Game balancing

[Harti]

Harti, on the beta forums, Wrote:Again, this is merely some kind of gut feeling but as the time is short there is NO way to figure it out:

3HP Thorns are broken. The cost for you is 1. To essentially spawn it anywhere on the field. The parent-child mechanic becomes pretty much obsolete with the parent being nearly invincible. A bramble player without some fatal brain damage will always spawn Thorns in a way the opponent cannot destroy the parent. This is perfectly possible from - at last - the 3rd turn you own the Bramble.
This way, the opponent has to destroy two 3 HP Thorn nodes to get rid of a threat. There are few options: First option is to build Heavies all the way. Quite expensive and not affordable if you want to attack sometime. Second option: Build Soldiers all the way. More affordable but less efficient, you'll invest 4 wits into attacking these two nodes alone. Third option: Block Thorns' way with units. Works like a charm but Veggienauts players aren't dumb and a situation where this is possible in is unlikely to occur hence.




These Thorn Patches are a Soldier in terms of defense. Even if they refunded a wit I think it's way too hard to counter them. They are gonna steal and re-steal the wit spaces all the time, block units' ways to get to the space (or your units) and you'll have an auto-win. Just imagine you block that wit space on Sweetie Plains with a 3HP Thorn. Okay, maybe they've still got their Sniper. They might be able to shoot the Thorn. But what if they don't. (Usually you bring units along your Bramble Thorns so you can pick the Sniper off the turn after). The opponent will maybe need to build a Runner, send it over to attack the node, send the Soldier to attack it, too. That's 5 wits. For 1 opponent wit (which gets refunded by the fact that the opponent receives 1 less wit). You destroyed ONE Thorn, and didn't even move a unit onto the wit space. Guess what happens next turn. This is unwinnable.

I can imagine games or maps where the Bramble doesn't shine. However, I find that a tad too extreme. Don't get me wrong, I love to play Veggienauts now. I bet there's a way to counter them somehow, and I think the Adorables are going to have a particularly good time doing that.
But a unit spawning meatshields at 1 - technically anywhere - to protect allied units is really, really strong.


Random ideas (sorted by HP, not by preference):
- Patches 4HP, no Thorn cascading
- Patches 4HP, spawn radius to 1
- Patches 3HP, no Thorn cascading
- Patches 2HP, heal 1HP each turn
- Patches 2HP, no parent-child
- Patches 2HP, recedable
- Patches 2HP, can attack (1 dmg) instead of spawn a child
- Patches 2HP, spawn radius to 3
- Patches 1HP, deal 1 damage to melee units attacking them
- Patches 1HP, free of charge, no Thorn cascading