JMiddleton

Reply to [.983 Bug] Action bar still disappearing in tactical combat after spell cast in FE Support Elemental Forums

You should at least get the "pass" button if the unit has no other options - having to toggle autoplay to advance the action qualifies as a bug by my definition.

Reply to [.983] Level 20 weapon for weak quest? in FE Beta Elemental Forums

Quest rewards that are 2 or 3 levels above your heroes make sense but 15 levels is ridiculous. Might as well turn it into cash - more useful at this stage of the game.

Reply to [0983] The Vanishing Merchantcross Bazaar in FE Beta Elemental Forums

The current implementation forces you to make choices about your research path. The one-per-world buildings are powerful and worth pursuing but, if you want them all, you'll be way behind in military research!

Reply to [983] This is wrong wrong wrong in Fallen Enchantress Elemental Forums

There are those who want the monsters to be even more powerful and aggressive, others are frustrated by the monsters we already have - especially with the new random events. This isn't simply a question of experience with the game, style of play is also important - the community includes empire builders who will spend most of their game at war, adventurers who enjoy exploring and questing and a few who simply want to putter around in a fantasy world and have fun. The nice thing about the

Reply to Master Quest in FE Beta Elemental Forums

The master quest needs to be solved but, once you know how to get through the second gate with your army intact the kill is easy, even without Mana Blast. I recall in beta 3 you had to study your major opponents and know their strengths and weaknesses - no sense going after dragons with fire weapons/magic, for example. Now the major monsters are a lot more common but a lot easier for a late game army to kill. To truly qualify as a master quest, I believe we should have to solve the oppo

Reply to [983] This is wrong wrong wrong in Fallen Enchantress Elemental Forums

The de facto truce between AI and wildlife has been an issue as long as I've been playing the game. In some builds it wasn't a problem - monsters were challenging but manageable and the fact that they didn't attack the AI was minor. Other builds, including the current one, monsters are exceptionally tough and there are lots of them guarding the available fertile land. It takes time to build enough strength to defeat them. I wouldn't mind if the AI was progressing at the s

Reply to no bonuses for the "Heal" in Fallen Enchantress Elemental Forums

I find that the tactical spells I use the most are at the disciple level. I've noticed that the spells (including heal) get more powerful as my heroes level up and selecting level up traits like evoker make a big difference but I haven't noticed a correlation between the power of a spell and my level within a school of magic so there isn't much incentive to advance beyond disciple. To me, it would make more sense to determine spell strength using the heroes level within a school o

Reply to Question: Magic in your game in Fallen Enchantress Elemental Forums

I find strategic spells like enchanted hammers, inspiration and propaganda extremely useful. I rarely bother with the other city spells because I've never had a city with enough essence to use more than these 3! I've used tornado to scatter armies getting set to attack one of my cities and pillar of fire to soften up an opponent so the city militia could cope. Regeneration is useful. For tactical spells haste, slow, heal and burning hands are very useful, flame dart is m

Reply to [.981] Spider Queen random event - fires too soon? in FE Support Elemental Forums

If there is some reasonable way to cope with these and continue the game, there should be hints that this problem has a solution so the player is encouraged to look for it instead of hitting N. If the problem doesn't have a solution, it shouldn't be part of the game - in GalCiv II, I never found a way to get past the pirates so I turned them off. Hopefully that option exists in FE. In GalCiv II turning off random events was non selective, a pity because some of

Reply to Want to upgrade troops with more options in Fallen Enchantress Elemental Forums

The ability to purchase horses for trained units - instead of training a special horseman unit - would make early troops a lot more valuable and it would be nice to mount archers and mages so we have ranged units that can travel at the same speed as the rest of the army.

Reply to [0.98-0.982] Quest rewards in FE Support Elemental Forums

There are still a lot of tough monsters in the early game, that Longbow is a godsend but we should have to earn it.

Reply to [0.98 BUG] Master Quest (Second Gate Objective) in Fallen Enchantress Elemental Forums

The joys of random numbers. Load your autosave and try again - it'll spawn somewhere else.

Reply to [BUG][0.98] Invisible Order of Asok Camp in FE Support Elemental Forums

The bug was there in .952 - the knights showed up a few turns later.

