Balancing armies with multiple fortress sets

[DEATHWALKER]

For over the past year, I have had my 4 fortress sets, but was unable to find a way to balance two armies when all of the fortress sets were used in one massive one (like my "Tower of Babel" from over a year ago). What I am asking is if there is a formula of some kind to determine what is a good point number for an attacking army in units/coefficients of the defending army, with the number of doors REQUIRED to be passed through to reach the majority of the defending army as the variable.

So, in other words,

If one door separates the attacker and defender, the attacker should have an army X times larger than the defender.

If two fortress doors separate them, the defending army should by Y times larger.

A math formula of some kind that uses all of it would be ideal.

[GreenLanturn]

Multiple doors? Ouch!

Even one door is hard to break through, so hard that we started disregarding the door's ability and cut it's life in half. We just wanted the door to slow progression a little bit, not take 4+ rounds to kill!

I'm going to assume that the defending team wins more than the attacking team right? I would think that changing the door would actually balance things out more, other wise you'd need like a 4:1 ratio of points to get through even 2 doors MAYBE! As you weaken the door, you should find a more even ratio balances out well. Getting a balanced ratio will also reduce any flying advantages gained by the attacker, so he can still fly over the walls to neutralize the advantage, but now the armies will be more even.

The door is 0 points, so it is a huge advantage to have that kind of a meat shield.

[DEATHWALKER]

I tried a large opposing army at one point, but I got my butt handed to me when defending thanks to my 4-or-so figure 500 point army against a some thousand point army belonging to my then apparently dragon-obsessed friend. Any way to balance out flying when dealing with fortresses?

[GreenLanturn]

Ya, actually. If you reduce the point values flying will balance out (like I said). However, if you lower the points of the attacker you'll see that the door makes to much of a difference to those non-flying armies.

Your only option? Weaken the door and equalize point totals.

Flying gains an advantage when point totals go up, this is because the attacker can neutralize the castle's defenses and have the better army (because he has a higher total).

Flyers lose their advantage when point totals come down, this is because flying cost points (it's very visible when comparing similar units).

Lowering point totals makes non-flying armies more appealing. They will have a better point for point comparison to the defending army. Now you run into the door problem. Weaken the door, then reduce the points.

[DEATHWALKER]

That or vary point totals based on whether the attacker will use a primarily flying or ground army.

[GreenLanturn]

Originally Posted by DEATHWALKER

That or vary point totals based on whether the attacker will use a primarily flying or ground army.

All up to you dude. I just think mine is easier to effect.

(My second sentence is the less important one.)

[DEATHWALKER]

Yeah, it's just habitual, perhaps even compulsive, for me not to vary from official rules.

[GreenLanturn]

Understandable, I felt that way for awhile. The Errata and clarifications that are posted on the site from time to time lead me to care less about sticking to it (even though I do). If they can change the rules why can't I? Really, they do an excellent job balancing things out, but that is mostly for tournament purposes. The door is one of the very few things that I would change, and it's the only one that doesn't show up in tournaments, so naturally it wouldn't be fixed. The other ones I would change I don't actually change, because I'm sure there is a reason it is that way. The door to me is just absolutely unavoidable.

I think the only other thing I would change is Hatamoto Taro, and that would be basically a total card makeover. (If your curious it's all here.)

[MegaSilver]

How about you make a rule that no flying is allowed above X levels? I do that often.

MegaSilver

[hobosock]

I've experimented with just one door and I've found that depending on the skill of the attacking player 2 to 3 times the points are needed.

[Toad Rocket]

I think part of the problem for assualting the door is that there are only a handful of units that can do it well. The most obvious door smasher is Krug. After that....it gets alot harder. Although a bit boring, if the attacker gets something with extreme range they can chip away at the door(or force wall defenders back). DED with his range of 10 allows attacker to take pot shots forcing the defender to either back way from the battlements or rush out and try to get him.

We did a helms deep style double door seige last week. In the first layer was 500 points worth of defense. Second layer had 200 points of defense but could not be activated until the second layer either got attacked, or the first army got wiped out. Attacker started with 1000 points, with a 300 point reserve that could be brought out once the first layer got breeched.

The castle was designed so that once you breech the first layer, there were multiple access points to the second layer. So you didnt have to try to blast down the door. End result, defender won with a single Izumi Samurai left standing.

[NecroBlade]

Originally Posted by DEATHWALKER

against a some thousand point army belonging to my then apparently dragon-obsessed friend.

Is his name DRAGON by any chance?