Elemental Forums
and I am very bored and confused with it after an hour. My first city does nothing after I build a workshop. My sovereign gets killed when I run into the third mob or so. The campaign doesn't really help much. Man when I first got Galciv 2 I couldn't put it down for days... I feel like a sucker with elemental so far 
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I'd advise you to read very carefully, and start very slowly. There is a lot going on in Elemental. Your workshop just produces 1 of a resource every season. It says that on the building card.
And your sovereign isn't a god at the start of the game, so don't try to use them like one.
I too was instantly sucked into Gal Civ 2, so I know where you're coming from. Elemental is not at Gal Civ 2's level of stable yet. And Elemental isn't as easy to get into.
"Everyone falls the first time" The Matrix
Just read through a couple "early game walkthrus" and you should be doing fine.. takes a few tries and save reloads.
Anyhoo the first few steps - found kingdom immediately near fertile land, hire Janusk, build Beacon of hope, build one workshop, one hut, then one Study, meanwhile explore nearby with Sov and Janusk in two directions after purchasing Travelling boots for them (but dont go too far and keep away from monsters initially), as soon as your first settlement level up occurs, buy Spear and then explore a bit further. Also keep training peasants constantly and keep one Pioneer for when you discover a nearby fertile land/Arcane or Tech.
Also, it may be helpful in inital games to make custom sovereign and use Royalty sovereign trait..
I am too. The basics are there in this version, but I feel like the game lacks depth and fun. I don't know, stick it out. Derek Paxton is a genius as far as I'm concerned, and I think that the game will be good after two expansion, and great after three, if we are that lucky.
You aren't missing anything, I have the same sentiments when I play the game.
Buildings have a population requirement. If your population is too small, you won't be able to build many buildings. To raise your population you will need to build a Farm. You can only build Farms ontop of a Fertile Land resource. You will start every game with a Fertile Land nearby. Settle right next to it. End your turn. Next turn your border will expand over the Fertile Land. Click the Fertile Land to build a Farm on it. When the Farm is complete your city population will begin growing. Soon you will have enough population for 2 buildings. Later you will have enough population for many more. But, in a short time your population will stop growing because you have run out of houses (hut, hovel). So build one. Then later, build more once you get close to running out of housing again. One Farm will give you enough houses to get one city to size level 3. But not enough to get to level 4. You will need to find more food. And/or learn techs to build a Granary, or get a +x% to # of people per house, etc.
It's actually a very simple game hidden under some confusing and poorly documented mechanics. Produce food and gildars, build huts/houses/villas, and hire every hero you can and build up your defense techs (with an occasional offense thrown in for good measure). Magic/Adventure/Diplomacy you can research when you have nothing better to do in the other tech trees.
The opening turns are probably the most difficult and are the only ones the require a modicum of thought/strategy to get you through.
One other thing, have your SOV research a)
summon familiar. As soon as you learn it, cast it - and keep it with you. Sov life expectancy will increase somewhat when fammy is riding shotgun.
Or,
heal, and fire arrow (whatever its called). That way your sov can heal units with you (peasants, whatever) and provide "air support' via magic arrow attack from a safe distance.
I'm with the OP, the early game is dreadfully slow. I really enjoy the game overall, but the even though I have more experience and won't get killed as much as the OP in early game, I find the early game has to play out the same way every time: build tower, labour pit, farm, housing, while you build a couple peasants for defense as materials become available, and finally a archivist, then start researching equipment (not necessarily first, but one of the first 2 or 3 techs). A lore shop is a valid alternative route, even though I prefer tech. All this time, your sov and janusk will be combing the nearby wilderness in expanding circles for a)goodie huts, b)locate and destroy early threats, c)heros. And they will end up retreating a lot.
It doesn't really start getting fun until you have about 3 cities with sufficient food sources, 6 techs to start developing which direction your want to go (military, magic, negotiate, or hero/adventure), and for me I'll add until the first war, since that often kicks off my early game expansion (or die trying :D).
It would be nice if there was a mode that you could start the game a little later, after a couple cities built and techs/spells researched.
Thanks for the tips guys! Now that I know how to build a farm the game is progressing a bit better. Actually put in an hour today and somewhat enjoyed it.
One last question though-- My capitol city has 6 or 7 houses with a population limit of 250. The city says it has -1 food but the population is still growing every turn up to the 250. How does that work? Any way I can increase food production?
Thanks!
Wrathius, your population has nothing to do with food, when you build a house it uses one food. So if you have 4 food, you can build 4 houses. Those 4 houses can support x amount of people and your city will continue to grow in pop until it reaches that.
Simplist way to get more food is to :
Well, good luck and happy farming. 
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