It is great to be back to the land of high speed Internet connections.
The team got v1.07 out this week which addresses some of the issues reported by players. There’s a lot more to do of course. Here’s a few notes on what’s on our plate right now:
There’s a ton more to add here but these are a few of the things on our mind. It’s been, as you can imagine, a horrible horrible couple of weeks. We’re doing out best to make sure Elemental lives up to its potential which brings me to the final part.
Elemental’s original release schedule was to have the first release (War of Magic – Book 1: Relias) and 2 expansion packs (Book 2: Cerena and Book 3: Magesta).
What we’re going to do is that for users who own the game by a certain date will get (at least) the first expansion pack for free as a token of our appreciation for hanging in there with us. As some long-time Stardock gamers can tell you, our expansion packs aren’t minor things.
Have a good weekend!
WOW! I've never seen such dedication, passion and focus for a product that didn't meet people's expectations before. Usually if something is a flop other companies cut their losses and leave the fans out to dry but I don't feel ripped off at all with my purchase of Elemental just seeing the dedication and perseverance of the makers ensures me that we the fans won't be left out to fend for ourselves. The potential of Elemental is looking quite bright.
Procipinee: Karavox! The time has come for you to pay for your treason against the kingdoms of men!
Karavox: em bibble?
So, as I understand, heroes will either have essence (being able to cast magic) or not, while mana would go from global pool.
Some balance issues:
Champion stacking will get less useful, since there is only one pool that regenerates mana, not one per champion. So mana regen needs to be higher.
Other issue is that this is a big game mechanic change:
How will it affect current games?
Will it break saves, again?
What about Book1 campaign? It was balanced with current system in mind. It would need rebalancing.
What about AI, it needs to "relearn" things again? Even more things to cod.
There is a reason why changes like this are either done during development, or scheduled for expansions.
The more complex the game, the bigger issue to push big changes without breaking something.
.
For example, late 1.05 add-on was changing default combat speed to 2. Harmless change, yes? Well no, it added bunch of issues. Made combat speed boosting equipment less useful, since adding +1 to 3.0 actions is less of an impact that adding +1 to 2.0 actions. And with 3 actions you can already move and strike. And with no troops which can only move 1 tile in combat (2.0 actions), whole tactic layer seems a bit more shallow.
Also there are still units that got stuck with combat speed of 1.0! Including some premade sovereigns and all heroes from book1 campaign. And only because they were missing speed tag in XML sheet. Was not an issue when almost all units had CS of 1, but now since engine still defaults CS to 1.0, if no tag is present, we have several unintentionally nerfed units in the game.
See, how even small change could add lots of balancing issues, and even trigger bugs?
P.S.
As for elemental schools, I always liked being able to get tactical damage spell quickly, when it actually means something (with sovereign exploring alone and one or two-shooting week creatures with magic, while him being unarmed). Please don't take it away by burrowing elemental schools in tech tree.
I like the idea of a revamp to magic. I also like the idea that the different books of elemental magic need to differ in such a way that they change the way you actually play the game depending on which you access. Leave magic in sov generation but make it so you choose a school of magic and can spend points on a few low level spells to start the game with. Or perhaps have the faction you choose determine what schools of magic you are aligned with. Perhaps all factions have access to arcane spells that have no particular elemental allegiance very similar to what we already see in the game as far as the arcane goes. I don't mind the global mana pool idea but if that is to be done then the sov should generate a small amount of mana each turn. Of course this also means that the sovs children and grand children will also generate mana since they are also channellers. This could make the decision to marry off a child fro diplomatic reasons have greater impact since it would reduce your magical resources. You would have to decide if the diplomatic gain was worth the loss. I do like the idea of mana generation then making it into the tech tree. The magic section of the tree would then include decisions between tech that enhances mana generation, increases capacity or efficiency of mana use thus reducing casting costs. Then the other tech under the magic section would focus on tech that increases your ability to research more powerful spells (like ti already does). Control of a shard or two would provide your largest gains to the global mana pool but the other suggestion would allow a sov who is not able to control enough shards still be able to wield magic and increase capacity through child bearing and research in magic tech. I alo like th idea that you start off with knowledge in only one are of magic and the only way to gain access to other schools would be through high level quests or by thefinal elimination of an opposing sov. There should likely be some chance that the opposing sovs magic book is destroyed in battle or something but if ti is recovered you would then have acess to their school of magic and all the spells they had uncovered with their own research. This would make it less appealing to war with factions who share your school of magic and much more appealing decide who to eliminate first and who to go to war with. This would then truly create a war of magic.
