DomiNations Update 12.19 - Combat Rebalance Pt. 2

Greetings Leaders,

Within DomiNations Update 12.19, coming next week, we’re taking our next steps into the Combat Rebalance Initiative of 2025. This pass adjusts some underused War Tactics. You’ll also find some adjustments to suppression effects, and Defenders spawning from factories being upgraded. We also made adjustments to the Glory Decay system.

Combat Rebalance Initiative pt. 2
This update features adjustments to underused War Tactics and adds new support for Assault Vehicles. Here to break down the changes is RAH-66!

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Hello again, Leaders! The time has come for another Combat Rebalance!

As a reminder, here are our goals for the Combat Rebalance Initiative as a whole:

1. Ensure there is a wide array of viable strategies that can be used to win battles.
2. Ensure defensive play is just as viable as offensive play.
3. Ensure every single unit, tactic and building has a distinct reason to be invested in and brought to battle.

As mentioned in our Preview post about a week ago, 12.19’s Combat Rebalance focuses on War Tactics. War Tactics are included in every army composition and strategy; however, some certainly outshine others. Tactics like Sabotage have been a staple in many attacking armies for a long time, but we’d like to give others the opportunity to shine just as brightly.

Barrage - An incredibly powerful War Tactic at the age it is introduced. It can instantly wipe out all but the toughest defenders and even deal moderate damage to buildings. However, as players Age Up, the Tactic becomes less effective, particularly as the defenders come into battle with Protect through outfitted Munitions.

Demolition - Highly potent when it is unlocked, but falls off as players Age Up. Demolition has a slightly better scaling throughout the Ages, with support provided in part by the Mongols Coalition. Yet this support does not remedy the Tactic outside of World War, and forces the Demolition user into utilizing that Coalition.

Decoys - When Decoys perform their job, they perform it well. This War Tactic is not in need of major changes, but we’d like to see what can be achieved with it when it receives a moderate boost.
Protect is a powerful tool for both offense and defense. Its reduction percent never grows, but its duration grows very quickly, and once players unlock all available buffs throughout the game, attackers can have a troop protected for the vast majority of a battle. This rings true for Defenders too. Attackers often find themselves completely walled off from progress by a sea of yellow shields, seeming to never expire.

Assault Vehicles - These units have never had a chance to properly shine, as one of the most important parts of a player’s army, the Museum, lacks any support for them at all. That’s all changing in release 12.19!

Here’s the list of everything we’ve prepared for you regarding this Combat Rebalance:

1. We are adjusting the following War Tactics in DomiNations
   1. Barrage
      
      1. Barrage’s flat damage is not receiving any changes
      2. After Barrage’s damage is applied, several rapid waves of damage occur, each dealing 5% of a Defender’s maximum hitpoints
         1. A total of 8 waves occur over a 1-second timeframe
         2. The % max-hitpoints damage is not boosted by Recon Scan but is reduced by Protect
   2. Demolition
      
      1. Demolition now deals damage in a 1-radius area, instead of a single building
         1. This allows Demolition to affect Defenders
      2. Increasing its damage

Level 1 Damage	4,334
Level 2 Damage	6,535
Level 3 Damage	6,518
Level 4 Damage	7,178
Level 5 Damage	9,350
Level 6 Damage	12,155
Level 7 Damage	24,151
Level 8 Damage	27,071

1. Decoys
   
   1. Increasing Decoys’ duration from 12 seconds to 15 seconds
   2. Increasing maximum hitpoints of each of the deployed Decoy troops

	Tank Decoy Hitpoints	Heavy Infantry Decoy Hitpoints	Total Hitpoints
Level 1	6,120	2,040	14,280
Level 2	7,668	2,566	20,448
Level 3	9,720	3,240	25,920
Level 4	12,294	4,098	32,784
Level 5	21,870	7,920	58,320
Level 6	27,000	9,000	72,000

