SpellForce: Conquest of Eo - strategy RPG from Fantasy General 2 devs - Weaver's Realms expansion coming September 30th

[Lord of Riva]

without reading the thread: Is it good?

To many games, not enough time.

EDIT: At least I can rely on having people with knowledge on games for the ratings, I missed that. Thanks!

 

[ArchAngel]

without reading the thread: Is it good?

To many games, not enough time.

If you like HoMM like with more focus on RPG elements it is very good.

 

[Geckabor]

Has anyone tried picking the same spell school twice (primary + secondary)? I wonder if that gives you some really strong endgame spells or just a wider variety.

One thing that's a shame is how limited the variety of units is at the start, but your options do open up quite a bit after a while.

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

I like it quite a lot and there are only 1 and a half things I can complain about at this point. The big one is that defending is too powerful, there is almost zero reason to attack anyone in melee unless you've flanked them or you kill them with the first hit. Originally, I thought it would be the other way around, i.e. you always have to attack first because retaliation is triggered after getting hit, but it turns out that does more damage to your units as opposed to just defending. Not only do you get damage reduction for the entire duration of the enemy's turn, you also can't get flanked, which is kookoo bananas. This incentivizes having a ranged-heavy army with minimal amount of melee support so they can hold the line. I know the idea is to trade action points favorably with the enemy, i.e. you attack them first to get rid of their actions for the next turn and then you can attack freely, but that only works well in a 1v1 situation. Maybe it's different once you get better units than just goblins, though. The eh thing is that there aren't enough quests and enemies to get a city's reputation up, necessitating putting an apprentice's lodge next to their taverns or whatever. Which is bizarre since you do nothing for a city and get max rep after 2 weeks ;d That's how I got Siebenburg's maxed.

Also, alchemy lets you summon elementals behind enemies' backs and it's always hilarious doing so. This isn't a complaint.

yeah so far I have been using that method too, use some melee guys, have them make a line and defend not attack while ranged and spell casters lower the enemy defenses and use ranged attacks. When melee guys can kill dudes in a single hit after they have been worn down by my ranged units I then have them attack, and sometimes then break through the lines and flank them and mop up.

So far it has worked, but I am still in early part of game...will see how this strategy holds up longer term.

 

[whocares]

I will not eat the bugs. I will not live in a pod. I will not use 2FA.

 

[ArchAngel]

I am reaching week 20 of my Alchemist run on Balanced difficulty and the game is becoming really hard. Undead faction is in war with me, I managed to kill one of their major spawned stacks, other one didn't attack my tower but went for my Lodge in important location. In addition they keep spawning other stacks all over the place and sending them at my areas. And now Dark Elf faction also decided they are angry at me and came and occupied one of my areas.. All that in addition to independent Orc and Beast stacks roaming all over the areas and attacking me constantly.. at the moment it feels just like I am surviving instead of progressing. I am producing potions all the time to use them in battles and getting new components I need for those potions is getting harder and harder.
I am sure this is because I probably wasted too many turns learning how to play instead of making optimal choices and how all important enemy stacks come with stronger value than what I would level up over long time.
Also I noticed a big difference in Hero power. My starting hero is so much weaker than others I got after that, especially Mentalist that was my 2nd hero (or 1st additional Apprentice). Now I got a 3rd hero, which is some tanky Nature Mage Orc but I cannot afford units for him and I got nowhere to level him up as I cleared big areas of standard enemies and enemy stacks that spawn are too strong.

This is also the biggest problem with the game, all enemy stacks in the game become stronger over time while you don't really have a good way to level up your new units. Also always try to keep one Hero close to your tower if you need to come back to defend.

Also spawn a bunch of Will of Wisps early and send them all over the map to explore. You will want to find fast where is your closest Academy where you can get more apprentices. And they can pick up all unguarded treasure. And you can pick up those new Apprentices with them. Also they are strong in combat, they got 50% resistance to physical and elemental and do white damage that only humans resist a bit. And they are fast and can fly. You can kite enemies on some maps with them if there are cliffs.

 

[whocares]

I will not eat the bugs. I will not live in a pod. I will not use 2FA.

