner, your warscore allowance will reduce towards zero. In turn, you’ll change stance progressively, as you are demanding more and more things. Initially, you’ll be set in a Generous or Conciliatory stance, but it can shift to ‘Extorting’, if you are pushing the limits.

There are two interests in staying within a not too demanding stance. First, the acceptance chance by the defeated is much bigger. Second, this will have a profound effect on the new relationships between you and the vanquished. If you don’t care they hate you for a long time, then try to pressure them to the maximum. But if you want the peace to be a long lasting one, then you might want to stay with a conciliatory stance.

Once you are satisfied with the items requested or given up, validate the treaty. There will be a one turn delay before the other side sees it, and then another turn to receive their answer.

There can be 3 kinds of answers
Yes, No, Counterproposal.

The first two are rather self-explanatory. As for the third, it means the other nation perceives some interest in your proposal but is not quite satisfied with some entries. The counterproposal issued, if you accept it, will be the final Peace Treaty.
If you disagree with the new terms, you too have the options to say simply No. Or to issue another counterproposal.

(https://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/DiplomacyBeta/Empires_Transaction_616-banner.jpg)

IV – Transaction Treaty
The transaction treaty is very similar in concept and in format with the Peace Treaty. It can be issued between two nations which are not at war. Here too, you have to play with a currency, which is not the warscore, but ‘Bargain Points’.
The main difference compared to a Peace Deal is that in this transaction, or trade, both sides can ask and give at the same time. So this is a rather free-form deal, where you can give away a region, in exchange of some gold and … why not, some war elephants?

(https://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/Screenshots/FOG_E/DiplomacyBeta/Empires_Possible_616-banner.jpg)

V – Possible Clauses
There are twelve possible clauses. Most can be used in both treaties, but some are restricted to only one type. (T) means it is only available in a transaction treaty while (P) means it will only be available in a peace deal. If nothing is indicated, both treaties support the clause.

Client-State: The nation becomes a client-state of the other nation.

Cooperation Treaty (T): As part of the transaction, add a cooperation treaty.

Alliance (T): As part of the transaction, enter a mutual alliance.

Absorb the other nation: The proposing nation is completely absorbed into the other nation. In practice it means being removed from the map!

Ask (or Give) Money, Metal, Manpower: A straightforward clause where you ask (or give) one of the three.

Humiliate (P): This will cause a loss of legacy, and a portion of the lost points will be received by the requester.

Regions: Cede or give a region (or several) that you legitimally own.

Province: A convenience Clause that will add at once all possible (and legit) regions of a given province.

Units: Provide or request special units. The other side doesn’t have to have the actual units in his army but he needs to be able to produce them. Only provincial units and a very few special units can be requested. There will be an extra fee of 75 Money per unit to be paid by the gifter, so as to cover recruitment and transportation cost (abstracted).

Disband (P): Accept or demand the other side disband part of his army or fleet. The cost will vary with the size of the enemy military and the percentage to disband. Units will be disbanded randomly until the required percentage is reached.
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on February 25, 2020, 11:39:00 PM: Diplomacy Update is officially released
Mon Feb 24, 2020

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/918b7ad6cbae9c6dcd57f1e067c96d46d325dc0a.jpg)

The day has come.
Field of Glory: Empires has been updated to Version 1.1.0, bringing the newly enhanced Diplomacy system on the table. It is a massive update, improving and impacting many game mechanics and features so be sure to check out the full changelog below.

Thanks to all players who helped us fine tune the new diplomacy system through 3 Beta Patches. You have done great and we hope to see you apply to our new round of beta!

You can download the update from here (http://ftp.matrixgames.com/pub/FieldofGloryEmpires/FieldofGloryEmpires-UpdateComp-v1.1.0.0.zip)

