So with all the talk about kings, I emailed the devs and here's there response:

Thanks for you input. We are considering a balance update, but we want to err on the side of making the least amount of changes possible. The King is in the top of our list. If you have any other suggestions for the biggest balance problems, I'd love to hear about it.
Thanks.

So this is great news!!

Post any and all ideas for specialists balance here, but please don't talk about the king or other specialists that you believe are balanced. Only talk about specialists that need change.. Also, try to keep the topic relevant to the questions.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1505


The changes to the King, Admiral, and Tycoon are critical.

Changes to the the vision specialists would be a nice touch as well. As it would limit stacked sentry abuse. (The, sentries firing on the whole map nonsense.) and helps keep the game as it was intended to be played. With just a moderate view past the bases you own.

Remaining changes would be nice to have, in order to give more versatility to currently, early game only/rarely used specialists.

topkilla wrote:

This is how I would start - Specialists with an * have been changed. Those changes are in Italics:


• Pirate*
  Sub carrying Pirate can target another sub. When targeting a sub, the Pirate's sub travels 2x faster than standard sub speed, then travels at 4x normal speed to nearest friendly outpost. - (Standard subs, not ordinary. Admiral gives the pirate a small boost, which helps with targeting other subs with a speed boost in the mid-late game)
  
• Princess*
  Increases her outpost's sonar range by 50% of standard range. If you lose control of your Queen, the closest Princess becomes the new Queen.
  
• Infiltrator*
  Local: Drains 20 from the shield charge of any outpost it attacks. Global: Each additional Infiltrator drains an additional 10 from the shield charge when attacking an outpost.
  Combat priority: 4
  
• War Hero*
  Destroys 20 enemy drillers when participating in combat. Every 5 days this amount is increased by #.
  Combat priority: 7
  
• Intelligence Officer*
  Increases your sonar range by 25% of standard sonar range. Shows you the type of all outposts that are outside your sonar range.
  
• Tycoon*
  Global: Speeds up your driller production rate by 50%. Decreases supply cap by 50. Local: Produces 3 additional drillers with each production cycle while at a factory.
  
• Admiral*
  Global: Increases speed of all your subs that aren't carrying specialists by 50% of ordinary subs. Local: Admiral travels 2x faster than ordinary subs.
• King*
  Global: Destroys 1 enemy driller for every 3 of your drillers that remain after specialist phase in every combat you are involved. Reduces supply cap by 50.

Each King reduces electrical output by 50.
Would be my nerf. (Written in topkilla thread too.)

The war hero one is a little iffy- I don't know how hard it would be to impliment it- But I like the rest of these changes.

Big props to NoJo for going where no man has gone before....great job to re-engage the devs bud!

radioactivity wrote:Big props to NoJo for going where no man has gone before....great job to re-engage the devs bud!

Thanks! I'm doing this because I love subterfuge and want it to prosper (totally not because I REALLY want one of those helper medals.....)

I don't have any specific ideas, but I DO know what specs should be changed.

Overpowered and need to be nerfed

King.
Tycoon.
Admiral.
Possibly the General, but I don't think it's needed

Underpowered and need a buff
Infiltrator
Elder
War hero

Someone mentioned this elsewhere, but for the Pirate, allow an "unfollow" button - this is to avoid the navigator/sudden speedboost bug in which the Pirate will travel the opposite direction. Hitting the button will allow the Pirate to return to your nearest friendly outpost.
If devs don't want to put in a button, the Pirate should just automatically return to a friendly outpost when it can't reach the enemy sub before it arrives at an outpost.

pandasecret wrote:Someone mentioned this elsewhere, but for the Pirate, allow an "unfollow" button - this is to avoid the navigator/sudden speedboost bug in which the Pirate will travel the opposite direction. Hitting the button will allow the Pirate to return to your nearest friendly outpost.
If devs don't want to put in a button, the Pirate should just automatically return to a friendly outpost when it can't reach the enemy sub before it arrives at an outpost.

THIS^
It is the most frustrating thing to deal with- A navigator that stings along a pirate is frustrating...

Also I feel that TopKilla's modifications are overall awesome- most of them are super simple- which the dev's asked for- and effective.

TK. I agree with most of the solutions, but the visions specs? Those are completely balanced in opinion. When you choose a vision spec you are giving up the option to hire something else that can be used in combat. That within itself is enough to balance the vision specialists out.