 

[ArchAngel]

I am sure this is because I probably wasted too many turns learning how to play instead of making optimal choices and how all important enemy stacks come with stronger value than what I would level up over long time.

I'm at around week 30 on Balanced Alchemist, and I to had to go through similar issues, only I have demons instead of the undead. They had stacks of t3 units with some t4s when I was happy to find any t2s other than the gobbos. My advice is to relocate to greener pastures and get some questing and leveling done there, away from your main enemies. I did that, and now I'm back with a vengeance (also running away from some crazy dwarf bitch and the guy from the first Spellforce who for some reason is the orc lord here).

This is also the biggest problem with the game, all enemy stacks in the game become stronger over time while you don't really have a good way to level up your new units. Also always try to keep one Hero close to your tower if you need to come back to defend.

You can shuffle your units around, give some strong ones to the fresh hero and let your strongest one train all the noobs. Also, I've been doing trials by fire with getting a bunch of new units, going into a few battles and if any of those survived, building a squad around them. And if you get the ability to summon a golem - that can help too. 4 or 5 mana per turn is nothing, but it gets you a t3 unit with over 200 hp and infinite retaliations. Though I'm not sure if it gives you a random golem, because I summoned a fire one, but I saw stone ones in the world that are immune to physical damage. You get one of those and you can tank just about anything.

And as for defending - town portal goes brr. I think it's one of the basic spells that everyone gets, so you should consider researching it. No need to waste a squad on defending.

Where to relocate? I am surrounded by these enemies. Above is lich dude, right and above is Dark Elf, below is some lady that controls all resources there, left and below is undead land with barely any resources. To the left I already cleared most of it and found human capital (and Undead dude keeps sending his stacks into that area as well) and to the right are Orc lands that have units that do not seem that powerful.
I got tech now that lets my tower be permanently floating, I was planning to use that but I was waiting for all resources around current position to go away first as that stuff costs 5 mana per turn and why waste mana for nothing.
Also I wish I could summon stronger units than just Wisps and some Jelly thing or basic wolves. Not to mention game wants you to upgrade alchemy with 3 philosophers stone but does not give you any idea how to get those. I tried experimenting with resources, I don't have a clue how to make one.

 

[whocares]

I will not eat the bugs. I will not live in a pod. I will not use 2FA.

 

[ArchAngel]

I am sure this is because I probably wasted too many turns learning how to play instead of making optimal choices and how all important enemy stacks come with stronger value than what I would level up over long time.

I'm at around week 30 on Balanced Alchemist, and I to had to go through similar issues, only I have demons instead of the undead. They had stacks of t3 units with some t4s when I was happy to find any t2s other than the gobbos. My advice is to relocate to greener pastures and get some questing and leveling done there, away from your main enemies. I did that, and now I'm back with a vengeance (also running away from some crazy dwarf bitch and the guy from the first Spellforce who for some reason is the orc lord here).

This is also the biggest problem with the game, all enemy stacks in the game become stronger over time while you don't really have a good way to level up your new units. Also always try to keep one Hero close to your tower if you need to come back to defend.

You can shuffle your units around, give some strong ones to the fresh hero and let your strongest one train all the noobs. Also, I've been doing trials by fire with getting a bunch of new units, going into a few battles and if any of those survived, building a squad around them. And if you get the ability to summon a golem - that can help too. 4 or 5 mana per turn is nothing, but it gets you a t3 unit with over 200 hp and infinite retaliations. Though I'm not sure if it gives you a random golem, because I summoned a fire one, but I saw stone ones in the world that are immune to physical damage. You get one of those and you can tank just about anything.

And as for defending - town portal goes brr. I think it's one of the basic spells that everyone gets, so you should consider researching it. No need to waste a squad on defending.

Where do relocate? I am surrounded by these enemies. Above is lich dude, right and above is Dark Elf, below is some lady that controls all resources there, left and below is undead land with barely any resources. To the left I already cleared most of it and found human capital (and Undead dude keeps sending his stacks into that area as well) and to the right are Orc lands that have units that do not seem that powerful.
I got tech now that lets my tower be permanently floating, I was planning to use that but I was waiting for all resources around current position to go away first as that stuff costs 5 mana per turn and why waste mana for nothing.
Also I wish I could summon stronger units than just Wisps and some Jelly thing or basic wolves. Not to mention game wants you to upgrade alchemy with 3 philosophers stone but does not give you any idea how to get those. I tried experimenting with resources, I don't have a clue how to make one.

