Elemental: War of Magic

[paperfist]

With Civ V lulling me to sleep I'm so tempted to pick this up after hearing positive feedback from you guys and seeing it at Wallymart for $40.

 

[zinfamous]

With Civ V lulling me to sleep I'm so tempted to pick this up after hearing positive feedback from you guys and seeing it at Wallymart for $40.

you do get some bonus helmet from the walmart version. Another store...I forget where, offers some bonus sword. Or maybe it's vice versa.

Anyway, I should clear up that the first expansion is free to everyone (it appears that it has been pushed back to early 2011 as they seem to be putting more into it--new lead designer, I guess).

The 2nd expansion, even later, is free only to those who purchased before Sept 30. :\

 

[Specop 007]

With Civ V lulling me to sleep I'm so tempted to pick this up after hearing positive feedback from you guys and seeing it at Wallymart for $40.

Is Civ V not so good?

 

[zinfamous]

Is Civ V not so good?

i would encourage you to check out the massive Civ V thread. 😀

I haven't played it, just the demo. It is much slower in terms of production, and simply getting your empire going than previous versions. never got that instant addiction that is typical.

But ask others who have much more experience than I. It will certainly get better, I think. They usually release a big patch/balance update a few months in.

The complaint that I've notice the most--slow overall production--is what put me to sleep on the demo. There are a lot of awesome new features and mechanics, though. I'm waiting for discount pricing.

 

[paperfist]

Is Civ V not so good?

Well it's not quite a 50/50 split, but it seems some people like it and some people hate it. If you came from Civ IV and picked up Civ V you'd notice a lot of features and novelties removed, you would notice that it looks a lot like a console game now and that it boasts hexes instead of squares, one unit per tile instead of the old standby of stacking your units on a tile.

While I'm playing it just because it's really not engaging me like the other versions. There's just a lot of stuff missing that should not be.

----

Thanks for all the info zinfamous. I know the game launched as a failure, but it's pretty neat to see they are giving some stuff back in the form of expansions to those you adopted early.

 

[blastingcap]

Well it's not quite a 50/50 split, but it seems some people like it and some people hate it.

Civ ceased to interest me after I discovered the Total War series. 🙂

 

[paperfist]

So I picked it up a few days ago. It's not the horrendous monster that it's been made out to be, so far. It plays smooth on my system and hasn't crashed. Though at roughly 6 unfinished games in I have no idea about balance as I'm just learning how to play 🙂

It's strangely like Civ in one way, tech tree, settle cities, build armies, negotiate, etc and then very much unlike it with the magic element, factions, races as opposed to civs. I'd almost say it has that Alpha Centauri feel to it; there's even spells to raise and lower land and the landscape itself from what I've run into looks pretty alien if not a wasteland.

Civ ceased to interest me after I discovered the Total War series. 🙂

Those are pretty epic feeling and amazing to play games. I never played the earlier ones so I don't know if it goes deeper into infrastructure building like Civ does, but if you could combine that element with the battle of TW games I think you'd hit onto the next big title.

 

[CurseTheSky]

So how does this compared to the original Masters of Magic? Do you get to specialize in different magic "trees" and research spells (sort of like the technology research in the Civilization series), explore neutral dungeons for prizes, hire heroes, etc. or is it more about building cities and an army and fighting against your opponents?

 

[paperfist]

So how does this compared to the original Masters of Magic? Do you get to specialize in different magic "trees" and research spells (sort of like the technology research in the Civilization series), explore neutral dungeons for prizes, hire heroes, etc. or is it more about building cities and an army and fighting against your opponents?

I never played MoM, and I'm not really the best person to ask about magic since my game time experience has been limited so far, but this is what the game says:

"We’ll be talking about this a lot more soon but I wanted to alleviate some concerns on how magic will work in Elemental.

There are over a dozen different books of magic in the game.

