Age of Wonders 2: The Wizard's Throne
Encyclopedia
Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne is a turn-based, strategy
PC
-game in a fantasy
setting. The first sequel to Age of Wonders
, it was developed by Triumph Studios
, a Dutch
game developer
.
Magic use in Age of Wonders 2 uses a "domain" system; spells can only be cast within the domain of the casting wizard, or the domain of an allied wizard. Magic domains can overlap with each other, and in the simple case, are centered on the Wizard. When a Wizard is present in a Wizard's Tower, the radius of the domain increases significantly, and in addition is radiated by other Wizard's Towers, Magic Relays and Heroes under the control of the player. Global spells can only be cast by the Wizard, via a spell book located in the main user interface; spells can be cast in combat by either Heroes involved in the battle, or (provided the battle takes place inside their domain) the Wizard who controls any party which entered the battle.
In contrast to Age of Wonders, the maps for tactical battles are now much smaller. This led to faster combat
and less maneuvering of units. Also in contrast to its predecessor, when gaining new levels Heroes can no longer choose new skills from a list of all available skills; instead, the player is forced to choose one of three offered skills, depending on the Hero's class.
The other wizards are:
happy migrating to Age of Wonders 2: The Wizard's Throne; this was aided by the involvement of members of the HeavenGames community in suggestions, testing and development of the game.
Probably planned as an expansion pack
, Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic
was published later as a stand-alone game.
Recently though a group of Age of Wonders fans have been working together to develop an application to restore the automatic send ability. The Age of Wonders Email Wrapper is a lightweight application that is run on the same PC as the game. It works by emulating an open SMTP server and accepting SMTP requests from the game.
When the game sends an email it will connect to the Age of Wonders Email Wrapper, as it would a real server, to send the email. The Wrapper then receives the email and sends it out over the internet using a modern SMTP server specified by the user and with whatever authentication or encryption is necessary.
The Wrapper can also download email games from IMAP and POP3 email accounts. So it essentially encapsulates the entire Email functionality of the game.
Strategy video game
Strategy video games is a video game genre that emphasizes skillful thinking and planning to achieve victory. They emphasize strategic, tactical, and sometimes logistical challenges. Many games also offer economic challenges and exploration...
PC
IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
-game in a fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
setting. The first sequel to Age of Wonders
Age of Wonders
Age of Wonders is a turn-based strategy PC-game often likened to Master of Magic. Originally titled World of Wonders, the game incorporated several role-playing video game elements that were dropped when simultaneous turns were implemented...
, it was developed by Triumph Studios
Triumph Studios
Triumph Studios is a computer game development company based in Delft, the Netherlands, founded in 1997. It has developed several games for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.- Games :* Age of Wonders, released 31 October 1999...
, a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
game developer
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
.
Differences from Age of Wonders
Unlike in Age of Wonders, where the player has the option of removing their leader from the map, players in Age of Wonders 2 take the role of an immortal spell-casting Wizard, who cannot be upgraded, but in certain circumstances can survive being killed.Magic system
In Age of Wonders, magic is used via the spell casting abilities of leaders and heroes, and global spells can be cast some distance away from the hero; use of spells in combat is restricted to battles where a hero with spell casting is present.Magic use in Age of Wonders 2 uses a "domain" system; spells can only be cast within the domain of the casting wizard, or the domain of an allied wizard. Magic domains can overlap with each other, and in the simple case, are centered on the Wizard. When a Wizard is present in a Wizard's Tower, the radius of the domain increases significantly, and in addition is radiated by other Wizard's Towers, Magic Relays and Heroes under the control of the player. Global spells can only be cast by the Wizard, via a spell book located in the main user interface; spells can be cast in combat by either Heroes involved in the battle, or (provided the battle takes place inside their domain) the Wizard who controls any party which entered the battle.
