Feedback: Elves

[MasterOfNone]

Please post feedback on this faction in this thread. Report things you like as well as things you feel could be improved. Don't be shy. We want to know about everything: visuals, audio, text, lore, models, game play, features, mechanics, unit balance, campaign balance, look and feel, atmosphere, stability, quality, etc.

We are chiefly attending to battlemap settlement models in the run up to the full release, but we can tweak other elements in that period according to feedback we receive in the open-beta stage.

Bugs/CTDs should be reported in the bugs thread, not here.

[Thangaror]

This actually a minor thing, and somewhat unimportant, but IMHO it's really weird to have all these Elves go to battle without a helmet! Even Gondorian Militia wears a nasal helmet or something, and historically in the later Roman Empire, the helmet was the most important part of armour, apart from the shield (because, obviously, the head is the one part not covered by it).

[webba84]

haha, exactly what I said when I started making them, but the guys were pretty clear we don't want helmets for them.

Just keep in mind all the ones without helmets are wood elves, and therefore have a history of getting massacred because they don't wear enough armour.

[eagleeye4444]

i could just be missing something. but when i build up the settlement fortress my recruitment pool seems to either get small in case of mithlond i lost the ability to make mariners. and the pool seems to tap out at elevyn guards.

[webba84]

There is no building called settlement fortress in the mod, could you be a little more specific? Exactly what are you building and what is it causing to happen? Note that elves have very low population and if you recruit too much you will be unable to recruit any more for a long time.

[H.Maverick]

I got the same problem, i built it up completely, the city that is, can't remember the name of the building tho, did the same with forlond to, lost all the standard elves and got left with the Elevyn units, same with Kingshalls and every other place but Imladris, where i could get the Imladris riders as well.

also, The sword unit that Glorfindel starts of with, is there anyway to retrain/recruit more of those?

[webba84]

A general note - you will not want to build every building in every settlement in FATW. In your case, you have converted all your regions to mannish population, meaning you can no longer recruit elves there. Carefully read the description of the buildings you are talking about (called Lindon in Forlindon, and Western Wilderland in EK Halls - they have the book on a red background icon) and make sure you know what you are getting yourself into if you choose to construct them.

1. Eregion is unfinished, but note that no matter what those scrolls say regions never give you negative income.
2. Noldor Swords can be retrained in Rivendell but the cavalry cannot, use them well because when he heads over the sea Middle-earth will not see their like again.

[Thangaror]

That all the Elves "Can hide anywhere" is over the top. It's ok for the Greenwood units, but if even the Elves from Lindon, the Noldor and other heavily armed units have this ability it's unrealistic (not everyone had Lórien cloaks).
And furthermore, this may be just my opinion, it makes battles actually tedious, because they hide automatically. So there's no 'bait' to set up, except your general.

On the other hand, who *should* be able to hide anywhere are some of the 'secret' units, who "have long ears and long eyes; know all paths".


Btw, did you actually say hello to Luis Bejarano when adapting his design for the Noldor?

[webba84]

Hmm, yes I tend to agree with you there. We can easily enough remove the hide anywhere from our Sindar and Noldor units.

[eagleeye4444]

alrighty the buling im refuring to is the posts buliding the one with the elevn flag on it. also this is just more of a genral ? but is there any way for me to check the other family trees? and can nobles become family members?

[CountMRVHS]

The Control Posts is the first tier of the Military Development (MD) line of buildings. It's where you'll train all your troops.

I'm guessing you built the 'Lindon' building, and are just now noticing that in the MD building you are only able to train Elvellyn. That's because the 'Lindon' building actually converts the population of the region from Elves to Men (as Webba mentioned in his post above).

Make sure you read the descriptions carefully! (We are also revising some of these to make their effects more obvious - but in all cases, the descriptions offer pretty strong clues as to the impact each building will have.)

[eagleeye4444]

i was just about to post about my apoligizes for misunderstanding the game mech. i went back through resarted and read the bulidings and yea thing are working well for now.

[webba84]

Btw, did you actually say hello to Luis Bejarano when adapting his design for the Noldor?

