🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <XnsA02344667E383gandalfparker@199.245.68.61>, 
gandalf@the.dead.ISP.of.Community.net says...
> 
> A DEMO version of Illwinters new game, Conquest of Elysium 3, is now 
> available at Desura.com
> 
> http://www.desura.com/games/conquest-of-elysium-3
> 
> Purchase price for the full game is $30


Ok, I read some reviews, mostly Tom Chick's; I downloaded the demo and 
had a look at some yootoobe videos. I decided to buy the game.

First impression: this thing, despite the complicated and exhaustive
numbers that we are fed in the manual, plays like a lite random driven
quickie.

You can get lucky, play the dwarves and find 8 lightly defended mines 
inside of 5 minutes, start building up and waltz over the opposition.

Or you may not see a mine for 1/2 an hour by which time that 
demonologist you run into has an army full of heavy hitters that turns 
you into a tiny bit of red-smear-on-the-tarmac roadkill.

You may play a demonologist and not find a human settlement to get your 
sacrifices from until you're overrun by the wildlife that whittles down 
your recruits and you don't have an income to replace them 'cause there 
aren't any settlements ...

 ... similarly you may spend 1/2 an hour just running around trying to 
chase the wildlife off your villages and mines because they're spawning 
faster than you can chase them around --- bad spot to start, and you're 
screwed in other words. Wildlife and bandits can spawn at horrendous 
rates if you're unlucky.

I tried playing a game with an AI ally --- don't do that! they took my 
mines, they took my villages, they took my citadel. They're worse than 
wildlife.

I've won the game after 5 minutes because wildlife overran my unseen 
computer opponents' startup citadels. LOL. And lost a number of games in 
the same way (i.e. a porker pops out of the woods, takes my undefended 
castle and it's Game Over).

Regadless of all that, and regardless of a nasty wee bug I found 
(merchant wanders across the map and suddenly all captains look like the 
merchant, so you can't find him ever again), this is a fun, super-qick 
lite tbs game. You start it up, play 20-50 turns, if it happens that you 
have a no win startup position just kill it and start from scratch. It's 
much more accessible and a lot more fun, as well as less tedious  than 
dominions3 (i.m.o., and I can be a micro-management freak, but dom3 
takes it too far some times) which I practically never play. High 
strategy it isn't, it's more of a lunchbreak or "beer'n pretzel" game, 
but it's fun (or did I say that already?). 
 

ymmv, imho, caveat emptor etc etc      -Peter   

Peter Huebner <no.one@this.address> contributed wisdom to  
news:MPG.29f28b47252881c19896a7@news.individual.net:

> I tried playing a game with an AI ally --- don't do that! they took my 
> mines, they took my villages, they took my citadel. They're worse than 
> wildlife.

Great writeup. One point Id make is the AI Ally thing...

I love playing with AI Team members. I think they are great. Like the rest 
of the game, management is simple. If you want to keep it, leave at least 
one unit there to say "this is mine" and if you want your team member to 
have it then leave it unguarded as if to say "its ok if you take this"

But a lot of that can also be skipped if you make make sure you have 
different resource needs. The game is very new but there is a barely 
started fan site www.CoE-3.com with a barely started fan Wiki. And one of 
the first things the players felt needed to be on the wiki was a nation 
compatability chart. 

Teaming Druid with Witch does not work well because they fight over 
resources. But Witch with Warlock works well, or Troll King allied with 
Dwarf Queen, or the Baron with the Hobbits.

When I play with the AI as a team member: 
If we have the same resource needs then I have to leave guards on 
everything to keep him from taking my stuff. If we have different needs 
then we can share the map with only a few "accidental" grabs. I might be 
cynical but I find that game to be about the same as I get when playing 
with some random human on the net (and its even more irritating when a 
human does it)  :)

Gandalf  Parker