Re: CoE III
 

Leaders do have passive abilities that affect all of the units under them.
I prefer playing 'fighter' type units, so I do use mages as support units in my armies instead of as 'leaders', tho they can be used as leaders.
For now, at least, all Defenders do go first.
You do buy units in groups. A few are single purchases. They are then 'individuals' that you can place under a leader.

Re: CoE III
 

Any estimate on when it will be coming out?

Re: CoE III
 

No estimate yet on when or how it will be released.

@Strider the MP test games will be interesting then. Because I tend to prefer the casters over the fighter types. The casters start out weak and can be taken easily by a rush. But later in the game they get VERY powerful. Actually my favorite solo games are when I team me as a caster type with an AI who is a fighter type. Especially if they start near each other. They can overlap zones easily since they dont tend to need the same resources. And if the fighter can keep the other AIs off of me long enough I can get to cranking out some really interesting armies later on to save his butt from other casters

Re: CoE III
 

Beta testers not bound by NDA? That's a refreshing change :)

So what are battles like compared to COE2 or Dom3?
How does the XP system work?
Is it just me or does the map look a bit colourless?
What is your favourite monster and why?

Re: CoE III
 

Battles.
Right now, battles are melee units on front line (up to 20 in a line), any other melee units lined up behind them to take the place(s) of any getting killed. Ranged units and mages behind any lines of melee units. AI determines where the units are placed in lines. If the unit commander(s) are melee units, they are on the front line.

Units earn experience for fighting battles (or sitting with a 'training' commander.

Map colors look ok to me. Not sure what you may be expecting.

Monsters ain't my favorites...they kill my units ;) I found a Beholder once...it was an army unto itself. I ran away.

To me, it's a cross between COE2 and Dom3. I really like the way it plays. Testing Dom 3 was a lot of work. COE3 is a lot of work too, but I seem to be enjoying it much more. I'm not the guru that Gandalf and Edi are, so they can give a lot better details than I can.

Re: CoE III
 

@Strider: You're doing fine. :)

@Snoddasmannen:
Hmm... well combat is hands-off (you dont direct units while the combat occurs). So far there is no formations and no actual scripting altho you can select a mages memorized spells from his spell list. This game has much less micromanagement than Dom3 and moves much quicker

Maybe you saw the map in Winter? Since its a tiled map, its able to go thru changes such as for a season, or if a forest is destroyed, or a meteor strike etc etc. So I think its far from colorless except maybe in the winter

My favorite monster? Necrotod that the Echanter can make because it can charm other units to join you. Or the metal dragons that the Horologist can make. Or the Giant Fungus that the Witches can make which were a real irritation until I learned how to make use of them.

Re: CoE III
 

Thanks Strider and Gandalf, I appreciate the sneak peaks :)

To point out what I meant with the colors, I just dragged a COE2 window next to a COE3 screenshot, see attached file. The COE2 one just looks warmer and cozier to me, even taking fog-of-war into account. It's just a matter of preference of course, I for one love the high contrast 32x32 sprites :)

One more question and then I'll leave you alone: Did any of the R'lyeh spawn make it into the game? Fthagn and all that ...

Re: CoE III
 

Yes. One of the nations is the Deep Water Cultists

Re: CoE III
 

Yeah, you're doing just fine. I've had to pay quite a bit more attention for the manual and

Units actually earn 1 XP Per turn anyway, but commanders with the right special ability boost that by an additional 1 XP per turn and they also get 1 XP per battle (assuming they survive).

Oh, and don't get me started on beholders. They're bad enough, but go right ahead and find yourself an elder beholder and see where THAT will do to your army. It has all of 3 HP less than a normal one, but it has better magic...

http://www.illwinter.com/coe3/screenshots.html

There's a normal beholder shown at the bottom of the CoE3 screenshots page here, so upgrade that a bit and there you go...

As far as unit placement in the lines, it is done by the AI, but there is a logic to it. That will all be in final version of the manual.

I expect the battle order to stay unchanged, meaning that defender will go first and both sides will do according to the sequence we've seen so far.

Re: CoE III
 

Will CoE III be moddable?