Yes and no, in the best way. I have played real time strategy games for many years, but I often find them either too hectic or I can't suspend my disbelief (eg., "a marine comes out of the barracks after you pay him 100 minerals huh? Not a second earlier even though the base is being attacked? Also, why don't they all come out?"). If I had to compare Autumn Dynasty to other RTS games I would say it's a bit like Myth and Company of Heroes. It's like Myth in that formations and movement are important. Units move somewhat slowly and you can't instantly redeploy everything if you have a poor match-up (e.g., swordsmen attacking your pikes) or you have been outflanked. If you choose to withdraw, you're going to take some lumps without dealing the enemy any damage. By contrast, when I played through Starcraft and Command and Conquer I just had to select blobs and click on things I wanted to die. Flanks really didn't matter since everything was generally fast enough to get there and my units could just turn around and shoot at the next thing without a lot of negative consequences. It's like Company of Heroes in that terrain and micromanagement are critical and there is not resource gathering. In Company of Heroes everything is at the squad level, so your men have to take cover behind fences, craters, and houses. You also have to maneuver and micromanage various abilities. Squads aren't expandable (like most every individual unit is in a typical RTS) and you would often withdraw them to re-man if you got into the losing side of a fight. There weren't any big field of resources, just control points that give you more "command" to recruit new units. Autumn Dynasty is the same, but at the army level. Forests can hide regiments, protect from them arrows, and slow cavalry down to a crawl. So if you have infantry, a forest is not a bad place spring an ambush. Mountains are impassible and can protect flanks. Rivers suck for everyone. Hills increase archer/catapult range, but slow down units (and cavalry way down). There are many abilities as well, some of which are terrain dependent. For example cavalry can get fire pots that set a whole forest on fire, making moving or hiding in them fatal. Your regiments aren't expendable. It's often worthwhile to withdraw them and refit at a fort. Likewise, there aren't any harvester units. All of your regiments can build structures (e.g., farms, forts, camps) on predetermined spots. This might be a small thing, but I can suspend my disbelief as well. Everything is abstracted at an army level. It makes sense that you need to build villages to supply gold to recruit regiments. Taken together, Autumn Dynasty is an excellent game. It has great mechanics. The controls are very well adapted to touch screens (possibly the best I have seen). The art is beautiful and stylized. I think it compares very well to other strategy games, even established franchises on PC, and it is by far the best RTS on the iOS. As for how it will work on a smaller screen, I guess we will have to see.
Wow, a fellow Myth player! I thought that game was long forgotten-- it was one of the first rtt games I encountered, and perhaps subconsciously shaped our design for autumn... I especially loved the battlefield debris and the physics, and the feel of the world--in those days developers could put up a wall of text on the mission briefings and have players read. I maintain that bungie has kept it up with the writing all these years! When I worked on military simulations (we have two years of mandatory military service here in Singapore) I realized the importance of blocking and denying troop movement: flanking is only really possible in games which have some form of suppression or blocking. Otherwise, flanking is reduced to directional damage (iffy since units can turn on a dime), or a limited reward of an extra attack while the opposing line reorients. It also depends on the damage to hp ratio of the game involved: if low, it becomes a slugfest which relies on pathfinding and bulky units to block, if high, it relies on the out of position units being eliminated really quickly. Without either, hostile units can run through or past each other, completely obviating flanking, as many games have done.
In the past, but NEVER forgotten! And I miss those text walls, in particular when accompanied by a narrator like the Myth II soldier... I was already anxious for Autumn Dynasty like few iPhone titles before it, but yours and Uberskoopers discussions of the combat system has me droolin' like a Myrkridia with a devour at will order from the Summoner... (too obscure?). A RTS with depth and sophistication to the combat mechanics? I'm glad I game mostly on iOS. Those desktop devices are so behind the times
Myth (1 and 2) was defiantly a gem. I still play it occasionally. I loved the battlefield debris and physics too. It was really satisfying dropping a dwarven cocktail on top of a huge formation of thrall and seeing all the blood and bits rain everywhere. What I liked best though was the story. It had just the right tone and delivery. The narrator was just a soldier who watched incredulously as huge powers battled it out, and his side was on the losing end. The tone was down-to-earth, desperate, sad, and hopeful. Whoever they got to play the narrator did an excellent job. The writers did a really good job staying away from fantasy cliches. There aren't any elves. Instead the "archery" units are from a strange humanoid race that seems loosely based on the mongols. Wizards are rare and externally powerful people, instead of weak wusses that can't take a hit. There was a very rich map that contained a lot of detail, much of it wasn't explained. It makes the world seem like it's filled with mystery. What's the Drowned Kingdom of Yer-Ks? I'm still interested in learning more about it 10 years later. All in all Myth borrows a lot from the Black Company series of books, but it's still great. Do you plan to continue the Autumn Dynasty campaign after this patch? I would really like to see some new missions/story content. Maybe some news factions, or just small things that differentiate the various factions. While the story in the current campaign was pretty much resolved it ended Spoiler foreshadowing a larger conflict . Where will you go with that? Spoiler Is it a rebirth of the rebellion under the scholar who inherited all of the rebel leader's armor? Are the White Devils going to come back? Also what's the deal with Spoiler Radiant Ming? He was kind of a dick and we never really learn why he is so shifty.
Hi Uberskooper, I am one of the developers for Autumn Dynasty and I'm real glad to know that you have really been following our story. There are a lot of avenues to take our story further (and of lot of heated discussions on how and what next), but I grudgingly admit that you caught pretty much all of the hooks we left in the story. Fernfreak might be shedding more light on the next step later, but no matter the direction we take, I promise it will be interesting.
I am seriously considering picking this up. What I need to know is, how does Autumn Dynasty compare to Total War Battles: Shogun 2 which is the last iOS RTS game I played.
Just noticed that the update is available! I dropped a 5 star review for you guys. Thanks for an awesome game! Edit: Just finished the first objective of the campaign. Is playing like a dream on my 4th gen iPod Touch!
Most exciting news tonight for the iOS. Been wanting this since it came out for the iPad. Finally, another quality RTS for the iOS.
Reydn and backtothis, Thanks for your support it mean a lot to me We are supposed to start announcing tomorrow, glad you found out about it early.
Would love to hear some feedback on how well this game plays on the smaller screen. Want to try this, but fear how manageable things are since it looks like a lot to shrink down and still work well.
I haven't had any issues so far. I haven't played it on a big screen, so I don't know what I'm missing - I think it's what you'd expect, you've got to do a little more panning and zooming than on an iPad or computer screen, but nothing drastic. I'm playing on a 4th gen iPod Touch.
Fantastic game, I love the setting, This is THE strategy game I have always wanted to play, I just didn't know it until now. Being a fan of Ancient china's culture, I fit in snugly with the story and everything straight away, and the blitz and skirmish modes mean this is permanently staying on my iPod touch. One of my best purchases yet on iOS, thank you, developers.
