iOS Universal, Android •
We’re only a week away from Through the Ages–the reason I bought an iPad 2 six years ago–finally appearing on the App Store. In preparation, Czech Games Edition has just launched the first official trailer and, well, I’m not sure I need to say much more than that. See you all in-game next Thursday!
Do we know, yet, whether this requires a 64-bit device?
I thought I was the only one to get and iPad to play Through the ages on it! Back in the good old days when Codito had a monthly release schedule… We were so naive back then!
So, which is more fun, Through the Ages or Terra Mystica? Which is easier to get up to speed?
Definitely TtA. There’s a long term strategy and multiple paths to victory, but they’re all pretty easy to recognize and work with / against. Easy isn’t the right word - accessible, more. Terra Mystica was just damn confusing, especially in the app. Everything in this one is right in front of you and very clearly laid out.
I love that the trailer features “testaccount”.
I think that also is a byproduct of the way you play it. Everything’s right there in front of you with TtA because you’re playing more of a tableau building game, than the sort of board layout and action optimisation in TM.
I think TtA gets more confusing if you’re trying to get an idea of who’s winning at a glance, without having to look at each other players tableau.
Might just be me though.
I think TM is very cool, but I’ve played several games (in the app–I’ve got an unopened copy of the physical game) and still don’t feel like I have much of a clue. So I hope this description of TtA is right. Enough people here are so excited about it that I’m sure I’ll buy it on the first day, lack of experience be damned.
I am 100% with @geigerm on this one. There are a handful of games that, for whatever reason, don’t click with me and TM is one (Brass for those playing at home, is the other notable game on that list). I’m not afraid of complexity, but it sure is nice when a game is complex but not confusing. I’m hoping that TtA doesn’t leave me scratching my head too much.
Sounds like I’ll be getting this one.
I like Brass. It took me a long while and several games against the AI to figure out how everything works. Which just means that I can play it. I still don’t know how to develop a strategy. I like that there is some complexity and several moving parts and planning and two phases. Makes me feel like I’m playing a big boy game.
I find TtA to be the better game, both in terms of fun and ease of play. The reason for both is the theme which–unlike TM which is a convoluted mess that really seems to exist only to hang mechanisms on–is a Civ building game. If you’ve played any empire or civ builder, TtA will be easy to pick up. Winning is another story, but everything in TtA “makes sense”. For example, you’re short on ore, which is what you use to build new things, it’s easy to realize that you need to build more mines or, better yet, upgrade your mines. There’s none of this, “but this turn I score points like this and to do that I need this to turn into this, which becomes this and then I can build this” that you get in TM.
You instinctively know that Wonders are good, even if you haven’t figured out the best strategy for building each of them. Leaders, too. You know that Rockets are more powerful than Cannons, or that Riflemen are more powerful than Spearmen. Computer labs produce more science than an alchemist would, and that having an Air Force is going to really bump up your military if/when you build one. So, I find TtA to be easier to teach with the only real complication coming in the production/corruption phase. Luckily the new version of TtA (and the app) simplify this dramatically, and it’s fairly simple to see if you’ll face corruption or hunger in your civilization with the option to redo your turn and see if you can do things different to mitigate it.
Strategy is an entirely different beast, as @Hardco will attest I haven’t figured it out in well over 150 games played. I don’t care, because even when losing you’re building a civ and the games have that “epic” feel you expect from PC titles like Civ. I might have lost, but look what I built! YMMV on that, but that’s why I keep playing even though I’m getting my ass handed to me in every game.
These are both favorites of mine… In terms of the app, TTA has a better interface, and feels better to play. The Digidiced apps always have felt a bit clunky to me, despite them getting the job done. I still wish CGE would allow for direct game invites, rather than having to set stuff up in the lobby.
As for which game you’d enjoy more, I often find it good to listen to what people don’t like about games. The TTA detractors will say that it is repetitive, with each age being the exact same with bigger numbers, and the game goes too long. The best part of playing async is that the “too long” part goes away, as the worst thing about the game was the downtime between players.
TM detractors claim that once you’ve learned the different races, every game plays the same with only slight variations. I could potential see this, but I haven’t played the game enough to get to that point. I think this might be why the game is better at a higher player count, as jockeying for position on the board becomes a larger part of the game rather than going through the motions for each race.
The biggest factor for me is the fact that TTA just doesn’t get to the table, and this is a great way to parse a 4 hour game into manageable bites.
It is interesting the ShutUp and SitDown didn’t really care for TTA, one of the alternatives they suggested was TM among others.
I get a feeling that many here are eager and excited to get TTA, so there will be many to play with.
I’m also contemplating 8 minute empire as a lighter game, but it seems not many are playing.
Even if people aren’t playing it here, I think it would be easier to find games of TTA with strangers. My experience with the ranked mode of TM (async) had been pretty bad, with two of the four players timing out every match I’ve played.
As for 8 Minute Empires, I played the physical version once, and it didn’t do much for me.