Coalitions Improvements Design Spotlight

[Guest]

Hello Leaders!

In the upcoming 5.3 release, we will be making some changes and improvements to War Coalitions. Overall, we have been seeing smaller numbers of players engaging with Coalitions than we’d like, so we wanted to address some aspects of the feature that we feel could be improved.


Coalition Balance
To better reward players for upgrading their Coalitions, level 1 bonuses will be decreased while most upgrades will provide an additional 5% bonus per level (some even more) instead of 2%. As an example, the Egyptians’ bonuses are outlined below:

• Defensive Building Hitpoints (new): 10% / 15% / 20% / 25% / 30% / 35%
• Defensive Building Hitpoints (old): 15% / 17% / 19% / 21% / 23% / 25%
• Defensive Building Attack Damage (new): 5% / 10% / 15% / 20% / 25% / 30%
• Defensive Building Attack Damage (old): 10% / 12% / 14% / 16% / 18% / 20%

Battles between players with roughly equal troops and defenses should start to swing more in favor of those who are well prepared with the strongest Coalitions!


Coalition Unique Units
Every nation in the game has access to an extraordinary troop, so why should Coalitions be any different? In addition to their offensive or defensive bonuses, these nations will also provide you with some of their troops to bolster your War attacks or defenses. On offense, a Coalition Army will automatically be added to your troop tray at the start of both of your War attacks. On defense, the unique units will come to the aid of your War Base alongside your forest defenders. Upgrading a Coalition will also strengthen its unique units!


Eagle Warriors (Aztecs)
These elite ranged infantry of the Aztec army deal bonus damage against defender infantry using their deadly atlatls.


Mangonels (Mongols)
During their conquests, the Mongols captured engineers and used their expertise to build devastating siege weapons like the Mangonel. This catapult-like weapon hurls boulders at enemy buildings to deal damage from afar.


Ghigau (Cherokee)
Women in the Cherokee tribe who performed heroic acts in battle were awarded the title of Ghigau. These war women are fast and strong against most enemies.


Marines (Americans)
These heavy infantry troops played a critical role in the Pacific Theater of World War II. They deal high damage against buildings and tanks.


Chariot Archers (Egyptians)
Chariots were a symbol of royal power and prestige on the battlefield during Egypt’s New Kingdom era. These ranged defenders deal bonus damage against heavy infantry.


Toa (Maori)
When young Maori men came of age, they entered schools, called para whakawai, to become Toa (the Maori word for warrior). Toa will swarm attacking cavalry and deal bonus damage against heavy infantry.


Urumi (Indians)
The Urumi wield a long, whip-like metal sword that deals splash damage to a large area. They have a large amount of hitpoints and can make quick work of attackers that are close together.


T-34 Tanks (Russians)
The T-34 was one of the most influential tank models of World War II. Its combination of power and toughness allows it to absorb heavy damage from attackers.


New Russian Defensive Bonus
Because the Russians will now be supplementing your War Base defenses with their powerful T-34 tanks, they will no longer send extra forest defenders. Instead, they will increase the hitpoints of your Garrisons, Tank Depots, and Bunkers by a large amount (up to 110% at level 6)!


Multiple Blacksmith Upgrades
Since the game’s launch, we have added multiple new army components to upgrade at the Blacksmith, forcing players to prioritize certain upgrades like troops, which are used for every battle, over Coalitions, which are only used for World Wars. Once unlocked, the second upgrade slot we have added to the Blacksmith should help players feel more empowered to keep their Coalitions upgraded alongside the rest of their army!


Forming Coalitions on War Day and Notifications
As much as we would like to play DomiNations 24/7, we realize that it’s important to take a break every so often, and sometimes that means we forget about in-game tasks. To make forming Coalitions less time-constrained, offensive Coalitions can now be formed on both Planning and War Day (they are still disbanded at the end of a War). Also, a new notification will trigger near the end of Planning Day if you can still form more Coalitions for that war.


World War UI Improvements
Lastly, we have made several tweaks to the World War UI to make Coalitions more prominent. Don’t forget, when you see a Coalition icon on the War Map or Report, you can tap on it to see more information about its bonuses and troops!


We hope you are as excited as we are for this update. Please let us know what you think about these new changes!


Regards,
Brad Fisher

 

[Mebbwebb]

Looks good but I hate the fact you did not adjust the cost of the NTG considering how hard it is to get certain ones. It is stupid to add more to them when their is not a decent way to acquire them without spending money.

 

[MaAk -M-]

Does this mean that we can upgrade two troops at the same time in the blacksmith?

 

[Europeos]

It would be nice to decrease the cost of ntg. On the other hand, those changes sound exciting.

 

[MartinK12]

It would be nice to see those coalition troops in action on defense, but still no war replays so...

 

[Gangstaville]

Personally, I don't think people are not using coalitions because they were useless. I think it has more to do with some ntg are hard to get since not many people play certain nations. While I do like the changes, it's like most problems with this game, trying to fix an issue without even addressing the issue.

 

[jmemira]

yep it does!

 

[Singaboy]

I like those changes having upgraded quite a few coalitions so far. Of course, if you enter a war every other day, the resources needed would be difficult to come by, but you don't have to war that often too.

