First 1.1 Game...HUH??

So I have not played Elemental for a while now as I was unable to d/l the beta for 1.1, and I decided to wait.  Last night and this morning, I got to play the "new" game, and generally, I am very pleased.  There are still things I would like to see changed (such as showing in the Shop what items would add or subtract from your stats), but obviously this is a HUGE step in the right direction.

However, my game ended in defeat, and I am dumbfounded. 

I had driven all other nations except one into oblivion, and I was closing in on the last remaining enemy city.  I sent my Channeler and my giant freaking army in to finish it off and rule the world once and for all.  As far as faction points (I think that's what they're called), I was leading by something like 200 to 50.  Their city had a strength of 40-something, and I had a strength of 300-plus.  So I sent in the army, and I told it to auto-battle.

And the game ended in Defeat immediately.

Huh??

Even if by some miracle, the tiny enemy forces held against my advance and killed my Channeler, shouldn't he have just gone back to the capitol?  Was this a case of auto-resolve shooting me in the foot, literally??  Why would an overwheleming force lose?  Also, at the end, it said I had 25 points.  Did the tables turn so drastically with one battle?

Any insights into this?  Was this a glitch or should I throw myself a Sucky Empire Parade?

 

16,683 views 22 replies
Reply #1 Top

Yeah, you should basicly never auto resolve.  The game acts strangly when you use that option.

Reply #2 Top

I cant give you a good reason why that happened, but I do know this, when you go into battles I notice that your "weaker" melee units are almost always in front.  Now maybe, they were taken out first, and they could have been casters, so then you were down to just your melee, and they were picked apart by the enemies caster, archers, catapults, or what not.  I would really like for this bug of putting the weaker melee types in front fixed and Id like to have the ability to set my formation, at least if im attacking.  If im attacked, then I can understand there might be some confusion and my people being our of formation.

 

Sorry I cant give you a better reason, but this is something Ive noticed in all my games and maybe this played out...then again, maybes its just a bug.

Reply #3 Top

You lost your sovereign in hostile territory? Instant loss.

Reply #4 Top

Why auto-calc the final epic battle :(

Reply #5 Top

Quoting Ratatosk7, reply 4
Why auto-calc the final epic battle
End of Ratatosk7's quote

That's what I keep asking myself, curled up in a ball and sobbing on the floor.

Reply #6 Top

Im pretty sure that it's not a bug. You just end up with the same tac battle AI as the enemy, and as you can see from any combat it's retarded. All it ever does is rush head in. All your troops including your ranged ones and channelers rush in. With bad luck you stop right in front of of your enemies front line and they get first strike next turn.... So ya don't auto calc any fight that is anywhere near close.

 

What I do is let the enemy move twice so that they stop right in front of me and then auto calc. Makes a fair difference.

Reply #7 Top

I did have a lot of archers going into that batlle.

Well, that teaches me never to auto-resolve a crucial battle, I suppose.

Reply #8 Top

yeah, i hated it till i realized i could set the auto-calc threshhold to never trigger.  Got sick of constantly needing to load after losing what should have been auto-wins and were when i loaded and played them myself.  I think you can only auto resolve if your armor is so much better than their attack that you can not be damaged by their units.  Then you may win most of the time.

Reply #9 Top

Quoting scorpprime88, reply 5

Quoting Ratatosk7, reply 4Why auto-calc the final epic battle

That's what I keep asking myself, curled up in a ball and sobbing on the floor.
End of scorpprime88's quote

Lol. :) Load in one of your autosaves and play the end out again.

Reply #10 Top

Quoting Heavenfall, reply 3
You lost your sovereign in hostile territory? Instant loss.
End of Heavenfall's quote

This.

I think you either might have overlooked the fact that your Sov was in the army as well and he or she got killed or

it was the army / weak units 'issue' like discussed above. Messages do get displayed instantly often, even before the game is done calculating everything and letting you take control again.

