Next week we expect to release an update to Fallen Enchantress. That update will be available to existing users of Fallen Enchantress and it will also be the first version available for sale on Steam (Beta 4-A).
The plan is to put out Beta 4A and then collect as much feedback as we can. Seriously, NOW is the time to ask for stuff (within reason) because when Beta 5 comes out (next month) we’ll be in feature lock-down. No new features until after release.
Now, we have a few questions for you guys:
(1) How do you think we should refer to this game? Elemental: Fallen Enchantress or just Fallen Enchantress?
(2) You can already go to www.fallenenchantress.com btw to go right to the page.
(3) What sorts of additional magical spells would you like to see us add before release that aren’t already in the game?
(4) What sorts of additional quests would you like to see?
(5) Random events – yes, we have them but we don’t have a lot. Now is the time to suggest them. Ideally, ones that don’t require crazy amounts of work.
(6) I will be needing your help on strategy for the AI. When you play Fallen Enchantress on Challenging (anything below challenging has the AI gimped to various degrees) you’re basically playing me. As some of you know, Fallen Enchantress (like GalCiv but unlike WOM) will make use of your multi-core processor. Every AI player gets their own thread. Long story short, I can do some terrible, evil things with the AI. But I know there are players who are just far better at this game than I am. Please feel free to make posts discussing your strategies. I am not ashamed to steal from you.
(7) If you have not already voted, please please vote in the journal poll: https://www.elementalgame.com/journals We use this data.
(8) Modding time is almost here. We have tried to make it hard to mod so far but the time to turn off the network data stuff is nearing. Here is what I’m thinking: http://screencast.com/t/5IyRz7XY. (9) Before anyone asks, no, you can’t transfer your FE serial to Steam. I can’t go into the details on why this is so don’t ask. Just assume it has something to do with gold plated rocket cars or something.
(10) The Fallen Enchantress budget is 2.2X the budget of War of Magic. We hope people like what we’ve been doing here. I know it’s been a long journey but it was important to us that our most loyal customers, you guys, knew that we were dedicated to making sure our fantasy strategy game was nothing short of awesome. Beta 4A has a lot of nice things but I think you guys will be surprised how much we were holding back for Beta 5 (for testing purposes mind you).
(11) I can’t tell you who the Fallen Enchantress is. But you can probably guess.
(12) The campaign, which isn’t in the beta (for spoiler reasons) was designed by Jon Shafer and written by fantasy author Dave Stern. It plays quite a bit differently from the sand box game. The idea was to give players an idea of what could be done via mods as well as give players a fun campaign experience that wasn’t just a bunch of sandbox scenarios. I do want to emphasize that the campaign is made with the same tools players will be given and they will be able to make their own and share them.
(13) While Fallen Enchantress will be available on Steam, it won’t require it.
(14) If you don’t have War of Magic, skip it. We’re going to discontinue it (we’ll still support it for existing customers for the long haul and may put out another update later this year). Fallen Enchantress is a lot closer to what we had in mind.
(15) If you have Windows XP 32-bit, you can get better performance if you enable large address awareness.
Hi everyone,
Just picked up FE last night (from Steam) and started the tutorial. I can't wait to start playing a full game tonight. I have been looking for another fantasy-4x game and this definitely seems like it's going to be a fun one. The in-game art is beautiful!
Other games I play include Civ, Vic2, HoI3, CK2, EUIII, Warlock:MotA, Dominions 3, Endless Space, etc. I bring this up because a bunch of these are heavy-hitters in the strategy genre and all include a multiplayer option. I know this as been brought up already (sorry!) and the stats reveal that only a small percentage play multiplayer (I was VERY surprised by those numbers actually), but hopefully multiplayer becomes an option in the future. Playing strategy games against my brother and friends is personally my favorite hobby. Discussing game stratagem over a beer, talking a little friendly trash, and just generally competing against an opponent more varied than any AI can be in term of tactics, personality, and flaws is what I love the most about multiplayer strategy games.
I understand the current focus by the devs and the community is first getting a stable and quality single player FE out after Beta 5 which I completely agree with.
