Tip: Template for reducing late game MM hell

[K]

Originally Posted by Micah

Attacking gets you income but leaves your forces spread out and vulnerable. That's the tradeoff. Taking 90% of someone's lands in a turn means a huge investment of either time/money (sneaking) or gems (teleporting/trapezing) for the attacker, and then the defender has full knowledge of what each of those attack forces consists of and can prepare their counter attack accordingly. If they don't have the gems banked to survive for a few turns without their unforted gem income that's a play choice they decided on. A single SC kill by the defender can be worth a full turn's gem income, and the defender can take their pick of targets.

Any investments in gems (spells or lost SC/thugs) of the attacker is immediately paid by the seizure of 90% of an enemies sites. Only in the most extreme cases would it take more than a single turn of income from those sites to pay off that investment.

Also, now the defender is an attacker, so those thugs get to move first in those provinces that they now own and can move to a safe location where the defending nation cannot reach them.

There really is no way around the fact that without gem-gens, the sneak attacker always gets a killing blow against the defender. When the defender retakes some small portion of his lands, the attacker can now focus his forces to wipe them out having fatally crippled the defender's empire.

As an aside, I'm amused that no one thinks turtling is a cause of MM in the late game.

I'm also amused that people think they can remove things from the game and not have a balance discussion.