Buddy/Ignore List
Here is what we are doing:
We are using a Percentile / Decile-style banding system with custom performance brackets. We have multiple performance categories ranging from the lowest to the highest tier. Each category has its own numerical score range, with percentages calculated relative to the central “Average” reference point. This creates a pre-defined scoring rubric with fixed bands above and below Average using increasing percentage deviations. (And when I say “we”, I mean Olorin.)
This approach is highly effective for games featuring different troops because it establishes a clear, intuitive hierarchy that players can immediately understand and compare. By anchoring everything around a stable Average baseline, it becomes much easier to balance standard troops in the middle while placing specialized, elite, or weak units in the appropriate higher or lower bands without causing power creep.
The named tiers create emotional appeal and aspiration. This system allows different troops to feel truly distinct, for example, the red and black dragons now both have Awesome defense because dragon scales rule. While the Sacred Order’s knights or even Stormgate are tough as nails, they’re not in the same category as dragons. We also adjusted black dragons higher in the magic tier to better reflect their magical prowess (more on that later this week).
Just a note on the numbers:
Love the title, Lord Garth “Reader of Rulebooks.”
Strongwill, at the end of the day the actual score range (for example, if Average were sitting at 500 defense with the full scale running from 0 to 3000) can skew how strong you think your defense really is. A dragon sitting at 2500 with an “Awesome” rating would actually be 5 times stronger than Average . So even one dragon with no shield spell would still be significantly stronger. Just food for thought.
Hope that helps
We are using a Percentile / Decile-style banding system with custom performance brackets. We have multiple performance categories ranging from the lowest to the highest tier. Each category has its own numerical score range, with percentages calculated relative to the central “Average” reference point. This creates a pre-defined scoring rubric with fixed bands above and below Average using increasing percentage deviations. (And when I say “we”, I mean Olorin.)
This approach is highly effective for games featuring different troops because it establishes a clear, intuitive hierarchy that players can immediately understand and compare. By anchoring everything around a stable Average baseline, it becomes much easier to balance standard troops in the middle while placing specialized, elite, or weak units in the appropriate higher or lower bands without causing power creep.
The named tiers create emotional appeal and aspiration. This system allows different troops to feel truly distinct, for example, the red and black dragons now both have Awesome defense because dragon scales rule. While the Sacred Order’s knights or even Stormgate are tough as nails, they’re not in the same category as dragons. We also adjusted black dragons higher in the magic tier to better reflect their magical prowess (more on that later this week).
Just a note on the numbers:
Love the title, Lord Garth “Reader of Rulebooks.”
Strongwill, at the end of the day the actual score range (for example, if Average were sitting at 500 defense with the full scale running from 0 to 3000) can skew how strong you think your defense really is. A dragon sitting at 2500 with an “Awesome” rating would actually be 5 times stronger than Average . So even one dragon with no shield spell would still be significantly stronger. Just food for thought.
Hope that helps
