Since I do game analysis as a hobby, I've tried to roughly sort good and bad units for my entertainment, for the devs to maybe save some work balancing and for players to hopefully have an easier and better time. If anyone has to add or correct anything, please go ahead and comment for the benefit of everyone.
I have only sorted Tier 2 units (since having weak Tier 2's is what you die from and my unitpedia just got deleted) and I rank them in 3 categories:
Weak - these units are way below the baseline, and I try to avoid them
Okay - these units are still below the baseline, but playable
Strong - these units are at or above the baseline
Drummer/Musician Baseline
These give 5+ stats per round if you use them right. While the amount is better than normal, the spread makes it a bit weaker.
Hoplite Baseline
This attacks 2 units, meaning it effectively doubles all buffs it receives. It also counters tanky frontliners, as it strikes behind them as well.
Javilener Strong
Range is still OP, and this is the only ranged unit to potentially get extra attacks in. It does get counted by very tanky frontliners, but it's still decent against them, as range is their counter.
Berserker Weak
A one-time buff of 8 damage. Other units outscale this in 1 or 2 turns. (Tip: make this unit's attack bonus temporarily grow every time it attacks)
Shield Knight Weak
To be better than the Berserker, this guy must be hit by 9 attacks. (Tip: make this unit invulnerable during the first round of combat)
Fire Mage Strong
Range is OP, giving this unit effectively the HP of the first slot unit, that alone makes it good. The random targeting and extra damage make it a powerhouse at cleaning up squishies.
Entropy Mage Strong
Range still OP. Additionally, the unique ability eventually outscales the Fire Mage.
Assassin Strong
Hitting 2 units doubles attack and attack buffs from other units. Hitting the backline is better than the frontline, but has the downside of doing nothing if it dies and they survive.
Poisoner Strong
Range is still OP. Deals an additional 8 damage. This is the Berserker, but good. Possibly too good, since the bonus damage oftentime cleans 1-2 backliners.
Blacksmith Strong
Grants an average of 6 stats per round, but on random targets, definitely hits the baseline
Weapon Smith Strong
Only grants 4 stats per round, but doesn't hit barracks units, making it very reliable
Longbowman Okay
Theoretically it gains the HP of every unit in front of it, but in practice it easily gets shut down by units that target the backline. It also barely got more "buddy" HP than a 3 range unit, due to getting nerfed to 1 attack in the frontline. (Tip: just remove the frontline nerf)
Crossbow Man Strong
Range is still OP, and it's the only unit with 3 range. In return, the 3 extra damage is weaker than the mages' version.
Healer Strong
This gives slightly below baseline stats to the unit that needs them the most.
Scholar Strong
Gives 50% more stats than the healer, but to random targets. However since it targets only the army, it's still fairly reliable. Did I mention it's ranged yet?
One Man Army Okay
Grants itself up to 8 stats, realistically the best is 6. However, it is also a bad target, due to lacking power amplifyers. The random stat distribution doesn't help. The saving grace is that you upgrade him a lot faster.
Round Warrior Okay
Same stats as the healer, but targets ONLY itself.
Banker Strong
The extra gold is 2 items/units every 3 rounds. In items, that's roughly 3-4 stats per round on the best targets. And units are even better.
Shopkeep Okay
You have to buy 3 items per round for this to gain more value than the banker. This can't be used on units. And unlike the banker, 2 of these don't stack either. (Tip: make this "one random item per round is free" or "the first two items you buy each round cost 2 less")
Hiker Weak
On average gains +3 permanent stats per round. However it's again a bad target for bonus stats. Its basline is a 6/6 (because of the +2+2 for one round item). That at least makes it okay in the first few rounds.
Hoarder Okay
He's the hardest to judge and explain, but overall he's weak before you have access to Tier 4 items. (Tip: make him "when you use an item on a unit, use it on me again", so you still get to target your items on the good units)
Wow, it's really cool you put the list together! It's super cool that you like the game enough to do all of this!
We're going to be adding some new things and doing some patches soon that'll change the balance of the overall game pretty soon! But we'll definitely be looking at this to see where you're feeling on some units to see what we can do to get them more in line.
The game is really good and simple, at the beginning i wasn't really a fun but while playing it i found it very entertaining, you could add an endless mode.
Hey everyone, Version 0.2 just went live! You can see the patch notes in-game or in the itch dev log. If you have an Android device, you can also play on your phone now! Check the description for the link.
Thanks everyone for playing, you folks are awesome :) We'll continue to update the game, including new content and units, and be looking to grow the community as much as possible. Keep on rerolling!
you buy a duplicate of the troop and then you fuse them together like super auto pets and then you do that 2 times you get to pick a what the troop evolves into.
Currently, you have to buy the unit into one of you slots (Barracks/Armies) before you can combine. We're meeting to discuss to see if we should allow combining from the shop in a future patch. Sorry if this was confusing!
I upgraded a dragon (which is just the money bags dude upgraded into a banker and upgraded again) the troop becomes nothing and just stats and the game doesnt work after that. But it is still good game and I love all the different unique troops.
