New this week in Firestrike:
Battalion Speed-Up Removal Test
For a limited-time test, we are removing the ability to use Gold to move a battalion instantly across the Multiplayer map. This feature seems to be causing more harm than good: players use it only rarely, and when used, it has been confused with lag or bugs in the battalion movement system.
We’d like to remind players that battalion movement speed boost items are still available from various sources, including the daily login reward system and the Prize Token store during special events.
Battalion Combat Q&A
Separately, we’ve received some questions about removing the “regrouping” delay in battalion movement, or adding a +/- level restriction to battalion-vs-battalion attacks. Here are our views on these questions:
First, the “regrouping” delay is important to ensure fairness in map battles where players have different network connections and computer speeds. Without this delay, battles would often be decided by whose “Attack” click reaches the server with the least lag, instead of who has the stronger strategy or most powerful army. The battalion movement delay is intended to keep the game focused on strategy over click lag.
Second, if there were a level restriction on battalion-vs-battalion attacks, we worry this would lead to the use of throw-away alts to block important areas of the map with unattackable low-level battalions. We do agree that there is a balance issue created by the large power difference in high- vs. low-TOC-level armies, where low-level players don’t have much of a chance in battalion fights against higher-level players. The design team is currently looking at various solutions to this, in a more subtle way than simply preventing all attacks.