Test Game, in-game player feedback

[Madmardigan]

Hey All,

Everything went well with turn one except for the FORETHOUGHT trait as mentioned by the others.   It seems the order checker does not recognize it at this time.

First impressions, the WA will be a true powerhouse the way it stands at the moment.   

Traits - 
Forethought - the extra orders will come in handy for spell casting and group maneuvering.
Secretive - Hidden cap and 6 agents...  Nice
Adventurers - This is great but I think as a wizard kingdom, this may be too much.  

Wizards - 
7000 research cost and guaranteed training to p9.  This with the added defense of a great position in region 3 should make it easy to build quickly and then strike hard when the time is right. 

Military - 
The WA has access to 18 troop types.   This is an amazing number, but I do not think the WA will be able to access them all.  Three of the troop types require elite kingdom brigades and I don't believe the weak WA brigades will survive that long.  I'll be lucky if they make it to veteran status

Specials- 
Night Attack - bonus
Early summon minotaurs - my go to troop type - stronger than wights (according to current brigade roster) - no food - no gold costs.   

For order 11, I chose influence, the extra gold and Mist Talisman.  The first two are pretty obvious and that last one was ... well... I entered the wrong code.  I really wanted the Knowledge Totem...  Whoops

I can not wait to see what CRACK THE SKY does 

MAd

PS.  UMike - is there anyway to add the order for the Forethought trait?

 

[Madmardigan]

It is great to see all these new group group tactics, but how do they work against a kingdom which casts a FIREWALL?  

I'm assuming there is going to be some complications here.

Mad

[unclemike]

PS.  UMike - is there anyway to add the order for the Forethought trait?

I'm trying to finish the new spells before kingdom traits so it'll be a while yet.

[Frost Lord]

Amazons Update

So far, nothing major to report. All of my orders have processed as expected.

I was able to take my city with no problems using a Duke and a Count. T1: Enamor, move both emissaries. T2: Incite & Usurp.

I trained a few agents to L4 and have been moving 3 of my groups to use for searching the region for PC's and have found 2 neutral Towns, 1 Human Town, 2 neutral Villages, and a Human Village (6 total).

I have performed a Troop transfer and it worked with no problems. I now have a Division, a Brigade, and a Patrol. Will be merging my military again next turn.

I issued the orders for ESO and SVC this turn (T3) and the order checker accepted them with no complaints.

More feedback after the turns run today.

[Jumpingfist]

NO Nomads

Hired 3 butch maidens on turn 3. I believe that is fixed now. T4 advanced the 3 maidens to HPs and hired 4 more butch maidens mostly because I was lazy and did not want to select sex. Testing out some artifact placement ideas found two more artifact locations. Raised wizard to hopefully test out some spells.
I am finding it hard to raise the NO troop levels since I can not recruit any 565 until I have at least 1 veteran. So I am stuck using 560 for now then I need to find something to fight to gain a level and then will need to wander out in the boonies to recruit some 565 guys only 3 at a time. Will make it rather hard to raise wizards and recruit troops or protect pop centers. Not recruiting at PCs is already limiting my options.

Forgot I also made my hidden oasis. A free season resistant 10k food and gold Hidden spot is very nice.

[Acererak]

Hey Everyone.

Some feedback on turn 4:

I had a battle for a Fine class artifact, which I recovered but for pretty significant cost in two leaders. Here's the report:

Reconnaisance of unusual sighting in area JN by a patrol of the 1st Tyrant:
Wizard Grexla (Power-4) decided to stay behind in camp and will not be a factor in
assisting the patrol. Wizard Chaos (Power-1) decided to stay behind in camp and will not
be a factor in assisting the patrol. Adept Rothchild decided to stay behind in camp and
will not be a factor in assisting the patrol. A patrol consisting of Commander Elendil,
General Angor, Centurion Scarlet and a dozen hand-picked troops rode ahead to investigate
the sighting. It had been decided that there would be no plan to retreat. The patrol was
willing to take great risks to uncover what might be secreted ahead. Without a wizard
present, the force was at a disadvantage. It is now the 10th day of their quest. An
abundance of mud and gunk covers their skin and armor and is baked firmly in place, making
every movement and even speech painful and slow. The water they carry is precious and for
drinking only. Climbing the crumbling steps to the top, the group finds a solitary alcove
with many slits in the stone circling the chamber that provides a 360 degree view of the
area beyond the tower for some distance and alternately provides some light in this
otherwise unilluminated room. Suddenly out of the shadows ahead appears 12 skeletal
fighters, and a single fell warrior, standing 7' tall and clad in shadowy plate mail and
wielding a flaming sword! They launch into attack! In the first moments of battle 6
warriors were slain by this fiendish enemy. The conflict was furious. The the black
phantom warrior proved to be a very formidable opponent. The battle raged on, furiously
contested for what seemed hours. Flaming sword screaming angrily through the air as more
blood was let from the side of the patrol. The next few minutes saw 3 soldiers lose their
lives, but the enemy had been weakened. Unfortunately, the Tyrant Commander Elendil did
not survive. Sadly, the Tyrant Centurion Scarlet did not survive. The battle raged on,
furiously contested for what seemed like hours. The next few minutes saw 2 soldiers lose
their lives, but the enemy had been weakened. Finally the dark warrior had been destroyed.
The valiant patrol was victorius. With the battle over, the group finds an interesting
object nearby. The Horn of the Intrepid is an artifact which will add 2,500 to the defense
of the population center it is located in. The patrol moved on to investigate and found
7,000 gold.


