There is a great game lurking in Elemental but, for me, they got the following things (in no particular order) badly wrong: - AI - Magic - Tactical combat - Economy - Diplomacy - Kingdoms/Factions (they play the same, they act the same, the AI doesn't care) - Sovereigns (see above) - Champions (dull all the way to uninteresting) - Quests - Absence of choices in world creation (e.g. % land, resource frequency, etc)
Let's see; playing in a resource challenged world where big developed cities generate little income or are income negative; yeah, why would I want to expand? Far better just to have a couple of cities, miss a bunch of key resources and go bankrupt slowly. Sounds like fun! Or not. As of 1.09, expansion is not really optional, it is mandatory. Or at least it would be if the AI wasn't completely incompetent. 1.1 is clearly going to change some of those dynamics, especially t
There is road spam in Civ because roads = +1 commerce and that drives everything. Now Microprose was responsible for both MoM and Civ1: any road spam in MoM? No. Why? Because the only point of roads in MoM is to speed travel. The whinging about potential road spam in Elemental is, as far as I can see, all sound and fury, signifying nothing. Road mechanics are very underwhelming in Elemental but hardly a game breaker. But commerce followed the Roman legions, not vice versa. Can't see w
Just a couple or three semi-random thoughts: 1. Really high level spells are only a 'really good thing' if the AI is capable of using them well. Otherwise I don't use them either just to try to keep it sort of fair. 2. I thought combat magic was OK in 1.09, maybe even overpowered (certainly compared to combat based champions). My worst mage was better than my best archer. 3. 75 spells is a stunningly small number. Divide that into the various spheres/schools/whatever a
First, just let me agree strongly with the item shop criticisms. Second, they have made champions bland and uninteresting (as they have done with most of the game). I am playing MoM waiting for 1.1: now I have my wind mage, champion with leadership, legendary champion, pathfinder, etc. In Elemental, i have 12 guys named Viy adding 1 gold per turn. If I got them to level 100, they would still just generate 1 gold/turn. They peak when found. Now there are the champions who go out and ki
This is a good game but not yet a great game. Not even close really as there are too many really significant flaws in the current version. However, the potential greatness is obvious and I am very hopeful that it will become a truly great game.
This OP, and a number of others, captures some of the weaknesses of the current game. That said, t his game has the potential to be better - possibly much better - than its spiritual parent MoM. It is not there yet but I am very positive about the direction Stardock is taking. Looking forward to 1.1 and beyond.
A potentially dumb question: I still have a 486 DOS PC that I use to play the old classics, MoM most of all. Will the 1.4 patch work with the dos version or do I need to run it on on Windows with a dos emulator? Thanks.
I fully agree with making, e.g., number of resources customizable. I want to be able to play the style I want (which requires the ability to customize the Sovereign and 'map') and to have significant differentiation between the races. The key thing, as you note about MoM, is that those choices won't always be the same. Currently with Elemental, one has some capability to customize the sovereign but the 'races' are all different shades of vanilla and I have a hard time seeing much difference b
Yes, I am a proud owner of the MoM strategy guide. Easily the best strategy guide ever. Sits on top of my DOS 486 for the next time I wish to have another go at MOM. Never had the patience to learn then cast the Spell of Mastery, which required another hundred turns or so after everything else was done. The scale of this game promises much, once they get stuff balanced better. I guess one of the problems people are having with Elemental is the relative lack of documentationfor what is qu
I recognize my wish list will not be sorted out in 1.1. I recognize that some of it will stay as wishes. Some of the things would have been on my wish list for MoM (if only they had editors back then). So if I've been wanting some of this stuff for 20 years or so, I'm prepared to wait longer than 1.1. Thanks for starting this thread btw, an excellent idea.
Thanks guys, this ais all very helpful. And I can confirm that Janusk is free.
