Any tutorial for this?

Alea Jacta Est is a series of Ancient Strategy Games using the renowned and proven AGE engine. The first in the series is Alea Jacta Est, which features the Roman Civil Wars. Other games in the series are Birth of Rome and Parthian Wars. The latest entry, Hannibal: Terror of Rome, highlights the Second Punic War.
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towerbooks3192
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Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2012 3:11 pm

Any tutorial for this?

Post by towerbooks3192 »

I did the tutorial and I don't know how to approach the game. Like in a WW2 game at least I know that running towards a tank destroyer as a tank is bad and getting encircled and cut off from supply is also bad. How do I know how to pick my battles?
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RealChuckB
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RE: Any tutorial for this?

Post by RealChuckB »

Hi,

There are a couple of excellent AARs on some other websites, they helped me a lot to get into the game (some even come with nice "beginner corner" boxes that explain a lot of the basics. It generally makes sense to look through the forums of the AGEOD website and the Paradox website (not sure if Paradox was a publisher for a while):

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/in ... ar.632034/

Hope this helps! I haven't played the game in a while but really liked it. It's probably a bit challenging if you come from a traditional hex-based wargame background, as they do a lot of things different.

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towerbooks3192
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RE: Any tutorial for this?

Post by towerbooks3192 »

ORIGINAL: Chuck B.

Hi,

There are a couple of excellent AARs on some other websites, they helped me a lot to get into the game (some even come with nice "beginner corner" boxes that explain a lot of the basics. It generally makes sense to look through the forums of the AGEOD website and the Paradox website (not sure if Paradox was a publisher for a while):

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/in ... ar.632034/

Hope this helps! I haven't played the game in a while but really liked it. It's probably a bit challenging if you come from a traditional hex-based wargame background, as they do a lot of things different.


Cheers!

Yes it is overwhelming and it is really a huge step out of my comfort zone. Paradox Games aside, the farthest step I took from WW2 is WW1. This basically throws out most of the usual things I find in hex-based wargames. I have asked around as well and they all point to that AAR. I will give it a read before sleeping.

BTW: Any general advice that you can give me in relation to the game? Any mechanics/options that you feel that could have accelerated your knowledge about the game if you know it that early?
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RealChuckB
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RE: Any tutorial for this?

Post by RealChuckB »

ORIGINAL: towerbooks3192

BTW: Any general advice that you can give me in relation to the game? Any mechanics/options that you feel that could have accelerated your knowledge about the game if you know it that early?

Well, I really haven't played for a long time and your post made me realize this ... I have to think a bit and also look through my AJE-related repository (I always store all the stuff I can find about games in my Evernote account and have to dig through that).
One thing I remember is that all the AGEOD games (I started with Birth of America, their first game) are all very similar when it comes to the engine, so (general) tips from one game transfer relatively well to another one.

Will report back!
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RealChuckB
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RE: Any tutorial for this?

Post by RealChuckB »

Ok, looked through my stash but didn't find anything particular (there is another beginner AAR for the earlier game "Birth of America" done by the same guy that is also great (again including "beginner corners") but it looks like all the information is also in the one I already linked.

I didn't find a forum entry that I found a while ago that basically stated that --coming from other games-- three aspects that you need to understand are: Unit composition, Command Points (CP), and postures and I found this to be absolutely true. In the beginning, I would look at the row of units at the bottom of the screens and would have no idea what I'm looking at - individual units, formations, etc.
CPs are extremely important to understand activation of leaders and this is the key to understand why your units do things (and, more often, don't do things). If you give orders and nothing happens, it gets extremely frustrating, especially when you come from a classic hey-based IGO-UGO environment, where you have (often) perfect control.
Postures are also important, again to understand why your units behave like they do. I think this aspect is not that difficult to understand and is actually very realistic. Think of what you, as a high-rank officer tell your unit before you shift your attention to other things: you would tell them something like "defend this area but retreat if your losses are too high", you wouldn't tell them "if you are attacked, I stop by, take your hand and move you around".

The best tip I can think of: Go over the AAR I linked and ONLY read the beginner corners first, then go back and read the whole thing.
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Ostwindflak
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RE: Any tutorial for this?

Post by Ostwindflak »

Hi Towerbooks. Surtur from Slitherine did a 3 part video for the game last year when promoting it for the Steam release. It is worth checking out as he explains some things that may help answer some of your questions about approaching the game.

It can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaGXdyPbmEA

*Edit* I also just remembered that Warforgame BlogSpot has some videos on you tube also. While there is no commentary, he has some pretty lengthy videos of play throughs which can give you a sense of the game too. I have watched them and found them helpful.
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