Version 1.1.0

Balance and tweak to diplomacy

• Declaring a client state does not prevent getting regions from them
• Allies loiter less in your home territory
• Can't get ships from the 'Give Special Units' diplomacy clause
• Validating a transaction returns you directly to the intro Diplomacy panel
• One-sided transactions will either increase (gift) or decrease (extortion) relationships
• AI will propose many less transactions
• AI Allies capturing a region formerly owned by another nation (legitimate owner in advanced diplomacy) will give it back immediately
• Can enter regions of a nation with whom you have a peace treaty (allows evacuating your army when stranded) – Human player only.
• If all your capitals are besieged (or lost), severe penalty during peace treaty
• You can now demand regions owned by the vassals of your enemy
• Having hold of an enemy region when making a peace deal makes the region cheaper
• AI Vassals don't give back regions to human overlord anymore
• AI more reluctant to be absorbed or client-state if the other nation is not bigger
• AI will value more money, metal or manpower if it lacks some, and value less if it has enough
• AI less interested in trading units if not enough money
• Small factions will be much less prone to send transactions (less spamming)
• Explicitly name winner and loser factions in clause tooltips
• Region Clause: Lowered significantly cost if at war
• Give Units Clause: Can only be done if neighbor (sea-neighbor ok)
• War control gives less penalty
• War exhaustion triggers more rapidly (emphasis on wanting to make peace faster)
• AI will want to make peace faster as War Exhaustion accrues
• AI will not propose a cooperation during a bargain if already allied
• AI will only demand or accept the Relinquish objective clause if neighbor
• Validating a transaction returns you directly to the intro Diplomacy panel
• Additional texts for Diplomacy (FRE SPA GER)

Other changes
• Added the Sacred Estate building, an improvement to the worship place with a special effect (GC310 has some in Egypt, Armenia, Media)
• Objectives show the turn they were given in nation panel
• Sinope harbor position nudged east
• Gaining a slave in battle might mean losing a population in the region
• Updated quotes and hints, courtesy of Neilbala the Brythonic King
• Fix to Armenia having too many levied units
• Dynamic objectives can be given according to more criteria
• Food stockpile never goes below zero
• Periplus not given if you own the region
• Too big World Factions groups lose 10% of their units per turn (depending of AI level)
• Fixed overcrowding tooltip which was erroneously mentioning region terrain and not city terrain.
• Rex Custodiae can now be built from a Palace building (if CL 3)
• Nomad herd don't have cattle as a bonus anymore
• Fix to a typo in Ptolemaic Egypt gameplay text
• Units: war elephants now provide 2 support values
• An old objective won't be phased out if you own a region adjacent to it
• Fix to Stoa bug
• Added translation for French, Spanish and German.
• Mercenary decision has a 500-money prerequisite
• Kolchis / Armenia missions fixed and tweaked
• Debts modifiers added after gain back factored in
• Updated Empires DB archive

Compatibility notes 1.06 to 1.1.0
100% compatible
Previous versions
It is advised to restart a game
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on March 18, 2020, 12:47:36 PM: Field of Glory: Empires - Persia 550 - 330 BCE is coming soon
17 March 2020

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/ddd71cd997ee7452ab5e786184919a4891fa4b7a_960x311.jpg)

One of the most innovative videogames in the grand strategy genre is ready to strike again.

Field of Glory: Empires - Persia 550 - 330 BCE new campaign starts 2 centuries before the Empires campaign. It brings players at the time when Athens and Sparta were still vying for supremacy over Hellas world while the Achaemenid Empire is more and more looming on the other side of the Aegean Sea.

(https://www.matrixgames.com/images/screens/603/screen_5e6b528983fef.jpg)

This DLC adds new custom content for each faction in the game. Every nation will receive new sets of tools to further their goals alongside a totally revamped system of Impediments and Perks.

Federate some barbarians, form new colonies, decide to declare the Olympic Games, and many more options available!
Major nations of this time have seen a ‘special’ focus. Don’t expect to play Persia as you play Athens or Lydia! New Events, missions, national modifiers, special units and specific buildings will make you play differently.

(https://www.matrixgames.com/images/screens/603/screen_5e6b52908dc7f.jpg)

Get more information about the game from its official product page. (https://www.slitherine.com/game/field-of-glory-empires-persia-persia-550-330-bce)

You don't need any FOG2 DLCs in order to play Field of Glory: Empires - Persia 550 - 330 BCE

Field of Glory: Empires - Persia 550 - 330 BCE is currently in BETA. Join us in polishing and giving the final touches to the game. (https://www.slitherine.com/beta)

Are you eager to see the game in action? DasTactic will be playing Field of Glory: Empires - Persia 550 - 330 BCE today on our official Twitch channel (https://www.twitch.tv/slitherinegroup) at 6 pm GMT.
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on May 01, 2020, 01:33:05 PM: Field of Glory: Empires Persia DLC - New screenshots
Thu, 30 April 2020

Persia 550 - 330 BCE DLC development is proceeding fast.

You won't have to wait for long for the the first expansion for Field of Glory: Empires to be released, we will be revealing its Release date very soon.

