Jarenko

To be clear you are billed once you pre-order..yes? I certainly had enough money in my bank account when I pre ordered it last year but this is a tight month for me and I don't need any rude surprises. [e digicons]X([/e]

I'll be happy to eat my words. I like to think of myself as an investor in the game. I'll download it once it is available and spend a day playing it. *fingers crossed*

[quote who="dragoaskani" reply="7" id="2714164"] Quoting Jarenko, reply 6I would wait. I have a gut feeling the release version of the game will not be very good, and it will be up to Stardock to make the next move. Make your decision based on that. I have a gut feeling you don't know what you are talking about, and it will be up to you to pull your head from your arse. [/quote] I have a pre-order and have played every beta as its been released so yes, I do know wh

I would wait. I have a gut feeling the release version of the game will not be very good, and it will be up to Stardock to make the next move. Make your decision based on that. :)

Premature release I imagine. Nevertheless I do recognize you work hard so congratulations on your beta going gold. :)

Getting excited and nervous. Anxious? Is that a word? Yeah. I'm anxious. I feel like I'm watching my little boy go up to bat for the first time and I'm nervous that I didn't teach him how to hold the bat properly. I've had the beta since late last year. I want this baby to be a star.

[quote who="Frogboy" reply="6" id="2699862"]The beta isn't a demo. It's a beta. i.e. an unfinished game is a lot like trying to eat an unfinished pie. Not fun.[/quote] Yes indeed. At times it even feels as if the baker is wondering if the pie needed more sugar or flour just as the timer on the oven is going off..

Is it the intend that you'd win the game by focusing on one area, or that you'd focus on many areas but emphasize one?

This seems like a bad idea. Diplomatic capital shouldn't just be another resource to trade.The spiteful disregard the developers show for multiplayer also tells me that MP in this game will suck. That would be bearable if I thought the SP game was shaping up nicely. It doesn't really matter to me when they release the game because I've pre ordered and therefore my money is already in the pile, but I do hope before they send it off they'll examine the product very carefully and be able to say

Perhaps the hydra has too many heads.

I am excited to see what the launch product will be like. I am a little anxious, because the game as of beta 3b at least is definitely not release ready, but I have faith that they have enough that they aren't showing us. I don't think they will release a product they aren't proud of. To me any company that puts emphasis on quality and customer service is good in my book. I have faith.

I think I disagree about automation. I suppose if the game became something where you had 20 cities to look over it would be tedious. I think players should be actively involved in the development of their cities, adventuring and such.

I think it would be cool if captured champions or children could be used as hostages that could be used as a resource to either improve your influence in that court or used as 'diplomatic capital' (whatever that is). There is a pretty strong precedent for rulers holding the children of other rulers hostages to help cement positive relations. You could even make or modify a trait to make a sovereign immune to such attachments to their children. :P

I definitely want to see some kind of interconnection between societies. i.e. I want the world to feel alive. Having ideas travel, directly or as a research bonus, leak over would be great. I share the OPs concern. It would be cool if one resource rich city could be powerful enough to rival an empire of lesser cities.

Back to the drawing board? Maybe they want testing focused on other areas and felt like eliminating that particular variable? That is what I'd guess.

AI for this game is going to be tricky. Humans can pull so much strategies out of their brains it is always hard for the AI to keep up. In this case the AI ignored the biggest threats and went for the sovereign. In other cases the AI could whack what is closest while getting hit from more dangerous spells by the sovereign or champion. Maybe the AI isn't fully implemented yet. It clearly needs to prioritize its threats better. Realistically the ban

I think unless you have farms or a building of some kind to produce food it is 0. I think they ought to either make cities able to grow to size 2 by default, or add a building like "town center" which allows the city to grow to size 2 without requiring food. If the concern is spamming cities or cities growing too fast it can be made to require a certain number of turns worth of building materials. I *do* like the fact food isn't flowing in the str

I played one game for 40 or so turns. I like the new system but I was either the victim of RNG or starting positions need to be tweaked to not be quite so close. In my sovereigns starting position he was unable to build a city because another city was too close. That also created problems for me because I couldn't build my city close to nearby farmland nor could I found a second city to reach it because I was too close to another faction. Is there

[quote who="Luckmann" reply="27" id="2684599"]Empire/Kingdom creation still locked? [/quote] I believe it was said that creating your own faction was made part of the modding tool.

Since we are discussing it.. My map scroll/zoom are very choppy and the character selecting and movement orders are a bit unresponsive, not totally unresponsive but enough to be an irritation. I can't tell if its my computer or the build. Others don't seem to have that problem but I can play games like Civ 4 or EU3 without any problem. I think I'll just wait and see.

[e digicons]:frogboy:[/e]

No one was better at it than them. Just look at their empire. They were very good at forging alliance and cutting deals and taking advantage of the situation. Although maps show India as being purely controlled by British, many petty rulers remained as a testament to the fact Britain didn't just walk in with the army and conquer everything.

It has nothing to do with e-peen and more with play style and how you have fun. AIs tend to fall into certain patterns and become predictable. I personally just find people to be a fresher challenge and less predictable. Plus the rich community AARs are very rewarding to write and read. Besides, the world of Elemental is one of devastation where the land is torn asunder and societies are beginning to emerge under the direction of channelers (right?). I think faction bal

[quote who="GoaGalneGbilski" reply="11" id="2683222"] Britain - excellent ships, possibly give them a diplomatic bonus? British were infamous for making deals and treaties with locals, at least in India. Dude, man, I don't even know where to begin. They only started talking to the natives after the natives had killed each other in large amounts because the british started a civil war. This is in a way diplomacy, but they only started being relatively nice after they onwed the countr

Just to bounce some ideas off of you.. I think faction wise you should consider including the Portuguese and Dutch. Both were very active in both the New World and Far East during the time period you want to cover. Some other things to think over: Britain - excellent ships, possibly give them a diplomatic bonus? British were infamous for making deals and treaties with locals, at least in India. France - maybe give th