pigeonpigeon

[quote]Good points, like the Ent/Huorn faction idea, not sure how playable it would be though (maybe another candidate for NPC).[/quote] Yeah, I specifically said non-playable faction :P Definitely wouldn't work as a playable faction... [quote]They like to keep to themselves for the most part and wouldn't like lots of major battle going on near their forest just because everyone nearby gets a bonus.[/quote] Presumably that wouldn't be a problem, because Sauron (or othe

[quote]What is so wierd about them not showing up? That's SOP. They show up in some threads, but expecting them to show up in a given thread is insane.[/quote] Not only that, but expecting them to show up in a thread about a topic that they've volunteered almost no information about is even more insane. It's not like they haven't told us about certain topics because no one asked - we've asked. Either they aren't sure enough themselves that they don't feel comfortable telli

[quote]Passive bonuses to good factions when they go near NPC faction of Lothlorien also sounds intriguing, though I'm not sure how well that actually fits, since Lothlorien was pretty insular toward the end of the 3rd age, and I'm not so sure they would like it all that much if say the dwarven faction was poking around their neighborhood looking for a cheap bonus [e digicons];)[/e] [/quote] True, the general elven population of Lothlorien would probably not be so happy about tha

[quote]IIRC, the magic system will be added around november, and beta 2 will start in january. (empasis on the IIRC)[/quote] I recall reading that too, although IIRC it was more like the magic system might be added around november :P

[quote]Is it a true dungeon beneath a ruined castle, complete with torture chambers? Is it the remains of the sewer system from a pre-Cataclysm capital? Or perhaps the lost lair of a formerly very prosperous smuggling network?[/quote] ...Or is it just a natural cave inhabited by big bad nasties that prefer the dark and dank? :P

[quote]I want to roleplay a mage warlord and king/queen, not a marriage broker. But perhaps it will be fun, can we please learn more about it?[/quote] You are aware that one of the major tasks/goals of a monarch was to marry off their children and even extended family to politically advantageous circumstances, right? If we have to deal with marrying off children every turn, or even every 10 turns, it'll get old fast. But I suspect families won't grow that quickly, so arranging marriag

So I've been doing a bit of reading :P The elves of Mirkwood also fought in the War of the Ring - Dol Guldur split its forces to attack both Lothlorien and Thranduil's realm. I couldn't find much information about details, only that the Mirkwood elves won a hard victory. Also, one possibility is combining the elves of the Lonely Mountain/Iron Hills with the men of Dale, or having the men of Dale as an independent faction. The reason why Rivendell didn't have to do any fighting, incide

[quote]It all comes down to game balance in regards to an essence-hoarding channeler. Anyone who's played dominions knows starting a game with a supercombatant is a viable strategy and it's neither too powerful nor too weak. I'm sure with the planned beta testing Elemental will also be able to achieve the same gameplay balance.[/quote] You just argued against yourself :P [quote]There could easily be a spell/or automatically/or item, that you can have that will

Well, for a game like Armageddon or The Great Wasting, I would very much like to be able to invest a significant amount of effort into preventing or mitigating its effects within my own territory and/or against my people and armies. IMO, the only spell that shouldn't be fully counterable provided you have access to all the magical resources necessary, the power and perhaps the skill in some cases, is the Spell of Making. Basically, if my channeler is as strong as your channeler and fo

[quote]I like your idea of regenerating dungeons but I think there needs to be contingencies, otherwise you might end up with a situation where a player will "farm" dungeons, which damages the atmosphere that dungeons are meant to create in the first place. I think that, for instance, dungeons that are near civilized areas should very infrequently replenish, if at all. [/quote] Yeah, but there are ways of dealing with that. One, like you said, is to have dungeons in or ver

[quote]I'm not sure the best way to handle the elves... You have the wood elves of Mirkwood, the elves of Rivendell, and the elves of Lothlorien. Rivendell and Lothlorien elves don't really fight much in the books, but it must be said that there are notable exceptions, for instance, Glorfindel of Rivendell faced down all 9 riders to bring Frodo to Rivendell (poor guy was replaced by Liv Tyler in the movie), Elrond's sons rode to Rohan to help out the Rohirrim, the borderguards of

[quote]Agreed. Just having the engine allow *something* will hopefully allow the mods to script some fantastic add ons, too. Just some basic quest system that we can elaborate on would be awesome.[/quote] Considering the fact that completing the Master Quest is going to be a victory condition, I think it's pretty safe to say that there will be some basic quest system.

