Octopus Overlords

Posted: **Wed Apr 24, 2013 9:04 am**

New 1.0.3 patch is out:
Big addition to the manual it appears.

Hello everyone,

A new update (1.0.3) is now available for download.

Here are the patch notes:

• Fixed a synchronization bug in multiplayer matches.
• Improved chat functionality in multiplayer matches.
• Added hotkeys support for the Astral map:

'Z' — open the dialog with Zarr;
'J' — open the journal and statistics screen;
'E' — end turn;
'O' — open the setting without using the main menu;
'Home' — set camera back on the player's shard.
'Enter'— open the dialog window when a shard of the other Master is selected or start attacking selected neutral shard.

• Added hotkeys support for special skills of heroes and units on the tactical map:

'D' — 'Double shot'.
'M' — 'Collect ammo'.
'H' — 'Cure wounds'.
'F' — 'Forced march'.
'Y' — 'Necrophagy'.
'B' — 'Crushing blow'.
'A' — 'Round attack'.

• Fixed a bug when a champion Warrior was resurrected each time after his death.
• In the province list round icons are now used instead of the square ones.
• Fixed a bug when Wizard hero at level 10 could use two spells in one turn.
• Fixed a bug with cursor displacement while typing in text.
• Fixed a bug that could cause the game to crash if a player used a hero with 'Master of the Undead' skill on the tactical map.
• Fixed Wizard's skills 'Summon' and 'Necromancy' (the level of summoned creatures was two times higher than needed).
• English manual is updated with information about hero classes and skills, units, its characteristics and rewards.

Dan Spivakov, 12 minutes ago

Posted: **Wed Apr 24, 2013 10:47 am**

Well I didn't get a whole long time to play last night, but I was able to reload my game to the point where I'd only lost 1 shard at least and so far my new attempt at a second shard seems to be going well. I've been trying to make sure I make searching sites a priority and that's really paid off. I've got two heroes, plenty of money, and a fairly good assortment of magic items from questing.

For my main hero I went scout this time since that was the only class I hadn't tried, and the scout + swordsman combo really does work well. Once I got some of my basic buildings done I also made a beeline for the building that let my scout purchase a better bow and arrows, and that's made him extra deadly now. For a newbie like me the scout's scouting ability is also pretty handy. It at least makes sure I'm not walking into any ambushes when I hit a new quest site.

I did run into a couple bugs, first was when I tried a new campaign that option to skip it wasn't there for me. Plus I ran into a bug with the exploration encounter where you run into adventurers returning from a quest. I took the option to kill them, but every time I finished the battle it would hang up and I'd be stuck on the combat screen. Both fairly minor, but a little annoying.

Hoping to get some more time with it tonight, but I think I'm finally starting to get things figured out. Thanks again for all the tips!

Posted: **Wed Apr 24, 2013 4:33 pm**

If you have the GoG version and the patcher didn't include the new (50 pages bigger) manual in the 1.0.3 update today, Snowbird has put it up for direct download.

It includes detailed info on all the units, skills and spells in the game.

Posted: **Wed Apr 24, 2013 5:03 pm**

ColdSteel wrote:It includes detailed info on all the units, skills and spells in the game.

I may have to buy this sooner than later. I tell myself not until I finish my Genesis campaign but then...

Posted: **Wed Apr 24, 2013 6:03 pm**

Freezer-TPF- wrote:Does the GOG version have an autoupdate feature for patches? I think GOG usually has you download and reinstall new versions, which would not be optimal for a game that may still have several patches in its future.

There is an executable file in the main Eador - Masters of a Broken World folder entitled update.exe and if you double click on it, it will update the game.

ColdSteel wrote:If you have the GoG version and the patcher didn't include the new (50 pages bigger) manual in the 1.0.3 update today, Snowbird has put it up for direct download.

It includes detailed info on all the units, skills and spells in the game.

Thanks!

Posted: **Wed Apr 24, 2013 6:10 pm**

My GoG version updates when I click on Play... I don't have to click on the Update executable

Posted: **Wed Apr 24, 2013 6:57 pm**

Yes, clicking "play" on the launcher runs the game updater automatically. Mine upgraded to 1.0.3 but it didn't include the new manual. I downloaded it from the link above and then renamed it to be the same filename as the old manual in the game folder and now clicking "manual" in the launcher loads up the new manual as it should.

