What is the State of the Game, Compared to What it Once was?

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    • What is the State of the Game, Compared to What it Once was?

      So the launch of mobile--> tons of noob players--> most quit or don't have a clue how to play--> blah blah blah.....

      So I only became decent at this game around the launch of mobile, and the public games are clearly different since the mobile players flooded the servers. Games hardly feel challenging anymore, and it really becomes a drag once you defeat the other competing coalitions and just land grab until the game is over.

      Veterans of the game: How challenging is the game now compared to pre mobile days?

      Is it 50% as hard to win as it used to be? 20%? 10%???
      but, that's just my 2 cents' worth
    • Actually, a bigger change has been the buffing of the AI since there were always a lot of quitters. Before you could run over an AI country late game in your sleep. Now they build units, and upgrade those units, so it takes way more time. Thankfully the AI's air game is like a mentally challenged cat, so there is still an easier out.
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      "Death comes to us all. Shall I deal you in?" - DoD
    • LOL DoD.
      Anyhow, I think it's been around the same.
      Ww3 games are still kinda hard, usually it's a 5v5 battle at the end.
      As for flashpoint, well, unless you want a win or a stat boost, don't play those...
      It's so easy.
      "Le patriotisme, c'est aimer son pays. Le nationalisme, c'est détester celui des autres."-Charles De Gaulle, Leader of Free France in World War 2.
      English: "Patriotism is to love your country. Nationalism is hating that of others."
    • Being an AI programmer myself, I can pronounce with certainty that the mid-game artificial intelligence is still immensely stupid and simple. I've been analyzing it a bit: it seems to have some repeating timer (a day or so). At the termination of the timer, almost all its units move simultaneously and unison, to seemingly random locations.

      The upgrading of its units only determines how many airstrikes it takes me to kill the stack.

      Also, this is why I made a post about more exclusive rank-based game modes.
    • "AI programmer"...
      Okay...
      It's true, it's not very smart.
      The AI should add mobile anti airs to its arsenal.
      "Le patriotisme, c'est aimer son pays. Le nationalisme, c'est détester celui des autres."-Charles De Gaulle, Leader of Free France in World War 2.
      English: "Patriotism is to love your country. Nationalism is hating that of others."
    • Pre mobile or Post mobile, Public games have always have been so easy to win ... I don't even understand how on the long term one may remain commited to victories when they have so little value. Sure, if it was hard to win, to the point that a experienced competitive player would be able to brag "I win 10% of my games", i would understand and share the willingness to play for the win.

      But when, with a hand in my jeans, half asleep, watching a stream and doing some admin paperwork, the expected win rate is around 50% if you are alone, and it jumps to 90% if you have a mate...

      "Meh"

      The arrival of mobile players didn't change the paradigm. It only made it more visible even to players that weren't experience enough BEFORE to see that this situation was already present ---> Fun ( "Losing is Fun" ) in public games only happen when you are lucky to be pitted in a 1 vs coalition (maybe a STRONG coalition of REAL players...), against a very high gold user, or, luckiest amongst the luckiest, another player that is seeking the same thing as you.

      I mean... It's now very common to see people with a K/D of 3 , that you wouldn't want to endure as an ally even if you were paid :

      - Incompetent in front of anything slightly dangerous
      - Incapable of managing their fatigue and their schedule
      - Incapable to adapt beyond the novice level : they have learned the Scholar's mate, and it works against 80% of players, so they consider they don't need anything else.
      - Outragously unable to fit in any kind of collective synergy or battleplanning.

      And yet, any player with basic training will inflict upon them 5 K/D .

      It tells a lot. But it's not new to mobile.

      The real problem is more for the conversion of users beyond the novice : they discover MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH more quickly that public games are boring and without any relevance for any growth or skill, and they hit much more quickly the end door of what the game has to offer.

      Sure they could contact an alliance, get interested in challenges, discover that there is a whole universe beyond public games, but there is no "gradual progression".

      And the step between playing with people that spam infantries because they want to spam infantry, and people calculating the angles of provinces to determine a tactical advantage in hit&run, is a bit high.
      Running an online alliance is pretty much like running a small company, except you need to find other way than money to keep your employees productive. May they play or work, they are humans.
    • I think the game has too much gimicy trash in the late game. More importantly the mortar range of basic infantry unit. This is the biggest reason i stopped playing. Seems like an aspect they added to help clean up stacks, to end a game and to farm gold instead of clicking the "end game" button.

      Its a defensive unit, that gets the first attack, on defense. Then on offense it takes no damage, and compared to artillery its mortar damage is outragious.

      I liked when hospitials increased moral, the bunkers increasing moral are well... expensive and worthless. While i like that a level 4/5 bunker can protect an airfield, its hugely expensive and mostly you just get a level 1 bunker to make your secret lab invisable.

