Its Official!

[OldSarge]

AGEOD put it up on their page, now all we need is a release date??? [:D]

Hannibal: Terror Of Rome

[Fetrik]

Looking forward to it.

[Peter Fisla]

Yeah, I'm thinking about getting it...however...why for the love of God does the expansion needs to be stand-alone...again!!! Why can't we just have one executable and simply buy the scenario packs like Panzer Crops! Now with with the original game and ROR and Hannibal we will have 3 different applications doing the same thing. I'm assuming there are game engine changes, new features...so what?! Owners of the previous games in the series should get those features too, from my point of view this is a bad idea. Not really happy about it to be honest, this was the reason why I didn't bother with ROR.

[NefariousKoel]

This is going to require another separate installation?

Ehh.. no matter. I'll buy it. Would be nice to have some kind of merged install to save some space though.

[mbar]

ORIGINAL: Peter Fisla

Yeah, I'm thinking about getting it...however...why for the love of God does the expansion needs to be stand-alone...again!!! Why can't we just have one executable and simply buy the scenario packs like Panzer Crops! Now with with the original game and ROR and Hannibal we will have 3 different applications doing the same thing. I'm assuming there are game engine changes, new features...so what?! Owners of the previous games in the series should get those features too, from my point of view this is a bad idea. Not really happy about it to be honest, this was the reason why I didn't bother with ROR.

I don't understand the way the AJE series has been released either. I bought AJE when it first released and I have not purchased any other expansions, stand alone or otherwise.

[vonRocko]

Yeah, when I bought AJE when it first came out, it was supposed to have been the base for later expansions.
I wasn't to thrilled with the limited number of campaigns, but this was going to fill up with add ons. So I thought.
Bor should have been a mere expansion. Now this new one is also its own game. Full price for a few new scenerios!
Are there new features? maps? etc.? I probably won't pay full price for what should be DLCs' to AJE.

[OldSarge]

The downside to DLC's is that they only appeal to players who have already invested in the engine. Those who haven't made the leap, probably would be turned off by having to invest more $$$ in a base engine in order to play the scenarios they're interested in.

It doesn't really matter for me, Roman history spans a vast enough time line that there would be room for multiple stand-alone titles.

[jack54]

I'm sure I'll buy it. The separate install doesn't bother me. I like the system and the company.

Looking back it is an odd journey though.


AJE was the base...then dlc Spartacus, and Cantabrian wars

Birth of Rome ends up being a new install...BOR can play AJE scenarios but AJE can't play BOR stuff.IIRC

Then Parthian Wars for ....AJE.

Soon Hannibal:Terror of Rome separate install.

To add to the confusion we can call the new game TOR. That makes AJE BOR TOR.

But seriously...I love these games and appreciate all the work the teams have done.

[Dorb]

I guess as long as its once a year I will go along with it. Don't want too have too much milk. [:D]

[vaalen]

I am just grateful that we can have it. I did order BOR, despite the additional install, and it is an outstanding game, with a great variety of really distinct scenarios. Glad I did.

[wodin]

I too bought AJE under the illusion it was going to be a base game for suture expansions\DLC for periods of Roman ea I was more interested in..so I also haven't bothered with any of the other standalone games.

ORIGINAL: vonRocko

Yeah, when I bought AJE when it first came out, it was supposed to have been the base for later expansions.
I wasn't to thrilled with the limited number of campaigns, but this was going to fill up with add ons. So I thought.
Bor should have been a mere expansion. Now this new one is also its own game. Full price for a few new scenerios!
Are there new features? maps? etc.? I probably won't pay full price for what should be DLCs' to AJE.

[Qwixt]

ORIGINAL: wodin

I too bought AJE under the illusion it was going to be a base game for suture expansions\DLC for periods of Roman ea I was more interested in..so I also haven't bothered with any of the other standalone games.

Same here. It's made me sour on ageod all together, and major reason why I did not get CW2.

[Hexagon]

After the change in how release AJE new scens i stop buying AGEOD games in the first day, except Spanish civil war and here i have personal motivations.

I think the AJE release is a total disaster, a good game released in an horrible way.

[aaatoysandmore]

ORIGINAL: Qwixt

ORIGINAL: wodin

I too bought AJE under the illusion it was going to be a base game for suture expansions\DLC for periods of Roman ea I was more interested in..so I also haven't bothered with any of the other standalone games.

