Age of Wonders III Random Generated Maps And Archdruid Class Revealed

Triumph Studios, the team behind the Overlord and the Age of Wonders series have revealed their latest details and a new video for the Arch=Druid leader class played using the Random Map Generator system. In addition to hand crafted story campaigns and standalone scenarios, Age of Wonders III will now also offer up a Random Map Generator (RMG), so there should always be some fresh action to pick your way through after your done with the main story.

This announcement comes pretty close to the release date and with the game launching in just a few weeks time it’s great to see it coming together, something that will no doubt keep fans of the series happy. The new RMG brings with it a pretty solid feature set, that should allow for flexibility and customisability, without making the maps feel awkward and generic, as is often the case with level generators.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/–qBfmWsWWg[/youtube]

• The RMG gives you the experience of truly exploring and conquering varied uncharted worlds; both in single and multiplayer games.
• Support for many, varied map types, suach as land locked maps, Island Maps, Underground Maps, etc. We’ve worked hard to fix the predictable nature of randomly generated maps from the previous games in the series, so that each map feels new and interesting.Good flow and balance; e.g. ensuring that player’s don’t start right next to hostile high level structures like a Dragon’s Peak with raiding dragons.
• Support for randomly selected AI players, so you don’t know who you’ll be encountering as you play.
• A Quick Start Option allowing tweaking of the core settings, like size, # players and starting power.
• Advanced options with filters allowing experienced players to tweak every step of the creation process, such as the abundance of forests or the exclusion of particular races.
• And last but not least, the lands should look natural, with locations fitting in their natural surroundings. Rivers flowing into seas, etc approaching the look of a hand crafted map

The Archdruid Class can be mixed with any of the six races and can be further augmented using specializations leading to additional magical skills.

“Arch Druids lead from natural sanctuaries in remote locales. Their cities are natural, self-sufficient places founded on the bedrock of natural balance. Their lands burst with life, sweet springs overflow bringing lush wilderness to arid wastelands. Their domains are well guarded by hunters, shamans, and wild beasts. Even the trees appear to bend to the Arch Druid’s will. The Arch Druid Lords I encountered ruled with unquestioned power that at times seemed cruel, but upon reflection is justified by their need for constant balance. To master the forces of nature, they do not blindly protect life, for death is the natural consequence of life.”

Examples of Archdruid Class Units include:

• Ancestral Spirit – Arch druids can call these spirits of their forefathers as reinforcements during battle.
• Gargantuan Animals – The Arch druids can summon giant wild beasts to join their armies. These include giant spiders, serpents and birds.
• The Horned God – In the quiet forest walks the Horned God. Like the mighty oak, it will weather an ice storm, but despises destructive fire. Lightning crackles at its call. The animals of the forest are its children. Like the one great buck that all hunters envy with its impossibly large antlers, it passes through tangled trees and hunter’s nets unobstructed.

Archdruid Skill Examples:

• Twisting Roots- Forces the roots that run deep down in the earth to the surface, impeding all units moving by land. All Walking units on the battlefield have their movement radius halved.
• Hornet Swarm – Deal 25 damage to target enemy unit. The effect jumps a maximum of 4 times to other enemy units 3 or less hexes away. Machine and Undead units are immune.
• The Wild Hunt – The caster’s forces have become one with the wild, gaining an unswayable will and the ability to move at extreme speeds over any type of terrain. Bestows Floating and Strong Will on all the caster’s units.

The game is set to launch at some point in March this year via digital download and select retailers, stay tuned for more info.

Thank you Age of Wonders for providing us with this information.

Image courtesy of Age of Wonders.