I love building units out of Conclaves. Slower production, but the enchantment bonus on a 5-6 essence city is amazing.

About the only times I build from towns are when I need cannon fodder....fast. However, the suggestions listed above capture that.

While I agree with your general sentiment halmal, I don't believe the two notions are mutually exclusive: both would contribute to making each city feel more unique.  More specialized building trees would probably be my first line of attack.  However I definitely think we're on to something here with the idea of giving each city type more specialized unit rosters and production capabilities as well.  Honestly the nerfing direction discussed thus far doesn't really do much for me either, perhaps incentives would work better?  How about - Settlements: no bonus to production capabilities, Towns: unit production requires 50% less gold, Fortresses: unit production requires 50% less iron, Conclaves: unit production requires 50% less crystal?

Addition: a couple new building tiers unique to each city type could be introduced to increment the bonus(es) from 25% to 50%.  I'm relatively sure this is moddable..

I think the city system in LH is the best in the genre. It beats Civ hands down especially when it comes to specialization. I don't think it needs any big changes. I already use and upgrade every type of city very differently. I never build units outside fortresses, get basically all my research from conclaves, and specialize towns towards gold and food. A lack of build time forces me to only build the improvements I need in every city. The main problem is the AI does not do this. Of course every system could be improved. I would love to see more city level improvements, enough to randomize the selection for every city level and thus present you with more options and make every city unique at the same time.

Yeah LH doesn't seem to do this very well.

In LH it would be cool if, when you get far enough ahead all the factions of the opposite allegiance form an alliance against you, that'd be cool.... and if you get really far ahead everyone does.

I often spend five hours building an empire and then discover I've already outclassed the AI without ever coming into a real conflict with them, or I get one good battle out of them and they're done. It's a long time to play to discover that the planning I did was not necessary.

Monster threat level is inconstant. I've avoided battles because I thought I would get killed when I wouldn't and others I started and lost badly. Also regarding whether I use auto-resolve. I'll think it's a nothing battle and then I'll lose units to my surprise. The auto-resolve is meant to save time but since it's unpredictable I have to save every time and reload if it goes bad. So my suggestion is do whatever calculations auto-resolve would use before you select it and show it saying "you will lose 2 units" in which case you'd would control it yourself. In general, having played a lot of games over the years I think if some part of the game will just result in a save-reload situation then the game should be designed either so save-reload isn't possible or is unnecessary.

A better example is the two fertility spells. Sometimes they do nothing at all and there doesn't seem to be a way to know beforehand. Once I tried it on a desert and got some new city sites, and another time I used it on a green field and got nothing. Of course I'm not going to waste 200 mana trying it at random till something works. I'm going to save and reload. So it should show you result of using the spell before you use it.

So I have some thoughts on this subject, but from a more general sense, as some not specifically map related.

When you build a city, you currently are allowed to build one of each improvement, with no real choice here.  It's a 'build or no build', not a 'should I build thisbuilding or this other building - I only have room for one of them right now'.  The only real 'choice' we have is when a city hits Level 2 (Fortress/Conclave/Town).  After that, it's almost autopilot.  The trait choices as a city levels up are nice, but really there isn't a hard choice here, as their effects/differences between them aren't that dramatic if you pick one over the other.  Sure the troops or building choice is still there (y'all know I like the Build and Train at the Same time we once had), but that is about the only 'hard' decision one has to make once they've chosen to build a city.  Sure, you may change the build order, but once the build list is exhausted most cities of a given type look pretty much the same.

Champion choices are rarely 'make or break'.  When the two choices come up, sure I look at the traits to see which one looks better, and maybe the equipment they are packing, but at the end of the day picking one over the other (with a couple of exceptions) isn't going to drastically change my game.  If their Profession Paths were pre-chosen already, THEN it might be a more critical decision... but I know that players like having the ability to make that choice after the fact, so there are tradeoffs here.

Also, land management is almost completely absent in Elemental.  Sure, you want to find a place that you can build both a pier and a lumber yard, that has a lot of resources nearby, but once you've plopped that city down, there isn't a lot of consideration of the land undereath that building you just added.  At least in Civilization/Alpha Centauri, you are constantly working on improvements, and sometimes tearing down some to 'shift' the production to some other thing (this is the old 'OK, I can now use Forests more effectively, time to take out some farms and plant some trees' or the 'My pollution is out of control, need to change things up' thing).  While I'm not suggesting that Elemental should carbon copy Civ here, my point here is that land management choices that evolve over time is more interesting (when done right) than simple 'plop the building down, OK I'm done here'.

