Conquest of Elysium 3 dev log

[Edi]

Originally Posted by samoht

My experience with CoE2 was that only bandits, deer and wolves actually wandered. The rest of the indy's just stayed put where I found them. So you're saying that has been changed?

Yes. There are wandering stacks of many sorts of independents and there are also sites that generate more independents who then go on to make nuisances of themselves. Flagging such structures puts a stop to those shenanigans until someone unflags it (so better leave a garrison if possible).

And like Gandalf said, some of the wandering independents can be really tough. A good starting army can take down a Manticore...maybe...if they're lucky...and if they have defensive terrain - or not. Some of the other stuff that can be found wandering on its own will makes a manticore look tame.

The early game can be a real game of chance (including if you chance to go in a wrong direction and find nothing while ini the opposite direction there would have been plenty...) and sometimes you just can't win.

Originally Posted by Johan K

CoE is supposed to be unfair =)

[ioticus]

The game is sounding more fantastic with each update and the more I learn about it. Honestly, just like with Dominions, it's as if Illwinter could read my mind and make a game just to meet my desires.

[nordlys]

So what about combat, is it the same autoresolved blob vs blob as in COE2 or there are some kind of improvements? I really wanted to like COE2, but combat killed it for me.

[Gandalf Parker]

Blob vs Blob. In fact, even more so than Dom3. There are no formations. And you can only select spells from the wizards spell list but not script them.

On the other hand it does give the game much less micromanagement. It is meant to be simpler, faster, and quicker games. No "one turn a day" games for this one. There is lots of fun game play though

[Ighalli]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker

There are no formations. And you can only select spells from the wizards spell list but not script them.

Can you choose fewer than 3 spells prepared for a level 2 caster? I just played my first games of COE2 and was pretty frustrated when my Necromancer would cast Finger of Death (target resists!) instead of lightning storm against a stack of swordsmen. It'd be really nice to tell them they can only cast the spell you think is most useful in the battle coming up instead of picking 2 less useful ones too.

Is it going to be rows of people COE2 style? Can you choose which rank your officers & soldiers go into, at least?

How similar to COE / Dominions is the recruiting?

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally Posted by Ighalli

Can you choose fewer than 3 spells prepared for a level 2 caster?

No. But there are many chances in the game to increase the number of spells you can select from. So a favorite mage can easily be upgraded to where you have enough spells to choose ones you think are good.

The spell casting is equally random between those spells Im afraid. Other than we are continually tightening it so that spells wont be cast against units that are immune to that spell.

Can you choose which rank your officers & soldiers go into, at least?

Afraid not. The rows go infantry, then pole arms, then shooters, and finally casters.

How similar to COE / Dominions is the recruiting?

I dont remember CoE2 well enough so I will copare to Dom3.
You purchase from the available list. Each nation is different. There are always some items always available to you, and then specials that show up. So I might alternate between getting 5 infantry then 5 archers for awhile until a commander or wizard shows up available to get.

And you dont set numbers of purchases. They come in bundles. If that nations has it llisted as 5 infantry then that turn thats all you can get at that location.

And there are much less locations you can purchase units than in Dom3. The MicroManagement is far less even if you play on the "insanely huge" maximum size map.

[Edi]

Originally Posted by Ighalli

Can you choose fewer than 3 spells prepared for a level 2 caster? I just played my first games of COE2 and was pretty frustrated when my Necromancer would cast Finger of Death (target resists!) instead of lightning storm against a stack of swordsmen. It'd be really nice to tell them they can only cast the spell you think is most useful in the battle coming up instead of picking 2 less useful ones too.

Is it going to be rows of people COE2 style? Can you choose which rank your officers & soldiers go into, at least?

How similar to COE / Dominions is the recruiting?

You cannot choose less than the maximum number of spells to memorize, but you can choose which spells you memorize. Mages will cast random spells from those memorized, but not completely useless spells (e.g. fireball against fire elementals, which are fire immune, or fire ward on own units if the enemy is entirely spearmen who have no fire attacks).

This is intentional, because otherwise the magic system would be wide open for abuse and many, many things would have to be severely nerfed. There are spells there, which would be instant, automatic "I win" buttons if they could be specified as the only spells being cast. That could vary situationally somewhat, but in general, the randomness factor is a good thing.

Think for example of the druid, who unsurprisingly has some spells to charm animals. A very large portion of independent monsters on the map are animals. Druid sets Command Beasts or Domestication (both aoe charm animal spells) as the only one being casts, then goes looking for large stacks of animals (who also have low magic resistance as a rule) and WHAM, instant army, I win, thank you, good night, hope you had a nice game.

There are other things which could be even more severely abused if not for random spellcasting. To the point where you might as well quit the game the instant an enemy mage shows up with that spell in his spell list.

The armies are largely rows of units in the same style as CoE2. Pure spellcasters are in the rearmost ranks. Missile units/spellcasters are in the rows second from the back (some monsters can cast spells, but count as ranged units instead of pure mages) and melee/ranged/spellcasters (units which are primarily classed melee, but can cast spells or also have missile weapons) are in the front ranks. The placement of commanders follows their classification (e.g. barbarian warlords lead from the first rank while captains, despite not having missile weapons, are grouped with the missile units).

Spellcasting from the first rank is very difficult, because the unit is engaged in melee. From the second rank they can cast spells as normal, the difficulty is only if they are in the first row.

[Edi]

nordlys, the combat is similar to CoE2, except the graphics are much better and the mechanics are more transparent (as well as explained in the manual), which gives better opportunities to estimate how a given engagement may go (unless the enemy has invisible units you can't see, of course).

The basic rule of thumb is that there is no such thing as overkill.

[Gandalf Parker]

Heehee. My basic rule of thumb on combats has been "if you think you army is twice as strong as his, then it might be worth trying"

And "pray that he attacks me first". If I can be in a defensive spot, and get the first round of combat for being the one attacked, then it helps a lot

[samoht]

Will there be unit upkeep?