Elemental: War of Magic

[marcusjm]

So how is the multiplayer part shaping up with this beta? Is the Client Server thing active yet?

[Butterknife]

So how is the multiplayer part shaping up with this beta? Is the Client Server thing active yet?

They aren't testing multiplayer yet, other than connectivity.  I was able to connect to a multiplayer game (vs AIs on their servers).  The game itself didn't go so well, there were multiple issues (popping units, units that wouldn't move when ordered, etc.)  They didn't promise anything for multiplayer just yet though, so I wouldn't worry about it yet either.

It does make me wonder about their proposed ship date in August, though.

[marcusjm]

Ah, I misread that part then, I was browsing the thread over at qt3 and it looked like people were doing matchups and playing mp.

Is this something that comes in beta 3?

[Greg Wak]

So how is the multiplayer part shaping up with this beta? Is the Client Server thing active yet?

They aren't testing multiplayer yet, other than connectivity.  I was able to connect to a multiplayer game (vs AIs on their servers).  The game itself didn't go so well, there were multiple issues (popping units, units that wouldn't move when ordered, etc.)  They didn't promise anything for multiplayer just yet though, so I wouldn't worry about it yet either.

It does make me wonder about their proposed ship date in August, though.

They have stated that they have internal builds that are far ahead of what they are showing for the betas. the betas are just to test certain features.

[Huw the Poo]

Every time I fire up Impulse this bloody game is just staring me in the face, daring me to install it.  I'm not sure how much longer I can resist!

WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT

[tgb]

Every time I fire up Impulse this bloody game is just staring me in the face, daring me to install it.  I'm not sure how much longer I can resist!

WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT

There's so much still disabled you're better off waiting, probably until Beta 3 (in 2 or 3 weeks, I believe).  With each new build I've been starting a couple of games just to check out the changes, but it hasn't quite reached the "just-one-more-turn" stage for me yet.  I have no problem putting it away until the next update.

[Qantaga]

Every time I fire up Impulse this bloody game is just staring me in the face, daring me to install it. 

   
I pre-bought this, but I don't see it on my Impulse. I am going to hold off until release, to get the full experience, but I still wonder why it's not an option for me. I suppose I should dig my confirmation e-mail back up to see if there was something I had to activate to make the beta versions available.

[Huw the Poo]

I think you need to enable pre-release versions in the Impulse preferences.  I don't know why mine is even enabled to be honest, since I never beta test.

[Qantaga]

I think you need to enable pre-release versions in the Impulse preferences.  I don't know why mine is even enabled to be honest, since I never beta test.

   
Thanks Huw! That did the trick. Like you, I'll hold off for release (or maybe a late beta, if the Aug. 24 date slips to 2011), but it's nice to know it's there.

[tgb]

I played a little of 2B this morning. Nice to see the improvement in the scrolling, the quests, and the fact that there are now consequences to your actions - no more attacking NPC's willy-nilly for experience (you can, but your reputation takes a hit).

One thing I don't like is the magic system. First you have to find a source of crystals. Then you have to build a town (I thought town-spamming was discouraged), find a way to generate research point so you can research two different techs so you can then build an arcane lab to generate spell points and a crystal mine to harvest crystals. At the same time you're spending spell points to learn spells. After you have enough crystal and spell points and the spell has been learned, you can finally cast it.

This is not, to use Frogboy's term, fun. I want to be hurling fireballs almost from the beginning.

[Huw the Poo]

Elemental will be released on August 24th. Our “gold” date is August 4th. Our goal is to have the "game” basically done by July 16th.  The remaining time will be spent polishing, balancing, tweaking and adding player suggested feedback.  We’ll categorize that feedback on things that we think are fun or interesting enough to get into the “gold” version (the version that comes in the box) and then things we’ll make available on release date (the August 24th edition).

*fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap*

[MonkeyFinger]

Sheesh, had to go look up what all that fapping was about, kinda sorry I did now. 

[baelthazar]

Wanker... 

