Re: Observations after a month of play
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Which summons are considered Golems? Anything under the construction branch, or anything summoned by Earth? Ive tried it a couple times but never long enough to see its effect. How many hp does it add?

Re: Observations after a month of play
 

I agree that Mercs, at least some of them, are often too powerful. Certainly the Eternal Knights are. I also slavishly recruit all the mercs I can, whenever I can, even if it is only simply to keep my enemies from recruiting them.

As to Blood nations with no Growth: I play Abysia with some death (not a lot, usually 1-2) and it works just perfectly; capture 2-3 15k provinces, and that is fine for at least 30+ turns of blood hunting, then go get more. (Abysia gets no income or supply penalty for Death, so it's only population loss to worry about, and as of now, Death is so minor...)
A tiny bit more growth/attrition for growth/death scales would also be welcome in my book.

I think a nice idea would be to have a chance of "natural growth", but only if your dominion is that province is fairly strong. For each point of dominion, you could have a 5% chance of a .02 growth in one turn, all things being equal. Growth scales would add to this, and Death detract.

The 1/4 population drop bad incidents is certainly too much for its fictionalization, one would have to call it a "serious plague" or something. I hate it when it happens, too, but dont feel it should be nerfed, because otherwise Luck/Misfortune scales will be made even weaker than they already are.

Re: Observations after a month of play
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">No, I would not say that they are too powerful; I'd rather say that they are insanely powerful! The most effective way to counter them is saving your money for the troops you intend to feed them and use it on the next possibility o bid for them! But I am also not sure whether this should be fixed. After all: Evereybody can bid for them...

Re: Observations after a month of play
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">The Eternal Knights are usful, but they certainly aren't overwhelmingly powerful. A handful of crossbowmen will kill them quite easily.

Re: Observations after a month of play
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">The Eternal Knights are usful, but they certainly aren't overwhelmingly powerful. A handful of crossbowmen will kill them quite easily. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I didnt mean to impy that they are indestructable, although surely it will take more than just a "handful" of Xbows.
I meant: They are too powerful *for their price*. The E-Knights cost 100 gold.

Re: Observations after a month of play
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Then you should compete for them when they show up. And yes, I have had them completely defeated by only 20 crossbows. They only have a protection of 12, which means that even shortbows could do it.

Re: Observations after a month of play
 

Yes, I do compete for them.
I meant: 100 GP worth of E-Knights is better than 100 GP worth of anything else (unless you count fully upgraded and equipped high-research-level mages). That is what I mean by "too powerful".
And 20 Crossbows is slightly more than a handful in my book. But then again, my book is entitled Analytik und Ethik der Namen, so that probably means squat.

Re: Observations after a month of play
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">OT
Ethik der Namen? Just What the heck do you study ? Germanistik?

Re: Observations after a month of play
 

OTOT: nope, I teach philosophy at a German university and research at a philosophical research institute. Publish mostly in English though, except for that longer (but groovy) work. Sorry was meant to be a joke, now it is turning into a shameless plug. Forget it.

Re: Observations after a month of play
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">You wont get them for that 100 gold in MP, and in SP the problem isn't too powerful mercs, but rather the AIs poor bidding style.