So far, FE is quite an improvement over EWoM, but there are some hand me down issues I see, and a couple other things.
1) Diplomacy:
a) the diplomacy makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. If I open a dialogue to start a trade treaty, and they get a huge benefit and I get a small benefit, it makes no sense that they should be reluctant to enter into it. On the contrary, they should be paying me to get into such a trade with them.
what is the basis for NPCs declaring war (other than the balance of neg and pos factors)? It seems the game is massively weighted towards war and nothing else. Only superior power (based on power ratings, which still seem to make little sense) avoids conflict. Beneficial trade doesn't, mutual enemies doesn't.
c) the balance of friend/foe factors in diplomacy is not only extremely simplistic, but also way off in any way that makes sense. There really is no "diplomacy" in any meaningful sense of the word (mutual benefit, common goals). Everyone will declare war on the player unless the player is significantly more powerful.
d) AI will allow other AI to wander freely through their lands, even allowing small enemy troops to pass through without intercepting and destroying them. On the other hand, the player is treated harshly when attempting to cross AI territory.
e) AI will demand hundreds or even thousands of Gildar for things (treaty, payoff to avoid war) even if you have nowhere near that amount.
f) It makes no sense that someone who wants to cross through my lands and requests a non-aggression pact also demand that I pay them. If an AI comes to me requesting a trade, it makes no sense that they demand I pay them. They're coming to me, they should offer the incentive.
Starting points and game opening:
a) starting areas are consistently awful for me, placing me sandwiched between enemy sovereigns. lakes, mountains and oceans. Usually I am on an inlet 2 tiles wide and trapped between other nations with no chance to expand, while the AI seems to expand and expand without even being at war with anyone.
very rarely are there any resources nearby
c) Low level quests are often too dangerous to undertake, and with no ability to retreat from a battle, the early party you barely assemble can get wiped. This can mean game over sometimes.
d) at Normal difficulty, the AI must cheat significantly in order to pump out 2 or 3 archer units, pioneers to make 3+ settlements (on medium maps), and have pioneers escorted by archer units before I can create 2 settlements and rush archery
Tech:
a) the tech is exactly the same as EWoM, just organized differently. I thought this was being changed in some significant way?
I thought that empire and kingdoms were going to have different tech trees, but they are the same. Is this just not implemented yet?
Magic: Basically, the only thing worth having, especially early game, is fire. Death should be called "Flu" because it's amazingly weak and resembles more like getting sick than actually dying. There are useful spells, sure, but other than fire elementals, the fire spells are really all you need. On the other hand, not having fire spells, especially in the early game, can be quite challenging and even impossible to win without some luck at your starting point.
Balance:
a) defense is very meaningless. the attack power of enemy units is almost always so high, that armor plays very little role. Basically, just kill them faster than they kill you, which is usually a matter of fire spells, archers and falling back/scattering.
I mentioned magic above, but basically, some magic elements just have very little value.
c) we should be able to erect walls around distant resources we claim without having to attach them to the settlement proper, and man those defenses.
UI: Is there somewhere that explains food production and its relationship with population?
AI: Why do the monsters almost never attack AI units passing right by them, but if I pass by them, they attack or chase me almost every time?
Misc: We need to be able to edit and delete created sovereigns.
I have some other thoughts, but they escape me right now.
I like the heroes, I like the traits idea. I don't see the point of Imbue as it stands right now.
Game is quite stable so far (.77), much better than .75.
In short, the diplomacy system is a total failure. Start points and random maps need some balancing work. Starter quests need to be a bit less punishing and more consistent in terms of difficulty (some are easy, some can be impossible). No ability to retreat makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Why can't sovereigns select padded armor or leather armor during creation? It makes no sense. Some armor should be a zero point cost.
Some good things, like the improvements with the mid to high end quests being much more interesting. The tiles having food and materials impact is nice, but oddly abstracted. At first I thought I'd be selecting a tile with high food production and building a farm, but no. Kind of odd, actually, like a weird blend of abstraction and specificity.
Definitely an overall improvement, though.
