GWJ Strategy Club Game Jan 2023: Old World

The Winter 2023 strategy club title is Old World, which we will be playing from January 1 to March 31, 2023.

Steam Link

Description:
Old World is a historical strategy game where you lead your empire through multiple generations, building a grand legacy to last beyond your own years. This is an era of great leaders, from the revered to the feared. Which will you be?

If you're new to the club, please check out the main thread.

Played it once, liked it, and then never returned. A good opportunity to do so.

Shadout wrote:

Played it once, liked it, and then never returned. A good opportunity to do so.

Exact same boat.

My GOTY last year and I’ve put a decent amount of time into it, but it’s been a few months since I played a game, so I’m in.

I'm in. I played the Steam launch, took a hiatus, came back a few weeks ago, and lost a practice game, so this will be a good opportunity to apply what I learned.

I have been very slowly working through the tutorial on this, but now seems like a good time to really dig in. Count me in.

This should be one I actually complete.

Sure, I'm in. I actually bought it and refunded it sometime last year - it seemed good, but I didn't have time to learn a new game at the time and I figured I would wait until a sale came along later to try again. Now's as good a time as any.

Old World got my GOTY 2022 but I've not been back to it for a few months. I'm looking forward to diving back in to try out the DLC scenarios.

I played it when it first came out (darn enablers!) and found it hard to get past the CK3 focus on characters.

I'll take this second enablement to give it a more serious try.

Moggy wrote:

I played it when it first came out (darn enablers!) and found it hard to get past the CK3 focus on characters.

I'll take this second enablement to give it a more serious try.

There's an option to turn all that off and make the game a more standard 4x.

I will very much be in on this one, although it does require a reinstall. I should probably get on with it then.

This one is about due for a revisit. Deal me in.

Shadout wrote:

Played it once, liked it, and then never returned. A good opportunity to do so.

This seems to be oddly common. I played one game through when it first released on Epic and haven't been back since, despite liking it quite a bit at the time. Looking forward to another go this time.

49 turns later and you are reminded that is this a complex game with a hell of a lot going on.

however, it has "one more turn" going on for it in spades. I think I might need to sit down though and work it all out again. It's not as casual as Civ can be at times, you need to learn how to ensure everything gets balanced at the right time.

Sorbicol wrote:

however, it has "one more turn" going on for it in spades. I think I might need to sit down though and work it all out again. It's not as casual as Civ can be at times, you need to learn how to ensure everything gets balanced at the right time.

Definitely feeling the 'one more turn' sirens call.

Played through one game as Carthage and was forced to surrender for lack of options for expansion. Ended up giving up a city to entice Babylon into joining a war I was on the losing end of. My second playthrough as Greece has me as the front runner after 70+ turns with Egypt completely extinguished and incorporated.

Is there a trick to assimilating minor tribes or do you have to battle it out for city sites with other nations?

I think you have to battle it out. Worth it though if they have good city sites.

My game(s) have mostly been about me relearning the game so far. I’m struggling with keeping city unrest down as until you get some late level tech, there’s nothing ‘obvious’ you can do about it. I’m sure there is, I just haven’t figured it out yet.

IIRC one of the leader types can assimilate the minor tribes provided a high enough relationship level. There’s also a leader type who can buy units off the minor tribes.

I think I'm going to have to play the tutorial to refresh me on how to play this game. Fortunately, I remember those being pretty engaging and helpful.

Also, to keep this on theme, here is my path to actually completing the game:

LastSurprise's Ambitions:
1. Reinstall the Epic Game Launcher on my new computer
2. Install Old World
3. Complete Tutorial 1: Old World

Got my first game going. Playing Babylon on second easiest difficulty. I disabled the characters for this play through. Next time, I'll enable them to see whether I enjoy the addition.

I've noticed a few interesting wrinkles so far:

The order system is different. I've already made more scouts than I can easily move around with my available orders and force marching is expensive. I can see going that way with workers easily as well.

The card system for tech improvements just walloped me. I passed on warrior and then had to wait a few tech discoveries before it became available again. Also not sure whether the "get resources" cards are worth taking.

The "sticky tool tip" system is annoyingly unavailable at times.

Not entirely sure what stops population growth yet. Maybe when you're building a unit in a city?

I could have sworn I saw a "buy tile" option once, but now I want to use it (to expand into a box canyon that would be a lovely site for a quarry), I can't find it.

No comment about combat yet, though my scouts seem to be very fragile.