[quote]Talking about reactionary defensive magic, how about spell traps that activate only when opponents cast some spell against you. Like Reflect trap. Oh boy, wouldn't the enemy channeller get the surprise of his life when that volcano spell comes bouncing right back at him.[/quote] Haha, that would be fun. I'd love it if specializing in defensive magic is viable. And by defensive magic I don't mean raising walls and stuff, I mean magic to be used as defense against other magic. Th

Also, I'd prefer if most dungeons would regenerate eventually once they're cleared. And they needn't be populated by exactly what was there before, either. Sometimes a dungeon might slowly become repopulated over time, and maybe sometimes a powerful creature will move in overnight. This would keep the world alive longer. For example in Civ IV, I often start a new game when the whole world is covered by civilizations - it's just not as much fun anymore when there's nothing to explore and nothi

Meh. I'd rather die outright if I manage to get my channeler killed. I don't fancy the idea of becoming weaker and weaker as the game goes on because my channeler keeps dying. If you're playing the type of channeler that is likely to be in combat situations, then dying will set you back and make it more likely for the new channeler to die as well (he will be weaker, but his enemies won't be unless they also died). This could just spiral to the point where losing your channeler would result in

I understand the argument of using DD/MM/YY (smallest to largest increments in order), I still prefer using MM/DD/YY in common usage just because it better matches how I actually speak. I say August 13th. Not the 13th of August. And so for me, MM/DD/YY is more natural because I don't have to switch the numbers around in my head. Saying one way is silly because the other way is logical is a logical fallacy: one method making sense has no bearing on whether the other method also makes sense, wh

[quote]I think you guys are vastly over estimating the level of costumization that will be in the game, what the hell is a level 3 bronze sword? A sword is a sword, you got the short version the romans used to great effect in their shield lines because they stab well, you got the long version thats better for a general melee without well organized lines and a two handed version thats great for offense but piss poor for defending.[/quote] [quote] To me, improving a sword is purely

[quote]For any LotR mod I recommend doing each nation individually for release... otherwise it will take many months until all pieces are finished. I'm sure many will be eager to fight against Sauron and his armies, hopefully it will be possible to provide an immobile channeller to represent the evil eye.[/quote] I hope whoever ends up working on the LoTR conversion doesn't focus solely on the 3rd age. I'd love to be able to play against Sauron in the flesh and blood

[quote]Okay, and my post relates to sovereigns and their corrupted children how?.... [e digicons]:P[/e] [/quote] Well, Saruman was effectively the child of Eru Illuvatar, and Saruman became corrupted. And Eru Illuvatar is kind of like the ultimate sovereign of Arda, so you're not too far off :D

Mmmm nice. I didn't think about the whole dynasty thing affecting what happens on surrendering, cool! I was really hoping you'd post the trailer everyone from PAX has been talking about, though :(

[quote]I'm still holding out on that 20% coupon that was said to be coming again before the beta started. [e digicons]:)[/e] [/quote] Derr, what?

I also really like this idea, but I'm not sure that an AI would be very capable at land negotiations and all. It's too... continuous and the goals/advantages/disadvantages associated with it vague. I do really want to be able to claim land without building a full-fledged city, though. It would be really nice to be able to set up military outposts out in the barren wastelands (no essence imbuement necessary!), and doing so would effectively claim that portion of land. It would also be

Rather than having to explicitly explore dungeons, or even having to send troops in to auto-explore and come back (or not come back) with information on what might be down there, I'd prefer if the amount of information given to you when you approach a dungeon be tied to the scouting ability of your hero or army. Alternatively, if they're actually explorable, then this might be a moot point depending on how combat engagement happens and whether or not unaligned monsters/armies in dunge

[quote]Well if there's a whole tree for defensive magic I imagine there'll be area enchatments to protect from all sorts of things, I'd be cool with that as long as it wasn't too deep in (And of course as long as they could be broken)[/quote] I hope that the defensive magic is very deep! By that I don't mean there should be 3,281 different defensive spells to chose from, but I want the mechanic itself to be deep. I want there to be different ways of countering enemy offensive magic -

Whoa. That's really good.