you should find the answers to most of your questions here

http://www.planetageofmythology.com/features/articles/es_trip05/#homecity

As I understand it, the shipments are now called cards. In every game you can choose to use a maximum of 20 cards(shipments).

Decks are combos of cards that are set by you. If you've got say 40 cards, you can't bring them all into the game, you've got to choose between them. Decks just make it easier to select the cards you want to use before the game starts. So you can group the cards you like for the strategy you plan to use into a deck.

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Yes, you still earn points by fighting and buildings things. These points unlock shipments that you can buy, in your home city. What's new is that you're allowed to use only 20 of the shipments you bought in the game. The collection of the 20 shipments is a deck.

So. What you call "Shipments" are what the game calls "Cards."

For reasons that will probably be clearer when you play the game, they had to call them "Cards" because some cards are single-shipment items (i.e. they can only be shipped once), and some cards are multi-shipment items (i.e. they can be shipped multiple times over the course of the game).

The "Cards" and "Decks" terminology is a carryover from the board-gaming days where players fight wars. Those board games still exist, and people still play them. Pokemon came after.

So having said that, here's a quick Q&A... please remember that this is what we saw while we were at ES, and may change between now and when the game comes out:

What is a card?
It's technologies and units you can get from your Home City, many of which are specific to your civ.

What is a shipment?
It's what you get as a result of playing a card. Shipments take time to arrive from your Home City.

What is a deck?
A collection of up to 20 cards

--- CARDS ---

What kind of technologies?
I don't know all of them, but many of them are civ-specific. For example, the Dutch has a card that allows them to build up to 4 banks, while another lowers the cost of building towncenters.

What kind of units?
Again, I don't know all of them, but many of them are also civ-specific. For example, one gives you 2 settlers, one gives you 2 Privateers, one gives you 8 Skirmishers, while another one gives you an anti-infantry cannon.

Do you get buildings too?
Yeup! Again, I don't know all of them, but one card sends a wagon that can be turned into a fort, while another card sends 3 wagons that can each be turned into a tower.

Are all the cards available to buy from when I start?
No, you unlock cards by levelling up your Home City, which is done by gaining experience points through building, fighting, gathering resources, etc. during the game.

How many cards are there that I can unlock?
About 120.

Hrm... you explained unlocking cards... but how do I BUY a card?
Darned. I had hoped you didn't ask that question I have no idea. Through some magic formula, you are assigned some number when you gain experience points and level up your Home City. That number becomes how many cards you can buy. So, you may be able to unlock 10 cards, but you may only be able to buy 4. (Those numbers are imaginary.)

Can I use all the cards I buy in a game?
No - You can only use up to 20 cards.

How do I play a card in the game?
First, you have to gain experience points during the game. This is commonly done by fighting, building, owning a trading post, and/or gathering resources. When your experience reaches a certain level (You'll see an experience meter in the game), you'll be able to play a card.

How often can I play a card?
As often as you fill up your experience meter.

What happens if I don't play a card when my experience meter fills up?
It's saved. Your experience meter empties and starts filling up for the next shipment.

Aha! That means I can play multiple cards at the same time if I saved up my shipments!
Yeup!

What happens if I played all of my 20 cards? Does it mean I won't be able to play any more cards?
Nothing serious happens - some cards can be played more than once. For example, you can play the "300 Food" card mulitple times to receive multiple shipments food.

Anything else about cards I should know about?
Yes. They're arranged in a tech tree like fashion, so you may not be able to buy an age IV card until you've bought an age II card on the same branch.

---DECKS---

You mentioned a deck. What is it?
Remember I mentioned you can select up to 20 cards to play from during the game? That collection of cards comprise a deck.

Do I have enough cards to put together a full deck when I play Age 3 for the first time?
No. You start with about 15 cards.

What is the purpose of a deck?
A deck is comprised of up to 20 cards. If you have bought more cards than that, then you have to customize your decks. Their purpose is to bring strategic variety into the game. For example, a player might put together a deck with cards that give him a lot of wood and free ships early on in the game to give him an advantage over the water.

Can I customize my deck?
Yes. See above.

Are decks randomized - i.e. I have no control over which of the 20 cards I can play when I request a shipment?
No - You can pick which card to play when you request a shipment.

How do I pick a deck?
You pick your deck when you select your first shipment from your Home City. You get to do that after the game starts, so you'll know what map you're on and which deck you want to use.

Can I change decks during the game?
No.

How many decks can I have?
Up to 16 currently, but subject to change.

--
that's all for now.

So much for a simple and "fun" age game. All of the sudden were playing D&D or something.

