Guide: Bandar Log - you whipped me with what?!?

[Kristoffer O]

> The other issue is whether a unit ought to be priced in comparison with units of its own nation at all.

Yes, you must. Otherwise units of your nation will be obsolete (not that there are not obsolete units in dom3 , but it is good to keep the numbers down). Nations are not balanced vs other nations based on the cost of the most popular recruit, they are balanced as a whole.

So try to keep units relatively balanced within the nation and if they are too expensive compared to other nations, lower the cost of all units of the nation. This way you get the nation internally balanced, which is preferable.

[JimMorrison]

In case you return to this thread once more KO, I'd like to second the comment that sacred cavalry are, on the whole, a tad too pricey for what you get. It seems that perhaps there is just a multiplier being applied to cost, and while that multiplier is correctly applied to infantry, cavalry with their higher initial costs and higher initial stats do not gain any greater additional benefit from the bless than infantry do. Most blesses do not magnify a units power, but simply add to it.

So my point being, I think Tiger Riders are a bit high priced. I did a number of tests on different bless builds with Bandar Log, and by and large none of them are effective at early growth as the tried and true elephants. This just seems a little sad to me, that dual blessed tigers can't beat the ele. Sure, they are superior in some ways, but with no bless at all, there's almost no point whatsoever in purchasing them over elephants.

I think that perhaps your argument of how many of what units you would value more, breaks down a bit when you add the distinction of capital only. Capital only troops perhaps deserve to be just a little more cost effective, to encourage you to make use of them in your armies as you can afford to. Otherwise people will gravitate towards more easily replaced units to fill that particular niche.

On the other hand, I do think that recruitable Gandharvas may be a bit much. Though mid game summons like that might not be too bad with high resource cost, so that it's not worth buying them early on when you can't get a good squad together in any timeframe. Boosting gold cost may make them unattractive at all points of the game, especially if you are modding the summoned unit rather than copying it - as that will mean that summoned units gain the same high upkeep costs.


One other thing this made me think of (dear god, does he ever stop??), was that looking at what people will pay in gold for a particular summonable unit, brings into stark contrast the poor returns that you get from alchemizing. It seems people value units in the range of 30-50g per gem or more in some cases. Just makes me think that the pace of the game could be kept in check a bit if people had more incentive to alchemize gems for cash, rather than saving for more SCs.

[Epaminondas]

Originally Posted by JimMorrison

In case you return to this thread once more KO, I'd like to second the comment that sacred cavalry are, on the whole, a tad too pricey for what you get. It seems that perhaps there is just a multiplier being applied to cost, and while that multiplier is correctly applied to infantry, cavalry with their higher initial costs and higher initial stats do not gain any greater additional benefit from the bless than infantry do. Most blesses do not magnify a units power, but simply add to it.

So my point being, I think Tiger Riders are a bit high priced. I did a number of tests on different bless builds with Bandar Log, and by and large none of them are effective at early growth as the tried and true elephants. This just seems a little sad to me, that dual blessed tigers can't beat the ele. Sure, they are superior in some ways, but with no bless at all, there's almost no point whatsoever in purchasing them over elephants.

I think that perhaps your argument of how many of what units you would value more, breaks down a bit when you add the distinction of capital only. Capital only troops perhaps deserve to be just a little more cost effective, to encourage you to make use of them in your armies as you can afford to. Otherwise people will gravitate towards more easily replaced units to fill that particular niche.

On the other hand, I do think that recruitable Gandharvas may be a bit much. Though mid game summons like that might not be too bad with high resource cost, so that it's not worth buying them early on when you can't get a good squad together in any timeframe. Boosting gold cost may make them unattractive at all points of the game, especially if you are modding the summoned unit rather than copying it - as that will mean that summoned units gain the same high upkeep costs.


One other thing this made me think of (dear god, does he ever stop??), was that looking at what people will pay in gold for a particular summonable unit, brings into stark contrast the poor returns that you get from alchemizing. It seems people value units in the range of 30-50g per gem or more in some cases. Just makes me think that the pace of the game could be kept in check a bit if people had more incentive to alchemize gems for cash, rather than saving for more SCs.

