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[assasinwar9]

so is there still plans for multiplayer, or was that scrapped ?

[Ludorum Rex]

so is there still plans for multiplayer, or was that scrapped ?

Greatly down prioritized to the point where you could say it has been scrapped for now. The game has always been coded with multiplayer support in mind, but the initial design of supporting both simultaneous (order=>execute=>feedback loops) and immediate-feedback (ie like Civilization) modes was scrapped. It simply added too much complexity to an already complex UI and design - so I decided on the immediate-mode only.

I still want to add multiplayer support (despite there being some 'interesting' design challenges to avoid the wait-fest that turn-based games can give), but I can't say when it will be added and it is very likely it will be in a post-release update. Once the game has reached a more finalized form, it may be easier to retrofit a simultaneous mode into the game. I'd still like that experience to be viable and it'd remove a lot of technical and design challenges of supporting multiplayer.

[Ludorum Rex]

Just wanted to show off the first major graphics overhaul - with much nicer terrain graphics and some of the site graphics updated as well. There has been some general progression in various aspects, and looking forward to adding even more stuff now there is a much more aesthetically pleasing backdrop. Pretty proud of how far the game has come since I posted about it for the first time. Still a lot of work to be done, but it's good fun, and I hope the game is starting to be more interesting to play, even if the AI is a bit of a pushover still.

Screenshots:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Mephansteras]

I'm curious, what is the state of development of this game?

I see it's still in Early Access on Steam.

[Frumple]

It's still trucking along, at least. Dunno if there's much super major that's changed, but there's been a fair bit of development since 2017, and the warlord is at least sorta' in, now.  Had an update last month. Things seem to be slow but pretty steady.

[Brotato]

This game just hit version 1.0 a couple weeks back. Never played before but it looks interesting. Anyone tried it out recently want to give me your opinion on it?

[EuchreJack]

The Wizard mode is still more fleshed out that the Warlord mode.

It is sort of what you might expect it to be: You start out mostly with whatever troops are randomly generated nearby, then replace them with Magical beings of great power.  Unless you picked a combo that gave you certain summons, like undead or demons or whatever, then you go with magical creatures supplemented by mundane troops.

There are nodes to find to boost your magic.  They're not defended, you just tap them like oil wells.  But you got to expand and explore to find them and gain control over them.

The followers system is interesting: They are the ones who generally find things, they can be grouped up and clear dungeons, they serve as your diplomats, they can make crafts (for now I think its just a resource item).

[Brotato]

Okay, so it sounds pretty similar to conquest of elysium. Is this worth buying if I already own CoE?

[EuchreJack]

Okay, so it sounds pretty similar to conquest of elysium. Is this worth buying if I already own CoE?

It's not CoE.  The game is more strategic level.  For example, you recruit your undead units like you might recruit regular army units.  Your followers are the officers in the army, but not generally represented as combatants.  Comparisons have been made to Master of Magic, although its more like that game's predecessor Warlords 2.  Except you can customize the crap out of your Wizard or your tribe if playing Warlord.

Followers remind me more of the officers in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, although not nearly as fleshed out.  But then again, these characters are randomly generated in a fantasy world instead of fixed individuals in the annuals of time.  The comparison being that you need them to do certain things and you have limited quantities of them, so they are a resource that you need to manage.  Unlike their ROTK counterparts, they have experience and get better (randomly) over time.  They also present the extra management of matching type of follower to task: Your Artist Civilian Human probably can't help with magic research, and your Troll Shaman probably can't craft artwork.  Unless they have the right traits, neither can lead an army.  And despite all that, you might just boot up your new game and see that all your initial followers are Goblin Farmers.  Although you'll always get one character that can Train Troops and one that can Command an Army via traits.

A review of the basic guide highlights many features of the game

I can't necessarily recommend Wizards and Warlords at $14.99.  I'd wait for a sale or something.

[Cthulhu]

Been playing a bit now that it's 1.0.

Not sure yet.  It definitely feels much more complete than it did before, I've played up to conquering a province or two and so far haven't seen anything obviously unfinished aside from a gnome leader having a zombie portrait.  There's still a lot that's not well-explained but I'm slowly working my way through it, will see how things go.

