Just wanted to say that after playing for about 8 hrs last night I really like where Derek is taking this game.

I voted good, but only because there are a few issues, no point repeating other posts, which keep if from getting excellent and very good wasn't an option.

I have always been so excited about what this game is trying to achieve! There is so much that could be great here. Unfortunately, each new beta, while introducing some additional ideas that are amazing, still fails to fix the majority of big bugs that ruin the experience no matter how many great possibilities and potential is there. It remains unrealized possbilities and potential. Now to be fair, a few of the most frustrating bugs actually did get fixed this last time with Beta 4, such as the cloth map issues. Unfortunately too many other of the dealbreaking bugs and issues still remain unfixed. Many have already been mentioned by others in this thread and earlier threads, and hopefully someone out there on the development team is paying attention even if so many of the bugs pointed out go unacknowledged by the devs on here. But frankly the crashes are still there almost every game (and if the excuse is still because I am playing on an HP notebook then that is rubbish because its one of the most advanced HP notebook available and thousands of other potential customers also own HPs). Besides, many of the bugs I have noticed on other machines, including my buddy's alienware desktop. One of the worst is when the AI attacks your city and you fight a tactical map battle but your Sov and one or more of your champions don't appear in the battle at all and show up as killed when the results appear, even though you killed the oppenent units easily with no other losses to your own units. This is one of many bugs that has been there before and is still in Beta 4. VERY IRRITATING! The login fail screen issues are amateurish, even if this is still in beta, and the game crashes when you go in to the new options interface and make changes to increase performance, such as no shadows or particle animations. And still a max turn limit? Really? That's gonna be a permanent fix for many of the late game top heavy issues? And, like many other things already mentioned, I will repeat the issue that with Beta 4 (much of which is very cool) the game is now much more out of balance.

Ok, that being said, many of the new touches are very nice and getting closer to feeling almost polished, from the improved interface and ability to trade or equip newfound items to treating outposts more like starbases (probably my favorite and its about time lol).  For those die hard fans who keep hanging on these last two years perhaps they will hang on and keep the dream alive (of what this game could be someday) for another two years or however long it takes to launch to market, but frankly there is still soooo much that needs done if you ever want to have decent sales and a customer base for this game beyond those few die hard fans who are hanging in there with more hope and faith than this game as yet deserves. I realize people are working hard, and with a smaller company and tough economic conditions that having a large enough development team that the scope of this game really needs isn't going to happen at Stardock, let alone any real kind of QA team (thats what we are for these days I guess, we purchase a title more for the rights to play test the unfinished product than just be able to enjoy a finished product from the start...). Sorry if this is more negative than not, but I've been haning in there now for two years and am tired of dissapointment after dissapointment. The cool, nice, fun little successes that your hard work is achieving thus far in this game are amazing and I do applaud your efforts to that end, but come on people, who here really thinks that they make up for the other MAJOR bugs and issues (some of which have been there all along) that ultimately still make this product a total failure and dealbreaker? Fix those before fine tuning the other stuff or its just all a waste of time and (unfortunately) not only will FE be a failure but, really, how can Stardock continue after another market fiasco? I still hold out some hope as well, becasue if this game ever does make it to anywhere close to what its intended to be, I would play it addictively for years... but it still feels that Stardock has bit off more than it can chew and its getting harder to keep hope alive. I am not going to vote because frankly it is not ready yet enough to vote.

Developers....please, please, please prove me wrong!

My impressions. Some nice gameplay changes and numerous artistic improvements. I however only rated it fair because I see a lot of bugs persisting all the way from beta 1. AI is still dumb (PEACE TREATY? NEVER! oh but surrendering is fine). Pioneer spam is still prevalent, though city development is much better. Tech tree is improved and more meaningful. City development is more meaningful and snaking doesn't happen but we still have options.

Very good version.

Some idea:

We get a message when a ressource (like iron mine) get back to be built again after they get destroyed (very nice), can we get another message when one of these ressource can be upgraded, as I tend to play on bigger map, it can become a pain to look for the ressource to be upgraded.

Eridalafar

Hey Heavenfall, thanx for the heads up, and congrats for the work!

A couple of questions, if I'm allowed

• Love the reliquary! Is new art still being added for consistency? 
• Do you guys have something planned to make magic more interesting and/or MoM-like?

See my 'First FE Games' thread for my first impressions.

I played 2 games this weekend spent about 4 hours, have played the other Betas off an on.

The game is shaping up nicely, I really enjoyed my game even though I was crushed in the first one.

The city concept or upgrades and automatic placement is much better and no crazy looking cities. I really like that you cant build everywhere so the places where you can build cities gets more strategic value, and adding outposts as a way to get resources works very good. The limits to enchantments based on essence is also a good new idea that adds more choices for the player same with the city type concept, overall I really like that I now have to make choices that affect how the game plays, makes me feel more engaged and feel like choices matter. The combat is fun and like how it has turned out. Like the resources and how they work and affect how I decide to play. Overall it was a fun game to play.

Now to some overall improvements (Bugs can be handled by other players that play more, I might report some later)

1. Spellbook (Like the new categories, would it be possible to add type to the top. so if you like you can filter on ALL, Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Life, Death)

2. More popups when things happen, or atleats option to have popups.

    Some examples:

    When you finish technology have a screen that popup that explains what you get. New Spells, Items, Buildings.

