Hey there.

I've finished one version of the Light campaign on Normal. I found it pretty challenging, and some maps I eventually had to resort to assassination and AI abuse.

I'd like to try out some scenario maps, but I'm not sure where to start. I'd like it to be a little easier than the harder maps of the campaign on Normal, and it also really bugs me when the AI can maintain 3-4 full stacks with just one 4-hex city. It sort of reminds me of bots on League of Legends - they're dumb, but they get full builds at 35-40 minutes with 0/9/4 kda and 80 cs because they're filthy cheaters, so meticulous last-hitting doesn't count and you just have to bulldoze them in 20 minutes.

Anyway, I guess I'd like to have a challenge, but I'd also like to feel like earned advantages "stick" a little bit better. Enormous or multi-layer maps are sort of an unreasonable time drain as well. When my wife is less busy, I might try to get her interested with a nice 2-player co-op map as well.

If there are any pre-installed or fan-made maps that compensate for one or more of the above issues, that would be ideal. I guess in the future, I'll just have to hope that the AI in AoW3 is smarter but cheats less.

The nice thing about playing a Good ol' Game like AoW is that there are hundreds of maps to choose from. Head on over to HeavenGames for a look. You can do an advanced search by whatever criteria floats your boat. Read the map descriptions and the user comments. There is more than enough there to occupy you till AoW3.

This looks useful. I'm having trouble finding comprehensive breakdowns of the ruleset changes, though, and HeavenGames is littered with dead links. Any further info or links would be appreciated.

I'm also sort of wary of patching the game to the point where I can't ever get multiplayer to work.

Then limit your search to maps using the base ruleset. For example, here is a query based on the base rules, medium sized map, two levels, average difficulty, and only one playable race: Example.

There is no such thing as a best map. Every one has different tastes... I'd suggest identifying map makers with a style you like and then trying their different maps. In AoW:SM for example, the Groll has some of the best PBEM maps around.

I don't know of a better site for game information.

I think if I knew more about the rulesets, then it would be worth getting one if the changes really improved the balance and overall polish. I guess I'll just have to try some of these out, since there are only a half-dozen or so 4-star maps when 2 or 3 settings are under control. That's not as overwhelming.

Have you played the Wizards Throne?

You mean the middle of the three games, or is there a map for AoW1?

I haven't yet. I heard it was the weakest, and best saved for AoW lovers looking for extra campaign content. Do you feel like I'd enjoy it more based on what I've said here or something?

You want single-player scenarios, I think the wizard's throne campaign is better than shadow magic campaign. But no, advantages don't accumulate on it. While the story continues over the grand campaign, advantages only carry over for the three-scenarios per each sub-campaign.

Hordes of AI units are particular to AOW1.

Hmmm, good to know. I sort of like AoW1 more than SM in a lot of ways, but I do get tired of heroes and imported Tier 3 units doing almost all of the work while struggling to keep my economy up long enough to make more Tier 3 units. Tier 1/2 either evaporate on the battlefield or just eat your income.

It's not like I haven't got my money's worth from AoW1. May as well have the trilogy at this point.

TWT was the first of the games I played, so I can't say how the difficulty would scale for you. It is more difficult than SM. The maps are somewhat more dense than AOW1. If you're already good at beating the AI you might just be bored.

Not easy so much as lopsided. The CPU seems to cheat on gold income, but sometimes lets you exploit the AI in huge ways. Not always, but when it does it's a nice bonus. But too often, I don't find economic victory to be attainable at all.

I could be wrong, but I feel mostly certain that the gold income rule is different for the AI, at least on Normal.

That's an AOW1 thing.

I don't think so.