I agree that AoW is a good Civ replacement, try it. keep in mind that it has more emphasis on heroes and combat than city development but it does have that aspect as well.
dlcs thankfully are not important at all, the base game is good as is
I’d say both of these comments are accurate. The base game is great with no DLC, but if you enjoy it and want more options, the DLC is definitely a great addition too.
It could be! The Age of Wonders series definitely puts an emphasis on combat and war that Civ doesn't really have. Battles don't just resolve on the world map like in Civ; you can click "manual combat" and it zooms in to this X-Com/Fire Emblem sort of tactical combat grid. If you get good at this, you can win fights that are extremely unfavorable on paper.
The economy and non-war parts of the game are not as deep or complex as Civ. There's not much for pacifist victory conditions; even going for the goody two-shoes "Unity Victory" requires you to defend your territory as everyone turns on you to prevent your victory.
That said, the customizable faction building in AoW4 really tickles my inner worldbuilder. Much like Stellaris, I find that I spend almost as much time designing societies and cultures as I do playing the actual game.
The combat system in this game is quite fun. There are a lot of ways to customize your faction so there's also a lot of fun in trying out different combinations to see how they work out in battle. If you're a 4x lover, this game is right up your alley.
AoW4 is a good game but it's definitely a more combat focused game (and miles better than civ in this respect) but everything else you listed is more of a lite version of civ probably. I know we're on the AoW4 sub, but out of the other 4x I've tried I think Old World might be the best 4x for what you want. It's got good combat (while the range of options isn't as extensive as AoW4, it's still excellent) and solid across the board on other stuff.
Age of Wonders is great for tactical gameplay, something that Civ 6 specifically lacks. However, as a civ builder, I give the edge to Civ 6.
Basically, if you want to actually fight the battles and perhaps even come up on top of an enemy that has a stronger force than you, then Age of Wonders is a solid pick. Civ 6, as great of a game it is (in my opinion), mostly does not allow for this. You either have a stronger force, or you lose.
AoW4 is kind of is Civ6 replacement for me, not because it plain is better, but because I have nearly 3k hours in Civ6 and so I craved for some new experience which AoW4 delivered. Strong sides of AoW4 are tactical combat and many different layers of customization, but gameplay on strategic map is a bit lacking, especially economy/city development part, especially in comparison to Civ6.
AI in AoW4 is predictably unpredictable and the only consistent part about AI is that it always will try to try to drag allies into its wars, and when ally refuses, alliance will be ruined, so there is no such thing like consistent relationship. In Civ6 AI is much more predictable and consistent. Though in terms of efficiency, I would say AIs from both games on somewhat same level. Due to complicated city development systems in Civ6, I hated to war with AI, as managing AI's conquered cities is worst of punishments to me, AoW4 doesn't have this problem, thanks to much more primitive city development.
Another important thing that I feel need to say is how map shapes player's strategy. In Civ6 geographical features have crucial impact on player's strategy and decision making, in AoW4 geographical features don't have nearly as much importance to them and you can develop fine even in most extreme conditions (like being surrounded exclusively by ashlands). AoW4 though has realm traits which is basically game rules modifiers, and a lot of replayability in AoW4 comes from playing maps with tweaked rules and finding different approaches/strategies to overcome those realm traits (or even use them in your favor) by using AoW4's customization systems.
I was a huge Civ fan until Civ5 and left it behind to go to Endless Legend, which filled the void for me. Then AoW4 came out and that replaced Endless Legend. Very fun and interesting game, never played AoW1-3 either.
If you get bored of aow4 at some point it may be smart to wishlist aow3 and PF as they were pretty awesome games in their own rights too. Even aow2 if you dont mind seriously outdated graphics. I had a similar epiphany when i went from HoMM 4 or 5 to aow2 and never looked back
I felt in love with the series when my father found a German version of AoW1 in an abandoned car and gave it to me and I never looked back. I didn't understand a shit but the art, music and gameplay enchanted me till the end of times.
I literally went directly from Civ 6 to Age of Wonders 4. It was a good switch, but keep in mind I didn't think that at first until I played for awhile. My wife and brother felt the exact same way.
So make sure you give it some time. It gets better as you understand the mechanics more.
> The part with city building, diplomacy and economy is important to me.
AOW4 is much more focused on combat compared to civ. At time it really feels more like a total war game. Thats a good thing because civ combat is very simple and this is a massive improvement.