    When you pick a higher spell level as you level up show which spells the caster can now cast of the one in your spell book.

Last I have one item I would like, might be to late to do. But it would be nice if spell books are connected to the character so you can easily see what a specific character can cast what spells. I know you can see it if you highlight a spell but it would be nice to have it the other way around, you select a character and then you see what spells that character knows.

I know this might be something that has been discussed before but I thought I mention it.

Personally I would prefer characters have their own spellbook and spells would have to be learned instead of automatically given when you go up a level.

The short jump from 3 to beta 4 did not work.  So I unistaled FE, and did the full route.  That worked I now have v. 0.95.  So much for good news.  Bad news it will have to wait till tomorrow before I can give you "first impressions."

I've been around for all the betas but this is the only one I've really had a chance to play. I have to say I like alot of what the game has to offer but there is one absolute game killer for me. Town/outpost spam! I can't stand how I'm barely into the game and the map is completely infested. If this doesn't change I'm afraid I just can't play this game. That has always been one of the greatest turnoffs for me in 4x games. If nothing else have some optional setting to blunt the ability of all players to build cities so it is more measured and thought out rather than some nasty patchwork that looks like a bunch of blind children ran about trying to grab the easter eggs before the other fatties could gobble them up...It's also all too easy to just roll around the map playing whack-a-mole knocking out the spam but then that becomes your sole activity and destroys any sense of adventure or purpose. 

I like to play slower games so I choose Epic speed but it doesn't seem to be balanced all around. One aspect of the game is slowed down while everything else remains the same. Not the best choice. 

I've also noticed a few 'cheesy' aspects. It's common to have units completely taken out of the battle for the entire combat. They just sit there and can't do anything. Some times it's possible to stack so many of one effect (slow, haste) that it becomes a joke. Each application of a any buff/debuff should have a diminishing return or increased chance of failure/resist. You could even add critical success/failure options to spice things up. In the end its just annoying to have to sit there unable to do anything (in any game). Total loss of control should be used exceedingly sparingly if at all. One solution is to break up the slows and hastes to effect movement, spell casting, or attack but not all 3 at once. That's a bit much. To save adding more spells just have a follow up dialog upon casting where you pick your target type. This way you could hinder the main function of the unit without completely disabling it.

The tactical map could use some sprucing up. Battles are too predictable and repetitive. It would be nice to have some real battlefield effects at play and to decrease the range/increase the size of the map. It would also be interesting to have a majority of units have both a ranged and melee attack. Once you close on an archer he now has to whip out a dagger or sword. Melee units can toss weak missiles as they approach. This gets rid of some of the 'checkers' effect. You could really make the tactical battles shine with some real excitement and tactics. I'd imagine a choice for the attacker that would affect the battlefield layout. Approach from cover? Use a clearing to the advantage of mounts? There could be quite a few options. There is nothing to stop the defender from having a defensive choice either. As these two choices come together it could make for some interesting starts to the battle.

Mind you this is coming from someone who has absolutely no desire to finish a game in a night or to play multiplayer (too difficult to coordinate with RL getting in the way). I don't mind taking a week(s) to finish a game, weaving a rich story along the way. I'm in no hurry to win. This is a game to be enjoyed, not a task to be completed. Your perspectives and intentions may be quite different. 

I like it MUCH better than the earlier builds.  Here's what I've noticed so far.

Love the city differentiation.  Makes things much more interesting.

Still hate the fact that initiative is poorly described.  Also Quickness is way underpowered.  Would I rather have +15 hp or an extra attack every 10 turns?  Hmmmm...  I'll take the hp.

One of my games I got trapped on a peninsula with a forest drake blocking my progress.  I could have sat tight and leveled everything, I suppose.  But it drives me nuts that the water is utterly impassible and I know that my enemies are exploring the world and taking all the goodies.  

All I needed was a ship!  I can raise land out of the water, but I can't get a ship...

Burning hands.  Really, really weak right off the bat.  Not even sure what the point is of a range 1 damage dealing spell that does less damage than hitting with the weakest weapon you can find.

I wish there were more early map-altering spells.  Fortify is kind of fun.  Maybe something to prevent range attacks through some line of squares.  Or caltrops. Stinking cloud type stuff.  I haven't explored the spells as much as I should yet though.  So not fully informed there.

Simple request.  You have Concoctions, Herbs, and Mushrooms.  Can't we at least get a few beers from the brewery?

If its possible, can it be stack-able?  Like a % chance to just fall over in combat for no good reason and blast out a random spell.

Falling over drunk and shooting a random fireball at your own army would be funny as all get out.

I've seen a couple funny things in the game other than bugs, but a little more sense of humor would go a long way in some of the text and quest wording.

Because, as you know,"Chuck Norris doesn't wear shirts, he wears you".

again just my 2¢

Definitely agree with this, particular with the issue (intentional? I hope not...) where a full stack of 9 units is unable to move through a city if any units are stationed there already, more than once I've gotten an annoying surprise when what should be a direct move sent units circling around the map as they couldn't pass through a city on the route. Also a bit annoying when altering the landscape, say lowering land to create a path through some mountains, sometimes it looks passable and by the time I realize it isn't, units are moving off in another direction.