Starvation victims abroad need help NOW!

[Tortanick]

Hmm, you're right about the army getting the good food, but this is more a game balance issue than a realisum one. the army shall starve

[Archonsod]

It's not exactly unbalanced. It's usually a lot easier to replace the army than population.
The main danger would be getting locked into a cycle - as the population decreases, the supply decreases, next turn there's an even bigger shortfall....

[Oversway]

I'm almost afraid to ask, but what is unbalanced that needs to be fixed?

[Archonsod]

Nobody said anything was unbalanced and needed to be fixed.

The supply requirement is a balancing factor. The larger the army, the more supplies it consumes. Remove this fact, and the game basically comes down to whoever can recruit the most troops the quickest.

If this were altered, then something would need to replace it. My point was that having the army consume population if it were undersupplied would be just as balancing - Unless you had a death dominion (who don't usually need supplies anyway) you couldn't leave the army in any friendly province without it damaging yourself, and you'd need to quickly move it out of conquered provinces otherwise they'd become worthless.

[Gandalf Parker]

We cant say anything is imbalanced in Dom3 yet.
In fact, I would be critical of anyone who makes statements about balance within the first year of Dom3's release. It took me that long to stop crying imbalance in Dom2 about one nation before trying another and finding the balance was there. Trying them all is going to take awhile.

[Sandman]

I think it would make more sense for supply shortfall to cause population drop.

Well, pillaging generates supplies. So it's really in Dom2 already.

[Archonsod]

Gandalf Parker said:
In fact, I would be critical of anyone who makes statements about balance within the first year of Dom3's release.

Depends. I mean, if there's a "kill all other pretenders and win" spell which is only available to a specific side they might have a point

It took me that long to stop crying imbalance in Dom2 about one nation before trying another and finding the balance was there. Trying them all is going to take awhile.

With something like Dominions I suspect any imbalance is more than likely the player misunderstanding the full implications of a particular strategy, nation or pretender. It's easy to see why - the disadvantages of a given nation may only appear if you attempt to play them a certain way, or your opponent takes advantage of a specific troop type.
It's something you always face in a game with the depth and variety of Dominions. Most people have a preferred style of play, and if they are playing a nation which suits that style of play then it will naturally seem more powerful. It may never occur to the player that there are critical weaknesses in their style until they meet an opponent who can take advantage of them.
Multiplayer doesn't help much. It's easy to see an imbalance when a player dominates with a particular strategy, especially if you have already written off the particular strategy as weak. In all likelihood, it's probably the case that your opponent has noticed something about the strategy which you overlooked - it's something that works to their own personal playing style but not necessarily to your own.

[quantum_mechani]

Archonsod said:
With something like Dominions I suspect any imbalance is more than likely the player misunderstanding the full implications of a particular strategy, nation or pretender.

While there is no doubt no shortage of such misunderstandings, it is far from saying most perceived imbalances are such. I could make a list a mile long of things in base dom2 experienced players simply would never consider using, and a much shorter list of things that were so useful the game could be said to more or less revolve around being the first to acquire the most of them.

It doesn't even take years of balance testing to discover that almost any use for death gems is better than summon shades, or that the slave collar is useless. And it only takes a few games to notice that people rushing for air queens/vine ogre hordes/spectres perform much better than others.

[Agrajag]

Archonsod said:Depends. I mean, if there's a "kill all other pretenders and win" spell which is only available to a specific side they might have a point

You mean if one nation has a spell that makes it so that at the start of each game all other nations will ally together against it?

[Gandalf Parker]

Wow, I guess I need to stop summoning shades. Or just stop using them in front-line armies?

Im guessing by your comments that you are a "mass armies" kinda guy. Shades are useful in creating a unit to go after SC's or Heroes. Adding them to sap strength while something else hits.

Also for drawing fire since they are etheral and poison resistant.

and for attacking water provinces

and of course my favorite, to add to a stealth army

Did you mean they were no good after other later summonings become available in large games?