In the meantime, take a look at these new screenshots, featuring nation traits, Egypt and its neighbours, angry spartans and more!

Stay tuned for further updates

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/3ca11a60690d87e6d81a2c8c0c2b5b1ce46b22de.png)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/bce4ef43f79d33b42bdd4ee550020b438c853fc9.png)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/ff1aef4f38cc74dc9558269d8047023f373beed5.png)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/e643f8f8c0245990e464c18c17d09adacc1d92b9.png)

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/900a91f8f9f7464c067749c5b6a62b07db1cc593.png)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on May 16, 2020, 02:24:55 AM: Focus Faction: Persia
Thu, May 14, 2020

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/0894dc21b32d571369712d59fbb6ba88db2b3005.jpg)

Persia will be the nation that sets the tempo of the campaign for a long time. The speed will define the strategy of all the Hellenic world, with the effects reaching as far as Italy and Rome.

Persia and its ruler, Cyrus II (soon to be known as ‘The Great’), starts the campaign at war with Media and will make short work of this vast empire. The Persian army is fairly strong at start, and Cyrus is a superb leader. But of equal importance, Media will fall only a few turns after its capital falls, which can happen very rapidly, as was the case historically.

Custom gameplay

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/5b2d75c7c36c5ec0b3ee70ee89e76e516d444edc.jpg)

During its early period of conquest, Achaemenid Persia (named after the tribe that originally revolted against Media, the Haxāmanišiya) achieved stupendous and lightning-fast success against several neighboring nations. As such, Media, Babylon, Lydia and Elam might spontaneously lose one region a turn to Persia, if they are not Glorious.

In addition, Media can crumble in one go if the capital is lost!

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/d759dc35e7bd0844acf1539eb284ee99dd29089a.jpg)

Persia, Athens and Sparta vied for the control of Asia Minor for centuries. These three will not stay at peace for long! Persia will regularly enjoy various moderate rewards as long as Athens and Sparta have poor relations.

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/67defe7341165b34a7585c75e73c9d0ac60704d2.jpg)

Satraps (literally 'Protectors of the Realm') are governors of the Persian provinces, with a lot of independence in how they rule. On the one hand, they will provide free troops for the King of Kings army. On the other hand, they might band together to secede if the central government is weakening.

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/bfc4f4dca3806fe2801129cca9b7ed3d308eef27.jpg)

The Persian ruler will receive missions from time to time (9 in total). There is no penalty in not doing them, but if you succeed, you’ll get extra legacy points and a special reward. Also note that if you fail a mission and if it is still valid, you might get it again in the future. Examples: Conquer Babylon, Build the Royal Road, Return of the Jewish People, etc.

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/beded1ad7d39fd51e4858d79d5b511ab3e9923b8.jpg)

Persia has several custom buildings at its disposal:
• Chapar Khaneh
A Royal Post placed at regular interval along the royal road, it slightly improves positive token chance.

• Persepolis
A grandiose city providing culture and legacy.

• Palace of the King of Kings
Impressive palace providing decadence reduction. As many Persian kings build palaces, you can have 3 of them in the Persepolis region!

• Jewish District
In Babylon, has a role in one of the Persia missions. Help them and you’ll get new friends.

• Qanat
This is a sort of underground aqueduct, using no structure slot (common to all Iranian nations).

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/190af8dce75bc4885a20ae4e14535b6822745598.jpg)

The Immortals are a very tough medium/heavy infantry of high effectiveness.
Sparabara is Persia medium infantry; they are adept archers.
Persia light unit are in fact Eastern Archers, they are deadly in numbers.
The heaviest unit is the Mercenary Hoplite. You can get extra through a custom regional decision.
The army is also supplemented by hillmen and nomad cavalry.

Once you get the right infrastructure in place, the Iranian Armored Cavalry can smash through a lot of opposition!

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/8c37ba01d0e5bd260d5e8ec480a2ed0f024642ee.jpg)

Persia enjoys 3 custom decisions in addition to the 15 or so general ones.
• Recruit Mercenary Hoplites
Easily get hoplite mercenaries (heavy infantry) in Hellenes regions, if their loyalty is not too high.

• Hellenes Interloper
Degrade relations between Athens and Sparta – just to be sure these two are not banding together. It can backfire though, depending on the rulers involved and how skilled they are in diplomacy.
• Absorb local administration
Persia, and Cyrus, had no qualms about using the local nobility and administration. This decision adds a free courthouse in the region and instantly provides 100 culture points.