Anyways, enough of my rant, I am glad that FE is out there to begin with, and can't wait to see it grow into the successful product it deserves to be. IMHO, putting it on Steam was a good idea, so the game can get the added visibility and enlarged player base needed for continued Beta testing.
I just bought it, on steam.
testing for the firast time.
AWSOMENESS PUREBLINDING.
Needs MP, can be added later.
Ill write a few ideas in a day or two after I manage to grqab some wind about it's awsomeness and stuffs.
of course, will post on steam fora.
1. As for spells just do a replay of Masters of Magic and take a good look on how their spell system is and implement it into Fallen Enchantress. For example in MOM each side has some pretty powerfull global spells that require multiple turns to cast and a system of spells to protect against those global spells such as Disjunctions, Enchantments that fire off disjunctions automatically, enchantments that cause earthquakes to players cities that cast a certain type of spell, steal enchantments, a spell shielf enchantment on cities etc...
2. As for a new feature a good game to look at would be the total war series. I personally like thier faction system where you have a sovereign and generals and each of these marry and have children that come into the game later. <------ I really love this. Also it has an awesome spy and assassin system that would be great for elemental.
both points - I totaly agree. Dynastic sys is cool, immerses people more, and global spell warfare is awsome...as well as counterspells, triggerspells etc.
Will key to Steam version be given to persons who bought game by Stardock? Because for today only people who bought game via Steam may use it. This is not fair.
playing now.
Howering over city and selecting city should show enchantments applied to it, as well as select enchantments to be able to check them out and ev. dispell them.
EDIT1: Also, turn number should eb visible on main map screen.
EDIT2: When deciding to upgrade outpost, armory and defences options should show if there is any cost and what does it cost to build them.
EDIT3: Im really missing previous/net unit and attacking a space should move the attacker into it, or at least offer to move it there?
EDIT4: retreat options would be handy to have.
I was waiting for it to hit steam. I guess that's the price you pay for having it 4 months before me.
Maybe Steam requires them to pay them 20% of each sold game that registers to STEAM so probably won't happen.
I know I asked and begged to get on steam asap, since I only buy games that way these days...
I very much agree. Controlling magic could help to reign in sovereigns that are overpowering entire armies on their own. If Air and Earth were to gain a number of spells that the AI could use to temporarily halt one unit, players would have to change tactics that focus on having one single unit that wins every battle.
On the other hand that would be difficult to balance against single critters. Maybe they could get a trait that limits all crowd control to one combat round.
There is an entire category of spells without which HoMM, AoW, MoM would not have been the same. That FE is mostly missing spells like fear, stun, confuse, dominate is problably because it makes balancing more challenging, but the lack of spells that do more than just change stats leaves a gap in gameplay - in my opinion.
How about just Elemental? "Fallen Enchantress" is one of the worst names for a videogame since the mid 1990s. Try telling someone, out loud "yeah I'm playing Fallen Enchantress" without squirming.
I tend to agree. Call it:
Elemental
Fallen Enchantress
Elemental : fallen enchantress. Putting us to oneside, the main stream of people not in the beta will not really care what it stands for and fallen enchantress sounds too rpg. Besides then you get umbrella branding for follow ups etc.
I'll leave quests and spells to others as i'm sure they can even code you some up.
The key improvement next time around is tactical combat - is it not possible to make terrain give some sort of bonuses and make the terrain you fight on matter - i.e. swamp decreases speed, mana sector boosts spell damage etc etc. More stuff like fortify would help otherwise it becomes point click and kill. For me this completes the game as everything else is working very nicely (at least for me) and its imsply a matter of extending / expanding them (i.e. quests, randoms, spells, AI improvements, solve bugs etc). Thats the finished product as far as i'm concerned.
A final piece of advice. Setup a donation link. I think i'm getting the game for free but would be willing to pay something given the efforts put into it and in the hope of directing patches/improvements. Donation = put money in if you want to (paypal link?) as there will be some people like me who will want to support you even if the majority don't.
The only thing i would request, bring back the unlimited timeline play that was in elemental war of magic. I want to finish my conquest game when i want to finish it, time limits for me don't let me enjoy massing thousands of armies against the AI.
And i like to enjoy allying with the AI and enjoy trading and expanding and the beautiful map scenery! Forever..
