Eador:Genesis

ydejin · Post by **ydejin** » Fri Dec 21, 2012 2:14 pm

tgb wrote:I've been toying with different strategies before getting serious (with the Beta, I hope ), and I find the Scout hero to be the best early game because of the importance of, ummmm, scouting. He's tough to keep alive, and I have to resurrect a couple of times, but it's worth it.

dbemont wrote:
tgb wrote:I've been toying with different strategies before getting serious (with the Beta, I hope ), and I find the Scout hero to be the best early game because of the importance of, ummmm, scouting. He's tough to keep alive, and I have to resurrect a couple of times, but it's worth it.
I've had my best luck, so far, with the Commander. If you can level the Mage up a bit and get into the second circle of spells like Fireball, you can really move right along. But lots of buildings to pay for before you get there.

Malacheye wrote:More reactions...

I now love the commander. He gets access to level 2 troops more quickly than the other heroes, and until he makes level 10 and can choose the option of warlord, allowing him to wear highest level armor, I just keep him back casting a few spells and getting a couple of killing blows when necessary.

I've played with all four. Just a bit with the Commander, a Wizard to Level 15, a Warrior to level 20, and now a fully maxed out Scout at 30. My main problem with the Commander is I'm having trouble with my economy and the last thing I need is a leader that relies on having a lot of expensive troops. I'm having enough trouble just paying for my four tier 3 knights, I can't imagine how much a Commander army costs to run! I really need to improve my economic skills. I'd definitely be interested in economy tips. The only one I've run into is corruption starts taking out a huge chunk of your money, build anti-corruption measures whenever possible.

Of the other three, I found the Scout to be the best. His benefits are three fold. (1) like the Wizard, but unlike the Warrior or Commander he is great at killing things at a distance. When I go against enemy Wizard heroes, he instantly decapitates the enemy leader (usually one turn -- double shot, bam, enemy Wizard is dead). He kills any heavy enemy units such as Executioners before they even come close to my lines. He takes out enemy archers and mages (which are very annoying for my Warrior). Even enemy Commander and Warrior heroes go down in 3 turns or so with Armor-Piercing Doubleshot. (2) with Pathfinding his troops can move over any terrain on the battlefield (except lake and mountains) paying only 1 movement point. Not only that, but all terrain becomes friendly to them, providing defensive capability -- sitting on a swamp goes from being a minus to a plus. (3) he moves quickly across the strategic map, getting places about 3 times faster than the other heroes, this means he can rapidly relieve sieges.

As an individual unit I find the Warrior to be terrific. But he has trouble keeping the units in his army alive, and without them he can get overwhelmed. Basically I think the main issue is that he needs to advance to take down enemy archers and mages, which means that he either advances by himself (which against tougher enemies is not a great idea) or he advances with his troops, and they inevitably start dying along the way. So while I've found his army to be effective, in contrast to the Scout, the Warrior army loses troops most battles and thus costs more money to run.

I need to spend more time with the Wizard. He seemed pretty decent, but ultimately I didn't have enough money to run all three armies, so I've left the Wizard awaiting a rez in my castle.

Qantaga · Post by **Qantaga** » Fri Dec 21, 2012 7:02 pm

tgb wrote:No one knows what's going on. Now the beta forum has disappeared again, and there has been no work from the developer since the 18th, when he posted that keys would start going out on the 19h.

I was hoping for some quality Eador beta time over the holidays.

Very strange that the devs have vanished this week, after posting that the beta was imminent.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Fri Dec 21, 2012 10:42 pm

Qantaga wrote:
tgb wrote:No one knows what's going on. Now the beta forum has disappeared again, and there has been no work from the developer since the 18th, when he posted that keys would start going out on the 19h.

I was hoping for some quality Eador beta time over the holidays.

Very strange that the devs have vanished this week, after posting that the beta was imminent.

Not only imminent, but they posted earlier that they will be "continuing" to send out keys through next week. Strange that no one that has gotten one has spoken up as yet.

Malacheye · Post by **Malacheye** » Mon Dec 24, 2012 11:17 am

Still playing this game a lot, but only the campaign. I am playing level 3 and it is challenging. Slow going, but still fun.

The computer seems to have unlimited gold/gems. He is constantly resurrecting his heroes that I have killed.

