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Elemental: June FAQ

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Elemental: June FAQ

from JoeUser Forums

No beta this week. Between my trip to San Francisco last week to meet with the media and Memorial Day, the AI isn’t far enough along to be included for a public beta.  But if it makes you feel better, we’re playing it a lot internally. :-)

There’s been a ton of questions on the forums so let me go through them here:

Q: What is the release date?

A: August 24th is our official release date.

Q: Is that release date subject to change?

A: Yes. If we’re not happy with the game for some reason.

Q: I think Elemental should have <insert cool wizbang feature>, will you delay the game to put that in?

A: No.

Q: But I thought you said you wouldn’t release the game until it was what you wanted?

A: Yes. But we’re not going to delay the game to put in new features. We’re open to doing lots of things after release.

Q: I’ve heard there are no flying units in the game.

A: There are flying units in the game. However, there aren’t flying armies in the game (i.e. there are creatures and animals that fly, but we do not plan to have flying mounted units in – at least at release.  We can discuss with players – after they have the game – what practical means they could envision flying around.

Q: I saw <screen shot X> and I didn’t like <insert aspect of screenshot>

A: Most screenshots floating around are, unfortunately, very old.

Here is a current screenshot:

image

Note the dynamic fog of war in the east. This is generated using an advanced multi-core algorithm.

Q: I like using my imagination when I play games, I am glad the game has its own lore but can I introduce my own?

A: Yes. In the “sand box” (normal games) mode. You can do whatever you want. It will be in the campaign where our lore takes over.

Q: In a screenshot, the land looked flat.

A: Geography of a given map changes from map to map. Some maps are hilly.  There are some maps that are dead. There are some that are pleasant. Some are very mountainous. It just depends what kind of map you get.

image

Here is a map in an arctic world.

Q: Does the AI in Elemental cheat?

A: Not at its normal levels.  I’ve been working very hard to make the game play the game just like a human being does.  However, I will have higher difficulty levels where the AI gets “stuff” for those who end up better at the game than I am.  We will, however, be continuing to enhance the AI long after release as we did with Galactic Civilizations.

Q: How animated are things in the world?

A: Here’s a link to a video: http://screencast.com/t/YWY5YWJk (it’s a big video so you’ll want to let it buffer).

Q: How much can modders do on the map?

A: Here’s me making my own map. These tools are part of the game btw. They’re designed to let general gamers use (non-technical).

 

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Reply #76 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Tormy-, reply 75

Quoting Frogboy, reply 49-
The only time consuming part left is the AI since it has to play "the game".

I think that balancing will take some time as well. [Beta3] 
End of Tormy-'s quote

I'd imagine that balancing will be on going anyway until Stardock stops support, as is the case with most stratergy/rpg/pvp games.

 

Reply #77 from Elemental Forums Top

Given that it's unlikely (ok -- impossible) they'll release Elemental unless the balance is 'good enough' (I say 'good enough' as balance is relative not absolute and it'll never be 'perfect'), that they're talking about a late August release tells me their internal playtesting is showing decent balance currently, and that they're fairly content with the current content (features/systems/etc.).

Beta 2 will show us much (but not all) of what they currently have, so we'll soon see.

That said, I'm kinda surprised about a release that soon.  I guess I hoped for a bit more discussion on features/etc., like the 'Richness vs Realism' and Winner-Take-All, and the points raised in the various research threads and the 'avoid must build starts' thread and the discussions on the role of essence, etc.  Maybe I'm just enjoying the discussions so much I don't want them to end.

Then  I remember Elemental's modability and that release isn't the end, it's just the start.

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Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #79 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Raven, reply 69



Quoting Bill_Door,
reply 53



Quoting Raven X,
reply 52




quoting post

Q: I’vie heard there are no flying units in the game.

A: There are flying units in the game. However, there aren’t flying armies in the game (i.e. there are creatures and animals that fly, but we do not plan to have flying mounted units in – at least at release.  We can discuss with players – after they have the game – what practical means they could envision flying around.



This is probably a stupid question, but what if we were to make a "Army" out of nothing but these particular "Flying Units". That would then "technically" make a "Flying Arny", correct? I.E. a entire army/unit of flying things that can pass over mountains as a group.

