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[Rolan7]

Ah okay, Age of Empires III "Asian Dynasties" unlocks Indians (from FUCKING INDIA), Chinese, and Japanese.
All the asian races have a neat "consulate" where they can get important things from an "export" resource.  Choosing which European power they trade with - and they can switch.

Still though, Indians have a specific connection with wood there.  And in AoE2.  I'm just wondering... why?

[Arx]

Fakedit:  I assumed only HD edition got the new India races?

@Baffler
Probably because AoE3 introduced a bunch of weird complicated mechanics that... maybe didn't contribute to competitive gameplay?  Including a level-up system, but...  Eh IDK.  AoE2 has *plenty* of mechanical depth already.  AoE2 has much more of the roots of RTS.  AoE3 simplified a lot and added other, very race-specific things.

Arx could probably explain better.  But basically, I don't think they could have balanced AoE3 well.  Starcraft 1&2 kinda manage it with 3 races, the AoE3 team is dead and has arguably like a dozen races to balance.  And they tried to make every one fairly unique.

Whereas AoE2 survives because it has a loyal, even fanatic playerbase.  And the differences between factions are usually... not minor, but less than in Starcraft or AoE3.

I have been invoked!

AoE3 has garbage balancing and is pretty low-skill compared to AoE2. 2 mainly survives because it's the only major symmetrical* RTS out there and because it has a very elegant system of choices and counterplays that's simultaneously intuitive and high skill-cap. It's also the only RTS with high-skill macro and economy management, since you have to balance four resources whose precise distributions are arbitrary - unlike SC, where there are two resources and you know exactly where they'll be.

But at the same time, micro is rewarded. Not on the same level as SC, but a player with good micro and good macro will sweep the floor with a player with good macro and average micro. AoE3 doesn't reward micro (projectiles are undodgeable) and significantly reduces the skill involved in the macro by removing carrying resources and dropoff buildings.

Also the expansions made French objectively the best civilisation to the point that there's really no reason to play anyone else. And who thought horse guns were a good idea? Like I said, garbage balancing.

*Everyone is, roughly speaking, the same. Aztecs and Mayans in TC are exceptionally deviant.


I think it might just be coincidence. Free wood upgrades is a strong economic bonus, and Cysion probably suddenly realised exactly how badly not getting knights hamstrings the Indian mid-game. There aren't a whole lot of economic bonuses left to go around right now.

[Shadowlord]

My favorite RTS is halo wars.  Yes, that's very easy to play and doesn't need a ton of micro.
Favorite on PC: Age of mythology

I've played: Warcraft 1, 2, 3, Starcraft, Red Alert 1 and 2, AoE 1, 2, 3, Age of Mythology, Rise of Nations, Medieval: Total War, Warlords Battlecry 1, 2, 3, Halo Wars, M&B: Warband. Probably forgetting some. Not including space games like soase and star ruler etc (phone auto-speller wanted to say "start Riker" for some reason).

I don't understand why people prefer rtses which require a ton of micromanagement to be good at them.

[Parsely]

My favorite RTS is halo wars.

Halo Wars is pretty great. I'm hype for the sequel.

[Yoink]

Should I use my Christmas money to buy a slab and get really drunk for the entirety of Christmas day, or should I save it for the entry fee to a rave-boat a couple of days later? The former option is really tempting and I'm not a big fan of large bodies of water, but I have a couple of friends attending the other thing who want me there as well...   

[Shadowlord]

Should I use my Christmas money to buy a slab and get really drunk for the entirety of Christmas day, or should I save it for the entry fee to a rave-boat a couple of days later? The former option is really tempting and I'm not a big fan of large bodies of water, but I have a couple of friends attending the other thing who want me there as well...   

What does "buy a slab" mean? Are you expecting to die of drinking and need to pre-buy a headstone*?

_{* Why are those associated in my mind? I probably saw "slab graveyard" written somewhere or something. Who knows?}

[Sheb]

You can engrave slabs in DF to calm ghost. I think a slab refers to a bunch of beer cans packaged in shrink-wrap.

[Neonivek]

Ok I am trying to understand this bit of scientific mumbo jumbo

So there are these lightning shooting bots

So the scientist chimes in and says "Good news, those aren't lightning bolts! They are super charged ions"

Uhh what is the difference?

[Arx]

Lightning is in a sense only electrons, where ions could be either only nuclei or particles with more or less electrons than usual. Of course, IIRC much of the spectacle of lightning is plasma, viz. ions, so...

[Neonivek]

Lightning is in a sense only electrons, where ions could be either only nuclei or particles with more or less electrons than usual. Of course, IIRC much of the spectacle of lightning is plasma, viz. ions, so...

I mean the problem is that... translated... it sounds like.. Yeah it is lightning.

The only difference is that they essentially are using a particle cannon as a medium for the electricity.

INSTEAD of charging up so much electricity that it arcs through the air to its intended target.

I mean... I guess the reason it is good news... is the super charged ions would probably be... less dangerous then a build up of electricity so powerful that they defeat the resistance of the air.

[Yoink]

Are you expecting to die of drinking and need to pre-buy a headstone?

Hey, it never hurts to be prepared!
But yeah, more-or-less what Sheb said, although it doesn't need to be tins or plastic wrap- a carton of bottles is also a slab.

I still haven't received any answers! 

[Neonivek]

Are you expecting to die of drinking and need to pre-buy a headstone?

Hey, it never hurts to be prepared!
But yeah, more-or-less what Sheb said, although it doesn't need to be tins or plastic wrap- a carton of bottles is also a slab.

I still haven't received any answers! 

Slab also refers to a large chunk of something (typically food)

As well as something rectangular.

So a "Slab of beer" qualifies as both!

IN FACT! Referring to a Slab as a Gravestone... Comes from the fact that a gravestone is the spitting definition of Slab (a large rectangular piece of stone or wood)

[Egan_BW]

Well yeah.

You can also use slabs to take control of demons, or learn necromancy.

[TD1]

If you've never had alcohol before, how much would it take the typical male to get drunk?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Depends on your weight.