Quest Choices rarely have any long-lasting impact, other than perhaps the Master Quests.  Essentially you complete them, get the reward, and move on.  The Master Quests add some flavor, but again it comes down to 'complete or not complete', not 'Well I chose option 1, so this changed my empire's situation inthis way.  If I had chosen option 2, my empire/situation might look MUCH different right now.  Essentially, almost all quests really just come down to 'do I win or lose' and 'how many units survived the quest, and did I pick up any new ones'.

I'll beat the Encumberance drum one more time.  Back when we had encumberance, I specifically remember acquiring a REALLY BIG AXE, that required my champion to de-equip some other equipment just so he could wield it.  Shedding almost all of his armor just to be able to use this thing was an interesting dilemma.  Ultimately I decided that the lowered defense (less armor) was worth the extra attack at that time, and that hero began to 'Specialize' in the use of that axe, beefing up his strength to be able to wear a little more armor and such.  In short, this was a somewhat 'hard' choice to consider, and definitely affected the future path of that specific champion.  The 'Chain Mail' or 'Plate' trait pick pales in comparison to the amount of career planning I had to decide on for that particular Champion back whe we had Encumberance.

The Five Paths, while they can affect Champion creation, really aren't all that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.  Doing damage by method A (Warrior) or method b (Assassin) isn't all that different game wise.  Now if the paths had very significant, non-combat oriented effects as well, this could play out quite differently.  Say, for example, that Assassin can be sent to Assassinate someone covertly, but sending him off made your Sovereign more vulnerable to assassination attempts while he was gone? 

Also, since we usually end up with a handful of champions, it isn't that hard to pick one or more of each type (depending on your preference).  So towards the endgame you aren't really 'missing' any of the Professions that you might usually like to have, as you have multiple champions available.  So which profession I choose for a Champion at a given moment isn't really a 'make or break' decision, just a 'temporary inconvenience' r.e. the other Profession that I'll pick the next time I earn a Champion, which will be rather soon...

Diplomacy HAS no no really involved options, so the only 'hard' choice to make is to invade or not invade.  I remember spending a fair amount of time in Alpha Centauri trying to appease a certain faction, to get them to ally with me as we sort of had 'common goals' at that time.  By comparison, well while allying with another faction on the map in Elemental can have some basic benefits, other than 'buying time so I can achieve some victory goal', well Alliances really boil down to 'don't attack me right now', and that's it.  It'd be cool if you could, say, gain access to special weapons the other faction has while you are allied, that only they can make (e.g. that faction makes crystal magic swords that exude a cold aura (bonus to cold attack, but you aren't able to make it.  So you give them some cool other thing so your units can be 'equipped' with those really nice crystal swords'.

As for Monster lairs, well currently those are for killing.  It MIGHT be interesting if you could enter into negotiations at that point to have them 'ally' with your faction (there are a couple of quests that do something along these lines), but outside of the 'quest' environment (that feels a little artificial).  Essentially, minor powers to trade with or perhaps ally with, with a downside (don't get the special widget thingie) if you simply just conquer them.  Not to mention the bad rep for wiping them out (Empire may want this, Kingdom not so much).

It'd be nice to have a FEW diplomatic balls in the air to consider as you are building your kingdom/empire.  I.E. 'those Darklings in that town on my border are interested in allying with me, but there are these Trolls over here that might be more useful.  If I ally with the Trolls, well the Darklings will be pissed, and if I ally with either of them, well that may affect my trade negotiations with that Kingdom over yonder, as they may feel threatened if I gain another ally'.

Finally, populace management is essentially not a big deal right now.  Boost your food production as best you can, build unrest-reducing structures as needed, and call it a day.  It'd be nice if you had actual rebellions and such to consider, and had agonizing choices to make during city growth, taking potential unrest into account.  I.E. "I'd really like to build that Air Temple right now, but if I fail to find room for that new temple, well I may have some rebels causing me grief' or 'Hmmm, I didn't realize that my population would react this badly to the Air Elementals being produced by that Air Temple (random event).  Guess I'll need to decide which I can live without less... happy citizens in this city, or more Air Elementals for my armies.

