Gameplay Balance

[Arkanin]

I thought I'd let you all know where I am now -- so far I have finished four VH/VH campaigns:

1.) Rome
2.) Koinon Hellenon
3.) Iberia
4.) Sauka Rauka (warning: very hard!)

My thoughts will follow. I play RTS games competitively, to the extent that I have a lot of experience identifying the units, strategies and combinatorial tactics that are the most effective. After playing these campaigns, I can see that the game balance is not finished at this point in time. RE the question about Iberian Lancers: I found playtesting on VH/N that they barely have a usable role in their army; they are not beyond but reside on the bottom end of what is a usable power level for their strategic purpose, so they extremely rarely belong in a stack. Keep in mind that being "on the bottom end of what is usable" seems fine for low-tier units, but if a high-tier unit is on the bottom end of desirability in performing whatever role it has it removes the purpose of teching it.

If you are role-playing armies and just building whatever you are "supposed" to build, as I imagine some of you history buff guys might be fond to do, you may not see the balance problems, because you are not thinking about what actually is the least fair within the game engine. But balance problems do exist on every continent and need to be dealt with, though; hopefully most of them will be nailed in the next version.

I'll withhold more comment about what specifically is and isn't balanced until they release another version, as I realize that unit stating is still a work in progress. A lot of people have personalities that tend to assume units are all within an acceptable continuum of power level until completely proven otherwise, though, and they are not likely to discover how well-balanced the game is. With experience playing games (especially competitively) I think you are more likely to come to realize that games generally begin life in a completely degenerate state and need to be wrestled into a non-degenerate one. To understand how the units really work inside the game engine, and remove this degeneracy, it is necessary to search for and exploit flawed mechanics. I just hope it is the individuals that try to find the dominant strategies that staff the stating department, as if so we will have a much more balanced game with the next version. :)

Otherwise fantastic mod, by the way.