Building tall/Town concealment

[craggy plaza]

Could the magic victory allow for a research focused playstyle which emphasizes holding a few powerful, well-defended cities (possibly with multiple vassals) instead of painting the map?

Also I read that in Shadow Magic, the elves had a town upgrade called Secret Forest which cloaked their town. Are there similar town concealment mechanics in AoW3/PF and what are the chances we could see something like it in AoW4?

[coral turret]

I believe 'a few well-defended cities with lots of vassals' is just what the soft city-cap is meant to give an incentive to do

each city you directly control over the cap gives an income penalty that stacks

[craggy plaza]

Sounds good, thanks! I’m really hoping I can do something similar to the wood elf campaign in TW Warhammer where the focus is on protecting your forest rather than expanding. Even better if I can conceal it similar to the elves in AoW Shadow Magic

[coral turret]

I mean you're definitely gonna want to expand in the early game

But it looks like there are victory conditions other than 'paint the map'

So that's nice.

[craggy plaza]

Yea I’m really excited to find out more about the magic victory requirements

Do you know if there are any town cloaking mechanics in AoW3 or PF? Either through buildings or research

[coral turret]

It seems like you build a series of structures or province improvements aligned with a specific Affinity, and when you've met some requirement with them you have to defend them while you cast the Spell of Mastery a super spell that will win you the game

[coral turret]

Not sure at the moment!

The closest I know if (I haven't played Planetfall) is the Rogue which can cast something that restores fog of war the moment intruding armies leave line of sight of an area, but nothing like the Wood Elves from Shadow Magic

where they had the cool secret trees