[Cainehill]

Originally posted by Vynd:
But by that same token, I don't think it is right to argue that things should be changed such that it becomes impossible to follow a SC strategy, and that everyone should have to rely on national troops. That is just swapping SCs for national troops at the top of the heap. The best thing for the game, in my opnion, is a rough balance in which it is possible to pursue either of these (or some entirely different) strategy, and have a chance to win.

Quite true. I don't think that eliminating SCs and powerful magic from the game is feasible - too many players love the high magics, and frankly - life as a bog mummy rocks.



Another idea would be to have settings that one could adjust during God creation that would result in better national troops, but at a price that would prevent you from getting a powerful SC Pretender at the same time. Like, say, a 250 point national theme (is that what they're called, I forget...) that would give your nation a set of national troops that are much more powerful than the norm.

Could always crib an idea from MoM - allow mithril / adamantium mines to be located at the capitol. Troops recruited there would have magic weapons and superior armor.

Or add some new buildings, that provide upgrades to the troops. A minor increase to attack Ratings; enchanting the weapons / bows so they can affect etherealness... Or that increase morale, or cause the troops to be created with 1 experience star already.

Without something ... Norfleet mentions Petrify. Great idea - but against flying SCs in particular, how do you get one of your _very_ rare E5 mages in combat? Right now, flying SCs (such as VQs and Ice Devils) with a full set of gear are essentially immune to normal armies. I've watched one Ice Devil destroy 100+ troop armies of Marignon, complete with paladins, High Inquisitors and Grand Masters. Then it wings to another province, and repeats the process.

Pretty soon the armies are gone, and can't quickly (or cheaply) be rebuilt.