I appreciate the openness with the community however I think you need to take a step back and finish the game first before you start tweaking it (or even discuss tweaking). It seems like you are still in beta mode when you most certainly are not. What I mean by this is the most important thing right now is prioritize above all else implementing promised features which are missing (multiplayer, etc) and then fixing features which aren't working. Of course stability bugs should be fixed on a triaged basis. Once these things are done then tweak, balance, etc to your heart's content.
The primary reason for following this course of action is noone knows how the game will play once more than one human player is involved. The game's AI is so bad right now that it can't be used as a guage for balancing. You could make changes to core systems (magic, minor factions, etc) only to find that in multiplayer the new systems are bad as well.
On a side note, please make one of the first improvements (after the changes above are done) making the AI much better. Right now the game for me is unplayable not because of stability bugs or broken feature but because the game offers no challange now. I played all my games on the hardest two levels and none of them offered me a challange. You enumerate several improvements to the AI which are needed but there are many other problems most notibly the AI simply makes bad decisions. I've had situations where my undefended or poorly defended cities were not invaded by armys of factions I am at war with. They simply walked past the city passing it one or two tiles away. In addition resources are key especially in later stages and the AI currently doesn't attempt to deny you access to resources. Even at the highest difficulty mines, shards, etc don't seem to be a strategic priority for the AI when it should be one of the highest priorities. Even if there were no problems with the game it wouldn't hold a candle to games like civ, dominions or GalCiv as a good single player strategy game simply because the AI is sub par.
Forgot to mention that I am also very pleased with the level of feedback and communication from Stardock. I have seen my share of issues with the game as we all have but I am really enjoying it in its current state and am truly looking forward to its evolution. The reason I forgot to mention this in my previous post is because I have been loosing sleep the past 2 weeks staying up late and playing Elemental.
How about: you can choose any non-elemental, non-quest related spellbook at an appropriate skill point cost (except perhaps Summoning). You can then research any of your starting spellbook's L1 spells immediately, or research to get L2 spells *from that spellbook* in Arcane Research. So instead of researching *all* Level 2 - Level X spells, you research a *certain spellbook*'s Level 2- Level X spells in Arcane Research. So if you start with the Enchantment spellbook, you can immediately start researching specific L1 *Enchantment* spells, or alternatively research Level 2 Enchantment spells, then Level 3 Enchantment spells and so on. Same with Combat and other non-elemental/non-quest related spellbooks.
You get a certain amount of Essence that is separate from needing to have shards. You then go through the Magic tech-tree and choose a Air, Earth, Fire or Water specialization initially, and you can start learning specific L1 spells of that type, or research L2 spells *of that Elemental type* to go up the tree. Once for every player, they get the opportunity to bond with the land and generate one Elemental shard next to your capital city, of the type of a researched Elemental specialty. Each major player can only get one Elemental shard in this manner per game. They would then get their primary Essence reservoir started.
I like the idea of mana upkeep, but I think some essence is granted even before you get your first Elemental shard.The system as I described above would allow specialization of the spells you get in the game. Instead of learning L2/L3 and so on spells of *any type of spellbook that you know* (as is currently) you would research the different spell levels starting from L2 from any of your starting spellbooks or any of the Elemental spellbooks you have researched from Tech Knowledge points. Either at the start of the game (for starting spellbooks) or when you attain an Elemental specialty (and thus spells from that Element) you can research specific spells from L1 of *a particular spellbook that you know* or choose to research higher level spells (starting from L2) in that particular spellbook, and go up the tree for that particular spellbook.