When a player selects their sovereign (their sorcerer, channeler of magic), they can choose which books of magic they want. Each book will have a cost to it. So you can spend a lot of points on having lots of books or use those points to make your channeler more powerful.

In addition, based on what race you are, you will get a book of magic and based on which allegiance you choose (Empire or Kingdom) you will get a book.

Example: The Empires get the book of death magic. The Kingdoms get the book of life magic.

Then there are books of magic you can research in the research area.

There are also books of magic spread across the world that you can find via quests and other events.

I won’t even get into how many spells we have. I’m not even sure myself as there are currently many pages of spells.

Some spells are for tactical combat. Others are used globally.

Obviously, what spells you can learn are based on what spell books you have in your possession. Over time, we plan to keep adding more and more spells to existing books and release additional spell books for free after the game is available as players help us think of new and interesting spells.

We’ll talk more soon about how the magic system works in detail but hopefully this gives you an idea of the direction we’re going."

----

From what I've encountered with the magic so far is the initial book which I can use to level up my existing spells or spend points unlocking a different set. The one I've been working on is for casting elemental beasts to do my bidding. I haven't seen a magic tech tree per se as it's outlined in a book form.

This is what the spell book looks like:

Dungeons, I've been presented with tales of them and one wouldn't let me enter because my level was too low so I'm not sure if they are actual dungeon layouts or just buildings you enter to get quests from like some of the inns scattered on the map.

You can hire hero's for sure as they wander the world.

The game is way deeper then founding cities and building armies to fight with. The game has things like building dynasties, marrying off your children, etc. There's quests to do, random loot drops as well. I guess it depends a lot on what you focus your research on. The core of the game though is founding cities and expanding them to grab various resources from the map, building armies if you happen to run into opposing empires.

 

[CurseTheSky]

Sounds intriguing - thanks for the summary. 🙂

 

[Worthington]

There are no dungeons ala Age of Wonders in the sense that you actually enter another zone to explore when you reach a dungeon icon on the global map. Instead when you choose to explore a dungeon you are zoned strait into the tactical battle screen. Success in that fight means you clear the dungeon.

 

[CurseTheSky]

There are no dungeons ala Age of Wonders in the sense that you actually enter another zone to explore when you reach a dungeon icon on the global map. Instead when you choose to explore a dungeon you are zoned strait into the tactical battle screen. Success in that fight means you clear the dungeon.

Yep - exactly the way Masters of Magic used to be. 🙂

 

[zinfamous]

So I picked it up a few days ago. It's not the horrendous monster that it's been made out to be, so far. It plays smooth on my system and hasn't crashed. Though at roughly 6 unfinished games in I have no idea about balance as I'm just learning how to play 🙂

It's strangely like Civ in one way, tech tree, settle cities, build armies, negotiate, etc and then very much unlike it with the magic element, factions, races as opposed to civs. I'd almost say it has that Alpha Centauri feel to it; there's even spells to raise and lower land and the landscape itself from what I've run into looks pretty alien if not a wasteland.



Those are pretty epic feeling and amazing to play games. I never played the earlier ones so I don't know if it goes deeper into infrastructure building like Civ does, but if you could combine that element with the battle of TW games I think you'd hit onto the next big title.

If elemental had Total War tactical battles---holy shit. that would end all.

(...Elemental does need more work, though. The battles are simply repetitive. I find the rest quite addicting, but not terribly unique outside of the overall style.)

I agree that the landscape/city buff/curse type spells are awesome. really unique, in my experience, anyway.

 

[zinfamous]

So how does this compared to the original Masters of Magic? Do you get to specialize in different magic "trees" and research spells (sort of like the technology research in the Civilization series), explore neutral dungeons for prizes, hire heroes, etc. or is it more about building cities and an army and fighting against your opponents?

people talk about mastering spell classes...but you don't really do that. You can, but there aren't many restrictions that force that strategy on you.

currently:

create soveriegn. give them all spell books. this is why--
learn "Imbue Hero" ASAP. this allows your Sov to give any hero magic ability, which can then be further leveled (Sov losses a little MP each time, but it will continue to restore if you keep them leveling)

Spellbook is universal, so the research for each spell, in order and as they unlock, is a tech tree in itself--untied to the other civ, warfare, adventure, etc techs, but is influenced by the type of structures you build in each city (libraries, monasteries...structures that individually increase research in certain areas).

