It really is an inovative game and I love the historical aspect. I have to say there is definitely allot of thought in this game. However one drawback really kind of kills the game for me. The fact all factions and city states always attack you every couple seasons and some how seem to coordinate their attacks like they had radio communication and watches. After the zillionth time of stopping what you are doing to fend off attacks from every faction that you have borders with gets old and tedious real quick. If the diplomcy system was more involved or something that allowed you to consolidate alliances and such at any point as well as gain trust with another faction that would be great. Or having the ability to turn 1 faction against another and so forth. This would add far more realism to the game with the time period. Rarely did everyone in the ancient age gang up on the same faction any long period of time. This needs to reflect that.

I understand this was likely done to keep the game fast paced. However it gets very tedious quickly. Maybe if the city and surrounding areas had tiered development for increased population growth, food growth, and econimic growth that would help alleviate the need for constant warfare. The Greek City States Skirmished often but rarely did they engage in large battles because the loss to either side of to many citizens would render that state a slave or client to another and they knew that. That could also lead to more things to do with supply and using seige tactics on lines of supply to bring a city state to it's knee's. Either way I will keep an eye on the updates and see if anything changes with the AI and such. Nice work so far though.

The thing about this game is it's based primarily on attacking everyone and controlling everything. Your goal, in the Philip campaign, is to control a lot of land. If the enemy just stood by and watched you do it, this game wouldn't be as fun, in my opinion anyway.

And when they launch assaults on you, each time more aggressive with more numerous armies, it feels to me kind of like a tower defense feeling. And I like that.

If I were one of the Greek city states and I saw one of them attacking many others and expanding I would be teaming up with anyone I could to slow them down or stop them too. Though I could agree with you that it's not entirely historically accurate how many 'wars' are being fought in the game, other than that this game does seem to be quite good at being pretty historically accurate.

The dev's had to come up with something as historically accurate as possible and balance it with gameplay. And the way they did combat I think is done pretty well. You don't feel bored all the time because there's usually something interesting happening somewhere, and sometimes in more locations than one.

edit: Also are you playing 'Gold?' Because in Gold I believe there's a better diplomacy system setup.

I figured the reason behind the constant attacks was to keep the game play interesting. However The City States in Greece formed alliance with different major states for client protection rather than just teaming up on the king of the hill. That was a huge diplomatic game in itself during that time period. If you made war against 1 state, you normally did so against many. However the same was true for the other opponent. Right now the other states never fight each other. Cities never change hands between factions unless you are the one conquering. That in itself is a major part of strategy games because opponents become much harder to deal with if they become great powers. It also add's more realsim to the game beyond just king of the hill. I don't want the other states to just sit there and wait to get eaten. They should be making dynamic moves just like player states do. Sparta should attack Athens rather than just sitting there. Athens should attack Sparta rather than just sitting there attacking me every 2 seasons via ship. That is what I mean. So on and so forth. Otherwise it's way to predictable every game. That is another reason it gets tedious.

I tried gold last night and it's defnitely better with the AI. I love the new population system to pull recruits from. That was definitely needed since it was like fighting infinate population states before that. The AI though still needs to change and Diplomacy might help that change. Right now it's way to predictable and the same every game. This gets old very quickly.

Actually I noticed when playing that some city states do fight eachother, and sometimes this came to my advantage.

I can't remember exactly which teams they were, but in the south I was sieging a city, then the cities owners army from the next city over came; their army was far larger than mine and I was worried I would be beat back. But then another teams army came from another city nearby. I think they originally wanted to fight me as well, but then both the other armies started fighting eachother and significantly damaged themselves, allowing me to move in and finish them off, securing the city.

You are right about that, entire greece is supposed to be at war
For example on Sacred War Objective...i had to fight through skeleton of greece in order to finish it, then i got a cutscene saying i was adrired from everyone and that they agreed i should be hegemon, or something like that...then nothing changed..athens kept raiding me every 2 minutes and same story goes on...its an awesome game, which needs a lot of work yet...too bad they are only 5 devs :(

But since you said no AI is attacking each other...that 99,9% true...when i attacked thebes...the athenians came on me too...then it was like 1v1v1...but i won :D
Thats the only case i have seen them fighting!!!!

Right now it's way to predictable and the same every game. This gets old very quickly.

try the sandbox mode. tons of factions and a different challenge every time.

in a way i like that other nations don't attack each other. it lets me take my time and conquer greece as i see fit. too many games now a days force you to rush. i like how on Hegemony you can take your time and enjoy.

It would be great to see other states attacking each other..at least see some nations expanding..even the weakeast, not only the strong...it would be greato have the feeling that you are not playing alone...i dont say athens for example conquering everyone all the time(they could easily)

Completely agreed. I always wished other nations would fight eachother just as they fight you, that was my only real gripe with the whole system actually. I'm no rusher, I don't like games where I *have to* rush, but the opposite extreme is no good either - it makes the world and its factions feel lifeless, as if they were just sitting there, waiting to be conquered, not even trying to grow into something that could stand up against you. It's all too static.

Because lets face it, once you've grown to 3-4 times the size of an average faction, you can't lose, it's just a matter of time, none of those tiny states are going to stop you.
If we are to make things like sandbox mode interesting (though the rest of the game would benefit too), we need to add more randomness, more dynamism, more variety in the way the rest of Greece behaves to make the player feel like no two playthroughs are ever the same. This is what makes or breaks replayability.

So I'd love to have an option (in sandbox mode at least) to define the starting diplomatic stance of the whole Greek world and set it to "All Out War (everyone fighting everyone)", or certain clusters (allied factions vs other alliances) at war, which would open up some more historical tinkering too as I seem to remember these greek states forming certain alliances from time to time, at least for the bigger wars.

I'd consider such AI vs AI warfare the single most important improvement Hegemony (or its sequels/expansions) would need in the future.

It would be great to see other states attacking each other..at least see some nations expanding..even the weakeast, not only the strong...it would be greato have the feeling that you are not playing alone...i dont say athens for example conquering everyone all the time(they could easily)

I was playing the original HPoM yesterday and was actually quite happy to see - for the first time - the Athenians fighting the Chalcideans at Therme. It was only a very small skirmish with only three or four units per side (the main bulk of the Athenians were attacking me at the time), but it did make me smile. It seems that different factions can actually fight each other. This is six hours into a campaign, though, so I guess it doesn't happen as often as we might like.

They're not really fighting eachother, they're both trying to attack you, they just got in eachother's way. It's a good thing at least they're hostile to eachother, but they never fight unless by such rare 'accidents'.

It would be great to see other states attacking each other..at least see some nations expanding..even the weakeast, not only the strong...it would be greato have the feeling that you are not playing alone...i dont say athens for example conquering everyone all the time(they could easily)

I don't agree I think it is quite a good way to go through the campaign at yourown pace, I am 20 odd hours into the game and the challenge is still there, the factions seems to be stronger the further away from home I get, and the unique thing about Hegemony that have pulled me in is the dynamic campaign, dont make this game into a standard RTS it is the epic scale that give the game its charm.

In my opinion sandbox is rather boring because i just amass an army and take over a faction and they can do nothing about it:(
I love the campaigns though especially the Archidameanean war:)