Hi Thuryl and TOENAIL,
Thanks for the replies. Basically, I only have one creature and I usually had about 10% of the essence bar filled whenever I sat next to an essence pool before the v1.0.3 update. I now have 0% no matter how long I stand next to a pool or after I kill off my creature. I tried the shift-D and rechargeme command and nothing happened. I don't think any of the other cheats work either (not that I know many - only two!!! - know where there is a list of others). I also could never seem to get my essence to increase much, if at all, since I started this game - I'm on Harmony Island now and have cleaned out everything on the island except for the Northwest corner as the creatures wipe me out in 10 seconds since I have no essence to combat them with!!!.
Appreciate any help - one question is if I reinstall the game will I lose my saved games??
Thanks,
Nuke