Eador Genesis Demo

[naufragar]

These are great! More! (Although I have to laugh at how tough they made the militiaman portrait, when they'll evaporate when even frowned at. )

Re: HoMM, I'll have to give it another shot. I tried 3 and the interface and gameplay was so alien that I felt very much out of my depth. Genesis is ten years younger than HoMM3 and that comes with a lot of UI smoothness.

[haphazard1]

(Although I have to laugh at how tough they made the militiaman portrait, when they'll evaporate when even frowned at. )

I had forgotten just how fragile the initial troops like the militia really are. In HOMM3 even your initial troops can do a fair bit of damage, if you have enough of them in a stack and a decent hero to buff their stats. I have had to readjust my thinking to Eador's systems.

[haphazard1]

A few more screenshots, a bit further into the game. (Not much further, as life has been busy. I need more time to play. )

My hero has gained some levels and gotten stronger -- he is doing probably 95% of all the fighting at this stage, with his troops mostly just acting as shields. They chip in a little damage here and there, and I have recruited a healer to help keep everyone alive. The recently-looted archer's gloves were a nice find for a scout. Also, I finally have some magic spells! Don't be fooled by the tier 2 squares being filled -- everything is still tier 1. But at least it is more slots, until I can actually get the infrastructure for tier 2 units and spells.



I have taken control of the provinces immediately around my capital. The next step will be to push northward, but the second ring provinces will be significantly more difficult to take over.



My list of controlled territories is growing nicely. Note that several show the percentage explored in red -- this means that more exploration is needed so the population can grow. My hero has been busy with more urgent tasks so far, but that will need to be done at some point.

[haphazard1]

Found time to play a bit more. I completed the conquest of the shard I started on and have moved on to the next shard. (I am playing in campaign mode.) Each shard you take control of provides you with a permanent benefit such as unlocking a new building for your stronghold, plus some amount of astral energy per turn. Over time you can accumulate enough astral energy to purchase benefits when starting new shards, from extra starting cash to bringing an experienced hero from a previous shard into the new one. It takes a while to accumulate enough astral energy to make a difference, but it can be very useful for tougher shards.

Since I am at the beginning of the campaign, only a few possible targets for my next conquest were available, all pretty easy. I selected the shard of Belem, a tiny shard with hills terrain. After taking control of the provinces near my stronghold, I am now expanding to the east:



Note that I have two heroes currently, a scout (northern hero) and a warrior (southern hero). Tiny shards are so small I could probably have just done everything with one hero, but I got an event in one of my provinces that gave me a big pile of cash and I did not have a lot else useful to spend it on. So I recruited the warrior to help speed up the conquest of new territory, exploration, and clearing locations for more loot.

I have an iron resource in the northwest (Moonstone Ridge province, the metal ingot icon a bit above the province name). Not having the resources needed for buildings and troops makes them much more expensive, as you have to purchase the missing resources from the market. And the price of resources goes up every time you (or your opponenets) buy some. So gaining control of resources is very helpful, although they pretty much always appear in especially difficult to conquer provinces. There is also a redwood resource in the western province of Bor-Gual, but I do not control it; the centaurs there are tougher than I want to take on just yet. There is a horses resource in the northeastern province of Honey Meadows, which I am moving to next turn. Hopefully I can defeat the barbarians there.

Since this shard is tiny, what you see in the screenshot is about 40% of the entire shard. I could actually see the blue borders of my opponent in the fog on the very first turn although the impassable mountains south of Whitestone meant we could not reach each other immediately. On shards this small it is unlikely the struggle will last long enough (or that there will be enough total income) for more advanced infrastructure to get built. So only basic troops, magic, and equipment will be available and your heroes will do the vast majority of the fighting themselves. I probably will never get even tier 2 units before conquering the shard. Or being conquered, but hopefully that won't happen!

Here is a screenshot of the battle against those barbs to take control of the horses. My hero is casting a Magic Spark spell on one of the barbarians, as they are out of range for his bow but magic spells can hit anywhere on the battlefield.



You get to choose where to deploy your troops before the battle starts, and can place your units in the left-most columns of hexes. The enemies will appear somewhere random on the right side of the battlefield. I put my squishy bowmen in the bottom left corner, shielded by my hero and the spearmen, and got lucky with the barbs being in the opposite corner rather than immediately to my right. My scout/bowmen army is all about hitting the enemy from long distance and killing them before they can reach melee range, so this was a great start. I won the battle without any casualties, and only minor damage to one spearman -- a very positive result. Replacing killed troops is expensive both in resources and in time spent moving back to my stronghold (currently the only place I can recruit units). Keeping your army alive so your hero can keep moving and fighting is important.

[naufragar]

The enemies will appear somewhere random on the right side of the battlefield. I put my squishy bowmen in the bottom left corner, shielded by my hero and the spearmen, and got lucky with the barbs being in the opposire corner rather than immediately to my right.

I'm late replying but am still reading! I think the enemy positioning isn't random. Since you had initiative and placed your Scout first, the AI didn't want to start in the bottom right because they'd already be in range of him.

Good luck in the campaign!

[haphazard1]

Hmmm, I was not aware of that. I usually do deploy first, as I value initiative pretty highly and usually take promotions that increase it. I certainly will not complain if the AI wants to start far away from my scout.

I will try to remember to grab some screenshots the next time I am in the Astral, to show what that looks like in Broken World.

[NobleHelium]

What is the Astral? Is that the between scenarios campaign map?

[haphazard1]

Yes, the Astral is the "between worlds" part of the campaign where you select the next shard you want to try to conquer. You can also check your campaign status and astral energy levels, and maybe spend some astral energy on a bonus for the next shard. Once you meet some of the other masters who are attempting to re-unite the shards of Eador (your competition, basically), you can also interact with them in various ways.

Since I am very early in the campaign, I have not met any rival masters yet. My opponents on the starting shard and this current shard are "local lords" -- AIs who exist only on that single shard and have no special properties or bonus traits. As you get a bit further in the campaign, you will encounter other masters' forces on some shards. These tend to be tougher opponents than the local lords, using heroes of their own and having tougher armies. Larger shards may have multiple masters contesting for control. Eventually your rivals may try to invade your home shard to eliminate you, and you can try to do the same to them. But that is probably at least 8-10 more shards away before that happens.

[NobleHelium]

Okay, interesting.

1) Are there campaign maps with both rival masters and local lords?
2) If your home shard gets invaded, do you then go into that map to defend yourself?
3) When you spend astral energy for a bonus, is that a permanent bonus for all subsequent maps or only for the next map?

[haphazard1]

1) Are there campaign maps with both rival masters and local lords?

I am not sure. I think it can happen on larger shards.

2) If your home shard gets invaded, do you then go into that map to defend yourself?

Yes. If you lose your stronghold on your home shard, you are eliminated and lose the campaign.

3) When you spend astral energy for a bonus, is that a permanent bonus for all subsequent maps or only for the next map?

There are different types of bonus. Some I think are permanent for all future maps (stuff like boosting your starting gold or gems), while others only apply to the next map. It has been a long time since I played much campaign mode, so I have forgotten a lot of the details. Once I complete the current shard and am back in the astral, I will see what information I can get.