Universal Planar Conquest (by Shortbreak Studios)

iPad mini 4

 

I like such games... Unfortunately I can't complete the tutorial during the selection of spell of Druid.. It should be fixed in the next release I hope. This game has a lot of potential it looks great and if u are a fan of Civilizations and/or homm you will probably feel at home here.
However please be warned the game is extremely tiny even on iPhone 6 Plus. It looks good and probably created for ipad.
Well for now just hope they fix the tutorial

 

@talbs: Nothing freemiumy here, I dare say after a few hours. I guess they didn't have experience making good trailers.

@klink: First impression: *great* value for the initial price. Everything looks very polished, immensely huge helpfiles, lots and lots of details and content. You can tell this was heavily inspired by Master of Magic at every step. If Planar can keep it up, we might have a worthy spiritual successor here. Will take me weeks - maybe even months - until I played through what's available; and if I am still with it then, shelling out another 20 bucks is a nobrainer.
If I remember right, just the *expansion* for Lords of Magic cost more way back when.

A pricetag of 20 or even 30 bucks for the whole game in one go (instead of DLC) might have been justified, but suicide in the current Appstore climate. Even with the 12€ price, I am sure they will struggle immensely. It's not a well-known franchise like XCOM with its large cult following, after all. And the Worlds of Magic negative press doesn't make things easier, I'm sure.

@Rinoa: I got the Tutorial bug, too. But no biggie for veteran players. For newcomers sure, completing the Tutorial would be nice. But you'll have to read the help anyways, so it's forgivable as long as they fix it soon.

@ojtitus: Drains my Air's battery like no tomorrow, too. And it gets quite hot, which I don't like too much.

Now, onto the meat of things:
I started with only the first Plane, High Men, and the Paladiness (Protection and Life spells).
Good starting moves seem to be:
- If you have several Forest tiles, build a Sawmill right away. If not, Farmer's Market. Armory next.
- Build another unit in between.
- Summon Magic Spirits, 3 at least. They scout and grab stuff automatically, gives a nice boost in the beginning.
- Then start casting other things. I just completed my first permanent unit enchantment spell. Maybe alternate between buffs and 2 more Spirits.
- Wait till your city grows an additional population, then build a Settler (almost there).

Well, that's it for now. I am still very early in the game, turn 10 or so. Will build a Settler next, then another combat unit. Got lucky with finding some Engineers, have them build roads already.
Stay tuned for our next episode of "News from the Council Chamber", coming soon to a cinema near you.

 

I found another nasty bug.. Clicking the notification icon on the left will pop up a window that can't be closed thus obstructing the map view... Quite buggy. But the game is huge!!! So many options to tinker that even veterans will be confused I think

 

I got in on the worlds of magic Kickstarter, full disclosure, but if this is seriously master of magic on iPad, like not a cut up and watered down version, I'm gonna buy this too.

The worlds of magic release was very rough, but there's literally no 4x that deep on iPad right now.

 

Can you turn off that jarring grid on the overland map? Not sure I could look at that for long.

 

I don't think I ever played a game like this, an someone tell me what it plays like and how it is ??

 

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but the screenshots and videos are contradictory.

Is landscape mode an option (or required)?

I really hate playing in-depth games like this on my iPad in portrait mode.

 

Do you have a source for that? I am honestly curious, as I cannot remember anyone making that connection when MoM was released. First time I hear this. I always thought they were developed independent of each other.

@Tinsel: No worries, it's landscape.

 

Definitely landscape. Don't worry

 

Just a quick question regarding people's opinion on whether this is playable on an iPhone. If I played this I would use a 5s the majority of the time.

As a point of comparison, I really enjoyed Demons Rise but it was simply too small to play on my 5s. I have a feeling this might be the same. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

Bought the game, played 20mn, asked for a refund.
Some bugs, no sfx during battle and just got fed up of the music.
I didn't enjoy playing this. I'm a great fan of HOMM and civilization but this game just is maybe too much strategy options everywhere and you don't know which one too choose. Game is too peaceful, I prefer a mix of strategy and action/animations.

