Da Vinci's Art of War Released

[Surtur]

Europe, the 16th century. Tensions in the continent have reached their climax. Mighty lords want to expand their influence at all cost and war appears inevitable. But this war is bound to be different from the previous ones; because this time one man has changed the rules of war for ever. This genius, Leonardo da Vinci, has developed cutting edge inventions that have major consequences for warfare - and the nobles have jumped on this opportunity to strengthen their armies and update their tactics!

In Da Vinci’s Art of War on iPad, you will join a faction and fight their way to conquer European provinces. You will be confronted with tough AI opponents that will adopt various behaviors and strategies so that every game is very different. As you earn Victory Points, they will have to take economic and military decisions and invest in Da Vinci’s technologies to boost your armies and territory production levels.

Inspired by the famous boardgame Magnifico, Da Vinci’s Art of War has been especially designed for tablets. You can move units, build defense structures and develop dreadful war machines simply and easily. However, only the best tacticians will be able to adapt to this new European context and bet on the inventions that really make the difference!

Get more information on Da Vinci: Art of War from the official trailer of the game and its product page.

[Hanal]

Too many games coming out is making it difficult to find the time for them all but hell, bring 'em on! [:D] I fired this one up and quickly realized that the AI is no pushover and abandoned my first game, realizing that the tutorial may not have been enough to get a full understanding of what is going on. So I am reading through the rules to make sure I am not missing important points of the game. The presentation is top notch, though I will admit that the sounds of the army traveling on water become a bit annoying but that is a minor personal quibble. I believe that I will be spending some quality time with this game....thanks for this one.

[IainMcNeil]

Thanks and glad you are enjoying it. Please review the game on the app store - the more reviews the better!

[Dorb]

Great game. Tough AI, kind of like Risk but with a twist and lots and lots of options. Only played 2 30 point games with 2 AI but really ,really like what I see. Do have some inventions that need to be translated to English. But for the price you cannot go wrong. Keep up the great work.

[IainMcNeil]

Thanks and please let us know of any non English text you see as we found one bug but there could be more we missed.

[VALENT PHILIPPE]

I think that the IA is very strong and unfortunately too heavy for me. i am not a pro [:D]. Does is a possibilty to modifiy the IA for the next? and add a "hot seat"?[&o] if i want to play with friends on the same i Pad?
Sorry for my english!!![;)]
Thanks

[Dorb]

How many points are you playing and how many AI and stars to they have?

I played my 3rd game and finally won against 2 AI at one star skill and 40 point game. I think it helps if you get Magnifico the first turn -at least that is who the winner has ended up being in the 3 games I played so far.
I really love some of the decision making you have to pick. Lots of hard choices. The first 4-5 turns are a big land grab while trying to decide to go for lands that produce more money or infantry. Not to mention the stress of how much to wager on bidding on Da Vinci's inventions while saving money back to build a castle - as they go quick.
Going to get more games under my belt and give more of a review later.

[Dorb]

ORIGINAL: Iain McNeil

Thanks and please let us know of any non English text you see as we found one bug but there could be more we missed.

As far as I can tell the only invention that needs translated to English would be on the Gyroscope. But I'm pretty sure I have not seen them all yet.

Love the game, keep up the good work.

[IainMcNeil]

I find if you build less castles you'll do better. The AI likes them a bit too much and will attack them all the time and if you don't have them you escape many of the attacks. It is something I want to tweak in the Ai behavior actually!

[Hanal]

ORIGINAL: Dorb

How many points are you playing and how many AI and stars to they have?

I played my 3rd game and finally won against 2 AI at one star skill and 40 point game. I think it helps if you get Magnifico the first turn -at least that is who the winner has ended up being in the 3 games I played so far.
I really love some of the decision making you have to pick. Lots of hard choices. The first 4-5 turns are a big land grab while trying to decide to go for lands that produce more money or infantry. Not to mention the stress of how much to wager on bidding on Da Vinci's inventions while saving money back to build a castle - as they go quick.
Going to get more games under my belt and give more of a review later.

I have felt sucker punched a few times in this game. For example, I was so intent on getting the first turn in one round that I bid 160. My competitors? They each bid 10... Ouch!

[VALENT PHILIPPE]

Thanks for your response. How fonction the biddings please?
Is aproblem of Time? Does have to go quickly to buy the invention?
Thanks

[Hanal]

No..there is no bidding war where you are pressured by time or trying to up the highest bidder. There are no second chances as you only place one bid... . The AI opponents will place their bids which are hidden from you and then you simply enter the amount you wish to spend. There are only two available inventions in a 3 player game so once the bids are revealed, the highest bidder must choose an invention while the second highest bidder can either select the remaining invention or pass it to the third player.

