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The world of The Fallen Enchantress

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The world of The Fallen Enchantress

from JoeUser Forums

If you’re just joining us, welcome to the second strategy game in the Elemental universe – Fallen Enchantress.  Like War of Magic, Fallen Enchantress is a turn-based strategy game set in the world of Elemental.

Unlike War of Magic, Fallen Enchantress takes place in a much less…civilized part of the world.  The beta for Fallen Enchantress is expected to begin this Fall but in the meantime, we’ll start showing you some bits and pieces of what we’re working on.

Setting up your world…

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Relias, the narrator from The War of Magic told his story from the point of view of men. From his vantage point, there were only two types of beings – Men and Fallen. And “The Fallen” were simply a bunch of monstrous humanoids of unknown origin.   In addition, Relias, being a man of the west, was very concerned with ideology. Specifically, whether one respected concept of royalty (Kingdoms) or whether one embraced random chaos (Empire). Random chaos, being from the point of view of men.

One of the Kingdoms of men, Kraxis, did not agree with the concept of royal succession. And they, unlike the other kingdoms of men, joined the “Empires”.

This matters in our story because Fallen Enchantress is told from the point of view of Ceresa, the beautiful but deadly enchantress of Resoln.  Ancient beyond any other channeler (even Procipinee), Ceresa has a much broader view of the world than Relias had.

A dangerous world

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We won’t be giving out a lot of details until just before the Fallen Enchantress beta is made publicly available. One reason for this is that we don’t want to “hype” Fallen Enchantress. We want its excellence to speak for itself. Or put another way, we want the game to be so good that the beta group themselves will see that their hopes have manifested.

That said, here are..

a few…details…

#1 Research Paths.  You can queue up research.

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#2 Cleaner city management and no more “random” naming for anything with names based on the lore of each of the unique factions.

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#3 The world is much much more interesting

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#4 Way…way way way more spells

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This is just what I start with on turn one and the spellbook button is always present. Players are encouraged to be enchanting often. Researching new spells is part of the tech tree.

#5 Champions and resources must be earned.

 

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#6 Designing Units much more interesting

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#7 The world is far more vibrant and distinct

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#8 Lots of new modding options

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This is a seemingly little thing but for those of you who like to create really cool areas with the map editor, now you can save them and they’ll be inserted as part of randomly generated worlds.

 

These aren’t, by far, the biggest changes, just a sampling.  Fallen Enchantress is less a sequel to War of Magic and more of a new take on a TBS game in the Elemental universe.  We hope you like what you’re seeing and can’t wait to get you guys playing this Fall.

141,020 views 76 replies
Reply #51 from Elemental Forums Top

It feels good to see little things like the Citys having real names instead of random letters like in WoM.  I bitched up a storm about that and, in a goofy and seething with delusions of grandeur way, I feel that helped make FE better.  Even if it was a tiny part, I feel that I have a part in FE.  I have used the power of bitching for good.

Reply #52 from Elemental Forums Top

I have to admit that I quit playing elemental months ago when I found it boring and repetitive.  This new twist with Fallen Enchantress will likely bring me back to try it out and see if it is the game I was hoping for all along.  I hope for the best...

Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #53 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting n3ctaris, reply 8
All I can think is: "God I hope they don't screw this one up..." 

 

Because really, I've been waiting a year to play this game... Elemental has felt like a really big expensive beta.
End of n3ctaris's quote

I second this :D

I really hoped to play this game way back after I finished Civ5 :)

In the meantime I played Sword of the Stars and even Age of Wonders SM, but I am still waiting to play this one :)

 

As for what looks the best to me so far is the real tech tree with proper visuals, I bitched about lack of one more then once on these forums.

Reply #54 from Elemental Forums Top

lots of good little things

two lines coming in to technologies - implies a complex tech tree)

auto upgrade on weapons (perhaps even weapon classes)

city placement will not simply be - in the place where the most resources are - like Civ, but the balance between getting good enough resources, and biting off more than you can chew is an iteresting and novel mechanic.

 

Reply #55 from Elemental Forums Top

Ok I'll break my silence because what's fair is fair:

it DOES look good. VERY.

I still think that to be a worthy MoM successor it should have the same level of diversity in the basic fields (so I mean number of spells, races, flying and "swimming" units and so on), but if it's fun from the get go, and what's missing can be added in an expansion (even a non-free one!), then it'll be forgivable. 

Reply #56 from Elemental Forums Top

@RFHolloway: There are dev journals on armies and weapons you should check out

@mastroego: There is another expansion after FE planned, and like FE you will have to pay for it unless you bought WoM on release. 

Reply #57 from Elemental Forums Top


This is a seemingly little thing but for those of you who like to create really cool areas with the map editor, now you can save them and they’ll be inserted as part of randomly generated worlds.
End of quote

Holy crap, I didn't expect any improvements to the editor. This is awesome.

Looking forward to the beta!

