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If you like tactical turn-based combat AND 4X, AOW3 is a beautiful game.
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You MUST expand aggressively ASAP to gain your piece of a map's resource pie and deny your opponents, or you will lose. Cities only serve as resource collectors / troop factories. The game plays a lot like a supcomm style rts in terms of map control. Turtling in AOW3 is simply not a viable strategy. So, for me, AOW3 is the perfect storm of a game. I also happen to love tactical combat like XCOM, FF Tactics, Shadowrun, etc. AOW3 strips away all of the pretense of alternative win conditions for me, and dials up the eXterminate to 11. So, in pretty much every 4X game, despite the myriad of options, I'm going to ignore them, and be that asshole that you pray you don't start anywhere near in multiplayer. Most 4X games give you multiple win conditions and diplomacy options, but IMO those options typically don't hold up vs someone going pure domination.
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For example, I love AOW3 because it caters to my dark, warmongering heart. BUT it fills a very specific niche, one it sounds like you aren't into at all.
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