I agree with the posts here. The game is ridiculously difficult to gain momentum in battle. The exponential increase in difficulty in battle far outpaces any gains you can make in research/troop numbers. This fact alone is probably why the game has such a low retention rate of players. (Most fellowships now only have a few active players at best).
I don't know if Inno actually read this forum, but here are some possible fixes:
There is fun in challenge but futility breeds boredom.
Questions to ponder (Inno):
Why do troop sizes increase exponentially when the players (at best) are stuck in a linear progression. It takes forever to even increase troop size from base to 72/84. In that same time, enemy troop numbers are well into the 244+ range. If each troop size research step were double from 12 to 24, it would help. But not only do troop stacks increase in depth, they increase in width. At some earlier stage, the player should be allowed to increase the number of stacks from five to seven/eight as the enemy does.
Paying the ransom for provinces becomes insanely expensive after just a few rounds. It makes no sense why these fees increase just because of distance from homebase. Plus why do they go from demanding basic goods, to the most premium ones the second they are available. Production is so slow that it would take days just to pay off one of the steps in each province. Game play comes to a standstill just a couple of weeks after starting.
Upgrading troops is painfully slow and expensive. I pushed hard to upgrade each unit thinking that would right the balance. The elf archers took an incredible pile of crystal/scrolls which I had to work very hard to gather. Once accomplished I thought, aha - maybe the archers would now be the death dealing troops much needed instead of the pathetic fodder they had been. Nope, they are barely effectual against many of the troops. Meanwhile, for some inconceivable reason, we have the cannoneers who slaughter troops without mercy. Nothing like trying to win a battle against stacks of them hiding behind the bushes (which always seem to favor them) while nothing can cross the field fast enough to get reach them.
In effect, the game is doomed to a slow demise unless the programmers can dial down the exponential difficulty a bit.
* Reduce exponential progression of enemy troop strenth.
* Likewise, reduce the ransom costs to make "bribing your way out of battle" feasible.
* Re-balance the resource escalation. Where it seems just once you have gotten in a place to actually produce money, goods, steel, planks and marble - they become useless and no research, build, bribe or exchange will have them.
* Increase return on research accomplishments. They seem pretty weak for the amount of time & resources that go into them.
* Have some side battle benefits, like random loot of resources (matched with the province).
* If not a reduction in troop strength, at least have it so that the troops aren't instantly recovered. This makes no sense and is very frustrating. After a fierce battle with severe casualties, it would at least be nice if a second wave could be sent in to finish the job your poor troops worked so hard to wittle down. Why should the player have to spend days rebuilding troops, while the "computer" gets to have the exact same numbers back in five seconds.
Dear forum visitor,
It looks as though you have not registered for a forum account, or are not signed in. In order to participate in current discussions or create new threads, you will need to register for a forum account by clicking on the link below.