Reply #58 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Magog_AoW, reply 57
Holy crap, I didn't expect any improvements to the editor.
End of Magog_AoW's quote
Luckily (for those folks that use the editors) several changes to the game required updates to the editors, so yes, they did get some love.

We also needed to weed out all old UI textures, so at the very least they received visual and organizational improvements. 

Reply #59 from Elemental Forums Top

I am hoping that The Fallen Enchantress will provide the game play I hoped for in E:WoM. WoM just felt more work than fun, and after the beta, I kind of lost interest in the game all together. Actually, before WoM most game releases did not spark my interest at all (I guess I'm just getting older), and at that time I hoped WoM would be the game that would get me hooked again.

I never bitched much about WoM after release, just felt more and more disinterested. Perhaps The Fallen Enchantress will spark my interest in the Elemental series again :)

Reply #60 from Elemental Forums Top

NO faith requirement.

ASSUME it will suck and give you cancer.

Make Stardock prove it'll be awesome.

 

While I admire what you are trying to do, isn't that swinging way far to the extreme opposite of WoM approach, and now we have virtual silence.

 

Some dev diaries would be nice.

 

Reply #61 from Elemental Forums Top

I´m really excited. Almost everything about E: FE sounds nice. But..please could we get something more specific then "in Fall"?  :pout: Something like "...not before November" or "End of October" or "...wanna get it out ´til..."   

Reply #62 from Elemental Forums Top

Looks good. Two remarks though:

1) I'm assuming the single build queue for construction and training was done for gameplay/balancing reasons? I rather liked Ewom's separate queues. Once you have more than a few dozen people living in a settlement, there is no reason why construction and training can't be done at the same time (immersion-wise). I just hope it's not because there is so little to build the construction queue would be empty most of the time if kept separate.

2) Are you really going to let weapons upgrade automatically upon research of a better weapon? The automatic (and free!) upgrade of buildings was one of the things I hatted with a passion in Ewom. I don't see how it would be any better when applied to troops. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we can upgrade troops, but not this way. Just picture it; you spot an enemy army heading towards one of your cities. You scout the army and see that it consists mostly of troops with battle axes, leather armor and small shields. "That's all right", you think, "I'll just train a squad of archers, they should be able to handle that". Only to discover that by the time they get to your city they're wearing plate and large shields all of a sudden, making your archers almost completely useless. And what's worse, it didn't cost your enemy anything (other than research he was doing anyway). I may be exaggerating a bit here, but my point still stands: Upgrading shouldn't be automatic, shouldn't be free, and preferably couldn't be done in the field, only in a city.

Reply #63 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting yaromir, reply 60


Some dev diaries would be nice.

 
End of yaromir's quote

The dev diary you are responding to is only three days old. The one before that was two weeks ago. I'd like more information as well, but you can't expect daily updates when the beta propably won't start for a month or two.

That being said, some daily/weekly screenshots would be nice

Reply #64 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Satrhan, reply 62
Looks good. Two remarks though:

1) I'm assuming the single build queue for construction and training was done for gameplay/balancing reasons? I rather liked Ewom's separate queues. Once you have more than a few dozen people living in a settlement, there is no reason why construction and training can't be done at the same time (immersion-wise). I just hope it's not because there is so little to build the construction queue would be empty most of the time if kept separate.

2) Are you really going to let weapons upgrade automatically upon research of a better weapon? The automatic (and free!) upgrade of buildings was one of the things I hatted with a passion in Ewom. I don't see how it would be any better when applied to troops. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we can upgrade troops, but not this way. Just picture it; you spot an enemy army heading towards one of your cities. You scout the army and see that it consists mostly of troops with battle axes, leather armor and small shields. "That's all right", you think, "I'll just train a squad of archers, they should be able to handle that". Only to discover that by the time they get to your city they're wearing plate and large shields all of a sudden, making your archers almost completely useless. And what's worse, it didn't cost your enemy anything (other than research he was doing anyway). I may be exaggerating a bit here, but my point still stands: Upgrading shouldn't be automatic, shouldn't be free, and preferably couldn't be done in the field, only in a city.
End of Satrhan's quote

 

Good points here.  I also like the fact that we can upgrade units, but I absolutely agree that there should be a cost to upgrading.   Either time/money or both.   I would be more real if you had to go to a city, but that might just be too much micromanagement.   

Reply #65 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting [quote, reply 62
Upgrading shouldn't be automatic...
End of [quote's quote

Note that the "upgrading of equipment" noted in the OP only refers to the Unit Design, not the guys on the field. You have to train more units to reap the benefits of auto-upgrading.

There IS a separate Upgrade feature for trained units, but it has a significant cost associated with it. 

Reply #66 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting BoogieBac, reply 65

There IS a separate Upgrade feature for trained units, but it has a significant cost associated with it. 
End of BoogieBac's quote

 

You also cant do it in enemy/neutral territory, no upgrading as you walk across the world :)  

 

The point of the upgrading unit designs is so that (as an example) you don't *have* to make a new archer unit design every time you unlock a new bow if you always want to have the best one. You still have the granularity to make a different design with a short bow and a long bow, but if you don't care about that you could just have your one "archer" unit all game that will come with the best bow you have.