Stay tuned! Field of Glory: Empires - Persia 550 - 330 BCE will be out next week, on May 21st
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on May 21, 2020, 01:47:44 PM: Focus Faction: Athens
21 May 2020

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/3da3480ad9d867079df329824ad027f754fb3eab.jpg)

The best starting strategy for Athens is to be careful on the military front whilst trying to be aggressive in peaceful expansion. The city has the potential to be very strong economically, and thus militarily, thanks to mercenaries, but will be vulnerable for quite some time. This is not a nation we recommend to players who are still new to the game, as you’ll have to juggle many priorities at once, and one wrong judgement can spell doom.

Athens will be in constant rivalry with Sparta, unless both are at war with Persia. As such, for a good part of the campaign, you’ll run the risk of being conquered by the Lacedemonians, and you’ll often be tempted to strike at them … just in case they were planning something foul!

Custom gameplay

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/a54c946e7c64f36ef45f75b89ac81dc8c5375314.jpg)
If Athens is not allied with Sparta and neither is at war with Persia, then there will be a regular check to see who has the upper hand. This considers who has the most regions, the most legacy, the biggest fleet (at start there is no supremacy, but it can change very fast).
If one has supremacy over the other, then a reward will be given to the winner, and a penalty to the loser. Note that none of the rewards mean more legacy, extra ships or extra regions.

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/ec959fd10a1d0c172cb68a4871c424a4eb530f80.jpg)
Starting in 500 BCE, Regions with at least one Hellenes ethnicity in coastal Asia Minor with less than 75 loyalty and less than 60 combat power of units may revolt, if not occupied by a Hellene nation. Once one revolts, others that satisfy the conditions will do so too, once. If Athens can go to war with the occupier(s), it will do so instantly. If it can go to war, the region goes to Athens, and the city immediately receives one Armored Hoplite, 150 money, 25 manpower and 25 metal for each region in revolt.

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/d7317314dcb388c5a667e0eb520137b6f35a76f3.jpg)
Athens will produce better ships as the nation has the ‘Shipbuilder’ trait (+1 Experience Level), the city itself has a ship house building from the start (Neosokoi) adding extra experience, and the initial shipyard will make production faster. But that’s not all, as the Neosokoi will permanently reduce the upkeep of a nearby ship by 1 or 2 gold per turn! With all these advantages, supremacy at sea will be easy to achieve provided you invest regularly in the navy.

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/bfc4f4dca3806fe2801129cca9b7ed3d308eef27.jpg)
Athens benefits from having eight special missions at its disposal. There is no penalty in not doing them, but if you succeed, you’ll get extra legacy points and a special reward. Also note that if you fail a mission and if it is still valid, you might get it again in the future. Examples: Build an Academy for your philosophers, Form the Delian League, Rival Macedonia, etc.

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/69db48457f15a82ecd4c374d2b81bff9efb24073.jpg)
Athens has two new custom buildings at its disposal in the DLC, in addition to the 10 special buildings each Hellenic nation has

• Makra Teiksè
The Makra Teiksè, or Long Walls, were of great importance to Athens, as they protected Piraeus harbor from being captured, the port being over 5 km from the city itself. They provide extra garrisons and defense, which with Athens’ own city walls and the Acropolis, give the city-state a formidable garrison that can beat even a strong army.

• Neosokoi
Actually not specific to Athens but an addition to all Hellenic nations, these ship houses were used to build, repair and train the crew of many Greek states. In addition to free starting XP, they will refit one ship a turn (it must be in the harbor or adjacent to it) by permanently reducing the upkeep by 1 or 2 gold (up to -50% of base upkeep).

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/ec2bf8d17a38b2166159b0ca8e6ce921d2fb29fd.jpg)
The army is made of Armored Hoplites, Citizen Hoplites, Javelinmen and Javelin cavalry.

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/8c37ba01d0e5bd260d5e8ec480a2ed0f024642ee.jpg)
Athens, as a Hellenic nation, has three custom regional decisions at its disposal. They also start with Implant Trade Settlements x2 and Naval Support x1 at turn 1, giving them a head start in snatching coastal regions (which incidentally is also the objective of one of their custom missions).

• Implant Trade Settlements
Implant a trade colony in a coastal region controlled by an Independent nation. Yes, the region becomes yours!

• Panhellenic Games
Improve relations with the targeted Hellenic nation (even if at war). If your ruler is a good diplomat, the decision can even stop an ongoing war.

