So, maybe is just me wanting to see AVWW as another AI War, but I would really like to see more strategic *choices* that affect the tactical game. Is that a direction the game is going to be taking? If so, I'd be interested in hearing what might be coming in that regard, and I'd certainly share some thoughts of my own.
That is definitely where we want to take the game over time. The strategic side of this game is at about 3% of where we ultimately have ideas for it to go. In truth, we'd love for this to become a really full-featured 4X as you level up increasingly in the game, but it just depends on player interest in that side of things and what we wind up putting our time towards. I wouldn't expect this to be anything resembling a full 4X by 1.0, but as we continue to develop the game beyond 1.0 this is something we want to push on more unless players just have no interest in it.
In terms of the actual strategic decisions that affect tactical gameplay, etc, that's definitely a focus for coming up, too. Remember that right now we don't even have combat at the strategic level, but that's something also that's coming and which in many respects is kind of a prerequisite for a lot of the neatest things we want to do at the strategic level.
This reminds me of a related question ---- are there still plans to introduce crafting skills, or did those get thrown out when weapons and armor were pared down to just spell gems? Not especially impatient to see them; just curious.
No plans whatsoever, we pretty much have all of those set. However, there are currently three kinds of crafting in the game that you can't get to: spellshaping, crest, and enchant. Those represent 5 more workbenches, including socketing and disenchanting ones. We've also barely done anything with the outfitter, as I'm sure you've noticed -- I intend to create various projectiles there that you can magically hurl, like sawblades and wooden blocks, etc.
But in terms of overall categories, I think that's pretty well setting us up for all we need!