 

I started a second playthrough with a Summoning specialist. Makes a huge difference in the early game, because you can pump out a lot more units, and faster to boot. Especially combat-summoning disposable cannonfodder is really nice.
Now I just need to focus my cities on producing more mana.

Also, I took the "get a basic Hero" perk, just to see what it's like. Not bad, but not great either; nice addition, but no must-have. This apparently means that you can hire/find Heroes later on, just like in MoM.

Overall, Planar takes a lot from Master of Magic:
I recognise a lot of the mechanics (e.g. increased casting cost over distance), spell and unit names (Phantom Warriors, Nagas, etc.). Even the graphics style is like a modernised MoM.
Really enjoying this so far, looks like we finally have a worthy successor after 23(yes, that long) years.

 

Mom was not really inspired by magic the gathering, even in spells and schools.
It was much more a fusion of HoM and civ 1.
-with a lot of cool stuff added (persisting spells, enchantable items, magic shools and specialization, reseach/tech(magic) tree, events, summoning, plane shifting etc).

How 'fast' is it to play?
-dont really have time to play for as long as the old mon took

 

Thanks for the imps nullzone.
I've also read some favourable reviews over on pocket tactics forums so I will take the plunge, so to speak.
Seems the tutorial bug is universal, so I hope I can figure out the rest of the game without completing.
Cheers.

 

@vonknut: with the defaut settings that speed up everything (research, building, etc.) it plays a good bit faster than MoM. No waiting 20 turns to get that Granary built.
You can decide for each game, how large the map is, how many planes, etc. Larger maps with multiple planes on top will take a long time, I'm sure. Not that this is a bad thing

@Paganfox: my pleasure. If you need any help, ask away.

 

At that price, I'll nab the Steam version on sale if it grabs my interest. Y'all go for what you want, and I'm all for giving devs what they've earned, but I've no need for games that rich on my pocket internetting device.

 

Some more reports from the War Council:
Around turn 50 now, and Summoner is great, actually better than in MoM. Summons costs are very reasonable, and you get a lot of different units to play with: Undead, Elementals, Harpies, Griffins, etc. something for every flavour and playstyle. I am summoning nasties almost constantly, trying every unit at least once.

I have 6 cities, and will build my 7th and most likely last one soon. There is a city limit, 7 in this playthrough, after which your income gets reduced; something I want to avoid, as it doesn't say what the effect is exactly when you have more cities than the limit.

Up to this point, ranged units rule the battlefields: these are quite large, and early units need 2+ turns to get into melee. More than enough time for an Archer-heavy army to shoot you to pieces.
My main army is mostly ranged, with a few meatshields to protect the Archers in case anything gets close.
Encountered Unicorn Riders with Charge and Teleport: They closed distance on turn 1, Archers are too squishy to survive a strong melee assault. The meatshields really paid off there.
While Elven Archers do less damage than Highmen Crossbows, they have better to-hit chance, and only cost 1 food/turn upkeep where Crossbows cost 1 food & 1 gold.

Heroes get a new skill at level 6, just got my first one there.
If you get a Hero early on, try to grab one that gives bonus XP to your units. Even the basic 50xp/turn add up over time.
The Perk that gives a free starting Hero isn't bad at all, definitely worth its points for me.
Oh, and I researched a Hero Summoning spell, just like in MoM. Nice
It seems you can also get Heroes as random rewards from dungeons.

Make your biggest city with the best production bonuses your army producer: Build +production buildings early, then those that give every new unit 1000xp and 1 extra Armourclass. Keep cranking out units, you will need them. While you don't get attacked often, you need a strong garrison when it happens. Plus, garrison troops reduce unrest, so you can raise more taxes when you need money.

Also build a few Engineers early, to get roads between your cities constructed. Helps a lot with unit movement, especially across forests or mountains.

 

Thanks for these reports! Is city limit based on world size you pick in game setup? Music but no sound effects? Very tempted to pick this up.