Exactly. It's obvious this is what is happening. 

 You miss the point. We are not saying SD listen to *my* super grandoise complicated idea for everything or you suck.

I mean how would that work? Everyone are posting super specific and detailed proposals which all conflict obviously.

But if you look through all the threads , while everyone disagrees on how to fix the game there is a very clear consensus on what is wrong at the high level.

Of course there is a lot of ways to solve each perceived problem, after all there are dozens of ways for the game to be playable.  

But SD will say they listen, and then they go ahead and do stuff that shows they totally don't get what players are saying is the problem (the recent 1dN thing is just a perfect case study).  

Here's the thing, some companies like Blizzard are pretty high handed, they have their own vision, they don't care what players think mostly, they trust their judgement and they don't even pretend to need feedback (at least not on such high level matters), and they do fine.

SD i suspect is actually like Blizzard, they think they know better, but are trying to score PR points for seeming to listen....After all many new comers here are still impressed by the "wow, the ceo is posting!"  trick,so this seeming to ask for feedback helps..

Given the bad PR they had lately, I can't blame them... 

Still as i said, they have more than enough feedback to last them for 5 games, i really wish they aren't actually reading everything and creating spreadsheets about each proposal.. that would be insane..

Just get a sense what players are unhappy with and try to fix that. I seriously dont expect them to go debate on which player's suggestion is best and go with that...

Why, because it doesn't fit with the narrative you're presenting?

Brad has told us before that usually he isn't that involved in the creation of the various sub parts of the game; he keeps the big picture in mind, reads the forums and considers how certain suggestions might affect the game. Part of what went wrong with Elemental is that he didn't do that. So are you now complaining that he is doing the thing that made his games successful in the past?

I'm assuming the reason you seem to be so upset is that you care about the game and are disappointed at the state in which it was released. I'm with you there, I've been following the development for nearly two years, and I'm just as disappointed that it just doesn't live up to expectations. I don't think you will find many people who think it does. We've had a month to complain about it, Stardock has owned up to it's mistakes and promised to make up for it. I'm not such a fanboy that I'll blindly believe the game will be perfect in 6 months, but I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt (especially since it won't cost me anything )

I'm not saying you shouldn't be critical or a little sceptical; those are good things that can keep the dev's from making the same mistakes again. But I sincerely doubt that b*tching about how they do their job every chance you get is even remotely helpful. In fact, it might discourage them from doing the very thing you want them to do; reading the forums. It certainly would for me.

My suggestions may have been suggested before here on this thread or another but its something I personally would like to see.

Instead of being able to build units just by researching them, instead make a building requirement also needed in that city for them to be built in that city.

IE... Barracks needed to be built in the city before you build a squad or experienced units. Wouldnt mind seeing a food requirement for the barracks either.

Throw in some other building requirements for the Veterans, Elites and Company sized units.

In line with that thought...

Merchant/market building in city required to open up the shop window.

Blacksmith building required in city to have metal weapons available for sale.

Arcane shop required for healing nectar and at least the Arcane Temple for magical items.

I have to laugh at this, if you are that jaded and think all these things you have posted as a reality then why stay?  I mean most people would give up on people if they thought all this.  I think if we keep dwelling on mistakes from the past we will never move forward, and posts like yours is only making matters worse.

calling people liars is not being a critic.

Also, stating the same things in your multiple posts is not constructive, it gets to the point of being distructive.  Every time they post something a comment you didn't listen to us last time is not helpful.

Feel free to post it as it is your right, don't feel attacked if  it is someones perception of what is going on.

Sigh you still miss the point. You keep thinking I'm someone who is unhappy because they don't follow my super detailed idea (check the forums , I seldom do that)

I already said, looking at every single idea doing a spreadsheet would be a disaster. There are hundreds of ideas here, as someone already mentioned Elemental doesn't suffer from the lack of good ideas, there are dozens of threads where Brad asked for ideas from spell ideas to global pool to .... You act like this is the first time he asked for them...

Did that prevent the disaster the game is? 

In fact, I'm really hoping this is just a PR stunt, that they are paying lip service to this thread, they already know what is wrong and 99% know what to do.

I mean Brad is supposed to be the CEO that reads and responds to posts right? That's one of the reasons why he is so beloved. You mean it was a lie , and only *NOW* he is looking closely to the extent he is doing spreadsheets and stuff? That he suddenly desperately wants user input? 

Anyway if by now, 2 months into release, 1 year into beta  if they still have no idea what they did wrong with EWOM and by this point they still need to do these feedback threads and watch everything so closely as he seems to be implying, the game is doomed, and they really have no clue what they are doing..

Honestly I don't think they are that humble, so I'm betting they already decided what they want to do to fix the game, and pretty much are ignoring the forum at least in terms of new ideas (good idea to look at feedback to the existing game though), and I'm okay with that as long as they really understand what is wrong. What I don't like is this pretend humility which fools no-ones except fanboys or new people who go "You should really start a thread to post spell ideas"... which btw Brad already did and people obliging did...not that it helped.