One thing I like, though we'll see if it actually plays well, is the association of the big villain guys with regular troops.  Lich can still recruit and command regular human armies, mercenaries, and such, which I like, makes me think of stuff like Black Company where Shadowmaster had regular human armies and controlled territory normally, just augmented by supernatural shit.  I like that more than just being an outright undead force.

[Ludorum Rex]

I'm still lurking around if anyone has any questions. It's been a long, and at times tough, road to where the game is now. 1.0 is not the end of the road, but I thought it was time to focus on what the game is right now - at some point Early Access doesn't make sense, because 'Early' in relation to what exactly? So I polished off the roughest edges, finished (albeit still simple) tutorial, gave it some testing and ditched the EA moniker.

I am pretty proud of what the game is now, and I'm still going to keep making it better with further updates. It may not be for everyone as it does show that it's a one-man project - but I try to improve areas where the game is just obtuse and needlessly user-unfriendly. It may not be a good value proposition for all types of players - while others may find it a bargain. I'm certainly not ashamed of the price tag, but I'm also not offended towards anyone who want to wait for a sale or the game to get better. Or towards who just decide this isn't worth it at all.

I am just really happy to be focusing on the game as it is now rather than stressing out over working towards some nebulous finish line (or trying to explain it when people asked). Release went pretty well - there were a lot of bug reports and feedback on bad UI - so I've pumped out 15 patches in 14 days, and not even breaking the game horribly in the process. I'm still working towards a future bigger and better game - but without the frankly unrealistic goal of reaching AAA quality at some point in the future.

The reception has been fantastic and I am greatly thankful to those early adopters who helped out with encouraging words, feedback and helping new players. I think there's a couple in this thread. I had expected a much harsher reaction from the wider Steam audience - from players expecting a different 'level' of Indie game. A couple of YouTubers were a big help in helping new players figure out the game. I'm pretty sure that was a boon when it came to avoiding angry players.

Anyway, anyone picking it up now or revisiting the game - I hope you have fun with it, and I always appreciate bugs, feedback and criticism. I may not be able to implement everything, but I did at add a (very small and only with silly events enabled) risk of getting Arcane Rabbits instead of the intended unit as a summoning mishap the other day, due to a user jokingly make up a fake story about seeing this in-game.

So I hope no one is too disappointed at me dumping the EA moniker - it really did confuse a lot of people about the end goal for the game. Dwarf Fortress was one of the biggest inspirations for the game, and I still dearly love DF, so I'm really happy to see people still mentioning the game here. And don't feel bad about any negative sentiments you might share in this thread, now that you know I'm still lurking - I always appreciate honest opinions.

Oh and I embarrassingly almost forgot: A MASSIVE thanks to all those people who shared me feedback and ideas in this thread over the years. I hope some of you can recognize that feedback in-game if you decide to try it out.

[EuchreJack]

Ludorum Rex,
I mentioned it on Steam but it bears repeating:
Congratulations on leaving Early Access.  I can tell you've been working hard, and it shows.  Your game certainly looks ready for release.

One thing I like, though we'll see if it actually plays well, is the association of the big villain guys with regular troops.  Lich can still recruit and command regular human armies, mercenaries, and such, which I like, makes me think of stuff like Black Company where Shadowmaster had regular human armies and controlled territory normally, just augmented by supernatural shit.  I like that more than just being an outright undead force.

Pretty sure the only thing missing is the binding of enemy wizards that you defeat to serve you, but maybe its in the game and I overlooked it.  Thanks for the wiki walk on the Black Company wiki.  When did the sun go down and temperature drop?
Well, I guess technically if you cast the Spell of Mastery then probably every wizard swears allegiance to you, but you have also won the game, so sort of a mute point...

[Cthulhu]

Yeah, a taken thing would be cool, but I'm currently on a different black company-ish endeavor, we will see how it goes.  I went heavy into researching Forgotten Evil lore, and I've discovered the binding site of Lpanixhailpa, an ancient "devourer beast," along with various pacts and marks that improve my shadow mastery and the power of shadowy types of units.  So I'm currently making my way in that direction, looking to see if I can bind the thing to my will.  Dunno if that process is possible yet or actually does anything useful, but interested in finding out.