Same here. It's made me sour on ageod all together, and major reason why I did not get CW2.

Same here. I do not like monkey milkers or nickel and dimers. Whatever happened to giving us the game the whole game and nothing but the game all in one package? Now it's hard to even get a gd printed manual. I'm hell bent on waiting for bargain bin discounts now. Though with Ageod and Matrixgames/Slitherine group that is harder to do. But, wait I will as I've waited this long. Might as well wait them out. [:D]

[Qwixt]

Yep, then just look at how they withheld all the scenarios for CW2, and released a paid for DLC. I haven't regretted my decision to put them on a no buy list, or wait till real cheap list. I literally owned every ageod game till this game's expansions came out. Granted some of those ageod games I own were because of real cheap steam deals where the game was included in a package deal.

[Rosseau]

Definitely "different strokes for diff folks." Unlike poster Hexagon, I was really disappointed in the depth and tiny scale of Espana, but really like the Roman series. But nothing can compare to Revolution Under Siege's Drang Nach Osten monster campaign. What a labor of love.

[Ginetto]

OK. Matrix Games announced Hannibal TOR on April 8. On the 24th they made a big splash on the website saying it was "going Beta" to avoid post-release bugs. Yesterday I open the MG website to see what developments there were and H-TOR has disappeared. To find anything you have to do an advanced search, but the game's page just says the release date is to be announced. I remember a WWII tactical game - whose name I forget - back in 2006 that discreetly dropped out of sight in the same way.
To stay linguistically coherent with the AJE time frame: "Quo usque tandem Matrix Games abutere patientia nostra?"[:(]

[Hexagon]

Well, España 1936 is a single man work and he is working at least in one scenario to the game... i think is Ebro 1938.

Maybe the problem with España 1936 is the lack of a complete team behind the game with more manpower we can see the game divided in more scenarios... i think one covering from alzamiento to Jarama battle (middle 36 to february or march 1937), other to cover last year of war (Maybe Ebro escenario could cover this, try survive with republica...) and maybe the option to start war after Jarama battle to skip the first moments of war... at least you secure you dont fall in first year.

Other thing could be if we can see a patch to add the future WWI title improvements in statics front to the game... if finally AGEOD find a way to made AGE deal with static fronts España and RUS are going to have a new taste.

[Rosseau]

No doubt, quite an effort for one man. And my lack of knowledge of that campaign does not help. I had the same problem with Rise of Prussia, but got the Gold version and will just have to read up on the period.

[Tamas]

ORIGINAL: Peter Fisla

Yeah, I'm thinking about getting it...however...why for the love of God does the expansion needs to be stand-alone...again!!! Why can't we just have one executable and simply buy the scenario packs like Panzer Crops! Now with with the original game and ROR and Hannibal we will have 3 different applications doing the same thing. I'm assuming there are game engine changes, new features...so what?! Owners of the previous games in the series should get those features too, from my point of view this is a bad idea. Not really happy about it to be honest, this was the reason why I didn't bother with ROR.

Hello All,

A few things worth mentioning:

Panzer Corps works much the same way: Afrika Korps and Allied Corps are both standalone and integrated into Panzer Corps if the user has that installed.


The new engine improvements for Hannibal will be available for the Alea Jacta Est and Birth of Rome players in the form of free patches.

The way the games will work (and if my memory serves right, this is already the case with AJE and BOR) is that launching one will show the scenarios from all the games installed, so there will be no need to switch around the different standalone games, you can stick to always launching one, and you will be able to play whichever scenario.

And with the immense work put into the scenarios covered by the game, there couldn't possibly be a price difference if AGEOD went with the expansion route.

So being standalone as opposed to an expansion is really the same for existing players in all practical considerations.
Where there is notable difference between them is for newcomers to the series.
For example, if somebody wants to game the 2nd Punic War, but he is not comfortable with buying a base game plus expansion for the sake of playing the expansion, should we really deny him the chance of discovering and playing this great series? I don't think so.

This model gives existing fans of the series a reasonable and comfortable solution to have one huge game of Roman era wars, while also leaving the gate open for new people to discover the series. And that is the best solution, I believe.