To dodge, or not to dodge?

Considering realistically your population wouldn't increase by the blacksmith being slightly better at his job.  Also as it turns out building a 'mage tower' doesn't in produce mana in RL. 

In short, what you guys want is to make cavalry even more OP by allowing to "fast raze". If they were to destroy res plots, same thing would happen, as t2 buildings would colapse and once farms are touched, any other building aswell. It would be even faster than a siege with siege weapons. All in the name of realisim... Realisim that is only applied "partially". When a army goes on a simple attack just carries some food and some limited logistic, they are not meant to camp the countryside creating havoc.
I always thought walls to be fences, as even at their max level, they still allow cavalry to get in, as if an armoured warhorse could jump them, and just grant defenders the benefit of "matching in stats" to the attackers ( 1 to 1, give or take).
Maybe a modified Raid could be used to set terror in the countryside, but it should have penalties aswell. Time consuming, something like an encapment, where defenders can bring reinforcements to destroy the happy raiders around their lands. And that's not even considering that as the army scatters around the land they become more vulnerable, to both regulars and just regular folks...

I have to agree with Angrim. Until this game has better defensive mechanics, it seems like a waste to keep troops in a city while an army attacks. Our past tourneys have been a prime example. Players would send larger clearing armies and then hold with smaller elite armies so the losses were easier to swallow (Especially on Cav squares- which so happen to be where most players settled due to needing a 7 food plot). Nobody was really leaving a large army there to take a beating unless the terrain allowed a better defense. I remember when this game used to give the defending army the advantage, then mid tourney, it was completely shifted to the attackers that had the advantage. Maybe meeting in the middle would be a better compromise. Then you might see more players keeping troops at home/on tourney squares and engaging in a more "fair" fight. Just my two cents on the matter.  

The city wall is the incentive to leave your army to defend a direct attack against your city. It is effective. The fear of 40K Spearmen behind a city wall, even on plains, is enough to keep a 20K cavalry from wanting to attack. Throw in potential terrain and prestige bonuses and it gets worse. 

/me has enough gold... and most hidden in hubs...

Edited by Hora - 04 Oct 2013 at 21:43