Last night, I finally had the balls to fight a dragon. I had a level 14 Scout/Archer with double shot. I needed 9 troops with me as the dragon took out 7. I received a legendary item as a reward.

The point totals at the end really reward you for doing quests. Early in the campaign, I recommend getting the crystal shard thingy that allows you to complete easy quests.

Since the campaign is point driven, I still havent fought a few of the tougher creatures, but am looking forward to getting to some more later this week.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Mon Dec 24, 2012 1:00 pm

Some people are reporting that they are finally receiving beta keys, but I'm not one of them.

Qantaga · Post by **Qantaga** » Mon Dec 24, 2012 2:12 pm

tgb wrote:Some people are reporting that they are finally receiving beta keys, but I'm not one of them.

I haven't gotten one, either.

It's excellent news that they're finally sending keys out. The two that mentioned specifics said they were on the first page of the sign up thread, so maybe OOers aren't too far away from keys.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Mon Dec 24, 2012 4:27 pm

Qantaga wrote:
tgb wrote:Some people are reporting that they are finally receiving beta keys, but I'm not one of them.

I haven't gotten one, either.

It's excellent news that they're finally sending keys out. The two that mentioned specifics said they were on the first page of the sign up thread, so maybe OOers aren't too far away from keys.

I don't know about yours, but my email didn't make it until Page 6, so I'm thinking Wed. or Thurs.

Qantaga · Post by **Qantaga** » Mon Dec 24, 2012 5:05 pm

tgb wrote:
I don't know about yours, but my email didn't make it until Page 6, so I'm thinking Wed. or Thurs.

dbemont is the first OO name I recognize on the beta signup thread. He and I are on Page 5, so I hope you're right about mid-week.

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Mon Dec 24, 2012 7:01 pm

The forum effect was too strong on this one and I went ahead and bought the game today from Gog. As I suspected I had the sound and lag problem affecting many of those with modern processors and Win7. But creating the power profile that throttles the CPU by 50% did the trick and I'm currently a few hours into the tutorial and enjoying it very much. I created a Warrior hero and got lucky and found a pretty good +5 club with +1 stun on it that I got from some ogres early on. I'm supplementing him with 4 slingers and that seems to be working out so far. The graphics have no animations at all which was a bit surprising but the art itself is quite nice. Amazing job really for a one man dev team.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Tue Dec 25, 2012 8:07 am

Now I have a beta key.

Ho. Ho. Ho.

[edit] They must have sent out a bunch of keys at the same time. It's taking 2 hours to download half a Gig.

dbemont · Post by **dbemont** » Tue Dec 25, 2012 8:39 am

tgb wrote:Now I have a beta key.

Ho. Ho. Ho.

Me too. Now I know what I will be doing after the Christmas festivities die down around here.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Tue Dec 25, 2012 9:13 am

dbemont wrote:
tgb wrote:Now I have a beta key.

Ho. Ho. Ho.
Me too. Now I know what I will be doing after the Christmas festivities die down around here.

Have you seen any mention of an NDA? I would think it would be pointless between the videos released plus the release of Genesis, but you never know.

dbemont · Post by **dbemont** » Tue Dec 25, 2012 11:39 am

tgb wrote:
dbemont wrote:
tgb wrote:Now I have a beta key.

Ho. Ho. Ho.
Me too. Now I know what I will be doing after the Christmas festivities die down around here.
Have you seen any mention of an NDA? I would think it would be pointless between the videos released plus the release of Genesis, but you never know.

No, I had thought I might shoot them an email asking. But my guess is they probably want the buzz more than they fear negative postings.

Qantaga · Post by **Qantaga** » Tue Dec 25, 2012 12:06 pm

I'm in, too!

I won't be able to play until tomorrow, so my anticipation will be at a fever pitch by then.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Tue Dec 25, 2012 12:20 pm

I poked around a little bit. There is the campaign, a random map generator, and what the developers call "demo scenarios", which lie somewhere between a tutorial and a full game. One is a single fixed battle, the other is a single fixed shard where you start off with some pretty high-level units. More of a "quick-start" scenarios than anything else.