 

[Jester]

T-34 Tanks (Russians)
The T-34 was one of the most influential tank models of World War II. Its combination of power and toughness allows it to absorb heavy damage from attackers.


New Russian Defensive Bonus
Because the Russians will now be supplementing your War Base defenses with their powerful T-34 tanks, they will no longer send extra forest defenders. Instead, they will increase the hitpoints of your Garrisons, Tank Depots, and Bunkers by a large amount (up to 110% at level 6)!

How will the Russian's T-34 Tanks Deployment work?
Since there will be no additional Forest Defenders, (unlike other defensive coaliations whose bonus defenders come along with the forest defenders) will the 4 Forest defenders turns into T-34 Tanks? Or other method?

 

[Quang t legend]

I think the T34 will come with other forest defenders. It is just the number of forest defenders will not increase.

 

[NoMem Wilson]

Russian coalition increases number of forrest defenders. They are saying this power will be removed. The defending troops of all coalitions will come with forest cavalry

 

[turmaffe]

Cool improvement to make coalitions more meaningful. National trade goods should then have a guaranteed drop rate from 5 star attacks..
Maybe like this: 4* win: 2x 50% chance at NTG, 5* win: 100% + 50% chance at NTG. This way theres still a bit RNG and good attacks get more rewarding.
Its frustrating finally finding a Japanese or German player, 5starring him and getting nothing.

 

[bottsjw]

BHG has missed the point of why these aren't used. The biggest issue with war coalitions is getting NTGs. They should be guaranteed at 4-5 stars like diamonds. I hate going for a NTG, getting 5-stars and not getting any. As you upgrade the coalitions are nearly unaffordable.

 

[Nikolo]

Not everything should be get easily, i think it's a good thing that NTG are not that easy to have for high level coalitions.
The only thing annoying is not to get automatically 1 when you 5 stars, but it's balanced by the fact you can sometimes get 2 for 1 battle

 

[MartinK12]

I agree, NTGs should be:
1. Guarantee 2 NTGs at 5 star victory.
2. Guarantee 1 NTG at 4 star victory.
3. Increase the storehouse so we can hold more NTGs and TGs, which is obvious when u need 2x 8 of them for one coallition And u can have 3 coallitions so one war costs a lot of NTGs! I don't understand why devs don't see the need for bigger storehouse

 

[EywaTheUnknown]

How will the 2nd blacksmith slot be unlocked?

 

[S_How]

Personally, I don't think people are not using coalitions because they were useless. I think it has more to do with some ntg are hard to get since not many people play certain nations. While I do like the changes, it's like most problems with this game, trying to fix an issue without even addressing the issue.

This is it exactly. I did not upgrade coalitions in armory, but it had nothing to do at all with armory constraints. It had everything to do with the time required to get NTGs. To apply 3x level 1 coals it already took 18 ntgs, which takes a long time to accumulate. Now, with the top end of coalitions being so powerful, its going to make those who can either pay, or have the time to farm 48 NTGs (I think this is what 3x lvl6 would cost?) have a massive advantage over a player who plays 2-4 hits a day + their war hits.

Im not a fan of this change for one reason - high level coalitions in any sort of quantity are inaccessible to an average player imo, at least using them on any sort of regular basis, and they've now become a huge influence to war performance, way more than before. I like everything about the change except for this one fact, but this one fact really is one that cannot be avoided or overlooked.

As others have suggested, either make ntg more reasonable to achieve or lower the crazy cost of high level coalitions.

 

[Tenacious D]

Let's not dumb down the game just to allow the average players to think they are good.

 

[Ankara]

Myself, I'm not excited for the change in the coalitions, or for coalitions themselves. But it looks like that's how it's going to be. I agree with S How, as usual, but want to expand on it by saying that increasing the goods one can aquire would simply allow players to keep playing the way they have. It seems likely they know this, and made the change in order to alter the way players are playing in regards to the coalitions. For this reason I'm not sure they would increase the ntg rewards to a corresponding degree as they have the need for them. This was intentional and considered.

As with most changes to games, sometimes a change in pathway is the way forward.

It's true. As with everything a paying player can have an advantage here. the other kind of player who will be more able to benefit is the highly active player. I used to be one. You can drop medals and climb back up picking up the required trade goods...a training blessing and time is all that are required. Sometimes when a specific good was short I would beat up on a much lower level player who rushed and had nothing I wanted except their trade good...but that is a seperate debate. I'm not a very active player anymore but I don't mind if players who put in the time have some tools that i don't.

If the coalitions (perhaps combined with troop cards from the stronghold), make war to difficult for me to be competitive in (either because I suck or just can't carry the trade goods needed to either level the playing field or leverage needed advantage, then I think I will have to adjust my pathway. Maybe I don't participate in wars, or in every one. Maybe I find some other adjustment to keep going.

Not saying it's the answer. Just that games evolve over time. The more established players tend to bemoan the changes for various reasons. New players coming in don't know the game any other way and just plod along. Ideal or otherwise a player has to evolve with the game or die off: ie, alter their pathway. The smartest of them tend to find a way to use the change to suit their interests in the game in its new incarnation.

 

[Quovatis]

Some solutions to ntg issues (pick one):
-let us choose which level of coalitions we want to purchase, so over-leveling is never an issue
-reduce cost of all coalitions by 2 ntgs
-make ntgs more plentiful
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