• Naval Support
Inflict damages to an enemy force adjacent to one of your fleet. A friendly army must be adjacent to this enemy force or in the same region (in case of a siege). Very handy to soften up the opposition just before an important battle.
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on May 21, 2020, 01:49:06 PM: Focus Faction: Sparta
21 May 2020

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/1282b8e95ddb25035a3d8e769e234d984c75ced0.jpg)

Sparta starts strong, with a very powerful army, and as such should not have too much of a problem conquering a few extra regions, with Argos foremost amongst them. Athens and you are constant rivals, so war is around the corner, but it won’t happen until a few turns have passed, as a peace treaty is running.

Be prudent though, as once you besiege Athens, the huge citizen garrison can make a sortie that can defeat you in the open field. Athens will want to drag out the war to amass enough gold for extra mercenaries, so don’t delay too long.

Sparta has a unique regional decision which enables the kingdom to levy an average quality troop, Perioikoi. They have a nice perk, in that they cost only one manpower in upkeep. This will prove handy to fill up your battle line with something other than Helots.

Beware of the Helots, they will revolt several times unless you maintain very high loyalty in Sparta itself.

Custom gameplay

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/0ac69468993158a9d834dcf4452839555a8f87b5.jpg)
If Athens is not allied with Sparta and neither is at war with Persia, then there will be a regular check to see who has the upper hand. This considers who has the most regions, the most legacy, the biggest fleet (at start there is no supremacy, but it can change very fast).
If one has supremacy over the other, then a reward will be given to the winner, and a penalty to the loser. Note that none of the rewards mean more legacy, extra ships or extra regions.

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/9a5a4cfcd2b651d0fecc9fa7b70ae49f21c8cbf2.jpg)
You can have up to 3 Helot revolt in Sparta (Laconia region), if your loyalty is under 75. The more slaves you have, the more chance of revolt, and this probability is only slightly reduced by stationing troops. It is nevertheless a good idea to do so, as the army will rack up XP quelling the revolt.

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/bfc4f4dca3806fe2801129cca9b7ed3d308eef27.jpg)
Sparta can receive up to five missions during the course of the game. There is no penalty in not doing them, but if you succeed, you’ll get extra legacy points and a special reward. Also note that if you fail a mission and if it is still valid, you might get it again in the future. Examples: Conquer Athens, Befriend Syracuse, Form the Peloponnesian league.

Specific Buildings
Sparta has one building at its disposal in the DLC, in addition to the 10 special buildings each Hellenic nation has. Note that Sparta has no access to the Ships Houses though (Neosokoi).
• Stratopedon
If used right, the stratopedon is very powerful. This is a field camp, that will only function if the region has no wall. It can give 5 XP per turn to troops, up to 20 units a turn!

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/ba696cffc06c26dd95538483a9046e97110ed71a.jpg)
The almighty but costly Spartan Hoplite will put a drain you all your resources, including your precious manpower. It also has a ‘Money Increase Cost’ of 20%, so you won’t have many in your army. To supplement it, you can draft numerous Perioikoi (but not in Laconia, see below) and round up the roster with Helots, which are cheap as dirt (and are worth about as much in battle).

(https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/8c37ba01d0e5bd260d5e8ec480a2ed0f024642ee.jpg)
Sparta, being a Hellenic nation, can use three regional decisions unique to this ethnicity. In addition to these, a fourth decision is unique to Sparta, Draft Perioikoi.

• Draft Perioikoi
Will draft between three and seven Perioikoi in the region, depending on the skills of the leader in charge. They will start without any XP if drafted from Laconia (this represents drafting the unruly Messenians) but can start with as much as 100 XP if you had a Military Expertise of 10 (10 XP per point).

• Implant Trade Settlements
Implant a trade colony in a coastal region controlled by an Independent nation. Yes, the region becomes yours! Note: Athens will receive this decision more than any other Hellenic nation.

• Panhellenic Games
Improve relations with the targeted Hellenic nation (even if at war). If your ruler is a good diplomat, the decision can even stop an ongoing war.

• Naval Support
Inflict damages on an enemy force adjacent to one of your fleet. A friendly army must be adjacent to this enemy force or in the same region (in case of a siege). Very handy to soften up the opposition just before an important battle. Contrary to Athens, Sparta doesn’t have access to the heavier ships until reaching Civilization Level III, so it will be harder to have enough combat power to use this decision.
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on May 21, 2020, 01:51:28 PM: Field of Glory: Empires - Persia 550 - 330 BCE Release Stream Today
Thu May 21, 2020

Field of Glory: Empires - Persia 550 - 330 BCE will be released in few hours. At 6 pm BST Slitherine/Matrix will be streaming the game on their official Twitch Channel!