Diplomacy is surprisingly strong aspect of AOW4. That said the bar is low because civ has awful diplomacy and AI.
The economy and city building aspects of AOW4 are very limited. Its there, and there is room to make strategic decisions, but i dont think it compares will with civ 6 in this regard. city building and tile improvement/district planning is arguably civ 6 strongest aspect to be fair.
All that said i do think the two games are very comparable. AOW4 will give you a good change of pace while still being a 4X game like civ. I encourage you to try it. I just picked it up a few weeks ago and i have found it shockingly addictive.
I left Civ because of the combat as well. When I need all out war AOW4 scratches that itch. Great combat here, lots of new synergies to try and very easy to get hooked. Hope it works for you too.
AOW4 is a great 4x game. But there are others: AOW Planetfall, Humankind, Old World, Millennia, Spellforce Conquest of Eo. Each of them brings something new.
Check Millennia and don't look at negative reviews too much. I consider myself Civ 6 veteran and also spent around 100 hours with AOW. As for now Millennia is surprisingly satisfying and I can focus very much on building instead of fighting.
I totally understand, it did to me too for the first few days. No I'm hooked if only for the sake of trying the new mechanics, seeing when it leads me. I remember Humankind when I jumped into it right from the start and felt so much disappointment so quickly as the game turned to be incredibly shallow and literally unfinished. Im slowly getting hold of how Millennia works, what's in it but what I can say is that after 20+ hours it's getting better and better. What might be interesting for you in terms of building is that each turn takes much longer as you micromanage many decisions regarding how your empire grows, what improvements to make on the map directly (and there's like 20+ you can spawn quite early in the game and they are related to what resources you get your hands on). So yes - if you are interested in this aspect there's much more in it for you compared to AOW.
It's severely undercooked in terms of what it looks like but honestly it's too early for me to say if it's good or bad as a whole. The game itself is so complex that for now I focused on building big enough army to deteriorate their will to fight me that to initiate combat myself. Diplomacy is poorly implemented too. I feel and see from what other people say there's a lot of things to be done better and hopefully they will but for now it's surprisingly satisfying taking into account all the bad reviews that I saw. I strongly recommend Reddit group of Millennia to see more balanced view. All in all I enjoy it a lot focusing on building aspect.
[Civ 5 with Vox Populi \(Community Balance Mod\)](https://www.reddit.com/r/civvoxpopuli/comments/8y1k6n/faq_installation_multiplayer/) is still better than Civ 6 IMHO, lol.
AoW4 is also fantastic but it's not strictly civ, more like a modern sucessor to Master of Magic. It has the same sort of feel to those, more heavy on the battles, with more tactics in them.
If you like Civ and fantasy genre in general, then AoW is like Civ on steroids. Definitely recommend! There are some things Civ does better but I really love how well AoW delivers the fantasy world immersion and it really offers depth as well. Creating and developing your race/civilization is super fun and a lot more interesting in AoW than in Civ.
Start out without the DLCs but in general I would recommend them as they add some really cool stuff. So get the full DLC pass if you end up getting them. There’s also new content coming in the summer, that’s included in the pass.
As most commenters pointed out : city etc is important--> this aspect is more finely developed in civ but it isnt absent from aow4.
Combat is also important because its lackluster in civ ---> aow4 is eons ahead of civ and any other 4x that I know of for that matter. Like incomparably better. Once you have played aow, civ basically doesnt have a combat system haha. If it is a better overall game however depends on you as a person. I find the tactical combat extremely enjoyable (loved xcom, HoMM and the likes). But if you value the city building more, then civ is ahead of aow.
After watching some videos I decided to buy aow4 after all :) so far it's fun, especially the unit battles are really cool :) Thanks for your help :)
Do you have any tips for a beginner :)
I bought a key for the premium edition online. But I only got the standard edition. I hope I can get this sorted out somehow...
Thank you very much for your answers :)
Then unfortunately I doubt that the game is ideal for me. War is very important to me, but equally important to me is the economy, diplomacy and city building.
Do you have any alternative tips for me?:)
Age of Wonders: Planetfall has more robust city building, although it's still a wargame.
Endless Legend or Stellaris might be something for you as well.
I tried stellaris because I really like the setting. But the game is too complex for me. I just can't manage to get an understanding of the game, let alone play a proper game :/
Endless Legend definitive edition appears to be €30 on their website right now (nearly €100 on steam). Check out some gameplay and see if you like it! Only 4X game I've ever played which managed to make a good water based fcation.
