I love what I'm seeing here, but every time I start a new game I end up giving up.

All the games in the series seem to be very unforgiving of mistakes. For example, if you lack gold early on it's going to be hard to expand your towns.

The enemy is extremely aggressive and will attack you as soon as he has a few decent units. Since you need to use your strongest units as scouts to try to find mines and other such resources and fight with independent groups if you meet them, your towns will most likely be left vulnerable.

The maps are huge, and filled with lots of special encounters and locations to seize. This is what I dislike the most about 4X games, when you pretty much need to know the map layout before you've played to be successful. It ceases to be a strategy game and becomes a puzzle game.

I love the combat but these games can be very frustrating. I found that HOMM doesn't feel nearly as much as a puzzle game and the sequence you follow matters less, and Disciples 2 has a simple system so reloading and trying something else isn't nearly as frustrating, So these two are not as bad in this regard. MOM remains my favorite by far since there is none of that (although the enemy AI is way too passive), it's a complete sandbox, and it just has such an amazing sense of wonder.

AoW seems to be an acquired taste for those who like to analyze sets in depth, factor tons of different factors in and learn through trial and error.

The games can be very hard indeed, but when you play them for a while you'll notice there are certain "triggers" that have some consequences. When you explore slowly and allow your cities to grow before exploring further, you'll usually be able to build a nice force before the enemy attacks.
This wasn't the issue in AOW1, but in 2 and shadow magic it's very noticable.
The triggers are usually you creeping onto enemy territory or them being able to spot you. The AI isn't really doing anything big until you hit these triggers.
Downside is, now you know this, the games might become too easy; don't shoot the messenger!

I agree that this is a difficult game. After having a hard time on the tutorial, I opted to go for the sandbox play -- I created custom scenarios. That almost always lets you find the best part of a really good game. No artificial restrictions or weird triggers to worry about; you can just be resourceful in any direction YOU like and play the game as it was meant to be played.

So far I'm on my third sandbox game and having a blast. First game I let the computer pick Archons for me at random; second I picked the familiar, to branch out from there: humans. Played with air magic and now with earth magic, with the constructor trait both times so I can more fairly judge one school against the other.

So far it seemed air was pretty easy to play, but pretty hard to play against. When I played Archons, I think I had Cosmos magic, and that was pretty good.

What I've noticed is that expansion is key. A lot of the difficulty that can arise later in a game like this one is because of not expanding aggressively enough earlier. You're just going to have to take some chances and roll out a pioneer to make a new city early in the game.

Every extra city provides a lot more income, and as it grows, much more still. I noticed the same thing in HOMM3 -- each new city you have will provide enough income to pay for the troops you need to buy from your main cities. This keeps expansion an ongoing process, as you'll need more troops to defend your new city too.

What really helps boost the process is when your outposts grow to villages, then towns, then cities. After dozens of turns in which money comes in at a trickle, one or two towns (or whatever) upgrading suddenly turns on a torrent of money.

You have to give them time to do it, though. Instead of buying all the buildings you fancy and in the process slowing growth and being unable to buy anything new for a long time, put your outposts on population growth as long as possible before putting some troops in them and probably a wall around them. This works fine in single-player for me so far. When I bought what I wanted as I needed it (you ALWAYS need something, right?), my growth, income, and expansion stagnated, and I became a punk to the opposition.

Anyway, the game is difficult, but far from impossibly so. The campaign I can't vouch so much for, but I rarely care for campaigns anyway, finding them usually dull and restrictive, and sometimes unnecessarily difficult to boot. So if you're patient and stick with it for just a little while, you'll be winning your sandbox games in no time and having one heck of a lot of fun doing it.

This is the liveliest 4x game I've played -- the game seems more vibrant to me than the others. And the fact that the combat part doesn't play like an embarrassingly amateurish afterthought like it does in some of the others is such a relief that it shouldn't feel so uncommon to the genre. The "one more turn" syndrome on this one doesn't eventually feel burdensome or make me feel like I'm making a big mistake.

Good post, Blarg. I'm about ready to launch into AoW1. I'll definitely be considering your tips. +1

@Chihaya: this game has a great autosave which kicks in before every battle, so if you try something risky and get killed, just reload the autosave file -- simple. Yes you do need to know the map to succeed , but save when you're sitting in a great position, then venture out from there -- if your route lands you in a nest of Orcs, go back to your good save and try a different approach. (always have at least one good save when you have loads of money, units, and territory, and don't overwrite it -- the further into the game the better, but a good save is golden.)
Don't use your strongest unit as a scout, send your fastest, and make it a single one (the one with most steps) --he/she can outrun just about any trouble). Once you find a sweet spot, load your closest savefile and go in that direction.
Get to know the spellcasting system and use is regularly -- enchant weapon, stone skin, and bless are basic spells, they can usually be cast same-turn, and they help considerably in combat (and they last as long as you have the mana to sustain them). Make sure you pick spellcasting upgrades when you level up, as well as wall-climbing (no more slow and clunky battering ram), extra strike, and holy champion.
Sometimes the angle you approach a battle can make the difference between winning and losing it, and if you sneak up from behind (the tail end of a file), you only fight the last two parties, not the whole force.
I still have a lot to learn about this game, but i felt the same way as you when i started, but once you've gotten the hang of "very hard" you won't much like going back to easy (although i must admit Heroes of Might and Magic is my new guilty pleasure). Good luck.

