This is more of a “late impression” but anyways: Glad I started in november, not that I dislike the game but it’s definitely not something I’m able to binge. I’m playing the gog Gold Edition which only has one level of “speed up gameplay” and the missions take a really long time. I find that I don’t mind that very much, I just pick it up whenever I feel like I need some relaxing gameplay.
There are absolutely some gripes to be had, several people have already mentioned the ships. Pretty groundbreaking mechanic for the time I think but also not fully cooked. The sliders for prioritizing which industry gets how much raw materials etc is also kind of broken, the one set highest gets 80% of everything, even if the remaining sliders are just slightly lower.
And then there is the catapult and the general combat “gameplay”. I see why the catapult is in the game since the combat is pure rng (if both sides have upgraded soldiers) but the later missions really feel cheesy when most of the fighting comes down to if you can shoot down enough enemy soldiers.
That being said, whenever I really sit down and play I become addicted to mining all the ore, minting as many gold coins as possible, building fortresses and generally having an impressive “kingdown”, regardless of if the mission calls for it. Pretty sure I’ll be playing this game throughout the year, with the world campaign and the free play mode.
