Thanks for the notes, folks -- I've been off with some unexpected personal stuff yesterday, and then am just catching up with everything today.
In terms of folks in this forum wanting more 4X elements, that's no real surprise.
But it's a matter of what the general AVWW audience winds up wanting as the game evolves. My expectation is that there will be a lot of support for it across the board, honestly, as it's one of the cooler things about the game.
In terms of the actual 4X elements, I should also note that that is squarely Keith's area. I'm offering support and so on for it, but he's the main designer on that side of things, and the main programmer. I'm handling the worldbuilding and adventure side of things, and we're both working on the stuff where they overlap (which we try and make as much as possible). Right now Keith is hardcore up to his elbows in multiplayer guts, so most of the macrogame stuff is going to be pretty unchanging for a week or two at least while the multiplayer gets cleaned up and bugtested.
One more note: this game is a Metroidvania-style Action-Adventure game at core. Anyone who is just coming for the 4X would be really disappointed because they're still going to spend a lot of time in the main genre of this game. The 4X layer is meant to augment and enrich the main gameplay, not replace it.
And the very last note: sure, beating an overlord doesn't even have any fanfare right now.
Early beta.
I hope we'll be able to make literal parades and confetti in the settlement areas later, and there will be other various long-term effects, too. Right now you get the shards (a
lot of them), and the massive morale boost for a lot of turns.