Frogboy

The tools are part of the game. So they'll be in the betas.

[quote who="Tamren" reply="13" id="1990364"]Are the swords going to get better in a material sense versus a percentage sense? Because being able to make stronger sharper swords allows you to do other things versus "just more damage". The more flexible you can make your blade the more it can bend before it breaks. The harder you can make the sword the better it will hold an edge (but it will be hard to sharpen). Stuff like that. Also, draw the horse! We promise not to laugh. <b

Like GalCiv, we will have templates. Like GalCiv: Twilight of the Arnor, those templates will automatically update as your tech and such gets better. The tech trees are differnet in Elemental than in GalCiv. They're a lot more like MOO 1 actually (a lot of parts of the game are more like MOO 1 (not 2) than GalCiv so it's not about researching "Super swords" or something but rather investing in a type of sword and it gets better and better over time which is automatically inherited by

I only show 3 items to equip your units as an example, it's not meant to represent the entirety of how one builds units. I don't think any of us want me trying to draw a horse. [e digicons]|-O[/e]

We're using Havok for physics.

In terms of the beta, all users who pre-order have access to the beta program. But we are looking to have a private Beta 0 or pre-beta or late alpha or something available before the beta program begins that will largely go to users with high karma / have GalCiv II / Sins / Demigod so that we can make sure the first beta works. There's a lot of new tech going into this that we will need some outside testing with.

There are neutral cities in the game. Other problems can occur because of those freaking adventurers who go into dungeons, get killed, but end up causing a demon or a dragon or some other bad thing to be wandering around the world. You'll never look at a D&D party the same again. ;)

[quote] http://games.on.net/sspopup.php?type=a&app=1369&image=2006-10-20/sshot0013_bmp_jpgcopy.jpg [/quote] It won't look like that. Think a blending of cell-shade with water color painting.

All pre-orders will get access during the beta phase. But we are likely to have some qualifiers for beta 1 which we're still trying to decide.

This gives a pretty good idea of the look.

We will have more screenshots as the engine gets further. The initial screenshots aren't even lit yet.

BTW, here is an equivalent screenshot of what GalCiv II looked like at this stage: So it's definitely a bit early to judge the final look of the game. I don't think people understand yet that a lot of the art style is dependent on the player. A player can make their city cutesy if they want or they can make it very gritty depending on what pieces they

[quote who="Anomander" reply="25" id="1955599"]PLEASE STOP!!!! Please rethink your art concept. It looks like 'Fantasy meets My Little Pony'. Its awful!!!! How do you expect anyone, especially serious wargamers, even serious fantasy fans to take this game seriously. Why do you devs always take the 'fantasy' element as cute fairy tale? Lets have a game with an edge, a fantasy world that looks and feels real. Rant over![/quote]

[quote who="Luckmann" reply="6" id="1961592"]I'm going to go ahead and assume that every bot out of the 200-300 will be able to play several games simultaneous without issues (well, except natural growth-aches), so that there's no issues with several hundred players at once. Also, not to be picky (this is BETA, after all) but discrimination of humans is a must. I've really got no desire to play against other humans (I'll gladly play with other humans, but the nature of games like t

[quote who="Lord Reliant" reply="2" id="1961561"]Brad- Any chance you'll allow the community to also create and submit their own AI personalities? Given the nature of Elemental to have user content, I could see submitting AI personalities as an option. Also, you may want to let folks know that if they pre-order they have to play online. Not a problem for me, but something those who preorder may need to know.[/quote] They won't be able to create thei r

[quote who="Vandenburg" reply="1" id="1961559"]Wow. What can I say, besides: Hail the frog! ---------------------------- Though that makes me wonder, how much of a computing infrastructure will such a system require? Will stardock go bankrupt because all single player people will suddenly go online? And is there an option to play only with computers online? (I.e. for people who prefe

[quote who="Lord Reliant" reply="3" id="1958234"]Cool. When users submit entries, how long does it take for them to get reviewed? And is that done by a panel of folks or does the first reviewer to see it rate it? And can you appeal a rating? I'm not familiar with the way this currently works, so sorry for the barrage of questions. It'd be sweet to see SD farm out some of the reviewing to select individuals such that you could customize your content to show:<

We already have it running on Windows 7 just fine. It'll run basically the same as Vista.

[quote who="Sole Soul" reply="2" id="1949394"] Quoting Tenebrion-, reply 1I like the idea of a game ending if your Channeler dies. It places much more importance on your nation's leader, and makes the player really think hard before sending their Channeler out into the battlefield. If someone gets the drop on your leader, you're dead. I'm not necessarily opposed to the game ending if your channeler dies, I just feel that it may be too easy to accomplish that.[/quote]

[quote who="Sole Soul" reply="1" id="1948502"]So...does this mean we won't have multiplayer save and resume capability (as I, and I believe others, initially thought would be the case)? Or is this just an extension of the whole persistence idea? Not to say that this isn't great-it is. I'm just feeling a little confused.[/quote] ? Of course we'll have multiplayer save and resume. I'm not sure how the two are related to what is being discussed.

[quote quoting="post"] The media blitz seems full on with interviews everywhere , but I'm curious, why announce the game 1.5 years before release? [/quote] I seem to recall hearing something about a Starcraft 2...and a Diablo 3 but I can't seem to find them at the store. ;)

[quote who="Annatar11" reply="25" id="1940385"]Perhaps you can settle the confusion for us, Brad? Is the world light on magic creatures in general, or is it just that the regular armies will be mostly regular guys (as in, you won't be able to produce magical creatures in your cities), but you'd be able to recruit/summon strange and fascinating beasties into your ranks?[/quote] The world is heavy in types of magic creatures. But your civilization's ability to make use

[quote quoting="post"] Brad's post about 4X economics was great. I have a follow on question ... will we be able to equip our troops with magical attributes? So my soldier would have a sword, plate armour, horse, helm and shield. Could I also give him magic resistance and healing and call him a Paladin. ? [/quote] Yep. You could equip them with magic swords, armor, etc. It would be expensive but yea, the player can deci

The AI will automatically make use of user generated tech.

Oh, one other thing. We're not just "toying" with a 64-bit version. We absolutely will have a 64-bit version. Both versions on the same disk.