3 for all provinces. Of course, this means 3 base types, certain buildings can be upgraded further (like the mill to the brewery or the pub to the tavern) which don't cost an extra slot as the new building replaces the old one.
I got an email from GoG about this and was thinking about trying it. Cool that you guys went in first!
BTW, my stuttering issues were solved (sort of) via the suggestion from that GoG forum thread on running multiple instances of the game. If I open up three instances of the game, mute sound and music and just leave them sitting at the main menu, then the fourth instance that I run works fine, with no stuttering. Weird, but it works.
I bought the game when I was on the road last week and it ran fine on my laptop which runs XP. Came home and installed on my W7 box and had the stuttering problem too. XP compatabillity mode helped - the sound works and the speed is playable= but even at fastest setting the combat is much slower than on my laptop. One consequence is that I autoresolve more battles than I should. Still liking the game, I've made it through 3 shards (but lost 2) and just had my first conversation with another -whatever-it-is-we are.
I finished my first game of this, and like Lutes, I skipped the tutorials and dove in against AI players, but at the lowest difficulty. It turns out that the AI doesn't expand at all on the lowest difficulty. In fact, they don't do anything. That made my endgame Paladin/Knight invasions anti-climactic militia-crushing endeavors, but the fun was getting there. To start off, I would suggest recruiting a Warrior hero, building a Forge and Swordsman School, and taking any nearby Plains provinces as long as they don't have discovered (not red) trade goods (like horses). If a province has accessible goods, the fight will more than likely kick your ass. Next, build a Granary and a Farmer's Market. That lets you build Windmills in those Plains provinces you just took. Now that you have some land, the best and safest way to make money is by plundering. Ideally, plundering a village filled with people who hate your guts. You can spend a lot of turns plundering for pretty steady money until the village runs out of people, at which point it should become unpopulated Dead Lands. Unfortunately when I just tried this, the game repeatedly crashed. In my last game, I got some neutral Dead Lands zones through in-game events, and when you take them, it repopulates them with your race. So if it crashes consistently for you when you eliminate that last bit of population, I guess back off and let it regenerate and rebel so you can go plunder it again. Exploration is good, too, but plundering is easy money when you're trying to get your feet under you. As for heroes, I had all four types in their 20's, and they all have their strengths and weaknesses. The most survivable is the Warrior, and there were many, many combats where he was the last guy standing. With every other hero type, running out of troops is bad. With the Warrior, it doesn't matter so much. Unfortunately, replacing all of those troops gets expensive, which is one reason I suggest going Knight at level 10. Not only does a Knight get Commander bonuses to buff the rest of your troops, he gets to respawn at full health once per battle. Also Smite Evil and some other stuff, but the main thing is that Knights combine the best parts of "I can and will kill everything" with troop buffs and a free "I'll be back!" card. What's not to like? For the Wizard, I went Mage at 10. Why? Two spells per turn. Yes, you read that right. Dual Fireballs was my typical opener, but for tougher fights, getting a Mass Slow in early is super handy. You do have to watch your Stamina, but often any additional troops you have are just there for show. The Wizard's bane are Medusas and Stone Golems. Do not take these critters on with a Wizard, that's what Commanders and Warriors are for. The Commander is all about buffs. Get a Commander up to decent levels of offensive & defensive team bonuses, and you can wipe out any army. Since you have to bring low-ranking troops along anyway, they might as well be worth something. I went Tactician at 10, which gives you Scout abilities. I'm not sure that's any better or worse than anything else, but being able to rocket huge armies across the map with Pathfinding was nice. Give him a bow (Tacticians get inherent bow bonuses), and he does a decent job in combat as well. I'll probably try a different Commander combo next game, though. Finally, the Scout. The Scout led my weakest army, and I used him mostly for searching provinces, retreating from combat most of the time. I went Archer at 10, which sticks with pure Scout skills. When you take a pure class choice like Mage or Archer, your skills cap out at +5 instead of the +3 when you hybridize. Archers are, unsurprisingly, the best archers in the game, and they can fire two arrows a turn. It's pretty nice for taking down tougher enemies quickly, particularly when they have magic resistance, but they're