Without spoiling things outright, try combining three different kinds of essences.

And the way I went was from the first easymode starting area down to the undead swamps, where my demon lord lives. Got my shit pushed in there, and buzzed off all the way to the North into dwarf lands because I needed adamantium and the only clue was that it was mined in the mountains. There, I had to navigate between the dwarf chick and the orc lord, but it got me all nice and strong, so now I'm flying back into the demon lands because those two mages are starting to get ornery with me, so I'm thinking it's time to erase the demons. Already toppled one of his towers. Who knows how many still to go though.

I am behind overall though. Most enemies are at 7-stacks now, while I'm at about 65 mastery out of 100 needed to get there. Still. Alchemy is stronk. It helps turn things around a lot.

You are doing better then me. When I got mastery to 25 to get 6th stack I basically barely leveled it until I got a Lodge at human capital that gives me a lot of mastery point. I was always starved with gold and mana but 1 week ago I finally got a big allfire node (one you need for main quest) so now I am finally doing better with mana and I could summon an army if I had anything like that available in my Grimoire. I guess I can summon army of Wisps and fight undead or physical damage dealers with it.

 

[Alienman]

I have an issue with my mana being drained. How can I tell what it is? Only says spell upkeep. Is it the wisps?

 

[Lacrymas]

I have an issue with my mana being drained. How can I tell what it is? Only says spell upkeep. Is it the wisps?

What spells drain your mana is shown in the upper right corner. There are a bunch of buttons there, check them all out and you'll find it. Left of the options menu (gear symbol). Also, in the upper left corner, next to the grimoire, is your Allfire distribution, you can get more mana income from there. Spellcasting also drains your mana every turn if you don't have enough reserves.

 

[Alienman]

I have an issue with my mana being drained. How can I tell what it is? Only says spell upkeep. Is it the wisps?

What spells drain your mana is shown in the upper right corner. There are a bunch of buttons there, check them all out and you'll find it. Left of the options menu (gear symbol). Also, in the upper left corner, next to the grimoire, is your Allfire distribution, you can get more mana income from there. Spellcasting also drains your mana every turn if you don't have enough reserves.

Ah, thanks. Turns out I have shit ton of active spells, lol. I just spammed them as I got them. Guess I have to be more conservative.

 

[Sarathiour]

Look interesting, will probably try to give it a shot this year.

Spellforce 3 butchered the lore terribly anyway, .

It might because I only played the first, but was there even a thing to save from the lore ? The concept of rune warrior sure is cool, but I can't remember a single name , the plot always felt like a Saturday cartoon : it's there and try to provide context for mission, but is hardly interesting. You ran around the map, get stuck because something bad happened, run some errand for someone that unlock the situation, bis repetita for the whole game and the two extension. Some magical plot twist at the end of base game, and some god fuckery at the end of the phoenix expansion.

 

[lycanwarrior]

Played only an hour of the game but pretty good thus far. Not sure why it has the high system requirements as the graphics aren't anything to write home about.

 

[Lacrymas]

Spellforce 3 butchered the lore terribly anyway, .

It might because I only played the first, but was there even a thing to save from the lore ? The concept of rune warrior sure is cool, but I can't remember a single name , the plot always felt like a Saturday cartoon : it's there and try to provide context for mission, but is hardly interesting. You ran around the map, get stuck because something bad happened, run some errand for someone that unlock the situation, bis repetita for the whole game and the two extension. Some magical plot twist at the end of base game, and some god fuckery at the end of the phoenix expansion.

I'd say the lore has enough interesting and distinct ideas/aspects to differentiate itself from other generic settings. There are iconic characters, coherent history, unusual map, etc. Spellforce 2 also has some cool things in it, but the dragon blooded protagonist isn't one of them ;d

 

[ArchAngel]

Played only an hour of the game but pretty good thus far. Not sure why it has the high system requirements as the graphics aren't anything to write home about.