I played a bit of both demo scenarios, and didn't encounter any major bugs that I could see. No CTD's, although some have reported having difficulty starting the campaign (haven't tried it yet, myself). Mostly I'm running into what seems to be missing content - descriptions in the building tree, lack of battle sound effects, that sort of thing.

But the game is sure purty, and the changes to the interface are an improvement (for the most part).

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Tue Dec 25, 2012 1:07 pm

I lied - I'm unable to play either a random shard or the campaign. The game crashed when creating a shard in both. So far only the pre-created "demo" shard works for me.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Tue Dec 25, 2012 9:12 pm

Posted in the Russian Beta forum:

To fix CTDs your game installation must have the following EXACT path:
For 32 bit Windows: C:\Program Files\Eador. Masters of the Broken World (December beta)
For x64 Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Eador. Masters of the Broken World (December beta)
Where "C:" is your current's OS volume.

I can confirm that it worked for me in 32-bit VIsta. It also restored some of the graphical assets I was missing. Now I can tackle this for real tomorrow.

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Tue Dec 25, 2012 9:54 pm

Someone *please* tell me how to trigger building tier 2 units. I've gotten one tier 2 unit as a reward (gargoyle) in a battle but see no way of building anything of my own. I've built everything I can in the stronghold and I see nothing to build that would trigger them. I have a level 13 archer and a level 8 warrior on the first shard after the tutorial ends (I assume that's what happened afer I sipped that victory wine) and I'd like to improve my army but can't figure out how to get the to next level units. I assume maybe you need to upgrade the recruitment buildings somehow, but how?

As an aside, I think I agree with those saying this is maybe the best turn based 4X in many, many years. I haven't been able to pry myself away from it. I've played maybe 15 hours over 2 days. Can't wait for the spiffed up version to come out.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Tue Dec 25, 2012 11:21 pm

ColdSteel wrote:Someone *please* tell me how to trigger building tier 2 units. I've gotten one tier 2 unit as a reward (gargoyle) in a battle but see no way of building anything of my own. I've built everything I can in the stronghold and I see nothing to build that would trigger them. I have a level 13 archer and a level 8 warrior on the first shard after the tutorial ends (I assume that's what happened afer I sipped that victory wine) and I'd like to improve my army but can't figure out how to get the to next level units. I assume maybe you need to upgrade the recruitment buildings somehow, but how?

As an aside, I think I agree with those saying this is maybe the best turn based 4X in many, many years. I haven't been able to pry myself away from it. I've played maybe 15 hours over 2 days. Can't wait for the spiffed up version to come out.

This may not help, other than to give you something to look for in the interface, but in the Stronghold screen in the new version you can toggle between the different tiers of buildings.

I gotta say, based upon my first hour in the Beta - WOW! Definitely worth the wait.

Malacheye · Post by **Malacheye** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 12:18 am

[quote="ColdSteel"]Someone *please* tell me how to trigger building tier 2 units. I've gotten one tier 2 unit as a reward (gargoyle) in a battle but see no way of building anything of my own. I've built everything I can in the stronghold and I see nothing to build that would trigger them. I have a level 13 archer and a level 8 warrior on the first shard after the tutorial ends (I assume that's what happened afer I sipped that victory wine) and I'd like to improve my army but can't figure out how to get the to next level units. I assume maybe you need to upgrade the recruitment buildings somehow, but how?

In the campaign, new buildings open up that allow you to build the buildings for specific tier two troops (and im guessing tier 3 and 4 as well). I think it was the 5th or 6th shard before I had tier 2 troops. Each shard you can conquer has specific buildings that you will get as a reward for completing the shard.

Basilisk eggs, spider eggs and the like can only be garrisonned if the level of the troop is the same or lower than the level of the garrison building. They are often given as rewards in the early shards and there is no way you can use them on the given shard.

I hope that helps,

ydejin · Post by **ydejin** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 3:30 am

Care of Mark M out at Broken Forum, the unit section of the manual translated from Russian via Google translation. Google actually does a surprisingly good job.

ydejin · Post by **ydejin** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 3:41 am

ColdSteel wrote:Someone *please* tell me how to trigger building tier 2 units. I've gotten one tier 2 unit as a reward (gargoyle) in a battle but see no way of building anything of my own. I've built everything I can in the stronghold and I see nothing to build that would trigger them. I have a level 13 archer and a level 8 warrior on the first shard after the tutorial ends (I assume that's what happened afer I sipped that victory wine) and I'd like to improve my army but can't figure out how to get the to next level units. I assume maybe you need to upgrade the recruitment buildings somehow, but how?