stuck with about as many troops as the Wizard without the firepower to make up for it. They do get more spells than the Warrior or Commander, but without the corresponding Spellpower, it's not that helpful. Still, they can tell you exactly what the makeup of an enemy army is before you fight, get across the map very quickly, and they're good at clearing provinces to 100% (and the corresponding +2 gold/turn bonus). They're not as critical as the other classes, but they do the unsexy stuff nobody else wants to do. Some general tips: Running away is good. It means your troops and hero aren't dead. Seriously, run away a lot, and listen to what your hero thinks about the fight. Sometimes it's hilariously wrong, but it's better than nothing. Ancient Guardians are no joke. Stone Giants will kick your ass until you get a hero with good army buffs. Build the Jewelry shop as one of your four and eventually max it out. I didn't see a lot of jewelry in the game, so most of what your heroes wear is probably going to come from here. Pretty good stuff. Build province improvements. Lots of them. I generally went Mill/Mine/Sawmill/Pub (and their corresponding upgrades) for Plains/Hills/Forest/Swamp, respectively, so every province had additional money coming in. Then I added a Storehouse for access my Stronghold gear, which eventually upgrades to a Market for even more money. The third building was variable, but either a Secret Shrine (I think that's what it was called), which combines +15 health recovery with a Library, a Shipyard-Port-Lighthouse for sea travel spots, or an Outpost-Fort-Citadel for strongpoints. There are exceptions, of course. Provinces with Mandrake should have an Infirmary for the additional money when you upgrade it to a Pharmacy, for example. I used Swordsmen exclusively until I'd opened up a couple of Rank 2 slots. Then I added Horsemen or Guardsmen and swapped out some Swordsmen for missile troops at Rank 1. I played around with a lot of troop combinations, and while Swordsmen are slow, they'll last longer than anything else at Rank 1. At Rank 2, I preferred Guardsmen for my Wizard and Scout for their durability and Horsemen for my Warrior and Commander for their mobility. And that's it for now.
I believe it is only used in the campaign mode, i think its a resource that you use to buy yourself advantages for the next map. Warriors do tend to end up like this, but the downside is the humongous repair costs for gear that is any good and the need to spend time to recuperate. Scouts only have to repair their weapon, mostly, and other two shouldnt need repairs at all. That is why there really is no choice as to what first hero should, Scout wins over Warrior every time, cheaper to maintain, suffers next to no damage so no need to heal as well, pretty much the only hero capable of clearing out dragon dens with generic shop-bought equipment. Warriors are generally stronger in the long run, but way, way too expensive to maintain, and more loot-dependant. Methinks you are misremembering the situation. If your hero and the enemy hero attack provinces where each of them were stationed, you actually do meet. Enemy heroes go first, so you are given a choice if you want to defend the province. If you are stronger - enemy rethinks the invasion, then you are given the choice to invade his province. But it is true, that catching enemy heroes can be incredibly hard, if they have any breathing space at all. Most of the time it is pretty much impossible without littering your border with fort chains. It is the only way. In campaign its a little different, if you have a VERY good reputation - good-aligned enemies *might* just "surrender" to you, if there are only two of you left on the map. Dont know if that happens with evil-aligned enemies...probably not, but cant say for sure.
In skirmish mode you can set both your own and the AI's level- has anyone found out what this does? Ie does higher AI setting make them smarter or just more resources? and what does your own level change? Side note- I tried the forge+swordsmen first opening, and went broke :(. My play style seems better suited to using cheaper troops until I get the economy going.
You have to mostly keep them alive because, unless you get Iron, they're pretty expensive. I may have mentioned running away from tougher fights. You also need to keep building Mills and other income boosters. Plundering helps, too.
Just piping in to reinforce the gestalt about what a pleasant surprise this game has been. Has eaten up *ALL* my free time since I got it the day it released on GOG. Raife's post above is great advice, though it seems I have had more luck with the Scout than he has had. I'd like to add that starting a single player non-campaign game, with only one AI enemy can be a great way to mess around with game basics and interface quirks without having to worry about being stomped at the same time and and also experience the diversity and discovery of the game versus the being led around by the nose nature of the tutorial.
