Elemental: War of Magic - Stardock TBS

[Teknopathetic]

Stardock is *all* about scaleability and being able to run on the widest range of hardware possible. Elemental uses the same engine as Political Machine 2008 and that definitely doesn't require a powerful PC at all.

 

[Aselith]

Don't know about that. While this games looks amazing I still think Sins has more appeal to RTS gamers. And sins did very well sales vise (over 500.000 copies sold) so it will be tough job for War of Magic to beat sins.

Well, no shit. This is a turn based game and Sins is Real Time who'd guess that Sins is more appealing to RTS gamers...

 

[Minsc]

That said, Stardock games are very scalable graphically- so the more power the better.

Gal Civ 2 ran with everything maxed on my 4 year old gaming machine and only took about 35% of the cpu usage, so I wouldn't be surprised to see another TBS game perform along the same lines. Too bad Gal Civ 2 didn't have (optional) tactical ship to ship combat, that's the only thing preventing me from really getting in to it. Was hoping they'd bite the bullet somewhere along the line of the 4 or 5 expansions as it's practically the #1 requested feature, but they never caved in afaik. Bastards.

War of Magic will sell extremely well if it can re-ignite interest in some of the old time Master of Magic fans. I don't think MoM was nearly as popular as X-Com, but that period of Microprose games were all big hits and sequels stand a fairly good chance of doing well.

I just am curious as all hell to see some screenshots of the true Star Control 3, if they ever start working on it Was Master of Orion 3 the other title they said they would gladly pursue if they could? I'll get my ship to ship combat eventually if so!

 

[Chairman Yang]

Don't know about you guys, but i'm digging this art style. A lot.

Me too. It's incredibly crisp, colourful, and clean--perfect for a turn-based strategy game, where quickly and easily distinguishing things like units, terrain, buildings, etc. isn't just a matter of good graphics, but good gameplay.

 

[ElectricThunder]

Stardock is *all* about scaleability and being able to run on the widest range of hardware possible. Elemental uses the same engine as Political Machine 2008 and that definitely doesn't require a powerful PC at all.

Well, about 5 year old desktop here that wasn't even "gaming" class might chug too horribly. Besides. this looks like something I'd like to see maxed a bit on as well, so new PC it is for this and others!

(I'm also down to like 400MB HD space left due to backlog issues...and still so many games to get around to, lol)

 

[Joseph Merrick]

Hate the art..

They have released new journals that contain some nice info:
http://elementalgame.com/journals.asp
I especially liked this part:

but this is way too awesome. GOTY.

Will pre-purchase as soon as possible. Please do beta releases of this aswell.

 

[Woo-Fu]

Interesting art direction. I found SoaSE to be a bit stale, maybe this will be more my speed.

 

[Takeda Kenshi]

Too bad Gal Civ 2 didn't have (optional) tactical ship to ship combat, that's the only thing preventing me from really getting in to it. Was hoping they'd bite the bullet somewhere along the line of the 4 or 5 expansions as it's practically the #1 requested feature, but they never caved in afaik. Bastards.

This was the only thing keeping it from ascending to MoO 2 greatness. Hopefully GalCiv3 will have it.

Also, it's been said before but needs to be said again: Stardock is the new Microprose confirmed.

 

[Johann]

Hopefully. This game has the potential to fail massively, and probably would if anyone else tried it. Stardock will do it though.

You won't need THAT powerful of a PC. I talked to their lead programmer, and she said my 4 yr old laptop would run the game, though with scaled down graphics.

That said, Stardock games are very scalable graphically- so the more power the better.

The had Gal Civ 2 working on Windows 98!

 

[Minsc]

This was the only thing keeping it from ascending to MoO 2 greatness. Hopefully GalCiv3 will have it.

Also, it's been said before but needs to be said again: Stardock is the new Microprose confirmed.

Begin rant: What killed me is they were so adamantly against it. It was "impossible to add in," unless it won their biased poles of course. I wrote in their forums with the masses that wanted it, as an option (so the weaker peasants who prefer not to play using it wouldn't have to cry to mommy). Never bought a single expansion. Listen to the consumers my ass.

Valid point => They made half the damn game about customizing your ships, decking them out with custom graphics, hell you could spend days in the ship editor, outside of the actual game. The ships are a big part of the game, whether they care to admit it or not. Then when it's time for combat, a few quick little scenes and done. That's about as fun as watching the cpu play itself. Oh wait. It is the same thing!

Yea, those are bitter tears. Time to let them out Boo. Even rangers must cry once and a while.

 

[arstal]

They had the idea that tactical combat would ruin a lot of things about the game.

