Hello,
Thanks Tuidjy for your insight and tips.
I came by FE by way of free download from Stardock and shelved it a while thinking "oh yeah, i remember that Elemental game."
Installed FE and ran through the Scenario a ways for kicks and thought it looked decent enough to try the sandbox.
I just started a new game and clicked some stuff randomly w/o reading at all {my usual approach lol}. Then I quickly realized the depth that had been added and the potential frustration/rewards from this game. I met early on with the frustration side of things. This is one of those games where I mentally pause and ask myself if I really want to devote some time to learning how to play this game.
Maybe some of the frustration is due to unrealistic expectations. Basically, if my sovereign is killed, I don't accept that he/she can magically reincarnate at a city. Game over if that happens. Also, I started maybe 10-20 games to see what the starting area looked like in each one. They appeared totally random except for the fact that some settleable land was around me and a random hero was available close by.
Your guide will help my next try definitely, as will the other posts and opinions. I usually steer clear of Forums due to flaming/complaining/stupidity/juveniles, etc. Pretty sure you know what I mean there....
I like your no-reload/restart decision, but you have a lot more experience paying than I do.
One instance of a game kind of sticks in my mind as a problem though. I don't recall the actual enemy names etc. but it seemed unwinnable so I ditched it.
My Sovereign started in a remote corner of the map surrounded by Wildlands populated by Big Meanies {Obsidian Golems iirc} and some other faction. Quite a few turns of exploration revealed I was stuck in a corner surrounded by serious obstacles which I interpreted as that my Sovereign would be limited in growth by not being able to defeat these obstacles until enough Tech had been researched later in the game...And even then w/o access to resources {crystals} I might not be able to throw enough troops at them to break through for a while. Setting the win option to conquest only it seemed to me my opponents would be so powerful and have so much land claimed that even when I broke out of this area I would be severely overmatched and spend countless hours only to be trounced by an opponents army at some point.
So, what to do?
This game is definitely challenging my idea of gaming and how to approach a random map/layout with a custom Sovereign + custom Empire/Kingdom set up. It's almost like having to set your own rules up and survive in a random world in which you do not know what lurks down the Road from your Base Village.
Yeah, I could read up on/research and design an undefeatable Sovereign + Kingdom/Empire and re-load until my start Champion + starting resources was one that had all pluses. I feel like a cheap wh*re doing it though {no offence, a person should play how they see fit}. Plus, for me at least, half the fun is discovering some combination that works without resorting to exploits or "cheats".
@Tuidjy - Could you expand a little on your philosophy in regards to the decisions you make before you begin a game. Ie. Do you create a Kingdom/Empire + Soveriegn or use the pre-generated? Do you search the map for a better start location if your find you are in a resource poor area to start with?
Thanks.