That's all a kitty can ask for
First, HUGE KUDOS to Stardock for not Requiring Steam!! When I saw this subject on this thread, my heart skipped a beat when I thought that Steam would be required to run this game.
I know this probably isn't helpful to you guys at this point, but my first, second and third wish list items are to expose more of the game to modding.
But seriously, my number one wish list is to fix poison damage to stack - especially on spells!
Overall, I think FE is doing great and I'm having fun with it. Beyond further stability, polish, and balancing, here are my responses to your questions:
1) Name: I say go with Elemental: Fallen Enchantress, with the emphasis on the FE. Just use Elemental as the series header, sort of like The Eldar Scrolls V: Skyrim.
3) Spells: More 'rule breaking' spells. More early game variety. I would like to see more options here, right now the total spellbook is still rather small. I would like most spell books to have one low level 'cantrip' type spell for damage / combat, in addition to the current spells.
4) Quests: I would like to see more multi-part quests that really highlight the lore of the world. Use quests to create some interesting characters that may appear multiple times. Also quests that offer us unique spells, buildings, Champions, and other interesting rewards. Create storylines using quests in RPG fashion.
5) Events: Have a variety of random events, good bad and mixed, but don't make them all random. Tie some to the current status of the game. So if a player has lots of income, have an event fire where an independent Merchant Guild wants to setup business in your cities, with various quests spawned as a result.
6) AI: AI is much better so far. I'm seeing more groups of armies doing coordinated attacks, instead of random units running around.
And a few other things...
1) Is Razing still destroying the land? If so, that has to change. UGH.
2) I still really want a simple siege mechanic. Someday, walls would be great. Until then, a simple turn delay based on the size of the city and the level of walls would be great.
3) I have seen a nice increase in equipment variety, including some fun new low level gear like a 'Rusty Shield.' We need more of this, and more variety in the standard equipment. Some of that needs to be purely visual. One of the best pats of GCII was the ship designer. I would like to see more of that style control with our units, so we could designate colors and add little visual touches and equipment 'bits' to really make cool, unique units.
Fallen Enchantress. It's simple, and it doesn't sound like a successor to a game that wasn't well received.
As someone who plays the Life tree a good deal, I'd nix Steal Soul. It's of questionable value, and in a roleplaying sense it's out of character for Life. As it's at Life 3, what about giving a champion a level in exchange for all of your mana shards' losing their power, for X turns? I'm thinking ten turns, perhaps. The power is channeled instead into that one champion's ascension. Glory's another spell that has little meaning when it occurs at Life 5. What about a high level summons, strictly tactical? Something along the order of a forest drake. We need more summons, in any case.
How about a swap locations spell in battle for a single unit with one on the opposing side? With a resistance check. Might be an Air or Water spell.
What about a spell that lets you send only a single champion through an active fire shard, to emerge at another active fire shard you designate? Both in your territory.
High level Earth spell that gives the caster the specs (and then some) of an earth elemental, but removes their casting ability for the duration of the spell? Can be used on enemy units, too, but has a high resistance.
Oh, hell, you know the cliched plots. Rescues, item deliveries, investigations of dangerous places, accompanying a traveler, cleaning out a dragon cave whose inhabitants have refused a foreclosure notice, etc. Just more of the same, worked with enough spins to keep things lively and some twists to expectations. What if that maiden you were taking back to her father was a fire elemental cursed into human form? What if the dragon had an equal right to its cave? Would be nice to see the results of a few quests have knock-on effects that trigger others. Work successfully for the mage who wants the dust of a sand golem, and he may pop up with another quest, in the future. Side with an elderly dragon and against a large group of humans, and you may end up with a high level quest given to you by a child of that dragon, later, who refers to it. That fire elemental? You brought her back to her father who removed the curse, and later he has a message he wants you to deliver to a lord of the earth elementals.
