Grossly, insanely different PD strengths

[Agema]

I don't really get this. Some nations have clearly inferior mages. Some have clearly inferior sacreds. Some have clearly inferior summons. Why is PD such an issue?

[Valandil]

It isn't, except to about... oh... one person?

[Sombre]

Because to that one person only PD matters (apart from anti PD raiders, apparently). He has his crusade and he'll rant on and on about it to no-one in particular making foolish statements like "such and such can never win" or "with 65 pd such and such is unbeatable". All the while ignoring or misinterpreting any valid objections raised and failing to realise everyone already accepts that monkey PD is a bit rubbish.

[lch]

Sombre said:
All the while ignoring or misinterpreting any valid objections raised and failing to realise everyone already accepts that monkey PD is a bit rubbish.

Well, ... it's monkeys. What did you expect?

[Humakty]

They can desease their foes by throwing some dejections at them. It should also impact their ennemies morale !

More seriously, a chimp can kill a well prepared human with it's bare hands, so I think the lowish monkeys should be a bit stronger. It wouldn't change much their PD anyway, as going to battle bare chested (and without shields) is a call for an arrow.

Has anyone done some testing so we can elect the worst PD of Dom3? I think of giants, machaka and monkeys fighting each other for the first place.

Now we have our Don Quichotte, we would need some sort of Pansa to restrain him.

[Archonsod]

Quite frankly, if PD ever succeeds against a human player I think it says more about the attacking player than the defending nation

Seriously, a well scripted mage should be capable of burning through any reasonable amount of PD in short order, unless you're investing silly money into the PD. Even then, your relying on the chance of the mage either KO'ing himself with fatigue or simply lacking mass destruction spells to deal with the number of targets.

Oh, and sacred PD is only good if the AI happens to choose bless rather than holy avenger or similar.

[Maraxus]

Because with some nations with very weak provincial defence you can't really see their strengthes in any other area, maybe.

I think Fomoria tops it:

-The provincial defence can not hit anything, has no protection or defence and a moral so absoluely horrible that it will rout the whole army.
-At the same time, the only good researcher/Ritualist is capital only. (and still no better then average compared with other nations)
-The only good unit is capital only.


And seriously, Banda Log is another good point. The provincial defence is sooo bad, comparing it to a good average is like comparing the sacret units of MA Ulm and MA Vanheim.
Problem is, that a sacret strategy is optional - Provincial defence is something you need no matter what strategy you are going.

[Archonsod]

Not really. I never bother with PD for Caelum (no point, Caelum's troops need scripting to be any use), and it's rare I put in more than four or five PD with most nations.
For those wondering, I find it more effective than the traditional 20 PD for putting off players looking for an easy victim. Just make sure they think the cash you've saved has went on your army instead

Nations with good PD, such as EA Abyssia, tend to use it more because it can do a decent job. This can be a disadvantage as much as an advantage though - a couple of times I've foolishly invested in PD when actual troops would have been a better use of gold.

[Lord_Bob]

Caleum fliers are capable of rapidly countering such raids with their flying armies/mages. Stealth nations can "surprise and destroy" such armies. Also, they are capable of equal raids against normal PD with their stealth units, so it balances.

You not "needing" good PD because the enemy does not raid weakly is like saying the enemy didn't press the "I win!" button because there was no "I win!" button. A truism, yes, but not very important. If you have good PD, then stupid weak raids work as a surprise tactic exactly once. Then they stop working. It's not exactly surprising that your opponent doesn't build a strategy around something that doesn't work against you.

[Sombre]

Uh,.. if a single stupid weak raid makes you go all nuts on PD and build 20 in every province because OMG 30 GOLD PER POINT, it already worked.