1) I really liked the way which can you make the sovereign "card" by choosing a pose and background, but it would be better if there was some way to update it - I mean chose a new pose and background while updating the sovereign armor, that way if my sovereign found a magic sword I could change him to reflect that. Or if my character got a horse I could change his background so he won't appear to riding inside some building.

2) The champions - as many people said I too like dress this guys and send the foward. Ability to marry them (or with them) would be good.

3) Unit design - One suggestion, which is more eyecandy, would be more options for clothes and different armor visual (different graphics for same armor or more armor/clothes types).

Right on the money Cephalo.

The engine is fine. The graphics style is fine. The UI could do with quite a bit of work but even this probably isn't a big task.

The problem is the game design, or lack of it. In terms of specific game features I would be happy to sacrifice any of them towards the goal of turning Elemental into a tightly balanced (sensible trade offs) and yet fun (interesting choices, spells, items, quests etc) game.

I like the way cities are built by placing buildings, even though I think the balance between small/large cities and the various buildings is very poor. But if it needed to go then so be it.

I like being able to equip heroes with items, even though I think the balance between various items is poor and the cost to buy the items breaks the economy (please make some items drop from monsters instead and reduce the gold from monsters accordingly). But if it needed to go then so be it.

I like exploring all the various temples, ruins and inns which popup around the world, even though almost all of them are boring and formulaic. But if it needed to go... actually, I draw the line there. Make sure you keep the locations to explore, but make them much more interesting and challenging!

Like Fearzone said, this is difficult because this game really is better than the sum of its parts.  But here goes.

I like Unit Design/Customization.  We need more of it.  Maybe not a TON more, but more, and what we do have needs to be polished.  I.E., fixing Female/Fallen model clipping, and other clipping issues, specifically with Sovereign and Pop-Up sheet poses.

I absolutely LOVE designing Sovereign's.  I've probably spent more time just making Sov's than playing the game.  I want to spend even more time doing that.  Again, just more content there please.

I love the world in general.  There are some parts of the world that I don't love, but as a greater whole, I love it.  As it stands right now, it's a little too dead.  Liven it up.  Maybe bring back monster camps?

I love Heroes and Champions.  They're a little bland right now, not enough in the RPG part of RPG/TBS right now.  More customization in how you develop Heroes/Champs.  Also, make the more mundane Heroes (Janusk, Merchant's, Researchers, etc,) more useful than just "I have them so I can just plop them in a city and never use them again."  Even if it continues to fall into that category for them, it'd be nice if the value of said Heroes somehow increased slowly over time for some small benefits.

I love Dynasties, and the whole concept there-in...  But in practice, it's a little too light on details.  Events like what others have said, and even more varied ones.  E.G., one of your (Kingdom) heir's develops a relationship with a Resoln heir, and they have a bastard child.  Maybe they're able to hide this face until the boy comes of age, or maybe your heir, believing (or knowing,) you to be a wise and caring ruler, tells you of the child and seeks your aid.  Maybe this could have some kind of impact on your diplomatic relations with other factions, possibly depending on how well-off or not your relations with them already are.  Also, kids shouldn't necessarily have the traits of their same-gender parents...  Especially daughters for Non-Female Sovs...  It is -really-...  REALLY...  REALLY hard to find a suitable spouse if you care about the traits of Potential Daughters.  Also, the potential for a Concubine might be really cool.

I love that you can write back-stories for you Factions and Sov's.  Please fix the fact that you can't scroll down the backstory section so you can make it exceptionally long if you need, or want, to do so.  (I don't remember if you ever could with Faction-creation, but it'd be nice there too.)

I love the concept behind the spell-casting and Arcana research.  No wish-list here, as I know you're already tweaking it for 1.1, and I'd like to hold off on any potential criticism's until I've seen the new system.

(I consider this a game feature, of sorts.)  I love Stardocks on-going support of post-release titles.  If only there was a way to somehow streamline your support process on the players end of things...  (Hah, I know, big if.)  Particularly since not everyone who plays games are actually Tech-Savvy.

I love Quests.  We need a greater variety of those, and I think there should be some, especially at the higher Quest levels, that have a greater impact on the world around you.  In this vein, Notable Locations, and how it's being handled at present, seems a little silly to me...  Maybe rather than Purses and Wagons, while nice, we could have some notable locations that are actually worth something in a less immediate sense and in a more, "Not-Long-Term-But-Not-Short-Term-Either" fashion.  Graveyards, for instance, having a small group of lowbie Skeletons to fight for some XP.  IMO, Quests should always be rewarding, and their difficulty should increase with higher levels of Adventure-tech.  With Notable Locations you should always find something...  Whether or not that something is good should be the question.  (Though, if you find monsters, you should be able to expect finding at least a potion or something after killing them, even if it isn't entirely valuable.  Doesn't mean you WILL find something, but it should be more often than not, imo.)