1. Protect
   
   1. Decreasing the Duration increase per Level

Level 1 Duration	6s
Level 2 Duration	6.5s
Level 3 Duration	7s
Level 4 Duration	7.5s
Level 5 Duration	8s
Level 6 Duration	8.5s
Level 7 Duration	9s
Level 8 Duration	9.5s
Level 9 Duration	10s

1. We are adjusting the following Troops in DomiNations
   1. Assault Vehicle
      
      1. No changes to the unit’s stats or functionality
      2. We are adding Assault Vehicle benefits to the available benefits when Crafting and Rerolling Artifacts
         1. Assault Vehicle Hitpoints (Peace) 1% / 6% /11%
         2. Assault Vehicle Damage (Peace) 1% / 6% /11%
         3. Assault Vehicle Hitpoints (War) 1% / 3% / 6%
         4. Assault Vehicle Damage (War) 1% / 3% /6%
         5. Invading Assault Vehicle Hitpoints (Peace) 1% / 6% /11%
         6. Invading Assault Vehicle Damage (Peace) 1% / 6% /11%
         7. Invading Assault Vehicle Hitpoints (War) 1% / 3% / 6%
         8. Invading Assault Vehicle Damage (War) 1% / 3% /6%
      3. Alongside this we will be running a temporary Config Event boosting the rates of Assault Vehicle benefits appearing in Crafting & Rerolling. This event will also increase the appearance rates of 11% Peace benefits and 6% War benefits when crafting and rerolling!

To highlight a few things these changes accomplish:

• Reduces the potency of Protected units, allowing for more counterplay and raising the skill ceiling on both offense and defense.
• Allows Barrage to deal meaningful damage against high-hitpoint Defenders
• Provides attackers with new strategy options against highly condensed defensive bases and supports strategies weak to one particular building type.
• Allows Decoys to perform their role more effectively, leaving defenders vulnerable to attacks against them, particularly area of effect attacks.
• Adds incentive to adopt Assault Vehicles into the Army composition with support from the Museum.

We’re hoping these changes give you more flexibility with your Army compositions and lead to the discovery of even more attack strategies!

We’re also excited to preview that for the next Combat Rebalance, we’ll be reviewing our over-performing and under-performing Coalitions.

We continue to monitor the outcomes of the previous Combat Rebalance in 12.18, and will continue to do so for this upcoming release and all future Combat Rebalances.

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New Councilor - Julius Caesar (Royalty)
Our next Councilor, Julius Caesar, arrives in DomiNations!

Julius Caesar rose from a noble but politically unremarkable background to become one of Rome’s most consequential figures. His early roles—as priest, military officer, quaestor, and aedile—showcased his administrative skill and oratorical brilliance. Over nearly a decade, he waged a series of successful campaigns that expanded Rome’s borders and elevated him to unmatched fame. When the Senate, now aligned with Pompey, ordered him to relinquish command, Caesar crossed the Rubicon River in 49 BCE—a defiant act that ignited civil war. Emerging victorious, he returned to Rome as its undisputed leader. Though he maintained the illusion of republican governance, his growing dominance unsettled many senators. On March 15, 44 BCE—the Ides of March—Caesar was assassinated by a group of conspirators seeking to restore the Republic. Instead, his death unleashed further chaos, ultimately leading to the fall of the Roman Republic and the birth of the Roman Empire under his heir, Augustus. Caesar’s legacy endures as a masterful leader who forever reshaped the course of Western history.

In DomiNations, Julius Caesar’s benefits improve the MRL, Bazooka, and even Mortar Infantry in both War and Primary Halls! You can start recruiting Julius Caesar on 7/7/25.

Common	Uncommon	Rare	Epic	Legendary
MRL DMG & HP +6%	MRL DMG & HP +8%	MRL DMG & HP +11%	MRL DMG & HP +14%	MRL DMG & HP +18%
	Bazooka DMG +8%	Bazooka DMG +9%	Bazooka DMG +11%	Bazooka DMG +14%
		Mortar Infantry DMG +11%	Mortar Infantry DMG +14%	Mortar Infantry DMG +18%
			Bomber DMG +10%	Bomber DMG +16%
				MRL DMG & HP +18%

DomiNations World Webstore Icon
For those with access to the DomiNations World Webstore, you’ll now find a new icon next to the in-game store icon on the main screen. The DomiNations World icon will take you directly to our Webstore, where you’ll find some of the best deals, including where you can pick up that discounted Estate if you haven’t already!