Just to add to what Malacheye said, what I did with my Giant Slug egg was put it in my Hero's inventory and then go to the "Hire Soldiers" page. Then drag it from my Hero's inventory into one of the appropriate tier unit slots. The Giant Slug did require a particular building which was in the Forestry section of the Fortress, not quite sure what else was on there, but it's possible it's all the Tier 2 monsters. I see there's another one which let's me hatch Manticore, Hydra, and Phoenix eggs, which I assume are Tier 3 monsters. It's possible Gargoyle is a Tier 1 monster and it may be there's no building requirement for it.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 7:17 am

Guys in the beta:

Have you been able to do any quests? I built a crystal palace, but the easy quest selection remains grayed out. I'm not sure if that's a bug or they just aren't implemented yet, but I reported it.

ydejin · Post by **ydejin** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 8:31 am

ColdSteel wrote:Someone *please* tell me how to trigger building tier 2 units. I've gotten one tier 2 unit as a reward (gargoyle) in a battle but see no way of building anything of my own. I've built everything I can in the stronghold and I see nothing to build that would trigger them. I have a level 13 archer and a level 8 warrior on the first shard after the tutorial ends (I assume that's what happened afer I sipped that victory wine) and I'd like to improve my army but can't figure out how to get the to next level units. I assume maybe you need to upgrade the recruitment buildings somehow, but how?

I went through the translated manual from Russian, so take this with a grain of salt, but I didn't see a Gargoyle Egg like with the Basilisk, Spider, or Giant Slug. Instead it looks like there's Create Gargoyle scroll. If that's what you have, you need to build the library and then have one of your heroes go to the Spell Selection screen at the library. Take the Gargoyle Scroll and drag it into one of your heroes empty spell slots of the appropriate level. Then you should be able to cast "Create Gargoyle" in combat.

You can't move scrolls between heroes once they've been placed, so make sure you place it on whoever you want to use it long-term.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 10:14 am

After about 75 turns on a random map, I can impart a little information.

As the developers have said all along, it's the same game with updated graphics and interface. The tactical game is pretty much unchanged with the exception of one minor tweak to the interface (that I happen to like a lot). Now when one unit attack another, you not only see a numerical representation of the change to health, but stamina and morale as well (also morale of units in adjacent hexes).

Most of the differences are in the strategic interface. Heroes and provinces now have a radial menu. There's a small selection of buttons at the bottom of the screen for stronghold improvements, conducting rituals, etc. You now can see all four tiers of improvements, even if you can't build them, which makes the upgrade tree a lot less opaque. The summary screen and cash flow screen are now combined, making for a cleaner presentation.

I was being premature when I said the game was ready for prime time, but it's pretty close. Quests are either buggy or not implemented yet, I'm not sure which. Either way I can't choose any, and the developers haven't said. There's no ambient or combat sound effects, just music. Combat results aren't completely synced to the animations.

Tactical AI seems fine - I've yet to see it do anything stupid. I haven't lost a battle yet, but I'm playing on the easiest level. I can't comment on the strategic AI or diplomacy since I haven't encountered any opponents yet, but I did have one province rebel, and it took a couple of battles to retake it.

More as I put more time in, but so far, color me happy.

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 10:40 am

That for all the help, guys. I guess I still have a good long way to go before I can unlock those buildings to get the higher level troops. The building part of the game appears to have some serious depth.

I have to say I like pretty much everything about this game. A lot. I am so impressed with the tactical AI. It does not seem to make any dumb moves at all. I really love the art style. It reminds me a bit of the first disciples game, I think. The panning art at the main screen reminds me of the panning AoW:SM main screen. The game seems to combine everything I love about these kinds of games into one super-dense game full of awesome. I'm glad I bought this gog version because now I know that the new version is going to be a first day purchase for me. I can't see it not always being on my hard drive.