Tune in at https://www.twitch.tv/slitherinegroup and take your chance to see the new content featured and highlighted!
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on September 17, 2020, 03:19:04 AM: Version 1.3.4 (September 2nd 2020)
(save game compatibility: see at end of patch notes)

Fixes
Amphora Fabrica fixed
Forced march decision fixed
Administrative Burden was always greater than expected, because it also factored in the income of the new turn
Fix to a message about slave dispatching
Fix to a minor bug cancelled interception
Fixed a few typos

Quality of Life and UI improvements
Loading game is three times faster than before. Can now load really late-stage games much more easily.
Clicking on a trade good in the trade panel will show it specifically on the map.
Unit Maintenance cost shown in detailed tooltip
RGD button bounces until player clicks on it once or plays a decision.
Conversion chance is shown in the ethnicity tooltip (if absent, then the ethnicity is made only of slaves)
Added more shortcuts: overlays now mapped to 1 to 7 then SHIFT 1 to SHIFT 7. Can switch between region and province with CTRL-SPACE
100% healthy units will have a bright green triangle on the Unit Panel, different to other healthy units (66-99%)
Added a message when a new herd is given to nomads’ nations
Provincial capital shown in the region panel.
Fix in overlay 'free building slots' where idle regions not part of a province would never show

Various rules change or improvements
Distance is now a factor when checking who trades with who
If you have two identical main capital/palace buildings, then one will be removed, even if you are within the limit of the number of capital regions.
The last possible mission will still deprecate now, removing the oddity of seeing a negative turn number.
Ships can't be deployed on land
Ships are now ignored in case of land battles but don't prevent exporting to FOG II
Population boom event restricted to regions with 75+ loyalty
Increase in combat stat from decision 'motivate troops' factored if exported to FOG II
Modifier added to a region will reset the current timer if the modifier was already present (previously the new one would be ignored)
In transactions, AI will value a region which is one of its objectives more highly
Persian usurpers in the DLC campaign won't have access to Immortals anymore
Persia staging tweaked.

Setup and data changes
Immortals have money Inc +50% but are not national unique anymore
Units exported in FOG II now get +5% quality and +5% cost if they have an equipment (armorsmith etc.)
Kartli fortress bonuses (special unique fortress for Kolchis) were wrong
No more Celts as provincial unit in Galatia when playing Campaign 550 BCE
Epiteichismata can be disassembled
Carthaginian Sacred Band fight centered in all terrains
Elephants deployment revised in bad terrain
Fix to elephants recruitable in Epirus region
Hellenes friction: Penalties toned down depending of number of owned regions for Athens and Sparta
DLC: Egypt now has Egyptian names for generals

Compatibility
Compatibility with games in 1.30+ version: Full
Before this point, most of the features would work, but we don’t recommend continuing multiplayer games.

Version 1.3.3 (June 3rd - 2020)
(save game compatibility: see at end of patch notes)

Fixes
Revolters cannot be from the ruling nation
Carthage gains back the Carthage Senate
Fixed 2 issues with missing rulers names
Fixed identical regional decisions played in different regions synchronizing between themselves
Freedmen decision fix
Fix to absorb bug sometimes reversing outcome

Various rules change or improvements
Smarter Regional decisions recycling
Each time a decision fails, for whatever reason, it is refunded
Decisions triggering at start of turn do so before the siege phase
If you have 3 or fewer regional decisions, you will get some bonus extra ones
Minor AI with fewer than 5 units and no regions becomes inactive
Cooperation easier to achieve, with possibly even a bonus for high relationship
AI generates slightly more diplomacy proposals
Can disperse slaves up to 50 populations
Client-states have better chance of breaking treaty with liege if relationships are low (including Client-state AI)
You can now gain some 'free' warscore each turn, if you hold a significant territorial advantage vs your main opponent (no client-state)
Added some missing texts in non-English languages
You can only Seize Fleet (national decision) near to a sea or an ocean - not a lake
Prospect for resource decision could issue a message even if no resources were added
Prospect for resource decision now issues a message if an impediment is removed.
Impediment-removing structures chance increased from 2% per tier to 3% per tier (and turn)
Enemy nation’s national capital region will always be a valid dynamic objective
Liberate a nation should give a client-state more often, unless you have a bad diplomat as a leader.
Removed extraneous comma in the list of possible structures that could be built in a region
If a palace replaces another, then the old one is immediately removed, it will not coexist one turn (King Residence > Senate e.g.)
Fixed an issue where the centre unit in battle would never be fired upon in the ranged phase
Armies standing behind destroyed walls lose their garrisoning status
You can now ask an ally or client-state to forfeit an objective they have in either your own or your allies’ territory.
Higher chance to capture landlocked fleets
Can't export battles to FOG II if total units more than 512, or if ships are present

