proposal

Good day to you.  

A long time ago, a game called Elemental was released, a new take on turn-based strategy, a bunch of diverse mechanics. Revolutionary, changing the gameplay. But the game was buggy and unbalanced. And worst of all - boring. Then new versions came out, new games. They fixed the balance. Made the gameplay more interesting. And seemingly good, but still - boring.  

It's strange, as if everything is there. So why then?  

This surprised me, and I wondered if everything was really okay. So, here are my conclusions.  

What we have on the screen, on the left - the tab of character squares, then the tab of building squares, and finally the tasks.  

This is inconvenient. The player switches alternately between buildings and characters (because automatic switching does not always work).  

In addition to the icon, the name needs to be added. It's difficult to find the necessary city and unit, and the name would help a lot.

Unit movements, it is necessary to add a "continue turn" button so that the unit moves along the planned route.  

All characters automatically continue the route, but only after the turn ends. This is convenient for scouts, but the player will still have to recalibrate everyone, and it is tedious.  

City level-up happens suddenly. For the player, there is a scale based on population. But if a city window pops up, where a direction of development needs to be chosen, the player does not understand which city it is. This is easy to fix: do not make the window automatic; let a level-up marker appear next to the city icon so that the player can consider further development based on the strategic situation. The player has spent time on battles and construction, presses end turn, and does not understand which city this is or what its role is.

Square arena. Squares are not always a drawback for tactics. The best is a hexagonal arena. Attack the cell where the enemy is, not the model! The player will misclick and get upset that instead of hitting, the unit moved. For ranged units, add attack range and a penalty to accuracy at medium distances. Attack by a formation is limited, as is counterattack. So that you can’t attack spearmen that way. Also, spearmen should cover two cells. Then they can be used to block routes and protect archers. Shield bearers should protect neighboring units from ranged attacks, 'block triggers.' This would add more tactical depth. Because battles turn into repeating the same thing. It’s boring.

Information about units, instead of a bunch of icons you have to hover over - numbers. Protection against fire, water, lightning, poison - not indicated anywhere. And it's unclear what resistances and who has them.

But it will be much better if you change the game. The map is divided into sectors, and in one sector there are forests, ruins, monsters, bandits, resources, quests, heroes... And all of this is in one sector, but the sector needs to be explored. Reconnaissance reveals bandit camps, resource deposits... Up to 12 sectors are visible on the screen at once. Visually, resources and special structures are already displayed on the sector, but they become accessible only after reconnaissance. Heroes and scouts can conduct sector exploration. Sectors are irregularly shaped; movement occurs between neighboring sectors, roads reduce the use of movement points, pedestrians can move one sector per turn. Or two sectors if there is a road. Sectors are captured by outposts or by building a settlement. Settlements can be built after the sector is fully explored.

After finding a resource, the possibility of resource extraction appears. On such sub-locations, animals - guards - can be placed. 

Sector. When hovering over a sector, brief information about it appears. Icons of sub-locations, resource summary (fertility, materials, essence) can increase through research; if the sector is not researched, it shows the minimum. By clicking, a window opens where you can view sub-locations and their status. 

If a hero is present in the sector, you can give them a command to visit a sub-location, which consumes movement. Multiple sub-locations can be visited. To destroy the resource guards, you either visit a quest sub-location or destroy the den. This way, the game will not feel huge, but the scale will feel larger. It's like an area with a city, where there are various locations. Conditionally clear and not complicated.

The city window is separate and conditional. Here we simply click on a construction. After the construction is completed, in the sector near the image of the city, a building will appear. Or a resource image will change into a mine. We hire troops, and upon completion, an icon of a shield will appear, or a character model will appear in the sector. This way, the player will see everything necessary without moving the map. Everything needed is at hand. This window can be made similar to the castle window in Heroes 3, similar, because your game has an interesting style. And here the player will see the improvements of their city.

A reconnaissance building that will notify about the appearance of monsters and lairs in already explored locations. Or passively explore it during construction in the outpost.  

Exclamation marks on sectors indicate active quests. Green - arrive to complete. Yellow - visit, possible fight. Red - heroic quest. Similar to locations with super-strong enemies, where part of the monster can be used to strengthen the city. So the player understands movement priorities.  

In a sector, heroes can trade or exchange troops through the unit menu.  

Roaming monsters in sectors may attack resources or unprotected cities and outposts. The guard can attack roaming monsters through the sector menu. Lairs spawn roamers.

Relationships. Add relationships between characters so that it is possible to marry or marry another king-emperor. But, that's that. Overall, diplomacy needs improvement; currently it is sufficient but primitive.  

Complicated experience system. Yours is too complicated, it would be better to do it differently. Each enemy gives a specific amount of experience, which is divided among all group members.  

And here the experience multiplier comes into play. To slow down development, you just need to increase the number of required points. Because, like many players, I don't understand why you added multipliers if I get 1 unit of experience. If desired, you can add a multiplier for difficulty, provided you defeat a stronger opponent +50% experience, and against a weaker one -50%.  But not 1. One experience is really bad.

Battle arena. In addition to hexes and attack range, I suggest increasing its size and reducing the icons. Add hills, which will increase shooting range, forests—which will increase defense against ranged attacks, and maybe something else as well. Imagine using the spell 'Raise Earth' to give a unit the ability to shoot farther and more accurately. This is already a new level of tactical gameplay. Hills and forests occupy several hexes. Hills additionally provide melee attack defense. Add swamp hexes for penalties. Plateau hexes, so that archers can be moved there using magic and gain a significant advantage. Tactics. Hexagonal arenas are used in many games because they provide more tactical possibilities. That's why players like them. In your game, it's better to create unique hexagonal arenas. Not like in Heroes or in Age of Wonders. An intermediate state between abstract and grounded. Forests give bonuses because behind three trees, a group of three fighters can hide. Add more enemies, more archers among them. This is not a view from space and not hiding behind boxes.

Large monsters occupy several hexes, which makes them even more terrifying. And again, attacks are not on the monster, but on the hex.  

Sectors and magic. For example, we have an adjacent sector with water, we need to get to the other shore, we use magic, and a land path appears in the sector. Now we can stand on the sector or even cross it. We can green the sector or make it polluted. Terraforming spells will now work on sectors. They change the map in a specific sector. Therefore, sectors must have many characteristics, be dynamic, and change. I think it will be easier for the system than keeping the entire map in memory. Change the sector, save, keep playing. That is, instead of thousands of squares, the system will process 100 sectors.

Information about the nest and the level of threat from it. And a magic button so that in the middle of the sector, you can hit the guard with magic before attacking it. Salary. Mercenary warriors require payment for their work. Payment increases with level. Commanders can reduce troop maintenance, and there are buildings in cities to reduce maintenance. The city guard, by default, demands nothing. Leadership, Add a leadership window where you can assign positions to heroes. The Supreme Mage - increases mana income and spell power, the Supreme Commander - reduces the cost of paying troops and increases their skills. The Scholar - increases research yield. Scout, Treasurer, and others.

More buildings, the ability to send caravans with food to other cities, and more.  

A sector is a city. It's just that in a sector, an additional window with buildings and population appears. Eventually, population can be added to empty sectors, which will join the city. Anything is possible. This will open up a bunch of opportunities, and most importantly, the player won't waste time scrolling through the map searching, because everything is at hand.

Combining the developments of other games.  

Wishing success in your future projects, and in exploration overall!