How would you patch this game?

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Molog:
I would like the bug where sneaking disease spreaders get 283482 experience fixed.

That still exists? I thought that was quashed a patch or two ago...

[Zapmeister]

Originally posted by Zen:
I'm certainly glad that certain people are not the ones who patch the game. And until such time as the people who are insulting put out a mod of their 'balance' to try see public reaction (as opposed to their own mind which always says they are right) you don't have a leg to stand on. For the others who would patch the game while still retaining their human courtesy, thank you for your input and I hope to see a mod of your own idea of "balance" whenever you complete it.

Gak, I hope I'm not the one being accused of being "insulting" ! In all my Posts to this thread, I've used the term "great game" to refer to Dominions every time, and spoke only of improving it, not fixing something that's broken.

And in the original post, my suggestion was to gather data on over-used and under-used game elements, i.e. determine the balance issues by surveying the playing community.

In other words, my "own idea of balance" as you put it, would not enter into the procedure.

[Scott Hebert]

Originally posted by Zapmeister:
Gak, I hope I'm not the one being accused of being "insulting" !

I'm fairly sure you're safe.

And in the original post, my suggestion was to gather data on over-used and under-used game elements, i.e. determine the balance issues by surveying the playing community.

In other words, my "own idea of balance" as you put it, would not enter into the procedure.

A nice thought, but just like history, it's impossible to be objective here. What data are you gathering? Just the selection of the criteria you'll follow would be made according to your own ideas of what balance is and how to achieve it. I'm not trying to josh you so much as to show how impossible that is.

In the interest of promoting such endeavors, what would you suggest would be a proper method of gathering such data?

[Zapmeister]

Originally posted by Scott Hebert:
In the interest of promoting such endeavors, what would you suggest would be a proper method of gathering such data?

What I had in mind was a survey, in which each spell, troop, item and pretender was listed, and beside each one there are 6 responses to the question "How often do you make one of these", being

1) Never
2) Rarely
3) Sometimes
4) Often
5) Very often
6) N/A

The "N/A" would apply to things like Abyssian troops types if you never play Abysia.

I think that if enough people took the time to complete such a survey (and it would be time-consuming, unfortunately) then a fairly objective answer could be obtained.

[PvK]

As has been said before, though, popularity is not a particularly good measure of efficiency. It would be an interesting survey, but I'd trust explanatory arguments why something is good or bad, rather than what people say they use.

Even so, not everything should be balanced, both for thematic and sense-making reasons, and also because especially since the steps needed to achieve each thing are frequently complex and different for each nation, each pretender, each situation, and each play style.

PvK

[Zapmeister]

Originally posted by PvK:
As has been said before, though, popularity is not a particularly good measure of efficiency. It would be an interesting survey, but I'd trust explanatory arguments why something is good or bad, rather than what people say they use.

Sure, but we've all seen how discussions like that proceed. Agreement is hard to reach, and the discussion tends to descend into a subjective and abusive flamefest. Witness the Vampire Queen debate.

I think my approach would at least lead to a result that could be accepted by the playing community as a whole.

Also, I think any action taken as a result of the survey should usually be in the form of a cost adjustment, rather than any change to functionality, and should be at the complete discretion of the devs. In other words, the survey would simply be a tool to help the devs assess the balance issues.

Even so, not everything should be balanced, both for thematic and sense-making reasons, and also because especially since the steps needed to achieve each thing are frequently complex and different for each nation, each pretender, each situation, and each play style.
PvK

I think if you're only tweaking costs, there's not much danger of destroying thematic elements. Furthermore, if the tweaks mean that elements get used where previously they were not, then the themes that those elements were supposed to promote will actually see the light of day. In other words, I think that balance promotes themes rather than the opposite.

[Yossar]

Originally posted by HotNifeThruButr:
I would also give the Infernal forces series - I know this applies to Frost Fiends, but I haven't looked into the others - more bang for the buck. Right now, summoning a single demon is more economical than a horde, and time shouldn't be the only thing saved in such an advanced spell.

A) An added cost of 1 or 2 blood slaves is easily worth worth being able to use one mage instead of seven or eight.

B) The number of demons you get from a level 9 blood summonings has a "+" after number of effects. Get a mage with one more skill in blood than required (shouldn't be an arduous task that late in the game) and *BAM* you're more economical than the low level spell.