User blog:Luxionmk2/Battle Nations 2.0: Opinions and Explanations

First 5 Minutes
When I loaded into 2.0, I didn't notice that many changes and was actually underwhelmed. They only added a handful of units (which is cool), but not that many new buildings and decorations. For a "2.0", I expected major changes, like new resources, new unit types, rebalanced units, etc. I set the game down to work on updating this wiki with 1.5 information and archive pre-1.3 stuff.

Between Game Playing
Wiki updated with 1.5 information, for historical purposes. Game files mined for new stats, costs, images, etc. Some of the pics are SWEET! We're in store for some nice surprises and new faces in game. However, I'm not gonna release spoilers until other people start getting to that point. I'll slowly "spoil" trainable unit stats in the wiki when I have time. I've been sorting through new graphics and updating the old ones on this wiki.

Also decided to use a more generic name, going with "uniticon-[name].png", since the unit images are called "icons" in the game file. In hindsight, I think I should have just stuck with "unit-[name].png" instead. Oh well...

First Hour
So the forums are ablaze with complaints about Gunners, Heavy Gunners and other multi-hit units suffering in 2.0. Z2 announced this, but I decided to take a look myself. I saw inconsistencies in what Stock Option said the Gunner would do, and what the Gunner is actually doing in game. A new Z2 name appeared on the forums, TASK3R, who responded to my inquiries about these.

I saw reports that the Rocket Truck did more damage. I saw reports that the Trooper got nerfed. I saw reports that the Pyro and Fireworks Truck got a huge HP boost, and the Allied Boom Boom got HP and range buff! (Sadly, TASK3R has responded and said those buffs were unintentional and will be fixed in the next update). So I went to check and did see much weirdness. Broke out a calculator, and based my theories on what TASK3R had said about a 5% per rank increase...

The Rebalancing
Previously, each rank increased a unit's damage by a flat 5. Units that generated multiple shots in a single attack, which Z2 called "multi-hit", got +5 per hit! So while a Trooper with 22-26 damage went to 27-31 damage, a Shock Trooper went from 17-19 (x3) to 22-24 (x3) damage, an increase in 15 damage.

Z2Live's Stock Option said that they would be addressing multi-hit units in 2.0. In 2.0, players feel the sudden loss of power, obviously because it was overpowered previously, but players cannot except that. They've grown too accustomed to the "power" and of course they're complaining. Minor rant.

What players fail to understand is that Z2 did not actually "rebalance" multi-hit units. Z2 "rebalanced" EVERY unit. How? As TASK3R hinted, every unit only sees a 10% (not 5% as he mentioned) increase in power per rank. That explains why Troopers are only doing 36 max damage at Rank 5, instead of their original 46. Rank 5 Gunners are doing 13-15 (x3) damage (from 1.5's 29-31 (x3) damage).

13-15 (x3) damage at Rank 5. Wow so low?!? That is the recurring sentiment on the forums. However, it's 40% stronger than from Rank 1. The Trooper's 36 damage is 40% stronger than Rank 1. The Super Tank's 210 damage is 40% stronger than at Rank 1 (150 damage).

In my opinion, this rebalance actually makes unit progression more balanced and fair! Higher-tier units will benefit from this, which should be appropriate given the amount of resources you need to promote them!

In 1.5:
 * R1-R5 Trooper
 * Promotion Costs: ~2K SP and ~10K gold
 * +20 damage (from 26 to 46 max damage)
 * 77% gain
 * R1-R5 Supe Tank
 * Promotion Costs: 300K+ SP and 1mil+ gold
 * +20 damage (from 150 to 170 max damage)
 * 13% gain
 * R1-R5 Gunner
 * Promotion Costs: ~13K SP and ~100K gold
 * +60 damage (from 11(x3) to 31(x3) max damage)
 * 282% gain

In 2.0:
 * R1-R5 Trooper
 * +10 damage (from 26 to 36 max damage)
 * ~39% gain due to rounding, but average damage comes out to ~40%
 * R1-R5 Supe Tank
 * +60 damage (from 150 to 210 max damage)
 * 40% gain, and average damage is 40%
 * R1-R5 Gunner
 * +12 damage (from 11(x3) to 15(x3) max damage)
 * ~36% gain due to rounding, but average damage comes out to 40%

I believe that players just need to stop remembering the old numbers, stop evaluating a unit's overall damage output, and move forward.

Higher Level Difficulty
I actually used Heavy Gunners because there's SP is wasted on max-rank Gunners. I'm laying off my Tempests (currently Rank 3) so that I can max-rank my Heavy Gunners. The new Raiders and Critters have suddenly imposed a road block!! My Heavy Gunners are just tickling the new Brawlers who have a ton of health now. I break out my Tempests, even though they do slightly more damage (~4), but because they can survive better. Buffed Dust Walkers are one-shot'ing unarmored units, and what they don't get, the buffed Bombardiers will.

"Lower-tiered" units aren't surviving these battles, and thus earning SP for them is getting harder. I'm fielding my stronger units, eg. Super Tank and Tank Killers, units that I was saving to rank last, and even these are being sent to the Hospital. The game now is definitely making me train higher end units, as appropriate to my level, but the "easy mode" of 1.5 made it more interesting because I was allowed to bring any unit into battle, and win.

Also, multi-hit units like the Tempest aren't cutting it anymore. 2 to 3 attacks use to clear out Raiders, and I know Z2 does not want battles to be that easy. However, I feel the emphasis now is to pour out tons of damage to single targets. While the Tempest can pepper out close to 200 damage to 3 targets, those 3 targets are still alive and attacking during the course of the battle. A Tank Killer shot will remove one target, and with cooldowns between the 2 remaining targets, that means my army will get a breather every once in a while.

Fire DOT seems to have gotten weaker, but that's probably from the change from +5 to +10%, the latter applying to attacks that already have a low base damage (to account for the DOT). Instead, I'm relying on the Tamed Sandworm's poison to deal out lots of single target damage, albeit over time.

Tempest damage isn't cutting it anymore. Nanopod healing isn't cutting it either, well, hasn't since 1.3 introduced ranks. The game is much more brutal!

Final Opinion
I like 2.0 because I like challenges. I just wish we were allowed a second Hospital! I also fear that the game will become too niche, due to its difficulty, and thus push away players. I also need a better way to grind out SP for lower-tiered units - Gantas' Fortress is sort of mind-numbingly dull.

References:
 * Multi-Hit forum post
 * 2.0 Feedback