Knights and Merchants.net Forum

Continuing on the subject of unit balance, after Rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock, a question popped up from the mess in my mind... what about Iron vs Wood balance?

In the original KaM, as far as I know, Iron troops were all-around better than Wood troops - tougher, stronger, faster to produce... but limited in quantity.
This somewhat balanced Wood and Iron: Iron was stronger, Wood was unlimited (sort of - you still needed Gold).

The addition of the Market in KaM Remake changed that: now, Iron troops are unlimited too.
Sure, the trading prices for Iron and Coal are not that good as to make Wood units useless, but still... in my opinion, this now being endless makes it less likely to see some Wood troops.
For example, after exhausting all of the mining sites, why should someone train Axe Fighters when you can trade Shields for ore and have Sword Fighters instead?

What about giving Wood troops a better damage per second than Iron troops, maybe while letting Iron troops get even tougher?

After all, swords are not actually that better than axes when it comes to damage... and with a lighter armor and a less obtrusive helmet, hitting your intended target should be easier.

This would give players an actual tactical reason to train Wood troops over Iron troops: in straight frontal battle it would change little (Sword Fighters would still be able to take out Axe fighters 1v1, since the changes to these two units would cancel each other out) but it would make tactics more important.
Iron troops would be very effective on the front lines, tanking the enemy while Wood troops try to flank the enemy and deal their damage while staying relatively safe themselves.
And if Wood troops happen to survive the battle, they're better at destroying buildings than Iron troops!

Last but not least, if Bowmen's damage gets increased in the form of increased attack speed instead of increased damage per hit, this would also make Bowmen less effective in a straight duel versus Crossbowmen, as kiting doesn't get better with increased attack speed and the increased durability of Crossbowmen would let them tank the first arrows when moving in range in order to fire their bolts.

Opinions?

Iron might be "unlimited" thanks to the market but you will never be able to have big enough army to pose any threat to pure leather one (late game obviously), at the end of the day bigger army wins.
I'm afraid it's not that simple - while I agree that axe fighters sucks you need to think about "big picture", not just sword vs axe (pike vs axe is close to 66% CTK which is OK IMHO).

You're right.
Well, if Iron troops' defence is increased by the same value Wood troops' damage per second is increased, the balance in straight, full-frontal battles between any 2 troops would be kept the same as it is now, wouldn't it?