Give the game a try when you get your hands on it... the system is intuitive and will feel natural

[This message has been edited by Zen (edited 08-03-2005 @ 05:47 AM).]

So..

Shipment=Card=Bucket?

Shipment being the formal name, Card being the pre-game selected shipment and Bucket being slang for a shipment in-game?

Arghhh. I'll just try to understand it when I own the game...

anyone else thinks "cards" and "decks" are stupid terms for this game?

Okay, thanks Zen! Now I understand it quite well. Although I still think that "card" and "deck" are very stupid terms and that they could better just call them "shipments" and "sets of shipments" or something like that.

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please tell me this doesnt mean you can only get 3 towers...

[This message has been edited by Demon Lord Tyrus (edited 08-03-2005 @ 08:08 AM).]

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You can build them, but they're kinda expensive IIRC.

I beleive they cost 200 wood, which might be essential early on for other buildings. You can obviously concentrate on a wood and food heavy strat to build defences and boom.

Guys, believe me, it's not all that complicated when you're playing the game.

The moment you have a card available on your experience meter, it will flash. As you're playing, just click it. A list of available cards for that age will show. "I want 300 food NOW!" Click the card with 300 food, and a little stack of purhased food appears on the ground next to your TC. Send one villager to gether it up (like you would to berries), and he/she picks up all 300 food in a couple seconds.

As you're playing the game, you have nothing to worry. Your experience meter will simply flash whenever you can use a card. If you let the experience meter turn up to 3 times, it means now you can apply 3 cards! 1 card may be quick wood, the other 2 cavalry, the third 6 muskateers. Little things like this are what help save you from a rush, for example.

Just keep playing the game, and use your cards as they become available (as per notified by your experience meter).

It sounds a lot more complicated than it is.

[This message has been edited by Lysimachus (edited 08-03-2005 @ 11:44 AM).]

i think the names should be changed as well, cards and decks dont sound right to my ears.
governors = decks
favour(rewards) = cards
im sure someone else can come up with better names that suite the game better.

[This message has been edited by borntosoul (edited 08-03-2005 @ 12:04 PM).]

when you play a card, for example, when you need 12 musketeers because you are under attack and don't have enough soldiers, how long then will it take to send them from your HC to your base? Because if it takes too long you will already have been defeated before your musketeers arrive. Do you think the time it took to send shipments was right? for example, how much do you think it took to send supplies and to send soldiers?

If cards were called bleeps and decks were called blips no one would have any problem with them... I'm sure someone else explained in excruciating detail what cards are so I won't go into that.

The shipments arrive in good times.

Where do they arrive? At your TC or Dock?

Initially at your TC.

You can seprately set gather points for military and economic units.

You can change the arrival of your shipments to outposts, other TCs or forts I beleive.

I think the cards/deck idea is great; it allows you to have your own custom decks for different strats.

Choosing and creating decks sounds like it will add a lot of strategy (read: fun) that you don't have to do in game. Your biggest choice while you're playing will be: Which deck should I use in this game? But in advance, you can try out different decks and see how they work with different strategies and then tweak them. It really sounds like a lot of fun. Of course, I've been a M:TG fan for a really long time, so I may be biased.

The deck concept also seems to address the issue of OP players. I seem to recall that when the HC idea was first introduced, there was a lot of bitching about people who have advanced TC's playing against people who didn't play so much. With a deck limit of 20 cards, it evens the playing field a lot.

it doesnt sound that easy, but i know abpout things like that they arent complex at all when you po,lay the game thye just seem more complex than thye are it simple you dset up a group a shipments (a deck) and chose what you need at the time (eco or mili)

the cards you're telling like 300 food are the first you get. Or are we going to need more time in AoEIII to gather food than in AoM where you normaly needed like 30 sec if you ran your econoimic well(to get 300 food). But 3 towers I thought at least 5 or something

This doesn't mean I don't like the card/deck option.

[This message has been edited by duidelijk (edited 08-03-2005 @ 04:55 PM).]

Quoted from KS:

This is good.^

The jargon is a tough thing to solve. I wasn't crazy about calling things cards and decks at first. But the whole feature is so different that we often have a hard time explaining it, and having to define all these new terms to players just compounded the problem. At least when you say that there are cards you can organize into decks, some chunk of the population gets what that means.

Zen explained it all well. Thanks, Zen!

I'm fine with cards and decks. It's new, and sort of original. (SORT of)

Thanks for explaining it to us Zen!

The “Cards” concept might seem complicated, but it’s mainly because of how it is worded, nothing more. Anyone who has played Diablo or any RPG game should have little or no trouble understanding this, because it is basically the same as “leveling up”.