Agree on single player (lucky fun), and multi-player (wanting a more balanced playing field). Not sure how the 'stronger hero' selector would look, but 100 turn count for 0.5x and 4x game speed puts you at very different places in the game, so I don't know if you could do it on turn count alone.... perhaps there is a mid-game event, after which the stronger heroes have a chance of appearing, or something like that. Also, balancing could be done through economics as well (Maintenance costs, initial purchase price, pre-requisite xxx needed to purchase said hero). Obviously, I'm a beginner player, so my insight is very limited. Personally, I'm not opposed to unbalanced games in MP, it can give a less experienced person a chance to get an advantage (and the opponent an additional challenge). Of course, in a league or tournament setting, you would want to be able to have game option(s) to dictate more balance, and perhaps this is where a hero 'slider' option would come into play. But, you sparked a thought with me. At the right time, we should start a thread/discussion on MP; have an understanding of what Wasteland has in mind (saw a comment posted a few pages back on the base code for MP, and that it was basically an async solution), and start a dialog of wants/needs/nice-to-haves, including this one. Wastelands forum would probably be most appropriate location, and perhaps they could let us know the right time to start dialog in order to be most helpful to their dev timelines. Among other things, a centralized ranking of players is important to me. Even if there isn't a game matching system, players want some way to play games with people of their experience/skill level, or to create mixed team games appropriately.
Game Setup (post game start) Is there anywhere I can view the starting settings for the game? I know the mirror icon will show the Sorcerer settings/status, but where can I see things like game speed, number of opponents, resource settings, etc... This came up when I couldn't remember if there were 1, 2, or 3 competing Sorcerers on a particular game. With multiple planes (and early in the game turns), it did frustrate me not having remembered what I chose... With a number of games going at one time, I was expecting to have a summary somewhere, but at a loss as to where to look. If it's not possible currently, might I suggest putting a fairly detailed summary ("Initial Game Settings" or such) enabled with a long press for saves at the LOAD screen? Or an arrow right/left from the mirror menu would also be an ideal place.
I just bought the game and haven't had a chance to play yet, but I went through the tutorial and I was checking out the DLC. Is the DLC something I should hold off on for awhile as a new player, or does it enrich the game regardless of which race you play? And what's the big difference between the $13 Landscape of Caldrean DLC and the $20 Starter Pack? Is the latter worth the extra $7 or is it just some bonus frills? It seems like the starter pack has 10 heroes and 2 special units that the Landscape pack does not, but I don't even know how significant that is. It seems like you only get half of the game content for $13 and that the true cost of the complete game is $33. Pricey!
@Mintdragon: Seconding the starting setup overview. Another screen or two on the ingame mirror should do the trick. @Hothamboy: Welcome! You can play for quite a long time with the base game only, no worries about that. If you get the extra content, I recommend the "Starter Pack", which really is a full game unlock. The 10 extra Heroes are fun and an excellent addition. I cannot remember right away which ones - or which 2 special units - are in there, because I bought it almost right away. The extra content does give you a lot more variety in gameplay: more Planes and Races to play with. And the price is entirely justified, this is the most complex and huge game on iOS; only King of Dragon Pass is in the same league (but comes with less in the graphics department).
I wouldn't mind a stats page too. Cities captured, cities razed, units killed, units lost, max damage given, gold collected/spent, etc. I know there are more pressing issues but just an idea if you want to in the future. I wouldn't even mind if it is DLC because I like looking at stats.
We have forwarded 1.2.2 to publisher today, but I assume it will be sent to Apple on Monday, so there is a chance that the patch will be ready before next weekend. This time the list of changes is quite short, but I assume it was important enough to be released ASAP. - Fixed spells research points after load - Fixed achievements - Fixed freezes during AI turn
Thanks for the info! Just one more question: Does the game make a better first impression with the additional content, or would I be happy with what's already there? I mean, does it feel shallower without the starter pack?
The Starter pack has been renamed to COMPLETE PACK. @HotHamBoy, I think you should be fine with the base game. You are not missing any game feature in terms of gameplay, neither any of the available spells. Those four races and four planes are in my opinion interesting and worth to try, but I suggest first see do you like the game. IMHO first impression reminds the same as long as you are not of Dwarven kin (for example). So no need to invest too much until you will be sure you want to.
@HotHamBoy: What doomtrader says, the base game is large enough to give a good first impression and see if you really like it. Unless you are a die-hard Master of Magic fan, who considers playing without Draconians and Klackons as extreme heresy, you'll do fine Definitely did not feel shallower to me. "Just the base game" is quite misleading here, like saying "a pound of steak is just a small snack". @doomtrader: Great job as always with the new update! That went really fast, fixing those three problems.
Really appreciate the work, will continue support. Good choice to rename the starter pack, it had confusing implications. I would even go farther and call it "Complete Expansion Bundle." Otherwise, it implies that the base game isn't complete. And "pack" carries a negative microtransaction connotation.
Hey, just bought the game yesterday and am enjoying the learning process. It seems to have very good explanations for all the various screens and I feel like leaning the basics is pretty easy. I've played through a few games so far but never gotten past turn 25 or so without being defeated by the AI. I'm playing on a regular sized map with one plane with two opponents with the AI on Wizard (what looks like medium difficulty). I'm splitting my build resources between troops and buildings and doing some summons to get some scouts. I try to keep at least four archer units in my cities (usually have two up by conquest or settlement by the time I lose), but the AI has pretty consistently knocked on the door of my capital with a stick of 7 troops or so and takes it out (even with a palisade). I'm also consistently in a negative gold situation early on and have to transmute mana just to stay afloat. I'd ask the more experienced among you - is this normal? Is selecting Wizard a bit too much for one just starting out? Is it tough to stay cash flow positive? Is the AI regularly that aggressive? If I were to have a stack of seven troops running around at that point in the game, my city (or cities) would be empty. I've read through much of Null's nice Beginner's Guide, but wasn't expecting to lose so consistently so early. At any rate, seems like a fun game and I'd much rather get crushed than for it to be a cakewalk. Just looking for some perspective. Thanks.