[Huw the Poo]

Call me what you will!  I'm basking in the "afterglow" and do not care.

I'm really looking forward to this game.

[baelthazar]

Unfortunately the lastest beta also brought with is some performance issues. I was already getting a bit of "scroll lag" and jerkiness when hitting the "end turn" button and watching unit movement, but it now seems a tad worse. Am I the only one, or is this still in need of optimization?

I think my specs are above required. With the way Stardock is, they usually make their games VERY scalable!

[tgb]

Unfortunately the lastest beta also brought with is some performance issues. I was already getting a bit of "scroll lag" and jerkiness when hitting the "end turn" button and watching unit movement, but it now seems a tad worse. Am I the only one, or is this still in need of optimization?

I think my specs are above required. With the way Stardock is, they usually make their games VERY scalable!

I've found just the opposite.  Scrolling is smoother than ever for me and I usually never have to hit the next turn button.  Once I've moved all my characters as far as possible the turn advances automatically.

[Huw the Poo]

Hmmm...ya know, I could just install the beta to have a look at the Sovereign creator thing.  Then I could get a jump-start on the release by already having a Sov made or at least knowing what I want.

[Tals]

Hmmm...ya know, I could just install the beta to have a look at the Sovereign creator thing.  Then I could get a jump-start on the release by already having a Sov made or at least knowing what I want.

It's not playable in the way AI war was so it's certainly no harm and your feedback aka elements you like and dislike Stardock love - Kudos on them on that aspect

[Razgon]

In case some of you dont visit Qt3

I'm feeling much the same way. As others have mentioned, we do tend to treat the betas as big labs and then wrap it up at the end.

So what does that mean for magic?

Well here's a few things we're going to try to get in this week or by Beta 3-A.

1. No spells will require Essence anymore. Only Mana.
2. Mana Regeneration will be a player stat: 1 per turn by default.
3. Only the most powerful spells will require shards. (example, fireball wouldn't require a shard but world destroying ones would).
4. Controlling a shard will allow players to improve their magic stats: Controlling a shard will increase a player's Essence (thus increasing the power of the spells they can cast).
5. Players will be able to queue up learning spells.
6. Casting spells will have a streamlined UI (and hot keys) (e.g select unit, hit C and then 1 for the first spell in your assigned "Favorite spells" list).
7. Players can choose Summoning and Enchantment magic so that almost immediately they can cast giant strength on themselves.
8. The number of enchantments a unit can maintain will simply be equal to their essence.
9. Spells won't have cool downs. Either you can cast it as long as you have mana or it's a 1 time cast.
10. Warfare tech track provides some World Achievements (only 1 in the world) that enable the settlement with the achievement to construct special units (example: Royal Soldiers).
11. Each technology track will have special benefits for those who choose to go that path first.
12. There will be a lot more types of resources, many of which are quite rare, that do more interesting things as well as lots of resources that are very common that don't do a whole lot.
13. Sovereigns will not be able to found new cities except their first city (founding their Kingdom/Empire). Pioneers will found cities.
14. Barren land won't require Revive Land to build cities on. ONLY land that is the opposite alignment from yours would require such a spell.
15. There will be a lot more spells at the start of the game.
16. There are a number of recruitable tribes/camps/ etc. that once recruited you can train that unit (for instance, here's a video of me adding in a Bone Ogre Camp and training Bone Ogres -- no code: http://forums.elementalgame.com/385725).

All 16 items here (and of course a lot of others) should be in either by this Thursday or the following Thursday.

[Lockdown]

I believe quite a few of these changes will make the game better.  In particular, #1, #3, #4, #10, #11, #14, #15.

Since it is quite simple to change the frequency a particular resource (like shards) will show up, what might seem like a recipe for disaster from a game balancing standpoint with these changes may not end up being that bad at all.  We'll see soon enough.

The stuff Brad showed regarding the bone ogre recruiting was pretty darn cool as well.

[tgb]

Beta 3 walkthrough is up: http://forums.elementalgame.com/385885

Looking better all the time.