Posted: **Wed Apr 24, 2013 10:10 pm**

I never could get into the Elemental games, not sure why unless it's the fact that they're buggy, I dislike the art design and they lack a soul. I'm hoping my free copy of FE LE will turn it around for me. But I doubt it somehow.

Posted: **Thu Apr 25, 2013 6:10 am**

ioticus wrote:I never could get into the Elemental games, not sure why unless it's the fact that they're buggy, I dislike the art design and they lack a soul. I'm hoping my free copy of FE LE will turn it around for me. But I doubt it somehow.

Wrong thread really, but I know what you mean about lacking soul. That's my biggest issue with most Stardock games... The sum of great parts just seem to fail to add up to a great game; missing that intangible factor. While I liked LH better than the others, it still felt like it was lacking soul, to me. It's also not finished nor have I put a ton of time into it

Posted: **Thu Apr 25, 2013 9:48 am**

IceBear wrote:My GoG version updates when I click on Play... I don't have to click on the Update executable

Mine normally does, too. Then one day after I read about the most recent patch which hadn't yet been installed, it didn't update. So I exited the game and clicked on the Update executable and it updated.

That's why I mentioned it.

Posted: **Thu Apr 25, 2013 9:58 am**

Thanks for the GOG update info, much appreciated.

Posted: **Thu Apr 25, 2013 10:10 am**

Mine didn't update to 1.03 even clicking update. Someone on the Snowbird forums posted the .zip file and I was able to unzip it into my directory /oldskool.

Posted: **Thu Apr 25, 2013 12:45 pm**

Jag wrote:Mine didn't update to 1.03 even clicking update.

I noticed that when that happens I have to go ahead and load up the game and exit out again and then restart it. Then it seems to recognize that the version is different and the updater starts up.

Posted: **Thu Apr 25, 2013 7:40 pm**

Okay, I built an Alchemist's Guild which is supposed to let you transmute gold to gems and vice versa. But I can't figure out how to actually do that. Does anyone know?

Posted: **Thu Apr 25, 2013 10:52 pm**

I can't even get a game started. Getting the access violation error messages that others have been getting. Tried the work around posted on their forums but it did nothing. Too annoyed and tired to troubleshoot it right now. But definitely frustrating.

Posted: **Thu Apr 25, 2013 11:05 pm**

Baroquen wrote:I can't even get a game started. Getting the access violation error messages that others have been getting. Tried the work around posted on their forums but it did nothing. Too annoyed and tired to troubleshoot it right now. But definitely frustrating.

I had that or a similar problem -- fixed it by turning off v-sync in Catalyst Control Center (random, I know).

Posted: **Fri Apr 26, 2013 12:39 pm**

Baroquen wrote:I can't even get a game started. Getting the access violation error messages that others have been getting.

New 1.0.4 patch out today. It includes a fix for the access violation stuff.

Hello everyone,

The new 1.0.4 update is here. Here's what been changed and fixed:
•Added achievements for all versions of the game.
•Added ‘hotseat’ mode for tactical battles.
•Added windowed mode support.
•Added an alternative hotkey option for using spells of heroes and units (with ‘1’, ’2’, ’3’ etc.)
•Updated balance in multiplayer.
•Improved multiplayer stability.
Fixed:
•Problems launching the game caused by Data Execution Prevention settings in Windows OS.
•Game crash after a double battle (first province guard vs. enemy hero, then player’s hero vs. enemy hero).
•Inaccurate battle results predictions.
•Inability to proceed in the tutorial under certain conditions (choosing Wizard or Commander).
•Game crash caused by an enemy attacking player’s capital with a guard and without garrison.
•Heroes displaying as possible province guards when player is attacked by enemy.
•Inability to apply a ritual on a hero in uninhabited province.
•Player’s crystals count bug during an arena fight.
•Game crash caused by refusing to watch an arena fight.
•Blocking of map control buttons while selecting a ritual.
•Hotkey display bug in a tooltip for actions that also have an extended version of a tip.
•Hotkeys for province list classification.
•Generation of unreachable enemies in the campaign.
•Some mistakes in the in-game text.

Dan Spivakov, 27 minutes ago

Posted: **Fri Apr 26, 2013 3:36 pm**

Angnomander wrote:I choose holy knight, but I don't see any holy knight spells even though the description says he can self heal. NPC holy knights I fight can self heal and res. Is this a lack of the appropriate buildings and the NPCs are cheating? Or did I miss it somewhere?

