Balance Pass 1

Background

We have measured the win rate of the different tribes in online games completed in the last few months. We see that some tribes are a lot more prone to win than others. Today we are releasing a first balance pass that aim to make the tribes more equal! By looking at this chart it is obvious to see that Bardur, Luxidoor and Kickoo are overpowered. That is also a known fact in the competitive scene and those three tribes are banned in many competitions. A few other tribes are also falling behind and will receive some improvements later on to help them reach a competitive level. Cymanti is not present on this list because we do not have enough data on them yet. We will study them more closely in the next balance pass.

Process

To accomplish this we will do several balance passes and analyze the effect of them before we move on with the next pass. That way we can better understand the impact of the changes we make and correct them if necessary.

Adjustments

In this first pass we focus on balancing the overpowered tribes: Bardur, Luxidoor and Kickoo. We have experimented with a lot of different things and finally settled on four changes that we think will bring more balance to the world of Polytopia:

Less Whales

We made sure whales never hang out directly next to a city or next to other whales. This will remove situations where Kickoo start with one or more whales in the vicinity of their capital, giving them a jump start that is hard to beat.

Split up Forestry

Forests are a very powerful type of nature since they can provide population from both animals and lumber huts and also provide direct income by clearing it. Since the Forestry tech contains both the Clear Forest and Lumber Hut improvements it becomes much stronger than other level 2 techs. This benefits Bardur much more since they are closest to Forestry in the Tech Tree. Therefore we decided to split it up by moving Clear Forest to the Free Spirit tech. This change also opens up for new strategies in the Riding branch. Thematically it fits well with the destructive aspects of the Riding branch (Disband ability, Clear Forest, Burn Forest), while the Hunting branch now leans more towards Forest Management (Forest Defence, Grow Forest, Lumber Huts and Sawmills).

Reduced income from Clear Forest

Getting 2 stars from each forest is very powerful and overshadows most other strategies. When we moved it to Free Spirit it opened up a hyper express route to Knights and also invalidated the Forestry tech for most tribes. Therefore we decided to bring the reward down to 1 star.

Luxidoor Capital

The special force of the Luxidoor tribe is that they start with a huge city, but it seems that it might have been just a bit too huge, so we changed it from a level 3 to a level 2 city. This will make them more balanced while still keeping their unique play style in place.

Conclusion

All of these changes have been thoroughly tested by the alpha team and debated for eons. We are confident and hopeful that they will make Polytopia more balanced and fun to play, but we won't know for sure until we try it out. Thats why this release is so exciting! Hugs & Kisses, -Midjiwan

[ 2021-04-20 08:28:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Battle of Polytopia is a unique turn based strategy game about ruling the world, fighting evil AI tribes (or other players), discovering new lands and mastering new technologies. You take on the role of the ruler of a Tribe, starting with one advantage over the other tribes, and attempts to build a civilization in competition with the other tribes.

Wander in the dark cold forests of Barduria, explore the steamy Kickoo jungles or claim the lush field of the Imperius empire.

Each match takes around 30 minutes to complete while still providing a deeply strategic and challenging gameplay. It is intended to be a bite sized alternative to other time consuming 4x strategy games.

The Battle of Polytopia is a successful indie title enjoyed by millions of fans on mobile and tablets.
* Turn based civilization strategy game.
* Single & multiplayer.
* Exploration, warfare, farming, building and technology research.
* Pick and choose among a wide range of different tribes with unique nature and culture.
* Auto generated maps make each game a new experience.
* Strategy multiplayer online & Pass & Play.
* Leader board with top scores for the best civilization builders.
* Really Cute low poly graphics.

We a currently revamping it to be even better on your desktop such as:
* Bigger maps with map settings (more/less water etc.).
* Cross-platform multiplayer. (PC, MAC OSX, Android & iOS)
* Keyboard controls & shortcuts.
* Tiny hardware requirements.

If you have suggestions please let us know! steam@midjiwan.com

We will release when the game feels purrfect. Add it to your wish list to keep updated.