This, will wait until 6pm GMT sunday! AFAIK Gamersgate are mirroring any sales on steam so i'd buy it there (Blue coins and 15% discount ftw). The game requires steam activation anyway so may as well get the 1p/c off and get some blue coins...
The real point of my post though - Is it worth it? I know there's a demo available but I have an exam to prepare for tomorrow and then monday so I want to avoid any temptation where I can! It looks a bit like a civ 5 clone with a fantasy setting, how does it compare? Is it worth £7.50 (or lower if it's a daily deal) of my hard saved cash (students don't earn money! xD)?
Is it worth it? It obviously depends on what types of games you like. According to Steam, I've logged around 150ish hours on the game. While some of that was me being AFK, not much of it was.
While it may look like Civ V, it has a very different focus. City building is important, and settlers are dirt cheap in this game (50 gold and 2 turns, where a mid-tier unit will run 120-200g and 3-4 turns). City spam is vital, as each city building actually takes up a hex within the city and acts like a road. Buildings are also free- they just take time to build and have a population requirement.
Magic is obviously a huge difference. You can only cast 1 (sometimes 2) spells a turn, regardless of mana stockpiles. As you acquire spells through research, this adds a lot of choice to the game. Do you buff a unit's defenses or weapon, banking on being able to keep that unit alive for the remainder of the game? Or do you go for the immediate benefit of a damage spell to wipe out that powerful enemy unit? Or do you summon an entirely new unit? Choices, choices... I find it enjoyable. Spell research options are random- there is no tech tree. Some games you may get prosperity (a useful city buff) right away, while others may see it as the 4th to last spell researched. This adds to the variety of games you can experience.
Units are the main focus of the game, I'd say. Once acquired, there are multiple ways to enhance them. Simply leveling up will open up perks- a choice of three per level, more varied (imho) than Civ V's options. Spells to enchant them were already mentioned (like Levitating a unit of Old Trolls). Cities can also help by building structures on special map resources. An iron deposit allows you to create mastercrafted armor for any unit in your army, while an Enchanter's Workshop on a Magic node allows Caster/Ranged/Fighter units to gain elemental damage.* As some special resources can only be accessed by one of the games three factions, most players eventually incorporate all three into their empire to attain all the upgrades possible.
There is also a large diversity in unit types- each race has some Fighter and Caster types, while only some races have Creature, Healer, or Construct types. There are also units that can only be constructed in a city that has access to a special resource- like Minotaurs, Dwarves, or Elven Archers. The resources are randomly scattered about the map, and the random map generator is pretty good at creating unique starts.
Overall, the game plays much faster than Civ V. Games tend to end by turn 150-200 for newer players, gradually decreasing towards 100 as players learn the ropes. I think for $20 the game was a very good bargain. At 50% or 75% (whatever it is right now) off, it is an
extremely good bargain. Of course, it all depends on what you like in your games. There is a "learning-the-ropes" orientated let's play with the current patch on the fourms. You could check it out as well for another take on the game-
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?611600-Let-s-Play-Warlock-A-new-video-series.
*=Right, damage. There are 6 types, and some units are immune or very resistant to a given type. This encouranges unit diversity until the late endgame, when levels, enchantments, and purchased perks yield uber-units of death.