As long as the cost for researching specific spells and specific spell levels *of different spellbook types* is balanced, every game could be different, based on what spellbooks you start with, what Elements you research, and what higher levels for specific spellbooks are attained with Arcane Knowledge. And if different spells from different elements and other spellbooks were made truly unique (special effects etc.), I think you would have a pretty cool system!
So guys, what do you think?
Best regards,Steven.
Hi Brad,
I also wanted to add that the game is missing some of that fun factor/atmosphere like in the master of magic series.
What I mean by that is please change the heroes to be more unique and memorable. For example a unique cool looks for each hero, different types of skills and abilities, and rare legendary heroes, artifact, relic weapons that are very rare.
Revamped unique units and magic items. Examples of this could be you kill a powerful ancient dragon and you obtain a Holy Avenger sword that only a Knight class can use etc. When that Knight class equips the holy avenger it would be nice to see the effect in game and tactical battles. For example the Holy Avenger is a large distinctly shaped longsword that glows an eery blue with special unique abilties. Examples of unique units is the wraith have units that other factions cant have and that have different special abilities.
i think many people have spoken about the spells functions and looks so I wont go any further on that.
Cheers
I apreciate the free expansion. I hope you know that you are now my primary internet father figure. I think the whole no parents thing is why I am such an evil basterd.
You guys bring out the Anakin in me.
Never doubted Stardock I'm sure you guys will make Elemental a great game
Details aside, great attitude. Time to reclaim the lost territory
I like the ideas of the minor factors expanding their city up to at least level 3 and also the desire to make them strange and unique, such as a dragon leader (as one poster mentioned), that sort of thing. In my mind, however, I was thinking that they would have to offer something truly spectacular to make you really consider not conquering them and to protect them, if it came to it, from other factions.
Some thoughts...I think the full diplomacy options are a must.
A minor faction might be able to offer substantial hereditary bonuses, so if you choose to form a dynasty with them, the offspring will start with higher stats or a special ability unique to that minor faction (it would have to be useful!). Thus keeping minor factions around can be useful for making new little sovereigns. If it's a long game, and there are multiple minor factions involved in the heredity of one son/daughter, there could be a chance of either ability and a very small chance of both abilities.
A tech treaty with one might give you a bonus much much larger than you could get by taking over the city and building it up, but that diminishes the more tech treaties the minor faction makes with other factions (if that's possible to enact). That way the player would have to decide whether to: a) conquer the minor faction to get the advantages of the city itself, conquer the other factions to get back the big bonus in all its glory or c) be content with the lesser bonus.
Another faction might be able to offer much more powerful items than can be acquired elsewhere (or at least much earlier) at a deeply discounted price to those in favor with that minor faction.
An alliance with one could also lead to a boost in the global mana pool you're considering, once again -- larger than you could get by taking it over and building it up. Or it could offer shard-like bonuses to spell power for a certain type of spell -- maybe one of the non-shard-linked schools of magic (enchanting, life, etc).
Another thought would be a unique unit that you can get by allying, not conquering.
Just some ideas. There will always be the temptation to conquer a city, especially if it's sitting on some useful resources and could provide an important stagging ground, not to mention the normal city bonuses. The key, in my opinion, is to make it really useful to keep around, to win it to your favor -- and your favor alone -- so that you're constantly forced to evaluate what your best option is.
Just wanted to say thanks for your continued dedication and the free expansion. I know some people are feeling like you owed it to them, but to me it felt like a gift.
Just passing by to add 2 cents...
I, too, am a bit wary of the planned removal of the elemental books from character creation. It just feeks the wrong way to go. People are complaining about the lack of character customization choices (everyone can do anything) removing them would reduce said choices even more.
