Age of Darkness: Final Stand is a tense game of desperate survival as hordes of Nightmares close in on the last bastion of humanity. The thought that the inevitable Death Nights are just around the corner can easily be overwhelming and can stun-lock any player with terror. Never fear, as we compiled a handy Age of Darkness: Final Stand guide with some essential tips to increase your chances of survival amidst the darkness.
Use Pause Often
RTS games generally have a knack of overwhelming the player due to constant pressure from unstoppable time. Luckily , Age of Darkness is a single-player focused survival RTS that includes a pause function, which is a godsend as it allows for any player to take a breather, analyze the situation, explore the UI, and compose themselves. There’s no real drawback to using the pause function as much as needed until you’re completely comfortable with the game’s systems.
Proactively Scout
Knowledge is power on the battlefield and this is the case in Age of Darkness. It’s vital to scout as quickly and actively as possible to find defensible terrain, resource areas, and points of interest that can provide a minor resource boost. Scouting will also inevitably lead to some combat as there are pockets of Nightmares guarding treasures and valuable territory, which will in turn lead to heroes leveling up and units getting the emboldening trait that increases health and damage.
Level Heroes Up Quickly
Speaking of heroes, they are an incredibly powerful and valuable combat asset. In fact, they are so capable that they can equal entire squads of troops with their area-of-effect attacks, damage, and resilience. However, heroes really start coming into their own when they level up from bashing Nightmares and unlocking their own passive and active skills that can increase the power of heroes several times over.
Kite Enemies
Nightmares, especially during the day, are quite slow and the most common Nightmare type is pretty flimsy. Two archers can usually knock one out in a single volley.
As such, archers can act as great scouts and damage dealers by moving into range of a group of enemies, attracting them, and then running circles around them all the while whittling them down. Take care however, this tactic requires good micromanagement, precision, and is far riskier at night when Nightmares get powered up.
Increase Wood Production
Wood and gold are the most valuable resources that will be relevant throughout the entirety of a playthrough. Wood, especially in the early game, is crucial to get flowing into the economy to start building up the base. Two or three well-placed lumber yards fully staffed with four villagers should cover the players’ needs throughout the early game and even well into the mid-game.
Figure Out Your Build Order
Efficiency is key in survival strategy games as players need to do their best to match the power of the incoming threat with their own speed and clever thinking. The early game is where the player’s decisions are most critical as it could mean losing several minutes of waiting around and doing nothing, all the while the countdown to the next Death Night keeps on going. This is where the pause function really comes in handy as it gives you sufficient time and space to explore what you really need to get up on your own two feet.
Spend Resources Actively
Resource storage space is as much of an issue as getting a steady flow of resources. So as not to waste time and experience resource overflow it’s vital to keep building, spending, or doing something to keep storage empty. This is most important in the early game where there’s barely any storage so players will need to make space by investing in structures and units.
Leave Space Between Buildings
In a survival setting, everything can be utilized in an integrated manner to improve defence. Even the lowly villager hut or farm can be critical parts of a defensive building layout. A grid layout of buildings that have space between them to create lanes is useful not only to leave free space for friendly troops to move around, but also to create funnel points through which to herd Nightmares towards kill zones and physically delay them from getting to the central keep.
Defend the Choke Points
Terrain is the player’s best friend when it comes to defence. Geographic features, such as thick woods, cliffs, and large rocks are indestructible and create natural barriers that can be included in fortified frontier.
The barriers will create choke points that will mitigate the horde’s biggest strength – numbers, by limiting the frontage in which the Nightmares can operate. Less frontage means fewer entities will be active and aggressive, while the rest will stand around doing nothing until more space is created or the ranks need filling.
Layer Your Defences
Going hand-in-hand with the previous tip, it’s highly likely that no single wall or fortification will be able to hold off a horde forever and breaches will form, through which Nightmares will shuffle through. The best way to mitigate potential breakthroughs is to create multiple lines of fortifications, ideally anchored on some prominent terrain features. This sets up a situation where the enemy will have to expend a good amount of force to break through the first line and by the time they get to subsequent lines, they might not have the force to punch through.
Age of Darkness: Final Stand is available on PC.
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