So I'm going to digress for a moment, and step onto my soapbox...

There are a LOT of ways that the Elemental setting could be made more immersive.  Unfortunately, it would require a LOT of effort on the part of the design team, and the right creative minds to put it all together.  I don't think it could be done with the current Stardock team in less than say 2 years time, in order to do it right.  And, of course, the staff would have to have the appropriate 'vision' to evolve the game, which means having the RIGHT designers at the RIGHT time.  As truly visionary game designers are few and far between, well based on what I've seen released from the Stardock Elemental/Gal Civ team at this point, I'm not seeing that true visionary in your ranks in recent months, but I AM seeing a lot of bean counting going on, i.e. 'we have this much time to get this done, so get it done' and 'we like this protocol from this other game, can we find an easy way to do something similar' and 'how can we simplify things'.

Mind you, I think Elemental is a good game (I wouldn't spend as much time on this game modding if I hated it).  I just really truly believe that the design team, due to various factors, continues to come up short on a number of fronts.  The Elemental 2015 thread doesn't wow me (some others like what they see of course).  I haven't been Wowed by you guys in a while, although I've seen incremental improvements, certainly.  But essentially Elemental is the 'Gal Civ engine' evolved, not a new approach.  New engines take time to build, and sometimes new talent.  Please note that I'm not suggesting firing anyone here (y'all are good guys), but I do think that, if you are looking to do a new release here in this Genre, it may be time to walk away from the Gal Civ/Elemental engine completely and build something new, rather than continue to 'tote the baggage that you have' because it's easier.  That's an expensive gamble, of course, but you have been 'playing it safe' for too long IMHO.

Sorry for the sober straight talk here, but there's a difference between playing it safe and doing something revolutionary.  Stardock's game division has a limited budget, sure (Stardock's bread and butter is from it's other apps), but smaller companies have been able to do truly astounding things.  It's time to step back, take a breather, and see if you have that the innovative spark for that 'next great thing' in the Stardock ranks.

(Still give us DLC and Expansion stuff though, a lot of us like that stuff).

Of course, it's hard to argue with sales numbers, so if y'all at Stardock are content with how things are going, ignore everything I just said.  But if you want to make the next truly great game...

As for me, I"m still hung up on someone upgrading the released EWOM game, to do it true justice (so much potential was there, that was subsequently tossed to the wayside, (note that I consider E:LH a stripped down,albiet greatly improved in some aspects version of EWOM), but that isn't doing something revolutionary, even I have to admit that's just improving the horse drawn buggy, not tossing the buggy in favor of the automobile.

what i like the least about FE:LH? atm the undead dlc, they are too weak early on, potentially too OP lategame and the AI is always on their knees with them. for a dlc which you have paid extra this is certainly not the outcome i had envisioned (sorry).

would love to see some undead love....they are already dead, at least have some compassion for them .

great points.

Another item I like least:

By turn 100, I usually have 3-5 cities started up and developing. From the area I've explored, I see my adversaries. The AI has only one city.....ever so sometimes two. This means that I've already won the game. I can output 2x or even 3x faster than any given AI.

Imo, when pioneer spam was pulled out of the AI strategy, I think SD went a little too far. For the first 75-100 turns, all AI should have the Expansive attribute. Where cities cannot be built, outposts should be raised up to gain access to valuable resources. Outposts should never be built closer than 3 squares away from a city. Once the 75-100 turns mark has been reached, all AI players can then change into their respective, personalized attributes and carry on with the game.

Which leads me to my next item: AI Priority

They're just not competitive. The AIplus mod by DSraider gives some excellent suggestions on how to improve the AI:

• Change of priorities -- Unrest buildings and buildings that generate economy and growth should be favored more.
• Better Units -- There should be a better listing of 'AI only' units to help maximize competitiveness. Remove the bad designs.
• Better queueing -- The three different city types should focus on what they are good at. Fortresses should build units. Conclaves should build research. Towns should build economy. If players do this naturally, then the AI should be able to do it too.
• Abilities unique to a certain faction should be able to be played by that faction: Magnar, Undead, Roselyn, etc.

