Hi,

I'm a fan of Stardock. I bought Elemental on a whim - I did not have high hopes or expectations of any sort, I was simply bored and on vacation. This game has intrigued me for all the promise it shows and all it lacks in terms of gameplay and balance - I am not alone there, having spent the last half day or so browsing various sites' boards.

I'd like to give the devs some constructive, tactical feedback. I'll preface this with "the whole time I was playing this game, I wanted Space Empires 4's level of control available" -- I like a *LOT* about this game, but I'm a strategy gamer which means I also like numbers, love spreadsheets, and do analysis for a living. Much of my feedback is basically asking for user interface functionality that I find in SEIV and M&M series.

I am avoiding any commentary on the graphics, the engine, the game balance (that's always in flux!), the memory leaks, or the setting (I love the setting!) -- I want to focus on what I really feel is missing for this to be an outstanding strategy game.

Units 

• I *LOVE* the design/name a unit system. I certainly have a lot of constructive feedback, but I want to call out the great stuff too
• What's up with the archery tree? Is siege engine supposed to be the next level of archery? How about some crossbows (greater reload time but greater attacK) to punch through the armor that all the mid/late game armies have which makes archers nigh-useless?
• I'm aware I can kit out my archers (6 dmg) with a bunch of magical gear for another +6 damage - and I love that it's an option.
• Teams being an upgrade - I think this is very clever. I like that you can't later make people into teams.
• Lack of unit upgrades: This is no bueno. There should be a time and money cost associated with it, but I should be able to turn a peasant from turn 1 into a royal guard rather than deleting him and training a new one from scratch. Plus, if he's leveled up, he should keep the bonus HP - my $.02, but I think it's not game breaking.
  
  

Overland Map

• My Army Stacks - What is the limit to an Army? It seems to be about 11 'groups' (single or multiple) of units? Why is it the limit? The UI is very immersive but I find it hard to use/understand/follow for army management.
• My Army Stacks - Why can't I reorder my stacks? If my warrior is near the end of the stack why can't I move him near the top just for my own peace of mind clicking between him and my sorceror-king for trading?
• My Army Stacks - How is "Army Leader" determined? Why can't I make my sorceress the "Army Leader" easily - especially when she has the teleport spell and I want her to move the army?
• Enemy Armies - Why do AI non-hero soldiers get names? At first I thought it was great, until my seventh kill or so of the exact same soldier with the exact same name. On the one hand, it adds complexity trying to locate the non-soldiers but on the other hand it's really tedious wading through similarly named/portrait'd guys to make sure none are NPCs.

Tactical Combat

• Unit Special Abilities - I love them! Admittedly I think they need some balancing (Hello, fire giant) but I love them.
• Enemy AI - It's pretty decent with choosing targets - it knows to go for the head. So far I've got no complaints there.
• Move / Spell / Attack are all Actions - I like this design choice so far. I like it a lot.
• The tactical board - I can't choose who goes into combat if my stack is too big? (See : Might&Magic series)
• The tactical board - I can't choose where my units are deployed? Why is my mage up front and my best fighter stuck in the back? (See : M&M)
• The tactical board - Why in large army fights am I seeing *enemy* troops line up *on my side* of the board?! At the ends of my line?
• The tactical board - Feels a bit small, especially when defending a town. And woe be to the fighter who is surrounded on all sides by buildings and his allies - who then have to burn move rather than special abilities or attacks so he can get out.
• Auto-Resolve AI - Why is there no setting to control my auto-resolve? Even if it was as simple as "expend no mana on auto-resolve" it could suffice for my needs - when I have a sorceror-king with a 90 combat rating burning 2 mana of his 40 on melt to win a simple combat against a 17 combat rating opponent, it's kind of annoying - he always seems to go first in his giant army!
• Auto-Resolve AI - I'd love more complex auto-resolve and placement options. Even if just on NPC's to reduce design complexity. Options like: "Deploy: Front, Back, Middle. Expend Mana: Y/N. Go: First, Middle, Last." - I'd want to set all my archers/catapults to "Go First" obviously if I had the option, rather than wasting mana or risking retaliation on a drive-by knockout.

Technology

• I *LOVE* the research system. I think it's very clever. I just mourn the lack of tech trees or information.
• I think that there's some clear balance / depth issues, but none I have tactical advice for. Perhaps the 'adventure/conquest' trees could have some movement boost

Magic

• I *LOVE* the essence system. Makes 'magic users' much more valuable. My first game I gave away 9 essence and then lost all those characters a few turns later... jeez!
• Spell tree needs work (or some document explaining why I'd ever want to research some spells)
• Balance is not there. I can get a fire giant by level 3 and it's probably the most useful spell I get other than teleport and the city enchants?
• Some spells seem bugged. I can cast teleport on my sorceress not as the leader of the army, and it expends mana but does nothing.

Races

• Stats - I am a numbers guy. So are most strategy players. Why don't races have any difference for sovereigns in starting stats? 10 all the way? no Weaknesses or Strengths?
• Races - With custom race I can't *fathom* how other races are '10 points' worth. It would be worth detailing the points cost of each upgrade and adding things like 'Urxen Special Units/Tech - 4 points, Death Magic - 1 pt'
• Numbers. Numbers. Numbers!!!! You did a great job on the units / pc numbers, just not elsewhere. Numbers!

I hope to continue to add to this. Please don't take it the wrong way - I like the promise of the game, but it's far from 'ready' in my mind.

- Gaeb