Edit:  The resting site was already occupied by a stronger wizard.  I'm doing my typical maneuver with games like this early on, starting numerous new games to slowly piece things together. 

A question about workers:  Does a site like a lumber camp need an attached worker to function, or is it just a way to apply the worker's traits to its base output?

[Ludorum Rex]

Yeah, a taken thing would be cool, but I'm currently on a different black company-ish endeavor, we will see how it goes.  I went heavy into researching Forgotten Evil lore, and I've discovered the binding site of Lpanixhailpa, an ancient "devourer beast," along with various pacts and marks that improve my shadow mastery and the power of shadowy types of units.  So I'm currently making my way in that direction, looking to see if I can bind the thing to my will.  Dunno if that process is possible yet or actually does anything useful, but interested in finding out.

Edit:  The resting site was already occupied by a stronger wizard.  I'm doing my typical maneuver with games like this early on, starting numerous new games to slowly piece things together. 

A question about workers:  Does a site like a lumber camp need an attached worker to function, or is it just a way to apply the worker's traits to its base output?

You get a bonus to output from having workers at sites - if their skills match the site type you get a higher bonus. I can't remember the formula, and the UI should really show it. Characters also buff output according to their class and some traits. A Farmer is going to be better at leading a Farm than an Arsonist, etc.

About that devourer beast, it is implemented, but it hangs around in a hiding place, causing various events and monsters spawns - both categories of which have "non-ancient evil" duplicates, so you don't immediately know there's a local Ghoul King if you get ghoul packs spawning, etc.. When followers learn new skills (e.g. Ambition event) outside of levelling up that can be an unrelated event or it can be the ancient evil corrupting/marking the follower. It's relatively limited what the end result of these interactions are (you can lose a follower, or he/she stays but gets the insane trait, etc) but I want to expand on that in future updates.

I guess it's kind of spoiler territory, but don't expect too much from the devourer beast, it's mostly something to up the threat level mid and endgame. You can't "recruit" it, but you can figure out where it hides and have some limited interactions with it. As mentioned I'd like to expand more on these in upcoming updates, but right now I am still in post-release hypercare frenzy, and 1.0.1 is going to be about Cities, 1.0.2 is more stuff for Warlords. 1.0.3 is going to be what people pester me about - so if enough players want ancient evils expanded upon, that's what I'll do. Currently it seems a lot of players like the Golem Customization, so I might give that some attention soon with additional options for Build-a-Golem.

I'm definitely looking forward to shifting time from bug fixing and improving the UI to again working more on content and mechanics. I seem to remember you had some thoughts and ideas on ancient evils (guess your name is a hint), so if you're bored enough do feel free to share any such ideas on how I can integrate them better into the game. I won't promise when or if I can get stuff into the game, but I've actually managed to implement a fair amount of the suggestions I've gotten, and while I do not have the bandwidth to power out a 'play as Cthulhu' DLC any day soon, I'd like to at least make them into more interesting mid/end-game threats. Hopefully things will pan out so I can set aside a nice chunk of time to working on nothing but Eldritch horrors. I'd very much like to do that. But realistically there is a lot on my plate still before I get to that.

@EuchreJack: Thanks for the kind words! I did notice your encouraging posts on the Steam forums when I released, and it always warms my heart to see some of the old guard still around cheering this on.

Edit Addendum: I added the option to raise the ghost/spirit of a defeated rival Wizard to the next patch. Another player had suggested this already, and while it's probably not outright vassalizing them at a Faction-level, is relatively similar on a conceptual level.

[Dostoevsky]

Since the dev is here, I've got a couple of (maybe) simple questions so far:

1) I've researched how to bind nodes, but can't seem to figure out how to do it. I can bind with an army including wisps over the site, but is that just from the wisp ability or my researched ability as well? Given the cost increase associated with wisps, want to make sure I'm not wasting a bunch of mana.

2) How many turns are there per year? (In terms of lifespans of followers.)