There's a topside and an underground layer.   I can't believe you didn't know that.

On the whole, let's not forget that this game has just been released. A fairer comparison would be to Elemental - War of Magic, not the current Legendary Heroes, which many people seem to be doing. They've said on their forums that they are going to be releasing expansions and updates too, so we'll wait and see how that goes. Considering that this game is just released, it's not in a bad state at all - balance needs a bit of work, but largely ok.

As it stands though, the game's tactical combat is vastly superior to LH's. Graphics too appear to be somewhat better (newer game so no surprise). There are also some unique units of which no equal exists in LH. Certain things like walls make a difference, unlike in LH too when taking cities, although higher tier units negate this advantage for defenders. The AI is also better overall at using tactical spells and dispelling things.

Edit: I should also mention that the AI is also pretty decent for an AI at figuring out which cities to defend and so on. It does get exploitable with time, but it's better than most 4X AI.

LH does have a better city building, questing, and customization (something I really feel that should be kept in the next Elemental). It seems AoW is a tactical combat oriented game with strategy as a sort of a backdrop, which LH is focused on strategy without a really interesting tactical combat. Most people in this thread unsurprisingly value strategy more than good tactical combat. I suspect that this may be the reason why GC3 had such hostility to any talk of tactical combat.

My biggest disappointment was that the game was not in 64 bit. I think neither game did a particularly good job of making each faction feel unique and alive though - something that Alpha Centauri set the gold standard for.

It will be interesting in the coming years to see how both titles evolve. Equally interesting will be seeing how the modding communities of each game pan out, especially once Triumph releases their modding tools.

very cool

It is an apples to oranges comparison, but seeing that other people were doing so on this thread, I decided to jump in too. Triumph's gamble here may have paid off - sales apparently exceeded their expectations.

I suppose you are right though that Warlock 2 may be the right comparison. But Warlock 2 has much more city building mechanics - versus AoW3 where the tactical combat is clearly the center of the game. In that regard, AoW can be regarded more like the Total War series than anything else.

@ten9 you misread my post I think?

I'm not down on this game (which I do own). The comparison with the old Warlords series wasn't a negative one, I liked those games.

I think you can let the ghost rest in peace now.  You planted a wonderful seed, and the tree looks to be growing quite big and healthy.  You also got to teach the entire industry how it should handle "failures", and distinguished yourself and your company in the process.  And personally, for what it's worth I am quite impressed with what your little group has accomplished.  From what you've told us, the WoM team just needed a bit more organization/direction, and time (with beta testers).  It was a lesson well learned.  Out of curiosity, if you don't mind me asking how long were those 6 folks working on WoM?

I just got a bit more into AOW III. I initially put the game aside in favor of GalCiv III.

I started playing the Campaing but got bored quickly. Really I have a hard time playing 4X campaigns.

I then Started a random map with 4 opponents in a medium map on King difficulty. I like it a lot more than campaign. Im playing Good elf sorcerer.

Just met an evil Orc that promptly DOW me the next turn. Lets see how that turns out

I have played this game a few times now and I find it kinda bland. My problems with the game is that it seems to unfold in the same way every time with not that much fun to be had.

1. I upgrade my heroes a lot, but those are not really interesting or fun upgrades.

2. My level 4 unit is totally superior and when I get to it (not that far into the game really), I can just spam them as much as I can afford. This is the same no matter what the unit is.

3. There is no sense of danger from the world around me. I love increasing the difficulty in 4X games so that the world will often kill me. Works great in LH and Warlock, not here. I have seen a few dragons about, but mostly as quests and the dont do that much if I leave them.

4. The buildings are the same in all cities and I just build everything everywhere (or put on produce merchandise to finance my level 4 units)

What I like

1. Sieges and the battles. They are fun and have some interesting decisions although there is a lack of variation mayhaps. 

What the game needs for me to enjoy it

Upgrades that matter, a world that haunts me, varied cities, items that matter for my heroes, unique stuff that only shows up once in a while and change the game +++ more FUN

I will much rather play Warlock 2 Sandbox mode. Creating super units, planning my cities, choosing abilities before game start that actually matter +++

There is a new patch on the way. If you bought the game on steam you can participate in the beta. It is scheduled for release nect week, if everything goes well.

It should fix a lot of the level4 unit issues and balance issues. They also give a glimpse on upcoming new features concerning better empire building and dimplomacy.

http://ageofwonders.com/forums/topic/v1-092-huge-beta-patch-available-on-steam-2/

Eh, I've decided to take a long term wait-and-see approach to AoW3, ever since the initial release disappointed me.  It's nice that they're adding new victory conditions, but to really grab me they'll have to flesh out the empire-building and diplomacy sides of the game.  I've heard they plan to do that though, so looking forward to where they take it.

Cauldyth, I'm in complete agreement. If they don't add to those, I'll probably never buy an Age of Wonders game again. 

The engine is already multithreaded. This was stated by the developers.