(edit 1: nvm I realized that they arent meant to be upgraded past that point
Woah, that's a really powerful strat that I haven't seen yet! Creative ;)
We have the 0.2 update coming very soon, but it doesn't address any large-scale design or balance changes. We're aiming to get an update on some balancing and maybe some other tweaks to design coming in either 0.3 or 0.4, so stay tuned!
This Patapon and SAP combination is really great! When I sat down today I did not expect to get hooked into unlocking every tier 3 but here I am now, definetly enjoyed my time with it.
I edited my original post but I don't know if itch.io sends notifications or something for those, but after posting I also wanted to comment on two of the units:
I will say that the Hoarder and Shopkeep probably feel like the weakest units and I'd like to maybe see some buff? While they synergize well, the hoarder trades being able to get 3 free 1 tier gear for the fact that you can spend gold to get 2 gear for any tier, technically. Shopkeep makes it slightly more bearable, but by themselves, if you instead get the banker, they technically can make the difference of buying 2 food at shopkeep price while being more versatile. While I think tier 3s for shopkeep are better, tier 3s for Hoarder feel barely like an upgrade, especially Overprepped. I think the last thing against them is scalability. While having 2 tier 2s of other units, they can act independently, making you recieve the rewards of both units (ex. while going for tier 3 scholar, having 2 tier 2 scholars gives you twice the health buffs as one), while here the units don't give any additional benefit except stats when combined. I think that this is a fun route with the units to take but too hard to execute (Maybe am just bad or trying too hard to get tier 3s) and not simply go for a hiker/banker, while I also understand that a solution like 2 Shopkeeps reducing price by 2 might get too good.
(2nd Edit) Ok well maybe scratch that as I just managed to get in a win with this with only 2 losses (albeit carried by Poisoner), still I'd like to know your thoughts on the units!
I definitely think Shop Keep and Hoarder could use a little love. They both scale really well into the late game on their own with the upgraded gear coming in later (the hoarder does duplicated the AOE effects), but I do think they need a slight nudge after looking over the units people have gravitating towards recently.
I don't think they're unplayable or anything though, just need a small adjustment of some kind to bring them back into line with the other units on terms of power level.
I love this game. The graphics are simple but charming, the style really speaks to me 10/10 for me here. The mechanics are also solid, simple and fun.
There are only minor downsides, but I'll list them here anyway:
can't upgrade unit directly from shop, need to clear inventory space first
games are relatively short, would be nice to set a game time for X rounds or X wins (at least 15 or 20 wins should be an option)
Tier 1 & 2 units are fewer in number than Tier 3 units, but it's also really hard to get more than 1 or 2 Tier 3 units before winning. The game would gain a lot from a greater selection of early units, rather than late units. (maybe T2s could share some of their upgrades, rather than having 2 unique ones each)
We're looking into a longer gameplay loop in the future.
Also in a future content update (Probably in a week or two) there will be a bunch more Tier 1 units to play with and a new mechanic that keeps the game fresh, while still having a bunch of 3*s to discover!
We're looking into a good way to do this going forward. There isn't a great way to create armies that go past 30 turns at the moment but we'll try to figure it out!
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GUIDE / BALANCE COMMENTARY
Since I do game analysis as a hobby, I've tried to roughly sort good and bad units for my entertainment, for the devs to maybe save some work balancing and for players to hopefully have an easier and better time. If anyone has to add or correct anything, please go ahead and comment for the benefit of everyone.
I have only sorted Tier 2 units (since having weak Tier 2's is what you die from and my unitpedia just got deleted) and I rank them in 3 categories:
Drummer/Musician Baseline
These give 5+ stats per round if you use them right. While the amount is better than normal, the spread makes it a bit weaker.
Hoplite Baseline
This attacks 2 units, meaning it effectively doubles all buffs it receives. It also counters tanky frontliners, as it strikes behind them as well.
Javilener Strong
Range is still OP, and this is the only ranged unit to potentially get extra attacks in. It does get counted by very tanky frontliners, but it's still decent against them, as range is their counter.
Berserker Weak
A one-time buff of 8 damage. Other units outscale this in 1 or 2 turns. (Tip: make this unit's attack bonus temporarily grow every time it attacks)
Shield Knight Weak
To be better than the Berserker, this guy must be hit by 9 attacks. (Tip: make this unit invulnerable during the first round of combat)
Fire Mage Strong
Range is OP, giving this unit effectively the HP of the first slot unit, that alone makes it good. The random targeting and extra damage make it a powerhouse at cleaning up squishies.
Entropy Mage Strong
Range still OP. Additionally, the unique ability eventually outscales the Fire Mage.
Assassin Strong
Hitting 2 units doubles attack and attack buffs from other units. Hitting the backline is better than the frontline, but has the downside of doing nothing if it dies and they survive.
Poisoner Strong
Range is still OP. Deals an additional 8 damage. This is the Berserker, but good. Possibly too good, since the bonus damage oftentime cleans 1-2 backliners.
