After my 25th loss i have completely given up and will wait until some changes are made. Either i start out right next to a dragon, get rolled by the AI in under 50 turns, or some random mob out of nowhere destroys my town.
You need to build defensive units, or hire people to protect your town (or both.)
Forgive me for stating the obvious, but the fact that hundreds of forum members are playing, enjoying and winning the game (even at expert levels) should perhaps clue you into the fact that it's not necessarily the game's fault but the way you are playing it...
I for one have played the 0.983 build more than 50 times already, and have beaten the AI and the environment in at least half of those (at challenging level) which feels just about right for an easy-to-learn but hard-to-learn-well type of game. From each loss I have learned a few tricks about getting better, and I am now able to hold my own (sometimes) at expert level.
Instead of randomly asking for "changes to be made" to the game, please let us help you play it better. Are you playing at easy difficulties? What is your initial strategy? What sovereign are you using? Trust me, the game is far from unbeatable even in its current version...
If anyone who played chess and lost the first 25 times said "this game needs to be changed to become easier" than we would have only checkers...
As a casual gamer who has been playing FE since April, I can sympathize - I find the current build very frustrating. In a strategy game, you shouldn't expect that all challenges can be overcome using brute force. Most need to be solved and that is part of the fun. I belong to the school of thought that all challenges presented to the player should be solvable and the process should be enjoyable. Thus far, the only solution I've found to the dragons infesting the landscape at the start of the game is to ignore them. It seems to work but it feels wrong and definitely doesn't add to my enjoyment. Either I'm missing something (quite possible) or we should have the option to move these beasts back into the wild lands and quest lairs where they lived in earlier builds.
I also find the AI extremely aggressive. Unless I maintain a lead in military strength, these guys will demand tribute and declare war in a couple of turns. As someone who has been playing GalCiv II since 2007, I don't expect Stardock AI to be friendly neighbors but this is ridiculous. One reason I enjoy 4X games is they are adaptable to different styles of play and different victory conditions - I want a choice between military and diplomacy. It's probably too late to add diplomacy to this game but we can be given a slider that controls AI aggression.
Another nice thing about this type of game is that a lot of balance choices can be given to the players. The difference between my perfect game and yours might be the settings of a couple of sliders on the options page.
I agree with e OP, at lower difficulty levels this shouldn't happen. It's something we've been working on this past week.
Oh yes because spearmen are gonna do a whole lotta s@#% to an army of scrap golems or dragons that just decide to show up and wreak havok.
One thing that would help is telling the AI that wildlands are off limits. They tend to trigger them and release havok on the land with no intention of trying to complete the quest. Better to just stay out.
I've seen the wild-lands leave the wild-lands before anybody has visited them (I can gaurantee this because I spawned next to one and saw them killing a few monster lairs there. But you are absolutely right about the big monsters being released and wrecking havok across the land 20-30 tiles away. But I think this is being addressed in the next update on Monday.
Despite the fact that I have no trouble winning practically all of my games on ridiculous, I absolutely agree with the original poster that there is a huge problem with the player being obliterated in the early game by monsters that he did not disturb and that he cannot handle.
I can handle them, sure, but I have been playing this game a lot, and I stay away from builds that do not have a guaranteed way of handling BBs (big beasts) early game. But a new player cannot be expected to deal with a Shrill Lord or Slag on turn 50, let alone a Fell Dragon.
The way the game works right now, it is quite likely that a new player is pretty much sure to disturb something that he cannot handle, or be visited by something disturbed by the AI. And if he doesn't? Well, then he is not expanding, and the AIs will outgrow him, and dogpile on him, even the ones that should be his friends.
This state of affairs is disaster for this game's initial reception, and I hope Stardock addresses it by release.
And I really wish that experienced beta testers should stop their fucking litany of "Oh, the game is just challenging, you're doing it wrong." No, fucking no! New players cannot be expected to do it right the first time, and being stomped by BBs teaches you nothing and really upsets you.
I hope that Stardock is working on this. I hope they will tone down AI aggressiveness on lower difficulty settings, and will make sure that BBs disturbed by the AI do not take it out on the player.
If the original poster is to be believed, this still happens with alarming frequency. Please, Frogboy, please fix it!
By the way, my wife is a gamer as well. She is sane, though, and she quit Fallen Enchantress after two tries. In one she was obliterated by the elemental lord of the Ice wildlands whom she may have disturbed herself. The second time she got wiped by 'some giant slug', which bee lined for her capital from off screen... and she has not touched the game since.
Given that we have no manual and the initial play can be confusing just to get a city to do anything useful, there needs to be no monster aggression on the easiest difficulty. We need a purgatory to send new players to so they can learn the mechanics without any pressure from the world or other factions. I hope this is what the devs are doing. Next time a new player has this complaint, I would like to be able to send him to beginner and give him a link to a wiki manual.