      Railguns are extremely over powered, likewise i think command units, even season units, while adding another aspect to the game. Make it extremely bias. Im a warrant officer and i have won the last 5 games in a row, i feel in the current game that im pretty much undefeatable, more so if i start with powerful nations like Russia or DR Congo.

      Mostly, i think the devs have done very well with evolving the game, there was once a time you could just spend a little gold and entire air wings would crash and burn. Many a time id kill of 15 or so enemy strike fighters for minimal gold.

      Apart from that, i don't really like the AI, seems like your have to always play like a wimp. Because there is always that random spawn that defies logic, coding and somehow hits your where your most vulnerable and your spend a little gold to save alot of invested resources.
    • An infantry unit with a 20 range is what you are griping about? By that point in the game, if you can’t figure out how to counter an infantry unit with 20 range, maybe you need to figure out a new strategy.

      Rail gun is not over powered (I feel like we tend to ignore the extreme de-buffs that the unit has in forest and mountains, which dominate the map). Give me MRLs or mobile artillery, SAMs, and mobile AA (assuming the opponent has helicopters, which tend to be underused anyway). That combination is better than the rail gun, cheaper, you don’t have to wait until day 30 to get the benefit, and you can build more than 10.
    • I must admit i never really considered the mortar upgrade on infantry because, well... infantry itself is an obsolete unit when studied under the eye of the meta, but i understand your point. For people that try to fight battle using units that fight in close range, it may have an impact.

      Maybe we should study it a bit back while forgetting our own bias, with how it may be effective against close combat stacks rushing in even if it's an abomination :D )
      Running an online alliance is pretty much like running a small company, except you need to find other way than money to keep your employees productive. May they play or work, they are humans.
    • Nrb1000 wrote:

      An infantry unit with a 20 range is what you are griping about? By that point in the game, if you can’t figure out how to counter an infantry unit with 20 range, maybe you need to figure out a new strategy.
      Yes the defensive default infantry unit that deals offensive first hit damage on defense in a bunkered city with defensive bonuses against an aggressive force of say offensive marines which require vastely more investment into infrastructure to build and would still lose in a 10 vs 10 on offense and on defense wont kill a single enemy unit.

      I wasn't aware that say republican guard units who have literally no offensive capability are literally worthless in the face of modern infantry and a city with massive bunkers pose no protection as you have to go on the offensive vs highly defensive units.

      That 20 range, is a MASSIVE advantage against every single other infantry unit in the game, except Special forces and with their limited hitpoints and expensive nature, infact the expensive nature of any and all other infantry units. It boggles the mind as to w t f was going through their mind when they made this patch.

      Sure there are counters, a stack of artillery will get a first hit, but considering the potential of 9 infantry and a max level commander, they will get into mortar range and will render all your defensive units worthless, render your tanks worthless, your infantry fighting vechiles, your recon units, literally every single unit in your stack worthless if you are sleeping, or afk, add in the fact how quickly basic artillery dies and that mobile and multiple rockets deal limited damage, they can fight them in a ranged battle if you are sleeping or afk with limited losses. Also consider the notion that Eastern Countires reach max level infantry a few days before Western Countries. There is a timing sweetspot where you can annihilate any large defensive stack.

      As for infantry not in the meta... you need capture units period.
      Must admit, im more a republican guard spammer myself, as i usally tend towards capturing land and engaging only when required and backing them up with massive and overwhelming air support. Likewise i perfer mechanized over AA, i don't consider AA to be effective unless highly upgraded and in a large stacks supported by artillery and radar and even then your lucky to kill 5 aircraft before the enemy adopts and avoids. Aircraft give you much better deployment options without the need for massive investment into upgrades and buildings.

      Its rather the fact that without investing into infantry, literally any and all other strategies are worthless.
      Railguns have taken up the space in a defensive manner, as they are very lethal, can be helicopter deployed and deal enough damage to combat a stack of infantry, yet losing a max level railgun is devastating as the replacement requirement is huge. A single spy action can set you back days and if you don't capture them, or gold is used, or even bombers, it could be weeks.

      While day after day, wave after wave of mortar range infantry keep pumping out, there is no attacking cities and stopping them because of the level 1 army base requirement. You say there are strategies to combat them, what is it? leave helicopter stacks patroling? strike fighters? maybe i should have my 5/10 stack of artillery combating them. Oh wait they are everywhere, and no where.

      A single infantry unit attacking any island city can win a battle against any number of defensive infantry. Its just a matter of time and in 4x games, that time the defensive player is afk goes by quickly.

      Sorry but with all the units available, id rather not be forced to choose infantry just because they have a 20 atk range when literally not a single other unit can match it for range and firepower. More so when every player in the late game abuses that fact, likewise id rather have my units conducting offensive operations, rather then have artillery or even naval vessels defending every one of my cities. Thats no way to win a battle let alone a war.