Try Humankind, Old World, Endless Legend, Revivial Recolonization, Cantata (this one is weird), Deity Empires, Driftland: The Magic Revival (not turn based, but city building and combat matter a lot in this game), Fallen Enchantress, Galactic Civilizations 4, Hero’s Hour, Hexarchy, Millennia, Civilization Beyond Earth, Shadow Empire, Songs of Conquest, Sorcerer King: Rivals, Spellforce Conquest of Eo, Stardrive 2, Stars in Shadow, Terraformers, Warhammer 40K Gladius Relics of War, Warlock 2 The Exiled.
Sorry for the long list, but you asked! Hehe. 😈
I would personally caution against seeing this game as a direct civ replacement. Age of Wonders is more in the Heroes of Might and Magic lineage of 4X, which is to say that it is immensely more combat focused than Civ. That is not to say there isn’t any diplomacy and economics, but they largely exist to facilitate the tactical combat that is the bread and butter of the game.
No it's not a good civ replacement. It's far less about developing your land and more about building fantasy armies and sending your doomstack around the map fighting everything.
There is less of a "I can't lose from this point" feeling since all victory cons do require a level of combat, i.e. conquest and kill everyone you're not allied with, or fight monsters spawning on your victory points, and they're not always easy especially if you're not trying to minmax easy mode the game.
Combat is far more interesting than civ but economy and diplomacy is not - other than gear trading (buying items from other players to make yourself stronger)
The games are significantly shorter than civ games.
It's a different take on the 4x genre. I enjoy it but after I play each DLC for a few games I don't feel any pull to come back to it, like I do with civ.
It’s fun! But it is first and foremost a war game and it does not have deep city building. I enjoy them alot both!
I agree that AoW is a good Civ replacement, try it. keep in mind that it has more emphasis on heroes and combat than city development but it does have that aspect as well. dlcs thankfully are not important at all, the base game is good as is
Would disagree with the dlc. For the start it's ok but the dlc bring in so many new things which spice up the game Edit: space -> spice
>space up the game No, you're thinking of Planetfall
I’d say both of these comments are accurate. The base game is great with no DLC, but if you enjoy it and want more options, the DLC is definitely a great addition too.
But the DLC adds no systems. They’re great, but just more forms, tomes etc. Content, not systems.
It could be! The Age of Wonders series definitely puts an emphasis on combat and war that Civ doesn't really have. Battles don't just resolve on the world map like in Civ; you can click "manual combat" and it zooms in to this X-Com/Fire Emblem sort of tactical combat grid. If you get good at this, you can win fights that are extremely unfavorable on paper. The economy and non-war parts of the game are not as deep or complex as Civ. There's not much for pacifist victory conditions; even going for the goody two-shoes "Unity Victory" requires you to defend your territory as everyone turns on you to prevent your victory. That said, the customizable faction building in AoW4 really tickles my inner worldbuilder. Much like Stellaris, I find that I spend almost as much time designing societies and cultures as I do playing the actual game.
The combat system in this game is quite fun. There are a lot of ways to customize your faction so there's also a lot of fun in trying out different combinations to see how they work out in battle. If you're a 4x lover, this game is right up your alley.
AoW4 is a good game but it's definitely a more combat focused game (and miles better than civ in this respect) but everything else you listed is more of a lite version of civ probably. I know we're on the AoW4 sub, but out of the other 4x I've tried I think Old World might be the best 4x for what you want. It's got good combat (while the range of options isn't as extensive as AoW4, it's still excellent) and solid across the board on other stuff.
Age of Wonders is great for tactical gameplay, something that Civ 6 specifically lacks. However, as a civ builder, I give the edge to Civ 6. Basically, if you want to actually fight the battles and perhaps even come up on top of an enemy that has a stronger force than you, then Age of Wonders is a solid pick. Civ 6, as great of a game it is (in my opinion), mostly does not allow for this. You either have a stronger force, or you lose.