Setup and data changes
Athens long walls is now the Makra Teikhe (and not Teikse). Extra fixes to some Greek words.
Cyprus now given to Egypt at start
Royal Tombs will only appear in region legitimately held for at least 10 turns.
Athens trade settlements mission only given if you have at least one corresponding regional decision in reserve.
Medium Semitic Cavalry (looking like Greek cavalry even though it was not) has been removed from roster
Ishtar gate in Babylon
Melita is Hellenic, Ordessus is Nomadic
Missions 'mutual benefit' for Carthage was not working
Macedonia and Sparta will revolt less often
Liberate Lydia mission for Athens should be easier (Lydia will take priority among liberation candidates).
Macedonian provincial cavalry gets +1 attack, -1 flanking
Most Impediments and Perks cannot be destroyed by raids. A few can.
Prospect for Resources (and remove impediments) can be used up to 30 population in region
Epirus cannot get elephants before 350 BCE
Changed misleading 'liberate' to 'own' in the People in Exodus Mission for Persia
In French, validating a treaty was labelled as cancelling it.
Much lower chances as Athens to have a citizen captured by Persia

Fixes
Compatibility with games in 1.30 version: Full
Before this point, most of the features would work, but we don’t recommend continuing multiplayers games.

Version 1.3.0 (May 14th - 2020)
(save game compatibility: see at end of patch notes)
This patch is the companion patch to the DLC: Persia 550-330 BCE.

Fixes
Fix to random buildings in setup not added if pop is not high enough
Fix to returning garrison bug
Fix to unwanted move (left over intercept) bug
Fix to no structure proposed in some regions
Fix to (yet another) moving capital bug
Fix to crash when a land trade route is longer than 32 regions
Fix to an old bug in AI giving away a region in battle

AI
AI produces less ships

Various changes or improvements
Improved Battle Deployment
Free buildings slots overlay replaces useless Combat power overlay
No accidental death of rulers before turn 10 in any scenario. For leaders, not before turn 5.
Cannot have revolts in a sea
Equipment added by Experts buildings are indicated as an icon on Unit Card.
Tweak to defensiveness formula
National Decision: Periplus never given if one already present
Tyrannies can't raid anymore (Although Tyranids still can)
Fix to Administrative Burden cost where very high treasury was not impacted as they should
Bonus to leader quality from Academies or other modifiers doubled
Conversion chance slightly lowered but with guaranteed 1% minimum
Decadence from size reduced comparatively to building one (the latter was anecdotical compared to the former)
Retouched combat power formula
Inactive factions lose 1% of their current legacy per turn, with a minimum of 10 legacy if feasible
Intercepting an army entering water will stop interception. The sea giveth, but the sea taketh too.
Skirmishers have twice as much chances to be targeted in ranged combat than any other unit
Potential Structures report if they will fill nearby missing bonus or needed resources
Can browse through all regions even if one can't build a building, using the region panel navigator

Setup and data changes
Phalanxes have money increase 10%
War school added
Sparta palace is a military building because Sparta
The Acropolis of Athens added as a specific building
Citizen Hoplite (HEL MI): +1 Defense, Besieger becomes City Defender (+1 siege resist instead of +1 Besiege). Slightly upped costs.
Armored Hoplite (HEL HI) has now Besieger. These two changes will instill a much more defensive profile to Hellenes nations.
If you want more Besieger, hire mercenaries hoplites!
City guards also provide +5 loyalty
Brigantia has a lead mine instead of a tin mine

