You know, some meaningful strategic choices would really lend this game some depth and replayability.

First off, I should say that I kinda like this game. It's different, it's interesting, and it has a lot of potential. But, I have to admit, I was definitely bored after a few games. So... I put it off to the side for a while and played Civ 4 for the first time.

And that was something of a revelation. It actually made me a little bit sad to realize what Elemental could be (and isn't, in its current form) with a little more strategy. I would argue that there are some great concepts in Civ 4 that could add a lot to this game.

 
I've found that my basic strategy is exactly the same for every game of Elemental that I play.


1) Build a small garrison and a few pioneers.

2) Control resources. There's a negligable cost for spamming outposts and a significant opportunity cost for not doing so.

3) If 2) is done well, race up the warfare tree, with a little bit of Civilization thrown in. Concentrate arcane research on spells appropriate for shard possession.

4) Fight.

5) Win.

6) Stifle a yawn and a vague feeling of disappointment at the lack of meaningful choices I have to make during gameplay.



On the other hand, I can sit with a turn of Civ 4 for /at least/ 5 minutes developing my strategy.

-City Management: Since production (in the broad sense of building/training/research) is limited by population in Civ and training and building are completed in the same queue, I can try to rush out a settler and grab some land early, let my population grow a bit, or produce a worker to develop the land a bit. I can focus on early Wonders, or concentrate on developing an infrastructure that will allow me to grab the later, better ones. In Elemental, population growth, training, and building all procede independantly, so it doesn't much matter what I do. Sure, I build a workshop before study because I need the materials, but it turns out to be the same pattern pretty much every time. Strategy in city management is really minimal right now.
 

-Warfare: Civ4 has a much richer combat system- and they only use one stat to do it! Now, I wouldn't want Elemental to go the one stat route, but I think it illustrates that there is plenty of room for improvement. In Elemental, one unit will beat another, hands down, or it won't- but the difference is random. In Civ4, there is a "soft counter" for everything, and that system rewards a well thought-out mix of units in an army. Essentially, what war in Elemental boils down to is this: if my randomly alloted number of gold mines allows for me to have better quality or quantity of units than Faction Y, I win. If not, I still ususally win (but the tactical AI is another story, and hopefully will be fixed). So, designing units is fun, but when I go to war, I leave my brain behind.


-Research: I actually really like what Elemental has done here by seperating the "lines" of research. However, there could certainly be some "cross-line" requirements. As of right now, the research cost algorithm goes something like this:

Pacing_multiplier x [Tech_level_multiplier x Tech_level^Tech_level_exponent]

If the tech lines were more fully developed and had cross-line requirements this would add quite a bit of replayability. Adding another term to the above equation that multiplied current tech cost by the player's total tech level would encourage some diversification (to get requirements) but reward players for staying "focused" on the techs they need to implement their strategy. So, the equation would look something like this:

Pacing_multiplier x [Tech_level_multiplier x Tech_level^Tech_level_exponent] x [Constant_to_be_balanced x Total_tech_level]


-Champions: Civ 4 had a wonderful system for Great People. You could choose to do many different things with them, and they were all tough choices. Having champions in Elemental take some ideas from the Great People concept would really help make them more than jsut another unit that provides a small bonus. I would even be alright if not all of them were combat oriented. I never liked sending my nerds and farmers out on the front line. Maybe they could level up outside of combat and their abilities (bonuses to food production, administration, etc.) could be based on thier stats.?



So. Stardock. I really want to like this game, but right now it just feels like "Strategy for Dummies". I'm begging you, please please please consider adding a little bit of depth to this game.


And, if that's too much to ask, maybe you would consider improving our ability to mod the game. That way, I can just make the game I want to play myself and shut up about it.

Does anyone else feel this way. or am I the only one?