King's Conflict

Version 0.270 now added - this adds a system for friends, challenges and rankings.

This is a 5 star game, it has a deep system, it has a lot of unique things going for it, it's a practical system, and seriously, you need to give it a try, don't just read the comments and move on, step in, take a dive into the cards, build a deck and seriously kick some butt, learn the system and experience it. It's still in alpha so expect some balancing issues and stuff, i'm putting this out to help with noticing balance issues and finding ways around them. i'll highlight the balance issues here, most of these can be handled by limiting the range, (namely bribe teleport, snipe, and juju abilities)

		
			     i was gaming with sarioya and we figure we may as well do some balance chatter... you'll probably know the big balance issues. the least ones are snipers ( that isn't as bad because of the limitations, so no real worries there). The big issues are teleport, the bribe ability (early game), and how the juju's work (and their perminance). Also,the desert map is a money sink for units with 1hp and 1 food, you pretty much need to have a juju master on hand, or a priest on hand to ameliorate it or be a king of the hunt (hunters use 0 food)... i'll explain each in detail.

  Snipers. snipers aren't too bad because in order to snipe you need a sniper, it only does 1 damage, you can't target structures, and it can't target kings. however, for the mage king, and other low-hp units, it's a deathknell. We were both playing king of the hunt, he got sniper on 2nd or third turn, i couldn't place anything without it getting brutalized ( since i'm the type to use lower units effectively, then place the big hitters afterward). anything from weather guys, stone masons, hunters, other snipers any other 1hp servant the only way i've found to counter snipers are ability cards that can hit across the map, or buffing units so rediculously that you can make it through the snipers territory to destroy him, both of which require luck in the draw, a unit guaranteed to pull the card (lightning master, freeze, arrowfall, cards like it, or even the shield card), or an alchemist that doesn't get sniped (to buff your guys to the point where they can get through to the sniper) Early game snipers are monsters, and dominating, but that's light in comparison to some of the other things.

    Teleport. Now, i understand its purpose, it's there to keep people making sure they control all their regions so the can't be teleported into. however again, luck of the draw on early game can make this card a nightmare. I was playing with sarioya (a good player, by the way) and i had left 2 spaces on my area uncontrolled because i already had all the units i could have, on the territory that i needed, i didnt have enough money to finish it out. So then a knight teleports to one of the neutral lands, relatively close to my starting area, and plants a castle on it. (this was the desert map, and he placed the castle 2 tile right of the bridge, then a couple turns later, planted the ice and fire towers by it. nothing could be done, really, i didnt have the income nor the ability cards on hand. i know teleport is there to keep people from slipping up on region control and make sure that if they do slip up they reap the punishments, but geez.. that's some pretty powerful stuff... only bested by...

    Bribe. Early game bribe is very powerful, he was playing rich king, and i can't remember.. i think i was king of the hunt. Well, i move my king, place my knight ( i wanted to go several tiles out and place a mason or a mine, i can't remember which) and i wnt first, the followup was he used bribe on the turn i played the knight, and at the end of his turn my king fired at the knight, it didnt kill him, and the knight killed my king. it was a 1 turn win... that's sheer luck, i mean, don't get me wrong, the luck element is why i play the game but that kind of a thing really shouldn't happen as easily as it did, late game bribe isn't as bad, but it can still be similarly nightmarish, like a mage king being defended by an ice terror or somesuch thing. but back to point i suppose.

   jujus. Now, these cards are.. interesting.. and i don't use them, particularly because of how they work, and how, should i choose to, can basically cheese the game to victory. I'll explain.  I was a mage king, and he was a warrior king (non-standard, he built his own) and we were on the tutorial map ( i ended up winning but that isn't the point here)  you know that bridge? well it became water. and i couldn't make it to him so he could bide his time... small flaw in his plan is i could bide my time too, he had an armorsmith and weaponsmith, so he was buffing his units, and i had an alchemist and i had been buffing mine. the battle lasted until i had a -5 food penalty because no cards left in deck. i basically won with some lucky walls, a bunch of super-buffed magic servants, and a plan (2 weather masters).... the big thing i'm getting at here is, what's to stop him from sealing off the center bridge, and turning all of the tiles except for a route to my king, into water tiles? nothing. if one's patient, they can literally overwhelm you with juju and basically make it a surrender situation, not to mention that with the water tiles they have a 50% chance to insta-slay any monster on them when they convert to water from whatever they were.  

    The Desert map.  I like the map, it's really fun and encourages using low food high hp units, a juju master, or buffing the unit with an alchemist, priest, or armoursmith. however, until those units come, it's nearly impossible to cross without losing most 1hp units (like starter archers and such). Scenario, i have an axeman, i want to cross the desert, with my movement it will take me 1 turn of being in the desert, and let's say he has an archer buddy waiting for me. i could make the move back, and bide my time until i can pull something like an oakenheart or mountain giant, or i can put a bunch of health on him, but outside of buffing, and a juju master, only units with 4 or more health can make it over with enough health left to lay what they lay before they're slain. I do like desert tiles, but it seems that the mass desert could be a manner of essentially forcing one to bide their time, however in said desert, where one can't cross with early units is where one can best utilize those balance issues i pointed out, bribing a buffed enemy card, sniping units as they cross the desert, using juju to turn the almost entire enemy area into a desert, or (from the sides) a water area, not to mention teleporting a unit to the edge of the enemy desert and dropping a castle (or any number ofother offensive structure that has lots of health or damage and don't use food)... i'm not doing this to be a whiney jerk, my goal is to point out things that could be construed as overpowered by your novice players, and even some of your seasoned veterans.   

     Most of these can be fixed ( as stated above) with range limitations, or being a lot more costly, or being limited in some other fashion :P This will be changed most likely, after alpha( a guess)  or maybe even during so (my first guess), so this will likely by no means be permanent.  

  Keep it up and may your game flourish, mark ^_^ i can't wait to see what it becomes.
		
	

This is an awesome strategy card game that deserves to have attention brought to it. And it's only in it's early stages! I generally don't like to promote games while they're still in development because so much can happen that can cripple a game before it's out of beta. However, this game already feels tight with it's mechanics and nuances, and it's FREE. I don't want to put any undue pressure on the dev (even after he masterfully steamrolled me at the end of the match I played with him :-p), but I honestly feel that he can only keep doing better and better with this game. Probably other games too, but one thing at a time.

Thanks! :-) Yes, a chat and friends system is planned, it does need one (though to anyone else reading there IS an in-game chat, just not one you can use in menus).
Red bands are server-messages - my perogative as a dev - but I'll add something so you can send replies in some way. In meantime just email me or leave comments on the forum - or use the in-game bug reporter - I do see those messages, though not always straight away. Email is markdsutton@gmaildotcom (obviously replace the dotcom in address)

just played a game with the dev. Beware, he knows his system. :) also, it might LOOK simplistic, but it's actually quite deep. It has a region control system, and the card system is well done, can't wait to see the next king, the next cards, and other such things... could some necromancy be afoot? or maybe some celestial king? my only issue, it may take place in the future, but a chat and friend system would be awesome ^_^. Also mark, can we respond to the red bands you send us? :P