Sorry, forgot an important one: make it worthwhile for the Sovereign to spend time in his hut (maybe you could give him a fort, mage's tower or something more befitting his rank). Could be accelerated spell research, ability to cast spells in all battles (to his turn limit in essence, potentially with mana penalties as per MoM), whatever. Better than having kamikaze AI sovereigns providing very unsatisfying 'victories'. OK, since you asked, one more: those potential pre-exiting ruins,
First, all of Xaltotun's (please excuse any misspelling) ideas are good (i.e. I agree with them, ergo...). Now a few of my own: Fantasy world (e.g. elves, dwarves, orcs...) not post apocalyptical medieval world. Real differences between 'races' and 'factions'. World Creation: more sliders (% land, resource rareness (possibly beyond the current 'extraordinarily few to none at all' range), terrain types(?), roaming monster frequency, etc Sovereign creatio
Thank you - won't use the Ctrl+U function because I do like the exploration bit. However, next time I start a game with a map that looks like a spiral galaxy..... Don't mind cheats for the AI on higher difficulties; combine that with an actually competent AI and you really get a run for your money.
Thank you Nick-D - excellent description of the two extremes. I am not a hater: I think this game could be brilliant. I am not a fanboy because I believe that the game was released in a completely unacceptable state and 1.09 is probably almost ready for release. The game has so much potential that it probably amplifies the frustration with the flaws. The game is almost, but not quite, fun. The game is almost, but not quite as stable as a TES game on release (anyone who has played a TES g
22 cities (can't afford any more): 1 gold mine - 250 turns in, large map, found no others except owned by AI civs. Whatever that Adventure tech was that spawns 1 gold mine (Whoot!!!!), spawned it on the border of an AI civ who expanded and owned it 6 turns later. Sadly they are my allies and in-laws, part of the dowry I guess. Makes the game extraordinarily tedious. Save 6 turns, buy champion a sword, save 6 turns, buy champion a cuirass.... you get the idea. If it wasn't
Thanks for this; very interesting. learned several things. Excellent contribution, looking forward to future additions (certainly Stardock isn't going to provide detailed information on anything). Sadly, some of what I learned was that some of the things that really frustrate me about this potentially great game were active design decisions. Given the abysmal state the game was released in, one has to wonder if anyone from Stardock actually ever played the game pre-release. And i
Buy it now so you can practice for when it becomes a real challenge. The only 'real' challenge in the current iteration is that you will never have the gold to do anything. The early game is interesting; the middle game tedious in the extreme and I have never made it to the end game. There is a great game potential here, but potential not realized at this point.
Is there a list of city improvements available and what they actually do? So I don't waste time researching, e.g., Construction for the important sounding construction yard (which I assumed to be a production boost, but no, it adds 20% to my materials generation. That would be great at around Turn 20 when materials can be a bottleneck. By Turn 200, one has thousands of materials and nowhere to use them. Need more materials? Don't think so.). And is the Missionary Hall actually useful? In
The diplomacy part of the game is probably the single most broken bit. Deals are essentially impossible (except maybe a non-aggression pact or two) but fortunately the whole ugly mess can be safely ignored. Enjoy the rest of the game and hope for the best in 1.1. As for the underlying struggle, near as I can tell it is between vanilla and french vanilla, with maybe a tapioca thrown in for variety (not).
Oh well, love your work anyway. This is a potentially Epic game that needs some help to get over the line. Given what you did with the Civ4 engine, Stardock has chosen very well. Good luck and looking forward to enjoying your contributions here.
Welcome Kael; was not a big fan of Civ4 but I kept playing FFH after the rest was abandoned. A question: are Kael of Civ4 fame and Ka-el of Civ3 fame (R&R, DyP (which I still play)) the same person?
I care much more about the what and when, then the who. I do appreciate that Stardock has not just abandoned this game, although there is nothing in their history that would have led one to expect that. Many of us, myself included, have been waiting a very long time for a truly worthy successor to MOM. This might become that game in time but it is not very close at the moment: complexity is not necessarily a synonym for depth and the best aspect of MOM (IMO), the tactical combat engine, is MI