I think I may do that tonight. Have not had as much time to play as I had hoped and have moved through the tutorial and initial part of the campaign in fits and starts.
This is me. I did something wrong in the tutorial, not sure what, and now I keep dying in battles. So I was thinking of starting the tutorial over. But I may take this approach instead. Still, what I nice surprise this game is.
I found this site on Eador, plugged a portion of it into Google Translate, and got this: Boldface mine.
Nice that they reference Dominions. That weird use of the word "strategy" isn't just the fault of Google, though, I've heard it a lot. The guy who narrates the Masters of the Broken World videos uses it that way (to mean "strategy game"). My favorite phrase in there is "many miles thick windbreak."
Well, I finally won a skirmish match, medium map versus 4 "skilled" AI opponents. The first AI I ran into gave me a run for my money, assaulting my home stronghold multiple times before I pushed him back and took all of his provinces. His home base was a tough nut to crack, since the provincial defenders were a crapload of demons, but once I took them out the rest of the game was easy. Scored a 42 (putting me 8th on the high score list) and an alignment rating of "Pure." All in all, to my delight, the game fulfills the promise suggested by my initial positive feelings. Some really great design at work, especially with the tactical module. The only real drawbacks I experienced were that there were a LOT of tactical battles, which can get tedious (though there is the option to auto-battle), and over the course of the game I saw a lot of the same random events repeated. My two main hopes for Masters of the Broken World are that the stronghold construction interface and building interrelationships are made more transparent, and that they double or triple the quantity of random events. In my opinion, Eador:Genesis is a classic of the fantasy 4x genre. What a great and unexpected surprise at the end of a year that gave us a couple of other entries that didn't make the grade.
I entirely agree. I've praised the game here, so let's talk about the warts. 1. Production values are lacking - let's face it, it's not a pretty game. It was coded by one guy and it shows in this regard - HOMM3 probably looks better. 2. Too much combat - At some point, you get tired of the tactical battles and the computer does a poor job of quick resolving them. Even against pitifully easy enemies, you're going to lose troops if the AI fights the battle for you. That's not too big of a deal if you treat troops as disposable entities with your hero (ex: Warrior), but it's far more of a PITA if your hero needs those troops to survive (ex: Champion). IMO, combat in Masters of the Broken World should be reduced by about a third. 3. I agree that the game needs far more events - or for events to happen more rarely. On a decent-sized map, you're going to see at least one event happen 10 or 15 different times. 4. Heroes are unbalanced - at least on shorter games. The Warrior Hero becomes grossly overpowered during the mid-game compared to other hero types. When your juggernaut can sprint 1/2 across the map, has 100 hit points and can dish out 25 damage per hit, he's virtually invulnerable. The games I've won on a standard map thus far haven't gotten into the Tier 3 or Tier 4 troops, so maybe that changes eventually. But so far the warrior is the way to go. A close second is the ranger, who with a good bow can pick off enemies before they ever get to him. 5. Bugs - and there are a few. I've had the game start choppy (restarted fine) and others have more severe issues. The music crackles on my PC and I have no idea how to fix that. I've had it even crash once or twice. It's not exactly coded really well. Still, none of these are deal-breakers. The game is just friggin' fun and challenging to play, with that "one more turn" quality that's truly rarely seen from strategy games.
I actually love the old-school look and don't find it ugly at all. But I can't argue that it doesn't look dated. Agreed. Yeah, increasing rarity would be good. Better yet, open it up to modders. Yeah, I won my game using a Warrior/Chief and Scout/Archer. The Warrior stomped mos things easily by the end game, though he was only able to beat the demon-filled stronghold with the help of 3 griffins. I would caste haste on him first thing, and he would just go to town. In my current game I stepped up the difficulty and am using a Wizard, focusing on summoning. That sucks. I've been lucky enough, or my PC is old enough, that I haven't encountered any bugs. I wish I could find some info on what is being changed for Masters of the Broken World. There's lots of speculation on the forums, but it's not clear how much will be changed/added beyond interface and graphics improvements.
