Hi all,
You don't know me, but I've lurked these boards for around a year now. I've been a gamer for decades, played MOM on release, and I *love* these types of games. So...
Impression: The game has alot going for it. Exploration is well done, with the addition of roaming NPC's and I believe random items on the map that appear based on research. It's got a hint of Civilization in it's map specials, which is a very nice touch. Combat appears to have alot of room for deep strategy. City building again has a touch of Civ, and does it well. Overall, I'd say it appears to be a game worth getting.
Complaints/Feature requests...
1. I'm having a hard time figuring out what's going on. The manual is pretty much useless. I *need* to know how big cities get at maximum and midrange to plan effectively, but I can't find anywhere that tells me. Research is too vague, I need to know what the different techs do, but I can't find any info. In short, I feel there's insufficient information for the Player.
2. Turns are too fluid, I need to know when a city is finished producing something so I can queue a new improvement/unit. I find myself going 3-5 turns before remembering a city is likely idle. The game needs the option of not ending a turn until I hit "End turn" or a Sitrep report so I know when a city is done. The little pop-ups in the right corner are too easy to miss.
3. (bug) Movement is occasionally bugged, sometimes my units go on a tour instead of going where I tell them to. The grid helps, but still occurs.
4. (bug) I've had my sovereign lose his ability to make the first city if I've moved him a few turns first.
Essentially, there's insufficient information and the game could use some optional pauses. So far that's really my only complaints, informational. The bugs I've encountered, while annoying at times, are pretty minor.