Wizard Warfare 2: Cephalopod Wars

[h1]A brilliant indie gem with masterful tactical mechanics[/h1] A very well-thought-out 4X game with a surprising level of polish for an indie, single-developer title. After completing a full 325-turn playthrough as a Holy mage on Normal, the game felt a bit too abstract for my personal liking. However, I know this is more a result of the limited resources available to a single, highly dedicated developer—who reads every single post on the Steam forums and actively improves the game based on feedback—rather than a conscious design choice. While this game does many things well, one mechanic is handled exceptionally well and deserves the spotlight: tactical battles, which are usually a trap for most 4X developers. When developing a classic 4X title (which I essentially consider to be a Civ clone), you are faced with a few choices on how to approach combat: [list] [*] [b]A.[/b] Abstract tactics away completely, like the original [i]Civilization[/i]. [*] [b]B.[/b] Use the main map as a strategic-tactical hybrid layer by introducing a one-unit-per-tile rule, like [i]Civ 5[/i] (or approach it differently, like [i]Endless Legend[/i]). [*] [b]C.[/b] Have full-fledged tactical battles on a separate map. [/list] If you choose [b]C[/b], you then have to decide whether these battles are: [list] [*] [b]C1.[/b] Manual. [*] [b]C2.[/b] Automatic. [/list] Choosing manual tactical battles is highly problematic in 4X games. It exacerbates the genre's biggest issue—the late-game slog—and shifts the player's focus from grand strategy to micro-tactics. Because of this, developers usually end up giving players a "C2" auto-resolve option anyway. (You can read more about why I think this is a design trap in my review of [i]SpellForce: Conquest of Eo[/i]). [i]Wizard Warfare 2[/i] steers clear of this tempting trap by employing a "C2" system heavily inspired by the [i]Conquest of Elysium[/i] series. Honestly, I’d call [i]Wizard Warfare’s[/i] tactical battles even better because it gives you much more fine-grained control. In [i]CoE[/i], you can only influence battles in a limited way through army composition and casters' active spells. Here, you can also decide on the positioning of the squads that constitute an army (left flank, center, right flank), their behavior templates (caster, ranged, healer, melee), delays (incredibly useful to stop your light cavalry from rushing to an early demise), and the types of spells casters should prioritize (offensive, defensive, summoning, or healing). As a side note, the unit composition system is incredibly simple and logical, and it might be the best I've seen in a 4X game yet ([b]Army -> Company-> Squad -> Figure[/b]). All in all, this game is highly recommended to any 4X buff. It deserves way more praise and recognition than it has received so far.

this is a good 4x game. if you know civ titles, you get into it easily. combat is a bit dominions-oriented, which is even better. auto-combat on a real tactical map that simulates every projectile and every hit on a unit according to weapons, armor, skills etc. the game is not easy to win, though. i just lost a game, i must admit. my skeletons were less powerful than i initially expected. no upkeep though ... my mages were nature casters, but wolves and spiders and stuff cost upkeep. one could summon skeletons ... and skeletons dont cost upkeep! highly recommend!!!1 okay, i was overrun by freely roaming wolves and beastmasters. but i digress. next time i will be specializing on holy magic. and my city placement will be better. in theis game you can also prosper with fewer but better qualitiy cities, just like in the first titel, it seems. more possible strategies are always welcome :) the AI seems good enough.

I'm not sure I actually recommend this game. More accurately, I wouldn't recommend this game to myself if I had a time machine, but I know people I have actually recommended it to. The game starts out punishingly slow (like 6-10 turns to build your first building depending on spawn), and it only gets not slow once a city is fully chugging along. I kind of don't understand why someone would recreate dominions, but in such a limited fashion, and maintain most of dominions weird fail states (poor tutorialization, poor pacing, unclear systems/ui).

Great game!! is there a way to make the UI larger for handheld players?

Very well made sequel in the theme of Masters of Magic. Lots of improvements to make game more tactical and fun. Auto combat is relaxing to watch and sip a quarter mouthful of hot drink.

Bardzo dobra gra i bardzo pomocny suport.

Il y a un vrai côté immersif avec de relativement grand armée dans un style création de colonie. Pour être un gros joueur de total war warhammer avec une grosse ordinateur je trouve pourtant ici le côté 4x et magie presque plus immersif au sens que tu t'étend et tu voie pop des ennemie neutre à combattre puis tu fortifie ta ville et utilise des chariot pour transféré des ressource d'une ville qui fait de la nourriture ou des ressource pour l'industrie de ta capital où d'une autre grande ville. Pas assez jouer pour se savoir s'il y a trop de mécanique abusif, mais pour l'heure j'ai le sentiment que même des unité de bas tier garde toujours une utilité à minima de ralentissement de l'ennemie dans une armée là où dans un total war comme t'ai limité à 20 unité et que tu as un multiplicateur si + d'armée de facto sa conduit a faire des armée orienté uniquement vers l'élite. Là pas vue de limite au bataille ceux-ci semble changé de dimission selon la taille de l'armée. A date franchement une excellente découverte, et hâte de voir la suite. (gros + le fait de pouvoir capturé des unité neutre quand tu bas des campement d'ennemie neutre, me retrouvé avec un ours polaire même si se fait tuer rapidement c'était trop chou lol)

molto carino

Cool game, thanks