Dev Thinking on Balance?

[Zapmeister]

There's been a heckuva lot of discussion over the Last few months on 2 balance issues, being:

1. The Vampire Queen; and
2. Clam Hoarding

I'm interested in knowing whether the devs have formed an opinion (or even a slight leaning) on either of these issues yet, and whether any related changes are planned for the next patch. Johan? Kristoffer?

[Cainehill]

Originally posted by Zapmeister:
There's been a heckuva lot of discussion over the Last few months on 2 balance issues, being:

1. The Vampire Queen; and
2. Clam Hoarding

I'm on the fence regarding the clam hoarding, but ... Playing Atlantis I haven't seen anything to do with its water gems but make clams.

[Duncanish]

I thought the devs have already made it known that they don't see a problem with the way Clams are right now. Seems like you're beating a dead horse...

[Stormbinder]

I second that. These two issues are the only real unbalances in the current state of the game in my opinion, everything else is perfectly balanced, which is IMHO a huge archivement, considering how deep and complex this game is.

Although I would put it in reverse order:

1. Clam hoarding
2. VQ

VQ is certainly annoying but is just one unit after all. Clam hoarding can potentially have much larger impact on long MP games, therefore I think it has higher priority.

So what developers think about it, after all these long discussions regarding these two topics?

[Zapmeister]

I thought the devs have already made it known that they don't see a problem with the way Clams are right now. Seems like you're beating a dead horse...

The only thing I've seen is a comment from Kristoffer saying that he was still undecided on the clam issue. Could you provide a reference?

[Duncanish]

The topic has most likely been deleted by now. I remember it had gotten quite long. There were examples of how fast someone could get hundreds of clams available by a certain turn, arguments over how those examples weren't realistic, etc etc blah. I think it started out being a list of things people wanted in the next patch, but ended up being a shouting match about clams. But my opinion's still the same. Some people think clams are unbalanced. Others don't. Bringing this argument back into the forefront is beating a poor, dead horse. You don't hate horses, do you?

[Pirateiam]

I know I have come to the conclusion that I will not play anymore Multiplayer games with VQ's in them anymore.I have been playing strategy games for 20+ years and I know when I see an exploit. The VQ is an exploit, no question. Every strategy Online game goes through this. It is human nature to find exploits. I have to give credit to the developers in that the units are very balanced, and boy are there alot of units!
But I think the Gods need to be looked at again.

There will be those that scream we are whinners but those are the same people that wish to use this exploit. There mentality is the same as professional athletes that use steriods. If you do not understand what I am saying watch the Southpark show where Jimmy uses steriods in the special olympics it could be enlightening.

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by Duncanish:
The topic has most likely been deleted by now.

The topic you arte looking for is "The Next Patch", and it should still be there since the Posts from Last november are still around.

[Zapmeister]

Some people think clams are unbalanced. Others don't. Bringing this argument back into the forefront is beating a poor, dead horse. You don't hate horses, do you?

I don't hate horses and I don't want to restart any arguments. All I want to know is what the devs think.

[Zapmeister]

I know I have come to the conclusion that I will not play anymore Multiplayer games with VQ's in them anymore.

Perhaps I can interest you in the mosehansen game Orania_Fast (see thread "Orania Semiblitz"). One VQ is allowed, however, in Black Forest Ulm.