Reply #67 from Elemental Forums Top

Excellent.  That is a great design.   Give the player options.  I like it.

Reply #68 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting mastroego, reply 55
Ok I'll break my silence because what's fair is fair:

it DOES look good. VERY.

I still think that to be a worthy MoM successor it should have the same level of diversity in the basic fields (so I mean number of spells, races, flying and "swimming" units and so on), but if it's fun from the get go, and what's missing can be added in an expansion (even a non-free one!), then it'll be forgivable. 
End of mastroego's quote

 

I'd sell my wife to get a race generator (Through patch or 2nd expansion or any other means), or if $20.00 has more value then I suppose I could give that for it

 

Reply #69 from Elemental Forums Top

Say it with me: Assume it'll be horrible and give you cancer.

<Jedi powers activated> It will be horrible and give you cancer </Jedi powers activated>

 

Reply #70 from Elemental Forums Top

@Boogie & Toby; Thanks for that information, glad I was wrong about that..

Also; It will be horrible and give you cancer

Reply #71 from Elemental Forums Top

How about some "celebrity gossip". Whats Ceresa's favorite color? Does she have any hobbies? Does she actually love her husband? Is she a closet perv? Come on man where is the dirt! We need more background info on our main champions than we currently have in EWOM.

Also; It will be horrible and give you cancer

Reply #72 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Satrhan, reply 62
Looks good. Two remarks though:

1) I'm assuming the single build queue for construction and training was done for gameplay/balancing reasons? I rather liked Ewom's separate queues. Once you have more than a few dozen people living in a settlement, there is no reason why construction and training can't be done at the same time (immersion-wise). I just hope it's not because there is so little to build the construction queue would be empty most of the time if kept separate.
End of Satrhan's quote

In short, I think because it introduces relevant player choice. Do I build needed units or focus on improvements? I've been playing MOM the past couple of months and that's exactly how it did it. I like it.

Reply #73 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting AlLanMandragoran, reply 72
In short, I think because it introduces relevant player choice. Do I build needed units or focus on improvements? I've been playing MOM the past couple of months and that's exactly how it did it. I like it.
End of AlLanMandragoran's quote

I think it's because they said the new City UI would show production and having two different production bars would look messy.

Also; I'm horrible and give you cancer

Reply #74 from Elemental Forums Top

Are you really horrible?  And are you going to be smoking in my car? :P

Best regards,
Steven.

Reply #75 from Elemental Forums Top

 

I was playing both Elemental and MOM recently, and I was thought of a few things in terms of Diplomacy and Factions types that I would like seen done differently in FE.  Anyway, my thoughts…

Please give the AI Sovereigns more variety and personality.

In Elemental, the Sovereigns, while they may look different and have slightly different starting bonuses, all seem to behave essentially the same.  If they sense any advantage, they demand money.  When I refuse, they declare war.  Typically, I then proceed to take over their cities, as they are don’t seem to take into account magical strength when assessing opponents, they use magic poorly themselves and they are highly susceptible to my single uber stack marching around the map.  They also repeatedly do annoying things like ask you to arrange a marriage with them and then immediately refuse to follow through. 

In MOM, I loved how some opposing wizards were relatively tolerant, some were very aggressive and others widely unpredictable.  It didn’t necessarily mean that all of their play styles were equally optimal in terms of winning, but the variety was nice.  Your grew to know them and dislike some of them more than others.   

In GC2, I loved how the computer would call out the fact that you were amassing forces on their border.   It was such a surprise the first time I had it happen.  And I was!  I would love to see that sort of thing in Elemental or FE.  Details like that are great.  Some evidence that there is something happening between the ears of one’s opponents.  Again the various AI opponents had a variety of personalities. 

Please have more variety between the various starting races / factions.   

My understanding is that different races will have different starting attributes and different encumbrances, etc.  People also seem likely to be able to customize their armies to an extent, which will have implications in terms of constructing opposing forces.  These are good things.  I would hope, though, that the differences go further. 

 If all of the different races in MOM just had the same generic troops (spearman , swordsman, archers, etc. ) which only differed in terms of their racial differences, or the same different weapon and armor customization options, I think the game would have been much less fun to play.  The unique troop types were one of the things that kept things interesting.  “There is a high men city.”  “I must take them over to get to get Paladins!”  "Klackons, not going to bother."  Of course I also don’t want something so overly powerful as Paladins.  But, special troop types, even if just a couple or a few, would go a long way. 

Also, if I take over a Trog city, as a different faction, am I going to be able to train their burly foot soldiers or will troops be of my faction type?  As I remember from Elemental, having only played as some of the various human races, the troops I build in the new cities all looked the same.  This seems unrealistic to me.  The whole city just magically changes population?