Eador Genesis

[william blake]

That is pretty silly mechanic, since you can declare war AND attack in the same turn. And no treachery there

afair it affects your global relationship.

I feel like just quitting Eador. I hate having to grind to beat those things.

ai enemies are too weak for me.i feel like just quitting eador.i wish those things in every enemy province.

 

[Malakal]

If there's one thing that spoils my enjoyment of the game the more I play it, it's the uber guard contracts. Every time some guy gets an ogre contract, a stone golem contract, and a high level undead contract, and puts 1 in his capital and 2 in other provinces so it's a pain in the ass to contain him, I feel like just quitting Eador. I hate having to grind to beat those things.

I beat army of chaos (2 devils, 3 demons, 5 hell hounds and fiends, 5 imps) with level 2 units and one level 5 spell so it is doable. On larger maps doesnt require grinding too - I just eliminated other competitors before the aforementioned army of chaos one. Even worse is undead army (2 vampires, 3 ghosts then 4-5 ghouls and 5-6 skeletons or zombies) for that one I had to suicide a hero beforehand to clear the ghosts. Annoying? Yes. But it works two ways - you can hire those guards too.

 

[SerratedBiz]

I don't think i can handle this game. A strategy with a rogue-like saving system makes me very edgy.

It's been like rehab for me. The main reason I haven't yet finished a HOMM campaign is because, by the endgame, I'm so worried about losing I'll spam save-load until I manage a perfect game. This, in turn, bogs down the game and makes the difficulty trivial. In the end I'm executing my strategy flawlessly and end up bored because of it.

Eador has taught me a little bit about rolling with the punches. Of course, the game's design is not identical to HOMM and things like a centralized, infinite supply of units make losing a critical battle a less frustrating affair. But still, it's nice not to abuse the save system for once, and I wonder if this will also allow me to enjoy JA2 again in the future.

 

[Raghar]

Is it my impression or the (cheating) AI is very vector oriented? Put something a hero-fortified territory on a place where the AI thinks is the shortest route to your HQ; and you never see them try alternate routes (thank gawd).

I don't think i can handle this game. A strategy with a rogue-like saving system makes me very edgy.

Just you wait until you would be attacked, and then your enemy would attack you with 3 Minotaurs.

 

[Interesting]

Question.

Ive been playing on Expert, I start with Warrior with Armor Plate skill and upgrade only that and the +attack/counterattack one, then I get the workshop to purchase the +2/+2 chain mail and +1 def shield, then I get the library and then the magic armor/magic weapon spell, then I get some thiefs. At this points, I steamroll anything starting with goblins, militias, brigands, undeads, orcs and so on, based on what the warrior is imune or near imune to. By the time I reach the AI, its only level 5 or so and Im level 10. I can just keep camping the AI with F10 and soloing it with the Warrior-Commander. Everything else like getting better equipment, building economy, doing quests and grinding more levels becomes an exercise in vanity.

Does this mechanic ever change to a point where the game is not about who gets the powerlevel lead in the first 15-30 turns?

Also, is there any point in exploring everything, doing every quest, building every building in every province, etc? Does it affect the meta game in any way other then changing your reputation? (I start evil, to acquire early resources, plunder everything that is not worth developing, pick the evil/greedy options and when you take the clear lead against the AI, you build your economy and start overwhelmingly choosing the good guy options by the time when winning or losing is not at stake anymore)

It seems like the only thing that really matters is hero power leveling in a cookie cutter, scripted, blueprint way. I feel no incentive to play anymore.

 

[Raghar]

You mean you would take at least 200 turns to shift from Dark to Bloodthirsty?

BTW are you playing at beginner/expert or skilled/expert?

 

[SCO]

There is also another thing i don't like.
If you want to explore the game seems to be tied around containing the AI so you have time to do those dozens of quests/locations.

Problem: to 'contain' the AI, you need to use your main hero, that should be out fighting it's eternally re-spawning heroes in monotonous fights, every 5 turns in small shards.
Alternative i suppose is the usual blitzkrieg stuff; however if a shard has two or more masters you really want two or three well developed heroes. One to attack. Another to ferry replacement troops to the attacker if you can't build a outpost in a convenient location and to defend your stronghold. Leaving you with zilch time to actually do quests or other fights, as well as boring the shit out of you if you try to not automate the fights against the enemy heroes (which is ironic no?)

Game has a real problem with AI aggressiveness, which is relentless once it starts, unlike some strategy games like AoW, thou i suppose you can call that hardcore and you'd probably be right.