How about creating another "set" of sovereign traits, like histories & profession, but with an even higher cost. Imagine them as "kit" (Pyromancer, Ice-mage etc...) basically my idea is that by selecting said "kit" in the begining you would get, from the start, acces to said elemental book, high probability of a specific shard in your starting location AND the lowest level attack spell of said book.Other books could be researchable then in-game (maybe with a penalty to the opposite element, if you start with a specialization)
All this, obviously should cost 15-20 points in the actual character creation system (wich should be rebalanced IMHO, but that's another story...) and would do much to reduce the OP feel that Melee oriented Sovs have now in the early game.
Opinions?
I like frogs...
I you Brad!
<Snip>
The spell of making costs... 20 Mana to cast... <Snip>Spell of making takes as much mana as 4 Chain Lightning...
<snip>
There... are... gaming gods.. up there...
;_;
It's cool to see that your actively reading the forums. I have no idea how you filter through
Cheers,
V
finally daily Dev journals updates
1.07 has been good to me, XP 32 bit. Just waiting on balance and AI improvements. No other issues here.
Can we get the attack type - damage resistence system which is written in manual and in game Elementopedia about?
Thanks for the update.
IMO bug fixing is the less important, I can live with some crashes or slow performances, but what annoy me is the lack of features and illogicial gameplay structure the game currently has in magic, combats, city management and so.
Hey man, I understand all the bad criticism and talking about how this was rushed and how you should feel ashamed of yourself for how this was released can get you down, but you shouldn't let that get to you. Those of us that have been with you since galciv 1 know that you don't put out crap. Yes, it is true that this release didn't come out perfect, but that is not entirely your fault. Street release being broken, forcing you to release to pre-payers before day 0 patch was ready helped nothing. I know that you guys are gonna put plenty of love into this, cause you have proven in the past you are dedicated to making your games awesome, even after release. I put my 50$ into this (even though I really shouldn't have- what with being unemployed) knowing that down the road I will get my money's worth. The bugs wont be there forever and the fact that you guys are gonna give the first expansion to those of us that had to deal with the beginning issues is above and beyond my friend... Well above and beyond, I know no other company that would even remotely consider any such possibility. That right there should shut up just about any nay-sayer. Keep up the great work, and don't let the bad press get you down.
The game needs big Game Mechanic Changes, I know you didn't want to copy what was in MoM, but stuff there was way more logical and fun than what's currently in Elemental.
Yup, sometimes they have refugee's, pointless though that is at the moment. I'd rather see them all with a unique resource. Doesn't have to provide recruits, though it would be a nice way to add variety to the armies.
The death of a Sovereign should not kill the AI player, because one lucky attack can kill an enemy that is much stronger than the player.
- After the death in friendly or neutral territory a Sovereign should be teleported to the next city with 1 HP and 1 Mana.
- After the death in enemy territory a Sovereign should be teleported to the next city with 1 HP and 1 Mana after 10 turns.
The tactical battles should be interesting and challenging:
- The combat speed determines when a unit can attack in every turn.
- If multiple units have the same combat speed the attacking unit can attack before the defending unit.
- Movement reduces the combat speed by 1 point per square (normal terrain) or 2 points per square (difficult terrain).
- An attack (weapon, spell, special ability) reduces the combat speed of a unit to 0.
- The attacker and the defender start the battle with a morale of 50.
- Natural Leader increases the own morale by 10 points and Intimidating reduces the enemy morale by 10 points.
- Every turn the morale of the attacker and the defender is reduced by 1 point.
- If an enemy unit is killed the own morale is increased by 5 points and the enemy morale is reduced by 5 points.
- Morale 0: Retreat, Morale 1-25: Combat speed - 1, Morale 26-75: No effect, Morale 76-100: Combat speed + 1
- A backstab with a melee weapon reduces the Defense of the target by 50 %.
- A charge with a melee weapon reduces the Defense of the target by 10 % per square of movement before the attack.
So when will that certain "date" be for gettting free expansion?
I am waiting for the bugs to be fixed before I buy the game, but if there is going to be free expansion then I will buy it at the last moment.
Not because I want to be cheeky but I want my first experience to be as best as possibly can with the latest fixes etc..
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