Adding more units wont help to balance the game. The more units there are, the more combinations need to be checked and tested and tweaked. Overall complexity raises tenfold with each new element. If we can't balance some set of M elements (M^2 combinations), then how come set of M+1 ((M+1)^2 combinations) becomes easier to balance?
KaM has already number of units we could add, _IF_ that would have solved the balance issues. We do not add them partly because of balance, partly because of poor fitting. KaM Remake is a KaM TSK remake and we add only those elements we feel confident in (Fisher, Market) and even with those there are issues and balance changes.
I interpret this topic in 2 possible ways:
1. Desire to restore balance in game.
2. Desire to draw something that will fit into the game.
For #1 - there are already finer and better tools of doing that (screwdrivers we use to tweak existing units power and weaknesses) instead of spamming more units and getting progressively more complicated interactions in balance.
For #2 - There are units animations we could add without affecting gameplay balance that much (even so, stonecutter animations would change some locations balance).
So you are saying that adding a barbarian/warrior to counter a swordfighter is going to be too complicated to balance it, and because you dont feel confident about it?
To me the current balance is as close as you can get it with using only 9 pieces, but that isnt enough , there is an odd one out, let us look at it this way:
For many reasons we will call xbow a universal xbow in the following example.
Unit | HARD Counter
Miliita Bowman
Militia Sword fighter
Militia pike
Militia Scout
Militia : Justified by the cost as Militia is cheap, it has 4 Hard counters.
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Bowman | Xbow
Bowman: Justified as bowman counters most leather units quite well and xbow is very common, and cheap, therefor a valid hard counter
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axe fighter Scout
axe fighter Sword fighter
axe fighter Knights
axe fighter xbow
Axe fighter: Justified by the number of counters for this unit
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scout lancer
scout pike
Scout:
Very cheap counters but unit itself is very expensive, so therefor unit is almost useless, not justified
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lancer bowmen
lancer Xbow
Lancer:
Not a very useful unit since it is a very cheap counter for scout , and since scouts are overpriced for its strength almost nobody trains them not justified
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Pike Xbow
Pike Bowmen
Pike Sword fighters
Pike: Justified cheap unit but totall counter vs knights and works quite well against leather melee
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Knights Pike
Knights: Justified as it counters everything else in the game
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Sword fighter Knight
Sword fighter - Sword fighter has only 1 very expensive counter, that cannot be mass produced and achieved through a full iron production cycle, making sword fighters impossible to counter effeciently withot going for iron , leaving only 1 way to play.
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So knights are the counter of sword fighters, but mass production of knights is very very difficult and almost impossible as the hard counter for the knight itself is very cheap, a pike.
I have underlined and printed in BOLD what I found after playing for a long time on the beta release what the developers should be concerned about, and I am suggesting strongly that a barbarian is a very good idea for the following reasons:
1: It will give the option for people who would like to go for leather only to produce only as far as the iron bar production, iron bars will be combined with wood to create big axe for a barbarian/warrior which will counter the sword fighters.
2: Right now you can almost win for sure in 1v1 games by going 1 way and massing sword fighters , infact if you restrict one player from building sword fighters and let the other build them with a mix of other troops, it is almost a guarantee that the guy who is forbidden to build sword fighters will lose (provided that they are on similar level skill wise).
Sword fighters are not OP, they are justified by their costs, dont get me wrong!but the problem is the counter measure against it, that is what has to be changed.
1 piece is missing IMO and that is all.
I invite everyone to discuss this topic.