Warlock: Master of the Arcane (Elemental done right?)

[KevinC]

I'd happily pay another $10-$20 for a proper expansion that included a whole new race and some other new features. But small scale DLC just annoy me. I still haven't purchased a single Civ DLC. Small scale DLC never has enough time/budget to realize anything of vision.

It depends, really. I just bought a $3.99 DLC for Dungeon Defenders which added a new class to the game with entirely new mechanics which was completely changed up the game for me.

I do agree, though, in that I want big meaty expansions. I don't see why we can't have both, though (see Civ5... lots of Civ DLC and now a new expansion coming out next month).

[Tyjenks]

All my DLC purchases have been at steep discounts or in GotY packages. If I had paid $30 or $40 for Warlock, I imagine I would forego this one, but since the game has provided me with more than $20 worth of enjoyment, I can happily give them another $3. Even if I never touch the units it will, hopefully, provide continued incentive towards a full fledged expansion. Now, if they decide to do 10 of these like Civ has (None of which I have picked up as the base game has plenty in it), then I probably won't continue this practice.

[Mark Asher]

Yeah, I'm good for two of these for Warlock and then that's it. I'll wait for a Steam sale or an expansion pack for anything beyond $6 in DLC.

[Lloyd Heilbrunn]

Gave up my Undead game, and started another. I was starting to get killed. I concentrated too much on Mana and Gold, and neglected my army upgrade buildings...

[robc04]

I finally put in some time with this game and I think it's pretty good. I prefer a more involved take on city management, but Warlock is good for some fun. Combat is more interesting then in Civ. Nice variety of spells and unit perks. It is a shame, but the 'other worlds' have been a non-factor for me so far. I didn't need the special resources in the other worlds to win and with all the higher level baddies in there you need to divert too many troops away from your enemies to actually gain a footing there. Never saw the AI take advantage of it either. Maybe it knows its not worth the trouble.

The vampire perk (where you absorb health with each attack) seems to be too powerful. Units become invincible with that perk once they level up a bit.

Seems like the victory conditions other then 'kill everyone' need to be fleshed out a bit. I never saw the need to do anything other than kill everyone.

[driillSGT]

Posted by Alexey Kozeyrev the game dev:

Developer notes
"Hi all,

I'm starting this thread to put some light on what is in development. We are working on MP primary, and hoping that in several weeks it will enter the playable phase. I do not know, when the next patch will be up, yet. I think - when we will have enough changes to make it worth plus some confidence that it will not harm the game. Good news are that yesterday AI learned how to dispel enchantments from heavily buffed opponent units, so it will go to the next patch.

I will update thread with more information."

------------------------

This is encouraging to see a developer rapidly improving on an already great game.

[Mark Asher]

The AI is going to be tougher if it really does dispel enchantments. You can make some units almost invulnerable through enchantments.

[rezaf]

This kinda reminds me of MoM - the early AI didn't know how to dispel, either, and the results were mostly the same.
The AI of the later patches knew better, and made VERY frequent use of dispel spells, but this mostly meant that it was still possible and easy, but now HORRIBLY annoying to keep a stack of enchanted units - you'd have to rest the stack for half an eternity and recast all the buff spells after each combat. I hope Warlock doesn't go the same route.
_____
rezaf

[Tyjenks]

Posted by Alexey Kozeyrev the game dev:

Developer notes
"Hi all,

I'm starting this thread to put some light on what is in development. We are working on MP primary, and hoping that in several weeks it will enter the playable phase. I do not know, when the next patch will be up, yet. I think - when we will have enough changes to make it worth plus some confidence that it will not harm the game. Good news are that yesterday AI learned how to dispel enchantments from heavily buffed opponent units, so it will go to the next patch.

I will update thread with more information."

------------------------

This is encouraging to see a developer rapidly improving on an already great game.

Like all this!

Dammit, I need to pull myself away from Diablo and just play this all weekend.

[tgb123]

I want to start a new game but am waiting for Tuesday's DLC to unlock.

[Tony M]

Anyone who enjoys Warlock but hasn't tried Conquest of Elysium 3, its on sale on Desura for $19.50. They're fairly different games, but they scratch the same itch for me.

[robc04]

Anyone who enjoys Warlock but hasn't tried Conquest of Elysium 3, its on sale on Desura for $19.50. They're fairly different games, but they scratch the same itch for me.

I didn't think there was quite enough to do in CoE3 to hold my interest. I don't like the stacks of doom and the hands off battles either. I didn't think it was a bad game, but it didn't rank very high for me.

If they did something to limit stack sizes and add a couple more game play choices it would be better in my opinion.

[Huzurdaddi]

If they add new mechanics and tidy up a few issues in expansions then this could be a classic.

The core game is very solid. The combat is very detailed and well through through. I like how they dealt with strategic resources. Their take on city expansion is novel, and after completing a couple of games, I have grown to like their model.

The lack of hotkeys is annoying, but I'm sure that will be taken care of in time. I'd like to see a little more detailed magic system (like MoM's three sliders), and maybe a little more options when dealing with diplomacy (trading, tribute per turn, trading cities and spells).

The last three 20-30 dollar games I have bought have been huge successes: Orcs Must Die, Endless space, and now Warlock: MotA. I don't know what is going on in this price range but I like it!

[tgb123]

GamersGate says the Power of the Serpent DLC is available, so I grabbed my key and went over to Steam to register it. Steam took the key but it's not showing up - not even as unlockable later today.

[tgb123]

Never mind. I just started a game and there it was.

