Got a chance to play against Watser in a few 2v2 battles. I was able to load an RTS map from the Campaign, but that game (and all the rest) ended with "Waiting for players" and desynchronization detected premature endings. After
Nevertheless, I think we made some useful balance findings. After the first attempt, we switched to Skirmish mode. Both matches were on Dragon Pass.
In the first RTS match, which I think was campaign, I started out at the central base with nothing, because I had no units on that territory. I made the mistake of spending my first income on Troopers and saving it for a RC. That was a mistake as an enemy Dragon swooped in and crushed my troopers and blew up the RC under construction. I did spawn as a Dragon to try and defend, but the second enemy Dragon killed me in a tiny few seconds. That pretty much took me out of the game there. No economy, only a couple troops, no way to really recover. The game ended because of a desyncronization after a little while.
Later on there was a Skirmish, and the other players concentrated on fighting each other with their Dragon, testing to see that it really was far too powerful that early in the match. I, starting at the right base this time, wasn't attacked, but it still took forever to build much. I didn't dare leave my base until I could spend money to get an AA turret, and I only bought Grenadiers because I'd learned my lesson: early money spent on vanilla Troopers is just a liability when the enemy has a Dragon. I tossed in a couple Shamans. I still didn't dare leave my base because my income with only one RC was bad, so I had to spend more to get A shipyard, Transport and 5 Grenadiers to leave on the RC island (I didn't dare leave it unattended to be Dragon-sniped.)
I was finally preparing a second force of Grenadiers and Shamans to try can capture a third RC whem the game ended again because of another Decync. I never did get enough income where I felt it was a good idea to get a War Factory, or any upgrades. Because of the menace of the Dragon, the pace suddenly became glacial as I didn't dare leave my base, but lacked the income to do much.
- The biggest problem is that with the slower pace, the Dragon Spawn timer is too fast. If you decide to actually make units, it's too easy for an enemy Dragon to fly in and crush your base and a second resource center that you are constructing. At that point, you're screwed - No troops, weak income, you can't afford to spawn your Dragon - or if you can, it means you can't build any units or structures, and you're STILL behind in resources. The other guy can afford to send 1-2 troopers to slowly capture a RCS, and save the rest to spawn a Dragon to crush you. The Dragon Spawn Timer needs to be longer. The players need to have a bit of a chance against an enemy Dragon. That's not quite so important in Campaign, where you have more flexibility and can start with units on the map already, but it is something to consider.
- Starting with 10 resources means you need to wait an really long time before you can do ANYTHING AT ALL. It takes 15 to build a Battle Forge. It takes a long time to get the first batch of recruits, and that takes you to 14, so you need to wait even longer until it hits 18. The problem is that there is absolutely nothing to do but sit on your hands and wait for the numbers to move. This one is easy to fix, though. Increase your starting Recruits in Skirmish mode from 10 to 11. Suddenly, you can start to build on your first tick of income.
