[Saber Cherry]

You do realize that by saying your not trying to be rude only makes it appear more likely that you are being rude?

Yes, I was trying to appear as though attempting rudeness, using an explicit proclamation of innocence prior to any accusation. Thus, rather than countering my main point, I could shift the opposition to a straw-man argument over my possible character flaws. Furthermore, I could start right off on the defensive, and gain a +50% combat advantage, since I'm in wooded terrain... yep! Too bad you saw right through me=)

I understand your point. I don't want Illwinter to make the game less accessible to new players, or add complexity for complexity's sake. But I feel that as long as the protections make moderate changes rather than huge changes, they will be a wonderful addition for obsessive strategists (Dominions' main following, I would think) without excluding anyone. By moderate, I mean that if you completely ignore damage types and have the worst-case army, you'll tend to need 20%-30% more troops to win battles compared to an army designed perfectly to take advantage of the enemy's damage types and vulnerabilities. Keep in mind that an army's power is generally a factor of the size squared, so a 20% larger force is 44% stronger, assuming a broad front.

So, I would say that as long as the damage type system isn't ridiculous or severe (like the way physical immunity and super-high-defense heroes unbalanced AOW1) then it would be present in the background, averaging out to have little effect, in a newby game; while in a competitive veteran game, it would be used cruelly and viciously, with much treachery to be gained from fielding armies of different armor and damage types than expected.

I played a demo of Empire Earth (or was it Age of Kings?) where the damage types (Infantry versus cavalry versus spearmen, or something) were tweaked to an insane degree, so that it was pure rock-paper-scissors and if you chose the wrong troop type, even a 300% numerical superiority (thus 900% relative strength) wouldn't save you. I thought that was stupid, and it made me not buy the game. So, yes, a poorly done or overly severe damage-type system could destroy a perfectly good game. But that's true of spells, too - it only takes one new spell, or new site, or new racial theme, to utterly wreck the game balance... yet I'm not asking Illwinter to stop putting in new spells

Well, that's that. Now, I'll just cross my fingers and hope something along these lines sneaks into a patch someday And if I have to whip out the Holy Grail to make you heathens either see the light, or be blinded by my glory, don't think I'm chicken!

-Cherry