The only things that limit you in spells, maybe, is the type of crystals you control (4 elements, controlling one crystal of each gives certain bonuses to all spells in respective classes--dependent on spell descriptions.) you can choose to let this limit you...but it really doesn't. Certain spells are just way over-powered. Most, properly applied, can wipe out almost anything.

You end up summoning any kind of critters that you can ASAP (only your SOV and their eventual progeny can use the summon spells), as most of them are individual wrecking crews that can do most of your work. the only limit is one of each summon per sov, and these guys run around until they die, they even level up. their is no upkeep cost for them.

So yeah, major balance issues, many of which is supposedly going to be tested in the major update coming soon. there is supposed to be a universal mana pool (for all heroes, I think), and summons and other enchantments will have constant upkeep costs, among other things.

 

[zinfamous]

and the dynasties are pretty cool--well I think they are, as the only full game I played ended when my last remaining opponent got tired of slamming his armies (and resources) against my critter wall (staitoned in one of his border towns) and just /wristed.

seriously.


anyway, quality of progeny depends on quality of your partner. Marry "Up," as it were, meaning, a higher level hero. The kids will eventually appear, and once they mature and become usable, start off far, far more powerful than your Sov (at least in the one case that I experienced). They still need to be leveled, though.

when creating your Sovereign, you can even choose a negative category (one of them being "ugly," which reduces the rate that you produce children, lol). I love this concept. Each choice you make in the negatives (You don't have to choose any, afaik), give you a few points back to put into other typical categories.

again, as of now....it seems best to just max out the spells (or play a few games, find the categories you like the most), and then pump your points into MP and intelligence (strength of magic). You need higher MP so that you can waste it on other heroes, to make them permanent casters.



again..all subject to change, lol. :\

 

[Martimus]

I am still on my first non-campaign game. Resources are very important in this game. I have yet to find any horses, but luckily I made friends with a neighbor and bought 12 horses from him at 6 Gildar each (enough for 3 squads of cavalry).

Until I found a place where there were 5 gold mines in a small area, I was really hurting for money. As of now, I still need to find a source for horses, and I am about to take an enemy city with a crystal resource. Farms are also hard to come by in my area, so I may need to expand to find more food.

I like the game, although my sovereign only has one spell book, and I had learned all spells in it about 4 levels ago. I need to find new spell books, but I have been busy with various wars. Once I take the crystal mine, I will see if I can make peace with the last guy who declared war on me. Now that I have the gold income, I can actually build a big enough army that maybe they won't think I am an easy target anymore.

EDIT: Anyone know how to destroy one of your cities? While I was trying to build a city to take advantage of the gold mines, an enemy kept spawning cities on the mines. I took the cities as they were spawned, but now there are 4 cities in a very small area. I would like to destroy the one in the middle, so they have more room to grow.

 

[Rhezuss]

Hey, where can you find that game?
In quebec, no one have it and even some didn't heard of it...

 

[Martimus]

Hey, where can you find that game?
In quebec, no one have it and even some didn't heard of it...

http://www.impulsedriven.com/elemental

 

[paperfist]

Hey, where can you find that game?
In quebec, no one have it and even some didn't heard of it...

If you guys have Walmart stores there then they carry it, at least they do in the states.

I am still on my first non-campaign game. Resources are very important in this game. I have yet to find any horses, but luckily I made friends with a neighbor and bought 12 horses from him at 6 Gildar each (enough for 3 squads of cavalry).