I understand it might not actually be practical in game to do so as I have no idea what these "flying units" are as of yet. It's possible though, right? Just curious.

Thanks in advanced



I'm pretty sure sure what Frogboy meant by "army" was trainable units, i.e. you can only get flying units by recruiting them, not training them.



Indeed, I understand that. I just wanted to try to clarify it further. Maybe it's hard coded that "flying" units alone can't band together in a "army"? There could be some specific reason aside from the obvious "walking units can't go where flying units can" which everyone would think of. That's why I was specific in the question.


End of Raven's quote

Perhaps there could be another reason, but barring something completely unexpected I see no reason to not let flying units form armies.  The potential for flying units in tactical battles is great, though:  Picking up units and dropping them on others,  immunity to close range combat while you're in the air,  dragons going on fire-breath strafing runs...:dur:

Reply #80 from Elemental Forums Top

Just as a point of contention.

On a scale of 1-10.

I would think 8.8 would obviously be WAY above "Average".

:annoyed:

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Reply #81 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Tormy-, reply 75

Quoting Frogboy, reply 49-
The only time consuming part left is the AI since it has to play "the game".


I think that balancing will take some time as well. [Beta3] 
End of Tormy-'s quote

Balancing is something that will go on for years. There is no perfect balance and I make no promises that the game will be perfectly balanced. The only promise I can make is that we will do our best to make the game FUN to play (particularly in single player).

There are people who say Starcraft 2 is not balanced and that Sins of a Solar Empire is so imbalanced as to be  "broken".  My main concern on "balance" is in the area of pacing and making things feel right as you play (i.e. making sure what things cost makes sense and that sort of thing).

Reply #82 from Elemental Forums Top

 



Q: I’ve heard there are no flying units in the game.
A: There are flying units in the game. However, there aren’t flying armies in the game (i.e. there are creatures and animals that fly, but we do not plan to have flying mounted units in – at least at release.  We can discuss with players – after they have the game – what practical means they could envision flying around.

End of quote

 

Two questions:

1) Do you think eventually we will be able to mod flying armies into the game, so a MoM mod would be viable? 

 

2) Do you think a customization tab would help resolve some of the game balance issues?  Things like city spam, what happens to the population of a city when you take over, what happens when the sovereign dies, how much micromanagement of food and population is required, etc. could be handled per a selection at game creation, and increase replayability and maybe marketability as well.  

 

Probably not new ideas/questions, but I haven't seen them elsewhere stated simply.

Regardless, keep up the good work!

 

Reply #83 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Tim4fun, reply 82
 
Two questions:

1) Do you think eventually we will be able to mod flying armies into the game, so a MoM mod would be viable? 

2) Do you think a customization tab would help resolve some of the game balance issues?  Things like city spam, what happens to the population of a city when you take over, what happens when the sovereign dies, how much micromanagement of food and population is required, etc. could be handled per a selection at game creation, and increase replayability and maybe marketability as well.  
End of Tim4fun's quote

Very good questions indeed. For the Modding part, I can already say "Yes, that will be possible". The Modding of Elemental is one of their primary concerns. I'm not sure about the second question. There will be lots of "options" though.

I'd kinda like an answer to the "stupid question" I asked a page back as well. See below.

Quoting Raven, reply 52

This is probably a stupid question, but what if we were to make a "Army" out of nothing but these particular "Flying Units". That would then "technically" make a "Flying Arny", correct? I.E. a entire army/unit of flying things that can pass over mountains as a group.

I understand it might not actually be practical in game to do so as I have no idea what these "flying units" are as of yet. It's possible though, right? Just curious.

Thanks in advanced
End of Raven's quote

I would think what I describe above would just be "common sense" but you can never be %100 sure about these things unless you go straight to the source for answers :)

Reply #84 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Raven X, reply 52

This is probably a stupid question, but what if we were to make a "Army" out of nothing but these particular "Flying Units". That would then "technically" make a "Flying Arny", correct? I.E. a entire army/unit of flying things that can pass over mountains as a group.



I understand it might not actually be practical in game to do so as I have no idea what these "flying units" are as of yet. It's possible though, right? Just curious.



Thanks in advanced



I would think what I describe above would just be "common sense" but you can never be %100 sure about these things unless you go straight to the source for answers
End of quote

I would think they would technically be a flying army... But then, it doesn't look like there will be very many flying units. The only confirmed ones so far are dragons (well, I assume they will be able to fly) But it sounds like we can't build any of the units that can fly, so there won't be a lot of them. I mean, aren't dragons supposed to be incredibly rare, like you go 20 games without seeing one? Unless there is some really common flying creature we don't know about yet, you'd probably never have enough of them to even get a pair, let alone an army.

Reply #85 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting kyogre12, reply 84

I would think they would technically be a flying army... But then, it doesn't look like there will be very many flying units. The only confirmed ones so far are dragons (well, I assume they will be able to fly) But it sounds like we can't build any of the units that can fly, so there won't be a lot of them. I mean, aren't dragons supposed to be incredibly rare, like you go 20 games without seeing one? Unless there is some really common flying creature we don't know about yet, you'd probably never have enough of them to even get a pair, let alone an army.
End of kyogre12's quote

Very true. I'm curious for a couple reasons actually. Working on the Dragonlance Mod, as DL fans know, DL has TONS of Dragons and players playing the Mod will be controlling whole armies of them. For that, it would be nice to know how much I'm going to have to change, be it simply editing armies in XML or having to dig deep into the Python, for which I'd most likely need help.

Reply #86 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Raven, reply 85

Quoting kyogre12, reply 84
I would think they would technically be a flying army... But then, it doesn't look like there will be very many flying units. The only confirmed ones so far are dragons (well, I assume they will be able to fly) But it sounds like we can't build any of the units that can fly, so there won't be a lot of them. I mean, aren't dragons supposed to be incredibly rare, like you go 20 games without seeing one? Unless there is some really common flying creature we don't know about yet, you'd probably never have enough of them to even get a pair, let alone an army.

Very true. I'm curious for a couple reasons actually. Working on the Dragonlance Mod, as DL fans know, DL has TONS of Dragons and players playing the Mod will be controlling whole armies of them. For that, it would be nice to know how much I'm going to have to change, be it simply editing armies in XML or having to dig deep into the Python, for which I'd most likely need help.
End of Raven's quote

 

I have less inside info than you do, Raven, but I'll wager that you're being described a difference between overland and combat map flying. A unit that can fly in combat doesn't necessarily get any special flying powers overland, so what it sounded to me like Frogboy was saying was that the armies (the amalgamated forces overland) won't fly (ie have the ridiculous mobility that comes from flying in games like MoM), but individual units might when zoomed in for combat.

Since I know MoM a little and probably most everyone else here does as well, I suspect it would be like the hero with cloud walking in MoM. "walked" on land, but "flew" in combat.

Reply #87 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Raven, reply 85

Very true. I'm curious for a couple reasons actually. Working on the Dragonlance Mod, as DL fans know, DL has TONS of Dragons and players playing the Mod will be controlling whole armies of them. For that, it would be nice to know how much I'm going to have to change, be it simply editing armies in XML or having to dig deep into the Python, for which I'd most likely need help.
End of Raven's quote

 

Sorry for back to back posts. My brain works in a sad jumble of punctuated equilibrium.

If you want to make a Dragonlance world, which by necessity will rely fairly heavily on flying, you could do a simple kludge - we know there are islands, therefore there is water. Islands pose no challenge to an AI if the water is trivial to cross, and Frogboy already said that islands are mercilessly slap-boxing his AI at the moment. Do a quick tile convert whereby the water becomes your sky, and design your map and the backstory so that your players build toward the great battle in the skies over <wherever>. It's not perfect, I know, but for as long as I've been playing games a well-crafted story does wonders to mitigate technological limitations. Though as a coder maybe you'd rather hack the engine. More power to you ^_^

Given the sophistication of the editing tools we're being promised, making your legions of dragons and whatever should be fairly easy. Until someone hacks up a multi-level function for the engine, or native flying, that's all I've got. Sorry.

Reply #88 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting One, reply 86

I have less inside info than you do, Raven, but I'll wager that you're being described a difference between overland and combat map flying. A unit that can fly in combat doesn't necessarily get any special flying powers overland, so what it sounded to me like Frogboy was saying was that the armies (the amalgamated forces overland) won't fly (ie have the ridiculous mobility that comes from flying in games like MoM), but individual units might when zoomed in for combat.

Since I know MoM a little and probably most everyone else here does as well, I suspect it would be like the hero with cloud walking in MoM. "walked" on land, but "flew" in combat.
End of One's quote

I've got pretty much the same "inside information" as everyone else. It would be nice to say I had a "mole" in the company feeding me info...lol. I don't though.

Indeed I did mean on the strategic map. When I do the DL Mod I'll be using armies of dragons. If this "unit", or "army" is made up of Only Dragons then I would expect them to be able to cross a mountain range. Not necessarily insanely fast like some flying units in MoM, but they would be able to cross over it none-the-less. If that same army suddenly had some land based units mixed in with it, then I would expect they wouldn't be able to cross over the mountain range unless there was a "road" or "pass" or something.

I probably should have been specific that I meant the strategic map. During combat I would expect a "Flying" unit to have some abilities perhaps. Like being immune to a "Earthquake" spell if they were in the air when the spell was cast. Flying attacks, things like that etc etc. Mostly my question was more movement based.

I agree also that flying units shouldn't always be necessarily "fast" meaning it moves farther per turn. Flying high up takes time to gain altitude and keep it, which could be a logical excuse as to why flying units don't move super fast, but they can move over things land based units can not.

Reply #89 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting One, reply 87

If you want to make a Dragonlance world, which by necessity will rely fairly heavily on flying, you could do a simple kludge - we know there are islands, therefore there is water. Islands pose no challenge to an AI if the water is trivial to cross, and Frogboy already said that islands are mercilessly slap-boxing his AI at the moment. Do a quick tile convert whereby the water becomes your sky, and design your map and the backstory so that your players build toward the great battle in the skies over <wherever>. It's not perfect, I know, but for as long as I've been playing games a well-crafted story does wonders to mitigate technological limitations. Though as a coder maybe you'd rather hack the engine. More power to you

Given the sophistication of the editing tools we're being promised, making your legions of dragons and whatever should be fairly easy. Until someone hacks up a multi-level function for the engine, or native flying, that's all I've got. Sorry.
End of One's quote

I will be making the world of Krynn as approximate as I can. I've got a pretty good idea of what I'll need to do in most cases. You're definitely on to a good idea though. To do it even simpler I'd just edit the tile properties of the mountain ranges and make them passable by only units with a certain "Tag" like "Mountain Climbing" or "Flying". Then assign how many movement points it costs these types of units to cross the mountains. There's a lot of ways it can be done. Good thinking though.

:)

Reply #90 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Raven, reply 88
Indeed I did mean on the strategic map. When I do the DL Mod I'll be using armies of dragons. If this "unit", or "army" is made up of Only Dragons then I would expect them to be able to cross a mountain range. Not necessarily insanely fast like some flying units in MoM, but they would be able to cross over it none-the-less. If that same army suddenly had some land based units mixed in with it, then I would expect they wouldn't be able to cross over the mountain range unless there was a "road" or "pass" or something.
End of Raven's quote

Maybe it should be allowed to have one champion per dragon that would fly on their backs?

Reply #91 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting _PawelS_, reply 90

Maybe it should be allowed to have one champion per dragon that would fly on their backs?
End of _PawelS_'s quote

Definitely. in Dragonlance there are "Dragon Riders" aplenty. those will most likely definitely have to be modded in though. I don't have any idea if there will be any art assets of anyone riding a Dragon in Elemental. If not, then it becomes a question of my ability to code and possibly have to make a new art asset. I have some skills, yes, but not all the skills I would need to do it on my own if need be.

Skins and Textures I can do. Some coding in Basic, XML, HTML, C#, C+, I'm ok with those. Python? No experience what-so-ever. With all the medical crap I'm going through and meds I'm on, it's not really possible for me to concentrate enough to learn another new programming language atm.

I'll have to cross those bridges when I come to them, as it were.