Ideas are dime a dozen, everyone knows that, I seriously don't think SD is suddenly so desperate for new ideas despite all the public show of humility and all that. It's a PR exercise pure and simple, and you know what? I'm fine with that as long as they fix the game, I just don't like to pretend.

Nonsense, Galciv2 was mostly made without much user input and they stuck to their guns no matter what players said about the combat being bland etc. Yes, some changes were made to address hacks, but by and large the game mechanics was created by SD despite what players might say or want. And in that case, they did okay. The whole.. CEO listens and responds to posts always struck me mostly as a PR stunt,  always has being. Only this time they are trying harder to play up this part , because the game released was a mess.

 I don't believe it's helpful to follow the thread so closely as Brad is implying but some fans probably think it is a good idea, and that remark was probably addressed to them, but it's not helpful because it gives them false hope. 

Lying is such a dirty word.. let's say someone is shading the truth a little with a bit of misdirection on how closely they are following the thread..

Personally I don't feel attacked, I can't speak for anyone else though.

Right now, there is one main issue that is bothering me: the power of the single stack of death. While it is not as extreme as in the HoMM series, it is way too effective to pool as much of your army as possible into one stack.

unit stacks are not a bad thing, they are even necessary for interesting tactical combat, but the power of single (or double) stack tactics kills several strategic elements:

1) It is useless to put small garrisons in your cities. Due to tactical combat, n small stacks are way inferior than a single big stack, so you might as well leave them undefended and build up your own stack of death. It is often said that the Teleport spell is responsible for this kind of play, but actually, it only gives you the possibility to defend against stacks of death. If there was no teleport spell, I would still not put a few defenders in my cities. I would be overrun a lot, but spreading my line of defenders thin is not going to help me prevent this.

2) Invading another faction is very straightforward and not strategic. You rush forward, conquer all cities in your way (if you are lucky, they are defended a bit, giving you the opportunity to kill a lot of your opponents forces without much risk) without ever having to stop, and at some point during the invasion, there is a decisive battle (unless the opponent spread all his forces evenly across his cities). There is no need for sieges or the nice strategic spells for crippling enemies cities before (unless the opponent puts his stack into a city, but then you would simply take all other cities until he leaves the city so you can engage him outside. I did not have this situation come up so far) which is sad, since i personally love drawn out conflicts for a crucial city

In my opinion, there are several ways to "fix" this issue

1) make unit production way cheaper and "max out" easier so you will not be able to pool all your forces in one single stack. It is a simple solution which would solve some other problems, but also create some.

2) Give fights a time limit, i.e. after for example 10 Turns (could also depend on the sieged city or some technology research), the battle ends in a draw. Therefore, the attacker usually needs several turns to wear down the weaker defenders, giving the defender the opportunity to send in reinforcements before the damage is done. That way, it would actually make sense to spread your forces across several border cities, since they can hold of the attacker long enough for you to reinforce the attacked city (without teleport) and probably even give you an opportunity to counterattack the enemy's cities while the single stack of death is busy with your defenders, forcing him to defend his cities.

This approach would make big stacks of death still powerful, especially if the opponent made some strategic mistakes, but not the only feasible approach, and not always the best one.

one idea that i had was to implement corruption.  basically, the more cities you create the higher your corruption would become, and as a result it would LOWER your influence across the board.  of course you could eliminate this corruption by putting buildings in your towns that were expensive with upkeep, but it might be worth it if you could reach out to that elemental shard, or 2 old growth forests.  what do you think?

Economic Theory for phase A/B

Nutshell: Have resource tiles offset city upkeep

Premise:

In a post-cataclysm economy the people have been scattered. To gather them together again under the banner of a Sovereign takes more than just personal power, but a promise of a more comfortable life and a shared vision of purpose. This is part of why Food, right now, is the basic cornerstone of Elemental's economy. Without Food you can't support groups of people beyond 10 in any sort of way that will allow a functioning socity. And because Food/Shelter is the most basic of human needs, that is why it not only provides the hard cap on how much Housing you can build but also why it is the driving force behind Gold-related buildings; the foundation of this post-cataclysm Economy is Food, not other goods or services.

As a settlement gathers the survivors to it, not only do the consume the Food but they also begin to look for purpose. Nearby Old Growth Forests, Iron Ores, Shards, etc. provide further reason to stick with the settlement as they guarantee jobs and the promise of security from the Sovereign. The value of these strategic resources makes the people who work and live at the settlement more willing to sacrifice some of their own earnings, which can translate to a reduction in the upkeep costs of buildings in that settlement.

Mechanics:

So, if you give every strategic resource other than Food (and possibly Gold Mines) an "Upkeep Offset" rating of some sort, it provides further incentive to include these resources in your Kingdom/Empire and further disincentive to build cities that have 0 strategic resources available. Having a city with many strategic resources allows a lot of construction with minimal upkeep, leading to more profit for the player and then the choice of using that profit for the development of units/heroes, or to support cities that have no resources.

Something as simple as the resource offsets upkeep equal to the number of X it provides (so an Old Growth Forest, providing 2 materials, offsets 2 city upkeep) would be a good place to start.

Summary:

I think this helps address the "dammit I don't like the extra upkeep you added!" people as well as adding more factors to consider in the pros/cons of city spamming.