Matrix Games Forums

Looked through some of the old threads & couldn't readily find what is new or improved with AOS other than XP compatibilty. Is it worth replacing my old beat up copy of the original AOS?

Any help or advice is appreciated.

Nothing is new except XP (and, I assume, Vista) compatibility.
 

In a word, no. Both AOS and AOSII were very buggy and not very good games. However AOS Privateers Bounty fixed all the major and most minor flaws with the series. I bought mine for $ 9.99 at Target. That doesn't mean to not buy this compilation. I did and I still own the originals. One of the big plusses are all the Napoleonic user made scenarios that have been brought out anew by some of the posters here. they were around awhile ago but the original install instructions were very hard to follow and the site that had them has no working links now. There is also a link to a Wilderness scenario in the mod section.

<< Both AOS and AOSII were very buggy and not very good games. However AOS Privateers Bounty fixed all the major and most minor flaws with the series. >>
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AOS "very buggy"?&nbsp; Are we talking about the same game?&nbsp; Yes, AOS II was a horrible, buggy mess.&nbsp; Privateer's Bounty fixed some but by no means all of the bugs.&nbsp; But the original AOS by Talonsoft & John Tiller was pretty free of bugs, IMHO.&nbsp; Can you give us some examples?

I's been years since I played them ( AOS and AOSII ) but the one thing I remember is the AI was terrible. As I recall any of the faults from AOS were still present in AOSII. So if the second one was bad the first edition could not have been very good, it stands to reason. Did they add bugs to AOSII that were not present to begin with? I believe it was exactly the same engine with some tweaks. AOSII was from Talonsoft also. I know that AOSII PB is actually from Akella.&nbsp;I know that with PB I can finally have fleet engagements that actually follow plausible historical outcomes.
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A quick search for AOS or AOSII will bring up old reviews with examples of the problems. I&nbsp;did say to buy the compilation no matter what I think of AOS.
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<<&nbsp; Did they add bugs to AOSII that were not present to begin with? I believe it was exactly the same engine with some tweaks. >>
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AOS II was published by Talonsoft but the code was rewritten from scratch by Akella.&nbsp; All sorts of bugs appeared which were not in the original.&nbsp; In fact, the whole appeal of the original AOS is that it is STILL the only Age of Fighting Sail computer war game which produces reasonably realistic results in a bug-free environment.&nbsp; ALL of its competitors - including Wooden Ships & Iron Men, AOS II, Privateer's Bounty, Man of War, Man of War 2 and Salvo - were either bug ridden or unplayable for some other reason.&nbsp; Oh, and the AI in the original AOS is not half bad either.&nbsp; Just my $0.02.
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ORIGINAL: Alex777

<<  Did they add bugs to AOSII that were not present to begin with? I believe it was exactly the same engine with some tweaks. >>

AOS II was published by Talonsoft but the code was rewritten from scratch by Akella.  All sorts of bugs appeared which were not in the original.  In fact, the whole appeal of the original AOS is that it is STILL the only Age of Fighting Sail computer war game which produces reasonably realistic results in a bug-free environment.  ALL of its competitors - including Wooden Ships & Iron Men, AOS II, Privateer's Bounty, Man of War, Man of War 2 and Salvo - were either bug ridden or unplayable for some other reason.  Oh, and the AI in the original AOS is not half bad either.  Just my $0.02.

Yep. AOS is the only playable fighting sail computer game ever made. The only detraction would be dated graphics. All the other games were not only buggy but just not very good. Wooden Ships & Iron Men being the best of the others and subpar because it wasn't the best board game of the genre {even though I loved it till I found a set of miniature rules-Ship of the Line, I think}.

"Wooden Ships & Iron Men being the best of the others"
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Yah, I thought it was the best of the others too, but the turns were too "long" and a ship could do too much in a single turn, which reduced the need for careful planning.
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Personally, I loved AOS and wanted to love AOS2. They were not the same game, other than the use of the name. I do not recall much in the way of bugs in AOS, but AOS2 had some crippling bugs - the worst of which were never fixed, not even in Privateer's Bounty (which I purchased in a moment of insanity - hoping beyond hope that the paid add-on would include the patch for AOS2 which should have been made).

AOS2 & Privateer's Bounty, together, were&nbsp;one of the all-time great game software industry ripoffs.&nbsp; Neither game was playable.&nbsp; After paying for AOS2, I can't believe I actually accepted at face value the promise that PB would fix all the bugs.&nbsp; ARRRGGGHHH!!!
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