mamboking053
Well-Known Member
The battle mechanic is too safe for people who want to sit and city-build.
Basically, it's quite possible to breech defenses with enough effort, but there seems to be little reward for doing so. I unlocked Military Tactics about a week ago and since then went on a binge of around 40 or 50 battles. Most were easy and at first I thought this was luck, but then I realized people hardly bothered with a defense because everything was motivated. Most of the time the only thing I could plunder was some petty, rage-inducing amount of gold or supplies. This was the case in both the easiest defenses and well-defended cities.
Thinking back, I profited more by aiding all my neighbors then attacking them since I don't waste about an hour of my time and there was a chance I could find a blueprint. Not only that, the rewards for PVP aren't that good since you must battle enough to get into the first three slots. They aren't great rewards, and if you don't make it, there's no reward.
Other than GvG, the battling sucks.
Ways to improve.
Make the defending teams central stores of everything accessible and give the player a choice between gold, supplies, or goods. Gold, supplies, and goods hauled off can be dependent on the kind of victory or maybe the remaining troops left after the battle.
Then there may be the Deep Delver plunder. This requires that an attacker must fight an additional wave of defenders with the surviving troops from the first battle. This is going to be hard and, perhaps, nearly impossible, but for good reason. The player who succeeds here will be able to break into the secret and most guarded valuables of the city- FP points, diamonds, and possibly inventory. However, as stated above, nearly impossible odds of success is boring and frustrating. So maybe instead of a second battle, there is a sort of puzzle to work out, or maybe some sort of mini-game. This would be impossible at first. The attacker would need to invest in a Deep Delver skill to increase their chances of success. Not only this, but the defender can also research Booby Traps for a small, set chance of blocking the attackers success at plundering their deep delves.
I can understand if you don't want FP or diamonds to be up for plunder. So you might switch this with a significantly larger haul of gold, supplies, or goods. Also blueprints.
What I'm going for is what most video games go for to increase the sense of engagement. Risk. Make people feel their city has precious things in it. Make defending it an immediate threat. And perhaps offer a way around battling the defenders army so that the so called invincible late-game defense set-ups don't nullify this aspect of the game.
Further suggestions
* Infiltrators: an attacker must sacrifice a slot in their attack set-up to bring along an infiltrator. Each infiltrator increases the chance of an attacker breaking into the formidable vaults of the city. This percentage can never be higher than 20%, but success means a greater haul.
* Diplomat Technology: a tech that allows the player a small chance to make the defending city surrender without a fight. The chance of this is tiered to the relative strength of the attacking city. However, a significantly high battle score gains a slight buff towards success. Also, a person who manages to win 20 battles without losing or surrendering gains the Savage Buff, which is a significantly higher chance of the city surrendering out of fear, regardless of the defenses. This does not go above 12% in any scenario. This would improve the value of battling in my opinion.
* Disease/Sabotage: a tech that offers a slight chance of undermining defenses or troops strength before a battle starts.
* Insurrection: either a tech, or a unit that accompanies the battlefield and has a small chance of turning an enemy unit into an ally. If a unit is turned, the attacker effectively steals or plunders a unit from the defender. The chances of insurrection or vulnerability to it is increased in cities with low happiness.
Cheers
Basically, it's quite possible to breech defenses with enough effort, but there seems to be little reward for doing so. I unlocked Military Tactics about a week ago and since then went on a binge of around 40 or 50 battles. Most were easy and at first I thought this was luck, but then I realized people hardly bothered with a defense because everything was motivated. Most of the time the only thing I could plunder was some petty, rage-inducing amount of gold or supplies. This was the case in both the easiest defenses and well-defended cities.
Thinking back, I profited more by aiding all my neighbors then attacking them since I don't waste about an hour of my time and there was a chance I could find a blueprint. Not only that, the rewards for PVP aren't that good since you must battle enough to get into the first three slots. They aren't great rewards, and if you don't make it, there's no reward.
Other than GvG, the battling sucks.
Ways to improve.
Make the defending teams central stores of everything accessible and give the player a choice between gold, supplies, or goods. Gold, supplies, and goods hauled off can be dependent on the kind of victory or maybe the remaining troops left after the battle.
Then there may be the Deep Delver plunder. This requires that an attacker must fight an additional wave of defenders with the surviving troops from the first battle. This is going to be hard and, perhaps, nearly impossible, but for good reason. The player who succeeds here will be able to break into the secret and most guarded valuables of the city- FP points, diamonds, and possibly inventory. However, as stated above, nearly impossible odds of success is boring and frustrating. So maybe instead of a second battle, there is a sort of puzzle to work out, or maybe some sort of mini-game. This would be impossible at first. The attacker would need to invest in a Deep Delver skill to increase their chances of success. Not only this, but the defender can also research Booby Traps for a small, set chance of blocking the attackers success at plundering their deep delves.
I can understand if you don't want FP or diamonds to be up for plunder. So you might switch this with a significantly larger haul of gold, supplies, or goods. Also blueprints.
What I'm going for is what most video games go for to increase the sense of engagement. Risk. Make people feel their city has precious things in it. Make defending it an immediate threat. And perhaps offer a way around battling the defenders army so that the so called invincible late-game defense set-ups don't nullify this aspect of the game.
Further suggestions
* Infiltrators: an attacker must sacrifice a slot in their attack set-up to bring along an infiltrator. Each infiltrator increases the chance of an attacker breaking into the formidable vaults of the city. This percentage can never be higher than 20%, but success means a greater haul.
* Diplomat Technology: a tech that allows the player a small chance to make the defending city surrender without a fight. The chance of this is tiered to the relative strength of the attacking city. However, a significantly high battle score gains a slight buff towards success. Also, a person who manages to win 20 battles without losing or surrendering gains the Savage Buff, which is a significantly higher chance of the city surrendering out of fear, regardless of the defenses. This does not go above 12% in any scenario. This would improve the value of battling in my opinion.
* Disease/Sabotage: a tech that offers a slight chance of undermining defenses or troops strength before a battle starts.
* Insurrection: either a tech, or a unit that accompanies the battlefield and has a small chance of turning an enemy unit into an ally. If a unit is turned, the attacker effectively steals or plunders a unit from the defender. The chances of insurrection or vulnerability to it is increased in cities with low happiness.
Cheers