Moggy wrote:

Got my first game going. Playing Babylon on second easiest difficulty. I disabled the characters for this play through. Next time, I'll enable them to see whether I enjoy the addition.

...

The card system for tech improvements just walloped me. I passed on warrior and then had to wait a few tech discoveries before it became available again. Also not sure whether the "get resources" cards are worth taking.

Per the tutorial, at least, the "Get X" cards don't get reshuffled into the tech discard pile if you pass on them. You either grab them when they come up, or you don't see them again. I think that makes for a really interesting tradeoff: do you want to slow down your tech progress, or speed it up and forego this benefit?

The ‘get free settler / worker’ cards are really useful I find - especially if they turn up early on. The free military units is more circumstantial, as are the free resource cards.

You need legitimacy to increase your orders - it’s essential in this game. Pissing off Tribes and achieving your ambitions to get legitimacy are critical activities. Don’t skimp on your military.

Moggy, I use Harvest when my scouts come across resources; I generally don't take the cards unless I'm in a crisis. But it's early days and I can't claim much experience in the game. Could be I'm doing it wrong.

Robear wrote:

Moggy, I use Harvest when my scouts come across resources;

Now that my scouts are far enough away from my starting city and near competing civs, I've started harvesting. Resources near city sites that I'm eyeing for expansion I leave alone.

I generally don't take the cards unless I'm in a crisis. But it's early days and I can't claim much experience in the game. Could be I'm doing it wrong.
Sorbicol wrote:

The ‘get free settler / worker’ cards are really useful I find - especially if they turn up early on. The free military units is more circumstantial, as are the free resource cards.

I've only been offered them once (researched 3 techs, so very early days) and passed on them. I should have taken the Settler being offered - no idea just how building one of them slows down the city that's doing the building

You need legitimacy to increase your orders - it’s essential in this game. Pissing off Tribes and achieving your ambitions to get legitimacy are critical activities. Don’t skimp on your military.

Haven't dug deep enough on the legitimacy side yet. I can see how that can be very important to increase sooner rather than later.

Moggy wrote:
Robear wrote:

Moggy, I use Harvest when my scouts come across resources;

Now that my scouts are far enough away from my starting city and near competing civs, I've started harvesting. Resources near city sites that I'm eyeing for expansion I leave alone.

I generally don't take the cards unless I'm in a crisis. But it's early days and I can't claim much experience in the game. Could be I'm doing it wrong.

Does harvesting resources pull the resource up from the tile? Or does it leave it there? In the tutorial I thought I saw something about a cooldown before the same resource can be harvested again. If that's right, you don't need to be worried about resource depletion by harvesting stuff close by.

It leaves it there, so in the early game, no harm in taking advantage of them. It's a turn or two I think to regen, much less than setting up a resource exploiter.

Robear wrote:

It leaves it there, so in the early game, no harm in taking advantage of them. It's a turn or two I think to regen, much less than setting up a resource exploiter.

TIL...

It's in the tutorial lol

IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/3Mgkhjh/greecepoints2.jpg)

Finished my first full playthrough and won on points after carving up Rome between myself and Carthage.

I guess it speaks to the 'old world' theme that there'd be an emphasis on conquest and a clash of cultures/civilizations. May go back and see what the other win conditions are and either ramp up the difficulty or try for a different path to victory. Not sure I entirely grok the character system but I was finally getting a grasp on how to keep my factions and other civs on good terms via events and trading.

Getting closer (to actually starting):

LastSurprise's Ambitions:
1. Reinstall the Epic Game Launcher on my new computer
2. Install Old World
3. Complete Tutorial 1: The Old World
4. Complete Tutorial 2: A Place to Live
5. Complete Tutorial 3: Everyone Has an Opinion
6. Complete Tutorial 4: Heavy is the Crown

LastSurprise wrote:

Getting closer (to actually starting):

LastSurprise's Ambitions:
1. Reinstall the Epic Game Launcher on my new computer
2. Install Old World
3. Complete Tutorial 1: The Old World
4. Complete Tutorial 2: A Place to Live
5. Complete Tutorial 3: Everyone Has an Opinion
6. Complete Tutorial 4: Heavy is the Crown

My Carthage playthrough has sort of dwindled away into nothing - I’m miles behind on Victory points, my ambitions I can’t meet because I haven’t understood some of the restrictions about what can be built where, and being a peacenik is clearly not what the game is about. Plus the other factions have wiped out the tribes.

I think going to war is a big deal for the game.