      Like i said, its a gimic, a gimic to clear out afk players in the endgame without investing units. Because to many cry bab ies cried instead of clicking the "end game" button because they wanted a few extra gold coins and didn't want to play out the game or use better unit. But hey, now i don't even want to play because of all the bull sh*t involved with them getting used against you when you go a differnt route for your capture units. Its just not worth my time, who wants to build the same thing game after game after game and use a cheat to win.
    • crazystoner wrote:

      Nrb1000 wrote:

      An infantry unit with a 20 range is what you are griping about? By that point in the game, if you can’t figure out how to counter an infantry unit with 20 range, maybe you need to figure out a new strategy.
      Yes the defensive default infantry unit that deals offensive first hit damage on defense in a bunkered city with defensive bonuses against an aggressive force of say offensive marines which require vastely more investment into infrastructure to build and would still lose in a 10 vs 10 on offense and on defense wont kill a single enemy unit.
      I wasn't aware that say republican guard units who have literally no offensive capability are literally worthless in the face of modern infantry and a city with massive bunkers pose no protection as you have to go on the offensive vs highly defensive units.

      That 20 range, is a MASSIVE advantage against every single other infantry unit in the game, except Special forces and with their limited hitpoints and expensive nature, infact the expensive nature of any and all other infantry units. It boggles the mind as to w t f was going through their mind when they made this patch.

      Sure there are counters, a stack of artillery will get a first hit, but considering the potential of 9 infantry and a max level commander, they will get into mortar range and will render all your defensive units worthless, render your tanks worthless, your infantry fighting vechiles, your recon units, literally every single unit in your stack worthless if you are sleeping, or afk, add in the fact how quickly basic artillery dies and that mobile and multiple rockets deal limited damage, they can fight them in a ranged battle if you are sleeping or afk with limited losses. Also consider the notion that Eastern Countires reach max level infantry a few days before Western Countries. There is a timing sweetspot where you can annihilate any large defensive stack.

      As for infantry not in the meta... you need capture units period.
      Must admit, im more a republican guard spammer myself, as i usally tend towards capturing land and engaging only when required and backing them up with massive and overwhelming air support. Likewise i perfer mechanized over AA, i don't consider AA to be effective unless highly upgraded and in a large stacks supported by artillery and radar and even then your lucky to kill 5 aircraft before the enemy adopts and avoids. Aircraft give you much better deployment options without the need for massive investment into upgrades and buildings.

      Its rather the fact that without investing into infantry, literally any and all other strategies are worthless.
      Railguns have taken up the space in a defensive manner, as they are very lethal, can be helicopter deployed and deal enough damage to combat a stack of infantry, yet losing a max level railgun is devastating as the replacement requirement is huge. A single spy action can set you back days and if you don't capture them, or gold is used, or even bombers, it could be weeks.

      While day after day, wave after wave of mortar range infantry keep pumping out, there is no attacking cities and stopping them because of the level 1 army base requirement. You say there are strategies to combat them, what is it? leave helicopter stacks patroling? strike fighters? maybe i should have my 5/10 stack of artillery combating them. Oh wait they are everywhere, and no where.

      A single infantry unit attacking any island city can win a battle against any number of defensive infantry. Its just a matter of time and in 4x games, that time the defensive player is afk goes by quickly.

      Sorry but with all the units available, id rather not be forced to choose infantry just because they have a 20 atk range when literally not a single other unit can match it for range and firepower. More so when every player in the late game abuses that fact, likewise id rather have my units conducting offensive operations, rather then have artillery or even naval vessels defending every one of my cities. Thats no way to win a battle let alone a war.

      Like i said, its a gimic, a gimic to clear out afk players in the endgame without investing units. Because to many cry bab ies cried instead of clicking the "end game" button because they wanted a few extra gold coins and didn't want to play out the game or use better unit. But hey, now i don't even want to play because of all the bull sh*t involved with them getting used against you when you go a differnt route for your capture units. Its just not worth my time, who wants to build the same thing game after game after game and use a cheat to win.
      can you like
      fuck off with that into the thread ranting about mot inf?
      I am The Baseline for opinions
    • Calm.

      His lack of experience and understanding of meta is not a reason to attack him. The odds to encounter a trained and competitive player in a public game is close to 0, to the points that the average user assumes the other just cheats and golds, when it happens.


      It's actually not that common for us to have someone elaborate so much and with intellgience in things we know "don't work". Never forget he "is" the 95% of players.


      He is also refering to 4X, which are a paradox in themselves : the people that are connected 20 hours on 24 ironically tend to avoid them because they think them as "too hardcore" while it's the people that log once every 2 days (real time XD ) that consider them as better because "X1 is slow dude".

      Taken in perspective of a 4X where inactivity is king, and 95% of users do not know the basics of the game, i see the merit of his reasoning : Infantry may be overwhelming and look like a one trick pony.

      To be frank, Teburu, what evil would do a nerf of the motorised unit to us ? we already don't use it in any setting, and we laugh when we see them maxed.
      Running an online alliance is pretty much like running a small company, except you need to find other way than money to keep your employees productive. May they play or work, they are humans.