What has happened?

[gil]

i need the % for winning without it ill keep sending everything i got in one stack and pray

[KGB]

My bonus combat screen would show the winning % based on what you selected in addition to an explanation of the bonus's involved and how they worked.

KGB

[gil]

as long as i can

expiriment the fight without losing the game for attacking where i was sure im gonna win

sounds good to me

[Stafford]

I havent played for more than a year now. But logged in a few times to have a look. Got a surprise now. 149 active players. It used to be a lot more. But it seems now most players are gold members etc. Not as before. So i guess it evens out.
Anyhow. Do u guys have any plans to make the game more noob friendly. Its not so easy for noobs to learn. Even worse now i guess, when it seems that there are only a few members, almost all of whom are very experienced. Few other noobs to practice with.
But lo and behold. I have a solution.
Add a function: "request tutored game" or something like that. Can be checked in the same way as fow, how many players allowed in the game etc. And then, a group of players signed up as volunteers receive a message saying "join this game if u want bla bla".
The game would only be open for the noob and any tutor that doesnt mind to help out.
It is up to the noob if he wants to choose map or let the tutor decide. Perhaps it would make things easier if a certain simple map is used. Or not. Up to them.
Anyhow thats all.
I would consider to help noobs out if this function was implemented and some new players registered

Getting back to OP, I'd be up for that too if there was some sort of way to help noob players in real game situations.
I haven't really thought it through, but if there was someway of putting them through their paces with 'experienced' players a bit before they hit the big time, it might make FFA games etc a bit more enjoyable for everyone.
And by 'experienced' I don't necessarily mean someone who knows the game and wiki inside out, just someone like me, middle of the road, usually able to win a game or 2, and happy to help out especially with some starting tips. I know if I make a wrong move in the first 5 turns I pay for it later in the game, or even sometimes at turn 6 when I get overrun! Just things like getting them to choose appropriate hero for surroundings etc at the start of the game, then helping them through what units they might purchase down the track . . . explain the pros and cons of pillaging castles/units etc.

Can't help but think there are a lot of new players who don't really understand the game just jump in a FFA and get their ass whipped then just lose interest. Plus it makes if better for players who want all 8 players to stay in the game for more than 2 turns in an 8 player FFA.

[Chazar]

I know if I make a wrong move in the first 5 turns I pay for it later in the game, or even sometimes at turn 6 when I get overrun!

Maybe we should have some more maps featuring a couple of initially owned cities and units, to provide a glimpse of a proper mid-game. Also, having more than just one starting city might make it more resilient against bad luck and simple mistakes?!

[KGB]

I know if I make a wrong move in the first 5 turns I pay for it later in the game, or even sometimes at turn 6 when I get overrun!

Maybe we should have some more maps featuring a couple of initially owned cities and units, to provide a glimpse of a proper mid-game. Also, having more than just one starting city might make it more resilient against bad luck and simple mistakes?!

I would suggest playing on larger maps.

Of course that means it takes a lot more turns until you reach combat with the enemy (esp in 1v1 games on larger maps) so new players will have to be patient for a couple of weeks to get through 15+ turns.

KGB

[Chazar]

I know if I make a wrong move in the first 5 turns I pay for it later in the game, or even sometimes at turn 6 when I get overrun!

Maybe we should have some more maps featuring a couple of initially owned cities and units, to provide a glimpse of a proper mid-game. Also, having more than just one starting city might make it more resilient against bad luck and simple mistakes?!

I would suggest playing on larger maps.

How would that help? It's the delay and the exponential nature of growth that is the problem here. A larger map would only make the difference in the initial expansion more pronounced.

On the other hand, starting with 3 cities could mitigate the problem if the 4th city is conquered a turn or two later, making it easier to overcome an early setback.

I am not asking to make this compulsory! I am just asking to allow map makers to set multiple starting cities for ladder maps as well as scenario maps. It's still left to players to choose such a map, let alone for ladder status to be granted by admin.

