So ... how long are you planning for the game to take? (or how long will it take for the AI to get to phase III, heh)

(in 0.77), its already 200 AC (turn 400-ish), and I feel like I've only begun to enter phase II (medium map)

But honestly, I kinda like it. I mean, its fun spending hundreds of turns exploring and leveling (I've only met 1 civ so far in my two games ... at turn 400-ish on each. Took about 10-20 turns to kill him too, would have been shorter but I detoured to kill more monsters)

Oh.....where to start.

I am a king among lurks. A lurking demi-god, if you wish to call it that. I have lurked this forum and the original Elemental forums since before I first preordered the original game.

I was dissapointed with the original Elemental, I must admit. I played it but it did not take long to find its way off my HD...but I couldn't stay mad...you guys gave us GalCiv2, afterall...so I was happy to support you more in all honesty.

Then you give all of us early Elemental pre-orders access to the beta and FE itself...and I put it off. Even one of my fellow co-workers, who also pre-ordered the original game and was a bit dissapointed, told me to get in the FE beta and I still put off playing it for a while since I was skeptical.

Now I am not.

Playing .77 was already leaps and bounds better then the original from the GUI to the spells themselves (altho I miss the volcano )  Then you give us this beautiful, beautiful preview of .80. I may even convince a couple other folks I know to take a dive on the game when it's complete.

I swear I nearly cried when you said you were replacing caravans with something much less annoying. NEARLY CRIED MANLY TEARS.

Yea BarxBaron .. I only started actually playing the FE beta a few days ago. Right there with ya about being skeptical about the whole process.

Also there with ya about being pleasantly surprised once I got into an FE game.

"Champions are automatically able to cast spells.  What makes the sovereign special – as a channeler – is they’re the ones with the ability to derive mana from the shards. All spell casters use the global pool supplied, ultimately, through your channeler.  The bottom line, lots more magic being thrown around."

I agree with decision to remove imbue. But this line is just a description, no game effect except for shards. Logic wise is also a bit weird, so before they served under channelers they couldnt cast spells? But then suddenly they could? How does that work particularly if thye are high level already. Or perhaps you mean before that they were limited to their personal mana, which can be very limited..but there is no concept of personal mana in FE.

Still ,Could we have some game effect to really show the channeler is more powerful or at least different from run of mill champions? 

I really like the idea of limiting mana usable in Tactical combat by intelligence and/or level, except Soveriegn would have higher limits or even none.

E.g

Mana that can be used per tactical combat per champion = INT + Level *2  (adjustable by abilities)

Channelers could have higher limits or even a special ability "Channeler" - No limit to mana use per tactical combat

More complicated ideas would be soft limits, you can throw mana beyond your limit but for each mana point used beyond your limit, you pay X2.

Even more complicated would be marrying it with MOM ideas of range... The further you were from the channeler the greater penalities you pay to cast spells.. SO range penalty of X2 means even if you could use 20 mana per combat, it would cost you 40 from the pool.

Or AOW ideas of "domain", where your channeler could cast overland spells only if within your "domain" . Domains were extendable by moving your channeler to Wizard's Towers (there were different types i think that extended the domain). It was a great concept as you tried to arrange combats in your domain so you could have magic support.. or move your wizard up to support ....

Well done, Stardock... well done.

Champions are automatically able to cast spells. What makes the sovereign special – as a channeler – is they’re the ones with the ability to derive mana from the shards.

That's still not enough. Once you've got a champion, there really isn't any way to differentiate between him and your sovereign since the shard mana is collected trough shrines built by cities or outposts with no involvement from the sovereign, and strategic spells seem to be cast(from a player point of view) independent of character. I still say there needs to be something that really makes your ruler stand out, like in chapter 1 of this https://forums.elementalgame.com/417742 

As for the rest, I like what I'm seeing. 

Yes. The sovereign definitely needs something to make him stand out from other heroes. Right now the only thing is that the sovereign never gets any injuries. Which as you all know just means that he's better cannon fodder. Really? It's a sad state of affairs when your sovereign becomes the MOST expendable unit in your army. Lol.

Sov could have special traits. But as far as connecting to the lore, he dies, so does the kingdom. That is pretty different from a champion.

Or what?

If magic is channeled from sovereign to champions then shouldn't the flow stop when the sovereign is in the death penalty box?

Only comment since the beta started.  Just sayin

Caravan removal means the end is near... the end... is near.

Is it next Thursday yet?