1. You make an excellent point about the need for capital-only troops to be cheaper, because they will comprise only a small portion of your military.

As for Tiger Riders in particular, what do you think is a fair price for them in comparison to the Elephants? I've re-priced them to 85 from 100. The problem with them was that they were priced too high even within the context of the high price of cavalry in Dominions III in general. For instance, I did not see them as 30-35 percent more efficient than Androphags or Red Guards. They are likely the most over-costed sacred in the game, along with the Wind Riders.

2.Why would recruitable Ghandarvas be too much? I've ran a few tests with them on Gandalf's map, and they get stomped by both Niefel Giants and either the Hinnom or Ashdod giants on battles of 2 v 3 manpower ratio (that is, assuming Ghandarvas are priced at 100 to 150 for the giants). Sure, they are powerful; but they are not over-powering. If Niefel Giants were a summonable, they would be like a level 7-8 summon, no?

[Kristoffer O]

>JM> In case you return to this thread once more KO, I'd like to second the comment that sacred cavalry are, on the whole, a tad too pricey for what you get. It seems that perhaps there is just a multiplier being applied to cost, and while that multiplier is correctly applied to infantry, cavalry with their higher initial costs and higher initial stats do not gain any greater additional benefit from the bless than infantry do. Most blesses do not magnify a units power, but simply add to it.

No multiplier. Just a guess from my side. More powerful units have less educated guesses. Benefits from defense and prot are generally more useful when the initial value is high.

> So my point being, I think Tiger Riders are a bit high priced. I did a number of tests on different bless builds with Bandar Log, and by and large none of them are effective at early growth as the tried and true elephants. This just seems a little sad to me, that dual blessed tigers can't beat the ele. Sure, they are superior in some ways, but with no bless at all, there's almost no point whatsoever in purchasing them over elephants.

Might be true. Might be more of an elephant problem though.

> I think that perhaps your argument of how many of what units you would value more, breaks down a bit when you add the distinction of capital only. Capital only troops perhaps deserve to be just a little more cost effective, to encourage you to make use of them in your armies as you can afford to. Otherwise people will gravitate towards more easily replaced units to fill that particular niche.

True.

> On the other hand, I do think that recruitable Gandharvas may be a bit much. Though mid game summons like that might not be too bad with high resource cost, so that it's not worth buying them early on when you can't get a good squad together in any timeframe. Boosting gold cost may make them unattractive at all points of the game, especially if you are modding the summoned unit rather than copying it - as that will mean that summoned units gain the same high upkeep costs.

> One other thing this made me think of (dear god, does he ever stop??), was that looking at what people will pay in gold for a particular summonable unit, brings into stark contrast the poor returns that you get from alchemizing. It seems people value units in the range of 30-50g per gem or more in some cases. Just makes me think that the pace of the game could be kept in check a bit if people had more incentive to alchemize gems for cash, rather than saving for more SCs.

It would lead to faster research and more castles. I have not really thought about the consequences though. I mostly view alchemy as a last resort/niche use.

>Epaminondas> Ok, you've made me see the other side of the coin. So I suppose that's why normal Elephants and armored Elephants are priced the same. So I suppose the right way to evaluate unit price is to compare them to both the nation's own units and foreign peer units?

Thats nice! Yep!

[Epaminondas]

Originally Posted by Kristoffer O

> The other issue is whether a unit ought to be priced in comparison with units of its own nation at all.

Yes, you must. Otherwise units of your nation will be obsolete (not that there are not obsolete units in dom3 , but it is good to keep the numbers down). Nations are not balanced vs other nations based on the cost of the most popular recruit, they are balanced as a whole.

So try to keep units relatively balanced within the nation and if they are too expensive compared to other nations, lower the cost of all units of the nation. This way you get the nation internally balanced, which is preferable.

Ok, you've made me see the other side of the coin. So I suppose that's why normal Elephants and armored Elephants are priced the same. So I suppose the right way to evaluate unit price is to compare them to both the nation's own units and foreign peer units?