Welcome. You are about to experience a piece of an Ancient Saga of Strategy, War and Magic. This demo offers one large scenario, which can be played against the computer and in multi-player mode. The scenario can be played from multiple sides and should offer several hours of gameplay. Plus, we've also included a tutorial (we highly suggest you check this out). This scenario only includes a small segment of the total available spells, units, heroes, items and map locations.
This demo features many improvements to the Age of Wonders Beta Demo, which was released at the end of September. Thanks go out to all the people who sent us bug reports, you have helped us track down bugs and made us see where improvements could be made! The enhancements are listed below under "Improvements to Beta Demo".
Please send any comments on this demo to aowfeedback@godgames.com
Any feedback is highly appreciated, but because of our busy schedule we may not be able to answer all questions.
Age of Wonders is projected for a mid-November release date.
More information and updates can be found at the official website: http://www.ageofwonders.com
You can pre-order your copy of Age of Wonders here:
http://www.godgames.com/games/aow/route.htm
Publisher for North America:
Gathering of Developers
http://www.godgames.com
Publisher for Europe:
Take 2 Interactive Software Europe
http://www.take2games.com
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System Requirements
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O/S: Windows (R) 95/98 or NT 4.08(*)
CPU: P166 MHz (P2-266 Mhz recommended)
Memory: 32MB Ram
Video Card: DirectX 6 compatible, capable of 16 bit high color display
Sound Card: DirectX 6 compatible
Available HD Space: 150MB
Multiplayer: TCP/IP internet connection (for internet);
Email account capable of attachments (for PBEM);
TCP/IP or IPX (for network play)(*)
To run AoW on NT4.0 machines, NT Service Pack 4 is required.
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Background Story
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Somewhere to Start
In the days of the world before the days mattered and were meticulously counted by short-lived things, all living beings upon the Northern Continent were ruled by the Elven Court, where the Wizard-king Inioch governed from the Valley of Wonders. He maintained a delicate balance of light and shadow and saw that the life of each subject in his Kingdom was not burdened by any great evil.
The most influential and prevalent party of Inioch's Court was a popular, yet scholarly and restrictive society called "The Keepers". Dedicated to preserving order and maintaining peace for all the fair races in Inioch's Blessed Kingdom, they grew to considerable influence and power. Hailed as the "Fruit of the Elves," they symbolized all that was good and right about Elven rulership.
Children of Chaos
Yet for all their studies the Keepers could not foresee the future any better than any other Seer. And so it was that they sought to shelter and nurture a fledgling race called "Humans." Banished from their "Garden," yet extraordinarily gifted with an alien sense of ingenuity, these short-lived beings sought a new home, and the Keepers saw the opportunity to provide such a home an ideal opportunity to expand their influence and prosper the ways of good.
Humans were different than any other race in the land. For some races, by their nature, good came speedily and without effort, while for others, by their nature, evil threatened to plunge them into a void, but for Humans it was not readily apparent. Unruly and restless they possessed many savage qualities, yet some among Humankind demonstrated a great propensity for the divine. And while there were other races in the land that was neither good nor evil, the Humans were the first to seek Inioch's sanctuary.
Debate and Consequences
Inioch's Court bubbled with debate, but ultimately the Keepers prevailed and the Humans were given place within the kingdom to settle, with the stipulation that the Humans were monitored strictly. Should they disrupt the goodly balance of the rich kingdom, or if they ignored the edicts of the kingdom, they were to be removed.
Five years later, Inioch was slain. The court lay in ruins. The bodies of the fallen Elves were callously heaped into a mountain of dead and left to rot. Soon thereafter, Humans drove all the Elves, and any other non-Human, from the Valley of Wonders, claiming it as their new home.
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Features
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The final game, slated for release in November 1999, will include the following:
[Technical]
-Native Windows« application with DirectX support. Runs in a window or full screen.
-Easy to use point-and-click interface with tool tips and online help
-DirectPlay and Play-by-email (PBEM) support for multiple players on a single PC or over the Internet or LAN.
-Choice of Round Robin or Simultaneous turns for multiplayer games.