These are perks you earn when you level up not spells. They're somewhat random. I think rejuvenation is one skill. The resurrect skill I don't think you can get until level 20.The new manual (the 70 page one) might have something about all that in there.

Posted: **Fri Apr 26, 2013 5:44 pm**

AWS260 wrote:
Baroquen wrote:I can't even get a game started. Getting the access violation error messages that others have been getting. Tried the work around posted on their forums but it did nothing. Too annoyed and tired to troubleshoot it right now. But definitely frustrating.
I had that or a similar problem -- fixed it by turning off v-sync in Catalyst Control Center (random, I know).

Ah, cool. Looks like the new patch fixed at least the initial errors. We'll see how things are once in the game. And I'll keep this in mind if I run into further trouble.

Looking forward to starting this up tonight.

Posted: **Mon Apr 29, 2013 8:59 pm**

Well, I've been rolling along, since that 1.0.4 patch fixed my problems. (The launcher crashes after booting the game, but I can close it down and still play without problems.)

Played through the tutorial and conquered my first shard. It certainly is satisfying my Genesis itch. I've got combat speed bumped up, the building AI isn't that bad, and the radial choices took a little getting used to, but I kind of like it now. Beginner difficulty level actually was pretty easy (compared to the first game?). Not sure if I want to bump the difficulty up, or enjoy rolling over the enemies. We'll see.

Posted: **Mon Apr 29, 2013 11:29 pm**

ColdSteel wrote:
Butterknife wrote:I'm also doubting how much replayability the game has. It feels very similar to defeat each shard - you use the same techniques each time.
One thing I think it's important to realize is that at the point you are in the campaign you have seen very, very little of the game. What you can do is severely restricted for a very long time in the campaign as you have to unlock stuff bit by bit (by bit). It will take you forever before you see everything the game has to offer via the campaign. Early on it is indeed the same stuff over and over because of that.

What you should do is put down the campaign for a little while and play a randomly generated scenario on a large shard. In my opinion this is where the game really shines. I had 10 (maybe 20) times the fun playing the game this way instead of the campaign. All options, strategies, units and buildings are open to you this way and you can form a real opinion of the game. The longevity does not come from the campaign at all, it comes from the random scenarios (which are really excellent). This is the real core of the game, imo.

I gave your advice a try and it was great! The game is much more interesting with all of the buildings unlocked from a random scenario. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I never did finish the scenario, but I'm ready to head back into the campaign now with a much better understanding of what is going on, and how to get to the high-level units and so on. When I get tired of the campaign's limitations I will probably play some smaller scenarios to try out new things.

After trying both I would definitely recommend starting the game with a random scenario instead of the campaign, for anyone who is just jumping in to this for the first time.

Posted: **Wed May 01, 2013 8:45 am**

I have found two conditions that consistently cause the game to freeze with an hourglass in tactical combat. Both can be avoided so I wanted to post them here:

1) If an AI Giant Slug uses their necrophage ability to consume a corpse to recover health the game will freeze every time. You can avoid it by not leaving any corpses near them or by killing them first.

2) If one of your archers or your scout hero uses the doubleshot ability and the first arrow kills the target, the battle will freeze. This can be avoided by not using doubleshot when there is any chance to kill with the first arrow.

If the freeze does happen note that the game is NOT locked. You can recover by going to the battle menu and selecting quick combat or auto combat to finish resolving the stuck battle.

Posted: **Thu May 02, 2013 8:06 am**

New 1.0.5 patch came out yesterday:

Hi guys,

A new update for the game (1.0.5) is coming in a few hours. Here are the patch notes:
•Added support for displays with 768 vertical pixels resolution.
•Unit animations have been sped up.
•Added 5 new achievements.
•Multiplayer balance changes.
•Added new illustrations for several events.
•Added option for changing lighting modes.
•Multiplayer stability improved.
•The way heroes' attributes level up has been changed (multiplayer).
Fixed:
•Assert and Access Violation errors in Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows 8.
•Unusually high levels of enemy heroes.
•Crash caused by loading the game in windowed mode.
•Quests for making alliances.
•Possible crash while using Alt+Tab during loading time.
•Inaccurate attack result prediction as target’s parry skill was not correctly taken into account.
•Earthquake event bug.
•Inability to return a province captured by demons.
•Event bug caused by province’s capture by inquisitors.
•Bugs caused by player’s attack on a guard in his own province.
•Hero’s death when he finds a not guarded sight with treasure.
•Non disappearing icon of a guard after his dismissal.
•Hotkey for ‘Crushing Blow’ skill.
•Some changes in the in-game text.

