Age of Darknessis a brutal RTS experience that will have players fending off massive hordes of night creatures. Failure is part of the game, but learning from mistakes can be hard if you’re not quite sure what went wrong in the first place.
As a game that’smuch likeThey Are Billions,it’ll take a lot of experimentation before you may get your first win inAge of Darkness. If you’re looking to find success as soon as possible, here are a few tips and tricks to help you survive even the biggest of Death Nights.
Explore, Expand, Defend
The general gameplay loop ofAge of Darknessrevolves around these three actions, andit’s a cycle that repeats itself until you ultimately win (or lose). Explore the map for resources and buildable land, expand your base to reach these resources, and once the Nightmares come barreling down on you, gather your warriors and fight to the last. Almost every game ofAge of Darknessrevolves around these three tenets, and so will the rest of the tips in this guide.
Find and Secure Resources
The very first thing players should do at the start of the game is toexplore their surroundings. Leave a soldier or two to defend your Keep, then have everyone else go out and find stuff. Keep an eye out for the following, and plan your town layout accordingly:
Build Outposts
The good thing aboutAge of Darknessis your buildings don’t have to be connected to a power grid linked to your main base. This means thatin times of absolute necessity,you’re able to build a basededicated to harvesting specific resources. If there are no Stone deposits near your base, you can build a Quarry over one that’s far away without having to worry about building limitations. Don’t forget to post a few guards there, and if a Death Night horde is expected to head its way, dismantle everything and send any soldiers back home. Rebuild it once dawn breaks.
On a related note, Nightmares can spawn in areas that you’ve previously explored as long as they’re within the fog of war. Try to keep your territory lit up as much as possible.
Layer Your Walls
Walls are great for keeping stray Nightmares from entering your territory, but during Death Nights,a single layer of defense won’t be enough. Thankfully, you can build multiple layers of walls next to each other. Take care not to overdo it, as you still need to kill Nightmares for Death Nights to end, and you won’t be able to do that if your ranged attackers can’t reach the enemy.
Build Scratching Posts
A scratching post is basically a disconnected chunk of walls meant todistract enemies during Death Nights. They can soften the blow on your main defensive wall by diverting some Nightmares away, all while giving your ranged units more time to shoot. You can do this simply by building a line of walls that extends out from your main line.Scratching posts can be used as trapsonce you unlock the Ignite ability from the Wood Workshop.
Level Up Your Hero
Your hero is a very strong unit in terms of raw stats, butwhat truly defines them are their skills. Edwin, for example, gets a Flame Shield ability that protects him while harming enemies. All heroes have powerful skills like these, which is why you should be sending them to fight as often as possible. Each hero and factionoffers different playstyles, so experiment and find the ones you enjoy using most.
Spend Your Resources
Saving up for an upgrade is important, but if you’re letting resources stagnate in storage, you’re going to miss out on a lot of potential power. Apart from building structures, training units, and unlocking upgrades, you may spend excess resources via Trading Bazaars. Here, you cansell unwanted resources and purchase ones that you’re more in need of.
Adjust Unit Targeting Priorities
To relieve some of the stress of micromanaging units during combat, you can change their targeting priorities bypressing F or clicking on the button left of the Repair All buttonin the unit actions window. Set single-target units like Archers to target strong enemies first, and set melee units to target the closest ones.
Take Your Time
This gamedoesn’t require you to be fast. You can pause the game at anytime by pressing the space bar or the relevant button on the upper-right side of the screen. The next Death Night is always approaching, so if you need to plan for your next step, hit the Pause button and think things through first.
