Lord Xia's thoughts and ideas for improving Elemental

from Elemental Forums

I have played a lot of tactical games, starting from a kid playing Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and a lot of RPGs with Dragon Warrior and Zelda.  I've been playing this game and I think I have a few ideas that could be battled around.  This is all I have for now, but I will come up with more.

 

Nation modding:

First, I would like more options on changing the looks of my people.  Skin color and hair would be a good start. 

The options we do have are a bit buggy, the description of what they are differs from what they say at the bottom. 

Would it be unbalanced to have Empire weapons and armor options on a Kingdom, and vise versa? 

Do the bonus hit points that some national abilities provide actually work?  Or do they only work in a stack of units? 

 

Soveriegn:

Some of the jobs are pretty crappy, or lose their benefit soon.  Warlord is nice at the beginning, but the sentinels become useless soon.  And could they at least be of the same race as either my soverign or the people he rules?  Also, since all my male children have exactly the same traits as me, they will have Warlord which gives them absolutely nothing.

Does Hardy do anything? 

Spending points on crappy equipment?  Thats a lot of points for padded armor and a pointy stick.  The Sovereigns are already pretty weak, maybe we can have the option of ability points AND gold to spend at creation for equipment?  And maybe something better than padded and pointed sticks.

 

Gameplay:

The AI is silly.  I had another nations sovereign stand in my territory in a corner for an entire game.  Just sitting there.  I also ran into one in the wild, and thought about just killing him and his little weak group he had with him, but that seemed so cheap I couldn't bare to do it.  Maybe at some point the Sovereigns should stop wandering the wilds? 

No heroes that are Fallen?  Really?  Maybe they exist, and I have yet sen them, but its seems that the only ones I do see are children of sovereigns.

Heroes die too easily.  My group of heroes all died to some bug creature casting a single spell.  Once larger monsters and stacked units come into play, the heroes are a liability.  Who cares about having a magic user when the only thing that really needs protection are your heroes, best not bring them at all into a fight. 

The combat reminds me a lot of the early days of GalCiv II, where the best idea was to make a 1hp cargo ship with nothing but weapons and attack first.  This game is mace and hammer heavy, there is little point about putting armor on units when the most I could have is 40 and they are fighting a troll with an attack of 156. 

Instead of dying, the heroes should be captured, and held for ransom, either by the monsters or by an enemy state, like in Romance of the Three Kingdoms.  Put them in jail, maybe they can escape on their own, maybe if they have Thief ability, they have an increased chance to escape.  The prisoner could be traded on the diplomacy screen.

How about a city revolt?  The game would be more dynamic if you had to worry about heroes being traitors or cities becoming independent of your rule.  New nations could rise and fall.

Dynasties:

Need the ability to remarry if a spouse is killed.  If this is already in the game, I would like someone to help me do it.

Children should be more random on abilities than just being exactly like the parent of the same gender.  Some are completely useless.  Warlord for your child is meaningless. 

Children's stats make little sense.  Had one with 660 mana one time, when everyone else in the kingdom had maybe 40.  They all seem to be born with only a 1 attack speed and thats a stat thats a pain to increase.  My kids are also were all had 10 int with parents that both had over 18.

 

 

17,738 views 33 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

warlord being useless?

Yes.. In the game that i shall not mention cos the developers are probably sick of hearing.. warlord gives all your units a 1 level boost! That's a significant bonus.

To a greater or less extent was the same for other traits that you could choose at the start. In other words what you chose at the start MATTERED and you would play each game very differently..

Compared to EWOM where most of the choices you make at the start have very few long term implications and you can play each game the same way regardless of what they chose.. and I'm not even talking about magic!

EWOM should significantly beef up each of the choices.. e.g hardy should boast hitpoints per level increase perhaps.. Not sure about how to handle equipment.. but start by boosting the power of equipments you can buy at the start.. that might not be enough...though

 

 

 

 

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

I think Stardock should take a look at Fall From Heaven II.  Those were modders that created a lot of what this game is trying to do, and frankly. at this point int time, did a better job than Stardock.  I am really looking forward to the stand alone release of Fall From Heaven.  I love Stardock, but this game seems lacking in a lot of areas, I still see it's potential and am still having a lot of fun playing it, but it could have (could be) a lot more.

