This game needs random elements for variety

I like a certain amount of randomness, but this is a strategy game, and thus we need a degree of predictability or else it is impossible to form coherant sgtrategies.

The main thing that would help with this, IMHO, is more quests and random / gameplay driven events. If you have a much larger quest pool, you will have greater variety. Random events can help drive gameplay, and gameplay can help drive events.

NPC's and quests both get really predictable in this game.  The game doesn't even attempt to mix it up, it's the same quests and NPC's over and over.  After a while you learn this quest site is just an 800 GP treasure horde, and this other quest site is a death trap full of spiders.

Techs:

- Some of the techs are random, or at least less predictable than most, and will require you to spend a lot of research to reach them.

Items:

- I don't support the random items in stores. If I researched a tech there is no reason the appropriate item will not be available.

- I think random magical items that are found on quests and can be used only by champions can help.

AI, Agenda and personality:

- Hell yes! I think it should be chosen like the diff level, but the option to randomness should be given. However, I don't think that can be added to the game before the basic AI issues are fixed.

Random spells:

- Generally, that's a good idea, tested in other previous games, but I'd wait to see what changes will be added to the spells in 1.1 before considering if the option is good for elemental too.

In the current state, there just aren't enough spells or variety in them to start randomly removing.

Actually the fact that something CAN be made doesn't mean at all that something WILL necessarily be made, nor that it will be made available immediately everywhere. Thinking that way IMO makes more sense. Also in reality prices can very much vary form town to town. If you think of relism, what about having tech  descoveries  made in SPECIFIC towns? That -way things will be immediately available there and only later in other parts of the empire at different prices. (let's not think that there are superstores like Walmart in a fantasy world!)... MAYBE BETTER STORES COULD BE BUILT IN SPECIFIC CITIES... MAYBE CERTAIN CITIES WILL BECOME FAMOUS FOR THEIR SWORDS OR THEIR ARMORS, and part of the strategy would be to get there and buy them, instead than just making money and buy anything anywhere (of course Teleport would manage to spoil that too and again make all games look the same) But hat's how it was in the ancient times, back when superstores didn't exist!

Also I don't think adding different items will do much in order to differentiate a game from the next. One game concentrated on buildig armies will be different from a game where you just summon monsters or try to win a war just with super powerful heroes. Those are different style of gameplay, based of researching different branches of the tech tree! Just having a sword in one game and an armor in the next IMO would not help much.

That is true but randomness would force people to use what they got, thus adding a new variation to games. In Age of Wonders SM only a limited number of spells are available for research. Once you may be able to summon an army of spiders from the beginning, in another game you would be forced to just reinforce your units with personal spells (thus the army construction would be encouraged without summons), in another game you would have to learn how to exploit a spell that only allows you to freeze water (useful to cross rivers: for exploration and surprise attacks)... Variety is important!

Also today certain spells seem redundant, why casting fire ball instead than chain lightning? Very little differece in fact, why should we have both? If a choice on everything can be made certain spells will never be used IMO.

I played through maybe 10 games of Elemental so far (I kind of lost interest, but not hope) and they were all pretty much the same. Having mountains and water in different places is not enough to create a unique feel to each game if everything else is plodding along the same course. (Not hating on the game, I like the game and have bought multiple copies, just want to see it become better)

I already know what equipment I want and what to research to get it. I don't need to mix up that strategy for any reason because It's not like Galciv where the AI starts researching the defenses against your strengths or anything. Not to say Galciv is the perfect example of what this game should be either. Just pointing out that I'm doing the same things every game because it always works. I'm not adapting to anything and nothing is adapting to me.

Also there are very few unknown elements, so not really any surprises. What I mean by this is that all the NPCs are pretty much the same in terms of the impact they have for the faction that hires them. You don't see a particular guy associated with another faction and think, "Oh crap! They have so-and-so! I need to do this thing over here or I'm done!" or you dont see someone wielding a particular weapon or armor and think, "Oh, I am in trouble now! He found the Sword of Judgement!" (or whatever).

No, instead I found myself falling back to Heroes III and wondering why that is. What makes me able to play this particular game over and over and not this other one which is similar conceptually? It's that it feels different every time. Every hero has a noticeable impact and there are items which are unique and potent enough to shift your strategy to be in line with it's strengths. You also don't get those same heroes and items every time, so there is that randomness as well.

If there were NPCs in Elemental with abilities like "Does double damage with Ice spells" or "Makes all spells cost double MP" or "Shoots twice if wielding a bow" things that REALLY effect the outcome of a battle or the way you play the game, I think things would immediately become more interesting. Some of the randomness is already there, it just doesn't matter because they don't really affect the game that much. So randomness is one part and I guess the other part of it is impact?

I ilke that.  We need the random ocal and mega events.

But it IS available immediately.

The second you get the tech to produce an item, you can also create a group that carries that item. It doesn't make sense that you can create units with that item anywhere, but not have the same item available for champions.

I can understand if you don't want the item to appear if there are no resources (for example, buying a horse without any horse resources), but that is a non-random limitation.

When it comes to item shopping, some people suggested that you can buy items only inside cities and not just in friendly areas.

There was also suggestion to reduce prices of certain items if you have a building in the city (like a blacksmith that reduces weapon and armor cost by 20%).

While some think it will help the game by adding realism and role playing elements, others (including myself) think that it adds unnecessary complexity, forcing the player to waste turns for getting in and out for every upgrade. I believe that this is a strategy game with RPG elements, not the other way around.

Anyway, the suggestion of randomizing the prices takes it to places that even pure RPG games rarely go to. Do you realize that it will require me to wonder around the empire just to buy a lousy sword in a decent price?

Buildings effecting the price? Debatable. Randomized prices? Bad.

I don't think the limitation should be complete. Similar to what was done in AoWSM and MoM, most spells are available, but especially in a higher level some spells will be missing.

Each element still has it's strength and weaknesses over the other elements, but the randomized spells add a variety for the more powerful spells.

In this game, it is currently pointless since all elements are more or less the same, with only minor differences.

Take any two elements, remove 20% random spells from each each of them, and try that several times.

How many times will you need to "roll the dice" to change your strategy? in most cases, it will just be slightly different variation of offensive spells, summons and buffs, but since they are all more or less the same strength, the random choice will mean nothing.

It worked in AoW because there really was a difference between the spells, but if the random result will give you almost identical spells, why bother?

This is a good change, and will add randomness to the game, but it is only meaningful after a big changes in the spells department.