I have a horse farm, but other then speed they are kind of useless. I don't know if it's just a freak thing, but I built an army on horses and equipped them with maces. Tried them out in battle and LOL I don't think one soldier ever connected with a blow onto an opponent. I'm thinking the maces are too short for horse back riders, but I haven't tested another longer weapon yet.

EDIT: Anyone know how to destroy one of your cities? While I was trying to build a city to take advantage of the gold mines, an enemy kept spawning cities on the mines. I took the cities as they were spawned, but now there are 4 cities in a very small area. I would like to destroy the one in the middle, so they have more room to grow.

I'm wondering that as well. Maybe you can cast a spell on your own city to demolish it? Or there is a icon for destroying buildings under construction, maybe that can be used to destroy cities. It must be possible because one of the opposing factions I was at war with danced their leader through one of my cities. I just happened to have my leader their with a rock elemental and took him out. His whole civilization collapsed along with all his cities.

You end up summoning any kind of critters that you can ASAP (only your SOV and their eventual progeny can use the summon spells), as most of them are individual wrecking crews that can do most of your work. the only limit is one of each summon per sov, and these guys run around until they die, they even level up. their is no upkeep cost for them.

They are indeed wrecking crews. I had war waged on me and no army to defend with. Using my SOV and his cast rock elemental I was able to pick off marching armies as they came in separate from one another.

Anyone know:

How do you heal or rest your SOV? Seems like they get warn down, I tried eating something from a shop in town, but that didn't seem to do anything.

Is there a way to increase manna for certain races? I think I have an adventurer and despite learning higher level spells I wasn't able to cast them because I only have 10 manna and they require 15.

What about adventurers, can you recruit them? I keep running into them and they tell me how weak some of my cities are, but I can't seem to speak to them.

 

[Rhezuss]

If you guys have Walmart stores there then they carry it, at least in the states.

I'm gonna go there at lunch time...just out of curiosity...
Game look interesting enough despite the feedbacks, maybe i'll jump on it if I see a box lying around.

 

[heat901]

all this talk is making me think of buying it...

edit: this game is multiplayer right? and whats its like?

 

[Martimus]

Anyone know:

How do you heal or rest your SOV? Seems like they get warn down, I tried eating something from a shop in town, but that didn't seem to do anything.

If you rest in a town, you will recover hit points with each turn. Also, you can buy a healing potion for 60 gildar from the shop if you want a quick fix.

Essense regerates at a rate of 1 essense per turn even without resting.

Is there a way to increase manna for certain races? I think I have an adventurer and despite learning higher level spells I wasn't able to cast them because I only have 10 manna and they require 15.

When you level up, you can increase your essense (same as any other stat). I found that I only increase Essense and HP. Those two stats seem to be the most important (Combat speed is the other I find extremely useful). I believe that each level, you can add 6 essense.

What about adventurers, can you recruit them? I keep running into them and they tell me how weak some of my cities are, but I can't seem to speak to them.

You need to select one of your heroes (or sovereign if he is the only one you have), and wait until they are in your territory. Once they are in your territory, you can talk to them if you have sufficient skills, and you can hire them if you have enough Gildar.

 

[zinfamous]

If you guys have Walmart stores there then they carry it, at least they do in the states.



I have a horse farm, but other then speed they are kind of useless. I don't know if it's just a freak thing, but I built an army on horses and equipped them with maces. Tried them out in battle and LOL I don't think one soldier ever connected with a blow onto an opponent. I'm thinking the maces are too short for horse back riders, but I haven't tested another longer weapon yet.



I'm wondering that as well. Maybe you can cast a spell on your own city to demolish it? Or there is a icon for destroying buildings under construction, maybe that can be used to destroy cities. It must be possible because one of the opposing factions I was at war with danced their leader through one of my cities. I just happened to have my leader their with a rock elemental and took him out. His whole civilization collapsed along with all his cities.



They are indeed wrecking crews. I had war waged on me and no army to defend with. Using my SOV and his cast rock elemental I was able to pick off marching armies as they came in separate from one another.