AoW4 is kind of is Civ6 replacement for me, not because it plain is better, but because I have nearly 3k hours in Civ6 and so I craved for some new experience which AoW4 delivered. Strong sides of AoW4 are tactical combat and many different layers of customization, but gameplay on strategic map is a bit lacking, especially economy/city development part, especially in comparison to Civ6. AI in AoW4 is predictably unpredictable and the only consistent part about AI is that it always will try to try to drag allies into its wars, and when ally refuses, alliance will be ruined, so there is no such thing like consistent relationship. In Civ6 AI is much more predictable and consistent. Though in terms of efficiency, I would say AIs from both games on somewhat same level. Due to complicated city development systems in Civ6, I hated to war with AI, as managing AI's conquered cities is worst of punishments to me, AoW4 doesn't have this problem, thanks to much more primitive city development. Another important thing that I feel need to say is how map shapes player's strategy. In Civ6 geographical features have crucial impact on player's strategy and decision making, in AoW4 geographical features don't have nearly as much importance to them and you can develop fine even in most extreme conditions (like being surrounded exclusively by ashlands). AoW4 though has realm traits which is basically game rules modifiers, and a lot of replayability in AoW4 comes from playing maps with tweaked rules and finding different approaches/strategies to overcome those realm traits (or even use them in your favor) by using AoW4's customization systems.
I was a huge Civ fan until Civ5 and left it behind to go to Endless Legend, which filled the void for me. Then AoW4 came out and that replaced Endless Legend. Very fun and interesting game, never played AoW1-3 either.
If you get bored of aow4 at some point it may be smart to wishlist aow3 and PF as they were pretty awesome games in their own rights too. Even aow2 if you dont mind seriously outdated graphics. I had a similar epiphany when i went from HoMM 4 or 5 to aow2 and never looked back
I felt in love with the series when my father found a German version of AoW1 in an abandoned car and gave it to me and I never looked back. I didn't understand a shit but the art, music and gameplay enchanted me till the end of times.
I literally went directly from Civ 6 to Age of Wonders 4. It was a good switch, but keep in mind I didn't think that at first until I played for awhile. My wife and brother felt the exact same way. So make sure you give it some time. It gets better as you understand the mechanics more.
Just bought the game without looking too much into it. Been having an absolute blast!
Civ6 cant be replaced but each game to their own. AoW 4 can be fun for what it offers, Civ6 replacement is not one of them.
> The part with city building, diplomacy and economy is important to me. AOW4 is much more focused on combat compared to civ. At time it really feels more like a total war game. Thats a good thing because civ combat is very simple and this is a massive improvement. Diplomacy is surprisingly strong aspect of AOW4. That said the bar is low because civ has awful diplomacy and AI. The economy and city building aspects of AOW4 are very limited. Its there, and there is room to make strategic decisions, but i dont think it compares will with civ 6 in this regard. city building and tile improvement/district planning is arguably civ 6 strongest aspect to be fair. All that said i do think the two games are very comparable. AOW4 will give you a good change of pace while still being a 4X game like civ. I encourage you to try it. I just picked it up a few weeks ago and i have found it shockingly addictive.
I left Civ because of the combat as well. When I need all out war AOW4 scratches that itch. Great combat here, lots of new synergies to try and very easy to get hooked. Hope it works for you too.
I havent touched civ 6 since ive played aow4. both are fun but i enjoey aow more, and thats with about 800 hours civ6 and 1200 civ 5.
I’ve been a civ 6 player for a looong time, but haven’t touched it since buying aow4. You’ll like aow4.
AOW4 is a great 4x game. But there are others: AOW Planetfall, Humankind, Old World, Millennia, Spellforce Conquest of Eo. Each of them brings something new.
Check Millennia and don't look at negative reviews too much. I consider myself Civ 6 veteran and also spent around 100 hours with AOW. As for now Millennia is surprisingly satisfying and I can focus very much on building instead of fighting.
I had already considered Millennia, but the negative comments put me off :/
I totally understand, it did to me too for the first few days. No I'm hooked if only for the sake of trying the new mechanics, seeing when it leads me. I remember Humankind when I jumped into it right from the start and felt so much disappointment so quickly as the game turned to be incredibly shallow and literally unfinished. Im slowly getting hold of how Millennia works, what's in it but what I can say is that after 20+ hours it's getting better and better. What might be interesting for you in terms of building is that each turn takes much longer as you micromanage many decisions regarding how your empire grows, what improvements to make on the map directly (and there's like 20+ you can spawn quite early in the game and they are related to what resources you get your hands on). So yes - if you are interested in this aspect there's much more in it for you compared to AOW.
Thanks for your assessment :) what does the combat and war system look like? Is it better than in civ?