Dan Spivakov, Yesterday at 1:55 PM

Posted: **Sat May 04, 2013 2:55 pm**

Just got it. Any starter guides anyone recommends?

Posted: **Sat May 04, 2013 3:35 pm**

Mr. Fed wrote:Just got it. Any starter guides anyone recommends?

I knew you couldn't resist! The manual is actually a very good starting place.

Posted: **Sat May 04, 2013 4:28 pm**

AWS260 wrote:The manual is actually a very good starting place.

And read through the Genesis thread here and the ones at Qto3 and Broken forums for the beginner tips. It's the same game basically so they apply.

Posted: **Sat May 04, 2013 11:09 pm**

Mr. Fed wrote:Just got it. Any starter guides anyone recommends?

You'll probably do just fine if you remember these few beginner tips:

1) Choose a Warrior or Scout as your first hero
2) Conquer the surrounding lands ASAP in a ring from your capital. Explore conquered provinces a bit before conquering beyond that. Fight goblins or undead to start with.
3) Play a random map first, not the campaign

Here's some advanced tips:

4) "Guards" stay in a province to guard it. They are defensive, and you usually get them from building a specific building. Hire them when you can afford it, and when you have a good reason (they have an upkeep cost).
5) Always keep some money in the treasury for random events
6) Siege until you get the message that the walls are breached. Each turn you continue the siege after that breaks one more section of wall, but you don't have to wait for the entire wall to be destroyed.
7) Look up enemies in the manual before fighting so you know what you are up against

Posted: **Sun May 05, 2013 7:23 pm**

Butterknife wrote:2) Conquer the surrounding lands ASAP in a ring from your capital. Explore conquered provinces a bit before conquering beyond that. Fight goblins or undead to start with.

Corollary to that in general is to learn which enemies are easier. False start once or twice to get that feel. For instance if you have nomads or lizards in your starting ring, let them lay until you take out all of the free settlements first. I even let the barbarians lay first. The key to success throughout the game is getting a feel for your enemy and which heroes and troops can take them on.

Posted: **Sun May 05, 2013 9:27 pm**

The starting ring around your castle is usually easier to conquer. They added a color message to fights that indicate how easy or hard it is. Warrior is great for soloing and around level 4-5 can really take and give a beating. Scout is a bit weaker and vulnerable to ranged, but you get some good options for negotiating and rigging fights.

Whatever class you get, make sure to get some spellcasting fast. Magic arrows can reach anywhere on the map to take out weak ranged troops or whittle away at ground troops while they cross the terrain. Doesn't matter what class you are, every Hero needs some magic.

Posted: **Mon May 06, 2013 9:34 am**

Is there any way to get troops to heal faster?

Posted: **Mon May 06, 2013 9:52 am**

As far as I know the answer is technically "no" but I haven't discovered nearly all of the building yet.

However I believe the following to be true:

Your troops heal rate is based on your heal rate, meaning your health.
Troops with first aid will heal faster.

In addition to this, tactically and strategically the work around to slow healing:

- Early game, if you have the income it is prudent to cycle troops in and out of your castle as you go off to battle.
- Troops with Regeneration and First Aid come in handy when you want to fight every turn. I'm particular to the pegasus. They move five so they can swarm in HtH at an archers range and can take just about any other level 2 troop in two hits except Ogres. They're healing rate once they have first aid is huge.
- It's not cheating to prolong a battle to use a bunch of heal spells or allow your regeneration/first aid to heal troops. The game will warn that you will lose the batter if you take too long to complete it.
- If you don't use them already, the overland spells (I forget what they're called) include an assortment of healing spell. Chalice of Life comes to mind.
- There are rare structures you can find schematics to that make the demense they are in heal you faster.

Posted: **Mon May 06, 2013 9:57 am**

There is a Tier I ritual that heals all troops in an army 5 points. I forget the school of magic, but it's one of the first available. There are also buildings that increase healing speed in the capitol.

I'm playing on a medium random map against 3 opponents, and 80 turns in the turn times are excruciating, particularly with the grind involved. I can't begin to imagine what it will be like come turn 200.