Diplomacy & War (De Jure / De Facto ownership)
Up to 48 clauses per treaty (was 12)
Can ask regions from a losing client state
Can enter regions of allied client states
Winning against a client-state changes properly the liege warscore
Improved region tooltip, indicating legit owner and relationship value
Peace treaty fixes to 'ping-pong' effect
Simple treaties Client-State, Cooperation removed from UI as redundant
War occupied regions shown with special stripes
No message issued when retroceding regions in peace treaty
Indicate liege in region tooltip
Refined calculations of cost for clauses Vassal, Absorb, Region
Fix to gift in transactions giving too low relation boost
When you send a treaty, you get a short notification at the top of the screen
AI will propose less transactions
Fix to war exhaustion not factored in peace chance (despite being shown in tooltip)
Slightly tweaked war exhaustion values (a bit harder)
World factions (rebels, indeps, slaves, bandits) will remove previous legitimate ownership past 3 turns. In the meantime, if retaken, an allied AI or CS will give back the region to his legitimate owner.
In case of revolt, if there is a legitimate owner different from occupier, the revolt might be from the legitimate owning nation.

Compatibility with older games
Although old saves (up to 1.10) were tested and are working in the latest version of the game, not all new features added will be active in your ongoing game. We also cannot ensure with a 100% confidence that there can’t be a glitch or two, although we saw none during tests.

Base game campaign (GC310) with the DLC activated

If you acquire the DLC “Persia 550-330 BCE”, then the base campaign (310 BCE) will have impediments, perks, regional decisions and some of the custom missions of the DLC campaign, if applicable to the time period.
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: General Sandman on September 23, 2020, 04:31:50 PM: Quote from: zakblood on February 07, 2019, 05:48:08 PM
i have friends who buy everything they make and love them to bits, but now even them are saying the same thing, and feeling somewhat fleeced

a helmet and shield, that will be $3 please, thanks :doubt

Did you already check this tube? Its hard to resist laughing: :coffeescreen

https://youtu.be/eWCM3wKMAdE
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on November 06, 2020, 01:16:03 AM: Home of Wargamers Live - Field of Glory II: Medieval
04 Nov 2020

(https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/34556788/837367ff228a00f231d876754af99a140391a8a2.jpg)

https://youtu.be/lXzWi4LjhMY

On November 12 we will finally reveal Field of Glory II: Medieval, an event totally dedicated to the new standalone game by Byzantine Games.

Don't miss the live broadcast that will kick off at 5pm BST / 12pm EDT / 9am PDT on our Twitch channel. We will talk about the game and interview its creator Richard Bodley Scott who will stay with us to answer your questions in chat.

After the event, don't go anywhere, because we will also be showing an historical battle played exclusively by Richard Yorke.

Get comfortable and make our Twitch channel (https://www.twitch.tv/slitherinegroup) your home for this special event. We look forward to seeing you there.

To know more about the product, please consult the official product page: Field of Glory II: Medieval (https://www.slitherine.com/game/field-of-glory-ii-medieval)
Title: Re: Field of Glory: Empires
Post by: Asid on June 06, 2023, 08:10:31 PM: We are excited to invite you to our Field of Glory Day event
Tue, 6 June 2023

A special day dedicated to the Field of Glory franchise on June 6th

We are thrilled to announce a special day dedicated to the Field of Glory franchise on June 6th, in partnership with the University of Winchester.

(https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images//38930049/104c4bc8303c5742f010fb33a619efa129b74f43.png)

We would like to express our gratitude to all the fans who have supported the franchise over the past 6 years. In celebration of this milestone, we have organized a live tournament in collaboration with our beloved community with some of the top 8 players of Field of Glory in Europe. This thrilling competition will take place at our brand-new office in Milan.

In collaboration with Professor Robert Houghton from the University of Winchester, Slitherine will host a live Twitch event centered around a historical discussion of Field of Glory II: Medieval and Field of Glory Kingdoms. Join us to look into the narratives and intricacies of these immersive strategy games with: Professor Ryan Lavelle from the University of Winchester, Professor Lysiane Lasausse from the University of South-Eastern Norway, Professor Vinicius Marino Carvalho from Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Professor Juan Manuel Rubio Arevalo from the Central European University, and Robert Houghton himself.

To make this occasion even more special, we have invited the renowned miniatures wargamer painter, Aurelian Leclerc. He will share valuable insights on improving your miniature painting technique.

But that's not all! For the first time ever, we will show unpublished gameplay features from the highly anticipated Field of Glory: Kingdoms. Get an exclusive sneak peek into the upcoming game as the developers, led by Philippe Malaicre, showcase the exciting new additions and improvements.

Mark your calendars and join us on June 6th at 14:30 on our Twitch channel twitch.tv/slitherinetv for this extraordinary event dedicated to the Field of Glory franchise.

See you there