After playing couple of games of 0.912 I have to say many things are going in the right direction. But, after conquering the whole map in challenging with all factions, I will point out some flaws I saw, then the good points! I think AI is the main thing to address now, which is good news.
AI can’t follow me right now. They don’t seem to loot the wild efficiently or to level up properly. While my heroes reach level 10 to 17, they still are at level 2-5…This goes for troops as well: AI doesn’t seem to be able to level them. When my lv 13 knight meets a poor lv 1 or 2 spearman, guess what happens…
AI can’t build troops properly. This is in many posts and I always find it deceiving to grab a faction capitol defended by scout armies, militia or spearmen. AI needs to build knights and always concentrate on the best troop available.
Some factions get stuck while there is a big monster (usually drake) near them. So, I play this large map composed of 2 subcontinents (like a lung) as Resoln. I conquer the first continent easily: only Kraxis managed to expand. Took me only 10 turns to grab his 4 cities. He sent me masses of scouts, militias, spearmen vs my summons, my warriors and heroes. A pity, considering his score was similar to mine and that his military tech was better than mine! His sovereign was such a weakling (lv 5 only while mine was lv 9 and no good items). Worst, he had a city spamming ophidians but never managed to upgrade some or bring lots to the battle. Felt bad for him: a bit later in the game, I had an ophidian army with lv 7 to 13 monsters. Gilden, in the extreme south of the lung, got stuck near a drake and never expanded. Magnar was near me and was the first faction to be destroyed. After over 100 turns of searching, questing and scouting, I found the path to the second subcontinent. Around turn 300, I arrive to the new world which is completely empty. Eventually, I find Tarth who has 2 cities on turn 400 on an empty continent with no opposition… Tarth was stuck near a drake but never managed to expand the 3 other ways… Finally, in the south, Procipinee with a single city and a lv 2 sovereign. Again, a drake near her capitol. At turn 450, she wasn’t able to build a second city on an empty continent! My 3 heroes were lv 20+ (and one was lv 11, I bought him for fun) while these guys didn’t even develop…
Solve the drake bug and the sovereign’s AI to teach them not to cycle attack the big monsters beside them when they have no chance of defeating them.
Units should scale with buildings and research more. City militia do level and it’s not normal that a knight should start at level 1 or 2 or even 3, like a vulgar peon. Tech and building should improve the basic trooper to lv 3, lv 5 and lv 9 (like heroes). This would help AI getting better armies too, which could rival with mine!
Tactical combat needs some AI improvement but also basic features: range, line of sight and terrain bonuses. Many posts cover this in detail.
City needs defence. Militias aren’t enough for a well grown hero. Ballista, catapults, tower guards should help the defenders.
More differentiation, more balance, more content (but sure is on the good way). Now, on the good side:
Some people say that warriors are overpowered. Well, at end game, I can tell you mages get pretty crazy too (when you control ¾ of the nodes on a large map…wow). The paths seem more balanced and enjoyable, even if mage/assassin seems a stronger choice then defender/warrior. Governor needs more love. I clearly like the new leveling system.
0.912 is a major improvement over 0.9. Many bugs have been addressed and the general feel of the game is way better. I can’t really point out all the little changes that made this version better than 0.9. The wild acts like it should; lv 11 is the minimum now for legendary weapons (which is a major change, no more steamroll at lv 5 when a lucky drop breaks the game). Less bugs, nice graphics, concepts are improving and more balance. This game really goes in a nice direction. AI needs a ton of work right now but already, all the concepts are starting to work pretty good, and a lot of crucial balancing have been made. Can’t wait for the next patch!
