1921

Hmm, maybe I’ll have to get one the next time they go on sale. Looks like they sell on Gog, GamersGate and Steam.

I have a vague recollection that I thought the tactical battles got tedious moving the units around a large area. Is that accurate or perhaps true for one of the versions?

1922

GOG has them on sale from time to time, re-bought them all from there last year.
As far as moving the units around a too large area, that was in AoW 1, it was one of the complaints back then so Triumph changed that up with the next two games, units get into play pretty fast now.

1923

This kinda bugs me too. I get why it was done, but I’d love to have an option to turn it on. Without it, it just feels like I get a huge advantage that the AI doesn’t. Theres no hurry to try quests or the like early because they’ll always be there and it just feels wrong to be doing quests in the enemy’s territory.

1924

The “flying” units cannot pass impassable terrain or seem to have any other move advantages whatsoever other than generally being fast (not even free movement in rough terrain, from what I can see). So calling anything in the game a flying unit is a bit of a stretch.

Can understand why it was left out, as Flying units add a lot of complexity (especially for the AI), but it does make the game poorer in comparison to similar games.

1925

I’ve used crow demons to scout over mountains/hills in one game.

1926

Flying got added in very late in the beta from Changelog Beta 0.98:

1927

Must have missed that, but then neither are exactly common units either. Using (and fighting) air elementals on the tactical map, though, I didn’t see any difference - they seemed to be just as restricted by the terrain as any other units. And the Dragon (as well as the ones we fought), are all earthbound, of course.

1928

I’d like to see flying be a lvl 5 air magic enchant with like a 3-4 mana upkeep.

1929

The Escapist put up a great review. :)

1930

Ok, thanks!

1931

That is not a review. It is a feature list with a bunch of adjectives and run on sentences.

1932

It’s not?

Bottom Line: Elemental: Fallen Enchantress engenders a feeling of real accomplishment, without requiring the investment in time and study demanded by truly hardcore strategy titles. The “sovereign” mechanic is a nice twist and while it’s not particularly deep, personally cracking skulls or questing for a pair of dragon’s eyes while simultaneously ordering the construction of a granary in New Foozleville is pretty damn cool, and there are enough customization and gameplay options to keep things fresh for a good while.

Recommendation: If you’ve ever dreamed of leading a fantasy kingdom to glory without getting bogged down in the nuts and bolts of administration and logistics, this is the game for you.

1933

You can put stars on a sewer rat, that doesn’t make it pumpkin pie.

1934

Okay, thanks for sharing!

1935

I my current game the creatures of the wild have gone insane. I lose a town every couple of turns and any creature spawned makes a bee-line to a town. It is pretty aggravating, not to mention that I commonly have NO IDEA what town is under attack as a huge dialogue box comes up saying the name of the town is under attack (prepare to lose the town). Sure it gives a name, but it is pretty difficult with a large empire to have any idea where the town resides (not that it matters too much, it is about to pop).

This is a pretty aggravating feature. I note that it happened exactly when I declared war on a puny neighbor. Perhaps it is some method the game has of ‘establishing balance’? If so, I guess this is fun … for some definition of fun. Nice feature.

To respond to strategy …

Yep, Civics, Restoration and Knowledge seem like important early techs. However it takes a LONG time to get them when you are making only a point or two of research per turn. In my last game I decided to put an emphasis on casting Inspiration on as many cities as I could Basically the order or priority was Inspiration, Enchanted Hammers, and then Meditation, this seemed to work rather well in that I was able to getting my research going pretty well.

Then how do you get the money to recruit the heroes? Do you always play with Sovereigns with the Adventurer trait? Maybe I shouldn’t always play heroes with the summoner trait, but I find it makes the early game much easier.

That is a LONG wait. Do you make your 1st troops around turn 100, other than the charging cavalry (which, I’ll admit do a solid job. Finesse and Fast are two other attributes which seem to work).

While that is a GREAT weapon you are going to wait a LONG time for that!

Thanks for the tip on reducing taxes at the start, it really helps!

1936

This is the most aggravating thing about the UI for me, especially when it comes to outposts getting trashed. You get a popup window with that obscures the screen, text that uses cardinal directions (“to the north,” “to the southwest,” etc.), and then no empire news icon on the right side of the screen to center the screen on the site of the event. And it’s the only event I ever want to click on! I pretty much ignore everything else in that column of icons.

1937

Yeah, the early game is extremely nasty, depending on your world setup. Have never noticed the monsters behaving like that before, though.

Yep, Civics, Restoration and Knowledge seem like important early techs. However it takes a LONG time to get them when you are making only a point or two of research per turn. In my last game I decided to put an emphasis on casting Inspiration on as many cities as I could Basically the order or priority was Inspiration, Enchanted Hammers, and then Meditation, this seemed to work rather well in that I was able to getting my research going pretty well.

Personally it always Enchanted Hammers, then Inspiration. Faster production = more pioneers = more cities = more research. It does depend on the map being playable, though (i.e., with sufficient resources nearby to make multiple cities possible).

Then how do you get the money to recruit the heroes? Do you always play with Sovereigns with the Adventurer trait?

Not in my last game (I had the armorer trait). Though I think I might do so in future; it seems to me that Adventurer is one of the best starting traits available. No, when I find a new hero I usually just bump the tax rate appropriately for some turns.

That is a LONG wait. Do you make your 1st troops around turn 100, other than the charging cavalry (which, I’ll admit do a solid job. Finesse and Fast are two other attributes which seem to work).

Pretty much, I suppose. Like most 4X games, it pays to delay spending resources on military units for as long as possible. Depends a lot on the monsters that raid you, of course, and how good your heroes are, and whether you are lucky with refugee camps.

1938

I find adventurer + betrayer to be an excellent combination. I think I have something like 15 champions in that game.

1939

So, update 1.1 next month maybe? Waiting for it before I dig into the release copy of the game.

1940

I wouldn’t be sure about 1.1, as they are trying to get the first update (1.01) out the door.