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dej · 09-26-2007, 01:21 PM

I understand the point and purpose of a Mud Golem in the grand strategy of things: they exist to break up heavy concentrations of units.

And in their role they do well. I'm not concerned about a Mud Golem's ability to take on units stronger than itself, I'm concerned about its ability to take on units weaker. To this end, I'd appreciate it if we place any comments about Muds vs. Dragons or Muds vs. other golems (etc) onto other threads. If someone wants to comment ABOUT this thread and not stay on topic, I would appreciate it if you created a separate thread and directed out attention to it. Please, let's keep this thread discussion about a mud's ability to trounce units that are weaker than itself.

For the purposes of this thread, the attacker will be the one who possesses the Mud Golem, and the defender will be the one who does not.

Weaker groups of units, those available to starting players have virtually no chance of winning against an attacker with a Golem. The amount of resources it takes to dispatch one: three turns of heavy attacks (for someone who knows what they are doing, weaker units could take four, even five turns to destroy a golem), is so difficult for a starting player to muster that it becomes too distressing. By the time they've invested the resources it takes into destroying or warding off a mud golem, they are easily overwhelmed.

I'm concerned because this gives Mud wielding attackers a false sense of hope. These people begin to believe that they are good at the game, when in fact, they just rely too heavily on one unit. Additionally, and c'mon, admit it, people with Mud Golems enjoy trouncing the have-nots. While this may increase their sense of fun, new players can get discouraged if they enter a fight with no chance of victory. Just like the fool who tells his newbie opponents "HIT F5 AND YOU'LL WIN THE GAME!" Newbie players feel cheated by this ... and subsequently don't return.

The fact of the matter is, there is about a 300-400 point gap that is created by the current power level of the Mud Golem. That is, people's stats are artificially increased because they keep trouncing on poor have-nots, while the have-nots stats are artificially kept down because they keep losing to people who they have no strategic ability to respond to, simply because they have nothing that can outmaneuver the Golem.

The inclusion of multiple DMW or Furgons can begin to even up the score, but there's still a wide gulf nonetheless.

I see a few ways of handling this, any one should be effective:

1. Reduce the damage of a Mud Golem's attacks. Instead of 15/10/5, perhaps 10/8/4 is more appropriate. This would allow defending units an additional turn to rally a concentrated effort against the unit or get away. The attacker

2. Reduce the golem's HP by 10. This would make it so that most defenders worth their salt could destroy the unit in 2 turns instead of three.

3. Increase the Wait by 1. Golems are supposed to be slow, right? If a Golem had to wait an additional turn, then defenders could react more thoroughly against them.

4. Reduce the amount of Teleportation by 1. The reduction of 1 move on the part of the mud golem would allow the defender to retain at least some "safe" positions on his starting phase.

5. Develop a new unit that is available to greys. The units grand strategy would be to disrupt Golem attacks. The good thing about this is that a) everyone loves a new kind of unit. 2) You don't alienate the players used to the Golem's current power level. 3) You bridge the stats gap and return strategic thinking back into the game. The point of this creature would be to somehow disrupt the golem, either by doing extra damage to it, increasing its wait, limiting its ability to teleport, and so on. The Furgon may be the closest thing to a unit of this type, but the shrub making ability of the Furgon is about only half-as effective as necessary in order to fully compensate for the teleportation ability of the Golem.

I am a published writer in the gaming industry, I hope that this speaks towards my ability to judge overpowered game units. Additionally, I pursued my undergraduate degrees (I have two) in business strategy and marketing, so I hope this speaks towards my strategic input.

There's a good discussion here about this as well, but it is general, not just about Mud Golems: Hearing me out

Your thoughts are welcome:

09-26-2007, 01:21 PM	#1 (permalink)
dej Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 12	Mud Golem are overpowered I understand the point and purpose of a Mud Golem in the grand strategy of things: they exist to break up heavy concentrations of units. And in their role they do well. I'm not concerned about a Mud Golem's ability to take on units stronger than itself, I'm concerned about its ability to take on units weaker. To this end, I'd appreciate it if we place any comments about Muds vs. Dragons or Muds vs. other golems (etc) onto other threads. If someone wants to comment ABOUT this thread and not stay on topic, I would appreciate it if you created a separate thread and directed out attention to it. Please, let's keep this thread discussion about a mud's ability to trounce units that are weaker than itself. For the purposes of this thread, the attacker will be the one who possesses the Mud Golem, and the defender will be the one who does not. Weaker groups of units, those available to starting players have virtually no chance of winning against an attacker with a Golem. The amount of resources it takes to dispatch one: three turns of heavy attacks (for someone who knows what they are doing, weaker units could take four, even five turns to destroy a golem), is so difficult for a starting player to muster that it becomes too distressing. By the time they've invested the resources it takes into destroying or warding off a mud golem, they are easily overwhelmed. I'm concerned because this gives Mud wielding attackers a false sense of hope. These people begin to believe that they are good at the game, when in fact, they just rely too heavily on one unit. Additionally, and c'mon, admit it, people with Mud Golems enjoy trouncing the have-nots. While this may increase their sense of fun, new players can get discouraged if they enter a fight with no chance of victory. Just like the fool who tells his newbie opponents "HIT F5 AND YOU'LL WIN THE GAME!" Newbie players feel cheated by this ... and subsequently don't return. The fact of the matter is, there is about a 300-400 point gap that is created by the current power level of the Mud Golem. That is, people's stats are artificially increased because they keep trouncing on poor have-nots, while the have-nots stats are artificially kept down because they keep losing to people who they have no strategic ability to respond to, simply because they have nothing that can outmaneuver the Golem. The inclusion of multiple DMW or Furgons can begin to even up the score, but there's still a wide gulf nonetheless. I see a few ways of handling this, any one should be effective: 1. Reduce the damage of a Mud Golem's attacks. Instead of 15/10/5, perhaps 10/8/4 is more appropriate. This would allow defending units an additional turn to rally a concentrated effort against the unit or get away. The attacker 2. Reduce the golem's HP by 10. This would make it so that most defenders worth their salt could destroy the unit in 2 turns instead of three. 3. Increase the Wait by 1. Golems are supposed to be slow, right? If a Golem had to wait an additional turn, then defenders could react more thoroughly against them. 4. Reduce the amount of Teleportation by 1. The reduction of 1 move on the part of the mud golem would allow the defender to retain at least some "safe" positions on his starting phase. 5. Develop a new unit that is available to greys. The units grand strategy would be to disrupt Golem attacks. The good thing about this is that a) everyone loves a new kind of unit. 2) You don't alienate the players used to the Golem's current power level. 3) You bridge the stats gap and return strategic thinking back into the game. The point of this creature would be to somehow disrupt the golem, either by doing extra damage to it, increasing its wait, limiting its ability to teleport, and so on. The Furgon may be the closest thing to a unit of this type, but the shrub making ability of the Furgon is about only half-as effective as necessary in order to fully compensate for the teleportation ability of the Golem. I am a published writer in the gaming industry, I hope that this speaks towards my ability to judge overpowered game units. Additionally, I pursued my undergraduate degrees (I have two) in business strategy and marketing, so I hope this speaks towards my strategic input. There's a good discussion here about this as well, but it is general, not just about Mud Golems: Hearing me out Your thoughts are welcome: