SO played 2 tiny maps for about 6 hours. Man those tiny maps are HUGE. Might not be fun at all to play HUGE maps.
Anyways, i didnt experience too much strategy in this game.
1. Terrain on a tile doesn't have any effect on movement across it or defense bonus.
2. If you have units in a town Anything to increase the defense of the soldier or have artillery support for attacking. Any benefits for defending a town?
3. Tech research gave me no idea what does what. Random researching.
4. Towns management was vague or just bland
Overall i kind of liked it but was expecting ALOT more complexity in the game.
Im not going to complain too much now since its the beta I KNOW. Magic isnt in yet, strategic combat isnt in yet, diplomacy isnt in yet.
But the devs said they are just tuning stuff and tweaking. Then that means they wont be adding much at all. Really think they should have a full unlock beta soon, so we can test out their final product ideas.
If you see some strategy formula i dont, please let me know.
I think the major flaw with me is that i was not made clearly aware of any receiving benefits. If a hill gives you a defense bonus or a tech helps you alot with population or attracting quests, but nothing is labeled to do so... i think players will be left in the dark.
1. It does effect movement and while it doesn't give a defense bonus to autoresolve that we can see, remember that individual tiles in the tactical battle WILL give bonuses of some sort. So the landscape will come into play, we just don't see it yet.
2. There are techs that give you this.
3. I really like the fact that you can can't just map out a perfect research path. I've always thought the Civ way of doing it was trite and overly simplified. That said, the research and tech system certainly needs a better presentation. There are changes they can make to keep it somewhat random and still present it to the player in a more concise, enjoyable way.
4. This is something I think will develop more as we (beta testers) give feedback on the pacing and flow of the game. it needs work, but I think it's an area that will get work.
They aren't at the "final product" ideas stage yet. That's why Frogboy asked for feedback on pacing and presentation. You figure in Beta 2A you have.. maybe 40% of the final game? That's a guess, but I doubt that it'd be any higher and is probably much lower.
We're realistically in the very first stage of beta. Beta 1 was really Alpha testing, they just didn't call it that.
As a whole, information needs to be presented to the player better, but that's the sort of feedback they're looking for at this stage. That doesn't mean the information (bonuses, stats, and whatnot) isn't there. It just means it not made clear very well yet.
Edited for typo that changed the whole meaning of a point. Doh!