I have to ask, how many kids of your own do you have?

I have 3 and I absolutely love it!  I can't imagine just having 2 kids.  I could go on about what makes 3 kids better than 2 but I don't want to derail this thread even more.

I've got two kids of my own, and I couldn't agree more that they help keep one grounded.  Nothing puts work into perspective like having a small person grab your finger and smile.  No matter how tough the day, you can always go home to your family.

It has been a rough patch here with the release.  I still think of Elemental as a diamond in the rough, and I like the direction it seems to be going in.  Hang in there.  It's a marathon at this point, not a sprint.

Yes you are dumb... to release this game while not taking beta tests....

??? What!  I was in the beta test for about 1 year.   Trust me when I say that the game changed extensively in that time for the better.   yes, there are some problems that need to be fixed, but if there was no beta test, the game would have been very different (and not in a good way).   Look at the dev journals first.

(Anyone have another quarter, I want to feed the troll again!)

I want to put in my 2 gilders here first.  I guess there's hope for you dev's yet.  Finally seeing the light.  At least you're seeing it.

2nd thing.  About the whole beta schedule thing.  IMO it was wrong from the beginning.  Some of it is my fault for not bitching about it.  The first beta or "Alpha" look yeah it was horrible. etc..   but when did we ever talk about how balancing buildings and empires.  How the thing sucks for huge empires, etc..  The whole part about not playing anything but the 'cloth map' version for the longest time?  Look at all the graphics problems for people not playing "cloth map only".  The beta community could/would've helped you better.  I know these things are "DUH" now and hindsight is 20/20.   Remember these lessons for your next project.  Seriously.

Congratulations !

Congrats on the new baby.  Glad to hear you're keeping it real.  Babies come first!

Congrats on the baby

And Secret of Mana was absolutely amazing. I still play it on an emulator. <3

So why bring it up then? Boogiee said he liked it and it might be something they stole...borrowed...if they do it obviously means they changed their mind. Rehashing old statements does make it seem like you want credit...Sound like a political pundit too...

No different then "Yes sir mr candidate but 12 years ago when you were 18 you drove around hanging yer butt out of the window of a car that means you must be gay..."

By all accounts the Civ5 AI has the same problems as Elemental's, so... GalCiv2 is out, rest in piece Civ5 & Elemental?

As for the topic of the tread, I have two suggestions:

• Copy SupCom's camera exactly (but use a different hotkey).
• Make the clothmap display the terrain colours (white for snow, yellow for desert, blue for water, etc).

Beyond that I really don't care much about graphics.

Why aren't tutorials like scenarios? You want to learn about city creation and first steps in city building? An scenario for that. Want a  more advanced tutorial about it? (pioneers) Then another scenario just for that. Something like that would also make it easier to update the "tutorial" as new things are added/tweaked.

Graphics are fine but be my guest and improve!

About multiplayer, these days I don't even have time for singleplayer... but as I paid for the feature, improve! Improve! One day I may use it afterall.

Congrats on the baby.  Ive played video games for a long time.  I liked master of magic.  For a retro style game you could make the map simplier like the Master of Magic game. Your mountains were brown, deserts yellow, and everything was flat with a little texture.  I like some color in the game, not alot.  Not going to strictly use cloth map mode.  But for all the detail you trying to throw in I could care less.  I played Starcraft, and Starcraft II the fact they did next to nothing to upgrade their graphics I am perfectly fine with.  I do not want my strategy games to be about how pretty the game looks, the reality side I real pretty game your going to need one good graphics card.  If you made a first person game I would want solid graphics but this is not that type of game.  I like the oblivion games for first person type role playing I am fine with that.  My computer has a ton of pictures on it from real life stuff, not from video game stuff. 

my 2 cents - the Saturday before EWoM came out my computer died.... I do not mean virus - I mean mother board busted.... anyway - I have been lurking on the forums since release and have already acquired my copy but have been waiting until i can replace my computer to play. i thought the reviews were very disheartening but i maintain my confidence that Stardock will patch and fix any problems and i am looking forward to getting a new computer and playing in the next few months (Christmas?)..... thank you for all your hard work and congratulations on the new baby...

Well, one thing I can say- the technical issues that plagued Elemental, and were the main cause of the terrible scores- those have been largely eliminated.  The QA/engine fixing folks have really done a great job.

What you'll find right now is a mediocre game with a lot of potential, which could shine with a good bit of the proper polish.  In order words, about where GC2 1.00 was at, and that game after all its polish and shine turned out to be a near-classic.  I spun it around a bit yesterday and it was still fun.  Hopefully Stardock can do the same job on this as they did with GC2, though Elemental will be a much harder game to get right due to its ambition.

BoogieBac, man, how cool was Secret of Mana? It was the most awesome game experience I had as a kid after SNES's Legend of Zelda (and maybe Mega Man X..). And this is actually the first time I realize that it was also my first adventure in the world of grinding for XP. Did you spend time in the woods next to the snow town, killing tons of wolves to gain XP for weapons & spells? I remember looping the woods for quite a few times with a friend of mine to get all the most awesome special attacks.

That game was soo cool.

Hehe ... having 3 kids enables more interesting diplomatic decisions though

I mean, having just 2 gives more chances for a direct rivalry ... while having 3 kids gives a natural diplomatic buffer for confrontation diffusion.

Also, with 3 kids you can have shifting alliances, as opposed to static rivalry ... which makes reconciliation both less likely and less necessary, as new things will always pop up.

Meanwhile, if you have 2 kids, reconciliation is more likely because of the "lack of peer pressure" ... however if you don't have reconciliation its just awful.

// part of why having 3 kids works as confrontation diffusion, because shifts in allegiance can mitigate previous crimes

Great post!
Congrats on the little one to!

Also Secret Of Mana... so awesome.... loved that game (:

Keep the updates coming! I love Elemental! Also the tips from Civ5 that you talked about, would work very well in Elementals. I dont really need em personally btu for alot of friends of mine who dont understand much of this game it would be very good!

Keep all the updates coming!

Yes congratulations on the baby, with luck me and my wife will be having one ourselves in less than a month all going according to plan.