being playing the latest update 1.4 - these are some feedback that cause gameplay to become slowwwww.....

1) clearing forest around towns still dont work - why have this feature when it really serve no purpose but to make player do more work? after a while when i kept trying to clear imaginary foreest, i just ignore this feature and there is no difference in the game

Derek: This works for me.  Im not sure what you mean by this.  You can only clear forests that are adjacent to your cities, are you trying to clear ones that aren’t?

2) setting my army in outpost to guard mode still make them appear when i need to tab between my armies   it is annoying that i have to keep tabbing to cycle thru several outposts which have armies guarding it in order to find a army still on the move.  when a army has been set to guard mode. it should not be auto selected

Derek: I agree, I will enter an enhancement request for this.

3) because resource and outpost improvements are auto-pegged to some nearby towns  i have to keep clicking on built to see if there are any improvements still waiting to be built and it is becoming a lot of click fest and causing me tired fingers and slow turn rate - the game pace become really slow once i have a lot of towns . it would be good if there is a auto built option to click on once the towns already have all the improvements built and it now only doing on going research or growth etc. then there is no need to worry if there are a impending improvement to be built because i just click on a resource or outpost nearby.

Derek: This would only be a consideration after a new tech is learned.  A governor that does auto-build improvements (with the ability to set preferences on what types of improvements it should prioritize) could be cool.  But it could also detach players from their cities (this is a common concern we have about queues allowing player to set 100 turns of build instructions and then forget about their city).  I don’t know if overall it would be good or bad, but it wouldn’t be something we would at this stage of the project.  It is good feedback though as we consider future designs.

As a suggestion, you may be happier playing on smaller map sizes.  I always used to run into a hard empire management wall in Civ games until I realized I was just playing on larger maps than I really wanted (for some reason bigger maps seem better, but it all depends on the type of game you want to play).

4) now the 1.4 game is more lively because the monsters seems to be more aware and more willing to attack towns and player.  to make it more realistic and also brutal at the same time, is it possible to tweak the monster AI so that:

a) at empire frontiers - any monsters are aggressive and will attack frequently

Only monsters of increasingly ( ? higher ) levels should and can venture deeper ( ? step depth )into a empire - so this will make it more realistic in that only very high level monsters dared to venture deep into civilization. not like now where any monsters can wonder all over the place and most are too weak to take on a city

c) and when a monster is too near ( ? steps ) a city, a count down timer should operate where after a ( ? number ) of turns. if the player did not take care of this monster problem, it will attack that city

again this is realistic because the empire sure be aware that a high level monster is rampaging near by. so the army should have been notified and should be on the way or else, all hell break loose using the above method, the monster will behave in a more intelligent manner automatically without having to code complex AI type routines just get the monsters to keep trying to enter the empires and moving around within their band of comfort levels while more powerful monsters moving further into the empire into their own comfort band and of course the most powerful monsters running all over the place and no one can stop then yet but of course the more powerful the monsters, the longer their rampage count down timer is, so since they move randomly. they may not attack a city if they move off before their rampage counter times out. just a simple table lookup will work. in fact this table look up can also be make available to players to tweak to fine tune difficulty levels

Derek: We aren’t a simulation so there is no value in attempting to be “realistic”.  Instead monsters and lairs have a game function which is to threaten players that haven’t cleared areas.  Making some no come into the player areas and adding a counter to delay their attacks would both be in opposition to their design intent. In general it also opens up some UI complexity (how do we communicate which monsters will attack and which won’t) for little benefit.

5) any thought on player crafting - weapons and armour. this will be the icing on the cake and will finally crown FELH as the true successor to MASTER OF MAGIC

Derek: We have talked about it at various stages.  It would be cool but it’s definitely a big system to design, implement and balance (and to teach AI players how to do).  It’s also player focus problem (I can tlak about that more if you’d like but it’s a big topic).

6) also for starters, please add a keyboard short cut as alternative to the built arrow selector ( INS and DEL ) should do it. in fact, if you dont want to do anything else, please please do this... it really is a pain in the arse and more than once i give up on a huge game because i am too tired managing it

Derek: What do you mean by the “built arrow selector”?  Do you want to be able to use the Insert and Delete key to be able to scroll up and down in the build and train lists?

