dredknight
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In WGE, Charge is one of the strongest abilities. It provides a +100% bonus for each tile traveled, but the base damage of the Knights is reduced by a factor of 3-4. This means that they deal very little damage from a standstill (including weak counterattacks), but their charge is very powerful. The use of the ability is limited by 2 things:
1) speed - in WGE, only flying units can have a base speed higher than 6; accordingly, all Knights have a base speed of no more than 6
2) heavy class (Armored) - many creatures have an ability based on the "shield wall": they only receive 50% damage if the opponent has moved 1 or more tiles to attack
Therefore, Knights can be countered in 4 ways:
1) carefully avoid being charged or move out of the charge range
2) cover yourself with heavy class troops (they suffer less from the charge)
3) go into defense (defense reduces damage many times)
4) quickly reduce the distance, not giving the Knights enough space to charge, including surrounding them
The general idea is this: a strong ability creates interesting tactics and countermeasures. If there is no strong ability, it does nothing, it's just cannon fodder. Therefore, in WGE, I strive to reveal as many abilities as possible (very rare abilities are weakened, but among them is Torpor).
Plus, a strong Charge is historically justified, since it is known that Knights are good in open areas, but in a confined space, they are of little use, and their effectiveness drops many times (therefore, under such conditions, Knights often dismount). A 100% charge very well demonstrates this feature of knight cavalry. About a 10% charge, I would say that it at least minimally demonstrates this feature (the difference between a hit from a standstill and a full charge is 1.8 times). With 5% and even more so 3%, a Knight hits almost as effectively from a standstill as from a charge, i.e., it is clearly impossible to say that it suffers in any special way from a confined space.
Not only on paper - on average, this ability performs no worse than agility in the original game (since the enemy usually runs a few tiles), but you have agility weakened by a factor of 3. If a unit is too strong (and it is strong), then you can weaken the defense and/or damage (to the level of the upgrade).
If you replace this ability with a simple passive bonus of +5 to defense (for example), nothing will change significantly (the difference will be +/- 1-2 defense). This is precisely an indicator that the ability does not play out (in terms of interest).
By the way, I think the perspectives are once again a bit different. From what I see now, creature changes in WGE revolve around creature abilities. All abilities should give some tactical benefit and disadvantage. But to do so, you have to cut down on creature stats.
From what you said about unit speeds, I assume all creatures have their stats significantly altered.
On the other side, we do the opposite; we keep the stats as close to the original as possible but alter abilities to make the balance. I think we both do the same but cut the tree from a different side.
Check the MMH55 manual for the "Grim rider" "Charge" ability description. I assume on the WGE side, you left it the same as in the original but reduced the creature damage. Is that correct?
A bit weaker - is translated as 3 times? :)
In WGE, agility works twice as strong as in the original and six times stronger than yours (although the speed is lower, so in reality, it's 4 times). This means that when a unit runs far, it receives good protection; but if a unit runs little or stands still, it dies very quickly from attacks. The difference is acutely felt, and this is the interest of the ability. Similarly to cavalry charge, there are many nuances in the use and counteraction of this ability.
How much attention do you pay in MMH5.5 in battle to preventing Knights or Dancers from running an extra tile? If there is only a 3% bonus, then there are clearly concerns that are much more important than limiting their charge. Strengthening abilities is increasing the number of nuances by which you can win in battle; I am not urging you to do this (since your project does not specialize in tactics), but at the same time, I note that reducing tactical nuances by weakening already existing abilities is bad.
However, there are abilities that should really be weakened, such as Torpor. What is the difference? In that even a heavily cut Torpor is good (no worse than blindness and no worse than an unrequited attack, at least in PvP). And in that it is difficult to force Torpor to play well or badly; it is a random ability with a poorly controlled chance, i.e., there is no tactical reason to make it too strong. In contrast to those abilities, the effectiveness of which directly depends on the player's actions.
This is the idea. If you want certainty and survivability, you go for the "no enemy retaliation" upgrade. Otherwise, you can go for the more chance-based "Torpor" upgrade. It may give benefits; your vampire stack is more susceptible to hits.
Actual average damage is the same for both upgrades - 9.
- Torpor probability factor is 2.5
- torpor duration is 2 turns
Just to make sure everything is ok, I put torpor on the list of things to watch for.
In MMH5.5, tactical variety comes later, as in weeks 4-6, you are barely out of the first zone. Abilities may seem weak at first; around the end of month 2, benefits can be seen very clearly.
It is just not possible to balance creatures in later stages of the game if you have strong abilities because creature damage is constantly increasing.
Just imagine 100 champions with WGE stats to do a charge with bonuses from a level 25 might hero.