Ooops, forgot to mention that Essence also seems to be used for making new towns as well. Looks like Luckmann and I see things the same way in regards to the Essence game concept. Good Stuff!
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Going on what Pigeonpigeon said, the Channeler could use some of his Essence to make a 'return to life portal' in case he dies somewhere along the way. The balance here is: Choice 1: Your Channeler will sacrifice a bit of his essence to make this 'get out of death free' card. OR Choice 2: Keep the Essense and make his Channeler a bit stronger (and a bit less likely to die) instead....but if he dies = g
I was going to make a joke about prefering quality posts over long ones. But having seen the quality of your posts so far, I don't think that is a concern. Good stuff!
Yeah, a lot of us have quad cores and 8 gigs of ram....it would be great to pump that into AI algorythms. Errr, that said I realise that MOST of us don't have uber systems like that. It would be a neat feature though if the AI could make use of uber hardware when it is present.
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I don't know why nobody suggested this already, but here is a neat idea for allowing Channelers to return from death BUT with a penalty. As with Master of Magic, allow a 'Spell of Return' to be cast to return a Channeler to life. However, instead of Mana, the 'Spell of Return' costs ESSENSE!!!! It even makes sense that the Channeler would use up some of his life force to return from the dead, right?
Ok, I could easily be wrong...that said: There is 'mana' for standard spells that is a constant income from owning shards. There is 'essense' that your Channeler gains/unlocks as he/she levels up (or gains on quests). This essense is finite. It is used for buffing your Channeler, buffing your servants/buildings/items, and possibly for buffing spells (or for casting unique spells). Hmmmmm, maybe 'The Spell of Retu
Well, Alpha/Gamma testing is fun and good as long as you are ready and committed to do the required work. It always bugs me a bit to see people get in, and then disappear....especially when there are so many people would give their right arm to help form the best game possible. Still, I do understand that sometimes life just happens and people's priorities change. Well, as far as answering the topic question, I would guess I would rapidly be approaching mid
Done, done and done! This really was a top rate survey, you put some thought into those questions. Thanks for the effort (Karma +1 for you)! You know, it is strange. I used to have Karma, but it seems to have all vanished for some reason....I hope that doesn't turn out to be a sign [e digicons]:S[/e]
Hi Luckmann, I was only 'sorta' sarcastic there. I meant it as 'wouldn't it suck if by using essence to make cities you became an easy take over target for a Channeler who hoarded their essence'. Of course, we are looking for a balance that makes several approaches to essence management feasible....but each choice with it's own pros/cons.
I was under the impression that Essense will be required for founding/building new cities (by making targetted spots of land habitable again). IF that is the case, the game will have a lot of strategy in terms of deciding whether to keep Essense to buff your Channeler, give Essense out to buff your servants, or use Essense to increase the number of cities under your control. Weeeee, I speed built 20 cities....at which point the unstoppable Player/Channeler who hoa
That would be a great idea...but I think multiplayer will be of the simultaneous version = less waiting for your opponent....UNLESS his empire is really huge and yours is very small. When playing a much smaller empire (and having to wait for the larger empires to finish up their turns), I could see a feature like what Katabroc suggests as being useful.
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I think GW Swicord has it right. Mana wells are for spells and magic. Essence is something your Channeler gets when levelling up....can then be used to boost the Channeler or other stuff.
All those who want bear cavalry should have Polar Bears snuck into their bedrooms late at night.....comon, it is for a good cause! Those Polar Bears are starving to death right now.
I am in complete agreement with Luckmann on this. Still, I really like the idea of items you wear showing up on your character in game. I would be fine with a single torso slot that forces you to choose between cloak, robes and armor. Other slots could include head, necklace, ring fingers (x2), and boots. Yeah, it is a pretty standard item 'slot' system....but it works!
Is that pic supposed to be the Joker as a Channeler? If so, then you get Karma points for originality.
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Here's another suggestion to chew on. If a Channeler kills another Channeler in direct combat, the victorious Channeler should get a tiny fraction of the defeated Channeler's essence. Just a little something that might encourage (reward) people to take a chance on leader versus leader combat.
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Well, it would certainly add an interesting question to game strategy. Should you try to spearhead an assassination attempt before whittling down your opponent's Empire, or should you take out his entire powerbase before finishing off the enemy Channeler. Other factors that could influence your decision (in regards to fallen factions joining other factions) would include: -are you already at war with your opponent's ally (who I assume would inherit the assassinted Channe
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I could go with defeated factions become a neutral force with a grudge against you....but to have them join another faction afterwards!?!? That would be unbalanced as hell. Killing an opponent would often simply result in losing the game as one of your opponents would suddenly increase in power.
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By all means, if the devs can make 'channeler dies = game over' an on/off menu option = WIN! It would also be a nice option for multiplayer (assassination attempts would be loads of fun AND would shorten the game). But having some type of spell or tech to bring your channeler back to life (with penalties) would also be great.
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Good point Pigeonpigeon. My little Age of Wonders test really only tells me about...Age of Wonders. The Channelers in Elemental might be made of sterner stuff (with proper essense hording). I actually favor the 'Channeler dies = lose the game' concept. It will certainly make players bond with their 'avatars' and improve game immersion. I am just worried that most people will find it too frustrating if Channelers get wiped out mor
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I loaded up Age of Wonders (the original) yesterday to get a feel again for the 'you die/you lose' game concept. I went through 3 of the campaign missions with my leader taking a more direct role in combat.....and died a great many times (I refused to reload and would only restart the missions from the beginning)....it was very frustrating. Actually, it was extremely frustrating (but still oddly fun). I then started again but this time using my leader as a support type h
Hehe, I actually didn't check the date of that last post before adding my comment. But it is still a valid idea, so no harm done.
Damn you Wintersong for calling me out! [e digicons]:P[/e] It's true, I've been gone a while now. Employment was (until recently) taking up a lot of my time. Plus, the Galactic Empire clan membership conflit arbitration I was forced to do non stop kind of burnt me out on games for a while. Sill, I am extremely excited about Elemental's game concept. I'm here for the long haul!
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All great ideas!
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As for the original question of this topic, I PERSONALLY like the idea of Sovereign death = lost game! That said, I'll also be fine with a 'Spell of Return' type spell....as long as there is a big penalty (loss of time/mana/XP) for being killed. I do hope single player campaign has the option for instead death if you err, die. As for multiplayer, there really shoud be an 'Assassin' victory condition where Sovereign's who die should remain defeated. <p
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