Regarding city management, the player has a few options (mostly by constructing buildings) to influence which of three resources - noble metal (basically money), mana (used for global magic) or knowledge (used to research new technologies and spells) - is produced (of course influenced by what the nearby terrain offers) and how satisfied the population is. Here the goal is to explore, extending the reach of influence by conquering/founding cities, finding treasures, solving side quests and generally ensuring the safety against attacks. The first is the overworld (on many maps accompanied with a full underworld) where the player moves the squads (up to six units each) around. Additionally there are scenarios, free play with randomly generated maps and a map editor.

Each faction has a story campaign with six missions each. The background story is a war between the progressive Commonwealth Empire, this faction is lead by the humans which increases their reach with methods similar to the Roman Empire, and the conservative Elven Court which oppose the Commonewealth's expansion.

Age of Wonders III is a turn-based strategy game and is mechanically similar to Master of Magic.

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