the Gorgon

[quote who="Raven X" reply="95" id="2606426"]Basically I see Frogboy's question as this.... Do you want a Explanation as to why (insert faction name here) lives by the ocean? Or do you want to be able to make a race with fish fins and gills? Do you want to know why (insert faction name here) lives near mountains? Or do you want to be able to make a race with wings? What sounds more fun? Knowing why someone lives near water or playing as fish people? <br /

[quote]there are two groups. Group A wants to have full modding available immediately. Group B wants to have the vanilla game as rich and full of options and choices and fun as possible.[/quote] Eh, no, please pay some attention to the words you actually write. We are not talking about modding at all here, we are talking about in game customization, which is completely different. Group A wants to have full options to customize the game into their own types of sandboxes/campa

[quote who="shadowtongue" reply="85" id="2606374"] Quoting the Gorgon, reply 82 Here I think you miss the crucial fact that if you have wings you can also fly, which makes the whole difference for game play. People have not asked for just graphical differences, we want game play differences based on faction and race. Races are maningless in the present beta sicne they are not really included yet. Eh? Who says you need wings to fly?

[quote who="shadowtongue" reply="81" id="2606351"] Quoting the Gorgon, reply 79 Also, try to look at what made MoM and AoW into popular games. It was not the story lore I would say, but rather the races/factions that lpayed out very well. Perhaps, but realize that the amount of customization available to those games was essentially zero. If we're just twisting ourselves over the need to be able to graphically represent winge

"What is really going to flesh out those factions Will Not Be The Backstory ." Great post Raven! [e digicons]k1[/e] It seems several threads are completely mixing this up ... I hope we don't end up with a trilogy of novels and a bad game. [e digicons]:grin:[/e]

Well said, but can I point out that E is not an RPG. And I sure hope Random House has not hijacked the project in order to make it into one and prolong their contracts ... [e digicons]:X[/e]

I would definately go for: Expand the race distinctions and provide more assets and code to support players creating their own custom factions made up by their own custom races. We need unique factions/races that play differently. And to achieve that, I think it is an illusion that some background lore from a few creative writers on contract is the answer. The answer lies rather in the game mechanics, this is a game after all. The least priority for making th

[quote]The truth is that the problem is not the Lore itself (there is plenty around to read... but not enough for some of us) but the people. You say "Fantasy" and people consider it a must to have the LoTR or similar thing going on. Originality is punished for not being "the usual stuff". [/quote] I see what you are getting at and would tend to agree. But we have to note a few things. 1 We can't change people, the market is there and there is no use in getting bitter. 2. Originality

First a proposal, followed by some more lengthy comments (wall of text [e digicons]:)[/e] ): Compromise solution: First of all, please use well fleshed-out, unique factions respecting the lore of E . (If it’s possible without going against the lore, these could even be simplified into only 2 races, in 10 factions). But at the same time, add several fully fleshed out factions built on severa

I am really confused by this post from Stardock. And a bit exasperated. How can we do a poll when we haven't even seen what the factions will finally be like (tech trees, faction buildings, magic, 3D graphics ...)? Just the thought that such a poll would be the basis for a game changing decision gives me vertigo. Secondly, I don't understand what you mean with tradeoff in your post. Why can't we have the full option to customize our own races and factions, and still be present

Yes please take the time you need to get it right. And to listen to all crazy and brilliant ideas on the forum! [e digicons]:grin:[/e]

I'm ok with the market place but please be careful with how it is implemented. If it is not much more expensive to get your resources on the market, then having resources at all becomes close to just annoying micromanagement that you don´t want to waste your time on. Your resources should be important and help define the style of your civ. Also, if everyone is able to buy almost all resources the civs won´t be as unique anymore. Also, there is a charm, I

Just to make clear that I didn't mean to disagree but just wanted to point out that in my view there are indeed good reasons why you don't "change the rules of the game" during the game (e.g. by suddenly giving the AI extra units or money for the only reason that the human player managed to speed up his own production). But as long as things are optional I would'nt mind it, including scaling/changing the AI difficulty in game. But I do think you should always KNOW the rules when you start pla

Ok thanks, hadn't seen that one. In that case I think it would be nice with a toggle button to go between the "strategic" cloth map with only data, and a "nice-looking" colour view of the world you are scheeming to take over ... [e digicons]:D[/e]

I think the issue is more complex (and complicated ...) than just increasing the challenge level. For one thing it should be said that LTG is the downside of something good. In a strategy game you should in principle not be punished for making the right choices. If you have taken all the right decisions up until late game it is only logical that you should become the most powerful civ. Trying to create surprises and suspens through letting the AI cheat or throwing in game changing eve

A side question, related to the pic posted: shouldn't water be - at least a little bit - ... blue?

[quote who="Aractain" reply="203" id="2574512"](have the last two pages just been the battle of the kitty avatars or something?) [/quote] Yes, a real cat-fight! [e digicons]\o/[/e]

Tridus and Shurdus, on the gold discussion: I came up with this constructive solution, a try to be inventive!: when the game starts, the economy of all civs and all trade is based on barters . (value can still be numerically expressed for the player, but in brackets, or cows! or whatever) The first civ that researches Minting as technology get to name their currency which is then automatically also used as currency name for everyone for the rest of the game. T

[quote]Warhammer uses very simple Crowns (Gold), Shillings (Silver) and Pennies (Copper).[/quote] Unfortunately, these already exist in the real world today and would completely ruin the fantasy mood. Crowns are used in the Nordic countries, Shillings still in e.g. Kenya and Pennies are of course around in UK/US.

[quote]As has been stated, "Gold" is not a currency. It's a precious metal. No currency is ever called "gold", not even when it's based on a gold standard or really is coins with gold in them.[/quote] Eh, no country/region on Earth might have called it just "gold" until now. But you might have noticed that this is a PC game, and a fantasy one to that. And in these games it's the standard, if not "state of the art", to call it gold or gold coins or something similar. Actua

[quote who="Tridus" reply="156" id="2572379"] Quoting the Gorgon, reply 152 Post Cataclysm I think its best to stick with plain "Gold". It's also easy for anyone to understand and doesn't draw attention to itself. A named currency like Rigma or Gildar would fit better in a campaign with existing civs - not in Elemental. Just my two copper coins. Brad had this to say about that in an interview: "It’s amaz

And when you are fed up with Mars and Venus you can go to Jupiter's moon Europa - you just have to drill through the ice to get into the heated ocean (probably water) below. There might be some interesting fish swimming in there! Or if you are willing to wait a bit longer you could go to Saturn's moon Titan: it's a bit cold today but you'll have rivers, lakes and mountains. If you just wait until the Sun is blown up to like 10 times its present size before dying, Titan could be warmed

Post Cataclysm I think its best to stick with plain "Gold". It's also easy for anyone to understand and doesn't draw attention to itself. A named currency like Rigma or Gildar would fit better in a campaign with existing civs - not in Elemental. Just my two copper coins.

First, I must say that in the final game comic quotes should be kept separate in some way from serious/normal ones, oherwise they will ruin the mood of any serious campaign/sandbox. Some quotes, inspired or taken from Star Wars: "May [name of your channeler] be with us!" "And at last we shall have ... peace." "Wipe them out - all of them!" "Time to dispense with the pleasanties" "The courts take too long to decide ..." "We fight not

Some characters from our D&D campaigns to populate the world as champions: Deklina Tetrax: a gnome priest (worshipping Kombzin, father of the mountains and the gnomes) clad in a black coat with a black pointy hat. Fights with a mace and cross-bow. Dardnew Crescent – a taciturn fighter