[CeeKay]

four new screenshots. 

[Lockdown]

Beta 3 is now up.     The  changelog is rather large.

I am finally ready to say that if you have been waiting for a semi-playable version : now may be the time to jump in.

Note that tactical battles are NOT yet enabled.  I say that because I know some people don't want anything to do with the game until that gets implemented.  (They will be in version 3A - which isn't too far away).

Happy gaming!  

[tgb]

Other than the tactical battles (which will be in 3A), the campaign, and multi-player, this is pretty much feature-complete, although I'm disappointed they still apparently haven't activated any of the victory conditions other than Conquest.

[Razgon]

Aye - another thing that worries me a bit, is that all the Special and Great spells from MoM isnt there, and the reason is simply Brad hasnt had the time to code the AI to use it properly. He doesnt want to release a game where the AI cant use the spells that are in the game. (Just Cause, Meteor Swarm, all the great overland spells for instance)

While I certainly understand and applaud that, its also a bit...well, worrying coding of AI simply hasnt been started earlier, or release pushed back.

I *want* this to succeed, and as we've seen with Age of Conan, first impressions really is everything, and while Stardock of course will continue to improve the game over the next years as they've said, I think it would be awesome if the game itself was a financial succes from the get-go - makes it easier to make the game even better, and/or make a sequel.

[Jarrodhk]

New beta version is up.

Adds the tactical battles, revamps resources/city interaction, all victory conditions are enabled, lots of changes to the Heigerimon (not spelled right I'm sure) etc.

This is the first version that I feel is actually like a game. Still plenty of flaws and bugs and things to work on, but, I have had fun with it so far.

One major issue, I haven't found a way to cast tactical spells in the battles, although the auto resolve does use them.

Time to play some more.

[tgb]

 I hope the tactical battles get a lot of attention over the next 6 weeks.  Also, has anyone figured out how to cast a spell in a battle?  I went to my Sovereign's spell tab, and it was empty, despite knowing several tactical spells.


Also, I think the world can be a little too lively.  There were 4 inns within 2 squares of my starting location.

[Jarrodhk]

It seems that you have to add the spells as favorites for them to show up in the battles.

I expect the tactical battles will be getting a lot of attention. They also really need to work on creature/unit abilities now. 

That said, having fun with a sorceress sovereign at the moment.  I just managed to finish a quest that netted me a dragon as a unit.  I think the scale is off for the dragon... it covers a lot of space on the map

[tgb]

I was just about to post that about the spells.

My game crashes when loading a saved game, which is going to kind of spoil the enjoyment.  Also, I started a game as the faction that is supposed to have more NPC's available in the beginning, but there wasn't a single one.

[Jarrodhk]

Yeah I hit a memory leak. Played a lot of turns before that however.

Oddly the dragon has only 1 strategic move point. Though it does have 8 tactical move... and it hits hard.

[Island Dog]

Beta 3C goodies:

http://forums.elementalgame.com/388539

* Gameplay *

+ Settlements have a Maintenance cost. 0 for the first, 1 for the second, 2 for the third, and on.

+ Significant strategic AI changes

+ We no longer require technology pre-reqs to builds on resources (if you find one, it’s a bug and you should let us know)

+ Attacking a city now automatically brings up a tactical battle, as long as either the attacker or defender.

- New system for determining the cost of a tactical action.

- Tactical moves should take 2 actions, everything else should take 1.

+ Units in tactical battles now counter attack when attacked with melee attacks. Countering costs action points. See next point;

+ Units in tactical battles now have their action points refunded every time initiative switches, AKA when mode switches from attacker to defender turn, or from defender to attacker turn.

+ Units in tactical battles can no longer move after attacking, (this effectively separates each unit’s move phase into moving and then attacking, or just attacking).  Casting spells is unaffected, you may always cast spells.

+ Groups of units now have their hitpoints, attack strength and defense properly increased.