I love the Campaign, believe it or not.  It sets the tone for a very interesting story.  I know you guys are already working on more content for it and what-not, but I'm impatient for this feature.  =P

Wow, wall-of-text.  Okay, I'm done for now.  Between me and everyone else, your laundry list is gonna get HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE.

I like the way cities grow outwards using up tiles.

What I would like to see is a relaxation of the minimum distance between cities.  By this, I mean that you can only found new cities 5 or more tiles away from existing cities, but I want cities to be able to grow towards each other, and sometimes, merge into one huge metropolis like what happens in real life.  At this point, give the option "Are you sure you wish to merge these cities?" before placing an adjoining tile, and then Voila! Instant mega-lopolis!  The default naming can be "City A-City B" or "New City A"  eg York-Leeds or New York.

Provide both pros and cons for joining cities.  One con is obviously you can only create one unit per turn if you merge cities.  One pro could be a unique statue or something which boosts prestige and increasing the available tile space from 50+50=100 to 125 or something.  ie You get a bonus 25 tile spaces than if you just had both cities.

boogie, I like the art style, the graphics, the dynasty concept, the unit & sov designers,

but I think that the tech tree needs a bit more work  and a lot of expansion,

the quests range needs a HUGE expansionwould like at least 20 quests per level not the current two to 4,

magic needs resistance AND a wider variaty of spells,

also want more types of terrain for factions, even with custom factions there is a GRAND total of only FOUR terrains, and also several more alignments eg neutral but positive leanings, neutral negative leanings, out and out destructive and extremely practical, hot lands, cold lands, and probably the least playable absolute creative but impractial.

also want the ability to marry kids to heros so that the dynasty can still grow even without contact with other factions.

and I want the AI to have the same rules regarding cities as the players ie minimum distance between cities be the SAME for both the ai & player, at present I have seen in several of my own games where the ai spams cities at approx 3-4 tiles between city centres , and I MUST place the city centres 5 tiles apart.

harpo

• The Adventurer-Tech_Tree: So you have "goodie huts" and alike in mid and late game.

One thing you could polish here is the description of notable locations, so that it doesn't read level x but a more atmospheric textual description of the level of "dangerousness". Also, I don't like that you see higher level locations but can't enter them because you don't have the level...too technical.

Good idea for a thread!

May I ask: Which areas do you foresee, Boogie, as those in danger of being thrown out with the bathwater?

- I like the pleasant feel of the graphics: I particularly like the cloth map and the way the icons on it look like "pieces" of a boardgame. It feels authentic. The maps in general, at all stages of zooming, look, feel, and function well. (However, I'd like to see terrain matter a lot more: Currently, what is the advantage of having a huge zone of control of 10000 squares over one having only 100 as long as I have the same number of cities?)

- I like the way that population and zones of control seem to be affected by "prestige": this seems to be a fresher way of dealing with the genre-cliche of "culture". (Again, terrain and zone of control seem to be counter-intuitive.)

- I like the idea of tactical battles. By that I mean that I'm very happy that you have tactical  battles as an integral part of the game. (The implementation could be improved greatly in a number of ways, many of which have been mentioned elsewhere, the main element for me being the fact that they "feel" incomplete because individual friendly units may not enter hexes in which other individual friendly units occupy: I'd like a "footprint", by which a hex may hold up to one squad of human-sized friendly units (or a smaller squad of larger sized units) up until the largest, e.g. grown dragons, which individually occupy one entire square.)

- I like the idea of technological breakthroughs: I like the way that nothing is 100% sure. (Still, I feel that there are too litte surprises, too little diversity, and would still dearly enjoy more variation through cross-class research possibilities.)

- I like the rpg-elements of some of the units, such as sovereigns. (While I believe that most of the statistics that you have already implemented in-game can be put to much better use, so that a person's Charisma or Intelligence could have much more meaning. I see these statistics for ALL units in game, including standard troops, being used and exploited in the magic system.)

Thank you for listening

Like the dynsaties, (but should be able to take over as son or daughter if sovereign dies - or even have the option to rebel)

Like the cloth map (need to be able to see harbours and non eneterable coast squares, would ideally like to be able to lock to the cloth map and not show 3d strategy)

Like the variety of each element of the game (tech , tac combat, economy, magic, adventure and roleplay) but each aspect needs more polish and somehow needs to hang together better

Like the fantasy setting (but needs more detail/variety in game to be immersing)

My positives:

1. Getting to chose between bonuses and getting an extra unit on city levelup. To enhance this, make the unit be more random in stats. At least in Single Player. Scale this so that you get better units on higher level cities and later in the game.