So this game is super freaking awesome. Bought it off Jason Lutes' hype, gifted my brother a copy after finishing the tutorial and loving the shit out of it. Blackadar and anyone else having stuttering issues -- I fixed mine completely by throttling my CPU to 50% (power settings | create a new plan | advanced settings | maximum processor state | 50) per a post on the GOG forum. Game runs perfectly now. For reals, though, what a great game.
Huh, I always had more luck with the Wizard. The high level spells are pretty amazing and being able to cast twice on a turn when you get to level 20 makes that even more so. The warrior always had problems for me with the lock down spells (petrify/web) and to a lesser degree poison, and the scout, while being able to kill anything on the map, could only ever kill one a turn which sometimes just isn't enough. What seems more problematic to me is that none of the combo classes seem all that good to me. The bonuses you get from getting a skill to level 5 are usually pretty amazing and sometimes almost necessary (the round attack for the warrior comes to mind), on top of the being able to fire twice or cast twice. I've never got a commander to a high level because they usually just end up bleeding money. I'll second the events being too repetitive, as well as the comment. Would be nice if the exploration led to a few more things that weren't combat based. I have no problems with the look at all, it gets across everything that it needs to in a clear fashion. I'm not sure on the resource system. It's a really neat idea but so many of the resources are used for so many things that if you don't get certain ones it's crippling. I didn't have wood or iron one game, I could never get anything off the ground as I couldn't afford the necessary troops. I think it could use some tweaking into what requires what. The building system comes into this as it is hard to specialize to a particular thing as everything is so interlocked that I find myself buying most everything that I can eventually. Of course, I've never filled out all my buildings which is a definite testament to the game, and it is a clever and new system, which I do appreciate. Oh, and female hero portraits, the game could definitely use female heroes. The quest interface is also a mess, and the quests in general aren't that interesting. Still, yeah, a really good game. Definitely the best of this type that I've played since HOMM3. I'm usually disappointed when the game ends even if I win as there is always more I want to do. I've still yet to kill a dragon. Stupid spell immunity.
And as far as provincial defenders go, the one with spiders, basilisks, and like 3 manticores, yeesh, I never had a good way of dealing with that. The wizard did ok but even he was much better off not fighting it as there were just too many casualties.
I think the art is great, but the locked resolution is rough on modern monitors, and some of the graphic design elements (fonts, UI windows) are not as good as the rest of the art, and the animation is lacking. The sequel looks pretty fantastic, though, visually. I'll have to see if I can find it again, but I read a post by one of the developers saying that, gameplay-wise, the changes are pretty minimal. They are revamping the campaign a bit, but trying not to rock the boat too much with core gameplay.
Here are some more tips after playing a few more games: Emphasize gold production over anything else. Armies get a lot more expensive with each rank, and you'll want to be able to hire and field new ranks of troops as soon as you can produce them. Gem production isn't going to be a problem unless your first hero is a Wizard, and I don't recommend picking a Wizard as your first hero because it will be a long time before you get access to higher level spells. With the exception of scrolls, your Wizard is going to be underpowered. Expand. While it's tempting to search provinces until they're cleared, your greatest source of consistent income is from new provinces and their buildings. Keep taking provinces until you hit borders with opponents or independents who are too tough for you. Once you've established your borders, then focus on clearing your provinces. Hire local defenders. I love Forest Spirits (and Forest Keepers) because they cost gems for upkeep instead of gold, but you can only hire them in Forest provinces. You get access to Forest Spirits by building an Enchanted Grove, which unlocks with an Altar and Forester's Guild. They're reasonably tough, and they make the local population happy. In other provinces, I usually use Patrolmen, which unlock with a Pikeman School and Armory. Patrolmen are nice because they are pretty inexpensive to maintain and they reduce unrest. Local defenders help against certain random events (which can be pretty nasty without guards), raids from