Understandable.

LOL I think thats why they are pushing August. Poor Froggy must be dreading the idea of listening to us try and change the foundation of his game for another 6 months. Even if he is to nice to say it .

ah ok sry didnt read

but your "spot" with which organization? like the publisher? areny you stardock your own publisher?

On the other hand, he is professional ennough to desire and hope to be creating the new Master of Magic. The new StarCraft. The new Portal. The new Half-Life 2. The new KOTOR.

In short, a game that will become a hallmark in the gaming community (at least, PC gaming). A game many people will lookup to as the new standard in 4x game. Probably also a game and a design process the game developping industry will look up to, that will dawn a new era of openness and transparency between game developpers and fanbase.

It is my hope too. It is our hope too.

It's refreshing to see devs being honest about the realities of publishing.  Too many have shipped obviously unfinished products then obfuscated as to why they did so, when it was pretty obvious why (ran out of money, had to meet deadlines imposed by publishers or by marketing reasons such as reserved shelf space, etc.).

A little honesty goes a long way (with adults anyways -- there'll always be some who will still complain).

Given the choices of August or Feb, and that I believe they won't ship Elemental unless it's 'good enough', plus that Elemental will always be a 'work in progress' -- the August date is looking pretty good.

Now stop trolling the boards Frogboy and get back to programming the AI (where's an icon for 'cracking the whip'? )

I think a Cylon would qualify best

If its going to be Feb, that just makes the game that much better. Time is not my primary concern as long as I get into the beta.

Very true and well understood. I doubt anyone wants to see the game get delayed or pushed back, and especially not for some small feature no matter how "cool" it might be. Little things and features can always be added and modded whenever. The AI can't be patched in later. Take your time oh wise master of the AI. We understand.

I have to say though, I disagree with you saying "Everything else is looking pretty good.". You should have said...

"Everything else is looking DAMN GOOD."

"We are thinking of including the meat grinder with the game so that people can actually see the AI do its stuff."

I would love to see that, though it would probably give the human players an unfair advantage.  Normally the players have to infer the way that the computer is executing its strategies by watching the computer actions from within the game.  If I could see what the computer is doing, in detail, it would make it that much easier for my human brain to analyze its weaknesses.  On the other hand, it's a great way to help demonstrate that the computer really isn't cheating and that, yes, it's consistently wiping me off the face of the world by making better moves.  This is what's particularly humbling about AIs in games like chess, where there's absolutely no doubt that the computer is just plain smarter than you, at least when it comes to the game.  I would love to have that same sort of feeling playing Elemental.

Yea, the beta 1 phase has turned out to be even more crucial than we had thought it would be when we first set it up.

I wonder how many people remember what the game was going to be like originally.  The enhanced design is just so much more enjoyable to play.

One example: Recruitable NPCs were not in the original design. That came from the forums. The original battle system didn't include morale.  We originally railed against having different types of damage (fire damage, pierce damage, etc.) but now every weapon includes its damage type. There's just so much stuff that got put on the list and has gotten into the game.

It'll be interesting to see the reaction to beta 2. It'll be buggy I'm sure but it'll be a night and day difference.

This truly is great news!  All these feature mentioned are very nice to have!

... Where is "the list"?  By any chance we can see it?

Why only August or Februrary? No middle ground?

Edit: I leaped before I looked, but now I know. I didn't realize about booking the retail space, and now it makes sense.

Just as a curiosity, what is to stop a company from selling their product several months earlier online than its available to retail? Or would retails be less likely to allow you to buy shelf space after its already been several months on the market?

OR ... is it to maximize initial launch (equal opportunity to buy the game/ maximize launch profits/ keep the media happy by not deflating your launch numbers by launching online) -> all so that people will be more happy with a "full launch" as opposed to a little launch here + a little launch there ... as well as so people don't think OMG horrible! because it didn't "do well" on launch because of the DD market only.

similar to Box Office opening weekend sales vs the rest of the weekends that people care less about?

I think High, Normal, Low, Panic is fine ... and I ALSO agree that a slider would be cool for DETERMINING what the morale state of a unit is. Say, highly trained units start with 90 morale points, a regular dude starts with 70 morale points, champions start with 100 morale points, and legendary creatures (and Sovereigns) start with 120 morale points. Maybe conscripts or slaves start with 45 morale points.

If the morale points drop below 75, then a units morale drops from high to normal. If a units morale drops below 50 points then its morale drops from normal to low. If a units morale drops below 25 then it hits panic, and the morale keeps dropping one point per turn of panic.

Perhaps a Champion or Sovereign could have an ability called "rally cry" that increases nearby allies (within 5 tiles?) morale by 50, however it cannot increase an ally's morale above 80.

Depending on how damaged a unit gets, its morale could drop by 1 or 5 in a given turn, or if it gets flanked (even pre-attacked). For instance, having an opponent at your flank reduces morale by 1, and at your rear reduces morale by 2. Being attacked on your flank (regardless of damage) harms your morale by 4, and being attacked by the rear reduces your morale by 8. There are, of course, certain units that are immune to the morale effects of flanking, but not immune (probably) to the increased damage that flanking causes.

Also, being attacked (in general) always reduces morale by 2 (at least) ... and some spells can raise or lower morale (points). A "scary animal" reduces opponent's morale by 1 for every turn he is in hypothetical striking distance. and his attacks inflict double morale penalty (so 4 morale for a frontal assault, 8 morale for a flank, and 16 morale for a rear assault).

So, lets say every time you are within 10 tiles (or so) of this scary unit you lose 1 morale point per turn ... and if there are two of them you lose 2 morale points per turn.

Something like that. Of course, there are certain units that are immune to the effects of scary units.