2. I like monsters roaming. There should be a risk for being plundered by bears or whatever.

3. I like every unit getting exp, but it should be better calculated than currently.

4. I like the fact that there are units that roam and can be hired. Please expand on this functionality.

Then I have a request Put all the above together and expand upon them. Make the NPC`s and the minor nations have more ambitions. At random a NPC should try to start an empire if there is an area without any empire cities nearby. At random a minor nation could get ambitious and fond another city, attack another minor nation or even an empire. This could aslo be part of a new random event engine

In other words, I love the fact that the world is alive. Make it even more so!

Pretty please with sugar on top!

I like the way that cities grow and the map changes that is really something special. I would like to see cities being more customisable, for instance being able to perhaps build villages or settlements near the main core of the city to spread your influence/tag resources but not require another city to be built. Make these destructable by armies etc.

I would also love to see similar buildings combine, sim city style, so if you build 4 huts in a square, they transform to a Mansion that gets more lavish with more population.

I like the way the sovereign is completely customisable. I would love to see this expanded with more distinct traits and abilities.

I like the way that champions can be levelled, but I want to see them stronger and more value for money.

I like all the pick-ups and goody huts, but think that the decision to make it dependant on a hidden mechanic (notable level) is silly. It should be clear in the research tree if your notable level is going to be increased.

I like the way an enemy sovereign suddenly moves his stack of doom out from his capital letting me ninja it with mine (however deep in my heart I know that needs to be fixed!!)

I'm a little frustrated by this post and feel the need to speak. As someone who has paid for the game, who purchased it on retail day one, I believe that I have the right to speak as long as I am civil about it. I'm not trying to start a flame war or anything like that, but I'd really like you to tape it to the office wall.

Elemental had a beta and people gave critical feedback. From the look of the retail launch of Elemental it was either wholly ignored or poorly implemented. Elemental staff then asked people that purchased the game in good faith to basically function as beta-testers who are paying to beta-test a product. Now, Elemental staff is asking for their players, who have already been asked to function as beta-testers who pay to test the product, to note things they like about the game and suggest how to make that area better. In light of what has happened with Elemental that is something that is totally inappropriate, something that would not be the case if the history of Elemental and Stardock's response was better. As it stands now, it looks like Stardock made incredibly terrible mistakes with the game and is scrambling to do just about anything to make it better. Don't scramble, you either have the ideas or you don't. Don't take advantage of the playerbase's good will anymore. The people that are kind enough to follow these suggestions and post all sorts of great things in that section of the boards aren't getting any real recognition and they certainly aren't on your staff. They deserve better.

Whatever happened to this?

Again, this isn't meant to start a flame war or anything of the sort. Please, read it and take it to heart. Post it on the wall, figure out what to do and realise that you owe all of these people so much more than you've been giving.

I think we are actually trying to do point 3 on that list.  Whatever your view on Elementals performance against criteria 2 (and I know that opinions vary) that is what is going on here.

1. I really like the flexibility of unit design.  Of course changes can happen here but the main point is having a bunch of options for the design of units.  In most games there are a couple of standard custom designed units I use but nearly always there are others I end up designing which are specific to that game (or a limited set of games), for example, early on I usually use spears but in my current game I have few materials and heaps of metals so axes are in.  One thing which that improve this feature is making the Egalitarianism trait free/widespread.  After all why should something which if anything is a slight tactical disadvantage cost you when setting up a faction?  I guess removing the limitations on female use of certain items could be good too!  (Or throw in some male non-usable options to balance it?)

 2. I like the faction customisation function.  What it needs is some more real options.  At the moment there are only really two or three viable options for combination of traits, given that a number of the features aren't functioning at all...

3. I like the idea of dynasties.  I say idea because by the time (or before) my first child is born the game is basically over.  I try to marry early (usually ends up being turn 30-50) and then don't get a kid for usually another 30 odd turns, and then it takes them close to 100 turns to get to 18.  This needs balance - either slow down the rate we are able to win or increase the rate children are born and mature.  (Not to mention I could dream of getting to grandchildren if I'm having a REALLY bad game...)  Oh, and bringing back the succession feature could be groovy...

