Dragonguard resistances

[Skrim]

I've noticed something about the Dwarvish units in campaigns.

All of the standard Dwarf units ("standard" meaning non-Gryphon, non-Ulf) get a fair bit tougher and more survivable as they level-up, in forms apart from just extra HP. The Steelclad and Lord get improved resistances. The Stalwart gets improved evasion, and the Sentinel gets slightly better base resistances. Even the Explorer gets Lord-level resistances, despite supposedly being a light, fast unit inasmuch as any Dwarf can be.

But the Thunderer line gets left out. The level-3 Dragonguard not only has the same resistances(20% physical, 10% elemental) and evasion that it had as a level-1 Thunderer, but it also has less HP than any other level-3 Dwarvish unit, including the faster Explorer.


Here's my question: Why so?
Shouldn't Dragonguards, the so-called "guardians of the great Dwarven citadels" get resistances at least as good as the Explorers, or at least as good as the Steelclad? It takes more XP to get a Dragonguard than it does to get a Lord, Sentinel or Explorer, so I don't see why they should be so flimsy in comparison to the other level-3 Dwarves.

So here's my idea: Give the Dragonguard 40% Blade / 30% Pierce / 30% Impact resistances, like the Explorer and Lord. Or at the very least, give it 30/30/30 like the Steelclad. And maybe a few more HP, bringing the total to around 63 or 64.

Being a level-3 with a high XP requirement means that Dragonguards are almost never seen in regular multiplayer, so it shouldn't have any impact on balance. It's a simple enough little idea. So what do you think?

[Buddy Jimm]

I would argue that the other dwarven units, being the infantry, are the ones that get better armor as they show prowess in combat, and consequently higher weapon resistances. The dragonguards, being primarily ranged(though not exclusively), would be the ones that instead had access to the best boomsticks.

Indeed, you could easily fix that with some background(e.g. the citadel dwarves get special armor), but even so, gameplay changes around here tend only to occur when it's shown that they have some positive impact, not just a lack of negative ones.

[Skrim]

I would argue that the other dwarven units, being the infantry, are the ones that get better armor as they show prowess in combat, and consequently higher weapon resistances. The dragonguards, being primarily ranged(though not exclusively), would be the ones that instead had access to the best boomsticks.

That's alright for the Lord and Sentinel, being front-line infantry units.

But why does the Explorer have such high resistances? It's supposed to be a scout, AFAIK, which trades off resilience for speed. Any reason why a unit whose job is to "range around the forests and mountains looking for new seams of ore" needs higher-quality armor than a front-line combatant(a ranged combatant, but still)?

I'm not so much bothered about any change being implemented as I am about knowing why it's like that anyway.

[Caphriel]

The explorer isn't a multiplayer unit and doesn't have to be balanced for multiplayer? I see what you mean, though. You'd think the scout line would have lower resistances, since the description specifically mentions light armor, etc.

[HomerJ]

Since the scout has just recently been added to mainline (campaigns), I think discussing a change to his resistances is alright. However, I see it coming that changing anything about the Dragonguard resistances will be turned down quickly since factions are believed to be balanced as they are (and if it ain't broken, don't try to fix it).

Greetz
HomerJ

[Buddy Jimm]

In that case, my feel from playing Invasion of the Unknown(which is also awesome) is that the scouts are kinda on the strong side. I saw from the UtBS WML that he's already been toned down a bit(and the Explorer's thicker armor is described briefly), but when you combine resistance with 2 more movepoints and decent attacks, even at level one, he's still quite the multi-tool(he's 8 less HP than the fighter and 2 more gold, but you can still make a dangerous front line out of them).

One man's opinion, of course... I presume in UtBS he's meant primarily as a complement to the troll shaman and a replacement for gryphons... but I can't speak for UtBS, especially since I sided with the trolls. :/