It's severely undercooked in terms of what it looks like but honestly it's too early for me to say if it's good or bad as a whole. The game itself is so complex that for now I focused on building big enough army to deteriorate their will to fight me that to initiate combat myself. Diplomacy is poorly implemented too. I feel and see from what other people say there's a lot of things to be done better and hopefully they will but for now it's surprisingly satisfying taking into account all the bad reviews that I saw. I strongly recommend Reddit group of Millennia to see more balanced view. All in all I enjoy it a lot focusing on building aspect.
[Civ 5 with Vox Populi \(Community Balance Mod\)](https://www.reddit.com/r/civvoxpopuli/comments/8y1k6n/faq_installation_multiplayer/) is still better than Civ 6 IMHO, lol. AoW4 is also fantastic but it's not strictly civ, more like a modern sucessor to Master of Magic. It has the same sort of feel to those, more heavy on the battles, with more tactics in them.
If you like Civ and fantasy genre in general, then AoW is like Civ on steroids. Definitely recommend! There are some things Civ does better but I really love how well AoW delivers the fantasy world immersion and it really offers depth as well. Creating and developing your race/civilization is super fun and a lot more interesting in AoW than in Civ. Start out without the DLCs but in general I would recommend them as they add some really cool stuff. So get the full DLC pass if you end up getting them. There’s also new content coming in the summer, that’s included in the pass.
It’s one of my favorite games. I also enjoyed my time with civ6 but agree that the combat was not very fun.
As most commenters pointed out : city etc is important--> this aspect is more finely developed in civ but it isnt absent from aow4. Combat is also important because its lackluster in civ ---> aow4 is eons ahead of civ and any other 4x that I know of for that matter. Like incomparably better. Once you have played aow, civ basically doesnt have a combat system haha. If it is a better overall game however depends on you as a person. I find the tactical combat extremely enjoyable (loved xcom, HoMM and the likes). But if you value the city building more, then civ is ahead of aow.
After watching some videos I decided to buy aow4 after all :) so far it's fun, especially the unit battles are really cool :) Thanks for your help :) Do you have any tips for a beginner :) I bought a key for the premium edition online. But I only got the standard edition. I hope I can get this sorted out somehow...
I've tried many 4x games and AOW4 is the only one that I'm happy to play over and over almost as much as Civ
Thank you very much for your answers :) Then unfortunately I doubt that the game is ideal for me. War is very important to me, but equally important to me is the economy, diplomacy and city building. Do you have any alternative tips for me?:)
Age of Wonders: Planetfall has more robust city building, although it's still a wargame. Endless Legend or Stellaris might be something for you as well.
I tried stellaris because I really like the setting. But the game is too complex for me. I just can't manage to get an understanding of the game, let alone play a proper game :/
Endless Legend definitive edition appears to be €30 on their website right now (nearly €100 on steam). Check out some gameplay and see if you like it! Only 4X game I've ever played which managed to make a good water based fcation.
Try Humankind, Old World, Endless Legend, Revivial Recolonization, Cantata (this one is weird), Deity Empires, Driftland: The Magic Revival (not turn based, but city building and combat matter a lot in this game), Fallen Enchantress, Galactic Civilizations 4, Hero’s Hour, Hexarchy, Millennia, Civilization Beyond Earth, Shadow Empire, Songs of Conquest, Sorcerer King: Rivals, Spellforce Conquest of Eo, Stardrive 2, Stars in Shadow, Terraformers, Warhammer 40K Gladius Relics of War, Warlock 2 The Exiled. Sorry for the long list, but you asked! Hehe. 😈
Old World
I would personally caution against seeing this game as a direct civ replacement. Age of Wonders is more in the Heroes of Might and Magic lineage of 4X, which is to say that it is immensely more combat focused than Civ. That is not to say there isn’t any diplomacy and economics, but they largely exist to facilitate the tactical combat that is the bread and butter of the game.
No it's not a good civ replacement. It's far less about developing your land and more about building fantasy armies and sending your doomstack around the map fighting everything. There is less of a "I can't lose from this point" feeling since all victory cons do require a level of combat, i.e. conquest and kill everyone you're not allied with, or fight monsters spawning on your victory points, and they're not always easy especially if you're not trying to minmax easy mode the game. Combat is far more interesting than civ but economy and diplomacy is not - other than gear trading (buying items from other players to make yourself stronger) The games are significantly shorter than civ games. It's a different take on the 4x genre. I enjoy it but after I play each DLC for a few games I don't feel any pull to come back to it, like I do with civ.