Based on Frogboy's comments on the 1.1 patch it should get us to a solid footing for the basic game. I already find it quite enjoyable. That should not be a great surprise as I am a big fan of games like MOM and AOW:SM.
At the same time I have both been reading the ideas in the forums and thinking of what I would like to see added to EWOM. So here are a few of those ideas put forward in the spirit of long term growth for the game. They are in no particular order exepct for 1. - that in my opinion would be most important.
1. Flexibility:
Right now there are a lot of divergent ideas on various topics. One example is the maximum number of individuals there should be in the regular units. Of course right now that's 4/8/12 depending on which techs you have researched. In order to make the game more inclusive for the community I suggest the maximum unit size be an option the player can set at the start of the game. So, if someone had a fast computer and liked a game with a bigger feel they could allow units up to say 50 (a number chosen as an example not as a suggested max) individuals. Of course this would require higher tech levels. People who want to keep the somewhat more MOM feel of the current game could leave the slider at 12.
This same concept should be applied to other things such as: monster spawn rate, monster max level, dungeon frequency, etc. This way in sand box mode many more people could make the boundries of the game what they saw as right. This addition would also help replayability.
2. Magic Items:
In the current game magic items do not have enough variety or interest as they do in MOM, AOW:SM, other turn based strategy games and for that matter most current RPG's. We need to find items like swords that have "life stealing", "fire damage", and "double strike", etc. This would really add interest to going into a dungeon. You might find nothing, you might find gold, or you might find a magic item. The ideal implementation of this would be for the game to create magic items (weapons, armor, rings, etc) with a random number and type of enchantments. The tougher the dungeon the higher level item the player might find. Even longer term this might allow for socketable items that allowed items to be upgraded with something like "shard fragments" created in the world upheavel before the start of Elemental.
3. Forge magic items
Add a technology to be learned that allowed the forging of magic items. This would have to be a high level tech. Then the player could put a magic forge in a city and make low to mid level magic items. Not ones as good as could be found in dungeons (see 2. above) but still useful. If this was not desired this could also be a choice in the game set up.
4. Bigger Dungeons (I expect this one would be difficult to do)
Right now the options when entering a dungeon or goodie hut are a. find item b. dialogue to get quest or c. fight monsters on a small battle field. (Did I leave out any?). Entering a few dungeons should put the player in a large area with unique monsters, etc to fight with perhaps more than one treasure to be found.
5. Unit retraining
As techs are discovered the player should have the opportunity to upgrade a unit from one weapone and armor outfit to that of a higher level for one or both. The unit would have to stay in a city for some length of time and money would have to be spent. This should also have an option to combine units of smaller size into one larger one. Say two 4 individual units retained at cost to a single unit of 8 (assuming the tech for 8 was already known).