[KGB]

The larger the map the more the luck evens out. By this I mean in terms of ruin rewards, neutral city production, battle losses etc. On a small map with only a few ruins / cities the odds are very high of unbalanced outcomes:
- you find useless items / sage, your opponent finds gold
- your neutrals have Hv Inf + 10 walls, his have Lt Inf and +0 walls
- your neutrals have Orcs on a hill map, his have Dwarves on hill map
- You lose your starting Gryphon in an 85% battle, he doesn't lose his in a 70% one.

All the above outcomes HUGELY matter on small maps with limited resources and often decide who wins and who doesn't.

Plus smaller maps tend to reward 'rush' tactics where you can be overwhelmed before there is time to put defenses into place. This more than anything hurts newbies since many small maps can reach the other start spot on turn 3-4.

The exponential growth factor matters on larger maps but it's mitigated by the fact it takes a long time to reach all the areas so even if you do have a few more cities / armies it's not near the advantage (ie a 30-to-25 city advantage is no where near as big a deal as a 15-to-10 one).

KGB

P.S. I am not against more than 1 starting city. But I'd personally rather have more starting units so I can get more XP for my hero conquering neutrals. Maybe options for 5, 10 or 15 units. Then Map Makers don't have to even worry about setting starting options for multiple cities.

[makeixo]

Im still new in this game and I really think a calc would help.

Players like KGB have years of expierence and they know when their stacks are stronger - maybe KGB has a calc for himself and want to keep his advantage.

In the meanwhile I can tell if a stack is strong but I dont know if my winning chance are 60, 70, 80 or 90%.

I think the "weakness" of the game is, there is no "active/strong" community. zillusion gave me some good tips at the beginning, but everything is focused on the matches. When you start a match you write gg & hf and when you are finished you write gg. Thats about it!

[LichKing]

I havent played for more than a year now. But logged in a few times to have a look. Got a surprise now. 149 active players. It used to be a lot more. But it seems now most players are gold members etc. Not as before. So i guess it evens out.
Anyhow. Do u guys have any plans to make the game more noob friendly. Its not so easy for noobs to learn. Even worse now i guess, when it seems that there are only a few members, almost all of whom are very experienced. Few other noobs to practice with.
But lo and behold. I have a solution.
Add a function: "request tutored game" or something like that. Can be checked in the same way as fow, how many players allowed in the game etc. And then, a group of players signed up as volunteers receive a message saying "join this game if u want bla bla".
The game would only be open for the noob and any tutor that doesnt mind to help out.
It is up to the noob if he wants to choose map or let the tutor decide. Perhaps it would make things easier if a certain simple map is used. Or not. Up to them.
Anyhow thats all.
I would consider to help noobs out if this function was implemented and some new players registered

Getting back to OP, I'd be up for that too if there was some sort of way to help noob players in real game situations.
I haven't really thought it through, but if there was someway of putting them through their paces with 'experienced' players a bit before they hit the big time, it might make FFA games etc a bit more enjoyable for everyone.
And by 'experienced' I don't necessarily mean someone who knows the game and wiki inside out, just someone like me, middle of the road, usually able to win a game or 2, and happy to help out especially with some starting tips. I know if I make a wrong move in the first 5 turns I pay for it later in the game, or even sometimes at turn 6 when I get overrun! Just things like getting them to choose appropriate hero for surroundings etc at the start of the game, then helping them through what units they might purchase down the track . . . explain the pros and cons of pillaging castles/units etc.

Can't help but think there are a lot of new players who don't really understand the game just jump in a FFA and get their ass whipped then just lose interest. Plus it makes if better for players who want all 8 players to stay in the game for more than 2 turns in an 8 player FFA.

Just my opinion, how about newbie-only games, and a newbie-only ladder? For players with a low general rank/few games played. A new player would be a "newbie" and could only take part to the newbie ladder, or non-ladder games. Good results in the newbie ladder would grant access to regular ladders, and good results in regular ladders would eventually forbid them to take part to newbie ladders. Also a ribbon for newbie players so that they can easily identify themselves.