This is what I mean. Use the ENERGY! Let's not waste and save the planet ok? ^^

Sent you a PM about the map fixes. I also include a change log for you to determine the exact changes. The new fixes are shaping up nicely.

hi frogboy, if you dont have the resource, at least you can add a keyboard shortcut keys to the build menu arrow key function

that allow keyboard ins and del keys to function like the city switching arrow key

that should be easy since it do not involve any other changes at all

during the original beta of elemental i have already raised this issue because it is really a hassle to use

think about it. after clicking on the arrow key to switch cities, i then have to move the mouse to select the improvements or even if i ignore that part. i still have to move the mouse down to the built button below and then back up to the arrow key in order to move to the next city

for a very long game with many cities, it becomes a chore. remember this principle when you are doing GALCIV3 i.e. DONT MAKE PLAYERS HAVING TO DO LOTS OF MENIAL REPETITIVE WORK, because it will lessen the fun factor and increase aversion to replay after initial eurphoria

same thing happened to the game  warlock, master of the arcane. it is a simple game and surprisingly fun to play initially but after a while the hassle of having to click on units and then having to move the mouse to the opposite side of the screen to finish the action was too much and the interest to play died until the patch came where keyboard shortcut were added and it at least help in increasing the fun factor again

also, new bug, the page up and page down key to switch cities do not work on conquered cities

it only works on cities i build. i have to manually click on each conquered cities in order to select it or use the built menu arrow key which worked finally for all cities 

also lots of graphic glitches at resolutation higher than 2048 on 32bit OS but ok on 64 bit os

my pc: win 7 pro 32 bit 8g ram ssd drive and win 7 pro 64 bit on another ssd drive with gefroce gtx 680 and 2560x1600 screen resolution on dell

U3011 30 inch lcd display

dear derek,

on item 6 reply) in the built menu when it pops up lists all the city improvement that can be built

if non is selected, when the built key is pressed, automatically the first item on the list will be built

and repeat pressing of the built key will add the next item down the list

if it is possible, sort the items on a ascending scale so that there is no need to click on them

then all we have to do is just to click on the built button and the items will be added in a shortest time to built onwards

but it is a hassle to switch between cities using the city select arrows at the top of the built menu because this city select arrows

moved up and down according to the number of city improvement list inside the built menu

and so every time we have to move the mouse a little to compensate for this movement

that is why a keyboard short cut will be very useful 

you already have a example in page up and page down key

then logically, it would but fantastic if you can have the same functionality for the built and even for the train menu

keyboard short cuts are the easiest time to do and do not in anyway affect the gui or any part of the game since it is like a macro

and already doing the function that some buttons are already doing

hope this will make the game more enjoyable and less of a click fest

also, please note my post on the bug on page up and page down

Sorry to interrupt, but I thought you might like to know that the DLC is 50% off on Steam.

N/A

Wanted to give a thank you to Derek and Stardock for doing a good job listening to feedback and continuing to work on improvements and updates. Because of the dedication from staff I have seen in the forums, actually seeming to care about what us players want, I decided to purchase the game today on Steam ($9.99 is solid) after trying it out initially from alternative sources. I would have moved on and not bought the game if it weren't for the dedication and constant improvement/patches.

What!. I bought the loot pack on your recommendation. And now you're telling me you really didn't mean it?!? I feel so alienated by you.

But seriously, $2.50 each was the right price for the loot and map pack DLC's.

Should the familiar summoned through Sovereign Bond be higher than level 1 if your Sovereign has Summoner 1 or greater? My reborn familiar keeps coming back at just level 1 even with points invested in Summoner.

are there any plans to fix monster hero traits considering they are not allowed to wear armors?  Either remove the armor trait option or allow them to wear armor.  Right the option to wear armor is on there but clicking on the trait results in wasted point because they are program to not wear armor.

What about the annoying hour glass when selecting heroes?  It's hard to decide what heroes offers what when the hour glass prevents you from looking at their details.

Or How an AI can setup camp next to your city and declaring war on you for being to close to their border? 

pertaining to familiar, it is also no fun to play with the familiar

because we have no control over placement of units in strategic battles, the familiar is almost always placed on the front line

and almost always targeted the first and mostly dies immediately, especially in the early stage, where it is mostly needed    

this should not be the case, it is ok to be on the front lines but since the familiar is a spirit, it should be a lot tougher to kill and should have

at least same health as the caster, after all, it is supposed to be a copy of the caster and can cast all the caster's spell, why not also have the caster's attributes?

then it will be a more strategic option to start with 

i think it will not be difficult to just tweak it's stats a little to be more like it's owner and still not upset balance