I plan on writing a short "How to deal with BBs on turn 50" guide as soon as I've had a chance to play with .984
I am not doing it now, because with every release, my earlier build were nerfed (and that's a good thing)
I will be happiest if the guide consists of one line "Do not disturb BBs before turn 50." because that would mean two things:
1. BBs have no chance of attacking a careful player.
2. Overly effective strategies have been neutered.
I tend to agree with the OP: it's totally frustating to be crushed by unbeatable "wandering monsters" like Drakes...What's the point of having this ? There's no strategy involved, it's just random, and those biggies should at least be triggered by some events, have a story...
You need to try and fail before becoming a master. I love starting a new game thinking off all the challenges that can or will await me arround every corner, determined to do better then last game.
If this game was too easy I'd be bored by it a long time ago. I don't quit games that are hard as hell, that's when I enjoy myself. When I start becoming too strong it's time to start another game, and perhaps change to even harsher settings.....
You are my kind of viking. My primary joy as a modder is inflicting the player with seemingly impossible situations. When you win, it should feel rare and exciting. When you lose, it should push you to do better next time.
NorsemanViking and seanw3, can you please explain to me how a new player who picked Lord Markin will feel "rare and exciting" or "think of the challenge" of a Troll Shaman's army heading for his second city (manufacturing center) on turn 47? Actually happened to me while playing Kraxis recently. I was OK, because I could bring together and send a fortifier, a dodger and a blinder. Whom I had developed for that eventuality. A strategy a new player would not have known about without having played for quite a while.
A failure is only exciting if it makes you think "what could I have done to prevent this from starting?" or "what could I have done better?"
If the answer is "I should have picked an abusive build"... there's something wrong.
I was referring to more experienced players like you. I am at the point where I want to assume the player is using an abusive build, nerf it, make it a strategy that is effective but counterable, increase monster power, make them roam aggressively in a small area, show the user the true meaning of pain.
If you are new to the game, see my earlier post about the beginner setting and a wiki manual. But even when the current issues are solved, there will be defeats and those that persevere are going to become expert players. Those that give up are going to be playing TF2. I am assuming that things will be balanced on release so that shamans aren't knocking over cities. There shouldn't even be troll shamans on beginner.
Oh, I guess I am agreeing with you on all counts. Sorry, I should have known by now that if a post of yours rubs me wrong, I'm probably misreading it.
But, yes, if the game seems boring, I just increase the difficulty. This is an area where Fallen Enchantress really shines. I can always play with the xml files to fine tune it at the point where the AI gets enough research/growth/rush money and the monsters enough HPs for the game to be challenging but not impossible. I define challenging as "I win less that half of my games".
And even impossible is not necessarily bad. I think X-Com may be impossible on "Impossible Ironman". I'm still trying...
I don't want to hear any more chorus of Ctrl-N is your friend either. New players won't know about it and secondly, it shouldn't be a crutch either for the players or devs. Just shouldn't be needed.
new player here - what's ctrl-N? I'm lame, I need a crutch
ctrl-N generates a new map. Like starting the game except you don't have to pick a sovereign or opening screen options. Popular if the random number generator deals you a lousy starting location or if you find yourself boxed in by dragons and want to start over. Purists argue that you should play the hand you're dealt. I argue the game is supposed to be fun - if a really good starting location makes the game more enjoyable for you - regenerate the map until you get one. Be advised that the game will crash if you press ctrl-N too oftem.
Oh if only I knew that yesterday when I started a new game (several times).
Thanks for the reply
One question re: ctrl+n - can I do it before I've founded my first settlement? If not how do I know what resources my settlement has?
Typically you will examine the location where you spawn. Is there a tile with a reasonable mix of grain/material/essence? 4-3-2 will give you a decent start and is fairly common. Is there a selection of resources in sight? Shards, Crystal, Metal, Horses, etc...? I like to have a shard and some crystal nearby because my style of play tends to focus more on magic than weapons and armor. You want at least 2 Essence, city enchantments like Inspiration (research), Enchanted Hammers (production) and Propaganda (cash) make a big difference - between your Sovereign and first Champion you should have 2 of them available. If you like what you see - settle, otherwise ctrl-N and try again. I think a good starting location is a force multiplier. By letting the player gain strength more quickly you can play at a more challenging level.
What's wrong with the idea of visually outlining on the strategic map the monster aggravation zone?
Would it disrupt the immersion too much? It would make a perfect strategic decision then to take a shortcut, or to take a round way.
It's simple, it fixes multiple frustration problems and it actually adds to immersion IMHO "Oooh, I can't close to that dragon too much or it will swoop upon me". The current messages from the monsters do just that but in inaccurate manner.
Yep yep yep
Probably right too
Sincerely~ Kongdej
Or at least, making it a checkbox option for new players. I've been playing the betas for months, but I'm all for easing new players into a pretty complex and deep game.
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