Results So Far: Here

Bad poll.  Elemental should have magical damage types.  It doesn't NEED them, though.  It's entirely possible for the devs to make a great fantasy TBS without magical damage types.  It's even possible, depending on how stressed the AI is dealing with the other combat variables, that diverse magical damage types would make the game worse.

I'd like to see them added, but the way you worded your "yes" answer made me choose "no" instead.  NEED implies a must have, not a should have.

Well, you are entitled to your opinion my friend, but I do think Diversified Magical Damage Types are a MUST for a game like this. Just one damage type is far too Dumbed Down for a game of Elemental's Complexity. The game is called "War of Magic" after all. What kind of a War would it be if getting chopped with a sword is the same kind of damage as getting hit with a lightning bolt of getting hit with a fireball?

I can see all Physical Damage being the same type. That makes sense. Getting hit in the face with a Axe is the same as getting hit in the face with a Mace. Getting hit with a Lightning Bolt however is far different from being hit with a Fireball. Fire would set the land a blaze around the target provided it was flammable. Lightning would do More Damage to a man wearing Metal Armor then it would to a man wearing Leather Armor. That's just common sense and basic logic to me. Brad (Frogboy) already stated he had "No Intention of making a dumbed down console like strategy game" but if they go with only One Damage Type then in my eyes thats EXACTLY what they'll be doing. It's almost enough for me to want a refund on my pre-order.

Just for the sake of Interesting game mechanics more then one damage type is a NEED, not a Want. If I wanted to play a fantasy type of Spore then I'd go Mod Spore and not have spent my money on Elemental.

I did not take this poll because neither answer applied to my opinion that damage types would be nice, but not necessary to have a good game.

Ding ding ding we HAVE a winner, that puts a lot of needless concern to rest.

Magical damage types, plus different types of physical damage.  We need blunt objects for the undead and large shields to defend against arrows.

Magic is my main concern though.  I want magic damage, magic creatures, magic weapons, magic armor and magic markers @

Yes, (though I think you could have mundane fire and ice damage as well. Flaming Arrows are a historic reality)

I do not need or want the useless complexity of piercing, slashing, etc physical damages.

Ok, if you wanna play hard, I shall propose the hardocish system (not very much, but still).

Two main types of damage: Physical & Magical.

Physical:

• Blunt
  
• Pierce
• Slash

Magical:

• Wind
• Fire
• Earth
• Water
• By your powers combined - I am Captain Planet!
• Light (Life)
• Shadow (Death)

Simple and good!

P.S. Btw - I hope the magical damage is not only a damage bonus. I mean every damage type should have it's pros and cons. It shouldn't be like: ok, you have a sword (dmg 8), add a fire crystal and it will increase the damage by 5 - so in the end it will deal 8 + 5 = 13 pure damage; every damage type is changed (ratio 1:1) into pure damage. That would be poor.

It doesn't. Go and get hit by a mace, slashed by a sword and pierced by a lance, it's pretty different too. Even getting shot by a pistol and getting shot by a bow is pretty different.

We don't need Fire Damage for that, you can make Fireball make "Magic Damage" and then add continuous damage to the unit for X turns. It works nearly the same and is far less complex (you only need one magic attack and magic defense attribute).

Also, saying that the game would be a dumbed down console strategy game because only having one damage type is totally false, you can make really complex combat systems with one single damage type: you could add fatigue, morale, chains of command, and another million ideas that make the system complex (and more realistic too, whether that's good or bad) with only a single damage type. It's pretty surprising to defend that the only possible source of strategy are damage types.

Votes so far.

45 for Yes at 92%

4 for No at 8%

Honestly, I am biased in thinking that we Need Magical Damage types like Boogiebac talks about further up in the thread. The game will have a robust magic system and a very diverse range of magical monsters to fight. I've been playing games like this for 20 years now and I can honestly say I think it's something that is truly needed. To those who prefer depth in mêlée combat I'm sure they feel the same as I do only about slashing and crushing etc etc instead. I don't mean to belittle mêlée combat, it's just in a game called "War of Magic" I feel magical damage types would be a bigger thing then mêlée fighting. The more options the better IMO, but Brad did already state they wouldn't concentrate on that. That only leaves Magical Damage Types left. It's that, or one generic damage type, period. IMO without a Very Robust system to back it up only having one total damage modifier would be a bad idea and a waste of a huge potential.

I do respect your opinion though and if you felt the need to vote no as a few others did then more power to you my friend.

Besides, 45 to 4 is a pretty big number. I'm just guessing but I'm pretty sure more then 49 of us have pre-ordered Elemental. If they take that ratio and apply it by how many people it actually represents in the "customer base" then that's a far higher number. Stardock has already demonstrated they listen to their customers and it has proven to be very successful. Not only are we beta testers, but we're customers as well.

The numbers you are going to get from the poll are pretty much going to be meaningless anyway. The first reason is the bias (uppercase NEEDS), the second is that even in the negative answer, you still mention that there will only be a single damage type. A single damage type and no damage type may seems the same thing, but I'm convinced that many of those who answered the poll understood it as "no difference between a firebolt and a lightning bolt", which of course I'm (almost fully) against. I do not believe that you intentionally made the poll biased (even if it was created to further your opinion), but it is something to be careful about in polling (not that I'm an expert anyway).

Anyway, from Boogiebac answer it seems clear that magical damage types will be in the game. In that case, I hope that resistances/vulnerabilities to them will be reserved to rare cases. Giving a 10% lightning vulnerability for wearing chainmail, 20% cold resistance for wearing fur and 17% silly resistance for having pointy hairs is going to be annoying, and likely ignored quickly. Hopefully they will be reserved for cases where it wouldn't make sense otherwise (fire resistance for a dragon for example).

I suppose if you have differant weapon damage you'd also need to implement differant armour modifiers as well e.g:

Armour:

Leather: Def bonus to lightning attacks, blunt weapon damage. Def penalty to fire attack.

Mail Coat: Def bonus to slashing weapons, def penalty to lightning attack

Plate Armour: Def bonus to slashing and piercing weapons, def penalty to lightning attack and blunt weapons over strength 5.

etc etc.