I think they had a point. If you've ever playing AoW, you'd know how TC can ruin things.

I think people were more miffed about MP then TC. MP would not have worked the way GC2 was designed.

They are putting TC in this though.

 

[CiSTM]

Well, no shit. This is a turn based game and Sins is Real Time who'd guess that Sins is more appealing to RTS gamers...

Sorry, I meant to say more appeal to strategy gamers.

 

[Doytch]

Kieron Gillen interviewed Brad Wardell from Stardock about Elemental for Rock, Paper Shotgun. Haven't read it yet, but it's RPS and Kieron, so you know it'll be good.

Link

 

[Decado]

They had the idea that tactical combat would ruin a lot of things about the game.

I think they had a point. If you've ever playing AoW, you'd know how TC can ruin things.

I think people were more miffed about MP then TC. MP would not have worked the way GC2 was designed.

They are putting TC in this though.

How did TC ruin AoW? For me, that *was* the game and the only reason I played it.

My understanding is that the TC in WoM is real-time, which effectively makes it an unwanted feature for me. WTF do companies keep mixing TBS and RT combat? Makes me want to puke.

 

[arstal]

Tons of exploits you could do in MP, which led to a need for "house rules". Also some units were garbage in fast combat but overpowered in TC (I think the Dark Elf lvl 4 unit was like that)- I'd have to reinstall the game and the mods to figure that out.

Then again, I am being a bit hypocritical, as my favorite RTS of all time had the same problem (Kohan: Ahriman's Gift)

 

[bigmit3737]

I'm not really a fan of the art. But I am glad they are finally doing a fantasy game.

 

[Teknopathetic]

"My understanding is that the TC in WoM is real-time, which effectively makes it an unwanted feature for me. WTF do companies keep mixing TBS and RT combat? Makes me want to puke."


It's real-time, but I do believe they said there'll be an option for automatic resolution.

 

[platypotamus]

Been anxiously awaiting this one since it was just called "MoM Spiritual Successor". Somehow, this is the first I've seen this (old and bumped) thread, but I likes it.

 

[JonAmikar]

Looks good.

Shame its not a 2009 title though.

 

[arstal]

Looks good.

Shame its not a 2009 title though.

If you pre-order, you will be able to play it this year though. (July at latest most likely)

 

[platypotamus]

If you pre-order, you will be able to play it this year though. (July at latest most likely)

Where is this info coming from, and why is it that you bumped a thread from a month and a half ago to share it?

Not meaning to come off as aggressive, but it seems like a pretty big bump as if this info is new and I should be pre-ordering like right now.

 

[Minsc]

Where is this info coming from, and why is it that you bumped a thread from a month and a half ago to share it?

Not meaning to come off as aggressive, but it seems like a pretty big bump as if this info is new and I should be pre-ordering like right now.

Probably right from the homepage:

Elemental is scheduled to go into public beta by June 2009. Players who pre-order the game will have the option to download beta builds via Impulse™. This enables them to give feedback, suggestions and even begin populating Elemental with their own creations via the integrated modding environment.

 

[platypotamus]

Well, looks like they just got themselves a preorder.

 

[Dave Long]

Stardock does this with all their games. It's a cool thing they do to help build interest in their games before release while mining the players for good feedback on the design so they can make a better game.

 

[Minsc]

I have a feeling this is going to be Stardock's best game to date. All the elements of this game seem to have matched up exactly to their strengths.

 

[Dave Long]

Yeah, this one is probably my most anticipated game by them. Sins of a Solar Empire (which isn't developed in house like this one) just didn't really click with me like I thought it would. Gal Civ was obviously superb, and I'm a fan of Political Machine as well.

But Elemental is something I've been waiting for since Master of Magic. I rarely ever play betas anymore, but I will probably pre-order to play this one.

 

[platypotamus]

Yup. It's possibly my most anticipated upcoming game right now, period.

 

[bigmit3737]

Waiting for this and Disciples 3.

 

[blitz64]

I'm in the Demigod beta. Please keep in mind that stardock's beta aren't really betas at all. They are more like alphas and beta stage 1-3 aren't fun at all. Only the last beta stage which usually happens 2 months before release, the game becomes fun.

 

[Teknopathetic]

"I'm in the Demigod beta. Please keep in mind that stardock's beta aren't really betas at all. They are more like alphas and beta stage 1-3 aren't fun at all. Only the last beta stage which usually happens 2 months before release, the game becomes fun."


No, they're very much betas. People are just used to "marketing betas" that have become popular over the past few years which are really demos.

 

[dionysus]

I am becoming less and less enamored with Stardock as a developer. I love the ideas they promote in the PC space, but their output to me is lackluster. Ideologically I think they totally get the PC market though.