IF we are going to have limits to mana usable during a tactical battle (although I don't see it necessary) then it should probably be level*intelligence

I want to make a point about level requirements changing. If it is decided that this has to go there are only a few options. The game currently doesn't allow for a system where a stat check can determine if an item can be equipped. The quickest change would be to balance items so that weapons that are powerful are only awarded from very difficult tasks. The harder, but more desirable option would be to allow for unit stat checks. An even better implementation would be to allow a hero to equip any weapon, but lack of experience or insufficient stats will cause a penalty to the quality of an attack, much like encumbrance does with weight. You might even have a random chance to strike a friend, as clumsiness would be a consequence of using a weapon beyond your ability. You might even hurt yourself. 

The worst fix would be to remove all level requirements and call it good. 

I think its great that the three paths have their own resources and that trained units share XP, but champions dont. I guess the shards affect only the spells of the sovereign and that would make the spells of champions very weak in act II and III. Is there anything to prevent a sovereign with high movement to kill everything alone and level very fast?

Very good news ! It really is taking shape !

A few things that made me tick while reading :

• We have gotten a lot of feedback with regards to the “first impression” elements of Fallen Enchantress. Part of that goal is to make it clear to players what the distinctions are between each faction and each sovereign.
  What I can see here still need me to "read" the descriptions like "fire apprentice". A visual feedback like a number of fire icons would let the player see at a glance how powerfull the sovereign is in a particuliar way of magic. So instead of "Fire apprentice" you would get 1 fire icon, instead of Fire disciple you would get 2 fire icons, etc.
• The main map UI has bee modified as well to place the often missed Govern button down with Spells and Turn in the bottom right. In addition, important events now pop out for a turn from the side to inform players of events without interrupting the action.
  From my point of view, the "spell" button is really easy to miss. There were some post that ask where you could cast your strategic spells. So putting the "govern" button next to a button that is hard to find doesn't seem a good choice. Maybe instead of a button you have to read, replace it with an iconic button, and with a shape that would differentiate it from the rectangular mini map (so a round shape would be good to create a visual contrast)
• Balance changes will be both subtle and obvious to players. Fallen Enchantress provides 3 different technology paths to choose from. Beta 2 is designed to give each technology tree its own path to world domination.
  The first thing that came to mind was : to research I need research points. I only get research points through cities, so I need the civic path. Even if I want to win with magic, I'll need some civic technologies because without them I won't be able to advance in other techs. Maybe, adding other ways to earn research points (for the magic, you could add a spell that let you transform mana to research – at the right cost. For the military path, you could earn some research points through battles : some units could have a "warfare study" trait. For the civic trait, there's already the "more buildings for research" but more things could be add like exchanging diplomatic capital with research)
• Champions are automatically able to cast spells. What makes the sovereign special – as a channeler – is they’re the ones with the ability to derive mana from the shards. All spell casters use the global pool supplied, ultimately, through your channeler. The bottom line, lots more magic being thrown around.
  Like others said, it looks like more a "fluff" thing than a gameplay thing. We'll have to play to know more about that. Maybe mana cap for champions, because they hardly generate mana, and no cap at all for the sov, after all he IS a "channeler".

Keep up the good work !

Do I understand it right? When I pre-order FE today or maybe tomorrow (sunday the 19.2.2012) I will definetly get access to beta 2 next weak? If so I will starve this months and pre-order it

I, too, would really like to get rid of the level restrictions. What would be really really nice is multi-leveled weapons. A poison dagger could have, for instance, 3 levels : at first only 25% chances to poison, second 50%, thirs 50% but with a higher poison damage. A new champion that take the dagger can only use the first level of the weapon. Then you could have trait that would let the champions focus on higher levels weapons. So someone with the "Psychic bind with weapons" could use the 3rd level of weapons equipped. So you still get a restriction, but it's not tied to just level but player choice.

I think I'll give the next beta my first serious play through on the 29th. Hopefully I won't be stricken with some foul disease!

New art assets - yes dear sirs that's needed. New sounds, animations, cutscenes and music. I am waiting:D

That is a very interesting idea.

Can't hardly wait for the new beta, so far this is a good game as it is bugs & all.  The beta update sounds like this maybe one of your best ever games! glad to see caravans go they were annoying, and just as glad that champions may now have a better use than just tagging along with your sov. where ever they may go!

Baby, suprise me.

I'd say access of it removed ... but let the mana keep flowing INTO the pile during those turns

(although if Mana is dense by default that might not be necessary ... unsure)

And lose half your stored mana when your Sovereign dies.

One thing that bugged me and was a bit confusing at first was which spell was tactical and which was strategic.  I wish the UI made them easier to separate out from each other.  Also adding a little bit of flavor to them would be nice. Maybe Strategic Magic should be called Rituals and Tactical ones Spells. That way you can tell by the name where it’s cast. I kinda like the sound of the Ritual of Making, especially if it takes 25 seasons to complete.