[VALENT PHILIPPE]

tThanks. is it possible to play with only two players or IA? How much inventions there?
Does the game is more easy with à few IA?

[Dorb]

ORIGINAL: VALENT PHILIPPE

tThanks. is it possible to play with only two players or IA? How much inventions there?
Does the game is more easy with à few IA?

You can play against 2 or 3 AI players. There are 12 different AI opponents rated from 1 to 4 stars - 4 stars being the hardest. I would start out playing against 2 of them 1 star rated and maybe 40pt game.
In a 3 player game you will get to bid on 2 random Leonardo's Project each turn - the winner of the bidding and runner-up getting to pick which they want and the looser of the bid getting nothing.(but his money/Florins back, unless one of the other pass)Note the winner of the bid also gets to move first in the turn being proclaimed Magnifico along with +2 victory points! (the winner is first to 30,40 or 50 VPs depending on what you set if for)

As far as inventions, they consist of 4 different types. Mind you, you do not get to buy infantry, only tanks and planes. You get infantry each turn based on the value shown on the territories you control. - which makes it tough because some territory give you more money(up to 30,20,10) each turn and few infantry and some give you more infantry(up to 2,1,0) and less money. The best ones are the one that give you 30 and 2 infantry each turn.- sorry got side tracked. Back to inventions 4 types:
- Instruments to upgrade tanks and planes (Mechanical Gear,Gyroscope,Multi-cannon,paratroopers,Cannon Lighter)
- Weapons for infantry (Great Cannon,Machine Gun,Bombard,battle Wagon)
- Defense projects (Automation,Armored Ship,Submarine)
- Works of Art (Gain you one time VPs and extra 10 Florins per turn)
Note: For inventions you win, you have to pay a one time cost to activate it for your nation for it to be usable.

[Dorb]

ORIGINAL: J P Falcon

ORIGINAL: Dorb

How many points are you playing and how many AI and stars to they have?

I played my 3rd game and finally won against 2 AI at one star skill and 40 point game. I think it helps if you get Magnifico the first turn -at least that is who the winner has ended up being in the 3 games I played so far.
I really love some of the decision making you have to pick. Lots of hard choices. The first 4-5 turns are a big land grab while trying to decide to go for lands that produce more money or infantry. Not to mention the stress of how much to wager on bidding on Da Vinci's inventions while saving money back to build a castle - as they go quick.
Going to get more games under my belt and give more of a review later.

I have felt sucker punched a few times in this game. For example, I was so intent on getting the first turn in one round that I bid 160. My competitors? They each bid 10... Ouch!

I agree, they sometime appear to be on the same page with each other. I try to tell myself maybe they both just happened to not need what was up for auction. At first I was worried they were saving up for a massive offensive with the money they held back.

[Dorb]

ORIGINAL: Iain McNeil

I find if you build less castles you'll do better. The AI likes them a bit too much and will attack them all the time and if you don't have them you escape many of the attacks. It is something I want to tweak in the Ai behavior actually!

Funny you say this. I have been playing 2 AI, both 1 star while learning the game.

I had the lead after everyone did the land grab/castle build. The 3rd place AI(forget the name RED color) had been building a nice air force up that I had not noticed and launched a sneak navel invasion and took over one of my castle territories.[:(] Of course on my turn it was taken back with my tank force I had been building up(mechanical gear x2,multi-cannon)that slaughtered his infantry.[:)] Then on the next turn he did the same thing to the territory right next to this one with the same results. I think the final tally from the battles he lost 12 infantry / 12 planes while I lost 11 infantry. I had other territories that only had 4-5 infantry on them due to me reinforcing my castle territories that may have made better targets. I figured he wanted them due to him having an 'Automation" invention and was going to start putting shields on the castles he just took.

I learned you really have to watch the new purchase / 3 free move option / sea lane attack combo. You can really pull together some forces to come up with a surprise attack from a direction you did not expect. [;)]

Any chance that in a patch you cannot move new purchases for that turn? Ok for defense but not offense.

[VALENT PHILIPPE]

Thanks à lot for your responses. I wait the patch to buy the game. Perhaps it will Be more easy. [:D]

[IainMcNeil]

The game play is intended to favour the attacker and avoid stalemates so I don't think we want to prevent new purchases moving.

[Dorb]

ORIGINAL: Iain McNeil

The game play is intended to favour the attacker and avoid stalemates so I don't think we want to prevent new purchases moving.

Gotcha, Blitzkrieg Da Vinci style. [;)]

I will try your anti castle suggestion this weekend.

[VALENT PHILIPPE]

A new patch is coming soon? with possibility play with a person on the same Iapd?
thanks fo response