Anyone know:

How do you heal or rest your SOV? Seems like they get warn down, I tried eating something from a shop in town, but that didn't seem to do anything.

Is there a way to increase manna for certain races? I think I have an adventurer and despite learning higher level spells I wasn't able to cast them because I only have 10 manna and they require 15.

What about adventurers, can you recruit them? I keep running into them and they tell me how weak some of my cities are, but I can't seem to speak to them.

I usually just heal my sovereign by garrisoning in town. the only way to heal units, other than the occasional potion, is to garrison them. Some super special units have their own heal per turn, which also works during battles (one or two of the golems, and one champion unit that I found had that ability)

As for adventurers, I've never had them comment on my town, other than the occasional "this place is ripe for plucking"--but I think these are regular NPCs that want to attack me, anyway. The leveled champions that you can hire can be had for between 35g-200g (well, that's the highest I've seen). I always click on their tile to check their special kingdom abilities, and potential unit abilities.

I find that the most important tech seems to be the adventure column, actually. This opens up more resources (normal and advanced types), more quests & higher-level quests, and more adventurers (also higher level). If you spend more time on these--hunting down goody bags and quests, you can supplement lax resources for the most part during early game.

On my first game, I got involved with the dragon quest--find dragon's egg, recruit dragon to aid you. You have to walk all over the place and fight some decently powerful bandits, then return to the dragon. I did...but the quest wouldn't recognize my egg. I find plenty of huts seem to linger, after being exploited, or when you need to come back to them, are no longer usable if you wait too long? no idea, but it's rather annoying. That dragon is supposedly the strongest unit, annoyed that i couldn't play around with it.

all this talk is making me think of buying it...

edit: this game is multiplayer right? and whats its like?

from what I've read, multiplayer is currently DOA--or not with the trouble at the moment. A recent patch screwed around with it and made several people unhappy. The next two updates are supposed to "fix" the multiplayer mechanics. Like the single player game, there are still balance issues.

For me, the biggest problem is getting a game going long enough. The enemy factions just attack me as soon as they can, then wipe themselves out rather quickly in the process. No real strategy for capturing my towns, or re-capturing those that I take from them. I might just start building mountains to cut them off, ...sort of protect them from themselves, lol.

 

[zinfamous]

If you rest in a town, you will recover hit points with each turn. Also, you can buy a healing potion for 60 gildar from the shop if you want a quick fix.

Essense regerates at a rate of 1 essense per turn even without resting.



When you level up, you can increase your essense (same as any other stat). I found that I only increase Essense and HP. Those two stats seem to be the most important (Combat speed is the other I find extremely useful). I believe that each level, you can add 6 essense.

this is one thing that I really hope they fix--auto Hp increase per level, maybe a minor increase for MP. having to choose one category per level is quite frustrating--as you really should focus on essence, and for me intelligence (I don't like seeing my spells miss). But you end up with a nuking superhero that crumbles like paper if anyone gets close enough to fart on them.

again, I still haven't gotten into any sort of late game because my opponents really like to suicide themselves, but some complaints have been that heroes become useless b/c of this by the late game.

I always like to hire a champion with good combat abilities--tend to have good attack and speed to go with that, then pair them up with my sovereign and run around wrecking stuff. I also have been choosing female sovereigns--seems to give more options for marrying sooner. well, in theory. I do like to wait for a higher level champion with some sort of rare ability.

not sure what to do about getting longer games...maybe increase the pace, huge map or something?

 

[Martimus]

this is one thing that I really hope they fix--auto Hp increase per level, maybe a minor increase for MP. having to choose one category per level is quite frustrating--as you really should focus on essence, and for me intelligence (I don't like seeing my spells miss). But you end up with a nuking superhero that crumbles like paper if anyone gets close enough to fart on them.

I would like to see a minor increase to all stats for each level, and a major increase to the stat of your choice. Or allow you to personalize it with more than one stat increase for each level (but smaller increases).