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In Saladin Campaign Mission 5 Jihad after sent 1000 gold to Persians they not replay or ally with me & I think it would be better to replace them by Franks instead
They are very unusual compared to the old Historical Battles, probably because they were not designed for being official campaigns when they were created.
The old Historical Battles focus on one war, one battle, such as Hastings, Agincourt, Kurikara, etc. But this time the battles of V&V cover timelines that span decades or even generations, such as Seljuk, Gaiseric, Nobun4ga, etc. , which makes them take a long time on playing, have many objectives and requirements, but appear very shallow in emotional description, because the text of intro, outro, etc. is still only the length to serve 1 scenario.
You can’t really empathize with the ambitions and dreams of Seljuk himself. It’s just that after a while he dies, and then another person appears, and then the person dies, and then another person again. Except for the words of a mentor, I don’t understand why the Turks insist on attacking the Arabs and Persians. The Mongols appear periodically, but the description is so less on each appearance that you don’t even get the sense that Kara-Khitai was actually a significant point in history that led to Seljuk Empire’s defeat and the beginning of its end.
Imagine what it would look like if The Hautevilles were compressed from 5 scenarios into only 1.
You also can’t understand Gaiseric’s state of mind when he was forced to leave Gaul and Spain and the efforts and preparations he made for the continuous migration of his people, because each move is what the narration asking you to do it rather than the reasonable plot letting you do it.
The DE version of Honfoglalás is relatively better as a similar concept, appropriately simplified without being too simplistic. Even so, a standard campaign with around 5 scenarios for Gaiseric with Vandals as their own civ is obviously best.
Nobun4ga tried to represent the chaotic era of warlords, but you can’t really understand the story of even one samurai family. You don’t know what the whole game has to do with Oda Nobun4ga himself, except that a faction is named Oda and has a hero unit with the same name.
Even picking a family and telling their story like the Bari would be more engaging. In other topics, I’ve shared the concept of a standard campaign for the Sanada clan.
In terms of design, the civilization and technology trees have been over-modified. You don’t feel Vikings when you play Vikings, and you don’t feel you are playing Tatars when you play Tatars. It doesn’t even feel like playing AoE2 but some kind of RPG.
When they are works shared free of charge to the community by a passionate creator, they are worthy of praise and welcome no matter what. But when they cost a lot of money but deviate so much from the general style of AoE2 campaigns, I personally don’t find it very good to experience.
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Yes, they are strange missions, very long and being RPG they copy those of WC3… Gaiseric’s mission seemed too long, on top of that I ran out of food before conquering the last city of Hispania, so I had to use tricks of resources to speed things up and even then it is too long…Gaiseric would have to be a 5-mission campaign:
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The Crossing of the Rhine (406-411): defeat the Franks while the Huns attack you from behind (similar to the 2nd mission of the Cumans)…
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Entering Hispania (411-418): Conquer the Comitatenses and reach the Vandal camp in Hispania and then capture the ports to the southeast…
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The Vandals in Africa (428-438): defeat the African tribes and conquer Carthage
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Remembering the Punic Wars (439-442): Plunder the islands and defeat the Roman fleet
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The Vandals in Rome (455): Sack Rome
Vortigern was good, it lasts an hour and is not that difficult if you focus on defending the northern area and do not recruit the Saxons…then the cumbersome Viking raid missions start with few troops and resources (I am in Ragnar and I already conquered Alba and Gaul, I’m missing Wess3x and Anglia)…
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You should clarify if you mean the DLC or the missions
I personally think the DLC is overpriced so not very good in that regard, but the missions themselves are excellent
I personally think that the worst of this DLC is not communication, semantic or reused assets from the modders.
The worst is gameplay. I only played the 4 first. My overall think is that it is too hard. It doesn’t allow you to win unless you do exactly what the creator though about. Civs are also too modified.
- Gaiseric. I think it’s okay. But if you go infantry as stated, you are screwed.
- Vortigern. I don’t like the appearance of England in this one. Vegetation. It looks like Eastern Europe, with all these birch.
- Charlemagne. It’s okay too.
- Ragnar. Very modified. And the ships taking damages is awful, on a already looong scenario. It’s bad because I like the large scale, like Gaiseric or Charlemagne. EDIT: I forgot: there should be more information about objectives, like circles on the map
Previous SP scenarios felt more better quality.
Yeah, the gameplay is weird but unique and very hard…you need to save all the time…
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You can really say that without a bad conscience.
