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Acromir View Drop Down
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Joined: 10 Apr 2012
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Points: 6 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: The one thing that bugs me
    Posted: 10 Apr 2012 at 18:34
I love this game. It's complex, interesting, and requires a lot of strategy. I've played a lot of games like this one, and Illy is by far my favorite. There's just one little thing that's driving me insane.


Humans have a focus on cavalry, and thus do best in the plains. That's great. Cavalry makes sense as a focus, and plains settlements are pretty typical. I kind of wish humans could survive in the mountains, but that's okay.

Orcs have a focus on spearmen, and do fine almost anywhere. That's great. Orcs are like the rodents of mythology; they get everywhere.

Dwarves have a focus on infantry. That's great. Dwarves are best-known for their strong axe-wielding, heavily-armored warriors. However, this means they do best in the forest. Dwarves are not forest-dwellers. They are mountain-, hill-, or cave- dwellers in almost all folklore, mythology, and fantasy. Just look at Lord of the Rings! Dwarves should thrive in the mountains.

Elves have a focus on archers. That's great. Elves are typically shown in lots of fantasy/mythology with incredible reflexes and dexterity, and they typically have incredible archers. However, this means they do best in the mountains. Elves show up in all kinds of mythology and fantasy as people at one with nature. They are happiest and deadliest in a forest. In forests, they can move quickly and silently, ambushing and destroying noisy humans/orcs/dwarves. Once again, look at Lord of The Rings. Elves should thrive in the forest.



I enjoy playing this type of game defensively. I build up heavy defenses, both from buildings and from units, and am rarely targetted. I'm a major asset to my alliance by being able to send lots of defensive troops to bolster up an ally under attack. I really enjoy that role. So when choosing a race, I picked dwarf. However, much to my surprise, it turns out that elves are best for defenses. 

Rather than laughing at the enemy horde from the inside of my impenetrable fortress, I'm camped out in a jungle... swinging on vines? I'm severely tempted to move to a mountain anyways, but then my troops would be at a large disadvantage.


I'm not really concerned with the mechanics of how it's done, but dwarves and elves should have their roles and primary terrains swapped. Dwarves are even described as defensive when choosing a race, but they've yet to live up to that. Let us play dwarves as they're supposed to be. And let the elves live in the forest like they're supposed to.


Edited by Acromir - 10 Apr 2012 at 18:41
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SunStorm View Drop Down
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Points: 979 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Apr 2012 at 18:54
Yes - the dwarves and elves specialization is a little off from the tales of such creatures - but the elves are well known for being skilled with bows.  This is where the challenge comes in for the designers.  Bows favor terrain like hills and mountains - whereas swords are best in the forest.  So something has to be altered to make this work.  I would rather have elves known for bow-mastery than sword-mastery...so this naturally places them on the hills... 

But I see your point.  and since its all fantasy, perhaps those could have been switched - but its a little too far into gameplay for that.
"Side? I am on nobody's side because nobody is on my side" ~LoTR

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Joined: 10 Apr 2012
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Points: 6 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Apr 2012 at 19:33
You could always do racial bonuses to terrain in stead of unit bonuses. That might hurt some people, but it would also add something cool to the game. A dwarf alliance in a mountain range would be impossible to shake loose (except by other dwarves), and humans would rule the plains. Could be interesting. But I understand why they don't do it.

Doesn't mean it makes me happy, though :P.
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Points: 1191 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Apr 2012 at 19:48
This point has come up countless times... and it isn't likely to change I think.

Love Illy for what it is... not what it isn't. There are plenty of LoTR games and imitations around already. Wink
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Points: 6 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Apr 2012 at 19:51
Not just looking for an LoTR game or imitation. It's pretty much all fiction, folklore, and mythology that has elves as creatures of nature and dwarves as cave/mountain/underground people. And those other games don't have the fun mechanics of this one :P
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Points: 6903 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Apr 2012 at 20:39
This is a point that's been brought up many times.  Changing the basic mechanics at this point would be pretty disruptive to many players.

I have seen graphics for researches or possibly discoveries that look race-specific.  Perhaps these as-yet-undiscovered racial bonuses will relate to elves in forests or dwarves in mountains.

I am just speculating, might be nothing of the sort.
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Points: 6 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Apr 2012 at 22:12
Okay, I understand the logic that to change it now would disrupt players.

I'd love to see a new server started, that had new terrain rules. That would make the "Dwarf != Monkey" people (me!) happy. It would also give veteran and new players a chance to duke it out on relatively equal footing. Most people will stick with the old server, but some people enjoy starting over again when you don't have the disadvantage of being new.
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Points: 979 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Apr 2012 at 23:37
Originally posted by Rill Rill wrote:

I have seen graphics for researches or possibly discoveries that look race-specific.
link?  (:P)
"Side? I am on nobody's side because nobody is on my side" ~LoTR

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Points: 96 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Apr 2012 at 01:23
Originally posted by SunStorm SunStorm wrote:


Originally posted by Rill Rill wrote:

I have seen graphics for researches or possibly discoveries that look race-specific.
link?  (:P)


At the San Fran meet 'n greet, SC showed us some unreleased features (both in the form of notes in the Illy Bible, and various graphics and whatnot on his laptop) , including some sort of Dwarven Fortress in the mountains, iirc, and he actually covered up the map coordinates so we couldn't see where it is, lol!
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Points: 6903 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Apr 2012 at 02:40
The graphics I'm referring to appear on items in the Illy store.
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