Malacheye · Post by **Malacheye** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 10:59 am

On the tactical decisions by the AI,

1. I notice when I am using pikemen or my hero has a weapon with first strike capability that the AI will not attack me when its health is low. I found that really rare for a game and once again opens up some interesting decisions on how to build/move your army on the tactical map.

2. Often the AI will target your hero if it "squishy" (Scout or Mage). Gotta be really careful when fighting fast shooters. I almost always choose ranged or magic resistance items for heroes and skill ups for units. Once again, something kinda rare in a game like this.

3. Strategically, the computer will attack your border provinces relentlessly, forcing you to keep a hero or very strong garrison there. Even if his hero is weaker than yours it forces you to find other ways to defend and conquer effectively. The AI will even retreat from combat if he is weaker than you which forces you to go after him. The game allows your heroes attacking a province to also defend the province you are moving from, so sometimes you can get lucky and defeat an enemy hero that was "probing" you on defense and then take the area he was coming from on offense.

4. I have noticed on the tactical map that the AI doesnt seem to make decisions based on terrain. It will often attack you from a swamp if that means inflicting damage, even if it will take more damage on retaliation.

A couple of questions...

-In quick combat, does anyone know what the option means "no sacrifices can be made" (the second option)?

-Does the new version allow a hero to learn a spell from a scroll away from a library or do you still have to move back to a stronghold or wait until you have a capability to build a library in conquered provinces?

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 11:33 am

Malacheye wrote:
-Does the new version allow a hero to learn a spell from a scroll away from a library or do you still have to move back to a stronghold or wait until you have a capability to build a library in conquered provinces?

My warrior hero has only found one usable scroll so far (the other had placeholder text and couldn't be equipped), and I'm pretty sure I had to return to the capitol and build a library in the stronghold to use it.

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 1:01 pm

tgb, has the save game functionality changed any in the beta or is it still exactly the same as in Genesis?

Qantaga · Post by **Qantaga** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 1:52 pm

ColdSteel wrote:tgb, has the save game functionality changed any in the beta or is it still exactly the same as in Genesis?

I'll take this one.

Multiple saves are in the new game.

Qantaga · Post by **Qantaga** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 1:59 pm

I got some time this morning to start the (beta) campaign. I was able to capture a tiny shard.

I am very pleased.

tgb's summaries reflect my experience so far.

This will be a Day 1 purchase for me when it is released.

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 2:02 pm

Qantaga wrote:Multiple saves are in the new game.

Woohoo, that's great news!

I just captured my first shard in the campaign with a whopping score of 19. Not sure if that's good or bad but at least I won. I'm having a hard time figuring out what to do with my heroes when they hit level 10. On the tutorial shard I picked berserker for my warrior, not really knowing what that does and then on this last shard I tried a holy knight. I picked Archer for my Scout since it seemed the most pew pew oriented. I wish they had more information telling you what the advantages/disadvantages of each are. I assume that's maybe somewhere in the manual we don't have.

Greybriar · Post by **Greybriar** » Wed Dec 26, 2012 8:42 pm

Qantaga wrote:....Multiple saves are in the new game.

Thanks for letting us know. Even if they don't change anything else, they have made a vast improvement.

Enigma · Post by **Enigma** » Thu Dec 27, 2012 5:29 pm

So, should I wait for the updated version or get this now?

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Thu Dec 27, 2012 6:01 pm

Enigma wrote:So, should I wait for the updated version or get this now?

I would say wait, since the new game is the same but designed for modern sensibilities. OTOH, you can consider the old version a $5 demo.

Baroquen · Post by **Baroquen** » Thu Dec 27, 2012 9:55 pm

tgb wrote:
Enigma wrote:So, should I wait for the updated version or get this now?
I would say wait, since the new game is the same but designed for modern sensibilities. OTOH, you can consider the old version a $5 demo.

Have they given an ETA for new version? I don't remember seeing that mentioned in the thread, but I wouldn't be surprised if i missed it. Didn't see it in their forums either.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Thu Dec 27, 2012 11:25 pm

Baroquen wrote:
tgb wrote:
Enigma wrote:So, should I wait for the updated version or get this now?
I would say wait, since the new game is the same but designed for modern sensibilities. OTOH, you can consider the old version a $5 demo.
Have they given an ETA for new version? I don't remember seeing that mentioned in the thread, but I wouldn't be surprised if i missed it. Didn't see it in their forums either.