-Simultaneous turns greatly speeds up multiplayer games!
-16-bit color, 640x480 SVGA graphics, with support for resolutions up to 1280x1024.
-Story-driven, non-linear single player campaign with multiple endings.
-Easy to use scenario editor and tools for the creation of custom heroes and artifacts.
-Rich, orchestral soundtrack and digitized sound effects.
[Strategic ]
-Twelve playable races, each with their own personality, tendencies, strengths and weaknesses.
-Wide variety of strategic decisions involving siege units, heroes, magic, immunities, stealth, and loads of special abilities -
not just a war of numbers!
-Huge, detailed maps including subterranean areas, terrain interaction and dozens of special locations.
-Exciting magic system including spell research and over 100 spells spread over 7 spheres of magic.
-Dynamic maps allow for powerful terrain modifying spells and abilities.
-Choice of automatic (fast combat) or turn-based tactical combat.
-City sieges which require breaching of the city's outer wall.
-In-depth racial relations with city and unit morale paradigms.
[Role Playing/Adventure]
-Experience system allows units to advance in power. Hand-tailor your heroes as they grow in experience and power.
-An unfolding story (in the single-player game) in which player decisions influence the outcome of the entire fantasy realm.
-Explore mysterious places: loot monster lairs, castle ruins, and crypts, and free prisoners from dungeons.
-Hundreds of items to uncover and spells to wield.
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Improvements to Beta Demo
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Many, many improvements and fixes were made since the Beta Demo. Here follows a brief list of just the major changes. Again, kudos to all the people who sent us feedback!
Global AI:
-Fortifies leader better, moves to safer locations
-Much more aggressive play style
-Makes better use of magic
Tactical Combat AI:
-Improved behavior during sieges
-Better handling of ranged attacks
-No Longer blindly charges into battle
-Flees when can't inflict damage or loses wall-crushers during a siege
Interface:
-Extra unit-control options including previous, move and guard options
-Double Click enters towns
-Information on abilities on every screen
-Item info now shows all abilities
-More keyboard short cuts (see below)
-Event-popup filters
-Multiple movement speeds
Tactical Combat now available in LAN and Internet games
Fast Combat now displays messages when spells are cast
More varied exploration site maps in TC
Hundreds of bugs and lockups have been removed.
Balance tweaks to units, spells, structures and abilities
Updated demo map
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Trouble Shooting
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Here are a number of solutions for known problems. Most of the changes can be made with the AoWSetup program.
No sound
Try Turning "DirectSound" off in the game or AoWSetup program. Make sure you have the latest version of DirectX installed.
Game runs slowly
Low-end systems (sub P2s) should run the game in the lowest resolution: 640*480. If the game is still slow, run the game in the lowest detail level, you will only lose some transparency effects. Decreasing the sound quality or turning off sound altogether will also speed up the game.
Game boots with Black Screen
Try playing the game in a Window. If the game runs in a window but not full screen, make sure you have the latest version of DirectX installed or download new video drivers for your video card. If the screen turns black or distorted after a resolution switch try turning of "Auto Res Switching", this will display at a fixed resolution and display scenes like the intro and setup screen boxed when the game is set to run in higher resolutions then 640*480.
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Key Board Shortcuts
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Arrow keys Scroll the map
PGUP Map level up
PGDN Map level down
n or '.' Select next unit/army
p or ',' Select prev. unit/army
h Select next Hero
l Select leader
d Select party as 'Done' for the current turn.
g Guard On/Off
c Center on selected unit/army
CTRL-ENTER End Turn
F2 or CTRL-O Open/Load game
F3 or CTRL-S Save game
M Move unit
o Observe enemy movement
SHIFT Hold SHIFT to select multiple parties or units for a single move command.
ALT-ENTER Switches between full screen and windowed mode
ESC Quits from most screens
F1 Recalls last tip in the Tutorial
Enjoy,
The Age of Wonders Team
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Age of Wonders Copyright (C) 1999 Triumph Studios of the Netherlands. All Rights Reserved.
Gathering of Developers and godgames are trademarks of Gathering of Developers, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Microsoft and Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks and trade names are properties of their respective owners.