Combat and heroes
Combat
Combat, or fighting, is a purposeful violent conflict meant to establish dominance over the opposition, or to terminate the opposition forever, or drive the opposition away from a location where it is not wanted or needed....
and less maneuvering of units. Also in contrast to its predecessor, when gaining new levels Heroes can no longer choose new skills from a list of all available skills; instead, the player is forced to choose one of three offered skills, depending on the Hero's class.
The Wizards
Each sphere is mastered by two wizards (except Cosmos), only three wizards do not have a seat in the Circle of Evermore: Julia, Queen of the Elven Court; Meandor, her brother; and Merlin, a Human King.- Water: The Jolly Merchant Marinus and The Mysterious Nimue
- Fire: The Arrogant Yaka and The Seductive Karissa
- Earth: The Grumpy Fangir and The Solitary Mab
- Air: Tempest, Lord of the Skies and Artica, the Ice Queen
- Life: The Wise Anon and The Ancient Serena
- Death: The Twisted Nekron and Arachna, the Spider Queen
- Cosmos: Aged Gabriel
Fan reaction and involvement
Improved audio quality and graphics, sub-quests from various gods, more races and build options as well as two large single-player campaigns made most of the large fanbase of Age of WondersAge of Wonders
Age of Wonders is a turn-based strategy PC-game often likened to Master of Magic. Originally titled World of Wonders, the game incorporated several role-playing video game elements that were dropped when simultaneous turns were implemented...
happy migrating to Age of Wonders 2: The Wizard's Throne; this was aided by the involvement of members of the HeavenGames community in suggestions, testing and development of the game.
Probably planned as an expansion pack
Expansion pack
An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
, Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic
Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic
Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic or AOW:SM is a turn-based, strategy PC-game in a fantasy setting.Shadow Magic is the third incarnation of the Age of Wonders series, and is a direct sequel to Age of Wonders 2: The Wizard's Throne...
was published later as a stand-alone game.
Age of Wonders Email Wrapper
The Age of Wonders games were released in a time where most ISPs provided open SMTP servers, not requiring explicit authentication or any encryption. These days, and since the age of SPAM, those kinds of SMTP servers are rare. The development of SMTP servers over time effectively broke the play by email automatic-send function of the game. Players could still use the manual sending option, to use their own email client, but this involved manual repetitious actions for each game played.Recently though a group of Age of Wonders fans have been working together to develop an application to restore the automatic send ability. The Age of Wonders Email Wrapper is a lightweight application that is run on the same PC as the game. It works by emulating an open SMTP server and accepting SMTP requests from the game.
When the game sends an email it will connect to the Age of Wonders Email Wrapper, as it would a real server, to send the email. The Wrapper then receives the email and sends it out over the internet using a modern SMTP server specified by the user and with whatever authentication or encryption is necessary.
The Wrapper can also download email games from IMAP and POP3 email accounts. So it essentially encapsulates the entire Email functionality of the game.
See also
- Age of WondersAge of WondersAge of Wonders is a turn-based strategy PC-game often likened to Master of Magic. Originally titled World of Wonders, the game incorporated several role-playing video game elements that were dropped when simultaneous turns were implemented...
- Age of Wonders: Shadow MagicAge of Wonders: Shadow MagicAge of Wonders: Shadow Magic or AOW:SM is a turn-based, strategy PC-game in a fantasy setting.Shadow Magic is the third incarnation of the Age of Wonders series, and is a direct sequel to Age of Wonders 2: The Wizard's Throne...
- Master of MagicMaster of MagicMaster of Magic is a single-player, fantasy turn-based strategy computer game created by Simtex and published for MS-DOS by Microprose in . It is of the 4X genre. The player is a wizard attempting to dominate two linked worlds. From a small settlement, the player grows an empire and banishes the...
- Triumph StudiosTriumph StudiosTriumph Studios is a computer game development company based in Delft, the Netherlands, founded in 1997. It has developed several games for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.- Games :* Age of Wonders, released 31 October 1999...