Дегустация Horn of the Abyss

2 The_

You are proceeding from the postulate that Dungeon should be noticeably stronger than average. Within that logic, yes, more Troglodytes need to be given.

But in HotA there is no such premise; instead, there is the opposite premise of equalizing the strength of towns. The balancing principle is to keep strong towns in place and strengthen weak ones. This simplifies both balance analysis and the learning curve for players.

For this reason, the number of Troglodytes was reduced—so that the average stack size is roughly the same as in SoD.

Also, your numbers are somewhat strange. It's not 10 Troglodytes, but 5, and I consider trading 5 Troglodytes for 3.5 Evil Eyes roughly equivalent—sometimes one is needed more, sometimes the other, and if there is any net effect, it's insignificant. It's odd that you think otherwise.

Regarding minimum quantities—in SoD it's 54, and in HotA it's 74. Moreover, unlike SoD, where 1 stack is a very real situation, in HotA the number of stacks greatly reduces variance; in most cases it will be 110-120 Troglodytes.

Regarding Necro—Vampires are certainly cool, but only with weak starting armies, or in games of weak players, or with a 200% start. With 3 starting stacks and steady hands at 160%, other towns develop momentum no worse by the second week. For example, a couple of years ago there was a tournament for capturing a max conflux on the second week with a standard full army, and all towns successfully managed it in the performance of most players (there were 3 losses out of 64 battles).

I expressed this position back in the development stage, and it was also voiced independently by commentators of a show tournament multiple times in discussions. This gives hope for its correctness.

Regarding the mechanics—the value of the Vampire external dwelling was increased, becoming higher than that of level 7 external dwellings, so getting it for free on the first week is not possible (there are also no shifted guards), and it's very difficult to recoup the cost.

It should also be added that HotA carefully monitors the game's atmosphere and gameplay continuity (single-player), so typical online solutions like "forbid upgrading Vampires" or "remove the ability from Vampires" are not considered; other solutions are needed. For example, a solution like "reduce Vampire growth to 3" might be acceptable. Or "reduce Isra's specialty to 3% per level." Although I don't currently see a need for that (maybe I'm wrong).

Regarding "other towns had their Necromancers cut"—I completely agree, this was one of the goals of balancing. Reading reports like "my opponent got 2 Necromancers, and I got none, sucks to be me" is rather unpleasant.

The general principle of Necro balancing—cut the imba (Gosha, Necromancy) and even out the weak spots (starting with a crappy army in the dungeon). Hence, for example, the reduced cost of Liches and the new splash.

Objectively speaking, Necro's balance still requires study; there is no final position, practice testing is needed. If it's imba—we'll think further, but for now it's far from obvious.

Regarding Swamp—even during the first semi-closed testing, an opinion was voiced (I think Satyr and Indra said it) that Swamp gets little benefit from these 3 stacks, while other towns get significantly more. Plus, there are fewer hives, and more neutral creatures need to be carried through the swamp. So it was decided to raise the starting army to the HotA level, since practice has proven that it doesn't cause imbalances within the town (Dragon and Vistan are still worse than Tazar).

Regarding Conflux—its situation is like Necro's; the gameplay is heavily changed, so it's difficult to judge balance; practice testing is needed. In SoD, Conflux's gameplay revolves around 4 birds at 121; everything else is essentially eating and a means to gather resources for the birds.

In HotA, however, Conflux's gameplay is closer to HotA's—put Psychos in the castle, upgrade them at 122, and off we go. HotA's practice has shown that this is fairly balanced with other towns. In HotA, there are some differences, some for the better, some for the worse; overall, it's unclear.

Regarding Cove—what, does it look like an imba? To me, the town is above average, but not once stronger than, say, Rampart. I saw 3 games of Rampart-Cove; Rampart won all of them. Of course, the sample is small, but still...

Added 28 minutes later

If the post really was purely entertaining, then I apologize, I was too harsh :).

And for Laura, both in HotA and in HotA, by herself (with starting Miner/Adjutant): (6-8)+(6-8)+(6-8)+8=26-32 Harpies. Fine, let's imagine she was totally unlucky and got 26, and 6 were given to scout heroes. Then 20. And that's still strong, not situational.

6-8 is the HotA quantity, while in HotA the quantities are SoD-style—4-6.