Additional Updates

• As a part of our ongoing adjustments to Tournament of Glory, Glory Decay will no longer decay players within the 160 Glory Threshold of their current Division to the Division below them.
  • Demotions for those under 160 Glory during a Gauntlet will still take place.
  • If you are actively participating in a Gauntlet and you make it to 1-star of a Division, we want to keep you in that Division for the next Gauntlet and not punish you for working so hard to make it there!
• Fixed an issue where some players would be kicked back to their main base after viewing Active Coalitions on bases in World War. This would cause the World War UI to appear on top of the regular UI.
• Updated University and Parliament descriptions to show generic Troop Names instead of Level-specific.
  • We also updated instances of ‘Health’ & ‘Attack’ to ‘Hitpoints’ & ‘Damage’
  • Adding clarity to some Troop specific benefits (ex. ‘Increases the hitpoints of Commandos when attacking’)
  • We’ve now revised the descriptions of most of the bonuses listed in Parliament Laws & University Skills (Library was updated in 12.18) for better consistency and a clearer understanding on how the bonuses benefit your Troops!
• Fixed an issue where Supply Wagon Troop Tactic was missing its graphic if donated to Strongholds.
• Removed the Heavy Tank defenders that spawn from Factories while they’re upgrading
  • This is to work in line with other Buildings that spawn Defender units, as they don’t spawn Defenders when the building is being upgraded.
• Reduced the suppression potency from Machinegun Towers & Night Witch Troop Tactic.
  • Within the description for the suppression effect, these entities described a 30% and 33% suppression, but in implementation, they were inverted to 70% and 66% unintentionally. We’ve corrected how this applies in battle, and now the suppression effect is working at the intended and displayed 30% and 33%.

 

What's doubly funny is that there is no response to requests to comment on the questions above from official BHG representatives.

The BHG team silently came up with new rebalance features, implemented them, and prepared the release. When announcing the changes, they were told about obvious problems that would appear after the release and that these problems would lead to sad consequences. But they are silent. They read our messages and are silent...

Why didn't you ask the players' opinion at the stage when you decided what changes you were planning to make?

In that case, you would have been immediately told about obvious problems and you could have avoided them in advance. Moreover, the players would have seen what to prepare for in the future, looked for artifacts in the museum for new troops, and council cards.

Let's be honest, because you don't play the game, you don't understand what these or those balance changes will lead to. In this case, you definitely need to clarify the information with good players from strong alliances.

Now there is total silence, which is expressed in indifference and disrespect for players who want to get useful changes from the update that improve the game, but in the end they will get pain and suffering, the desire to delete the game.

You could give an explanation, or even postpone the release date to fix the problems that were pointed out to you in the posts above and the players would be calm.

But there is only silence...

Hi Nikolay,

There have been several responses in various spaces, just not necessarily directly replying to yours. We can't always respond/answer all questions as we may not have updated information we're ready to share, in other words 'we're working on it'.

You asked: Tell me, on what basis is the damage of Demolition increased by 2.5 times?
Not sure what you're asking here?

You've asked various versions of: Did the person who came up with this think about the consequences?
We've answered this in other spaces, but yes, they have. We aren't ready to share full details on all the changes coming to the game, but I'm asking that we share better messaging going forward regarding the rest of the Combat rebalance steps we're taking so you can be ready or plan ahead for what's to come. This would require testing to be solidified on our end, and being comfortable with the data we see from the proposed changes made internally.

Why didn't you ask the players' opinion at the stage when you decided what changes you were planning to make?
We have and we're still implementing many changes that players asked for based on player usage data, survey data, and evaluating intended uses or overall health adjustments for the game.

