I think I have figured out the flaw in my strategy, outposts don't get captured in this game so I need to spam them. Don't need to guard shards necessarily, just slap an outpost on them and get the mana when I can.
Also, pioneers can built outposts upgrades on existing outposts. Just realized that! Now those mountain choke-points will get upgraded outposts.
Realized this too late in my second game, though - doomsday counter is 80% full and it's not looking good.
More feedback on the game at this point:
Good:
-The active abilities of riders, pikemen, and other units really make them feel useful and distinct. SK does an even better job than LH did with trained units feeling useful and having distinct roles in battle.
-Minor factions might be off, but it's fun to discover them on the map and know the game world will be more alive soon.
-ISLANDS! I found a shard on an island and got to put my boat to use. Using the oceans just makes the game more fun and make the world feel alive. When it comes time to program map generation, putting neutral factions on islands, important quests on islands would really enhance this feel. Nothing puntuates the fun of exploring the world like finding hidden and significant things.
-This game is hard! And I think I like it that way. I definitely feel like the underdog, even when I am doing well. That counter keeps the stakes front and center.
Needs Work:
-Got up to 6 cities in the last game. Cities could use some small differences to keep them from seeming all the same. It's mildly monotonous to see each city as yet another unit factory.
The structures and resources help a little, but special abilities based on surrounding terrain would give them more distinct flavor. Say, if units trained near forest got + 1 attack, units trained near river got +2 dodge, something like that would make me remember individual cities even more.
Part of the problem is that there are too few city enchantments. I get the feeling more are coming, that will at least help cities with essence stand out in the player's mental inventory.
-This is probably coming, but a tutorial explaining the crucial role of outposts (and how to upgrade them) is necessary.
-Enemy cities. Do they even spawn monsters? One was sitting just out of my sight range, near an undefended city, and 100+ turns passed with no aggressive action whatsoever.
Why can't I keep them after taking them? Seems like an extra step to kill them to free up settle-able terrain.
I wish they were a bit more of a threat, and harder to siege, yet lowered the doomsday counter or gave loot for your trouble.
WISHLIST:
-Please tell me some form of terraforming spells is coming! This was the saddest part of Elemental that got cut for FE, if you ask me (I sense it was actually the right move there, but I feel it would fit right into this game).
