Don't want to take over the balance thread

[Keeper_GFA]

So thinking more about XP and the cap and such I had a couple of ideas.

1. I know it's from Vanilla, but does it make any sense that a retreating unit gets a point of XP, when the unit which forced the retreat gets nothing? The winner should still get the normal XP for winning.

2. What if XP were granted not on the odds of winning (as it is now) but on the actual difficulty of the fight? So if you kill an opponent while taking no damage, regardless of the odds, you would only receive 1XP. But if you almost died then you would get more XP, even if the odds were 99%+. I don't know the exact numbers for current XP gain, but if you reduce the normal XP gain and then add an extra 1XP for each hit that you take during combat. Now this means that you'll get less XP for a lucky fight, but your tougher units will get more XP when they run into some bad luck.

3. The 100XP cap should really be removed. Any time there is the risk of losing your unit in combat, there should be the reward of XP. Even if it is only a single point.

Using all of these ideas together would make for a more intuitive and less exploitive (exploitative? exploiting?) system for XP gain. IMHO.

And while I'm at it ... Isn't it time we got rid of first strike chances? Drill 1 is one of the worst promotions in the game, half the time (guesstimate) it doesn't do anything at all. Of course, the entire drill line when finished is excellent and we wouldn't want to overpower that even more. So how about the drill line is changed to simply give 1 first strike per level. This makes drill 1 better as it would always have a chance to do damage, but there is little change over the entire drill line of promotions.

 

[Zechnophobe]

Defending unit gaining XP I disagree with. Part of what makes withdrawl good as a mechanic, is that you can wear units down without them levelling up.

I also disagree with removing the XP cap, though I think SPecial barbarian units should somehow generate XP in the killer, regardless of level. Even an experienced adventurer would learn a lot from vanquishing a Dragon!

Xp based on odds makes sense. It gives rewards for attacking via numbers instead of via a single great unit. Also, considering even the easiest combat takes 3 rounds, I think your proposed change to XP would cause units to gain roughly 3 times the normal experience.

I'm fairly certain too that comparative level is part of the xp configuration.

 

[Blackmantle]

Also not only odds but units (which ones are fighting in question) seem to matter as well.
Adepts seem to gain more XP from combat even with comparable odds to warriors... (could be a misconception. But my observations seem to strongly indicate something like that. Higher Tier units seem to gain less XP from fights with lower / same-tier units even with comparable odds.)

 

[EverNoob]

Also not only odds but units (which ones are fighting in question) seem to matter as well.
Adepts seem to gain more XP from combat even with comparable odds to warriors... (could be a misconception. But my observations seem to strongly indicate something like that. Higher Tier units seem to gain less XP from fights with lower / same-tier units even with comparable odds.)

I believe XP from combat is directly determined by the difference. Obviously combat odds are determined by difference too, which makes XP and combat odds vary together most of the time. However the combat odds can cap at 99.9% before the minimum 1 XP per victory is reached.

 

[zup]

Don't forget raiders + gc. That's minimum 3 exp per combat. Throw in valor to get 6. Awesome? Hell yeah.

 

[Keeper_GFA]

Defending unit gaining XP I disagree with. Part of what makes withdrawl good as a mechanic, is that you can wear units down without them levelling up.

That is the bad part of the withdraw mechanic. The benefits of withdrawing are that you get to wound your opponent and keep your unit. Even the tips tell you to bring overwhelming force because if you fail to kill your target on one turn, it will just become tougher from the XP you gave it.

Also, considering even the easiest combat takes 3 rounds, I think your proposed change to XP would cause units to gain roughly 3 times the normal experience.

You've completely misunderstood then. My intention is not to increase the amount of XP earned. In fact over an entire game I think my system would lower the amount of XP you get, if only slightly.

 

[Blackmantle]

@ zup: That part got nerfed out of Raiders.

 

[OzzyKP]

3. The 100XP cap should really be removed. Any time there is the risk of losing your unit in combat, there should be the reward of XP. Even if it is only a single point.

The cap is only for fighting barbarians. You still get XP after 100 for combat with real foes. This is just to stop barb farming and I think it is a good idea.

 

[Ahriman]

There's no need for an xp bonus over the 100xp cap even for defeating powerful barbarian heroes/monsters as long as their is some other bonus from doing so, like special equipment or the dragon's hoard.
A unit with 100xp is already massively experienced, and the marginal gains from extra xp are pretty low at that point anyway.