2nd game, 20 turns into the game,the doomsday counter is about 10% complete

This is my second game on the Tarth map (normal difficulty). In my first game, my back was up against the wall and I won with barely much time left on the clock. However, this time around I pinned the Sorcerer King down on the left side of the map. I am forcing his units to run my outpost gauntlet while my hero stack does all quests and clears areas around remaining resources and final shards. Note this is turn 175 and the doomsday counter is not even half. The fact that I am protecting shards AND doing quests (which sometimes reduce the doomsday counter) has helped tremendously. Side note: this map is initially hard as resources are scarce. This means no pikemen, riders, or battle mages. Hypnotizing Sorcerer King units, especially Warg Riders, has given me control of the game map.

Ok, so your better than me.

It mush really suck to be able to master games two days after the beta release.

What's the point? You might as well move onto something more challenging if games are a cake walk for you.

Sorry, did not mean to come across that way. Was trying to illustrate you can slow the doomsday counter.

 

I don't think you did. I think someone is just a wee bit sensitive.....

*cough* BORG *cough*

You did much better than I did on the Tarth map! Then again, I played the Tarth map on my first attempt.

The timer is not a linear growth. If you manage to save a few shards, you should have a longer game than 200 turns. I find it fast in the beginning and slows down thereafter. But turtle defense is really not an option in this game. It forces an aggressive stance.

I think the pacing is about right.

I am usually a builder in 4X games and turtle for a while before attempting to confront other civs but this game is a breath of fresh air in that it forces me to be more aggressive. It makes for some interesting guns or butter game play decisions. I need to develop my cities but I also need to be expanding and getting stronger militarily type of thing.

 

Yea, sorry about that. I was feeling fustrated after the last game.

Hmm, need we revisit some of your posts in the LH forum...

After playing 5 games, three of which I quit after a dozen or so turns because I could see how far behind I was, I have come to the conclusion that this is the same old traditional 4x game with two differences. One that I like, and one that I don't like. You're fighting one foe instead of multiple foes and you have a strict time limt to achieve the objective. The time limit is so short that you are in constant rush mode. IMO, pacing should be revisited.

I like to play games for the immersion. 200 turns is like a sugar rush. A quick high and then it's over.

What this means is that you are forced to b-line to a military buildup. No time for exploring (beyond finding shards), and no time for quest, unless you happen upon one by chance while looking for the shards. It's one-dimensional in the sense that there is only one strategy. Pioneer spam and military spam. Where have I seen that before?...

One of the huge benefits of Early Access is that we can balance pacing based on player feedback, which we are definitely doing.  Also, we'll soon be adding in a spell to reduce the Doomsday Counter (for a lot of Mana of course) to allow for a few more defensive strategies.  We plan to add another to heal shards.

Indeed. Pacing is really the primary purpose of EA IMO.

Also, the spell going in will help as well as the AI updates that take into more account the # of shards destroyed and less on the raw doomsday counter.

I would imagine (hope) that this would also be a big mana use spell?

One of the huge benefits of Early Access is that we can balance pacing based on player feedback, which we are definitely doing.  Also, we'll soon be adding in a spell to reduce the Doomsday Counter (for a lot of Mana of course) to allow for a few more defensive strategies.  We plan to add another to heal shards.

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Excellent!

Also, a rare OP spell similar to manna blast would add to the fun!

I too, find the current pacing to be a little on the fast side at the moment. 

But I definitely think the game will have to slow down a good bit once the minor factions are fully implemented - that's a major part of the game and I don't think most players will want to feel like they have to rush through it.

I wonder if marketing data exists that illustrates the average number of turns within a completed 4x game? Maybe that would make a good baseline. Brad has tons of marketing people hanging around over there! They must have an answer.