Nenjin

[quote] It feels like more. At this point it's just going in circles. The launch went poorly. We know. Maybe it's time to talk about something else?[/quote] It's hard to do that when all the mechanics might change at this point, are broken currently, not hooked up, and the game we're playing right now could be very different in 3 months. So we're left with suggestions, arguments, debate, praise, scorn, player stories and reflection time. Hopefully a lil

[quote]I'll have to take your word on this (which I do) so I'll cede you this point. I played that game so long ago I only remember it wasn't very good and I never tried any of the sequels. Maybe I need to revisit it...[/quote] Do Heroes of Might and Magic 4. The game, by that point, is in a form that resembles Elemental enough you can make some pretty clear comparisons, just for the sake of "Has this really been done before" and "Have I played this format before?"

[quote]So yes, let them scream out "fanboy!" all they wish. Each time it is uttered, it is a testament to Stardock that they produce software of high enough quality that "fanboys" are also created. My guess is, that when it is all said and done, Stardock and Elemental will have even more fanboys than before it hit the shelves.[/quote] Sorry, but that's funny. If someone calls you something negative, just recast it in way that makes you look positive! Yeah! Positive thi

Because they wrote the code for determining your children's stats as a broad range....and left it at that for the time being.

[quote]Granted something of this magnitude is impossible for anything but one of the larger studios, but it does bear consideration. If the pre-orders for Elemental had gotten their cookie in the form of alpha access and possible a discounted upgrade to LE, then Stardock had wrenched the doors open to a much wider audience some of the birthing pains might have been reduced or eliminated.[/quote] I honestly believe some open tester feedback would have convinced SD to push ba

It's a pretty bad joke considering people are paying money for the game now, and those seem like place holder names. The Hiergammon not updating custom name strings, or updating unit cards properly, is all stuff that didn't get done before release. A lot of stuff just isn't "hooked up", to use SD's term.

[quote]-the Sov being 'us', the player. Yes, MoM did this kinda, however from a 'man behind the curtain', not 'man on the map' perspective. Elemental also takes it further, to a more 'rpg' extent in what is at heart a fairly traditional 4x strategy game.[/quote] Ahem...Heroes of Might and Magic. Elemental literally is that game with some different mechanics, and a higher emphasis on 4x. It has all the same elements, arranged differently. [quote]-dynasties.

[quote]LOL try the game on normal and notice how weak the AI is compared to easy seeting. This worked for me.[/quote] I was wondering if this was really the case. The AI pulls out some surprises (multiple 500+ point armies), but creatures and heroes rarely attack cities at all on normal. They've probably got some values mixed up and some easy AI settings are completely not easy. But the one tip that is always good is: get your military tech up very quickly. Even if you don't b

No wai, this is the point where we call each other morons and swear to be enemies for the rest of time! Right?

I guess I'm just generally less impressed with what you see as taking risks. I see Elemental as a game using a classic model and grafting a few interesting mechanics to it, as it stands now. [quote]You mentioned the dynamic terrain, which I suspect they planned to do much more with (spells blowing off the sides of mountains, etc). There's also unit customization, squad-type units with variable numbers of "soldiers", instead of abstracting everything out, as typical. The dynasty sy

No, the spell is for changing terrain to give yourself a tactical/travel advantage. All cities are hard capped at 50 tiles for building, IIRC.

[quote who="Eternis" reply="22" id="2744466"]1 - Out of memory error fixed 2 - Better spawning of resources on start 3 - More options in editors for #2 it would be nice if you started or had the option to start in a place with at least 5x5 tiles open to build and at least one food, metal, gold, tech, arcane and either horses or wolf tiles dependent on faction (you know the kind of spot you would actually want to invest some of your essence into beg