I pretty much think this could be 'fixed' with a small tweak so that AI hero respawn rate is tied to distance from the nearest player settlement on maps to their stronghold - so that when the player keeps defeating them on the outskirts of nothingville-distantstan where the player didn't even try to conquer his stuff, they repawn more slowly (or do other things), while if the player is 2 settlements away their aggressive ways are unaffected.

 

[sher]

Question.
Does this mechanic ever change to a point where the game is not about who gets the powerlevel lead in the first 15-30 turns?

Warrior is one of the weakest heroes so his power is not so important if you're fighting not AI. It has some uses and great against neutrals but that's all. If you know how to start and gain power faster than AI then you're better and victory is yours. But there are not only good starts and sometimes you'll have several AIs to fight to survive. So if you've mastered good Warrior start then you can try to master more powerful heroes, steady team development, more intense power gaining, bad starts and so no.

Game is not endless, yes.

 

[Bulba]

Question.
Does this mechanic ever change to a point where the game is not about who gets the powerlevel lead in the first 15-30 turns?

Warrior is one of the weakest heroes so his power is not so important if you're fighting not AI. It has some uses and great against neutrals but that's all. If you know how to start and gain power faster than AI then you're better and victory is yours. But there are not only good starts and sometimes you'll have several AIs to fight to survive. So if you've mastered good Warrior start then you can try to master more powerful heroes, steady team development, more intense power gaining, bad starts and so no.

Game is not endless, yes.

also there is always harder difficulty, so if it's too easy on expert move up the dif ladder (my guess is that the ai dif is at the top already)

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

Question.

Ive been playing on Expert, I start with Warrior with Armor Plate skill and upgrade only that and the +attack/counterattack one, then I get the workshop to purchase the +2/+2 chain mail and +1 def shield, then I get the library and then the magic armor/magic weapon spell, then I get some thiefs. At this points, I steamroll anything starting with goblins, militias, brigands, undeads, orcs and so on, based on what the warrior is imune or near imune to. By the time I reach the AI, its only level 5 or so and Im level 10. I can just keep camping the AI with F10 and soloing it with the Warrior-Commander. Everything else like getting better equipment, building economy, doing quests and grinding more levels becomes an exercise in vanity.

Does this mechanic ever change to a point where the game is not about who gets the powerlevel lead in the first 15-30 turns?

Also, is there any point in exploring everything, doing every quest, building every building in every province, etc? Does it affect the meta game in any way other then changing your reputation? (I start evil, to acquire early resources, plunder everything that is not worth developing, pick the evil/greedy options and when you take the clear lead against the AI, you build your economy and start overwhelmingly choosing the good guy options by the time when winning or losing is not at stake anymore)

It seems like the only thing that really matters is hero power leveling in a cookie cutter, scripted, blueprint way. I feel no incentive to play anymore.

I assume you're playing Scenario (not Campaign)

From the looks of it, it seems you're setting yourself at "expert" and AI on "beginner"? You might want to set yourselves both on "expert" to begin with. If that's too easy, try higher difficulty for both you and AI. Bigger maps, smaller maps, more AI opponents? If nothing works and it's still boring to you, then, well ... try Campaign on higher difficulties? Stuff like clearing 7 Dragon sites? I dunno.

Unless you're living in Russia, participating in hotseat tournaments isn't an option so there really is no "meta"... No 100% balance like you'd expect in a competitive RTS or some such, and lots of stuff that's only good for messing around (alliances with Dwarves, T4 units etc...)

 

[Raghar]

BTW what that difficulty settings in the user profile does?

 

[Eyeball]

This game pisses me off.

It's a really good game, and yet I can't truly bring myself to enjoy it because I find the tactical battles a bit unwieldy and taking too long time. I never liked that sort of hex-based battles outside of the HOMM series, not even in Imperialism which Eador takes a lot of cues from, so I tend to use autoresolve a lot of the time. But unlike Imperialism, I can't simply build 1 more cannon than the enemy and expect autoresolve to win it for me since there is an army size limit and the autoresolve can't properly use unit special abilities and plays like an idiot (apparently charging head on with cavalry or pegasi since they ALWAYS die when I autoresolve).

Woe is me, unable to fully enjoy an excellent game!

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

This game pisses me off.

It's a really good game, and yet I can't truly bring myself to enjoy it because I find the tactical battles a bit unwieldy and taking too long time. I never liked that sort of hex-based battles outside of the HOMM series, not even in Imperialism which Eador takes a lot of cues from, so I tend to use autoresolve a lot of the time. But unlike Imperialism, I can't simply build 1 more cannon than the enemy and expect autoresolve to win it for me since there is an army size limit and the autoresolve can't properly use unit special abilities and plays like an idiot (apparently charging head on with cavalry or pegasi since they ALWAYS die when I autoresolve).

