Hi all.  I have been playing elemental since it was released and I have some thoughts on things that I would like to see going forward.  First, thanks to everyone at stardock for their hard work.  1.1 is a giant leap forward for the game.  Nice work.

MAPS

I like the new reduced resources (I'm probably in the minority in that, but I find adding cities to creating safe areas for trade route is incentive for building cities even without the numerous resources) but it can make the map feel bland. 

To piggy back on another post.  Kingdoms should get minor resources based on terrain in their area of control, plains = food, hills = metal, forest = material, desert = trade bonus, etc.  This should happen without building anything.  It would encourage city specialization and the use of the terraforming spell branch.  It also make sense in the lore because people would need to have basic subsistence before the rise of the channelers.

Empires in this case should work slightly differently since their land is so different.  For example, the empires seem to eat a lot of fungus, fungus tends to grow in cave.  Perhaps the empires should have to choose between metal or food from the hills in their areas of control.  They could do that with buildings built in their cities.  If that is to complicated, hills = food, plains = production bonus, etc...

Staying with resources and city specialization.  The spells that create one food for one mana should be replaced.  For most of the game one mana is far more valuable than one food or the other bonus.  Instead these spells should create farmland or a claypit or some other resource (except for libraries).  These spells should be linked to the land.  I think they would work well with the above suggestions.

To encourage exploring, but not city spam, the map needs surprises (easter eggs). For example,

-a lost city that includes a one time research bonus, perhaps surrounded by a few lost libraries

-an ancient temple that teaches a spell or even allows a new spell branch to be researched

-a monster lair, that is generating armies, that could be wiped out

-Giant dragon bones, because they are traditional in games with dragons.

Tribes and villages.  We read about them but never see them.  Adding them would make the game world feel more alive.  They don't need to rise to the level of minor factions, just small villages.  They should be linked in some way to resources so the player must first deal with them before building a city to gather the resources.  You could attack them and wipe them out or use diplomacy (creating a population resource and/or a recruitable hero).

HEROES

Right now, with money so available in 1.1, all heroes get the best armor the kingdom has, and a two handed or one handed weapon depending on their strength.  All my heroes kind of look the same.  I think there should be a line of wizard wear clothing.  Robes that increase int and dex, staves that can cast spells once per battle without costing the player mana, a crown that increases spell range or size, something to protect from arrows.  Also, for my high dexterity heroes,  off handed weapons (like a dueling dagger)  that increase combat speed and add a dodge bonus.  The idea here is to differentiate between spell casters, warriors and assassin types.  

The empires and kingdoms should have a subset of heroes that only they can recruit.

There should be a spell that generates a hero from one of my cities (or maybe just a search command for your channeler), the size of the city and type of city should play a role in who appears.

When children are born a tutor should be selected for them (the channeler would be the default), this tutor would impart his abilities on the children when they are adults.  That way the player can choose what abilities their children have.  At level 10 the player should get to choose the child's education (military vs magic vs court, for example), giving a bonus to certain attributes.  It would be interesting if the type of education available was related to the buildings in the capital.

More abilities for heroes (you're probably planning this already).  If the background of a hero is as a healer he should help armies heal faster between battles.

TACTICAL BATTLES

It should cost double movement points to move by an enemy.  If my wizards are going to be wearing robes it needs to be more difficult for the bad guys to get to them.

I think the tactical battles are probably going to get a major rework with one of the expansions, but until then most people want to see a visual sign of the wall they have built.  Archer towers would help this.  Towers at the back of the battle field that randomly shot at invaders.  The type of bows and number of towers would depend on the level of the walls.

Cities being invaded should also generate a couple of units of militia (just in the tactical battle). The strength of the militia should depend on the military level of the kingdom/empire and the size of the city.  This would help the AI a lot as it doesn' t always protect its cities well.

KINGDOMS/EMPIRES

People have said the different kingdoms and empires don't feel different enough.

Each individual kingdom and empire should have one unique building.  (Obviously, there would need to be a list of unique buildings for the create your own kingdom people)

Each basic unit should have slight differences.  For example Capitar should get small bonus to hit, Gilden's warriors should have a slightly higher attack (all that mining makes them strong).  The non humans should have larger bonuses offset with penalties.  Hit harder but dodge less.

UI

I would like to see one click spell casting that defaults to my channeler.  It would save a lot of time and clicks.

Sorry about the length of the post.  I hope it is coherent.  Elemental has the chance to be an all time classic game and I hope my two cents will help with that.

Besides you should see my ideas for Heroes of Might and Elemental: An Elemental Role Playing Game.

Oops I forgot. . . 

harbors need to generate food.  This would cause me to actually build them.

boats should be much faster, they are basically scouts because the teleport spell makes them obsolete quickly.  Making them faster would help.