I have started playing this game recently (this is my first age). I have played 5-7 other similar war/strategy games, and am using parts of each of these for comparison.
I am confused. How can you expect the average player (log in 1-2 times a day) to continue to play this game, when repeated attacks by players 2 times your size with 4-8x as many troops keep hitting me, killing my small amount of troops and stealing my resources.
Garrisons and vaults will only protect so many troops (too little in my opinion), and are worthless once destroyed. If the player that has a much higher espionage and researches, you can never get rid of them.
I am logged into the game for 4-8 hours in a day, but can't seem to advance any further due to repeated attacks.
With no efficient way to protect troops, or resources, a smaller player repeatedly getting attacked will have great difficulty advancing in the game. I find it upsetting that 500 scouts (lvl 10 espionage & counter) in defense cannot kill 1-10 scouts with lvl 18 espionage. I ended up killing all my scouts trying to get rid of less than 10 scouts.
I realize higher levels of researches help tremendously, but when you cannot earn enough gold or resources to start the researches due to repeated attacks, you cannot start the researches. It doesn't help if espionage levels mean the scouts become super scouts. 50:1 scout count and still cannot defeat 10 scouts!? Really?!
There are few cities near me that are in attacking range (less than 1 hours march), and the ones that are, have 4-8x my troops, and are so busy raiding my village, I cant make troops (even if I do the repeated attacks kill them quickly)
.
No chance of moving village to new area with more players in range (or away from players 2x your size that keep attacking) due to game design
I have read through the forums and most of the posts regarding defense are in regards to keeping troops moving and resources used. Keeping troops moving works if you log on frequently enough, or can schedule time to play ( you need to know how long to walk troops), but doesn't help the average player that can only spend a few hours a day playing.
I understand why keeping resources low will keep people from wanting to attack, but I am not sure how keeping resources used will help you advance in the game with build requirements in the millions, and resource income limited due to player size, city size, number of workers and resource level.
I like the complexity of the game, and the amount of control I have over most functions (except battles, battles could use round by round control of troops to advance/retreat/target specific troop types).
What I don't like, is the fact that it can take up to a week to produce resources needed for builds and researches, less if you are farming NPCs (which takes a tremendous amount of time considering the distance and low numbers of NPC cities), but with no players near me within reasonable attacking range (that havent quit already), I cannot plunder for resources.
When players are attacking you 2 times a day for your resources, and there is nothing you can do about it.
I think the attacking limits should be tightened when attacking players with lower points (not only penalizing them for hitting lower players, prohibit them from attacking)
Example: Points variance to attack higher - You can attack players 3x your earned points)
Points to attack lower players - Higher players must be less than 1.5x your earned points to attack
I have talked with many people that like this game except for the fact that build requirements are ridiculous compared to resource production, and available resources from plunder, and the frequency of incoming attacks to take those resources before they can be used.
My suggestions in summary:
1. Create more ways to store resources and/or gold safe from attack (these should be manually controlled and not show on espionage reports)
2. Increase resources a city is able to produce per hour/day
3. Limit attacks from larger players so smaller less experienced players WANT to continue playing
4. Battle controls for troops during the battle. Control advance/retreat/targeting for troop types
5. Chat - Communication improvement. It would be easier to find active players (for allies/marriages/attacks) by adding global and alliance chats
6. Replace players that have quit the game with NPCs to be able to loot more resources
7. Add more NPCs or increase the amount of loot from NPCs when attacked
8. Allow players to move cities (or at least decide location at the start of the age) to be close/further from enemies
9. Fix seige battles - Fortresses that can be completely destroyed by battering rams!? (rams are for doors/gates... not walls)
In My opinion, this are some of the reasons people stop playing this game. (I am close to quitting, if I cannot advance anymore)
Regards
GankMan
