More Thoughts on the Trolls (experimental mode)

I said this is another thread; “Trolls already get hit with slow speed, low population, low gold intake, little crowd control, no nuke options, and a very limited signature monster (hydra)”

I feel this is still very much true and becoming more true. Trolls need a hard look and maybe some changes to make them interesting and attractive. Each of the other races have established identities and niches they fill, but not Trolls. They need an identity for players to focus upon. This is especially true under the experimental mode, where challenges and deficiencies the Trolls face will be exacerbated.

Trolls need to be the clear leader in Gold per Power ratio. When a troll player slowly rumbles across the board, their value should be bringing a lot of Power to a fight. The wait for Troll arrivals needs to be worth it.

Trolls sort of go this way already, but don’t do it enough. I’d like to see the Power for many Troll cards upped. This is particularly true for the Trollish Spears, the Marsh Hunters, and the Turtle Warriors. Perhaps bump all three units (Spears, Hunters, Warriors) each by an additional 100 Power or more. Also, maybe revise the number of individuals in the core units down to lessen the impact of playing Troll cards in low population Troll towns.

My suggested revisions:

Spears: 20 individuals / 150 gold / 550 Power
Hunters: 15 individuals / 150 gold / 400 Power (700 Power in marshes)
Warriors: 15 individuals / 200 gold / 450 Power (extra save)

I’d move Trollish Spears unto the default deck and rotate out the Hunters.

The default low gold intake coupled with the low population of Troll cities suggests they should be notably efficient in terms of Power returned for Gold investment. If we do limit card deployment in settlements, Trolls desperately need to be able to plop down powerful units with each deployment – to make sure they can defend themselves (since timely reinforcement is unlikely) and, in time, project power outwards.

Also, and I know I am sounding repetitive on this but… can we revise the Hydra’s movement? Fast on marshes and water, slow on all other territories. Please?

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Thanks @Praetorian. I have a plan for the Trolls (to start off the balancing), which is to:

  • Increase the density of the towns, to make up for the low populations and slow move speed. There will be more towns in each Troll “cluster”. I think this should help a fair bit, as their towns are so cheap to claim in Valour.
  • Remove the movement penalty for Trolls in the swamps, for both living and dead. To allow Trolls to spread out faster and set up a base for deploying cards. Coupled with higher density towns in the swamp, this should give them a leg up.

I think that having a look at their strength is a good idea too. I’ll review their strength/population in comparison to the other races.

I’m planning to look at the default decks for each race and consider which cards make the most sense. In SP, each map has a custom deck to suit the map, which we haven’t done for MP so far, but this might be an option too.

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Speeding them up in marshes sounds like a lot of fun.

Another tbought… what about improving the default defensive rating of Troll towns?

I have not had a problem with the Hydras being confined to the swamps when I play them (though I don’t mind it if they are able to leave in the future), but I recently realized how leaving the swamps would be good for the zombie hydras. In a Jester’s Ball game I played recently, I realized how easy it is to ignore the hydras since most of what I’m doing is out of the swamps anyway, and what is in the swamps falls and gets cleaned up somewhat easily regardless. As a result, I never feared the hydras, but it occurred to me late in that game, that if they could leave the swamp, I would have been in some serious trouble.

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