Which leads me to a third item: Killing AI should result in more experience than currently given. At least 50% of the world is covered by AI. They should be worth about that same percentage of experience as the game progresses as well.  

• When an opponent hero is involved in the combat, grant double XP? (subtract a static amount of XP for each injury the hero has...note that the equation should not result in a negative value)
• When an opponent sovereign is involved in the combat, grant triple XP?
• When you wipe out an opponent faction --> Get Fame reward and that last battle grants you quadruple XP?
• When you conquer an AI city, get a Fame reward. (and the first city you conquer should get a cutscene)
• When you conquer an AI capital city, get a Fame reward (and every capital city you conquer should get a cutscene)
• When you lose one of your city's, receive an Fame penalty (and the first city you lose should get a cutscene)
• When you lose your capital cuity, receive an Fame penalty (and get a cutscene)
• As when an AI sovereign surrenders, if you kill and AI sovereign, he receieves a unqiue injury, similar to the surrender injury.
• As when an AI sovereign surrenders, if an AI chooses to give up, he becomes a mercenary for hire, receiving an unique injury and having a cost associated with his services should you find him on the strategic map.
• (from NaytchSG) When you defeat an enemy hero/sovereign, you receive a random piece of loot that the hero/sovereign had him.
• (from NaytchSG) A new 'Pickpocket' trait could be designed that would allow you to choose which item you received instead of random.

The random game crashes.

I had always hoped to see exact that rock-paper-scissors destroyed. It was one of the things that really turned me off in GC2. It just took away from the universe, the immersion, etc. I had hoped for a more complex tactical combat system where ship design would have implications in a manner unlike rock-paper-scissors (ex: different types of weapons have advantages/drawbacks relative to each other).

I really like your ideas on the ai i think about why the ai doesn't make other units as well, and it's a little disappointing. Like it's gotta better, but you trogs, are gonna be trogs and they do the same thing every game. I don't think there has been a game where trogs did something different. 

Diplomacy i finally got a alliance. I feel like trade options could be increased to allow the trading of outposts. Cause sometimes there just not enough land, and either you go to war or you don't. So having the option could be cool so i don't have to declare war all the time.

Quests I just wish every faction could get quest scrolls. It's just thing you know. Having the option to quest. 

Usefulness of beasts you tame, could be better. usually they drop off around late game. I don't know if bears can become cave bears? cause i've tried to do it, but it would be nice if a bear could upgrade to cave bear.(through levels of course) 

So here's an idea, Having arena battle's between factions for diplomacy purposes. 2 factions agree to have a tournament and some are very bloodly while kingdom ones are very sportsman like. Whats the point i don't really know.

this a very common thing in games like this, but underground citys would be interesting. But even before that and this should really be in game, navel action.

Point is i think water and underground elements could be taken advantage of maybe not underground some much, but the ocean could open up some new things.

Most of the faction races are pretty much human. some exceptions, but i feel the factions races could be expanded into including darklings, dragons who would construct lairs instead of empires. (game mode you are a dragon.) or even a hive of insects like spiders, but they don't have hives...so i don't know making off brand factions with really different play styles. If i make a mod ever, i'll prolly mod this somehow.(the dragon one.)

So what if factions went like this Kingdoms/Empires/Dragon Lair/Hive/ect. ? just a idea.

I know tactics prolly won't change, but if i could just have a option to put a unit in the back as opposed to the front, no placement or tactics what so ever just a option. So i can put the spectral wolf in the back so he won't die. 

Not using all the unit's in the city to defend, this happened to me and my heroes didn't load into the battle and therefor was defeated. so hopefully next time the leader will load in? I'm not really sure what happened i guess there was already to many units.

I liked least that my sovereign was on the map.  I know that's counter intuitive, but hear me out.   The fact that the sovereign was on the map meant that you typically had one big doom army marching all over the map conquering everything and a super weak defense backing it up.  It made the game less strategically interesting than having to develop armies.  In fact, half the time armies seemed unnecessary.

Perhaps it would be better to tie heroes to cities only (somebody has to manage them after all), and that would essentially be your basic city defense. 

What I hated second least were the quests.  They were big text blurbs that disrupted the play and didn't really add to the enjoyment.