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Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

Your talk about how weak starting sovereign equipment is just makes me want to bring up the option available to humans only to equip boots that increase their movement in sovereign creation... I just noticed it recently, and think it's a little (read: way too) strong...

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

yeah there are a few odd spots like movement.. but the weapons are weak..

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

I dont think soldiers should level.  They should have levels based on their training only..  But never  gain experience.  They should be canon fodder.  They are currently far more powerful than heroes.  I have individual soldiers that have equipment equal to a hero and 4x as many hp,  Then take that times 4 or more.  How groups of soldiers are stacked needs to be changed.  I dont think def and att should be multiplied by the number of units in it, there needs to be diminishing returns or just have their hp increased.  A group of 4 soldiers wouldn't have 20att, 20 def, and 20 hp, they would have maybe 13 att, 13 def and 20 hp.  What that does is give an 0.5, instead of full, on every additional unit in the stack for att and def.  So then a unit of 4 soldiers in poor gear isn't vastly more powerful than a hero in good gear. 

 

Heroes need to gain hp on levels.  My level 10 hero should have more than 20 hp.  It needs to be closer to 60 or even 100.  Maybe gain 1 hp for every level and 3 for every point of constitution?  So a level 10 with 20 constitution would have 70 hp?  and a level 10 with a 10 constitution would have 40?  I think that sounds about right to me.  That would give a level 1 with a 10 constitution 31 hp.  That may sound like a lot, but they deserve and need that much survivability, I think.

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

The entire game mechanic for Squad strengths is fundamentally flawed.
see any of the following for other suggestions
https://forums.elementalgame.com/394521

https://forums.elementalgame.com/394023

https://forums.elementalgame.com/392880

https://forums.elementalgame.com/396540

https://forums.elementalgame.com/395985

 

Just preventing soldiers from leveling up won't do it.  the final system IMHO should still have leveling for soldiers, Experience does still matter.  a more fundamental change needs to take place in how Squads are treated.

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top


Instead of dying, the heroes should be captured, and held for ransom, either by the monsters or by an enemy state, like in Romance of the Three Kingdoms.  Put them in jail, maybe they can escape on their own, maybe if they have Thief ability, they have an increased chance to escape.  The prisoner could be traded on the diplomacy screen.
End of quote

Yes!  This is something I've been thinking about, too.  It would help make heroes much more interesting.  I loved the ability to ransom royalty in Medieval Total War and would love to see the same thing here.

How about a city revolt?  The game would be more dynamic if you had to worry about heroes being traitors or cities becoming independent of your rule.  New nations could rise and fall.
End of quote

 

Also agree.  Originally, Elemental was going to have vassal states that the player could create by granting independence to some of his cities.  I hope this feature returns as it, along with your idea, would make the world seem much more alive.

 

Dynasties:

Need the ability to remarry if a spouse is killed.  If this is already in the game, I would like someone to help me do it.

Children should be more random on abilities than just being exactly like the parent of the same gender.  Some are completely useless.  Warlord for your child is meaningless. 

Children's stats make little sense.  Had one with 660 mana one time, when everyone else in the kingdom had maybe 40.  They all seem to be born with only a 1 attack speed and thats a stat thats a pain to increase.  My kids are also were all had 10 int with parents that both had over 18.
End of quote

 

Dynasties need a lot of chrome, period.  Soverigns need to be mortal so that their children can inherit the throne and drastically change the course of a game.  I also would like to see SD bring back the idea of custom coats of arms that change as families inter-marry.  

 

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

The Tactical battles are too small, the ranges on spells and arrows too long.  We need a way to mimic a real defense formation.  Devs, Play an old Playstation 1 game called Brigandine.  The strategy to win the battles in that game, was to form a simple battle formation of tanks in front and ranged in back, wizards healers and archers would have to stand behind the tanks and get into position to make calculated attacks, but in this game...I attacked them, so all my units go first and I just fire all my arrows and spells at them first, not really giving them a chance.  But this game, everything has maxed range, and there is no reason to create fast hard hitting units to flank, or to create heavy armed units to take the hits while the people behind get in position to shoot or faster units try and flank, just create units with the best armor and hardest hitting weapons.  I want to create different units based on the pros and cons of the armor and weapon types, that's not really an issue right now, as simply giving the heaviest armor and biggest weapon is the only real choice. 