Reply #92 from Elemental Forums Top

Balancing is something that will go on for years. There is no perfect balance and I make no promises that the game will be perfectly balanced. The only promise I can make is that we will do our best to make the game FUN to play (particularly in single player).
End of quote

Anyway, balance may be a bit over-rated.  If some factions are stronger than others, in SP that just gives us another way to adjust difficulty besides adjusting the official "difficulty".  Once you've beaten the hardest level with a strong faction, try again with the weakest one.  In MP it might be a way to handicap veteran players against noobs.  (OK, I don't know/care much about MP, so take that last bit with a few grains of salt).

So if some factions turn out a little stronger, just proclaim it a "feature" not a "bug" and move on.  Lots of other things to focus on.

Reply #93 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Nick-Danger, reply 77
Given that it's unlikely (ok -- impossible) they'll release Elemental unless the balance is 'good enough' (I say 'good enough' as balance is relative not absolute and it'll never be 'perfect'), that they're talking about a late August release tells me their internal playtesting is showing decent balance currently, and that they're fairly content with the current content (features/systems/etc.).

Beta 2 will show us much (but not all) of what they currently have, so we'll soon see.

That said, I'm kinda surprised about a release that soon.  I guess I hoped for a bit more discussion on features/etc., like the 'Richness vs Realism' and Winner-Take-All, and the points raised in the various research threads and the 'avoid must build starts' thread and the discussions on the role of essence, etc.  Maybe I'm just enjoying the discussions so much I don't want them to end.

Then  I remember Elemental's modability and that release isn't the end, it's just the start.
End of Nick-Danger's quote

We just put in like 300+ pages of input into those very features. I am assuming that will be taken into account.

Reply #94 from Elemental Forums Top

One sad fact of history, medieval armies for tragically short of air support as well as air transport.

And while a fantasy world with dragons, demons, and a handful of other creatures that fly can be very useful, they are exceptionally rare. 

Reply #95 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting John_Hughes, reply 80
Just as a point of contention.

On a scale of 1-10.

I would think 8.8 would obviously be WAY above "Average".


End of John_Hughes's quote

Oh yeah it was for sure but my point was it wasnt anywhere near the score a SoaSE gamer would give it myself included. The other part of that i forgot to mention was that it got reviewed maybe 6 months after release by everyone because it was more an afterthought for reviewers to play the game not being a highly publicized sequel like most games seem to be these days. Most however once they played it were amazed by the game and gave good reviews, however this was a long time after i had been suggested by my mate to play it myself and quite a bit after i had already been hooked. 

Reply #96 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 94
One sad fact of history, medieval armies for tragically short of air support as well as air transport.

And while a fantasy world with dragons, demons, and a handful of other creatures that fly can be very useful, they are exceptionally rare. 
End of Frogboy's quote

Right, but I think the question is: if we were to amass a few of these exceedingly rare creatures, would the "army" they compose be able to fly around the strategic/tactical map? 

Reply #97 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Frogboy, reply 94
And while a fantasy world with dragons, demons, and a handful of other creatures that fly can be very useful, they are exceptionally rare. 
End of Frogboy's quote

But can that Dragon Fly Over a Mountain? (Strategic Map)

:pout:  

Reply #98 from Elemental Forums Top

 The animation seems a little void. Everything is animated and is in beautiful motion by itself, however it feels like there is no weather. I have yet to see a smoke that goes in a perfect 90 degree line, it just sits a little...artificial.  

Reply #99 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Mahaanus, reply 98
 The animation seems a little void. Everything is animated and is in beautiful motion by itself, however it feels like there is no weather. I have yet to see a smoke that goes in a perfect 90 degree line, it just sits a little...artificial.  
End of Mahaanus's quote

I hate to hate but why not wait until all the effects are in before you make your critique. >:(

Reply #100 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting seanw3, reply 99

Quoting Mahaanus, reply 98 The animation seems a little void. Everything is animated and is in beautiful motion by itself, however it feels like there is no weather. I have yet to see a smoke that goes in a perfect 90 degree line, it just sits a little...artificial.  


I hate to hate but why not wait until all the effects are in before you make your critique.
End of seanw3's quote

 

 I'm just commenting on what I saw in the video.