Quote:
Originally Posted by Squirrelloid
On why some nations need compensation if gem generators are removed:
Since someone asked...
The reason why some nations need some tweaking is that they rely on gem generators to be effective in the late game. Bandar Log, for example, needs to clam like mad to afford its national summons. Substantially reducing their cost would certainly help.
Some other nations, like MA Oceania, have nothing else going for them in the late game except they are prime candidates for forging boatloads of gem generators. I'm playing MA Oceania in Water Total War right now, and while i've taken steps to help me have a real endgame, let me tell you the lack of clams is severely hampering me. (In particular, EA Rlyeh totally outclasses me in combat magic, and while there are some things I could certainly have done to have improved that last attempt at storming his fortress, it would have been a difference of number of units killed. I need something to answer his astral battle magic, and water/nature doesn't really have it - summons are the only real way for me to diversify my casting base.)
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Yes, without clams it's much harder for Bandar to afford its national summons. But it's harder for every other nation without recruitable SCs (or the Chalice/GoH) as well. And in any case, isn't a Bandar without gem gens still in a better position than Man, who has no national summons at all? My point was that we shouldn't be concerned with just compensating clamming nations for the loss of gem gens as with trying to give each nation some kind of end game. No, they don't all have to be equal but there should be some kind of SC summon available to everyone.
So I'm not against adjusting the cost of national summons. If the cost of Bandar's summons is inflated on the assumption that the player will clam then that's an argument for reducing them. But I would just like to offer something to the nations that don't even have national summons. And, honestly, some of the nations that are mentioned as needing compensation if gem gens are removed (for example, MA Abysia) just don't make sense to me.
But I think this is getting off topic so let me throw out a more on topic idea. A not insignificant part of micromanagement is moving gems around. I know you can't eliminate the game mechanic of using gems to boost effective level and in some cases you'll want to have a spell use gems (i.e. touch of madness), but what about eliminating gem requirements for almost all combat spells? It seems like not having to drag around scouts and restock every mage's gems each turn could make combat planning less tedious.
I think CBM may have already taken some steps towards this (the elemental protection spells perhaps?).