 

 

Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

Trying to finish a game, and bugs are really making it very difficult.  I am far into a large map game with every premade nation in it, me playing a created Empire. I did have a lot of fun, even though it looks like I'm complaining, but the game needs some work.

BUGS:

I guess they not only limited the game to a single neutral kingdom, but aparantly I'm either unlucky or its the Ore Keeper ones every time.

The OOM crashes now happen about every 10 turns or so.  Almost unplayable.  I feel the need to finish the game before it turns into every other turn.

There is persistant slowdown.

Often, when my male children marry, I get a double wife.  One wife that works normal, and a shadow of her that won't move but causes problems, like not letting the turn end unless I make her guard or something.

This is a strange bug, and my favorite.  Altar and Resolin(sp?) are nation that have both been destroyed, but I have two grand kids that have relations to them and somehow became the Kings of those nations.  They have no cities, but they are in the game and can be interacted with and you can attempt to make treaties and things as if they were a neutral nation.  One is standing on my captial city, never moving and hes the King of Resolin and has 5 champions too, but no cities or armies.  Might try and declare war on them and see what happens. 

Legendary armor is really cheap for humans and 1000 gp for trogs and urxen.  Why?  And why would it cost more than master armor when its not as good?

Is scale mail real?  I see it mentioned sometimes but have yet to see it in games.

I attacked a unit that should have been seriously overpowered and he was able to slay all my units when I did the auto battle, but when I started a normal battle then switched to auto to finish, he was easily destroyed.  I have notice that some times the enemy monster or unit gets superpowers when you auto battle.

 

 

Reply #10 from Elemental Forums Top

I created a new game and nation after winning the last one, fairly anti-climatic, but that's fine in a sandbox game.  I decided that since troggs and Urxen actually have some differences in how their armor looks, I would play as one of them as fun.  Wow, mistake.  They are an even more unfinished part of the game.  I love Stardock and am trying my best with this game, but when I see that my Urxen can't wear gloves with armor because of the terrible clipping, or that women cant wear chainmail or leather shirts cause their boobs pop out funny, I cringe.  Lazy.  And I noticed that automatic units that are made when you research new weapons and armor are equipped with the human version of the armor and it doesn't fit, terrible clipping.  Did anyone at stardock even play this game before they released it?  Sorry Brad, but damn, this is getting more frustrating the more and more I play it.  Also, if you play Urxen or Trogg, you can't have armor for any of your heroes, as they cant use any of the equipment and their isn't any Fallen heroes, so you will marry a human girl and probably make children that cant use the equipment either.  So pathetic and frustrating.  And some times when I create a new nation and then go to start a game with it, the nations colors get changed to grey.  Why?  Don't know.  And it even crashed once in the middle of making a sovereign.  There was so much slow down and crashing at the end of my last game, I thought I was going to pull my hair out.

Reply #11 from Elemental Forums Top

Oh, and shards can be completely destroyed by monsters.  Most resources can't, they have to have their farms or shrines or whatever rebuilt, but is a shard is attacked, it's gone forever.  Pain in the ass.

Reply #12 from Elemental Forums Top

Along with creating a sovereign, we should be able to create a spouse and advisor when we start a new game.  Instead of getting that worthless ginger guy that always starts with you even if you are a trogg or something. 

Reply #13 from Elemental Forums Top

I hate that at the end of the game, I nation is going to always have the same weapons and armor.  I want them to be more diverse, like specializations, maybe my nation specialized in short blades, and becomes extra proficient in short sword and gets special attack skills and bonuses when using them?  Something along that line would make the game more fun. 

Reply #14 from Elemental Forums Top

I betcha it is by design that nations are roughly the same, and only until the 3rd or 4th expansion before they become a bit different.

Look at Galciv2 and its expansions to see how SD works...

 

Reply #15 from Elemental Forums Top

I created a new nation, Empire, Race "Men".  They were not able to use the Sion temples they built.  There are so many things in this game that were overlooked before release that should have been noticed before it was released.  I get attacked by magnar armies wearing human armor that doesn't fit them and their chest are clipping out of it, looks terrible.  Nobody notice this before release?  Really? 