Woe is me, unable to fully enjoy an excellent game!

Then fun in Eador, really, is winning vs. overwhelming odds in tactical mode.

BTW what that difficulty settings in the user profile does?

First graph. The difficulty setting for AI is different, because AI, well, cheats (mainly buying provinces instead of conquering them).

 

[Eyeball]

I know, but I'm just not very good at tactical-level games apart from things like Jagged Alliance or SS. I like the adventuring and RPG aspects more, which I suppose is why HOMM has such a dear place in my heart.

 

[Raghar]

BTW what that difficulty settings in the user profile does?

First graph. The difficulty setting for AI is different, because AI, well, cheats (mainly buying provinces instead of conquering them).

What first graph?

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

BTW what that difficulty settings in the user profile does?

First graph. The difficulty setting for AI is different, because AI, well, cheats (mainly buying provinces instead of conquering them).

What first graph?

My bad, forgot to include.

http://translate.google.com/transla...TF-8&eotf=1&u=http://eador.com/en/page14.html

Bottom line, "100%" mode is Expert (which you should start with, unless you just wanna mess around).

 

[sher]

BTW what that difficulty settings in the user profile does?

IIRC it's a preset, your preferred difficulty level. If you'll try to generate random map it'll be your difficulty setting for your master.

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

BTW what that difficulty settings in the user profile does?

IIRC it's a preset, your preferred difficulty level. If you'll try to generate random map it'll be your difficulty setting for your master.

You just pick a difficulty if it's a custom map. Same with campaign. In custom map you can also pick AI difficulty, in campaign you can't.

 

[sher]

BTW what that difficulty settings in the user profile does?

IIRC it's a preset, your preferred difficulty level. If you'll try to generate random map it'll be your difficulty setting for your master.

You just pick a difficulty if it's a custom map. Same with campaign. In custom map you can also pick AI difficulty, in campaign you can't.

Initial values for your master and for AI masters are set by your profile difficulty level setting.

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

BTW what that difficulty settings in the user profile does?

IIRC it's a preset, your preferred difficulty level. If you'll try to generate random map it'll be your difficulty setting for your master.

You just pick a difficulty if it's a custom map. Same with campaign. In custom map you can also pick AI difficulty, in campaign you can't.

Initial values for your master and for AI masters are set by your profile difficulty level setting.

Not sure what you mean. You can click on arrows in custom map settings to set difficulty, both yours and AI. When playing the campaign, the interface asks you "which difficulty would you like?" on every shard.

 

[sher]

Holy Crap...

Try to change difficulty level in profile, save it, go to random map generation screen, look at initial difficulty settings for masters, then change profile and look again.

 

[Raghar]

Not sure what you mean. You can click on arrows in custom map settings to set difficulty, both yours and AI. When playing the campaign, the interface asks you "which difficulty would you like?" on every shard.

He probably means you can chose difficulty for you for each shard, but difficulty setting for AI is set for whole campaign. Which is reason why AI is so slow for some people, while I'm shitting bricks.

 

[Raghar]

BTW I found a wonderful tactic. Allow Chaos gate in one of your province for an artifact, then after a while beat up its guards and you'd get two another artifacts. Try to time it one turn before they would overrun your province to prove you are not a jerk.

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

Holy Crap...

Try to change difficulty level in profile, save it, go to random map generation screen, look at initial difficulty settings for masters, then change profile and look again.

I see.

Not sure what you mean. You can click on arrows in custom map settings to set difficulty, both yours and AI. When playing the campaign, the interface asks you "which difficulty would you like?" on every shard.

He probably means you can chose difficulty for you for each shard, but difficulty setting for AI is set for whole campaign. Which is reason why AI is so slow for some people, while I'm shitting bricks.

Nah, he just brought up a minor point that you can set a "default" difficulty. I've never even used it because I like to set lower difficulty for "invasion" events (you lose = you lose whole campaign).

The AI difficulty is actually pre-set for individual shards regardless of the difficulty you choose for yourself. You can only vary your own difficulty, not the AI's AFAIK.

 

[Malakal]

BTW I found a wonderful tactic. Allow Chaos gate in one of your province for an artifact, then after a while beat up its guards and you'd get two another artifacts. Try to time it one turn before they would overrun your province to prove you are not a jerk.

Actually I almost always agree to this deal since its cheap and beneficial but havent even once seen an invasion coming from that. Had invasions from that shaman event but not from simply having a gate. So I'm either lucky or chance is very small.