They are talking about Q1. Based on what most testers are reporting, I'd guess probably sooner rather than later, but you never know what might pop up.

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Fri Dec 28, 2012 11:02 am

I saw an interesting forum post by Alexey, the game dev, that listed the games that influenced his creation of Eador. I was not surprised to see the HoMM and MoM games cited but was very interested to see that he also mentioned the Dominions games as a main influence on Genesis.

After seeing that and thinking about it a bit, the influence becomes pretty obvious in the way he has the provinces segregated and how each province has special sites that have to be explored, like Dominions does. Also as in Dominions, the sites in a province can be hidden and, once found by searching, can provide all kinds of bonuses and other goodies. I also see some similarities on how population morale is affected in provinces based on what you do there. There's also similarities on how armies move around the strategic map.

It's one of the subliminal things that make me like the game so much. Dominions has been kind of ignored by game developers for the most part as far as borrowing good ideas go and it's nice to see a developer mesh some of the more fun aspects of it into such a deep game. One of the general weaknesses of Dominions is the AI and you certainly don't see that at all in Genesis, however.This guy has bolted together some of the most fun aspects of all the 4X games that I loved the most and added his own spin and developed it into into something that feels totally fresh and new and yet somehow still familiar.

I hope the word gets out about the Broken World reboot of this game. I can't imagine that it's not going to be a huge success if they have a solid and stable release at the right price and metacritic doesn't kill it just because it's TBS and way too deep for the normal 10 minute review sites. I remember when HoMM2 and HoMM3 were coming out and all the buzz in the media and gaming world and this game deserves some of that kind of buzz. Word of mouth has been strong for Genesis in forums all over the internets so I have hope that will help.

I'm on vacation this past week and I've been playing it every day non stop. I start in the morning and look up and it's 5 in the afternoon. I get something to eat and think to myself I'll just play it a few more hours and then I look up and it's 10 or 11 at night. It's been a long time since I had it this bad on the one-more-turnitis for any game. Whatever that elusive quality is, this game has it in spades, at least for me. It's already on my short list of the best games I've ever played and I can say that without any reservations at all. I can't wait to try the reboot version.

JonathanStrange · Post by **JonathanStrange** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 1:15 pm

That's a great endorsement and one I share - although, caveat emptor, I'm a fan of games that (on this forum, at least) seem to have few or lukewarm supporters (from X3 to Armada 2526 Supernova to UFO: Aftermath and etc.) all of which I've played for far too many hours. All the "big deal" games, the ones with threads with thousands of views and hundreds of posts? They're okay - and I'm glad I've played most of 'em - but when I'm done, I may never return. Usually I don't.

Eador: Genesis and its follow-up, I suspect, I'll be returning to again and again. And again.

dbemont · Post by **dbemont** » Wed Jan 02, 2013 9:37 pm

I'm continuing to play the crap out of the beta for Broken World. It is quite a game! The more I play around with the new feature, the types of worlds, the bigger a deal I think this is. For example, on worlds of sand, you struggle to maintain stamina. On worlds of faith, human provinces rebel against you for abandoning their god. On worlds of war, all troops are cheaper. There are a whole slew of these, and they add a whole new level of variety to gameplay.

If you play in scenario (called a custom world) you pick one of these for the game. But if you play the campaign, then the type of world becomes part of your choice each time you select a shard to invade. Not only are you selecting a shard that might give you the ability to build a new kind of building for the rest of the campaign, but you are also deciding on the type of world to fight in -- providing a whole other layer of variety to the game.

Speaking of which, I am only now realizing just how much this is two games in one. Playing a scenario/custom world is a totally different experience than playing a campaign. A custom world scenario is all about building; to compete, you have to move efficiently to level 2,3,4 buildings to get the powerful spells and units (and resources to support the spells and units). But the campaign is all about making do without buildings (and powerful units and spells). Each successive shard, you gain the ability to go a little further up the building tree -- that is the point of conquering the shard -- and you value each new discovery. With buildings so limited, victory is about leveling your hero.

At the moment, I am trying out a very large map for a custom game scenario, with 8 opponents. (You can set up with as many as 16).