Null has a Strategy Guide Thread. The first few posts are what helped me. It will give you the game setup (Grey Elves, size of map, Sorcerer settings, spells to choose, etc.. ), and is basically a rush game. Use the scouts to find the other Sorcerer, quickly build up some archers, then send everybody to pounce on him. If they expanded, pounce on them too. Pretty straight-forward, but gives you one scenario that you can start deviating from with some confidence. There are lots of little things in this game, such as Grey Elves loving forests, and get buffs if expansion cities are primarily forest tiles. Everything is in the manual (or will be), and is part of the fun of learning the game. link to the Strategy Guide is http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=281425 He also did a follow-up per my request to answer more specific questions about the build and his logic to win... Link is http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?p=3808525&highlight=grey#post3808525
Welcome to our little corner of TA Play on an easier difficulty till you feel comfortable, nothing wrong with that. PC is pretty complex in its mechanics and their interactions. Getting your butt kicked six ways to Sunday does not make getting the basics down any easier Part of your problem could be right here. I usually keep my Capital on producing basic units like Archers & Druids until I absolutely need stronger ones; and try to sustain my upkeep with conquered towns as much as possible. Math tells us that on Turn 25 we should have built 24 units in our Capital, in an ideal situation (e.g. not running out of Food). Only if I absolutely need a building - e.g. for more Food, or because I need an Elven Ranger to make my armies travel faster - I pause with unit building there. And try to get back to it asap, e.g. by buying buildings that take longer than one turn, if I have the Gold. If you go Summons heavy, either Harpies (fly) or Owlbears (less upkeep than Harpies) are the best early on. And lots of Slimes for combat summons. Those charming little blobs can take quite the beating, and dish out equally in return. Skip the Palisade, not worth it that early. You should be able to thwart any invasion without it. And it means at least 2 units less; that does make a big difference, especially early on. By turn 25, I try to have 8 garrison units in each town. Not always needed, but better safe than sorry. Also, two towns is a bit on the low end for Elves. With Dwarves, that would be perfectly fine still: for me they take longer to build up steam until they really take off. I usually play very aggressive early on, simply because it pays off to eliminate opposition sooner than later. Ideal situation is 5+ towns around turn 25, but 3 is still doing okay. Try to get them by conquering enemy towns; only build a Settler if you find a really good spot (e.g. high population limit and lots of resources within town borders). That shouldn't happen at all. Try increasing taxes until you get a Rebel in a town. Lower them again until the Rebel disappears. Then build more garrison units to keep Unrest down; only if really needed, build a Shrine. If you have the Tranquility spell, don't forget to cast it on each town. Then you can raise taxes even higher, resulting in more Gold. I don't know, to be honest. Never happened to me, but then I've been playing MoM (and others) for over 20 years Depends on what you feel comfortable with. For learning the ropes, nothing wrong with a lower difficulty. Nope, not at all See above about increasing taxes. That should carry you easily. If it doesn't, most of the time I either build too many expensive units, or too many buildings to upkeep. It depends. There are quite a lot of different AI personalities. Some are aggressive, some focus on settling new towns, others on Research, etc. In general, the AI got better with the updates, less inept bumbling around. By turn 25, you should have a lot more units than that. Like I wrote above, your Capital alone should have cranked out close to 25 units by now (1 per turn). To give you an idea, here's some screenshots of my turn 38 armies. Admittedly, I got pretty lucky with the Heroes. Note that these two armies exist like this for a while already: one since turn 10 or so, the other I think ~turn 20-25. Nice to hear you enjoy PC, despite getting kicked around No worries, you'll get the hang of it fast enough. Maybe my ramblings help a bit with that If you need more tips, can you post turn by turn rundowns of what you are doing? It'll make it a lot easier to give more specific advise. P.S. Sorry for the small screenshots, I only figured out how to send larger ones after I deleted them from my iPad
When I started this game, I found the battles a little boring. Now later in game, I find it a nice chess game especially in average battles. That is one of the thing that I hated about Starbase Orion. I like controlling the battles.
Manual 1.4 @doomtrader, read the manual 1.4 cover to cover yesterday. Thank you for the progress on it, and encourage you guys to continue to add to it, even if it is 'copy and paste' from the in-app help windows. I'm sure it's on your to-do list for the manual, but some things I felt would be helpful: - Description of races (in-app description is perfect, just would be beneficial to have all races, strengths/weakness in one place) - Description of Planes (same as above) - Spell Guide - I know you were limited in space on the one screen description table thingy, and (being new to MoM/PQ) didn't always know what some of the shorthand descriptions mean (until I try to cast, and they do something completely different, or nothing at all) I think a quick description (like the heroes upgrade section) would be great. I think these 3 would be pretty quick to add with minimal work, but would round out the manual a good bit, and become a better 'reference guide' as I play through unknown situations. @nullzone, any ideas on items or sections for the manual? @everyone - the manual is integrated into the game, and you can open it from the main menu. Once opened (safari), it can be pushed to iBooks and saved in your library. Really slick solution to accessing this beefy and informative manual.
agreed. I'm still at a novice level; part of the fun is learning what some of these 'foreign' enemies are capable of. The average battles tend to have some higher tier abilities, really makes it a challenge.
