I had a whole write up before about how i came up with this and what i felt the game should feel like but when i posted it a error happened and i started breaking things lol. i made this list for beta 1z (dl beta 1z2 now). and basically just wanted to be part of the input process to stardock on how the game was acting and what i think they should add. this is no way a criticism of the game, this is beta. I am sure whatever game stardock puts out in the end will be a quality product because of their track record. i mainly wrote this so people could tell me if they agree with me and to have ideas bounced back and forth to help the designers make the best game possible. I don't know if you guys are even at the stage for the bugs and ideas im talking about ibut i felt i should pot them anyways. please don't judge me on grammar i wrote this at night and was tired i was just basically writing my ideas out on paper as i played. i would have written more but i have a problem with the game crashing as i get a little into it (about 40 turns or so). I hope to write more about the dynasty and magic systems when i can play it longer without crashing.

Elemental Breakdown

• Technology

  • Fundamentally sound, the more you research the more chance you have to lose out on different techs when they go from green to red. You want to by the end of the game have each civ with their own unique sets of technology while at the same time making sure they have all the early techs needed to grow their cities properly.

  • when you research a technology and it asks you if you want to continue or have a new goal. You should have how long it is going to take reach the next level. Actually I would just have it go directly back to the tech screen so you can see what techs and how long each field is to research. This needs to be streamlined.

  • When hovering over what techs unlock an (example is a town hall) would like to see a bubble pop up and give info on what bonuses or benefits you would get from building it.

• Gameplay/Interface

  • I don't know if its just my keyboard or settings but I cant move my characters diagonally with the numpad. Turn based games need to play well on the keyboard, it adds to the fun.

  • Need to add a icon or end turn notification that a city is idle and not producing anything. If you have multiple cities you don't want to click on each one to find out.

  • When targeting a city I would like to see information easier. Instead of burying unit production and building production one menu down why not just have the unit/building icon display what unit/building is being produced and have a different icon when it is idle. In my opinion I want to see my information easily, the less clicking the better. I know you can click on the tabs but I think the action tab should be changed to a summary tab or something...hmm maybe I need to think about this more I still think information and building menus can be displayed easier. The whole unit and building menu side of the bottom bar should be redone.

  • Potions,books, and other items picked up should say if they only last for a turn or are permanent. I'm not sure but I am guessing the potions last for a turn and the books are permanent.

  • Game still crashes after a while built about 2 city's and am about 35 turns into the game before it crashes. (happened again)

  • Mountain ranges disappear and its hard to tell where they are. Only after wasting a few turns do I figure this out. This will proly be fixed when they turn off the cloth map.

  • Would like to see that when you click on one of the gold,pop,materials breakdown buttons at the top middle of the screen it open up the kingdom report page at the section where it breaks it down so you can get to the information faster and see why it is going up or down.

  • Maybe have units carry around your factions banner and when they stack it gets bigger so you know where your big groups are (a la warlords).