I get a sense of purpose from their mechanics, but they're all in a very basic, unfinished state. Which is what leads people to calling them a mish-mash. But I'm curious, what do you see as innovative about Elemental? The fact we can modify terrain tiles in a 4x game? Because that's about the only unique/new approach they've demonstrated. The game is a nice tool set, and I suppose that's innovative, but they ostensibly are making a game and not a tool set. So what does it do, as a gam

Some things that have helped me get by on normal games. -I gen a lot of maps. I don't settle for starting locations with a) less than three immediately visible resources and b) no materials resource. -I forfeit games where I start within 15 or so tiles of another empire. -I research weaponry immediately. -I over use the summoned minions to an unfun extent. But hey, if the AI spend themselves into the negatives..... -I never attack unless I have an overw

*shrug* To be honest, I'm not seeing anything in Elemental I haven't seen in: Master of Magic GalCiv 2 Spore Heroes of Might and Magic Master of Orion ...and a host of other games. 4x games are good. They are not synonymous with innovation. I'd hoped for innovation in the magic system Elemental was planning, but no one can deny with a straight face that it's nothing we haven't seen and been bored by before. As a package, i

It's not multi-player ready until items, stacked unit combat mechanics, individual unit mechanics and a host of costs/trade-offs are addressed. Once some or most of those are addressed, they can do MP and get down into the real nitty gritty of player vs. player balance. I feel like the game is currently totally balanced against playing the AI, and not against playing a person. MP balance is one of those things that goes on forever, and ever, so it would be a good idea to have so

Fair enough. Like I said, I chose not to try and participate in the beta. I've only been going on what other beta testers have been saying in other communities. Up until then, I didn't get an impression the game wasn't ready for release. Or at least, that it had so many outstanding issues.

Stardock obviously has their own ideas about what needs work the most. Let's use this thread to give them a sense of what their players find the most important. List three items, either specific bugs, performance issues or game play features. Do it in 5 words or less for each. Keep it direct, keep it simple, keep it readable. If you have more to say, put it at the bottom of your post. ------------------------------------------------------ Mine: #1: Combat/Facti

I'd like to be able to place individual troops, personally. Or just click an auto-place button. I think there was some code for placing units that they removed in the most recent patch until it's working better.

I think it's more the behavior of aggressive factions in general he's talking about. Ythiril and Kraxis in particular just seem to rampage in every game they play, while Kingdom factions are much more reserved and don't expand nearly as fast. [quote]Death Worshiper is going to be the most unbalanced trait ever if it starts working.[/quote] Really. That extra HP right at the start of the game would make your soldiers at least 1/3rd as powerful, at least according to combat rati

I'm still a pretty vocal critic of the game. I have to admit though that for all my problems with it, it's still a very addictive 4x experience, like most Stardock games. Brad's saying all the right stuff for the moment, and the one thing I have total faith in is that the game will be receiving a lot of attention. Whether that's just balancing the mechanics and bugs, or doing a lot of other stuff that fell short of some expectations at release, remains to be seen.

[quote]I think you painted yourself into that corner.[/quote] I don't think so, since I'm keeping the game and am actually enjoying it on several levels. But it's frustrating and annoying to have people tell you that "you just misunderstood what this game was about", like we haven't been reading journal updates and following the development closely. [quote]You are one of those people whos glass is half full aren't you?[/quote] Maybe. My glass fills with every patch, bu

[quote]Its not a story or an adventure, its a dungeon master's guide with a few ideas for monsters and spells thrown in at the back. [/quote] Funny, that's not how it was promoted at all. Or is the book Brad wrote just there to supplement the digital dungeon master's guide?

Not that I've found. To the OP, you can't build on roads, but cities can grow over them. Just move your city to the next open tile if there is one.

[quote]You said you would never have baught it the way it is....so, I thought maybe you don't want it anymore. I don't think you want to listen to reason, so I will just leave it alone.[/quote] I said I never would have bought it if it was intended to be driven by player-created content. Which it's not, since Brad is already mentioning if/when the time is right for paid expansions. If that's being unreasonable, the bar on being reasonable is set to [redacted] leve