I don't either, it plays well on my old PC on medium details. It even works on Win7 even with saying you need min Win10 :D

 

[BrotherFrank]

I am confused why this game isn’t about the convocation wars (ffs the goal of the game is to master the allfire…are we trying to destroy the world all over again?) and shouldn’t Eo be a fractured mess only loosely linked by portals?

 

[Lacrymas]

The convocation hasn't happened yet, the wizards of the circle have just discovered the Allfire.

 

[BrotherFrank]

Weird, the promo material i’ve seen says this is a sequel to sf1 and 2 and is set 100 years after sf1.

Tbh not making this game about the convocation wars seems a massive missed opportunity, my hype died down the second i noticed none of the rival mages seem to be the canon circle ones (i saw isgrimm in a screen shot but he seems to be a hero rather then one of the ai mages). Putting aside the question of who are these random wizards occupying the towers. what happens at the end of the game if you win?

 

[ArchAngel]

I read

Weird, the promo material i’ve seen says this is a sequel to sf1 and 2 and is set 100 years after sf1.

Tbh not making this game about the convocation wars seems a massive missed opportunity, my hype died down the second i noticed none of the rival mages seem to be the canon circle ones (i saw isgrimm in a screen shot but he seems to be a hero rather then one of the ai mages). Putting aside the question of who are these random wizards occupying the towers. what happens at the end of the game if you win?

Nobody won yet, game is super hard on so called Balanced difficulty.

 

[Lacrymas]

Weird, the promo material i’ve seen says this is a sequel to sf1 and 2 and is set 100 years after sf1.

Tbh not making this game about the convocation wars seems a massive missed opportunity, my hype died down the second i noticed none of the rival mages seem to be the canon circle ones (i saw isgrimm in a screen shot but he seems to be a hero rather then one of the ai mages). Putting aside the question of who are these random wizards occupying the towers. what happens at the end of the game if you win?

It's a prequel to SF1.

 

[ArchAngel]

I read a bit how others are playing, apparently you should go right asap and get good with Orc city, you get a building that gives you +1 unit to your stacks and it also unlocks powerful upgrades inside it (like + range for your archers and mages).
Then you should get a slave driver (or capturing slaves ability for your hero unit) and go North to get some Trolls. Then you make a stack of only trolls, guy sad he has 1800 value army after that and he can autofight and win all fights easily lol
If the game is balanced around this abuse no wonder it is hard for everyone else on Balanced difficulty.

EDIT: Also I found how to turn my extra mana into strong units, apparently I can use 75 mana/3 upkeep spell to summon tier 3 Beasts, got a Fire Drake out of it and there are more possible choices. Only problem is that Undead Mage is swarming me again with 1000+ strength stacks (8 units per stack vs my 6 ) and these Drakes that cannot get XP and level will not help to beat this spam..

Also they are now sending multiple Liches per squad and they are worth multiple units as you cannot get to them due to all melee in front and then they just summon a lot of 80 hp undead after you finally survived their melee..

I am lucky that both enemy mages that do not like me atm are using mostly undead units as I specialized my stacks to fight those. HIgh level Alchemist can spam Sacred Flask with his own mana and I got Tiara priestess that gives your units White damage, 50% resistance to Death and +10 HP per turn heal.

EDIT2: Also it seems you are supposed to upgrade bonuses you get from your Domain and then move your Tower towards strong enemy stacks and use domain bonuses to get strong advantages (of course this is once you have tech to move Tower while domain aura keeps being active).

 

[Alienman]

Not sure I'm having that fun anymore. Suddenly one of the mages is pissed off with me. He is constantly sending stacks of increasingly more difficult units to defeat, and I have no idea how to get out of this. Between defeating them, I do some quests that reward with scraps. And I can't afford to have an army, or buy more expensive units, because I have no idea how to make money, besides moving the lodge around. Was fun up to this point at least.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Seems to me this game needs more time in the oven. Balancing has issues and some units are just flat out unfun to fight against (especially later tier units from what I've heard). As for me I played 1h on release but somehow felt like combat was missing something. One thing that always is sure to piss me off is unit models just being visual fluff. Odd choice since in FG2 they got it right. For now I'm refunding the game but keeping an eye on it. Maybe with time they can turn it into something more enjoyable, but as of this moment it's an interesting idea that is lacking in its execution.