Water recedes; new fertile plain revealed. Mana pulse; plain suddenly develops essence spots. Mana flare; for X turns, X more mana per harvested shard. Bad stars alignment; for X turns, X less mana per harvested shard. Man appears offering to sell you hedges for all your cities that don't have them. Question is, do you feel lucky, punk? People acclaim you; unrest levels throughout your empire drop X% for Y turns. People mutter under your oppressive administration; unrest levels rise throughout your empire by X% for Y turns. Bard comes to town; if you pay him/her, they entertain your people, and in the best bread-and-circuses tradition, unrest declines specific to that city by X%. Sergeant-at-arms offers to settle in a city of your choice; improves training of new city units. Building collapses in X city; no one hurt, but you need to rebuild it. Mice king demands tribute from a specific city; if you refuse, his people will nibble away at your food supply, though this might trigger a quest where you can deal with the suckers.
Agreed. Will you support in the future WinXP 64-bit?
Could those who were loyal get a copy of fallen enchantress on steam? just for libraries sake? (no looked at the post now sorry!)
1. Oh but, I'd like is called Elemental: Fallen Enchantress, although Elemental has a bad connotation to it now this will redeem Elemental a bit, and its still the same world as Elemental, thats like calling Skyrim Skyrim and not an Elder Scrolls game or making the franchise and calling it tales of Akavir or legends of Tamriel.
I loved Elemental, and I know I'll love this game when it comes out. Thanks Stardock!
I forgot to mention above that it would really be great if we had more summons. And I'm thinking combo-based summons spells might be one path to consider. Something along the lines of:
Air and Fire: Steam Elemental
Water and Earth: Mud Elemental
Fire and Earth: Volcanic Elemental
Air and Earth: Debris Elemental
I like... if they don't put it in there I'm sure this will be in somebody's mod.
Do you have any idea how difficult and time consuming it is to make new models for elementals? I don't think we will see much more of that until the next expansion.
(3)
2-nd level summoning for each element. 5th level summoning with awesome, characterized creatures.
Tactical, mass-effect spells at high levels, possibly with reduced shard effect (mass slow could be somewhat less effective on each opponent than the single-target slow, and this could be done by halving the shard bonus)
Life-draining spells for Death (if not already there)
More damage spells, with more variety in the way they deal damage. Examples:
> thorns: target unit takes damage whenever it moves (per-tile damage) or attacks
> shadow bolt: direct damage. Less damage than flame dart, but if the target is killed with the spell, a minor shadow is summoned in its place under the caster control
> Suicide: if target does not resist, the next time it can act it makes an attack upon himself that cannot be dodged or blocked.
> Cold Snap: deals damage and reduces initiative for 2 combat rounds. It stacks with slow.
> Throw boulder: direct damage, higher damage for well-armored targets, chance of stun
> Arcane Leek: target enemy unit takes x damage each turn. Each point of damage is converted into mana and added to your mana pool.
More interesting tactical spells. Examples
> Deflect spell: the next spell targeted on target friendly unit is redirected to the closest unit (something similar could be done for ranged attacks)
> Amnesia: the next spell cast by your opponent fizzles, and he cannot cast that specific spell for the rest of the battle
> Hatred: target an enemy unit. For x rounds, that enemy unit can only attack your closest unit.
> Transfer life: target friendly unit loses x and the closest friendly units is healed by the same amount
> Freeze in place: target enemy unit has its movement reduced by x. It doesn't stack.
> Magic Vulnerability: all enemy units have their Spell resistance reduced by x
> Brainwash: target non-hero unit loses all abilities for the rest of the battle
> Valor: target friendly unit receives bonuses for every enemy unit he is engaged with
> Cloak of Bravery: target unit is immune to mind-affecting spells and gets + attack and +damage
> Flood: All battle tiles are flooded. Non-flying enemy units need 2 mov pts to cross each tile
> Gravity Pull: enemy units with movement <=2 engaged with target friendly unit cannot disengage using normal movement
> Scapegoat: the next spell cast by your opponent that targets any unit on the battlefield, is targeted on target friendly unit instead.
More strategic spells. Just look at MoM, there are plenty there!
Ive only played one game so far, so im not sure wether u already have this stuff in the game or not.
But basically, i want there to be significant defensive bonuses for troops that are gaurding locations or in ur settlement, and make it possible to upgrade a settlments defensive bonuses
Also, as another already suggested make outposts upgradable to castles or somthing giving them a wider range of influence and the possiblility to train units.
Thats all for now, thanks for the awsome game
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