To put it simply and cover everything you've asked, combat rebalance is still being worked on throughout 2025. We're working on it, and will reveal more as it becomes available.

I will reiterate that we may not answer every question for various reasons, such as avoiding repeating shared information, or simply not answering questions we're not ready to touch on or answer. If you ask a question we can or are willing to answer, we'll gladly respond.

 

Hi Nikolay,

There have been several responses in various spaces, just not necessarily directly replying to yours. We can't always respond/answer all questions as we may not have updated information we're ready to share, in other words 'we're working on it'.

You asked: Tell me, on what basis is the damage of Demolition increased by 2.5 times?
Not sure what you're asking here?

You've asked various versions of: Did the person who came up with this think about the consequences?
We've answered this in other spaces, but yes, they have. We aren't ready to share full details on all the changes coming to the game, but I'm asking that we share better messaging going forward regarding the rest of the Combat rebalance steps we're taking so you can be ready or plan ahead for what's to come. This would require testing to be solidified on our end, and being comfortable with the data we see from the proposed changes made internally.

Why didn't you ask the players' opinion at the stage when you decided what changes you were planning to make?
We have and we're still implementing many changes that players asked for based on player usage data, survey data, and evaluating intended uses or overall health adjustments for the game.

To put it simply and cover everything you've asked, combat rebalance is still being worked on throughout 2025. We're working on it, and will reveal more as it becomes available.

I will reiterate that we may not answer every question for various reasons, such as avoiding repeating shared information, or simply not answering questions we're not ready to touch on or answer. If you ask a question we can or are willing to answer, we'll gladly respond.

Thanks for the answers.
But I had in mind not only my questions and not only from this branch of discussions, but all the branches regarding the rebalance of the troops

 

Why didn't you ask the players' opinion at the stage when you decided what changes you were planning to make?
...

As someone who has asked this question many times, I'll tell what that voice in my head says to me "oh you poor deluded fool ..."

 

combat rebalance is still being worked on throughout 2025.

Can you explain how the chance to improve AV stats is an actual rebalance? You said there's no change to the stats - what's being offered is a lottery, with no guarantee for many that they'll be able to get boosts.
Give up the poli-speak, it's not working.

 

Hello again Leaders
I just wanted to provide some insight, specifically on the Demolition War Tactic. The Demolition War Tactic’s damage values were adjusted to scale alongside the Tower building’s hitpoints. You’ll notice lower-levels of Demolition have not been increased as much as later levels. Previously, the War Tactic’s poor performance was largely due to the growth of its damage over the years being far outweighed by that of nearly every other Building’s hitpoints in the game.
We really do listen to and appreciate the feedback, and ultimately, it does matter that the community is as vocal as you are.

 

Hello again Leaders
I just wanted to provide some insight, specifically on the Demolition War Tactic. The Demolition War Tactic’s damage values were adjusted to scale alongside the Tower building’s hitpoints. You’ll notice lower-levels of Demolition have not been increased as much as later levels. Previously, the War Tactic’s poor performance was largely due to the growth of its damage over the years being far outweighed by that of nearly every other Building’s hitpoints in the game.
We really do listen to and appreciate the feedback, and ultimately, it does matter that the community is as vocal as you are.

Just to be clear… every single critical comment about increasing demolition damage is under the presumption of max level… the fact that this is not blatantly clear to your team and THIS is the response that your team decided was a good one to release for clarity leaves the community dumbfounded.

I apologize in advance for coming off so rude but seriously this is why you need to relaunch your testing app so you can get viable feedback from experienced players before releasing these updates.

On another note, I would assume that most of your players that are veterans play end game content or alts that are lower levels. This doesn’t mean that I don’t believe we also have many new players that are lower ages but they’re not the ones that delve this deep into stats and updates. You really need to start taking end game content into consideration more than beginners and mid game players because we are the backbone of this game and have been for years.