Reply to Play-through Report in Fallen Enchantress Elemental Forums

Near the beginning of my last game I got an archer unit as a quest reward. They were awesome, deadly accurate and plenty of damage. We cleaned up on trolls, bears etc... I lost them (and the rest of my army) fighting some slaths that were guarding a 5-3-3 tile on a river where I wanted to build my 3rd city. I think my sovereign had 3 hit points left when that was over - couldn't have done it without the archers. Having said that, I've tried equipping a hero with a high value bow and h

Reply to [beta 4v2; leader combat comment] Can't they just stay dead. in FE Beta Elemental Forums

Permanent disability instead of death for champions has been debated before. I agree with the developers that there should be lasting consequences for getting killed! I do like the idea of a champions' death spawning a quest where the reward is a relic of the champion that can be resurrected with a suitably expensive spell. Obviously, the quest will be open to all factions - your defeated champion may end up working for someone else! The best part is it gets rid of the need for perma

Reply to Trained units are useless in FE Beta Elemental Forums

There are defenitely still balance issues. I suspect the difficulty lies in the interaction between the wildlife and the AI factions. In Beta 3, the monsters were very aggressive to the player but tended to ignore the AI. In Beta 4, they ignore everybody. I would prefer aggressive monsters as long as they are equally aggressive to all factions - it should be a struggle to expand, clearing the wildlife before establishing a city should be a requirement. Defending cities and resources from wand

Reply to [beta 4v2; leader combat comment] Can't they just stay dead. in FE Beta Elemental Forums

In the real world, if a leader dies they are replaced by the next in line. "The king is dead, long live the king!" This would work in Elemental. Make the cost to escape high enough that getting killed several times in quick succession will exhaust it and prevent escape. But don't make death of the sovereign a game ender - promote a champion and keep going. You would, of course lose the skills and experience of the dead leader. On the other hand, the player can bypass the consequences

Reply to [suggestion] allow outposts to garrison troops in Fallen Enchantress Elemental Forums

Outposts already have upgrades that enhance the attack, defense and mobility of forces within its zone of control but it would be really nice if there was an upgrade that would let troops inside the ZOC automatically defend the entire ZOC. Optionally, require attacking forces to take out the Outpost and any forces defending it - whether or not officially garrisoned - before they can attack other resources within the ZOC

Reply to An idea on dealing with the AI's uncainy ability to find every build spot before you can! in Fallen Enchantress Elemental Forums

Another option is to let the monsters loose. If the AI had to clear the wildlife and defend its cities, it would expand much more slowly - that created a problem for human players in Beta 3 when monsters attacked us but not the AI factions. Monsters seem to be a lot more docile in Beta 4. I'd prefer them to be aggressive as long as they treat all factions equally.

Reply to Something that should be worked on: Auto Battle versus Manual. in FE Beta Elemental Forums

It is not reasonable to expect auto-battle to produce the same results as managing tactical combat yourself unless there is a large disparity in strength - even then, the auto resolution will tend to apply any damage to your weakest units while you can choose the order of engagement if managing the battle yourself. Most of the time you'll get much better results yourself but, if forced to fight a stronger opponent, the random number generator will occasionally deal you a wi

Reply to Unofficial Poll: Have you been able to finish a game completely in Beta 4? in FE Beta Elemental Forums

I play large maps with 3 opponents. I've completed 3 games with no corruption - 2 spell of making, 1 alliance. Am trying to achieve a quest victory but the game starts to slow down around turn 200 and becomes virtually unplayable before I can build up enough strength to take on the Dragon Quest. No instability - just slow - so I pick an easy way to end it.

Reply to [0.95] Game is a load save then end turn CTD-fest from around turn 180 onwards in Fallen Enchantress Elemental Forums

I'm at turn 460 on a large map with 3 opponents. I control about half the map and can see another 20% or so because of trade routes. 12 cities - half of them idle at the moment. I could easily end the game with an alliance/diplomatic victory or a spell of making but want to complete the epic quests. No instability and saves load fine but the game has been slowing down since about turn 200 and I'm now spending at least half my time watching the hour glass. If it gets much slower,

Reply to Research is boring in Fallen Enchantress Elemental Forums

If you keep the game going long enough to complete the Epic quests, it relatively easy to research the entire tech tree in FE. You can continue refining your knowledge but, as others have said, it's boring. It would be nice if the game generated a unique tech tree based on faction and the path chosen for the sovereign but, I accept that development may have progressed to the point where that is not practical. At some point the player should be required to make choices that will limit thei

Reply to Discussions on Starting Location Characteristics and City Booster Spells, ie. Making the Start Less Rigid. =) in FE Beta Elemental Forums

There are lots of differing opinions and lots of different styles of play. What we need is choice - we can already choose frequency of monsters and density of resources. Maybe we should be able to choose the minimum tile quality in the starting location 6, 7 or 8 point. Being able to set the agressiveness of monsters (and AI factions) might also make the game more enjoyable for new players, without reducing the challenge for experienced players. That way you can set the game for your level of

Reply to Dragon Quest bug? in FE Beta Elemental Forums

If you succeed you get a pet Ashwake dragon. If you're powerful enough to beat a flock of those things, you probably don't need a pet dragon! Like all the wildlife in the game, they have strengths and weaknesses. Check the stats and make sure you're properly equipped before taking them on.