It does come across as sudden. Quite the anti-climax in your case! :'( :waaaa:

Reply #11 Top

Quoting Delmoroth, reply 1
Yeah, you should basicly never auto resolve.  The game acts strangly when you use that option.
End of Delmoroth's quote

So it's not just me then.  I've seen similar instances where my overwhelming forces will barely scrape out a victory against a lone bandit.

Reply #12 Top

Quoting Dsraider, reply 6
What I do is let the enemy move twice so that they stop right in front of me and then auto calc. Makes a fair difference.
End of Dsraider's quote

Ooh, clever... I'll have to remember that.

Reply #13 Top

I still think there should be an option upon game creation to have it so that if your sovereign dies, that your 'heir' takes over. Therefore if people want that aspect, they can, if not, don't turn it on. :)

Reply #14 Top

Quoting Mtn_Man, reply 11

Quoting Delmoroth, reply 1Yeah, you should basicly never auto resolve.  The game acts strangly when you use that option.
So it's not just me then.  I've seen similar instances where my overwhelming forces will barely scrape out a victory against a lone bandit.
End of Mtn_Man's quote

 

Its nice when your OP seven hero army encounters a bandit/wolf early game and you autocalc and then 20 turns later realize your spouse died in that battle somehow XD

 

Tactical battles need massive improvement but I still recommend it over autocalcing all but the simplest battles where no enemy has attack higher than your armor.

Reply #15 Top

Quoting Mtn_Man, reply 12

Quoting Dsraider, reply 6What I do is let the enemy move twice so that they stop right in front of me and then auto calc. Makes a fair difference.
Ooh, clever... I'll have to remember that.
End of Mtn_Man's quote

Some insight on how well this works or if it works at all would be pretty interesting.

Reply #16 Top

Pretty sure there's a green arrow or red arrow + the change in stats shown in your hero's little bit at the bottom for the store when you select an item. Gonna fire up the game to check, but pretty sure it's in and just not very visible. 

 

edit: Verified. When you select an item, look at your hero's stats down at the bottom. Changes have an arrow (either green or red) and a number indicating the amount of the difference between the equipped item and the store item. UI issue, it should definitely be more visible. Meanwhile, the massive and completely irrelevant shopkeeper is also definitely still there.

Reply #17 Top

Most likley your SOV started out in the front line and charged in and died in the first couple of rounds of combat. This would make the entire fight moot as your SOV was now DEAD since he died in a hostile ZOC.

And spouses are to stay in the capital behind a line of plate mail armor dudes, cause the TAC AI has a major hard on for em.

Reply #18 Top

Easy answer, auto-resolve can not be trusted.

I was going to say, no, just don't trust it!!

Reply #19 Top

I am pretty sure that the numbers in Auto-resolve ignore things, including dodge chance.

Other than that, I have no new info.

Reply #20 Top

Or it could all play out exactly the same way.

I've often been destroying an enemy only to run into a unit that is difficult to handle.  For instance, I ran into an enemy champion that had 80 attack and around 50 armor.  My sovereign at that point in the game was 40/22 or so and this guy was a beast and just chewed up everything that I had.   I ended up having to develop better/larger troops and this one jack-ass added 100+ turns to my game.

Oh, I should also mention that there is a spider mob that is a real pain if you run into.  It is 38/20 or so and has a web attack that leaves you unable to attack or counter for quite a while.   I think he appears with a level 3 adventure site, so if you see something about battling the spiders, you might want to say no, save the game, and then check it out.

Top 

Reply #21 Top

I hardly ever auto resolve a battle.  I would like to have a feature that lets me watch the computer use my units and the AI to fight it out.  In MoM you could turn on the Auto and if just played the battle for you.

 

I am not a fan of any instant auto, but I would like to watch the computer battle it out with my units (sort of liek the computer becomes the field marshal).  As long as I can turn it off when I wanted and take back control.

Reply #22 Top

I only autoresolve when:

  1. Facing lonely Pioneers (0 attack...)
  2. Meatshields against less powerful enemy meatshields.
  3. Stuck in tactical battle (I have not being able to play much 1.1 yet so still haven't experienced that if it's still there).