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BroodingMonarch

Second Lieutenant
14 Badges
Jan 29, 2007
156
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  • Crusader Kings II
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This game really appeals to me. It seems to have everything I love. Unfortunately I'm hesitant to buy it because of how bad the AI apparently is. Has the game improved much since launch, and does it still receive updates?
 
We are waiting for a patch, but its not an AI focused patch as far as we have been told. The game is fun and interesting, but if you are a good player you will notice that the AI is not able really challenge you in larger battles. Since the game is cheap and Fallen Enchantress still will be in beta for quite a while, this is the game to go for at the moment methinks.
 
This game really appeals to me. It seems to have everything I love. Unfortunately I'm hesitant to buy it because of how bad the AI apparently is. Has the game improved much since launch, and does it still receive updates?

If you like beer and pretzels games, buy it when it's on sale for half price if money is a consideration. Otherwise buy it at regular price. You won't regret it.

As for the AI, for casual gamers it isn't as bad as some of the grognards on this forum make it out to be.
 
Since the game is cheap and Fallen Enchantress still will be in beta for quite a while, this is the game to go for at the moment methinks.
I don't have high hopes for Fallen Enchantress. I originally had high hopes for Elemental:WoM and pre-ordered to get in the beta. But given how much things bounced around during that beta it was clear they didn't have a real strong vision of how things should work. Ultimately the game has way to many flawed mechanics that it didn't feel that interesting as it ultimately became a numbers game, insainly high ATK = WIN.

I got Fallen Enchantress for free due to their admission that E:WoM was not that good and giving the pre-order people a free copy. I've played the beta about 2 months back to see how much it had improved, both from it's earlier version and E:WoM, and honestly I was not that impressed. They did change city production which I liked but the Magic system and Combat systems remained fairly similar, along with some other things. Overall I think many of it's core mechanics are fundamental flawed which is why it's not that good.

So yea, I agree with joasoze that this is the better game to go with. Most of warlocks issue come from balance, AI, and UI which can all be fix in patches. And once the MP patch comes out just fight other players instead of AI. Where as E:WoM and E:FE have core issues which would require a complete reworking of the game, which is what E:FE is trying to do but I don't think it's enough.
 
About that Fallen Enchantress. It will be the strategy game of the year, I believe. They are really putting in a real effort, and they have learned from their mistakes. Its already ten times better than Elemental:WoM. I have played the beta of FE since the first version, and it really is awesome. Beta 4 with focus on city building and a new resource (essence) is due in a few weeks.
 
So does anyone have a clue when and what the next patch will be? Is there a thread, post, link somewhere that can redirect me? I bought this game to play online with friends and just have a good time over skype. It's a good game and all, but the single player version can get a bit repetetive.
 
This is a good game with a lot of potential to become a great game.I am willing to give it the time.
At this point i would say it might be another month until we get a major upgrade to the game: MP games and Lords.This isnt much waiting time considering what we can get out of it in the next years via more dlc`s or real expansions.I heard that the game is selling pretty well,so i have high hopes.
I can only recommend it to everyone thats likes turn based fantasy strategy games: buy the game,its not that expensive,and thus support the developers.Even with the current state of AI and only single player games,you will have fun for several dozens of hours which already makes it a worthy buy.
 
About that Fallen Enchantress. It will be the strategy game of the year, I believe. They are really putting in a real effort, and they have learned from their mistakes. Its already ten times better than Elemental:WoM. I have played the beta of FE since the first version, and it really is awesome. Beta 4 with focus on city building and a new resource (essence) is due in a few weeks.
SGOTY, I doubt it. The year is only half over and I can think of 2 other games that are more likely to take that title because the reviewers tend to go for big name titles that sell a lot. After E:WoM boom I don't think the series has much hype left. Plus it's still in beta so they have to actually release it this year.

I went and got the latest copy of the beta and still not overly impressed. It just doesn't feel right when, to make a Warlock comparison, you have monster units that are stronger than Temple units just hanging out near your starting point. Then they mostly just sit there while you build cities around them. Sure some of them raze outpost and resource buildings but that's about it.

Hero units are as powerful as back in the E:WoM days. In a lot of regards it feels more like an RPG which does kind of appeal to that side of me. But at the same time I recruit 3 heroes plus my sovereign and just go to town. I work on the weaker monsters while the insainly difficult ones just sit there doing nothing. After I get research so I can buy better equipment I deck out all 4 of my Hero units and start going to down against the local AI. He sends waves of armies with standard units and I cut them down with my army of 4.

The increase of min distance between cities to 9 tiles and the required setting up of outpost I am kind of torn on because even unarmed pioneers can destroy them. Also the uber monsters were spawn points for other weaker monsters which kept razing them and I spent a lot of time early game constantly rebuilding them because they were constantly spawning in my land and razing stuff since I wasn't able to clear out their main nest. The extra min distance meant it would take my units a few turns just to get from one city to the next before I got tech for roads.

I always did like the Resource nodes give you resources that accumulate and you then spend on units more than Civ5's approach of 1 resource gives you X amount which lets you then only support X number of units. And units seem more reasonably prices in terms of resources than they were back in E:WoM.

Yea it's a lot better than E:WoM but I already knew that from the earlier beta. I'm still not that fond of their combat system though. Sure it zooms in to tactical map mode like MoM did but the maps are so much smaller and just the way numbers play out don't really sit right as it's easy to uber out your heroes. And the Auto-Battle system is just as broke as ever, it has the same problem most 4x games do that allow the player to play tactical or auto-battle. That is the systems use completely different formulas and thus result in vastly different outcomes. The auto-battle system is easy to exploit as the units on the bottom of the list tend to get most of the damage so put a few cheap high HP units in to soak up the hits. If they survive to level up their HP becomes massive and they do their job even better.

I'm still amazed that there are some of the same old bugs are still around for Cloth Map view that were in E:WoM, which is the mode I primarily play in. I'm starting to wonder if it's a limitation of the engine. I played for about 250 turns and then it crashed, tried loading the auto-save and the previous one but for whatever reason it keeps crashing on the following turn. So I called it quits.

It seems decent enough and I'll likely play another game or two when it does finally come out of beta, or if someone again reminds me of it after a new update, since I do already own it thanks to the free copy for E:WoM customers. But I don't see myself putting nearly as much time into it as I have many of my other 4x games. I got over 300 hours on Civ5, 250 hours on Warlock, 200 hours on Star Ruler, No clue time on Sins of Solar Empire because it's not tied to steam but easily 200+, or any of the other 4x games I've played over the years that I spent hundreds of hours on. Heck even that new 4x game Endless Space has me eaten up 60 hours already, of course I pre-ordered it and got in Alpha so got some time in that way.
 
I didnt really mean that it would be strategy game of the year at Gamespot and the likes. They are all bought and payed for by the big game producers. Gamespot had Sims as strategy game of the year once if I am not much mistaken.

I just meant that it will be the best strategy game of the year for me (and hopefully many other gamers). Its way better than Warlock already in my opinion. Subjective opinions may differ :) They are making huge updates to city building now, and the next patch will be very interesting to try (for me)
 
Back on topic: The game's in an okay state. The AI will almost never actually defeat you, but very few people actually want to be defeated, so that's not such a big problem. It does put a decent fight at impossible purely on defensive, for as long as you don't intentionally cheese it too badly, or go for the easy capitol snipe win. I recommend everyone try the avatar victory, since that seems to be the most fun by far.

That said, the AI really can't deal with units that have buffs coming out of theirs ears, so that's a bit of a free win...