[0.86] Game Pacing : Tactical and Strategic

from Stardock Forums

I think the pacing of the game is "wrong" : what I mean by there is too little happens at the same time on the strategic level for several reasons :

 

The main one is the relation between the units movement allowance and the minimum city distance : units usually travel 2 tiles a turn, but cities must be 8 (!) tiles apart. It takes a much longer time to go from one city to another than in Civilization or Master of Magic (especially without roads), where heroes would travel 2 tiles/turn for an intercity distance of 3. That and many tiles are impassable, or unsuitable for settling, so it takes ages going from one city to another, and wars feel a bit "clunky" as there are little movements.

 

Other reasons why the pacing is so slow are : too little building options at the beginning : I think there should be many more things to build from the beginning, and not only cavemen with club or workshop. It makes the game horribly slow to start, and it doesn't really fit there as it did with Civilization.

 

I think the tech tree needs to be reworked, with more troops and building options given to the player from the beginning (they should be replaced by some other techs). On a side note, giving some traits unlock for troops in the tech tree would be a nice touch IMO. 

 

That and the economy is a bit clunky. There should be an option to turn production into cash when you don't have anything to produce (and I'd rather have the buildings that provide a bonus when the city is producing nothing removed). 

 

On the other hand, the movements are a bit too easy on the tactical map : it is hard to block an unit (there should be a higher penalty for leaving a Zone of Control, to make shielding your weak units possible, or even an auto attack like in Age of Wonder), and way too easy to focus fire (there is no long range reduction for archers and casters, and with diagonal attacks and no effective way to block movement, there is little way to avoid one of your unit being attacked by several ennemy units).

 

If diagonal attacks were not possible, or restricted to a few weapons, there would be some point in avoiding being flanked.

 

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Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

That and the economy is a bit clunky. There should be an option to turn production into cash when you don't have anything to produce (and I'd rather have the buildings that provide a bonus when the city is producing nothing remov
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There are some level up buildings that do this but if never gotten them because they seem so underpowered, only providing a 10%-20% bonus.

A standard 10% bonus to gildar and research when not producing could help, as well as buffing these buildings.

The main one is the relation between the units movement allowance and the minimum city distance : units usually travel 2 tiles a turn, but cities must be 8 (!) tiles apart. It takes a much longer time to go from one city to another than in Civilization or Master of Magic (especially without roads), where heroes would travel 2 tiles/turn for an intercity distance of 3. That and many tiles are impassable, or unsuitable for settling, so it takes ages going from one city to another, and wars feel a bit "clunky" as there are little movements.
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I have no problem with cities being 8-10 tiles apart, we get roads quickly enough that its no big deal. If anything roads make units move too quickly between cities, commonly I am attacked from outside my sight range. Its the wastelands that annoy me. Commonly I find myself attacking over a distance of 20 tiles without roads early game.

Other reasons why the pacing is so slow are : too little building options at the beginning : I think there should be many more things to build from the beginning, and not only cavemen with club or workshop. It makes the game horribly slow to start, and it doesn't really fit there as it did with Civilization.
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Agree, I would like to see crude shortbows and maybe some fur/hide armor added very early game. Hide armor could have only 2-3 pieces (cloak,chest,boots) and come with a penalty of some sort, like only protecting against blunt dmg (anti club).

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

One interesting thing about being attacked from beyond sight range ...

While Curgen's Hold was attacked from beyond sight range, it was also the most logical place for the AI to attack ... therefore I had prepared defenses for it xD

 

I kind of like how the AI and I were thinking in similar terms regarding this aspect.

 

The mistake the AI made, however, was that it somehow determined that it could leave its cities with only a few units. If the AI stack of doom was going to abandon newly conquered cities, shouldn't it raze those cities if its army is weaker than mine? (and its power rating was at least 100 less than me ... but its minions were a plenty)

-> I Had stone guardian and wall of fire in Curgen's hold, which let my simple militia guard against (and kill) 5 stacks before death.

I guess if I had more archers I could have killed more ... but the point is that I knew where the attack was (likely) going to come :)

Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

In both beta versions I tend to spend A LOT of time just hitting the Next Turn button. Either to build a unit(s), in order to take the nearby baddies that make it impossible to create a new settlement until they are gone, or to get some needed building completed.

Mostly the former.

 

 

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

I want to highlight the point about needing more building options in the beginning. There needs to be an opportunity cost to training a million pioneers and militia. That cost should be some one per faction and world wonder buildings that change the way a faction plays the game. A City Keep would take out some training time, but give the city some archers militia in defense at no maintenance cost. Things like that need to be added. 

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

More one-off buildings (for single city specialization), and really crappy 'Sling shot' units to start out with ;)   (for a hefty production cost).

Both of these thing would give an alternative to expansionist zombies.