Ooh, ooh, new info on patch page!

[thejeff]

That's nice, Gandalf. And probably even true.

But does it actually have any relevance to Hinnom's power?
I do play mostly SP. Hinnom is unbalanced. I'm not that good a player, but it's not even fun using it against the AI. You can just roll over them.

And it's not even that useful as an uber AI opponent, since the AI doesn't do well with it's strengths. Hinnom is all about SCs and small groups of tough troops. The AI can't build or script SCs, won't use small efficient groups of troops, but just throws a mish-mash of recruits together and sends them out. If you give it a decent bless, half time it won't bother blessing the troops or sending out sacreds in the first place.
About the only thing that really helps the AI is the good PD.
The AI just isn't good at using nations like Hinnom, so why is it a problem to balance it for MP? To me it looks like the changes will help keep it from being easy for SP, while not crippling the AI anymore than it already is. Do you think Hinnom is particularly good for SP as it is? Are there different changes you'd suggest?

[MaxWilson]

Originally Posted by thejeff

But does it actually have any relevance to Hinnom's power? I do play mostly SP. Hinnom is unbalanced. I'm not that good a player, but it's not even fun using it against the AI. You can just roll over them.

And it's not even that useful as an uber AI opponent, since the AI doesn't do well with it's strengths. Hinnom is all about SCs and small groups of tough troops.

*cough* Ashdod is "unbalanced" too. Admittedly, any nation which can produce thugs and SCs is "unbalanced" against the AI once you get to that stage, but Ashdod with an E10N6 bless is pretty ridiculous too. A single E10N6 Adon can take pretty much any indy province except knights, elephants, or barbarians all on his own even before you research Body Ethereal. He's almost impossible for indies to damage, regenerates, and has 0 enc. (Add in some Ahimans to take down elephants and knights.) You can be taking 4 provinces/turn around later winter of the first year, constrained mostly by geography. Ashdods best researchers aren't quite as good as LA Agartha, even post-Agarthan nerf, but they're sacred (and high-research if you feel like saving points w/ Drain). Ashdod has a forge bonus for equipping SCs and native earth/death/fire income, so making a Shadow Brand + Shield of Gleaming Gold for every Adon is eminently possible once you hit Const-6. The AI has no way to stop SCs, and it's impossible to lose quickly enough to not get SCs... I think Ashdod is the first nation I've tried where I have never lost a game to the AI even in the learning phase. (Ashdod's national summons aren't even really an issue here because the game is over before you get them--but E10N6 Dirge For The Dead is amazing for the price.)

I don't think this says anything per se about whether Ashdod is overpowered in general (SCs are a known problem for the AI) but in SP it's kind of sick.

-Max