A few other observations as the game has gone on:

- Movement cost for brigades is so critical in the early game, with the Tyrant I am seeing this in particular at 5 cost in plains. Just slow slow slow.
- Recruited 3 goblin brigades, but didn't see much of an increase in combat ability. I am finding that military power is harder to accumulate now, morale bonuses are much less, values vs pop center seem low, casualties seem to happen much more frequently both attrition and leader, and leaders are harder to promote. I considered that with this the morale you can get from resting a large army at a city is much bigger than it used to be. A 7% gain in one turn is huge.
- Industrious seems powerful. I have had a standing order to raise gold and defense production by 3K each since turn 1. With the reduced cost you make the money back in 2 turns. It's a no brainer.
- Love the eagle familiar and advanced recon. I think these are great additions.

So far so good, looking forward to playing choosing for real. Will it always be 12 or 15 kingdoms?

If there was ONE thing I think is still needed and would add so much to the game it is the ability to station leaders and wizards at pop centers.

Hope that helps.

Also want to say: Great work Rick and UM!

[HeadHoncho]

FYI, I'm apparently unable to use my Onyx Amulet (Order 351) in the drop-down menu of the order checker.

EDIT: Never mind, found it under Miscellaneous Actions.

But is gate supposed to cost zero gold? Fine if yes, just checking since DE has to pay a small amount.

[VballMichael]

Ok, so I did a counter-espionage on my capitol as HH indicated he would be looking at it.
It shows a pretty comprehensive list of guarded subjects, at least one of which seems very odd.

In the Matters Esoteric section, it reads:

Lookers on Point is performing counter-espionage on the following:
Town of Britannia
King
Ambassador
Fool
Agent 4
Agent 4
Fanatic 4 (himself)
High Priestess
High Priestess
Noble Maiden
Fleets/elite ship in the sea of Foreboding

Not sure why he is protecting fleets or elite ships in a Sea where I have no sea power.
And you already addressed the issue of protecting against an action that rarely fails.

I will be using the Flanking Tactic this turn in a pretty even battle against the Tyrant.

[HeadHoncho]

Looks like my Kraken intercepted my own sea movements. Also notable because I had five fleets in that sea, not three, and there was also no fleets lost or damage taken to my fleets after the battle.

Sea Battle Sea battle in the sea of Drowning over choppy seas: 3 fleets of Pirates
sleek galleys vs. a sea kraken. During the first hour of battle, long and
medium range catapult fire inflicted significant damage to the Pirates navy
and minor damage to the kraken. As the forces drew near, ballistas, fire
arrows and grappling missiles caused heavy losses to the Pirates sleek
galleys and very light damage to the sea behemoth. When the two clashed at
close range, ramming tactics and melee with the sea beast resulted in
additional very light damage to the Pirates ships, and negligible damage to
the sea creature. By this time, losses to the Pirates ships based on the
overall number in their navy were devastating compared to moderate damage
to the sea creature. The battle continued to rage for some time until both
withdrew. Pirates losses were put at 2 fleets. Damage to surviving ships
resulted in diminished naval quality in that sea.

[unclemike]

Looks like my Kraken intercepted my own sea movements.  Also notable because I had five fleets in that sea, not three, and there was also no fleets lost or damage taken to my fleets after the battle.

    Sea Battle             Sea battle in the sea of Drowning over choppy seas: 3 fleets of Pirates
                           sleek galleys vs. a sea kraken. During the first hour of battle, long and
                           medium range catapult fire inflicted significant damage to the Pirates navy
                           and minor damage to the kraken. As the forces drew near, ballistas, fire
                           arrows and grappling missiles caused heavy losses to the Pirates sleek
                           galleys and very light damage to the sea behemoth. When the two clashed at
                           close range, ramming tactics and melee with the sea beast resulted in
                           additional very light damage to the Pirates ships, and negligible damage to
                           the sea creature. By this time, losses to the Pirates ships based on the
                           overall number in their navy were devastating compared to moderate damage
                           to the sea creature. The battle continued to rage for some time until both
                           withdrew. Pirates losses were put at 2 fleets. Damage to surviving ships
                           resulted in diminished naval quality in that sea.

I have to investigate but it picked up the 3 Pirate fleets, not your 5 Atlantians to intercept. Probably something to do with the Seafaring trait which enables the entire sea to interdict (both Pirate and Atlantian have that trait) and it thought the other fleet was active on the sea. I'll get to it later...