In the very early game I entered a battle to destroy some brigands from a quest. My sovereign was not powerful enough so I decided to try out the retreat within Tactical Battles. When the battle ended my sovereign was in the same location as the brigands. (Save game in link below is the turn before entering the location). Battled again but this time played it
Thanks Brad. :) Another question. The primer doesn't touch on races, yet in another post it mentioned that races would be considered mod items in the future. Would you mind elaborating a bit on the likely process for us to look at building a race. (I'm guessing it will be very involved on a number of levels). Second question. Python hasn't been mentioned in the primer. Will we ultimately be able to access the games API and manipulate classes etc via Python?
Regarding Python, from memory the most difficult thing for me was simply getting started. There are a number of development environments you can choose from along with a number of UI packages. I chose Boa to do the editing based on initial research and while it was a bit 'lumpy' it was ultimately a reasonable production tool. I'm sure we won't be needing to interface with Windows so we won't need to bother with UI packages. Stardock will most likely give us some sample templates to reverse en
[quote who="Raven X" reply="4" id="2696955"] ...but when it comes to scripting in Python I know nothing, nothing at all. I hear it shares some similarities with C# and C+ though so at least I won't be "totally lost" as many of the functions should be similar. [/quote] By all accounts Python is considered one of the simpler languages to use. I've done limited work with it a couple of years ago (wrote a backup utility for the game Dominions) and while it took me a bit of time
[quote who="Wintersong" reply="75" id="2694826"] ...This is not web browser wars... [/quote] I'm not so sure about this. I use both Impulse and Steam a lot. If there is a single-player game available on both at the same price I buy from Impulse. Not because Impulse is better, but rather because I believe in what Stardock stands for with its refreshing policy of openness and transparency. I love that they share their insights and research with us. If the
Matrix Games also have expressed that there isn't a great benefit for them to distribute via Steam for their game Distant Worlds - which is much more main-stream than most of the other Matrix hard-core strategy games. They said that the numbers of sales are actually less than we would imagine and that the profitability margin is heaps less. And Matrix don't have anything like the sophistication of Stardock's Impulse. I'll admit I'm surprised that Steam isn't considered the ultimate marketing
Are the foot soldiers skeleton-undead in the small image. (Geez I wish those teaser images expanded up to nice full screen images). :)
Great post. :) The only point I don't really agree with is the housing. I think that the use of housing to stem growth by linking it to food is a positive move. Taking that limit out would mean cities all over the place again. Interestingly, your point about sovereigns giving bonuses when stationery in cities so that we are more inclined to use our second tier heroes and armies is exactly where the Age of Wonders series evolved to. Started off with the sovereign running rampan
While I bow to the first hand knowledge Stardock would have via their Impulse sales and retail sales figure, it seems to me that digital purchasing of games is on the increase. I'm a member of TOG (The Older Gamers) and even a year ago most of the members seemed to be pre-purchasing their games as hard copy. But in the last twelve months the TOG membership through steam games in particular has really spiked. Keep in mind though that TOG members are more inclined to play FPS, MMO, RTS,
I didn't think you got back all your resources. How about pushing shift or control to keep it selected. That is pretty stardard UI now-a-days for using multiples. EDIT... Snap. Beat me by 30 seconds. :D
I really like the philosophy of striving to balance the game so players can choose their own playing style. As far as suggestions go, I think the shards should be rare but impact all the other areas of the game in some way. The game after all is named because of the elemental shards. Here are some possibilities with the shards being a more important focus: Conquest and Shard Combat Bonuses </
[quote quoting="post"] Query: Is there anyway to track your quests. A logbook or something similar? If so, its hidden from me and if not. There should be. [/quote] Quests are listed (current and past) in one of the kingdom report screens. I can't remember the exact screen but the quest link is located in the upper right. Then it goes through the varios quests and the current status.
Lol. [e digicons]:omg:[/e]
I think it is the Burn spell that is the main one that is over powered. It says it is INT% which would mean an average of 10% to 20% damage rather than 10 to 20 points. I'm sure these will be balanced in the final version. Would also expect the spell book to be one of the main community modding projects.
Yes. I have had this too and it can be annoying if you are wanting to push your city structure in a specific direction.
First of all, can we please keep the personal attacks out of the discussion? We've got a gamer who has an opinion so please give him an opportunity to air it. ... back to the focus of the thread ... Personally I like the slow pace of the game and for me the city building is getting really close now. Its funny but I found the city building in TW quite slow as well waiting for high level buildings to be completed. Where TW does shine is the tactical real-time battles. An
I think I was a tad harsh in some of the comments above. I'm now playing a game where there are heaps of mountainous choke points with different terrains. Monsters and bandits are spawning from dark woods and I'm now being forced to think through how I will break out. Do I form alliances with neighbours or fight for their cities. This is the sort of game experience I was looking for. :)
I like the ideas you have listed but the biggest problem I have with the quests is that they are tending to become the central part of the game. They are good early on when you are waiting for your cities and armies to develop but then they just become a distraction (they are for me at least). An analogy would be playing Monopoly where the main focus was getting the Chance cards. If the quests can be made to support the main game then great. But if they become too important an
I find I am often just selecting the 'Continue' button on the tech screen without first choosing the specific tech I want first. Could the UI either force a selection first before showing the Continue button, or ask 'Are you sure?' if no selection has been clicked before pressing Continue.
With housing now being the only multiple build in a city it would be helpful if the house/hut deselected itself after placement. A few times I've accidentally clicked twice.
I've been playing Elemental for relatively extended periods thanks to the stability of 3C and while I enjoy it a lot initially, I find I start to get bored with the game-play after the initial city is established. For me it is seeming more about process than strategy at present. It is heading toward a game I would 'like' but not a game I would 'love' long term.I know this isn't the finished game but we were asked to look at balance and game
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9163563/debug04.zip
.92 has also been released today that fixes some more stability issues. Might be an idea to install that as well. :)
First of all, wow! This is really coming together nicely. Fantastic job all at Stardock. 1. No crashes to report. 2. I had the blurry screen to start with but switching off Advanced lighting solved that. And there was no residue left on the screen afterwards. 3. I run multiple monitors and switched on clip cursor when full screen thinking it would contain the cursor and allow automatic scrolling along the right hand edge. This didn't do anything. Ended up disabling the
Agree. Different beasts. Perhaps the resource could change depending on who owns the land. If Trogs own the land the resource is Wargs etc.