This was from awhile ago, version 1.06. I haven't played another game yet, just too many other good games to distract me lately. They've released up to 1.08 now, but I'm still probably going to wait for 1.1 before I get another huge game like this one going. Overall I only had a couple crashes straight to desktop, which is not nearly the problems that others have reported. As an owner of GalCiv 2 plus all of it's expansions, I still very firmly believe in Stardock as a developer and I know they will support Elemental for years to come.
So this game had passed 300 turns, playing Resoln, on a large map, with 5 other opponents on normal difficulty. The game placed me on a fairly large continent, I ended up only meeting the 3 other factions who started close by. Umber was directly west, Altar somewhere close by as I hadn't uncovered enough of the map to see exactly where. Gilden started to my south, but we didn't run into each other for quite awhile. I first encountered them while sending a pioneer down to lay claim to that area, only to find out it was already occupied. I didn't really feel like going to war, so I left them alone until Umber asked me to join in attacking them. By that time I had a pretty nice-sized army, so I managed to steam roll over their defenses pretty easy. Two of their cities fell quickly, after which their king went into hiding and I have so far been unable to find him or any of their cities. I really didn't like their random names so I just used Forgotten Realms city names instead.
The map of the known world, at least by the scholars of Resoln. The mighty empire of Umber is off to the west, with several Altar cities to their south. The three of us seem to be the major powers on our continent, so we've avoided fighting each other so far. Our efforts have mostly been to eliminate the kingdom of Gilden, which somehow manages to hold on to at least one city somewhere.
The kingdom report for Resoln indicates almost all of our income is being paid out in troop wages. Aside from Umber, our armies are the largest and strongest. Spies report that Gilden's army has been almost wiped out, with Altar's about half the size of ours. Umber is definitely the strongest, but their research is lacking so their armies are many but poorly equipped.
The dynasty of Lord Zamiele, Emperor of Resoln. Interestingly enough, his first son Mordred married the princess of Altar very early on in our relations. Normally we would be sworn enemies, but I think this marriage has helped to keep tensions low. Ironically, the marriage was Altar's idea.
Neverwinter, Resoln's capital city and seat of power. It's come quite a long way from the dusty hole in the ground it started out as.
Zhentil Keep, our second city, was founded near an old growth forest to provide materials that were very scarce in the early years.
The city of Neverwinter, with Zhentil Keep far in the background. Our sovereign is making his way down the road, gathering up troops for war.
Our sovereign and two of his sons are marshaling their forces together into one large army.
Here are two of Gilden's cities that fell during the first war. At that time our army consisted of spears and leather armor, as we had been unable to locate any source of metal. Luckily Gilden had plenty, so we ended up with not one but two productive metal mines. With our knowledge of smelting, we were able to increase their output even further.
Waterdeep became the third city founded by Resoln, serving as a bridge between our capital and Gilden's conquered lands. It was also close enough to harvest the nearby fire shard.
After years of war, and capturing two of his greatest cities, the King of Gilden is somewhat curt when we negotiate.
Lord Mordred leads his demonic army out into the wastes.
New Phlan is a younger settlement near a beach to allow building a harbor and exploring the sea.
Luskan is our last and smallest outpost, placed strategically to counter the ever-expanding Umber Empire. With it's founding they are unable to expand their territory any farther east, not without declaring open war. An Umber city can be seen not far in the distance.