 

We really do listen to and appreciate the feedback, and ultimately, it does matter that the community is as vocal as you are.

error404

 

Well said Lust… but they will continue till 1-2 demo kill any maxed out AA just to make it easier for bombers.

But they hear us lol what a joke

 

Hello again Leaders
I just wanted to provide some insight, specifically on the Demolition War Tactic. The Demolition War Tactic’s damage values were adjusted to scale alongside the Tower building’s hitpoints. You’ll notice lower-levels of Demolition have not been increased as much as later levels. Previously, the War Tactic’s poor performance was largely due to the growth of its damage over the years being far outweighed by that of nearly every other Building’s hitpoints in the game.
We really do listen to and appreciate the feedback, and ultimately, it does matter that the community is as vocal as you are.

And why do we need this information? here I described the main complaint

Combat Rebalance Initiative Pt. 2 Preview - War Tactics

Hello Leaders! With our Combat Rebalance Initiative beginning in 12.18, we understand that certain strategies players relied on are being adjusted. Based on your feedback from this previous release, we intend to provide more transparency on what we’re working on in future updates. We hope that...

forums.bighugegames.com

One demolition (max level) can do 200,000 damage, guaranteed to destroy one Air defense building. Is this a balance?
Attackers will be able to destroy 6 Air defens buildings without problems and still have two tactics left.
Have you thought about this?

 

To be fair, after showcase and mythical artifacts are added the HP to air def and other towers are going to be 3 times as much as they are now.

Assuming they nerf mongols coal that will nerf demolitions as well- with the new defensive HPs though that shouldn’t even be needed.

My main issue is two part: A- instead of explaining it this way, the justification given misses the mark completely (lower levels get less of an increase). B- releasing updates in pieces like this creates confusion and frustration to the players.

After all is said and done, things could actually be balanced. From the information given atm though it gives the impression that whoever makes these decisions doesn’t have the proper foresight or knowledge to see the problems. Prime example is the nerf to fighters that completely screwed over a large part of their customer base that invested so much time and money into a specific strategy just to make it meaningless.

 

Prime example is the nerf to fighters that completely screwed over a large part of their customer base that invested so much time and money into a specific strategy just to make it meaningless.

That's why they call it bait & switch. It's something bhg does very well - especially recently.

 

 

 

Protect with full legendary Leonidas committee buff of 34% protect duration only increases it to 18.5 seconds

 

Please remove the domination world icon. The team can easily put domination world icon inside the event tabs. We need less icons and objects restricting our vision in game.

The pictures below - removal of icon and moved into the event tab section.

@Harlems369th

Thank you.

 

Why not establish overhaul rebalance first rather than update like piece by piece?

 

Well Offense should be happy. We back to time wars. Rebalance = death of defense.

Hint BHG Defenders are going to leave this game in mass if this not fix sooner rather than later. Why play D is it automatic win for offense right now. This is Bullsh** no balance what so ever.

 

Hey @Harlems369th , @RAH-66 , can’t seem to find anything about the “IR Blocking Smoke” directive that is causing troops to stand still. When’s this getting fixed? Maybe it should be a priority fix before you try and drain more money out of us. I’m sick and tired of losing battles due to the fact that a new “feature” you guys released so long ago causes our troops to stand still and not shoot ANYTHING if you accidentally time the rally wrong and the IR Blocking Smoke drone directive is active. This is ridiculous and I want my money back on all the times I’ve used premiums to fight a battle. All you guys do is make new “features” with zero regard to fixing the wrong doings of the last “feature”, if this new showcase update gets released before any fixes of old glitches and bugs regarding REGULAR GAME MOVEMENT, I’ll be quitting for good. Because you don’t deserve a player base when all you do is ignore the bugs you guys aren’t competent enough to fix. It’s okay to say “we screwed up and have no idea how to fix it” at least thats owning up to your mistakes , but to just go on and on with new updates without fixing old bugs is ridiculous and honestly shows how poorly you think of your player base. Any respectable development company makes their player bases concerns their #1 priority as guess what? You have a job cause of us. I’ve been polite and understanding up until now, cause I’ve absolutely had enough with the incompetence in your company. Every update is the same “What new bugs are we going to have to deal with now” .. like give your heads a shake and realize you are suiciding your game releasing updates without fixing MAJOR flaws , and I don’t want to hear another lame excuse of “we are working on it” or “I keep telling them the problem” DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, stop making new sales stuff and new ways to entice people to spend money until you fix your damned game! @Harlems369th , it’s your job to be part of the community and hear us out, time for YOU to own up to these mistakes and make a list of ALL the known bugs and time frames on when they are getting fixed and show the community that it’s actually being worked on. Make a new post and prove that you are aware of ALL the bugs and glitches and then ask the community to share other known bugs and glitches , print the list of and shove it infront of the ceo of the company and make it a priority to fix these bugs before the releasing more junk to mess up the game even more.

