FFH2 .25 Balance Feedback

[vorshlumpf]

I didn't find any of this discussed in the Bug thread or this thread. If it matters, I'm playing a Marathon game on Nikis-Knights huge map.

1) Hawk recon is really odd since BTS. If you target flatland, you may not clear any of the map beyond the surrounding 8 tiles. The hawk's vision is blocked by forest, hills, and mountains. Likewise, if you target a mountain, you see an insane amount of land. I find it odd that a flying creature would be affected in this manner.

2) Perpetual Fires.
I thought this was tweaked nicely in previous versions. In my current game I started a fire in my own lands. And fires are still raging over 200 turns later.
The reason is because fires can last longer than it takes to grow new forest. My specific observations/comments:
- smoke can last in a tile for around 20 turns; smoke should last a turn at most
- fires can last for up to 6 or more turns; fires should last a turn or two at most
- burnt forest to new forest to forest is too quick; however, if fires are toned down significantly, it is not as big of a de

One final comment: it seems odd that forest grows where jungle once stood. It's nice to get rid of that jungle, but realistically, jungle should be less susceptible to fire and it should grow back when it is burnt down.

 

[Grillick]

One final comment: it seems odd that forest grows where jungle once stood. It's nice to get rid of that jungle, but realistically, jungle should be less susceptible to fire and it should grow back when it is burnt down.

Actually, this mechanic is very realistic. When Europeans landed in the western hemisphere, they discovered forests. Lots and lots of forests spanning the length and breadth of the continent. The reason for this, primarily, was constant native burning. Burning wasn't controlled in the way we think of a controlled burn these days, but it was man-made and deliberate, and resulted in vast swathes of territory with tall, burn-resistant trees spread widely apart from one another.

These are forests. The vast tangles of undergrowth which render travel almost impossible are jungles, and are a more recent development in the ecology of the region. A more realistic method would be to have forests which are on grasslands have a chance of becoming jungles if they are unimproved, while continuing to have fire burn down jungles and replace them with forests.

 

[GoodGame]

Sand lion vs. Chaos marauder. Both level 2 effects, and both child's play for the Shaim to get a hold of them.

Playing Arcane/Summoner with I think Shaimmy, it seemed to me that Marauders were better, til I hit on the simple strategy of blasting plains to desert to make convenient launch platforms for sand lions. With the 2 extra turns the Summon trait gives, I could get my 5 or so conjurers to visit an enemy city with about 10ish lions by holding the waves back to only launch of every third turn or so. The result was usually instant city capture. The only weak link is the need for plains/desert but still too easy, since Shaim has one free fire, and you only need 2 for the lions.

So perhaps a tweak to the sand lions, like say -10% city capture or so.

Marauders seem perfectly balanced, they're only mildly strong on average (about 4) and have a chance on going barbarian on summons. I had so many go barb, I though they were the reason for the large swath of barb cities (til I saw Barbatos :*) ).

 

[Grey Fox]

I prefer Spectres since you can make them stronger (death affinity) and they got fear.

 

[vorshlumpf]

Grillick, I'll concede to you that jungles can be thought of as forests with thick undergrowth, but there are certain conditions that promote such growth more than others. Tropical/sub-tropical areas; swampy/heavy rain areas.

Fires do not remove these conditions, so when a burned jungle grows again, it wouldn't be long before returning to its original state.

And not many forests have the potential to become jungles, by any definition. I live in Canada, and spent considerable time in the Yukon. I've explored many vast, untouched forests that are simply that: forests.

 

[Grillick]

How much of the Yukon do you seriously think would qualify as Grassland in civ terms?

 

[Balzemon]

There may not be anything that can be done about this, and it may even be intentional. Hidden units belonging to the AI in rival territory at war time can lead to accidental declarations of war, which just doesn't "feel" right to me.

For example, Player is attacking AICiv1 and the area is riddled with hidden units from AICiv2 that is not participating in the war. Player proceeds to try to use Ring of Flames (or Tsunami, or any other AE spell) and gets war declared by AICiv2 whose hidden unit got toasted in the process.

It seems wrong to have hidden units capable of triggering declarations of war. To make matters worse, on at least one occasion I actually found a neutral civ's hidden unit inside my opponent's city square. Since my assault force was build on the strength of Confessor Ring of Flames and Prior/Inquisitor Pillar of Flame that development delayed my assault force until the neutral player moved his hidden unit away from the city.

 

[Nikis-Knight]

I think the first problem won't be a problem anymore.
The second would be a problem even if it wasn't invisible, though.