Let give this version some time. Let it cool down.
And G you are right with external income on this map, that's why I was able to pull that off.
My feedback is showing some case:
"what if gold is not a factor?".
Current scarcity of gold is good. But basing all game balance on money, make game "vulnerable" for exploits. Production time is just another factor that keep things reasonable. By high upkeep, your idea is that player should not be able to possess such amount high tier units.
Some map could be made with more income points, and that affect the balance [ usability of units ]. Or if you play vs heavy cheating Emperor AI that has more gold income, you will face flood of Tier4.
or if you cast multiple Gold Rush. Money start inflating.
Or if you lose bigger part of map control. By the time you come with units from other part of map. Enemy income already allow him to outproduce his unit loses. This make achieving economy advantage much more impactful, and reduce the chance of recovery.
I find it silly that its faster, to capture enemy city, and there produce fully army, than bring some forces from other places.
Almost all strategy game victory is based on economy. The better you gathering resources, & convert them into units, the better you perform. And I think its not that funny, if game is not Pharaoh like production manager, but about war & combat.
F.ex. Panzer General is fun because you care about your current unit. Your tactical decision to save own units, and reduce opponent forces, are more important that gaining some prestige point from capturing rural village.
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i thinking about the production time, everything but the "?", are perfect :
.........tier of units
city - 1 -- 2 -- 3 -- 4
1----- 2 --------------
2----- 1 -- 2 ---------
3----- 1 --
? --
? ----
4----- 1 --
? --
? --
? with - ? - you could rush with an answer
think we need to wait Southern feedback, how he see current timing
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Gold from looting is good. It make decision, is it worth to loot or just raze, because there is no time.
As Paradoxnrt said.
Plus if you are too greedy, enemy can come back with an rescue. It create good stories. Risk-Reward.
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edit:
I done some study & play game with old exe, to eliminating not valid production time: conclusion:
.........tier of units
city - 1 -- 2 -- 3 -- 4
1----- 2 --------------
2----- 1 -- 2 ---------
3----- 1 -- 2 -- 3 ----
4----- 1 -- 1 -- 2 -- 3
3 turns for tier 4: if its produce in 2 turn; then in case if gold is no problem you are flooded with most powerful unit, that autowin the game.
AoW+ set quite harsh gold conditions. and city upgrade time is longer. So 4x turn stop being a good time. Vanilla 3 turns start making sens.
2 turn, for tier 3, for city size 4: has to be faster than tier 4, otherwise just go for tier 4.
has to be slower than tier 2, otherwise no reason for tier 2.
3 turn, for tier 3, for city size 3: should be slower than tier3, city size 4. Otherwise capitol lose special meaning as great spawn point.
tier 3 units are too good to be produce in 2 turn, in multiple points on map. But with 3 turns of production, there would be less saturation of flyers and super thugs.
[s]
1 turn, for tier 2, for city size 3: with 2 turns production, city size 3 is not valid, compare to same production from citysize2. Default would be to use size3 solely for tier3, cause tier2 units you could produce in size2 city as well.
tier 2 units have harsher gold upkeep in AoW+ (if we take into account new income).[/s]
EDIT:
I was thinking:
tier 2; city 3 - should be 2 turn like in vanilla. So go back with all timing changes.
this make city 4 - your last stronghold, that would allow you to pump unit faster. If city 3 has also this ability, then having advantage of map control make harder for weaker player to strike back.
+priest and cavalry are jus straight better units than infantry and archers.
+siege engines catapult & ballista are create every turn, it not a good unit for spam. Do you want to see in game mass produce infantry or ballistas?
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being on losing position - and snowball effect for winner:
same situation is with spellcasting income. If you are cut out of nodes, you have no chance to do anything because spell casting didn't provide any significance of mana.
spell casting should progress better 1-2-3-4-5 => 1-5-10-15-20 (or 0-1-5-10-15 ?)
spam of first level caster hero will not affect the balance. But when you cornered just with your leader, you can still pull some tricks (transfer all from research into mana income).
still i think elemental mana node income is ok. If you winning you dont have too much, because you lucky to control 4spheres element. If you losing then enemy has less of advantage over you.
