[Wesnoth-dev] The problem with Knalgans....

[David White]

After trying to play a few human vs human games as the Knalgan Alliance, 
I think I have a little better idea what is wrong with them.

IMHO, they are currently 'almost' powerful enough. Lots of people seem 
to think Gryphon Riders are overpriced, but I think that at 25 gold they 
are pretty reasonable now. They only cost 25% more than ghosts, and they 
are alot more valuable than ghosts, being able to move 9 hexes vs the 
ghost's 7. Their attack is also alot more powerful than a ghost's. A 
ghost isn't much of a serious combat unit, but a gryphon rider or two 
can turn the course of a battle by swooping in at an opportune moment.

One change I think does fit a gryphon rider is that I think it should 
get some better defense on mountains. Probably 60%. I think it makes 
sense for a gryphon to be more daunting and difficult to attack while 
it's on a mountain.

The other big Knalgan unit is the Dwarvish Fighter. I think they are now 
pretty reasonable too. We could chop their cost down 1 piece to 16, but 
I'd be dubious about this: I think they are very powerful. This didn't 
use to be so, but things have changed lately: we've made Dwarves move 
fast through forest, and they have better defense in villages. There are 
situations where they are more maneuverable than their human, elvish, 
orcish, and undead counterparts despite their 4 movement rate. They are 
also *very* tough fighters. My inclination is to say that they are 
powerful enough already, though I guess we could make them a tiny amount 
more powerful with 1-2 more hitpoints, or a 1 cost reduction, or 
increasing their secondary hammer attack from 9-2 -> 10-2.

The problem for the Knalgans, though, is that this is where their good 
units end. The Ulfserker is kinda expensive, at 18, and more 
importantly, you don't want a unit that has 'beserker frenzy' when their 
attack is only 4-4. There is no way I would recruit an Ulfserker against 
human opponents with current stats, because they die far too easily. I 
think that to be useful, this unit has to have its cost substantially 
reduced, and/or have its attack power increased: to 5-4 or possibly 6-3.

The Dwarvish Guardsman is also just not worth the price of 19 gold -- 
not with only 3 movement. Having 3 movement means a unit must be very 
powerful in other areas to make up for it, and the Guardsman doesn't 
come even close to this. Sure, the steadfast thing is kinda nice, but 
enemies can easily just march around the guardsmen and concentrate on 
other enemies. When someone really does want to kill a guardsman, it's 
not *that* hard anyway. Guardsmen cost just one less than woses, and 
move at the same rate, but woses are much more powerful in so many 
respects. Even in terms of special abilities, the wose's invisibility + 
regeneration is probably more powerful than steadfast.

I think that guardsmen need to have their movement increased to 4, and 
be given some real attack power...like their 4-3 attack being increased 
to 6-3.

Then there are Thunderers. I largely don't like them because of their 
unreliability.....but I think that's part and parcel of them. I think at 
this stage they don't need to be changed.

So, any comments on these changes? I think they could go well in 
combination with Jetryl et al's 'rune master' line.

David