[Mark Asher]

So I was thinking about the ability of the AI to use dispel -- what happens if I have levitation cast on an elite unit and it's flying over the water and the AI dispels levitation?

I'm finishing up a game on a medium land-based world, impossible difficulty, and four opponents. The AI played fairly well but I never felt like I needed to defend all my borders. The key seems to be to get elite units on the field and pay for the perks and upgrades, and then the AI really has no counter. I don't attack a city until I have enough force that I know I can take it down in 3-4 turns.

What the AI really needs to do it put me under more pressure earlier in the game. It lets me save up my gold rather than spend it on inferior troops because I need to defend right now. I do have to buy some inferior troops, but in this latest game at least I was able to successfully stockpile gold so I could build and upgrade elite units rather easily when they became available.

[Mark Asher]

If they add new mechanics and tidy up a few issues in expansions then this could be a classic.

Yeah, that's how I feel. I don't really expect any 4X game to get everything right because AI is just hard to do. Master of Magic had bad AI but the game was still interesting. I look at Warlock and think it has better AI and it keeps me playing. Just keep refining it with patches and new content and it could be something we'll play for years. It's not as if it will be competing with a deluge of fantasy 4X games.

[Jason Lutes]

GamersGate says the Power of the Serpent DLC is available, so I grabbed my key and went over to Steam to register it. Steam took the key but it's not showing up - not even as unlockable later today.

The DLC is supposed to come to Steam at some point, right? I was looking forward to nabbing it today.

[tgb123]

Never mind.

[scharmers]

Hmph. Just figured out last night that when you buy the city upgrades for better armor/weapons, units you produce don't necessarily get them automatically. You have to upgrade each unit with the goody you want, and the price of some gold.

That little up arrow in the corner of the unit card was just so easy to miss...

[TylerG]

The unit will get the buffs of the city it starts in. To get buffs from other cities you have to buy them.

[Tyjenks]

It really causes me to focus the churning out all of the military units and military upgrades all out of one city. It is MUCH cheaper, but not always possible. It does make it much nicer when there is iron right outside your starting city.

[Jason Lutes]

Never mind.

I wasn't sure if you had bought the base game from Gamersgate or Steam. I've had compatabiltiy snafus int he past. But I just bought the DLC on Gamersgate and it works fine with my Steam copy of the game.

[Mark Asher]

Hmph. Just figured out last night that when you buy the city upgrades for better armor/weapons, units you produce don't necessarily get them automatically. You have to upgrade each unit with the goody you want, and the price of some gold.

That little up arrow in the corner of the unit card was just so easy to miss...

Dude! Those armor and weapon upgrades are significant. You can also pay to have a unit promoted too once you've built the requisite building. Noble Werewolves can be upgraded to Court Werewolves, Shamans to Ordained Shaman, Trolls become Old Trolls, etc.

Spend 1000 gold on them to promote them and upgrade them and they become Terminators.

[Mark Asher]

So does anyone know how food production works in the game? If I'm in a positive +food state, does my population grow faster? The more +food I am, the faster the pop grows? Does it stagnate if I'm in a -food state? Does it matter if individual cities are -food as long as my overall food production is in the black?

[scharmers]

Dude! Those armor and weapon upgrades are significant. You can also pay to have a unit promoted too once you've built the requisite building. Noble Werewolves can be upgraded to Court Werewolves, Shamans to Ordained Shaman, Trolls become Old Trolls, etc.

Spend 1000 gold on them to promote them and upgrade them and they become Terminators.

I noticed a significant rate of return in regards to asskicking when I discovered I could buff up my minotaurs :)

[robc04]

So does anyone know how food production works in the game? If I'm in a positive +food state, does my population grow faster? The more +food I am, the faster the pop grows? Does it stagnate if I'm in a -food state? Does it matter if individual cities are -food as long as my overall food production is in the black?

As long as you produce positive food, your cities population grow at the normal rate. Excess food is converted to money and doesn't help pop growth. When food is negative, your cities will have some starvation. You can see this in the population tooltip in the city window. It is ok for individual cities to have a negative food balance. It is your civs total production that counts.

[Arkon262]

Any thoughts/reviews of the new units added in the DLC? Considering picking it up tonight when I get home from work.

[Jason Lutes]

So does anyone know how food production works in the game? If I'm in a positive +food state, does my population grow faster? The more +food I am, the faster the pop grows? Does it stagnate if I'm in a -food state? Does it matter if individual cities are -food as long as my overall food production is in the black?

According to the "beginner's guide," excess global food is converted to gold, but I'm not sure if this is true. Also, when you have a city selected, if you mouse over the city stats in the lower left, you can get a breakdown of population, etc. In general, mousing over the various numbers will give you lots of feedback. I myself am still clueless about how exactly the food/pop system works, but I have yet to experience any negative pop growth.

EDIT: Ah, thanks robc04!

[JFrazer]

To expand on this a bit.

2 excess food = 1 gold/turn
2 research = 1 mana/turn (just found this out this weekend when mousing over my production). It seems to be raw research as opposed to "excess" research

Also note that human/gnome cities use food for their population (not just troops) and undead cities "eat" mana.

As for troop improvements. Wow, yeah, they make a huge difference. Running around with a couple of Old Trolls in full upgrades (drilled, navril, wisp, etc) makes them practically indestructible. Add in the god-specific buffs (extreme elemental resist, extreme range resist) and I was able to march a single troll up with a 14 pop city with 3 forts and a tower plinking him, and never have him drop below 50% health.

Having the AI dispelling will help with that. They'll still need to learn to focus fire the extremely buffed troops, or learn to buff their own troops to that level.