The fact that I can hit end turn, go to the kitchen, get a cup of coffee, and return just as the turn is ending to discover that I explored another 3% of some province is enough to get me to put this down until these issues are addressed.

Posted: **Tue May 07, 2013 9:05 am**

tgb wrote:There is a Tier I ritual that heals all troops in an army 5 points. I forget the school of magic, but it's one of the first available. There are also buildings that increase healing speed in the capitol.

That proved helpful.

Finally captured my first shard (my fifth attempt) and one of my rewards was schematics for a building that makes things heal faster in the capital, so that's something.

So far, the only way I seem capable of dealing with morale in provinces is to be as nice as humanly possible when random events crop up. I would like to be able to do something about that at some point; I assume building schematics will help eventually.

Posted: **Tue May 07, 2013 10:59 am**

Peacedog wrote:
tgb wrote:There is a Tier I ritual that heals all troops in an army 5 points. I forget the school of magic, but it's one of the first available. There are also buildings that increase healing speed in the capitol.
That proved helpful.

Finally captured my first shard (my fifth attempt) and one of my rewards was schematics for a building that makes things heal faster in the capital, so that's something.

So far, the only way I seem capable of dealing with morale in provinces is to be as nice as humanly possible when random events crop up. I would like to be able to do something about that at some point; I assume building schematics will help eventually.

Being nice doesn't necessarily increase morale across the board. Orc and Goblin provinces, for example, expect the opposite. Once your domain gets big enough, you will never be able to keep everybody happy

Posted: **Tue May 07, 2013 11:21 am**

Orcs and Goblins expect to be oppressed, so sending in the troops periodically is thematically appropriate IMO.

Posted: **Wed May 15, 2013 8:34 pm**

I have been playing this VERY casually, and seem to have hit a minor wall. I am playing the custom campaign at the moment and using the Scout as my Hero. I have unlocked a few Tier 2 troops now but the unit slots for your hero seem to be tiered as well. I can carry 4 Tier 1 2 Tier 2 and 1 Tier 3 currently. So no matter how far I advance my primary province and unlock better troops I won't be able to use them or am I missing something? I am trying to move out into the further provinces and have also met the first enemy AI and Tier 1 troops, even leveled up, simply aren't going to be sufficient anymore. Opening up new unit slots on the hero also appears to be completely random based on what stat increase you "roll" on level up or am I again simply missing something fundamental?

Posted: **Wed May 15, 2013 10:54 pm**

I think you pretty much have it all correct. You build the dwellings in town so you can recruit the different tiers of troops. Then, your heroes need to have a matching tier slot available. I know Commanders are the best for loading up on troops. It's their specialty, though I haven't played a commander much, so I can't comment/critique the effectiveness much. And yeah, I think your random level up stat does play into it too, but I'm not sure to what extent. When command increases it opens a slot? Or a certain amt of command to open various spots? Do Commanders have a better chance of getting the required stat needed?

I bet the manual has all of this stuff spelled out, but I don't have it close by. Sorry.

Personally, I've beaten my third shard in the campaign, and it continues to be easy so far. Easier than Genesis, anyway. If there's a way to crank up the difficulty, mid-campaign, I might do that. On the other hand, I like winning/steamrolling enough that i might just let it be a fun time-waster, rather than more stressful challenge.

Posted: **Thu May 16, 2013 5:44 am**

When you level up, you can get an increase in command, magic, or health. The odds of each depends on your type of hero. As your command attribute rises, some of the increases will allow second (and later third and fourth) level troops. It's not too long a wait with a commander type hero.

When you go to hire units and drag them to your hero, you can see this visually as a second row of open slots.

Posted: **Tue Oct 15, 2013 10:48 pm**

So... this is on steam sale, how many tentacles if anyone is still playing?

Posted: **Wed Oct 16, 2013 9:44 am**

Pyperkub wrote:So... this is on steam sale, how many tentacles if anyone is still playing?

It's a marathon to complete a campaign, that eventually feels like more like a test of your endurance to do the same stuff again and again. But the mechanics are great. I'd give it 6 and a half tentacles for the fan of the a traditional hero stack TBS. Experiencing the mechanic is well worth $10 but it's not a game that I will come back to and play for years and years.

Octopus Overlords

Eador: Master of the Broken World (new 4X fantasy TBS)

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