The Prologue pre-Release Discussion Thread

[peugeot407]

There seemingly was a need for this thread, and I'm only too happy to create it. All your questions or comments about the imminent release of the Prologue can be posted and discussed here. Fire away!


peugeot407

[danielpereira]

Will the prologue include that invasion mode ??

[Hoop Thrower]

Will it include working AI?

[peugeot407]

It will have a functioning AI, yes. Whether or not the AI will be fully up to our expectations upon the release, I can't say, but it will certainly be able to use all the unique new features that K&B adds, including the new gamemodes. Particularly noteworthy is that Matti actually managed to get the AI to understand and cleverly use the Diplomacy gamemode...

As for Invasion, the Prologue will come with an Invasion version of the Bosphorus map, yes.


peugeot407

[AOE_Fan]

There's also another map with Invasion mode, Danish Straits, which is already scripted. It doesn't have fitting natives done yet so Bosphorus is indeed the only Prologue map featuring Invasion.

AI certainly knows how to use all the new features (opposite of both NE and WotTA, by looking at their AI files) but I can't say if the AI has actually been improved which of course has been my goal. The AI will surely get updated and patched after release but I don't think it's our weakest point right now.

[Alexastor]

I don't think there's the need to compare the AI to the allegedly not working ones of WotTA and NE. I think KnB is good enough not to need to get down to such childish comparisons.

About the release I really don't know what to expect. What civs are in again? Have we seen all building sets yet? What about siege units? There's so much stuff we haven't seen yet. I think you should show us KnB's best that we haven't seen yet in the Friday updates.

[peugeot407]

But there would be nothing left to discover when playing the Prologue for the first time, Alex!

The five civs that will be in the Prologue have featured in many past Friday Updates though, and even though these five civs only require two buildingsets, at least some buildings from both of them have been shown. Siege units are indeed something that we haven't talked about a lot yet, and we might, given that it's really quite different than in unmodded AoE3...


peugeot407

[AOE_Fan]

I guess I could write a Update of how Crusading and Muslim civs work, similar to previous update about features of European culture.

[Nosferatu]

AIs can build walls?

[AOE_Fan]

Of course, that's really basic stuff.

[Nosferatu]

yeah, but I hope to shoot a catapult, not destroyed half my army as age 2 :lol:

[Synecdoche]

Siege bombardments will have a lessened impact on battles (for most civilisations ) than it did in AoE2 or AoE3, don't worry. That isn't to say that properly micromanaged artillery won't be at all useful in the open field, though archers or knights will still be better suited for the anti-infantry task in most cases.

[Tilanus Commodor]

I need to agree with Alex here. What I know for sure is that KnB will have great art stuff and maps, plus a working AI, but I really lack a fundamental understanding of the civs, techtrees and how the features merge into all that.

[peugeot407]

Oh, have our continual Friday Updates done so little?

In all seriousness though, we are preparing a number of additional entries to the Handbook, as well as some more user-friendly versions of civ outlines, which we'll post as soon as we release.


peugeot407

[Alexastor]

Not if they're scattered over a couple of years (on several websites) with a lot of changes going on and lots of useless posts in between.

[Synecdoche]

If the posts in between bother you, we've made an effort at cleaning and organizing that goes back several months at least: http://www.knightsandbarbarians.com/f16-the-town-crier

[posionrun]

Will it have a new nation selection system? Like when you select a nation it will have its name instead of its homecity? and if so will they work with all game-modes, or will we have to make new ones like before?

[AOE_Fan]

The HC selection is still the same so you don't need to make new ones for new game modes. The new game modes are restricted to certain maps though, but it's possible to make all maps support Diplomacy if there's a request for it...

[Vvv]

The prologe will have compatibility with Steam, right?

[Synecdoche]

The prologe will have compatibility with Steam, right?

I play Prologue through Steam, so in that respect, I can guarantee that it will work! I'm not exactly sure if the multiplayer works through ESO, however.

[checanos]

What is the race-track-thing about? I know it is similar to the fire pit from the warchiefs but what is its background?

[peugeot407]

The idea is based on the immense popularity of horse racing in the Middle East during our timeline, the idea being that if people turn up en masse to view a sporting event, you can manipulate these crowds to do different things in their day-to-day lives, so it's possible to set the Race Track to things like "Encourage Hospitality" (increases poplimit) or "Encourage Enlistment" (unique for the Turks, spawns Bashis).


peugeot407

[AOE_Fan]

A little Easter present for everyone: The new civilization creation UI.



Indeed, each civ has a duplicate of itself, which allows having two players with same civs in one game. We hope you enjoy this nice bonus feature we put in!

[Hoop Thrower]

That makes me wonder, how did you make duplicates of the muslim civs so the race track thingy shows on the UI of all of them?

[AOE_Fan]

We decided to get rid of the number of dancers in UI completely, as it felt a bit unnecessary.

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