adjacent independent provinces, rebellions, and obviously enemy troops. Rituals: When you click on a hero, the only rituals that show up on the ritual screen are the ones related to heroes. If you click on a province, all rituals you can cast are displayed. Make sure to check periodically because it's easy to forget what scrolls you've found, and some of them are pretty powerful. Allies: It can take a lot of work to get an alliance with an independent village, and it doesn't seem that worthwhile when you can just take it by force. Most of the time when I try it, the villages get conquered by my opponents before I can even complete the quest. Forming an alliance does a few things for you, though. First, you get the village without any local hostility, which can be a problem if the race doesn't like you. Second, it lets you recruit a new troop type from that race at your Stronghold. Third, it unlocks three new buildings in the Foreign Quarter of your Stronghold, and they can have some pretty good bonuses. Finally, it unlocks special ally random events. Build strategic fortifications. They let you hire any rank of troop you have access to at your Stronghold regardless of the fortification's level. The only thing increasing the fort level does is give you more sight range, let you station more troops there, and make sieges take longer. If you're hiring reinforcements for a hero, you can hire any rank of troop at any level of fortification. It's more expensive than hiring them at your Stronghold, but it saves you having to truck them all the way back. Spells: For Wizards, my first four Level 1 slots are pretty much always Magic Arrow, and my first four Wizard Level 2 slots are always Fireball or Lightning Bolt. Direct damage spells aren't as effective for other classes, so I use more utility spells for those heroes. Some good non-damage spells you may have missed: Sorcery: 1 - Astral Energy: +3 Resistance for three turns, restores 7 Stamina and gives the target another turn. 2 - Hallucinations: All non-mechanical enemy missile attackers suffer -3 Ranged Attack for five turns. Elemental: 1 - Haste: +2 movement, regenerates 1 Stamina per turn. Great for low-level Warriors. 2 - Stone Skin: +3 Resistance, +5 Armor for 5 turns. This may be the best Rank 2 spell for Warriors. 3 - Mass Slow: -2 Speed for all enemies for six turns. Great for both Wizards and Scouts. Necromancy: 1 - Vulnerability: -3 Defense, -3 Resistance on one target for six turns. 3 - Mass Curse: -2 Attack for all enemies for six turns. Some effective class combos: Warrior/Commander (Holy Knight) - I talked about this one before, and it's very powerful. Starting with a Commander hero is tougher because you have lousy combat abilities and no gear to make up for it. Here, the Warrior is already pretty tough by the time you start adding Commander skills, and the troop buffs are just in time for tackling the really brutal encounters like Devils and Stone Giants when you hit 20+. Scout/Wizard (Ranger) - Scouts already get the most spells after Wizards, but they're not nearly as effective without the corresponding Spellpower, Thamauturgy. or Concentration. This combo addresses that and makes the Scout a pretty tough cookie. Wizard/Wizard (Mage) - I talked about this one before as well, but it's really hard to justify a Wizard going anything but Wizard/Wizard. The tough part was getting your paper mache butt to level 10. That's over, why class to something else? My current favorite start is a Small map with two opponents. It gives you enough room to expand without feeling overextended, and it's small enough that you're not surprised by somebody knocking on your door who's wiped out everyone else while you were still plinking away at the tougher independents. Speaking of which, independent provinces and province locations don't regenerate troops immediately if you lost a battle there, so it can be worthwhile to hit it again with another stack if you did significant damage the first time. That's about all I can think of right now. Go kill stuff.
Playing the tutorial a second time, this time as a Wizard, finally starting to 'get' things, and enjoying it a lot. I haven't studied all the strategies posted here but thanks to those who took the time. What I've been doing in this early game is one magic arrow spell, two to heal, and one to raise a dead enemy into a skeleton. In my first turn I one-shot a ranged enemy with the arrow, then in the next turn raise the fallen ranged guy into a skeleton who's able to immediately attack another bad guy. Regarding the graphics, this is infinitely easier on the eyes than Conquest of Elysium, for which I paid $30. And its 2-D goodness makes me nostalgic for the days of HoMM 3 and the first Age of Wonders. So I don't mind the art at all, though I'm playing on a netbook so resolution is not a huge issue.