Play through the Viking scenario of “Ragnar” and you will see what it means, if Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition is long and difficult to play… I successfully completed this scenario last evening after 21 hours of play, which is an absolutely new highscore…
At the Byzantines scenario of “Constantine 11”, where you have to defend Constantinople is also quite tough, you have to be constantly concentrated there and not lose one minute, otherwise you will overrun by the often occurring attacks from Ottoman turks…
However, I also found the old campaigns from 2019 bis 2023 quite challenging and often too difficult at the standart level of difficulty. For this reason I am missing up to nowadays 1 mission in order, to be able to complete the campaign of the Saracens, Bulgarians, Burgundians and Gurjaras.
Agree with this. Too many “traps” are made for the player at the “Ragnar” scenario from the Vikings.
What is bad:
-Ships suffer “time damage” on the shore and on the sea outside. Improve this time damage at least to this, that the ships on the shore no longer suffers any damage.
-Continuous Viking attacks from the “Viking raiders” is “unnecessary” and this do extends the scenario. After the player has clearded Scandinavia of rebellious Vikings with their Jarl, there should be no further uprisings or even overseas trips by Vikings to the players new settlements on England, Scotland, Ireland or Iceland.
What is good (New mechanics):
-You can hold oneoff celebrations (Blots) in the “Warrior hall” (Wonder), which give you a longer lasting but less powerful bonus.
-You can send prayers to the gods in the “Holy shrine”, who will then give you a unique 4 way choice bonus from your Viking civ for a certain short time.
-The many research opportunities of previous editor, special and foreign units in the “Warrior hall" (Wonder) are great.
-In the “Warrior hall” (Wonder) and the “Holy shrine” the player can research unique technologies.
-The previous Polish “Folwark” are expand with the Vikings and the new “Longhouse” building. If you build it for the first time, you get 1 villager for free. The Longhouse acts like a Mill.
-The fact, that the previously nonplayable editor unit the “Nordic warrior” is now getting an “Elite version” over the tech tree, is also great.
-The fact, that it gives an upgrade technology for the “Nordic warrior”, which can replace Cost of gold to Cost of food, is moreover useful.
-The expansion options for special units in the “Warrior hall” are a joyful thing. After you have defeat the rebellious Vikings in Scandinavia, you can train “Viking chiefs” (Jarl).
-I see at this Scenario for the first time a unknown Slavic (Rus) special unit with calling “Slingers”.
Yes, I conquered France with Ragnar and the boys and I only have to rescue the princess of Wess3x and destroy the castles of Mercia and Wess3x but it will be difficult without a lot of population or battering rams…the Jarls remain allies and do nothing…
Yes, with the successive dlcs they have made the campaigns more complex until TMR…
Concerning to the two Byzantines scenarios “Constantine 11” and “Komnenos”:
What is good (New mechanics):
-The celebration of Roman chariot races at the Roman “Colosseum” (Wonder). You can bet on 1 of 4 horses with a rider. If you hold such a race, you will get a Reputation bonus. However, if your tip was correct, you will receive an even larger Reputation bonus, which is very helpful, so that your Reputation can withstand a significantly longer period of time, before it falls below the 50 mark, which is then accompanied with uprisings of individual settlements of your Byzantines villages.
-The training of “Imperial Legionnaires” in the barracks, which was previously a nonplayable editor unit.
-The training of “Varangian Guard” from the Vikings, which is also a notplayable unit until now. You can train these foreign mercenaries with the Byzantines in the Wonder Building (Haiga Sophia). Apart from the fact, that this unit looks like an “Berserk”, the idea is indeed very good. Please create an independent Varangian Guard as a new Viking special unit.
Guys, I just played it and it is trial and error - i could not Adaption to the situation and I needed to start again. I played the Sedtschuk Mission and there were infinite waves of units attacking me. Thus experience is horrorful.
Anyway, I am trying to refund it.
Please see the link below for the solution. If you follow this path, you should be able to pass the scenario.
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WAY TOO FREAKING HARD, even for AoE2 standards. The scenarios are a mess, you don´t know what to do or what´s a threat and the tips and scouts does not help- Filthypedia, you are a freaking psycho 
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Matislav was brutal. Not very nice.
I just finished the last VaV scenario, Drake and ufff… how long it was the dlc, 6 months to finish everything… now on to Chronicles xd…
Isnt this a useless single player DLC, which adds nothing for multiplayers? As result i consider it as terrible.
6 months of gameplay for like $15? Sounds like a pretty decent return on investment. Hard to get that much enjoyment out of 3 lattes for the same price 
How much did you like it?
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Yes, although I didn’t actually buy it… I downloaded all the scenarios from the workshop and they were actually good, but veryyyy long (that’s why I did 2 or 3 scenarios at a time over the course of 2 days)… I have more hope for the Chronicles DLC…
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Drake and the Viking ones (except Ragnar) are the only easy ones, all the others are brutal and you won’t beat them in less than 5 hours
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