I would guess you are right Anomander that the tactical element and visuals has not been top priority so far. From what I read in the forums development did not start in that end.

Many games have great tactical combats but boring strategic gameplay. I'm very glad that Elemental seems to not fall into that trap. A game like this should be fun even with tactical battles turned off, otherwise make a purely tactical game instead.

Also I find the unique graphics style nice and what's wrong with plastic miniatures?
But sure, some variation in poses would not hurt, even miniatures have that.

FTA: "Kingdoms play more like traditional strategy games where you build up population centers and keep everyone happy, whereas empires are more about producing great people."

I was under the impression that the difference between Kingdoms and Empires was that Kingdoms used Life magic (and were "good") and Empires used Death magic (and were "evil). I generally enjoy being good in games like these, but collecting great people sounds like a very fun play style. Is it possible to use Life magic as an Empire? What exactly do they mean you "produce great people"?

Is it too much to ask to have both...apparently N:TW comes close?

If you state an element as a feature 'Tactical Battle' then in my mind it should BE a feature, but I agree the game should stand alone with the 'TacBattles' turned off.

Noooooooooooooooo lets leave the clutter out! I want great forest expanses, plains and mountains. Not a Fantasy theme park!

Uh, maybe I'm just projecting my own preferences, but I think most of us definately want the fantasy theme park!

I think that part of the map emptiness comes from the fact that terrain types don't really exist. You have mountain, forest and open land. With more terrain types that have an impact on gameplay, the map would fill up nicely. SD so far is treating this terrestrial map like a galciv map; you have goodyhuts and resources floating out in 'space'.

If you want a fantasy theme park you can make your own maps.  But Elemental's maps are largely randomly generated and have to support very very VERY large maps.

My preference is for a world that is much like our own but has the presence of magic.

However, with magic, you can cast spells in game to change your area into looking like a magical garden (and those spells cost 0 mana).

Exactly.

I mostly limit myself to lurking here even though i've been following this for quite a while now. No need to voice an opinion that has already been worded by several others .

In this case I'll make an exception though.

To simplify this process, the game has only one resource type, so you don't need to worry about gathering wood and stone and a bunch of other things from the environment to build out population centers.

Through my regular reading here I am almost sure this is a rather blantant error. Last time i checked (quite recently )  resources where global (to reduce micromanagement) - but there was no question of a single resource. The only time you'd notice local(ized) it would be in times of siege. We still have food and wood and stone and metal and swords and shields and potions and pens and ~> 

It be real great if Brad, or on of the others, could confirm this is down to another industry hack short on time before his deadline (read a kinder description if you please).

Screenies do look nice

Hmmm, in my opinion, that's a missed opportunity. There is fun to be had by making such things functional. If my throne of skulls wasteland is encroaching on magical bunny land, it should be something that is good for me, but non-optimal for them.