Those are super helpful, Raife. A few thoughts of my own: Enemies move before you do on the strategic map. This is a good thing! The AI is pretty aggressive, and it'll go after your provinces even if you've got a hero waiting there. But because you move first, if your stack is bigger and tougher, you can give an attack order of your own and the AI will attack, retreat from your hero, and then get smashed when you attack in. Enchanted Coffers is an awesome, awesome ritual. 100(ish) gold for a level of unrest in a province. If you spread it around provinces evenly enough, the unrest isn't a problem and you get tons of monies to smash your foes with. Mood apparently affects population growth and "how hard the people work", whatever those mean, but the gold boost is easily worth it from what I can tell. 100 gold is a lot of gold. Walking Dead is freaking awesome. Why pay scarce money for troops when you can raise a tireless army with that giant pile of gems you're sitting on? The undead don't heal as far as I can tell, so make sure to throw them right into the middle of the fray. Also, as far as I can tell necromancy is like the whole point of having a wizard. The gem costs of raising undead are trivial, and you constantly refresh your own army. If you want to necromance like a boss, get some evil troops. Barbarians and shamans love having the undead on their side, and get a big morale boost for it. Shamans are awesome, with the cursing and the shooting. And they're cheap! Barbarians die constantly, but usually after they murder a bunch of things. As a bonus, barbs cost no resources for their building or the units themselves. If you're not raising the dead, healers should be a high priority. The passive heal-per-turn on the strategic map is really helpful, and the healing in battle is freaking great. Use with hardy swords/pikes/crossbows for best results and also morale boosts. Ringleader (Scout -> Commander) seems cool. Whupped ass in my last game with it, anyway.
One of the many things I really love is the roguelike aspect to the loot. Getting a sweet piece of gear early on can totally dictate your strategy (plus it feels like a blessing from the gods).
I just had an encounter where my 3rd level Wizard lost his retinue, ran out of spells and wand charges, and had to beat down the opposing Sorcerer with his fists. Victory! He went back to the Stronghold for more troops, and the very next encounter was with a giant slug, some goblins, and a basilisk. Everybody died again, and he had to beat down the slug(!) with his fists. That got him to 4th level. Maybe he wants to be a Battlemage. Another note on alliances. Once you finish an alliance quest for a race, talk to any other independent village of that race and it will instantly join you. It makes the alliance quests a little more worthwhile. You'll also automatically get whatever you would have had to fight to take the province as local guards, which can be a pretty powerful defense force.
OTOH, this weapon is as expensive to repair as it is awesome to beat down dwarves* with. * Note: Dwarves and their ballistae require more than a level four warrior and some spearmen, no matter how awesome his weapon is.
I'm crossposting this from Qt3, so we can plumb the depths of the scoring system: Okay, here's the score breakdown from my latest lost game (4 "Competent" AI opponents, medium map): Opponents: +8.5 per opponent, I guess. Enemies defeated: Nothing to see here. Victories: +.5 per battle victory. Defeats: -.5 per battle loss. Provinces: Maybe each province is scored according to its gold/gem value? Heroes: Either +12 per Hero, or based on level (I had a level 11 Battlemage and a level 6 Scout). Veteran Units: I have yet to nurture a unit to veterancy in any session. Buildings in Stronghold: Straight up +4 per, or based on building value? Treasures/Quests/Rewards: Curious to see how much these are worth. Reversions: This is huge! -20 points per reload! I love it! Personality: I'm guessing more points for more extreme personality? I was going for a Chaotic empire this game. Turn: I'm guessing 240 turns is the baseline for a medium map. Difficulty level: This was at "Competent," so it looks like "Expert" grants 100%. Defeat: Um... yeah. Best scoring system of any 4x ever!
I still haven't had time to give this a fair shake, bit what I've seen has been awesome. I'M definitely looking forward to the new version if only for resolution improvements - without an experienced eye the whole thing can look like pea soup on a 1080p monitor.
Yeah, I just changed one of my votes. E:G pushes XCOM out of my top three. Not even sure if the game is eligible but what the hell.