[marcusjm]

Now that beta 4 is soon out maybe it is time for our very first AAR here? Razgon, your vacation is over now .

[Asharak]

Now that beta 4 is soon out maybe it is time for our very first AAR here? Razgon, your vacation is over now .

I might have time to put something together later on this week. What are you looking for, sort of a "I haven't been following the beta so I'd like a walkthrough of the game's features and how it plays -- oh, and pictures, too!" type of thing?

No promises re: my schedule / time to do it, though...

- Ash

[Razgon]

Now that beta 4 is soon out maybe it is time for our very first AAR here? Razgon, your vacation is over now .

heh - well, I wont do it. Sorry, but the current iteration of the game isnt at all what the game will end up with at launch, so there's really no reason to do it.

Here are what Brad Wardell posted about the game, and I agree with all points, and thought I doubt it, I hope they will be fixed before launch.

Casters should not get to cast spells more than 1 per turn.
The UI makes me cry. Clickity click click click. What’s going on?
Goodie huts are boooring.
The spells are booooring.
Tactical combat is boooring.
The spell books are confusing and make me feel violated and I’ve already consulted my attorneys about the issue. (Sorry Stardock, it’s too late already)
The spells are all the same and boring.

There's more, but I'll take a wait and see approach to how its going to end.

[Asharak]

I agree with all of those, too - well, I might not put so many "o"s in boring - but none of them are feature-omission issues that will change the game substantially by or after launch (the goodie hut results and spells should be better but the essential mechanics are in place to talk about). Thus my volunteering to do an AAR, time permitting.

Of course, that's assuming that I'm right about what marcus is asking for (i.e., a marketing-free, screenshot-based sequential feature list with occasional snarky commentary). If he's looking for something a lot more in-depth or with character / flair to the writing...well, then I'm not doing it either, because the game certainly isn't polished enough for me to get into the atmospheric / narrative mood that lends itself to those types of AARs. Maybe in September, if the game reaches that point before I get sucked into Civ 5.

- Ash

[Huw the Poo]

Release day is three weeks from today!  Oh god I can't wait to get my CE with all those lovely goodies!

Hell, I can't wait to actually play the game!  It's been so hard to resist the temptation...not that you lot have been any help, by the way; there've been a couple of times when I've nearly succumbed and there wasn't so much as a "don't do it, Huw!"  You gits. 

[Butterknife]

Don't do it, Huw!

I think Elemental is shaping up into a very solid B+ game, about as good as the original GalCiv at this point.  We'll see if my predictions hold true when it comes out.  Every time they release a new build, I play 1 or 2 games.  I'd have to say that I am more excited about Civ 5 at this point, though.  Elemental looks good, but I don't think it is Master of Magic 2, unfortunately.

[Razgon]

Don't do it, Huw!

I think Elemental is shaping up into a very solid B+ game, about as good as the original GalCiv at this point.  We'll see if my predictions hold true when it comes out.  Every time they release a new build, I play 1 or 2 games.  I'd have to say that I am more excited about Civ 5 at this point, though.  Elemental looks good, but I don't think it is Master of Magic 2, unfortunately.

yeah. I agree unfortunately.... I hope to be wrong though.

[Fez]

Darn.  I was hoping to feel that MoM excitement again.  I just loved that game, and I've been waiting for Master of Magic 2 for ages.  What's missing in Elemental?

[Lee]

Darn.  I was hoping to feel that MoM excitement again.  I just loved that game, and I've been waiting for Master of Magic 2 for ages.  What's missing in Elemental?

Nothing. MoM is one of those games I think we remember being better than it actually was. Elemental is very solid so far in the beta. It's not MoM, and doesn't seem like it is trying to be, it just has some common concepts. We also haven't played the final build in the beta, we have played limited sections of the game that they want us to play with and keep telling us the final game is going to be much different. Its a bit premature to be saying if this is going to be a great game or not. Is it MoM? Nope, but that isn't a bad thing. I have played the Beta, and I am very excited to see the final game, I will reserve judgment until I see it.