As I have begun to delve deeper and deeper into the more niche PC genres that Stardock targets, Stardock's games just seem shallow compared to their competition. GalCivII especially. That type of game needs scarcity and competing tradeoffs to be interesting for any period of time, but even civilization, the mass market of god games, does trade offs better. In GalCivII you decisions don't really have negative consequences, at least in my opinion. Almost anything you do is beneficial without sacrificing anything. Also the shipyard just becomes tedious, as others in this thread have mentioned, because all that customization effects nothing other than the weapon types and shield types.

Sins wasn't very good to me either, but that is mainly because I don't play 4X games online.

Anyway, here is to hoping Elemental is awesome. In the meantime, I am hoping battleforge can satiate my need for tactical gameplay in a fantasy setting.

 

[arstal]

I am becoming less and less enamored with Stardock as a developer. I love the ideas they promote in the PC space, but their output to me is lackluster. Ideologically I think they totally get the PC market though.

As I have begun to delve deeper and deeper into the more niche PC genres that Stardock targets, Stardock's games just seem shallow compared to their competition. GalCivII especially. That type of game needs scarcity and competing tradeoffs to be interesting for any period of time, but even civilization, the mass market of god games, does trade offs better. In GalCivII you decisions don't really have negative consequences, at least in my opinion. Almost anything you do is beneficial without sacrificing anything. Also the shipyard just becomes tedious, as others in this thread have mentioned, because all that customization effects nothing other than the weapon types and shield types.

Sins wasn't very good to me either, but that is mainly because I don't play 4X games online.

Anyway, here is to hoping Elemental is awesome. In the meantime, I am hoping battleforge can satiate my need for tactical gameplay in a fantasy setting.

Sins wasn't Stardock developed. That was Ironclad.

Elemental will be the game though that really determines to me whether Stardock is for real. The improvement between GCI (Which was lackluster and low budget) and GCII was tremendous, as was base GCII to Twilight.

 

[Fragamemnon]

In GalCivII you decisions don't really have negative consequences, at least in my opinion. Almost anything you do is beneficial without sacrificing anything. Also the shipyard just becomes tedious, as others in this thread have mentioned, because all that customization effects nothing other than the weapon types and shield types.

Crank up the difficultly level-the only reason you think this is because the impact of consuming the resource of time (or turns, if you will) is mitigated because the you and the AI aren't on an fair playing field. I play my metaverse games at Masochistic/Obscene and there's a dramatic penalty for dicking around with your tech and not playing the diplomatic layout and galaxy map you're dealt with properly. You waste time, you get behind, you get crushed.

Tactical combat is best left out of Galciv2 for the same reason as it was left out of Civilization IV- it doesn't fit in with the game in an elegant manner.

I'd so also that GalCiv2 is a pretty competitive game if you play metaverse. Players are always going to outwit the AI with some ship combo and wallop the piss out them with vastly disproportionate force levels, breaking the game, and in turn everyone would have to tech the same way to stay competitive, which would totally suck.

 

[Fragamemnon]

Anyway, here is to hoping Elemental is awesome. In the meantime, I am hoping battleforge can satiate my need for tactical gameplay in a fantasy setting.

Did you play Fantasy Wars? You don't get the sort of 4X empire building like Elemental or Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic has, but it's great update of the old Fantasy General style gameplay and had me hooked on the game for quite some time.

 

[dionysus]

Did you play Fantasy Wars? You don't get the sort of 4X empire building like Elemental or Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic has, but it's great update of the old Fantasy General style gameplay and had me hooked on the game for quite some time.

Nope, thanks for the recommendation. I need to get on a more PC centric forum to suplement GAF to find these game recommendations.

I think you are one of the people who got me to play EUIII: Complete, which is awesome. Thanks for that. That game is sucking my life away, and I still haven't mastered it.

 

[Fragamemnon]

Nope, thanks for the recommendation. I need to get on a more PC centric forum to suplement GAF to find these game recommendations.

I think you are one of the people who got me to play EUIII: Complete, which is awesome. Thanks for that. That game is sucking my life away, and I still haven't mastered it.

You also might want to check out King's Bounty ( best PC game released last year ) and Heroes of Might and Magic V: Tribes of the East ( Nival fully fleshed out the game in this standalone pack and it rocks IMO). Both can be found for digital download at modest prices and also scratch the fantasy strategy itch quite well (though KB is really an RPG at heart).

 

[platypotamus]

So as a result of this thread the other day, I actually went through and read all their dev journal entries and have subscribed to the RSS feed.

