Multiplayer compatibilty with the Expansion

Posted on September 19, 2014 by SikBok in news

Hello everyone, with the Golden Realms Expansion out now, we’ll discuss how the Expansion impacts multiplayer. Are you worried you can’t play AoW3 with or against your friends, worry no more. All shall be explained below. People that buy expansions for AoW3 – such as the Golden Realms expansion – get their hands on all sorts of new goodies. Expansions can contain new races, classes, specializations, units, items, maps, etc. However, what happens if they play with people that don’t have access to those goodies?

AoW3_GoldenRealms_Arriving

In AoW3 you can enjoy the game without worrying who has which goodies. When people play together, all the goodies they have together end up on the map. For example, if you have the Halflings from the Golden Realms Expansion both you and your buddy – or nemesis – will be mugged by Halfling Scoundrels in the local Bandit Camp and both of you can loot the Crystal Skull from the Lost City. And, if you don’t have Halflings but your buddy does, you can go and capture his Halfling town and build some of your own. It just wouldn’t be fair any other way.

So to get down to details, everyone can make the Leader of choice with the goodies they have. So if you have Golden Realms you can select Halfling as your starting race, Wild Magic as a specialization, etc. If you don’t have Golden Realms you can’t select Halflings as your starting race, etc. So the long and short of it is that you can make or select any Leader in multi-player that you can make or select in single-player.

AoW3_GoldenRealms_Spontaneous_Mutation

When setting up a multiplayer game, the person hosting the game determines the availability of any expansion features such as Seals of Power, Empire Quests or handmade Scenarios. So again, if you host a game you can set up a map for multi-player in any way you could set up for single-player. Just with some more people in it, naturally. And more banter in chat.

Then when the map starts – or is generated for random maps – the game checks which goodies everyone has and makes sure everyone’s goodies – new Races, Dwellings, Units, Items, Secret Spells, etc. – end up on the map. So if just one person in the multi-player game has Golden Realms goodies they can end up on the map for everyone to enjoy.

To make this possible everybody requires a part of the Golden Realms content. Because of this Patch v1.4 will include both the files needed to allow everyone to play together. So – in download size – expect a relatively large Patch and small Expansion. The download for the Expansion have the files needed for the Expansion’s single player features.

I hope this answers your questions about the Expansion and Multiplayer. If you have any left, feel free to let me know in the comments.

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Home › Forums › Multiplayer compatibilty with the Expansion

This topic contains 10 replies, has 11 voices, and was last updated by  SikBok 5 years, 8 months ago.

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  • September 19, 2014 at 15:24 #123652

    Lennart Sas
    Keymaster

    See news post: http://www.ageofwonders.com/multiplayer-compatibilty-with-the-expansion

    Happy multiplayer gaming!

    September 19, 2014 at 15:57 #123674

    MrBasilisk
    Member

    I like this. On the one hand, it gives the impression of ‘on-disk dlc’, but that seems the only way to make multiplayer as seamless as Triumph is making it when dealing with DLC, so it’s all good. Heck, it even allows folks hesitant to buy a new expansion to try out some of the features themselves by playing with someone who bought it in the first place and so reinforce (or rectify) their decision.

    Well done, Triumph.

    September 19, 2014 at 16:16 #123689

    Arcador
    Member

    Some other games apply similar approach.

    However, this one brings it up one level further – it does not separate the players in any way.

    For example BF4 – you can use the equipment of someone with expansion, if you kill him. However you can’t play the new maps.

    Or trade cards games – you can play with someone having cards from certain expansion, but you can never obtain his cards.

    I find this approach nice and I hope it works well for future expansions as well!

    September 19, 2014 at 19:36 #123756

    Thariorn
    Member

    This is definetly a good way to advertise your own products too 😀

    And, as Arcador said, this won’t split the player base (apart from Custom made Maps with Expansion Content) soooooo 10 points for Triumph

    September 19, 2014 at 22:19 #123809

    Sindir
    Member

    cool, that´s a friendly choice to handle this problem,
    many other companies would make it the other way, that only the content of the “lowest” player is available in a multiplayer…
    But this way, halfling-haters that don´t want to buy the expansion, can still kill some of this little folk in a multiplayer…great ;D
    (by the way, don´t know if it´s even possible to hate this cute little things…)
    Anyway, my brother don´t likes the halfings so much, but he bought the dlc, because you guys make so good work here!
    The only thing that he is missing still are the tigrans, so don´t let him wait to long to make him really happy 😉

    Beste Grüße von euren deutschen Nachbarn direkt hinter der Grenze ^^

    September 19, 2014 at 23:58 #123827

    IntentionalTravels
    Member

    Classy move. Thank you, Triumph.

    As has been mentioned, there are lots of games that if you do not have the current xpac of the moment, you are not playing with folks.

    I like the whole “choose what DLC options you want and still play” deal. Let’s say I despise halflings but want a necromancer (not saying I do, but just for illustration). I could still play with someone and not be punished for not having certain content.

    September 20, 2014 at 01:19 #123839

    Sifer2
    Member

    Good way to handle it. Better to generate goodwill among the multiplayer community, than be stingy about it. DLC content is also pretty fairly priced for what you get I think. So far the devs are making great decisions.

    September 20, 2014 at 10:31 #123902

    Rymdkejsaren
    Member

    This is a great example of how things SHOULD be done. It is annoying that smaller developers do this while bigger once go for the money-grabbing, must have DLC shit. I will buy this no doubt, and every expansion that comes after. Thank you Triumph!

    September 20, 2014 at 11:04 #123913

    Kmin
    Member

    You guys bring hope to this world. Thanks Triumph – this is the best solution there could be!

    September 21, 2014 at 17:40 #124257

    Peacefulpain
    Member

    no time to play aow3 atm, so i didnt plan to buy the expansion.

    now that i saw the way you at triumph are dealing with dlc and multiplayer i have to say hats off. a non-greedy approach that doesnt generate barriers.
    just bc of this approach/philosophy alone i will buy the dlc.

    September 24, 2014 at 15:34 #125059

    SikBok
    Keymaster

    Glad you all like the solution we’ve picked.
    And thank you all for your kind words : )>

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