I also find Age Of Wonder kind of Hard and have also just given up after starting a new game but thanks to the tips here i might try to give it a 4 chance :) and see if i can get into it

Don't give up. If you can get past the early difficulties it is an extremely fun game to play. There are a few other threads on this forum that offer great tips as well.

Also try out a variety of races The difference in playstyles can matter alot in how hard the game is.
I found it a very hard game, until I discovered a few races that fit my playstyle, and made it more enjoyable as well. The orcs, with their formidable warlord (lifedrain ability from Totem building makes this a killer unit). Frostlings, with their ability to freeze opponents in place, and last the Syrons with their lightning-stun ability to keep enemies at bay.

Guys also... if you think the AI is hard; try playing against a rational, thinking, human being in one of the multiplayer modes. Humans players use cunning, distraction and outright deviousness to win. Politics, betrayal, spying – it all comes into play. I cannot highlight this enough, the games really comes into their own during multiplayer and if you haven’t ever experienced it – you are missing out on 90% of what they have to offer. IMHO.

Well, I'm glad I'm not the only person. I generally enjoy these games not so much for the challenge, but for the distraction. However I can't even beat the first mission, scenario or campaign. I get overrun immediately, and can never build up an army fast enough to counter my enemies. : /

Ah well.

Felt the same. Still fun though. I liked the first two Disciples a little better than AOW though. Much more forgiving, though still challenging.

Try the sandbox games first. Worked for me. They usually play better than a campaign because you can do what makes the most sense at the time instead of trying to fit into a sometimes very weird, restrictive, or unnecessarily difficult solution template that a campaign designer dreams up for you.

This is good advice! +1 Thumbs up =)

Depends also on the title you are referring to, the first game I tried was Shadow Magic, years ago, and I found its campaigns pretty well balanced and enjoyable (with the exception of the apocalyptic final mission). Then I bought the older AoW2, and it was definitely more challenging, the computer being surprisingly aggressive caught me offguard many times; knowing the game I was able to recover (well, most of the times :P), but I can see how it can be harsh to new players.

But if you like turn-based games I encourage you to keep going, AoW has a lot to offer once you get accostumed with the game mechanics. It gives a lot of freedom to the player, due to the huge number of units, heroes and magic available. Usually there isn't really a single best way to beat a scenario (once again, with the exception of some very few maps heavily filled with scripted events), just many many options available, each with its own advantages and weaknesses.

Early game you lack everything, while the computer has an empire already, but it won't send a full scale attack for quite some time, and on the other hand many of its outposts aren't well defended.
So you can, for example, try to conquer them as soon as possible; this is risky as you'll have to spread your forces too thin, so usually I take my time to reinforce what I have, and defend until I can produce (or summon) the strongest units. Meanwhile I send my hero and a small escort to pick easy fights for experience, capture buildings, nodes etc.

Know that early game you won't be able to win every battle. Since your city will be small, and won't be able to replace casualties fast, don't be afraid to retreat if you know you'd be overwhelmed. Live today to fight tomorrow. Also, and this is important, remember that you cannot retreat units in defensive battles. If you know you'll be overwhelmed it's best to simply abandon your recently conquered strategic point (village, mine, or else) rather than lose it AND your entire defence forces. Fall back and regroup, send more unit to support and you'll be able to claim it back in a few turns. Also, when you're retreating, there's a chance that the computer will split his army in two, one group to hold the village and one to chase your units, possibly leaving you the chance to retaliate in the very same turn.
If, on the other hand, you know you won't be able to regain the city for many turns, then start selling buildings before it gets captured, you'll get some gold and the enemy won't benefit of them.

Again, these are just a few of the many options you have. Try and experiment, you can save and reload the game whenever you want, except during battles. It will take a while, but once you understand the game rules, everything will feel smoother and more fun.
And should you find yourself stuck and frustrated in some point of the campaigns feel free to inquire, I'm sure some other poster or me will be able to answer. :)

also, i personally have found that some of the episodes within the campaign simply cannot be won through the traditional capture/fortify/produce strategy, but require what's come to be known as the "assassination run", whereby you find the enemy leader (this may take a couple ill-fated scout missions) and send your entire force directly to that leader before he/she has had a chance to build up a large team of bodyguards. it's been a while now, so i can't remember which episode, but i clearly recall one of those tri-level episodes (surface/cavern/depths) where i labored for a week or so to conquer the map in traditional style, then one day in sheer frustration made a run for it with my strongest troops, stumbled across the leader relatively unprotected , and won the episode in less than an hour. always worth a try, eh?