Simsum

Reply to Why wouldn't you pick all the spellbooks? in War of Magic Elemental Forums

[quote quoting="post"]And this point, there is not point in NOT picking all spellbook, as well as there being no "consequences" in doing so.[/quote] The shard spawn system & map overview combined could make it advantageous to invest in all the element-based spellbooks. But the keyword here is "could". As it is, the shards give no modifiers. Moreover, if even if they did give modifiers, they only give modifiers to combat magic, and only after tech'ing - tech'ing that will g

Reply to Why is everyone upset the game came out "early"?!? in War of Magic Elemental Forums

[quote who="BoogieBac" reply="53" id="2753064"] We just didn't see what they were talking about. We thought any complaints would be about polish points or something. I expected the 'big complaint' was that we didn't have 'Fallen' versions of the victory cutscenes. Off by a mile, to say the least [/quote] And then some. I still don't understand how you guys could come up with the game mechanics, try to combine them with things like character developm

A pile of ideas/suggestions on hero & army gameplay. in WOM Ideas Elemental Forums

I'd like to see the game differentiate between hero stacks and army stacks. I'd like to see the default military unit size increased to 5 individuals. I'd like the introduction of a new Adventure tech enabling factions to create "adventuring companies" - hero stacks. I'd like the game to require that hero characters & sovereigns join a retinue to join an army stack. I'd like hero stacks to be unable to attack army stacks and settlements. I'd like he

Reply to A quick note from Brad on Elemental in War of Magic Elemental Forums

1. In September we will release v1.1 which will be the first major revision to the game that takes into account the feedback we're getting from players. This will be a pretty substantial change. In particular, character creation, magic (think, shared mana pools), Please drop the "percentage modifier" & "modified values as random ranges" system. There's a reason you're the only ones who've ever use a system that simple and elegant, and it isn't that

Reply to (REL) Six coloured cloaks with new icons in WOM Mods Elemental Forums

[REL] is short for Release. [REQ] is short for Request. [WIP] is short for Work In Progress. The tags are used to make it easier to do forum searches.

Reply to What needs to be 'fixed' and what can we mod? in WOM Mods Elemental Forums

[quote who="Supreme Shogun" reply="2" id="2742283"]Yes. A lot of "Balance" or "UnBalance" people want can come from editing some XML files.[/quote] I don't think so. Granted, everything needs a balance pass and that can be done by anyone. But the way the game applies modifiers and calculate outcomes means the various improvements of stuff in the game can't really be gradual enough. Every step up is a giant & game-breakingly unbalanced leap ahead of previous generations. Almo

Reply to Gritty/Realistic (and better) combat rules in WOM Mods Elemental Forums

Brass1983, allegedly the game supports a variety of damage types and corresponding resistances, so perhaps it can be handled that way. However, I've just been looking at some of the xml files, and unless I'm missing something the functionality isn't in use.

Reply to Gritty/Realistic (and better) combat rules in WOM Mods Elemental Forums

Ranged attacks could be turned into "move or fire" special abilities. That way archers can do melee like other troops, and archery gets a much needed nerf. One addition to the combat mechanics proposed in this thread I'd like to see, is a reworked morale system - including the ability to & consequences of disengaging. Warhammer too does this.

Reply to Gritty/Realistic (and better) combat rules in WOM Mods Elemental Forums

So do I. I don't have the know-how to h[quote who="db0" reply="4" id="2740478"] Quoting rancmiller, reply 1I think this is actually good... Can you make it into a mod? Dunno. That's what I'd like to know too. Don't know if the things I need to modify, are modifiable[/quote] Neither do I, nor do I know how to modify them if it's possible. But if anyone can enable me to help realise your mod, I'm ready & willing to do so. The combat mechanics you outlined are ex

Reply to Doh! (looking at reviews) in War of Magic Elemental Forums

[quote who="Tridus" reply="30" id="2740609"] Quoting penlin, reply 29IMHO, the shacknews comments are well thought out. So much of the game feels superfluous when all that matters is building that big military stack. The game (so far) is a simple exercise in building a strong stack of units ... with a whole ton of other bells and whistles (e.g. questing) to tempt/distract you away from this single winning strategy and give you the illusion of choice. That's just a balance

Reply to Elemental, or Fall from Heaven 2? in War of Magic Elemental Forums

The AI isn't very intelligent yet. GalCiv2's is the second best (AI Wars is even better, but that's a very different kind of strategy game) I've seen in a strategy game, though, and I'm confident Brad will keep working on it until it's even better than GalCiv2's. @ Phazonfreak: I'm unaware to what extent the core mechanics are modable, but I wouldn't expect Stardock to fix them. Why? Because since the earliest days of the beta lots of people have written at length and in great detail

Reply to Elemental, or Fall from Heaven 2? in War of Magic Stardock Forums

I haven't tried it, but I've only heard very good things about FfH2. Elemental I have tried, and I'm sorry to say I can't recommend it. The game looks nice, and it has an outstanding tech tree. But pretty much everything else about it is... bad. The problem everyone talks about is how buggy the game is, and while that's all too true, it's not the reason to avoid the game. Based on past & current behaviour there's no reason at all to doubt Stardock will have squashed the bugs very

Reply to This game is going to end up just like GalCiv1/2 in War of Magic Elemental Forums

@ Feelotraveller: I forget the faction name, but the red Kingdom faction, the one with the starting bonus materials, almost nailed the quest victory against me yesterday. I managed to wipe them out in time, though. @ Gormoth1: The fact is every player in a match is in a competition to use a limited number of resources to win over all the other players. This isn't particular to Elemental, it's true of every 4X game. What that fact means, is that ideally, the greatest value any & al