4. I like the customisation of sovereigns.  Minor tweaks will only improve this.

5. I like the ability to switch between maps.  Can be improved by making sure all features show on both maps.  Eg beaches on cloth map but also had the experience last game where several mountain passes were not showing on the cloth map (or rather they were showing as impassable mountains) even though they were clearly visible on the other map.

6. But mostly I really, really like the complexity of the game.  There are many interacting strands which lead to a real replayability and to each game being something unto itself.  The tech paths are numerous, the appearance of heroes pretty random, the ways to victory several, the spawning of resources varied, etc.  What I feel is needed here is balance which will be a difficult thing to achieve given the variability.  At the moment the changes are coming so thick and fast (and I'm hearing that they will keep on coming) that there is no chance that this can be achieved as when you change an element substantively (new tech tree, new magic system, new combat system, etc.) the whole balance thing starts over.  (In fact it starts over with even minor changes but not to the same degree.  Mind you if the change is a strategically important tweak it can change the viabilities of approaches remarkably.)  The problem here is that players are inherently more able to exploit an unbalanced feature than the AI leading to wins which are too easy.  I think this is (a large) part of the weak AI problem and that won't be solved until the interactions between elements become understood (so that the AI can be programmed accordingly).  I don't want to appear vain but I reckon us gamers are going to grasp the synergies between elements and their variations quicker than the computer.  Pumping up the AI bonuses is counter-productive as it just leads to more aggressive takeover tactics being employed (if I can't grow/develop as quick as the computer, I'll just let them do it and then grab it from them...).  So my final suggestion is to slow down and focus on synergies so the AI stops being a total joke.

See Brad?  Ya need to be careful about things like this mate.  (That's referring to another post in another topic entirely, explained below.)

While I abhorrently oppose most any sort of political establishment on the basis that they're entirely faulty and serve no purpose but to further ones own ends, I'm going to defend it this time...

One thing I want you to consider when reading the GBOR is the phrase at the beginning of each Amendment.  "Gamers shall have the right..."  By the very spirit of those words, it means we have the right to do the listed action within, or to NOT do the listed action within.  To put this in more understandable terms, the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights states that the people have the right to Freedom of Speech.  Now, Freedom, by it's definition, is the ability to do/use it, how we want, when we want.  In this particular instance, following with the Spirit of the aforementioned document, you can safely tack on "Within reason" to the end of that.  This means we have the right, by virtue of the word 'Freedom,' to speak our mind, or to NOT speak our mind, when and how we please, within reason.

The same also applies to the GBOR, but unfortunately, because of the nature of the rights in question, this also means that WE as the Gamers, must contribute to using those rights effectively and for good purposes.  We cannot fulfill Amendment 3 of the GBOR without selflessly, and without any conceivable or expected profit of any kind, contributing.  We can only hope that our contribution will profit us, in the form of a better, more enjoyable gaming experience.

Now, I warned Brad in another thread that the GBOR he'd created was a slippery slope, being that it's mostly a platform for his honest practices movement, which is exactly what the American Bill of Rights, and consequently, the Constitution, was, and look how that turned out.  America's a great country, but we take our Constitution for granted anymore...

I warned Brad for one simple reason.  Because on his end of things, the true Spirit of the document must be adhered to, and being that it's a Bill of Rights outlining OUR rights as Gamers, it is we who shape what that Spirit is.  (Read: We don't Define it, it's already defined.)  BUT, that does not mean that we can ignore the spirit of it either.  More important than Brad or the folks at Stardock adhering to the spirit of the GBOR, is that the Gamers, the very people that Bill was written for, both adhere to, and protect, the spirit of that Bill, regardless of circumstances or consequences.  Without profit or gain of any kind.  Come Hell or High Water.

I am not...  Well, I am criticizing you, but I'm trying to do it rationally, constructively, and kindly.  I'm trying to tell you, if you understand what a Bill of Rights implies, then you generally only have two choices.  Paint over it, as we've already done with our own Constitution, or adhere to it, hold it close to your heart, and make sure that if someone destroys it, they destroy you as well.  That if they want to take it away from you, you will take away their life or die trying.  Yes, I know, I'm sounding melodramatic and extreme, but that is the level of importance a document that outlines your RIGHTS should warrant from you, and everyone else it affects.

