🚀 go-pugleaf

Is anybody else playing this new Stardock offering? 

I've explored into the world by starting, then deleting a few games so 
far, and played through once, ending with an enforced alliance victory.

My biggest gripe so far is that the documentation is terribly inadequate 
-the pdf manual is well nigh useless, and the 'civilopedia' is hardly 
better (because you can't search keywords and it's badly organized).

There is at least one hero trait that I've not found mention of anywhere 
in terms of what it does. There is one MAJOR quest that I have no idea 
how to complete with no explanation given.

Apart from that - not a single glitch/bug/crash so far that I've seen.
Some RPG elements in the way you develop your champions/heroes; but 
unfortunately you have to put up with being given 5 traits (randomly?) 
to choose from when one of the guys/gals levels up, and they're often 
not at all suited to the direction you want to develop that particular 
characer into. I'm going to have to test this some to find out if the 
choice of traits can be 'scummed'. Getting to choose betwen strength, 
swordsmanship, and 3 other similar traits is a pain in the arse if 
you're trying to promote a healer/lifemage for instance. By the same 
token, getting a hero that's got no magical ability at all leaves them 
somewhat useless on the battlefield.

Gameplay is more or less standard 4x fare, considering a fantasy/magic 
world. A worthy grandchild to MoM. Graphics are a bit dark and dull for 
my liking, not that good for ageing eyes. 

The tactical battles are _much_ better than MoM, and I am still coming 
to grips with how some of the attributes, skills, traits, resistances, 
etc. pan out. This may take some time. The predecessor to this game was 
slammed for bugs and crashes in the tactical phase, haven't seen 
anything like that here yet.

Overall I'd say this is one of the better strategy game releases I have 
seen for a good long time - considering that I'm a tbs & 4x fan.

-P.