Not hello so much as, "Thank you very much for this incredible artwork!"

Generals can become family members, eagleye4444, the same as in vanilla BI. By winning battles, adoption and marriage, generally.

[Wambat]

That all the Elves "Can hide anywhere" is over the top. It's ok for the Greenwood units, but if even the Elves from Lindon, the Noldor and other heavily armed units have this ability it's unrealistic (not everyone had Lórien cloaks).
And furthermore, this may be just my opinion, it makes battles actually tedious, because they hide automatically. So there's no 'bait' to set up, except your general.

On the other hand, who *should* be able to hide anywhere are some of the 'secret' units, who "have long ears and long eyes; know all paths".


Btw, did you actually say hello to Luis Bejarano when adapting his design for the Noldor?

Hmm, yes I tend to agree with you there. We can easily enough remove the hide anywhere from our Sindar and Noldor units.

I am not sure a blanket removal of hiding skills is necessary. Perhaps a downgrading from "hide anywhere" to "hide in long grass" for armored troops or an enhanced "hiding in trees" for mounted units (these guys hiding anywhere definitely does't make sense). I think the Wood Elves are good at hiding because they are not wearing armor, rather than they are better at hiding than other breeds of Elves. All Elven races regularly traveled unnoticed by most on their way to the Grey Havens, and these were in friendly(ish) territories, not on a battlefield.

[webba84]

We can easily enough remove the hide anywhere from our Sindar and Noldor units.

[Thangaror]

Elven Retainers have an armour piercing spears, which is quite odd.

The Lindon Glaives lack the armour piercing attribute (Dorwinion Halberdiers have ap), and I think a bonus against cavalry. At least it doesn't appear in the unit scroll IIRC, I'm confused right now, cuz it appears in the EDU.


EDIT: So, they DO have a mount_effect horse +8, elephant +4, camel +5, but this doesn't appear ingame (in contrast to say treshold troops with mount_effect horse +7, elephant +3, camel +6). This is probably some coding issue. What they DON'T have is a bonus against chariots, i.e. "large creatures", which I think they should have.

EDIT2: So you see, I'm already messing around in the intestines your great work.

[Doomsday]

Okay, perhaps a minor thing, or perhaps you don't want to change it regardless, I found that the two elven settlements next to Mithlond (Forlond and Harlond) couldn't raise their population at all. I'd built all the buildings (except admittedly the animal husbandry charter which I presume affects the settlements growth) and yet the poulation remained only 400, as this isn't enough to recruit any type of unit/agent this seems a little daft to me :/

also, the Elves seem really poor, especially when compared to the dwarfs, I presume it's deliberate, but even so, makes them difficult to play as

[Wambat]

Okay, perhaps a minor thing, or perhaps you don't want to change it regardless, I found that the two elven settlements next to Mithlond (Forlond and Harlond) couldn't raise their population at all. I'd built all the buildings (except admittedly the animal husbandry charter which I presume affects the settlements growth) and yet the poulation remained only 400, as this isn't enough to recruit any type of unit/agent this seems a little daft to me :/

also, the Elves seem really poor, especially when compared to the dwarfs, I presume it's deliberate, but even so, makes them difficult to play as

My take: The extremely low populations for Elven realms is largely intentional. Particularly in the west, the Elves are in the west in order to depart Middle Earth and facilitate other Elves doing so; the initial population growth of Mithlond is representative of this emigration of Elves from the interior for this purpose. The Wood Elves in the east have potential for growth in the old fashioned way; though with appropriate Elven slowness; on account of most of their population not yet having encountered the sea.

I would look at Forlond and/or Harlond as prime potential candidates for mannish conversion, particularly for those who wish to play a non-expansionist Elven campaign. The Elves have by far the most overpowered units in the game, and it is intended that Elvish reinforcements be very hard to come by.

[webba84]

Yup, darned elves keep sailing west for some reason.

Those regions are not supposed to be able to grow in population but there are advantages to this that may occur to you after playing them a while.

[Revelo]

Don't worry guys! I'm sure the team are working on a Fourth Age: Valinor mod as we speak!

right?