- 4 Specialists critically need changes.
- 3 Specialists could use changes.
- 2 Game Rules need to be modified.
Required Specialists Changes: Specialists that break core game mechanics
- Princess+Intelligence Officer:
Must be changed so that multiple princess and intelligence officers do not stack. Note: 1 Princess+Intelligence Officer will still stack.
Optional changes: Intelligence Officer may be able to be promoted into another specialist for another small boost in vision boosting percentage.
Reason: Fog of War is a critical game mechanic. Being able to see the entire map due to the stacking of a few specialist breaks that core gameplay mechanic. Hiring specialists to see more of the map should be encouraged. But at the same time, 1 outpost should never be able to have vision over the entire map. - Tycoon:
A negative ability is added. Lowering the supply cap by 50 would balance Tycoon stacking. (Along with the changes to the King. See below)
Reason: Multiple Tycoon's + Multiple Admirals are way better than 5 Kings. I believe you all have finally noticed this. - The Tycoon breaks the core mechanics behind driller production. When you're out producing 3 people because on the same number of factories because you have a few Tycoons (who have no downside to stacking them) there's a major problem. Adding a -50 supply cap per tycoon would force you to choose between having an outstanding production/supply line, or being able to sit back and produce drillers. It also would bring the MOE more into play with, along with the changes to the King. (See below) - Admiral:
Multiple Admirals should no longer stack speed increases on standard subs. OR The Navigator is changed so that it can be promotable 3 times. Each adding a bit more speed each time.
For option is simple. Standard subs have a 1.5x Speed no matter the number of Admirals you have.
Second option would work something like this:
- The first Navigator promotion would produce the current Admiral.
- A promotion on the Admiral would boost all specialist subs to 1.25x speed.
- A third and final promotion would give standard subs 1.75x speed and specialist subs 1.5x speed.
Note: These speeds are not final.
Reason: 1 Admiral isn't a problem. 2 Admirals things start to get a little sketchy. 3 Admirals and the game mechanics start to break down. Anything more than that is just a mess. - The game was designed so you could go 12 hours between check ins. Mainly, so you're sleeping schedule isn't too disrupted. Anything more than 2 Admirals causes the travel time between outposts to become to fast. And the only counter really becomes matching the number of Admirals that your enemy has. - King:
Kings have no effect on shields. Each king lowers supply cap by 25.
Reason: The major problem with the King is that he doesn't make any sense. He gives each sub a 33% boost in power. So why is his only "negative effect" on the shields? Because really, he has no real "negative effect" on shields. Because heres how he works:
You take your Queen, put her on a base with 20 Shields. Then you take your King(s), and put them on that base too. Now you hire a Tinker, and put them on that base. You know have an almost unlimited energy supply. Rinse and Repeat.
Which works something like this:
Extra Power = (40 + 20(Kings)) x 3(Tinkers)
1 King + 1 Tinker = 180 Extra Cap. (That alone is arguably better than promoting the Tinker to an MOE, since you avoid the production loss)
2 Kings + 1 Tinker = 240 Extra Cap.
3 Kings + 1 Tinker = 300 Extra Cap
5 Kings + 1 Tinker = 420 Extra Cap
-
2 Kings + 2 Tinker = 480 Extra Cap
3 Kings + 2 Tinker = 600 Extra Cap
-
2 Kings + 3 Tinker = 720 Extra Cap
I stand by my statement that the King isn't OP. Because he's not. Even though he is broken. - Fixing his negative affect to make to a -25 in supply opposed to this strange stuff with the shield will fix quite a few problems with subterfuge's balance. But it's doesn't solve everything.
But it's important to note that because of the change to the shields, which nerf's the Tinker, the King doesn't need as big of a production cap decrease as the Tycoon.
Minor Tweaks: These extra tweaks are not gamebreakinig, therefore are not critical to being changed. But I feel these small tweaks would help with the overall balance.
- Engineer:
Repair Stack capped 100% repair
Reason: If the other changes are implemented, Engineer's may get a huge rise in popularity and stacking. And anything over 100% repair makes 0 sense. - Infiltrator:
Add 1.5 speed OR change the shield drain from 20, to fully drain shields at bases attacked.
Reason: Both options for this change would make the infiltrator slightly more useful. But a global effect like the general has doesn't make sense. (I personally like the idea to fully drain shields instead of just 20) - Thief:
You get 2 when hired.
Reason: The thief is a pretty useless specialist. Both the Assassin and the Saboteurs are better specialists, and you get two of each when hired.
Modified Game Rules: For lack of a better title.
- Changes to Specialist Hiring Rules:
When a player has less than 5 bases, his Specialists take twice as long to hire OR are no longer eligible for for hire at all.
Reason: Specialist Stacking is one of the biggest problems as far as game balance is concerned. And while the Specialists are pretty well balanced with a 1:1 ratio, there's a major problem that occurs when players start to gain more specialists than everyone else. And this generally comes as a result of a player feeding another player their specialists in exchange for their protection inside the middle of their territory.
I think 5 bases is a pretty good indicator on if you should have an increase in your specialist hire time, or eligibility to hire specialists at all. It's both a significant number of bases, and not many at all. If you have less than 5 bases, you're likely on your way to losing.
This change would make the protector of the practically eliminated player choose between giving up 5, instead of 1 base in order to gain the players specialists and just eliminating them to keep their production/supply. And it gives all the other players more of a chance of keeping the practically eliminated player without the ability to produce specialists. - Changes to Funding:
Instead of giving players +2 production and +50 supply cap, funding should give +1 production per cycle OR + 50 supply cap. AND which ever option is chosen, should be taken away from the funding player.
Reason: 1x Funding is a pretty impressive boost. Anything over 3x Funding is insane. And the fact that all of this funding is "free" doesn't make sense. The funding player, should actually fund it by taking a hit to their production or supply.