Reply to There is something ... odd about this well [huge feedback on game] in War of Magic Elemental Forums

[quote who="Sythion" reply="6" id="2723013"]Although I agree with ddd that some things do not have to be explicitly explained, this game does leave FAR too much to trial and error.[/quote] Everything has to be explained to exhaustion. The point of the game isn't to try to guess how X, Y or Z works. The game is about being the best at exploiting X, Y & Z. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind the lack of in-game tutorials. It's a RTFM kind of game, just like any other Grand Stra

Reply to Most Anticipated PC game of the next year. in War of Magic Elemental Forums

Thanks, lwarmonger. But Raaargh! Stardock you damn tease: "Sorry, this product is not available in your region". Does anyone know if Impulse can filter out US-only stuff? - Trust me, trying to buy stuff you can't is way, waaay more annoying than it sounds. @ Bilskis & Annatar11: it's a bit funny you guys call it

Reply to Most Anticipated PC game of the next year. in War of Magic Elemental Forums

I think I sort of gave up on the series with Civ 3. Is it worth getting Civ 4 for Planetfall alone?

Reply to Most Anticipated PC game of the next year. in War of Magic Elemental Forums

Off the top of my head: Fallout: NW Age of Decadence ZRPG Elemental One of the upcoming UFO clones/new version of existing ones. Blood Bowl: LE BB:LE is probably my "most anticipated" pick, but that's because all the jobs, husbands, wives & children my BB playmates and I can't seem to stop accumulating, increasingly gets in the way of playing the board game. Oh yeah, and SMAC2. I'm really looking forward to that one. And I'm

Reply to The modders will destroy me in War of Magic Elemental Forums

If you're "just an engineer" I wish more game design hotshots were. Sure, it would be cooler still if it was possible to merge you and, say, pre-Spore Will Wright. But as it is, there aren't a whole lot of people other than you who can honestly claim to consistently make interesting, challenging and fun games. Neither (either of the) Chris Taylor(s) nor Will Wright can, for example. Don't sell yourself short, Brad.

Reply to Elemental Beta 2: Player Input #1 in Elemental Dev Journals Elemental Forums

Damage types are great, but what about unit types and special abilities? I'd like guys with pole arms to stop mounted charges, but I also want guys with bows & daggers to get crushed by mounted charges. And eh.. It might be cliché, but I'd like dragons to breathe fire, golems to be impervious to magic, swamp monsters to be able to move unseen & ambush stuff in swampy terrain, and so on. Special resources that give stuff like super-powerful units or great, big piles of m

Reply to More weekend AI musings in Elemental Dev Journals Elemental Forums

[quote who="Ellestar" reply="51" id="2641988"] Quoting Orvidos, reply 8"Human cheese." Interesting way to put it. The day the AI is able to figure out how to counter me doing absolutely batshit things that would leave me defenseless/dead against human players (but yet, maybe not!) I'd call it ready. Basically: When it can adapt at human speed. It's difficult to to implement. At best, it will look like AI is adaping, but it will be programmed to do so, it

Reply to More weekend AI musings in Elemental Dev Journals Elemental Forums

Depends on your definition of cheese. A common strategy in this type of game, is to tech for a tech switch, so you can trick your opponent to waste his energy on the wrong stuff and give him a false sense of security. I've never seen an AI capable of such a ploy, nor have I seen an AI that would look for it, recognise it, or know how to respond to it. I'm very, very, very, very much in favour of letting the AI use stratagems. Especially if it can be done in such a way that the AI can

Reply to Elemental: Kumquat Graphics Engine in Elemental Dev Journals Stardock Forums

[quote who="Frogboy" reply="130" id="2638997"]Sorry esrever, I wasn't meaning to address you quite so specifically. What I am trying to address is the general question of the graphical style. We don't like the tendancy of these types of games to be littered with "stuff". We prefer having a cleaner look both from a game play point of view as well as aesthetically.[/quote] My earlier comments weren't meant as criticism of the style either. I not only like it in other context

Reply to Elemental: Kumquat Graphics Engine in Elemental Dev Journals Stardock Forums

[quote who="Frogboy" reply="107" id="2637930"]Can you explain how the screenshot in reply 70 is "boxy"? I guess I'm not understanding what you're looking for. I look at #70 and see a lot of detail.[/quote] I can try, at least. The screeny in #70 looks like a composite of disparate parts. I think it's mainly because the transition between tiles is too abrupt/evident, but it's also because it looks a bit.. drab isn't exactly the right word, because I think it has some

Reply to Elemental: Kumquat Graphics Engine in Elemental Dev Journals Elemental Forums

[quote who="TucoBenedicto" reply="101" id="2637661"]Wow, what an embarassing bunch of Captain Obvious Superfriends we have here.[/quote] It's just a guess, but you probably won't get the discussion back on the topic of graphics (rather than the "dev time should be spend on X" derail) this way. That said, I agree with you. The current screenies look boxy and lifeless compared to the early concept screenies. I don't think it's the art style as such, it looks more like it's a mat

Reply to Tactical Combat discussion continuation in Elemental Dev Journals Elemental Forums

[quote] Combat Speed. Your combat speed determines how many “moves” / attacks you get during a particular turn. In the begging of Lord of the Rings, what makes Sauron such a bad ass is that he can attack so many units at once. He has, in game turns, an incredible combat speed.[/quote] Hmm... I like that idea, I think. But how does it work exactly? If a combat turn is, say, 20 segments, the initiative rating is the number of segments that must