The game really needs dungeons vs. killing the repeated spawning of creatures. Some times the creatures re-spawn all around your party or even in the same hex.

In the 1.1 we will probably get a decent curve to these monsters and how often they spawn. I would remind everyone though that we need such critters in the game to level up our heroes fo bigger battles. I usually leave my offspring in my territory to deal with the spawning. That way after 10 or so games of whack a mole, I get a usefull unit.

heh ... you "could" simply leave them alone you know

although, if such weak creatures were attacking caravans .. then there should be a way to assign units to auto-move with a caravan (act as its guard)

but Im a supporter of weak mooks infinitely spawning in the wilds, and stronger mooks inside caves/dungeons ... with the rare Ultra-strong mook both in the wilds and in caves/dungeons

I see, once you amass all that power a power hungry demon would go away but not 10 level 5 wolves?

I understand we need cannon fodder mobs to train up champions but I don't think they should be spawning deep in established territory but they should be in spawning around border towns and wilds.

I would just ignore them but they do attack caravans and shards, mines and other bonus items. While this is fine early on when those things make a difference it's just annoying when you are a super power.

Also the demon was just an extreme example it could just as well be a bandit lord/king or something that you don't normally see wandering around all the time nor does it have to be just for when you are super powerful.

How about combining the two?

First you clear out the area surrounding a new city.

Later, as you see more random monster spawns, you investigate the city's environs and you discover a dungeon/monster spawn/hell gate that you must clear out and thus, at least for a while, end your monster problem.

There are many scenarios that could be played out with this basic mechanic.

For example, you need to locate a seer or witch or something to give you the location of the dungeon and that entity may require some item you would quest to get.

I think we can find a happy middle ground here.

Ideally, there should be a mix of spawning options for independent enemies. I'm not 100% sure of the exact current mechanics.

1) Wilderness spawning: This should be in areas that are not very civilized, mostly monsters and animals. This should also be within your territory, just not near larger cities. For an example, look at The Empire in Warhammer. It is a big area, full of dark forests full of Beastmen and other nastiness. For Elemental, it would be great if there was a way to spawn enemies based on distance to a city. So you might see more bandits spawn near roads, but not very many monsters. Off in the wilderness, you will see more monsters and less bandits. This would also be impacted by your units. If you have units constantly patrolling an area, then the spawns will be ended or reduced. Only problem with that is if someone decides to just spawn individual soldiers all over the place...maybe make it so that you need a certain size patrol to reduce spawns.

2) Location spawning: A haunted tomb might spawn undead warriors. A spider nest spawns spiders. Etc.This can be ended by getting rid of the location.

3) Quest spawning: A quest chain leads to a new wilderness spawn 'event' or a new location being created.

We already have this to some degree, I would just like to see it refined a bit more.

In another thread on this same subject (a week or so ago) I suggested a partial solution for this.. at least with caravans. I suggested a building tech (lets call it a caravan guard guild) that allows us to spend gold to hire guards to protect them.. that or allow us to upgrade caravans with weapons (or make a traders pack) so we can make caravans that can protect them selves..