Nice premise change saying challenge instead of a stop. It makes a difference in storytelling. It's also a nice touch to use the word rival because I do feel like the other races shouldn't be there just to suite the player's need without convincing. 

1-8 are great

9 - I need to see the sovereign tree before I know what to do with this. It's already hard to get through the tree as a rule so I don't know if I want more if the flow isn't good. 

10 - see above on sovereign tree concern but I'll thrilled with the idea that each sovereign will have a different building flow. 

11 - This reminds me of Fallen Enchantress and works for me. It'd be great to see at release but it's not bad as a later patch release or even an expansion. Right now city building isn't very fun but it works for the game at the moment. If there was a change then I'd want to make sure it's a good chance that works for the longevity of the game and is fun above all. It's like the idea that I wish that the towers in Sovereign King worked like the towers from Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes. Right now the towers are implemented simply (effective though) but require an endless stream of pioneers to upgrade (which is lousy to micromanage). I'm fine with the towers right now honestly but I'd want a full effort if they were changed. It's the same for city growing/building changes.

Thanks for listening and keep up the good work.

I like Brad's suggestions - many of them sound like what I would propose if I was working at SD in 2020 and ideas for an Elemental sequel were starting to be floated.   (Seriously, what you said sounds like what I would want in an "elemental 2", if expanded upon enough_

Recipes- recipes are something I don't think should be tied to research for the most part, at least not in set ways.  Maybe researching some things might lead to 1-2 recipes of X types, but I'd prefer recipes to remain luck-based outside of maybe 2nd tier recipes for vital weapons (heroes do need them)

One thing that the game does need is more variety in bad guys, and more good guys to recruit, but that is something that would take development resources.

I can't help but notice that player do not have that much reciepts from the start. 

Receipts from tree are good becouse of predictability. Right now player can predictable get mid-game reciepts, but not end-game ones. Mostly I end up collecting end game items from battles, because I just do not have receipts to craft them.

Other things look like move towards FE:LH, and I personally do not appreciate that. These are different series and better stay that way. 

Hey guys, brand new to the forum but I thought I'd chime in. I'm a long time 4x player but I've given SK a few tries and as well as completed my first playthrough and something stuck me as a relatively simple way to enhance the replayability:

Implement some sort of Affinity/Ideology/Alignment system. The framework for this already exists somewhat in the game, you make choices in quests which are tied to certain traits (compassion, wisdom, etc.), why not make these choices more meaningful? They could start out with relatively simple passive bonuses to your faction, but eventually given enough investment in a particular Affinity could grant you exclusive buildings, spells or maybe even tweaked versions of existing units. This system could also effect how the minor factions and Sorcerer King interact with you diplomatically. 

If this is done well it would mean that every time you played you couldn't say for sure what your final faction build might be. Your choices given a particular staring location would be different, leading you towards an affinity you may not have expected. On the other hand, you may want to make some choices in quests which are somewhat counter intuitive to get the bonuses that you want. I know this may be a complex system to pull off well, but I think the basis for this already exists in game.

Affinities give player spells, units and interfere with diplomacy already. But their impact could be still inreased, though.

Love the proposed changes Frog!

A couple quick questions/notes..

"Remnants", or "Remnant Factions", was really cool.

so allying with a faction will yield diplomatic/economic options, and conquering them will yield militaristic options?  cool

can we add metal and crystal costs to some buildings?  i really like the idea of special constuctions being unlocked via the sovereign trees. 

how about treating recipes like spells, and associating them with spell schools, so we can research them?!

also - "Elemental: Forge of the Overlord"

just sayin.

these^ buildings should be faction specific.

thank you!

Love the idea of special buildings requiring a strategic resource. Just like GC3! Well done, CardinalDirection