Setup
This game takes place in a land that the Sorcerer King has dominated for some time. The world is ruined. Very little life exists now.
The rot of the Sorcerer King encroaches on my last city, Athica. The Sorcerer King is powerful and is already in the process of casting the spell of making which will convert all life on this world to elemental magic.
My job is to build a force that can take him about before it’s too late. Of course, how I go about doing that is…the whole game.
Early Game
Right off the bat, I’m going to use one of my 4 logistics points to grab the shard that’s in my territory. Next, I’m going to train a scout. This is a tiny map so the pressure is on. In map terms, this is a Starcraft 2 1 on 1 style map. Except, on this map, there are 7 minor factions to contend with.
Now in my beta, each answer will affect how the in-game dungeon master deals with me. This will matter later when the doomsday counter starts getting close.
Each sovereign at the start of the game gets their own tech tree..er..skill tree. Now, this is still the Beta 1A tech tree but it’s being updated right now for Beta 2 which will have every slot with the higher level stuff doing some pretty nasty stuff to your enemies.
The sovereign you choose determines what heroes and elite units you have access to.
Modding Stuff
As I play, I see quests. Each time I play, I have the opportunity to improve the quests in interesting ways. We plan to make this quest editor available to modders later. Let me show you how it works.
The third answer seems one that requires a sense of honor. Which is great because we have an honor trait!
This is data the Dungeon Master can use (or not use) later in the game. The more data the Dungeon master is fed, the more he starts rolling the dice.
End of the early game
From the Sorcerer King’s point of view, he’s already conquered the world. The remaining minor races (of which you are one) are being wooed by the Sorcerer King to ensure that no one interferes with his quest for godhood.
As the first phase of the game ends (which for me is clearing out my home area and getting ready to expand) it’s time to start crafting.
Now, in the public build, you start out with the same craftable items every time. In the final game, you’ll have a base set of craftables PLUS the things the Dungeon Master throws in there that will change from game to game.
In Sorcerer King, the inventory is global (it’s not like in Fallen Enchantress or other 4X games where the inventory is per unit). This allows the player to craft items and equip their units regardless of location. Powerful items become “soul bound” to to prevent cheesing.
Doom Doom Doom
The doomsday counter represents the Sorcerer King’s progress towards casting the spell of making and destroying the world. When I see shards being attacked, I make note of where they are and see if I can get an outpost near them.
I just love sweep.
Upon expanding the Sorcerer King has noted what I’m up to. I’m going to suck up.
A closer eye is better than “I will come over there and snuff you out!”
Conquered
Ultimately, I got the Dwarves and the Swamp Giants to ally with me but that came at the cost of Pariden and the Ice Lords who managed to take one of my major cities.
Ultimately, I lost.
Lessons learned:
- Gotta get outposts up early!
- If you don’t think you’ll be able to get a minor faction on your side, destroy them! Even if it means losing a lot of units against their Guardian.
- Fix the bug where Minor factions can capture your outposts.
That really screwed me. - Don’t rely too heavily on fireball scrolls. The heavy duty end units ignore them.
- Build the high end recipe buildings (scribes, jewelers, etc.). I cheaped out on this and regretted it.
- Build scouts early, find the other champions and start leveling them up as soon as you can.
- Be careful about always picking the “easy” quest option. In my game, my indifference resulted in an event where there was an uprising and 2 of my logistics were permanently consumed. Mind you, I was testing to see if this would happen but just to be aware when Beta 2 arrives in November.
- Don’t cheap out on crafting for your units. I gave my champion amazing stuff but he’s still one guy. The Sorcerer King will target him in battle to immobilize him if he’s overwhelmingly powerful versus the other units.
- Use geography of the map in deciding which minors to ally with. IF they have shards near them and the Sorcerer King has to get through you to get to them, ally with them. The minors closer to the Sorcerer King are really tough to get.
Hope this helps.
Ending Screenshot: Turn 247
For those worried about “short” games. This was 247 turns on a TINY map.