It's almost as if they are making this game just for me, out of all of my favorite mechanics. They just need to figure out a way to make the diplomacy system rely on some sort of cooperative competition...

 

[bdouble]

I'm thinking I will make this my first TBS game. I don't know how I've missed the Civ boat but this looks so much more appealing for some reason and would rather break my cherry with something new.

 

[ElectricThunder]

Did you play Fantasy Wars? You don't get the sort of 4X empire building like Elemental or Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic has, but it's great update of the old Fantasy General style gameplay and had me hooked on the game for quite some time.

Might do even better, maybe, to wait a couple weeks and get Elven Legacy from the developers behind Fantasy Wars. Every single preview and interview I've read on it they strongly put forth that the goal was to dwarf Fantasy Wars in most all aspects and be as intuitive as possible.

I'm looking forward to this game more than before. Heh, ya missed my thread yesterday Frag where I broke down to buy Dominions III as my first PC TBS for all intents and purposes!

Now I find myself hoping for all these good older ones to show up on GoG so I can grab them and have peace of mind...

 

[Peronthious]

Sins wasn't very good to me either, but that is mainly because I don't play 4X games online.

Just saying, only about 70,000 of the 500,000 sold copies of Sins are even registered for online play, much less play regularly. Personally I rarely get into an online game; it's a great game to jump in for an hour a day or so and chip away against the computer.

 

[platypotamus]

Might do even better, maybe, to wait a couple weeks and get Elven Legacy from the developers behind Fantasy Wars. Every single preview and interview I've read on it they strongly put forth that the goal was to dwarf Fantasy Wars in most all aspects and be as intuitive as possible.

I am looking forward to that one too. I actually just found out about it by coincidence while preordering this game the other day, haha.

 

[Mromson]

I was actually randomly browsing Impuse, and suddenly found this. Took a look at the pictures, saw Stardock as the developer, thought "wow, this looks amazing" - and promptly preordered it.

Then looked at the dates, sighed - and started looking towards my June Beta... :lol

 

[arstal]

I was actually randomly browsing Impuse, and suddenly found this. Took a look at the pictures, saw Stardock as the developer, thought "wow, this looks amazing" - and promptly preordered it.

Then looked at the dates, sighed - and started looking towards my June Beta... :lol

Well, Usually Stardock betas start off as playable- though the graphics aren't going to be that great on beta 1 supposedly- (already confirmed in journals they're going for a minimalist style to start)

Let's put it this way- a Stardock beta is about as reliable as an average bigbox publisher's 1.00 release. Then they get to work quickly if GalCiv is any indication.

Stardock developed stuff that isn't machine games= day 1 preorders until they botch it up from now on. (Political Machine and Corporate Machine just don't interest me- even if it has Drengins running for US presidency)

 

[platypotamus]

Stardock developed stuff that isn't machine games= day 1 preorders until they botch it up from now on. (Political Machine and Corporate Machine just don't interest me- even if it has Drengins running for US presidency)

I know it's getting off topic a bit, but Political Machine is worth a shot. I already own it, but my impulse tells me there's also some free "express edition" (demo?) available for everyone. Give it a shot.

(I want to try Corporate Machine too, just haven't yet).

 

[ElectricThunder]

New video of the game up from their bout at GDC, Wardell talking about it and showing off that sweet early beta goodness.

The great thing is, with the current visuals shown in this video, it'd easily be enough to justify my $50.

Yet it only gets better from here! :lol

Edit: Sorry folks, assumed too much for no apparent reason.

http://www.elementalgame.com/journals.asp

 

[Doytch]

New video of the game up from their bout at GDC, Wardell talking about it and showing off that sweet early beta goodness.

The great thing is, with the current visuals shown in this video, it'd easily be enough to justify my $50.

Yet it only gets better from here! :lol

Link?

 

[Johann]

Link?

http://www.gamespot.com/news/blogs/...emental-war-of-magic-video-demonstration.html

 

[bigmit3737]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/blogs/...emental-war-of-magic-video-demonstration.html

Thanks for sharing.

Game looks interesting.
Are we allowed to explore maps like that? That looks to be different for a TBS game, but interesting.

 

[platypotamus]

Not too much to see really, but a video was posted for GDC:

http://forums.elementalgame.com/344253

EDIT: Damn, my subscription to the thread said no new posts so I didn't even check to see if it was posted already. I must have checked GAF earlier without checking my subscriptions. Sorry!

 

[arstal]

Via their Twitter, the Alpha starts in 7 days.

GAF-mods, one suggestion: given the nature of Stardock's betas- I think the official thread should start with the beta, since the game will be purchaseable and playable then.

I'll volunteer to do it if no one else does.