I understand your frustration, and according to your First Amendment Rights, you have the right to vent those frustrations, within reason.  You have not broken this amendment, and in fact followed it to the letter.  By attacking the Gamers Bill of Rights, you have, however, encroached upon your own rights listed there-in, and while there will be no consequences to the end of Mod-Enforcement that I can foresee, there will be consequences with how people new to the GBOR will view said document.  Stardock is not violating the rights outlined in that document in any way, shape or form.  They are using it to satisfy their own ends, which normally I would oppose.  In this case, however, their ends are altruistic, and their exploitation of said document to reach those ends, those ends being making Elemental into a good game, warrants the exploitation, even if it be at our expense.  And it is our right, as gamers, to allow said exploitation, and to provide the feedback they need to satisfy their ends, or not.  I choose to use the right.  You may freely choose to not use your right.  In the end, it's not whether or not you use the right that makes the difference, it's how you choose to use it, or not.  It's the choice itself that matters.  Just please, don't attack our Rights, our Mutual Rights, that we as gamers share, and should hold close to our hearts.

Edit:  If you'd like to respond to this, please do so in a PM, so we don't continue to clutter up this thread.

What I like about elemental? I have read alot of the other posts in this forum, and I will probably restate some of their points. Yet, I want to go through my entire list to add emphasis to their points as well as my own.

1. I love the sprawling cities. It is something that civilization attempted to emulate using worked tiles, but every city comes across as a circular mass. In Elemental, cities look and feel very natural simply because placement of buildings and shapes of cities plays an important strategic role. I think if this could be furthered by having the influence ring reflect this shape, it would only enhance the nature feel of your empire.
2. I really think designing units is neat. It really adds to the flavor of your empire, and allows the player to pursue various strategic approaches based upon the game experience and not simply a well defined unit tree. Something that would enhance this would be a "doll" unit which doesn't specify the look of body parts without equipment. This way when I build a unit of 12 soldiers each one is then randomized so that they all don't look identical. Currently all my peasants are all the same guy, but I think it would be cool if they looked more like a motley crew, while fully armored soldiers looked like a well oiled machine.
3. I love the cloth map. In fact, I play primarily in this mode. While I think the art design is amazing, this mode give me better performance, and in general, I find it to be more strategic. I would not be suprised to find out that a fair amount of players play in this mode primarily. My only quibble with this mode is the grid not displaying some distinction between passable and impassable squares.
4. I really like the multiple tech trees and selecting one tech from a group of techs. This reminds me a lot of playing Masters of Orion 2, though I think it would be cool if we could mod it so that there was a kind of mutual exclusion of techs. That is, if you get tech A, you can't get tech B.
5. I really like caravans. While I, like many players, have issues with some of the mechanics of caravans, I think it is something that really adds depth to the infrastructure of your empire. What I would really like to see moving forward is not one type of caravan but many. Something akin to convoys in SMAC, where you choose what the caravans move and how they effect the cities at each end. For instance, one caravan that improves production at one end and decreases it at another, while another which increases prestige.
6. I really like champions. These guys really make a 4x game more interesting. While I have posted my displeasure for the sort of linear leveling of champions, I will say that they overall add a unique character to the game. Going forward, I really hope that they get even more unique feel, as this is what draws makes rpgs so replayable.
7. I like the dynasty system alot. While I am fully aware of the limitations of the system, this sytem, much like champions, only adds to the overall experience of the game. Who do I marry? What kind of children will I get? How will they affect the future of my empire? This really gives more and more replayability to the overall game. The more this can be improved and add real effect on the gameplay experience the better.
8. I love the fact that cities level up as they get bigger and more impressive. To me, this is just another rpg element that is very cool, and gives a reason to develop cities. I have one odd remark about this, though I think most people may not agree with this. There should be circumstances where cities drop in levels, maybe even to the point of becoming abandoned completely.
9. I think tactical combat is an awesome idea in every 4x game, and I think that everything imaginable should be done to continue to make it more interesting. I have gone over tactical combat at length in other posts, and spent alot of time modding this particular system. It is cool and I want more.
10. I think the in-game building tools are pretty nifty. Tile builders, effects editor, etc, really just add to how players can effect the look and feel of their game experience. Going forward, I would love to see more props ( especially, construction props for build tiles and units props ) and maybe some image tools for the tile builder, as it is very hard for us non-artist people to make new buildings without new art.
11. I really enjoy modding Elemental. This is probably not news to any one at Stardock, as I have bothered quite a few devs with my mod questions. While mods definitely have limitations at current, there are still many things that can be done and most of those things are incredibly simple to mod. Going forward, I am really excited about the end of some of the current limitations, but think that there is still alot that can be done with the current system.
12. And Lastly, the dev team. Ok so this might seem like sucking up, but the staff at Stardock are generally nice people who have really given a lot of time and energy to their community. Most of the mod community can probably attest to the fact that these people have taken the time and energy to answer questions and listen to feedback from us to really help make some amazing mods.