Reply #16 from Elemental Forums Top

Some races apparently dont get access to all the equipment that is listed when they gain a technology.  No Master armor leggings?  Only Heavy master leggings?  Only some races get Scale mail?  There is a second sword listed with Claymore, but the race I was using didnt get it...

Reply #17 from Elemental Forums Top

Anyone understand why the Fallen races have strange Peasants?  They have 8 hp and only 1 attack speed.  um...why?  And you can upgrade them with better equipment, although their choices are limited I think, or maybe it was because I first noticed this playing Kingdom Wraiths.  And they don't look like Wraiths at all.  Another lazy part on the Devs...At first, when I heard about the layoffs at Stardock, I felt bad for them, but now I just hope Brad laid off people that did a half assed job on this game. 

Reply #18 from Elemental Forums Top

At war.  Magnar attacked me with a ton of Sions.  4 groups of 9 stacks.  I am thinking, wow, thats an expensive army.  I can't compete well with that, so I go into diplomacy to make peace and notice that they are -17,000 gold in debt.  Uhh...What?  Well, I use diplomatic resources to make peace.  And 2 turns later, he just declares war again.  So lame, whats the purpose of diplomacy if they just keep declaring war?  Oh well, with the Magnar cheating to have super troops and breaking treaties, at least this game has become something of a challenge, even if it's cheap.

Reply #19 from Elemental Forums Top

I would like it if instead of a nation disappearing when a sovereign died, the nation would go into chaos and there would be a battle for the crown between heirs, like in Romance of the Three Kingdoms.  I think Sovs should die of old age too.  This would make the game dynamic.  In fact, if you added random events like what GalCiv had, rebellions, battles for the throne, and all that goodness, the game could last forever!  Maybe large nations break up into smaller ones when their Sov dies and have a civil war?  And new monsters and adventures pop up from time to time.  They can be repeatable ones.

Reply #20 from Elemental Forums Top

I think I would hate it if I was able to get every resource easy in the game.  Like if Iron and Crystals and mounts were never difficult to get a lot of.  Right now, their scarcity makes certain areas and cities special.  right now me and the Ai have only one city between us that produces crystals and his cheating ass is sending wave after wave of trolls at me.  900 hp stacks of fucking doom against my magic item archers of death and super princes.  Fun times.  Plus, it makes me have to think about my unit designs.  I really like that about this game, I hope there are more resources introduced in the game.

Reply #21 from Elemental Forums Top

I think resources should cluster more.   Meaning instead of having a clay pit way over there and a wild horses way over there, make them more close together.  So there would be the same amount of resources, but you wouldn't need to make so many cities to claim them all.  Less city spam the.

 

Also, When a city reaches a new level, they no longer need the houses that brought them to that level, so you can tear them down, maintain the same city level, and then build the houses up again in another city and repeat, you can get all your cities to level five this way with only a little food.

Reply #22 from Elemental Forums Top

I think that any champions that belong to a nation that has been destroyed, but were not killed in battle, should become free heroes that can be hired. 

Reply #23 from Elemental Forums Top

Magic robe armor would be a good idea too, and magic staffs.  Some of my champions, I want to make them have a "Wizard" feel to them and right now, It's all about heavy armor on everyone.

Reply #24 from Elemental Forums Top

Ooh, how about unit weapons like magic wands, so instead of having a unit of archers, you could have a unit of wand users shooting fireballs or some shit?  That would be nifty.  Could be balanced the same, or be a higher level tech. 

Reply #25 from Elemental Forums Top

Some ideas.  In Crusader Kings, you could have an event of having a bastard child.  That would be kind of neat too, and maybe there could be some dynamics or vents between champions, Sovs and such.  Like in Romance, some generals like or hate other generals and have rivals, and enemies and fun shit like that.  Also, maybe your bastard could try and start a revolt against you! 

I still hate the idea of soldiers having super leveling and champions being scrubs n the game.  Needs to be fixed.  My tenth level hero should be able to kick the ass out of a 12 man squad in similar equipment, even without magic.  Why, cause he's a mother f'ing champion, thats why.  Maybe soldiers should only have a 5 in all their stats, so they only get half the bonus from armor and weapons?  While my hero might have 20s, getting 4 times, thats a good start.  That and Champs getting more HP.