Total Noob here. I've been playing about 3-4 hours a night for the past week and I love the game. I only restarted the game once after about 20 turns because I had missed some very basic concepts because of my inexperience (i.e. you probably don't want to attack knights with your UM general's unitor rules about finances, buildings, etc.)
I'm currently about 70 years into the game (see my How Am I Doing? thread) and love every second of it.
It's true that there are several rounds where all I did was quickly scout my building/troop build cues and then hit end year. But all that is going towards working for a goal. For instance, right now about to invade France and I need a good front line force of ILI to match up against the 7 royal knight units in Provence. So for the next 6 turns or so, I'll be building ILI, concentrating my ships because France has some ships in my lanes, fortifying my back door provinces to make sure no one jumps me while I'm distracted, etc. The point of the game is not to be at war every turn.
Quite frankly the game plays with your emotions. I have to bite my lip when I catch a Byz assasain trying to kill my king because I can't afford a war with them right now. But in 30 or 40 turns I will be able to, and then it's pay back time. At the end of the day, it's a game of pride, even ego. I want to conquer the world. But it's not so easy to manage all the intangibles. Make decisions from passion, and you might get burnt. Too conservative, too aggressive, and there's consequences.
Come on. I paid $20 for the battle pack and it's entertained me for about 30 hours so far, and it will continue to entertain me for at least another 300. That's like .06 an hour (without the farming upgrade) Pretty good deal in my book. Only downside is the loss of sleep and lack of sunlight from not leaving the house.
Bookmarks