The problem is that you'd THINK that at least some of the time, the guy who has spent the most gold on his Strategy Map troops would be able to see the benefit of that gold. It does not seem to work out that way.
Yes, that is indeed not how it works. In earlier betas you could see the money effect for autoresolve. Now, it has been changed to match the actual RTS outcome. For the RTS outcome, the gold spent on the Strategy Map did NEVER have ANY effect. I am just a little bit confused why people think that money spent should matter for autoresolve but apparently do not mind that it is still a waste if you personally engage in a battle.
Just now a Lone Trooper (3 Gold) facing 1 Hunter, 1 Armour and 4 Shamans (38 Gold). In terms of Gold cost, my army is worth 12.67 times more than his army. He killed 1 Hunter and 1 Armour with that lone Trooper before it was killed by the Shamans. Net Result: For every 1 gold the enemy lost, I lost 4.67 Gold.
How much gold would you have lost if you were actually fighting the battle yourself? If it were my battle, I would have very surely lost all the shamans because they just get killed very easily. And I would have also lost this 1 Hunter since I would send him to capture the nearest resource points and he probably would not have survived the first enemy attack. The 1 Armour would be probably also dead once the enemy would have produced a few grenadiers. I think I would have ended even with higher losses on my troops than the result by autoresolve.
I'll keep playing, but I'm pretty sure that this will keep happening and there may only be one or two times at most where the trooper will not inflict damage out of proportion to its cost. I think it's a problem when you are basically guaranteed to make your opponent lose money by sending a single weak unit into his territory.
It is not the trooper who makes you loose money, but this unit production on the RTS map. If this issue is adjusted for autoresolve, than the other (human) player can still send a single weak unit into your territory and just not autoresolve but choose to play it as a dragon. And you will again loose money spent on the strategy map...
I do think RTS mode should be more valuable than autoresolve - most of the time. I accept that autoresolving at 80% or less is too risky and I should fight those battles. I don't want to have to always enter RTS mode or else lose far more money. When I've got an 85, 90% chance of victory, I just want to get that easy pushover fight done with so I can save my energy for a REAL battle where I only have a 65, 75% chance or less of winning. These 85+ situations are what autoresolve was meant for.
I have in fact made the experience that I loose at least as much money when I fight myself as when I autoresolve battles. If you tend to loose less money - than you are definitely better than autoresolve and should probably fight the battles yourself if you want to avoid losses caused by autoresolve. That is exactly the situation for which the player ability matters.
EDIT: @ Stabbey: Try the same tactic again, however, do NOT autoresolve!^^ Try to play the fight yourself^^. If the enemy rushes on you, then build all the turrets and many light units. By the time the enemy is in the vicinity of your base, you will be surely able to kill quite a few of its troops