Also, I’m serious about getting my money back on premiums spent when battles lost are due to the game being broken by the incompetent updates put out without proper testing. Give me a direct contact to whoever can return either my tt’s or compensate me by check. As far as I care, I paid money for those troop tactics to be able to win a battle, when my troop tactics don’t act the way they are intended to due to game glitches you guys keep ignoring then you have robbed me of my money. I’m sure there’s some other company’s who went bankrupt due to the community base fighting back legally after years of being robbed.

Enough is enough.

 

Hey @Harlems369th , @RAH-66 , can’t seem to find anything about the “IR Blocking Smoke” directive that is causing troops to stand still. When’s this getting fixed? Maybe it should be a priority fix before you try and drain more money out of us. I’m sick and tired of losing battles due to the fact that a new “feature” you guys released so long ago causes our troops to stand still and not shoot ANYTHING if you accidentally time the rally wrong and the IR Blocking Smoke drone directive is active. This is ridiculous and I want my money back on all the times I’ve used premiums to fight a battle. All you guys do is make new “features” with zero regard to fixing the wrong doings of the last “feature”, if this new showcase update gets released before any fixes of old glitches and bugs regarding REGULAR GAME MOVEMENT, I’ll be quitting for good. Because you don’t deserve a player base when all you do is ignore the bugs you guys aren’t competent enough to fix. It’s okay to say “we screwed up and have no idea how to fix it” at least thats owning up to your mistakes , but to just go on and on with new updates without fixing old bugs is ridiculous and honestly shows how poorly you think of your player base. Any respectable development company makes their player bases concerns their #1 priority as guess what? You have a job cause of us. I’ve been polite and understanding up until now, cause I’ve absolutely had enough with the incompetence in your company. Every update is the same “What new bugs are we going to have to deal with now” .. like give your heads a shake and realize you are suiciding your game releasing updates without fixing MAJOR flaws , and I don’t want to hear another lame excuse of “we are working on it” or “I keep telling them the problem” DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, stop making new sales stuff and new ways to entice people to spend money until you fix your damned game! @Harlems369th , it’s your job to be part of the community and hear us out, time for YOU to own up to these mistakes and make a list of ALL the known bugs and time frames on when they are getting fixed and show the community that it’s actually being worked on. Make a new post and prove that you are aware of ALL the bugs and glitches and then ask the community to share other known bugs and glitches , print the list of and shove it infront of the ceo of the company and make it a priority to fix these bugs before the releasing more junk to mess up the game even more.

Also, I’m serious about getting my money back on premiums spent when battles lost are due to the game being broken by the incompetent updates put out without proper testing. Give me a direct contact to whoever can return either my tt’s or compensate me by check. As far as I care, I paid money for those troop tactics to be able to win a battle, when my troop tactics don’t act the way they are intended to due to game glitches you guys keep ignoring then you have robbed me of my money. I’m sure there’s some other company’s who went bankrupt due to the community base fighting back legally after years of being robbed.

Enough is enough.

Wow long but well put.

 

@harlems can you confirm that the attached photo is either a typo or museum is changing for war to include 11% lines?