The Thief feels a bit under-powered to most new players, because most don't realize that 15% of a 130 driller sub has the same effect as a war hero (20 drillers). And will usually say, "Oh 5 drillers from a 30 driller sub is nothing"

Is there a way to make the Thief's ability more apparent, or is it just me who thinks the Thief is one of the lesser chosen specialists?

Yes, the thief does seem underpowered, even though it's not. I've talked to my friends who play the game and I'm the only one who thinks it's valuable. Your point about it being equal to a war hero is good, especially since a thief is only a single hire. As for making clearer that would be difficult to do. I guess people will have to discover it for themselves.

It's actually twice as good as a war hero in that situation. You gain 20 drillers and your opponent loses 20 drillers for a total difference of 40 drillers.

I think it pairs well with other offensive specialists. Thief plus king. Thief plus engineer. I recently saw a thief/engineer/engineer swim silently by my border. I held my breath hoping it wouldn't turn my direction.

I promoted a war hero my first game and never have again. For using 2 specialist highers I think it's kind of weak.

Bigredsk10 wrote:It's actually twice as good as a war hero in that situation. You gain 20 drillers and your opponent loses 20 drillers for a total difference of 40 drillers.

I think it pairs well with other offensive specialists. Thief plus king. Thief plus engineer. I recently saw a thief/engineer/engineer swim silently by my border. I held my breath hoping it wouldn't turn my direction.

good point hadn't thought of that. But yeah thief can be really good for Ana single hire.

Yeah basically as long as your enemy is attacking with more than 60 drillers, the thief does more damage than the war hero.

The easiest way of thinking it for me is that a Thief will always burn 1/3 of the enemies forces (15% stolen drillers will kill 15% remaining drillers)
I personally like the war hero because he can be used defensively.

Fun fact, when thieves are used in tangent together they apply thief effects one after the other.
3 Theifs against 100 men:
Thief 1 takes 15% 100 -15
Thief 2 takes 15% 85 -13
Thief 3 takes 15% 72 -11
39% total taken, instead of 45%

janitorialduties wrote:The easiest way of thinking it for me is that a Thief will always burn 1/3 of the enemies forces (15% stolen drillers will kill 15% remaining drillers)
I personally like the war hero because he can be used defensively.

Fun fact, when thieves are used in tangent together they apply thief effects one after the other.
3 Theifs against 100 men:
Thief 1 takes 15% 100 -15
Thief 2 takes 15% 85 -13
Thief 3 takes 15% 72 -11
39% total taken, instead of 45%

61-39
Sub of 100 wins with 22 drillers left.

Yeah yeah, I guess my point yas if you have three thieves they will burn aproximately 80% of enemy drillers instead of 90%.
If only a pirate could hold one extra specialist...

I guess its because you should think about it as: you can win battles which are 30% greater in driller count because of the 15% you gain killing the 15% they lose. Thats the way I think about them. Right now I have a sub with 2 theifs and one general (and I have 2 more generals and a king as well) so its basically just OP at this point.