Okay, I really wanted to like the game. I bought it on the release date, thinking - Stardock, you can't go wrong with them. Galciv 2 was wonderful.
I waited for a few patches to roll before finally trying to play 1.08, but now I am starting to regret my purchase. It's amazing how every component of this game is literally broken, as is someone put the game into a sack and pounded it with a hammer for a month. Yes, you are correct, this is a rant, but I feel like I am justified to make one, so if you are a fanboi, you better stop reading. Now to some concrete criticism:
Combat - combat is plainly said dull. While other games create interesting combinations of units and formations, offering variety of strategies, here you just slowly trudge over a wast, empty map to slug it out with the enemy. Bigger, badder guy. wins, no nuances here. No flanking bonus, no variety in weapons, no unit roles, nothing. What's worse, there is no initiative based on stats, so you can proceed to bash the unit of choice with all your units. No zone of control, hence no chance to protect your vulnerable units. Cavalry, infantry, everyone fights the same. When there is a special skill, like Sion's "Savage attack", the AI fails to count it into its assessment of the power balance, and gets plastered shortly after (I think it's a bit overpowered anyway). There are also bugs, sometimes units "MISS", etc. You can easily retreat in the beginning of the battle (no penalty, no chance for faster units to chase you), and I feel that it will be abused a lot in MP.
Interface - the interface, while pleasing visually, is a pain to use. It's perhaps good that combat is simplistic, because the interface fails to provide useful feedback. On the tactical map, you can't clearly see who's turn it is, you can't see which units have moved and which are yet to move. There are no tooltips informing you of the chance to hit and other predictions, which is defacto a standard today (Civ4, Wesnoth). Also, tooltips about stats and various GUI elements would be helpful for new players. Some sort of encyclopedia would not hurt either, but that's really just a lack of comfort rather than a flaw. There are no useful lists and spreadsheets with aggregated data about your units, that would enable you to manage your cities from one panel - no, you must scroll and click around the map. The production information is confusing - some units and buildings have regular upkeep cost that is not stated anywhere when you build them, so you just find after, when you discover the detailed food/gildar flow described, hidden just a few clicks behind the town info screen.
Economy - that's one of the strangest systems I have ever seen. It just boils down to one thing: you either have a mine, and then you have abundance, or you don't, and then you are screwed, ending up with nothing. However, you can multiply this nothing with a variety of different looking, but functionally identical buildings. Strange thing is that there is no internal market where you could exchange your surplus goods for the ones you are missing - it was something that worked in the even most primitive societies. Please, add some buildings that produce some absolute value of resources on their own!
Setting - While there is some backstory about Titans, it does not translate into the gameplay much. It's also hard to care about your "heroes" - they all look similar, have no personality, no lives (yes, there is the dynasty, but nothing is happening there. No plotting, no likes/dislikes, no secret deals, nothing.) Generally, the whole world feels static, empty, and well - dead. Also, as a sovereign, you feel extremely powerless. You can't force people to arms, you can't even get your hands on those few gildars you lack for the next unit. You can't set taxes, you can't change policies. There is no religion (strange). Also, the factions look extremely alike and bland. I play a faction that worships Death and the units should have +10 hp, but most my units have <10hp, so a disappointment again.
AI - it does not seem to do anything meaningful. There was a war declaration from my neighbor, but no military action followed. I easily conquered a few cities, no defense, no response, no negotiation, nothing.
To be fair, I will also mention what I like about the game - I like the graphics, a lot. It's not spectacular, but it's pleasing and stylish. I like the MtG style cards with flavor texts about the mobs.
As of now, I am shelving the game, and will watch if it evolves into something interesting via the post-release support. Honestly, I thing it would involve so many radical design changes that it's hard to imagine - but who knows, Stardock has an excellent post-release support.
So, good luck patching the game, and better luck with future releases!
