Purchased the Game and I am enjoying it

I know you are all waiting breadthlessly for the this announcement (tongue in cheek) but I did buy Elemental. I apologize for my excessive angst in coming to this decision.

However, just to hedge my bets, I also bought Age of Wonders Shadow Magic and Disciples II: Dark Phophecy Gold editon (has two mods in it). I tried each game out for about 4 hours apiece initially. Based on this very scientific testing procedure (tongue in cheek, again). Elemental ranked by far the highest followed by AOW: SM and then Disciples II. While all three seem to be good games Elemental stands far above the crowd.

I have not had any crashes on Elemental (1.11) thus far and I actually like the art style. I haven't done wvery well in Elemental either which seems to have the highest learning curve of the trio. It does have that submersive quality which deprives you of sleep, raises the ire of your spouse and is disappointing to your pet dalmatian (although I am obligated to a minimum amount of playtime with him regardless).

I have a couple of questions thus far.

1. Are there gold mines in the game? I have not been able to find any as yet.

2. Are there any other sources of metal beyond finding the stuff lying around? Are there metal mines or a blacksmith function for instance?

3. What's the best way to generate mana? I continually run out just about the time I have mastered all the 3rd level spells.

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1. Yes, gold deposits exist, you have to build a mine on it, it has to be in your zone of influence.

2. Same as #1, except insert the word iron or ventri in plase of gold. A blacksmith is available once your city hits level 4.

3. Buid improvements on shards.

All of the improvements do require that you have researched the appropriate tech.

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Quoting ,

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I know you are all waiting breadthlessly for the this announcement (tongue in cheek) but I did buy Elemental. I apologize for my excessive angst in coming to this decision.

50 bucks is 50 bucks. I don't blame you for wanting to spend it wisely.

1. Are there gold mines in the game? I have not been able to find any as yet.

Yes - but they are somewhat rare.

2. Are there any other sources of metal beyond finding the stuff lying around? Are there metal mines or a blacksmith function for instance?

Yes again. You should be able to find Iron Ore and Ventri Metal Deposits. Both (once improved with a mine) will provide you with metal.

3. What's the best way to generate mana? I continually run out just about the time I have mastered all the 3rd level spells.

Research the magic tech that allows you to upgrade your Shards to "Greater Shards" or whatever they are called - that will give you a good bump. Note that the shards must be connected to a city (supposedly - I've seen them work with and without being connected... and not work as well). There are also some buildings that increase mana, but they are pretty far down the tech tree. Grabbing and upgrading Shards is always my preferred method. Also, keep the spells requiring upkeep to a minimum (I guess that goes without saying).

Good luck!

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I see the metal and gold mines has been satisfactorily answeredm but I wanted to expand on the mana issue.

Yes, the best early way to get mana generating is to research the magic tech and get shard harvesting, then further down the tree, the other tech that makes them greater shards.

But one thing I found very useful is that trait, when custom creating my sovereign, that gives you 2 mana per turn. To me, that represents two more spells that you can have active, or a summoned imp and a spell, or just another 2 mana per turn to get a larger pool of mana. And it starts from turn one. =D

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Yes , I forgot that, as I add it to my Sovereign by routine. Ooops.

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@Mhantra: I personally wouldn´t play without that sovereign-trait.
Also I´d like to say that a very nice way to up your mana is to have children.
As I´ve understood it, offspring of the same gender as your sovereign will have the sovereigns traits, meaning it will produce as much mana as your sovereign does.

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