Blacksmith Strong
Grants an average of 6 stats per round, but on random targets, definitely hits the baseline
Weapon Smith Strong
Only grants 4 stats per round, but doesn't hit barracks units, making it very reliable
Longbowman Okay
Theoretically it gains the HP of every unit in front of it, but in practice it easily gets shut down by units that target the backline. It also barely got more "buddy" HP than a 3 range unit, due to getting nerfed to 1 attack in the frontline. (Tip: just remove the frontline nerf)
Crossbow Man Strong
Range is still OP, and it's the only unit with 3 range. In return, the 3 extra damage is weaker than the mages' version.
Healer Strong
This gives slightly below baseline stats to the unit that needs them the most.
Scholar Strong
Gives 50% more stats than the healer, but to random targets. However since it targets only the army, it's still fairly reliable. Did I mention it's ranged yet?
One Man Army Okay
Grants itself up to 8 stats, realistically the best is 6. However, it is also a bad target, due to lacking power amplifyers. The random stat distribution doesn't help. The saving grace is that you upgrade him a lot faster.
Round Warrior Okay
Same stats as the healer, but targets ONLY itself.
Banker Strong
The extra gold is 2 items/units every 3 rounds. In items, that's roughly 3-4 stats per round on the best targets. And units are even better.
Shopkeep Okay
You have to buy 3 items per round for this to gain more value than the banker. This can't be used on units. And unlike the banker, 2 of these don't stack either. (Tip: make this "one random item per round is free" or "the first two items you buy each round cost 2 less")
Hiker Weak
On average gains +3 permanent stats per round. However it's again a bad target for bonus stats. Its basline is a 6/6 (because of the +2+2 for one round item). That at least makes it okay in the first few rounds.
Hoarder Okay
He's the hardest to judge and explain, but overall he's weak before you have access to Tier 4 items. (Tip: make him "when you use an item on a unit, use it on me again", so you still get to target your items on the good units)
Wow, it's really cool you put the list together! It's super cool that you like the game enough to do all of this!
We're going to be adding some new things and doing some patches soon that'll change the balance of the overall game pretty soon! But we'll definitely be looking at this to see where you're feeling on some units to see what we can do to get them more in line.
Thanks again and I really appreciate it!
I sure hope to see some awesome new stuff in the future. This game certainly made it to the top of my bookmarks.
The game is really good and simple, at the beginning i wasn't really a fun but while playing it i found it very entertaining, you could add an endless mode.
Hey everyone, Version 0.2 just went live! You can see the patch notes in-game or in the itch dev log. If you have an Android device, you can also play on your phone now! Check the description for the link.
Thanks everyone for playing, you folks are awesome :) We'll continue to update the game, including new content and units, and be looking to grow the community as much as possible. Keep on rerolling!
Tier 4 units are possible its just break de game :D, great game i enjoyed it!!!
idk why but I can't upgrade the people in my army
you buy a duplicate of the troop and then you fuse them together like super auto pets and then you do that 2 times you get to pick a what the troop evolves into.
Currently, you have to buy the unit into one of you slots (Barracks/Armies) before you can combine. We're meeting to discuss to see if we should allow combining from the shop in a future patch. Sorry if this was confusing!
thank you for your help
a really good game, but please add infinite mode.
We're looking on adding more time in a future update!
bro I was trying to see what the fully upgraded bard was and I accidentally won :/
can you make more than 10 levels? it's kinda hard to explore the game when there isn't any time.
We're looking on adding more time in a future update!
pls fix this bug this glitch took soooooo long that i added sponsors for my chanell
This bug should be fixed now!
nice
if you want to want consider MEGA-BUFFING
to do mega buffing you must have
-One Unit In Your Army
-At Least Have A Good Ability
-And At Least Two Buffing Units In Your Barracks
Watch This Video For More Expatiation
Dont upgrade your troops past the 3rd evolution
it breaks the game.
I upgraded a dragon (which is just the money bags dude upgraded into a banker and upgraded again) the troop becomes nothing and just stats and the game doesnt work after that. But it is still good game and I love all the different unique troops.
(edit 1: nvm I realized that they arent meant to be upgraded past that point
also very fun game)
Yeah, that'll be fixed in the next update and it'll be more clear that it doesn't go any farther!
Sorry that wasn't in for this release. Thanks for liking the game and playing long enough to figure it out though!
ye i agree i did that and it was broken since i did it once
patapon 4 lookin good
pls nerf solo teams Why? here is a video
Woah, that's a really powerful strat that I haven't seen yet! Creative ;)
We have the 0.2 update coming very soon, but it doesn't address any large-scale design or balance changes. We're aiming to get an update on some balancing and maybe some other tweaks to design coming in either 0.3 or 0.4, so stay tuned!
ye i didn't expect this to be op since i thought it was dumb at the time
hey look it is sword and shield (not pokemon)
This Patapon and SAP combination is really great! When I sat down today I did not expect to get hooked into unlocking every tier 3 but here I am now, definetly enjoyed my time with it.
Glad you liked it!
I edited my original post but I don't know if itch.io sends notifications or something for those, but after posting I also wanted to comment on two of the units:
I will say that the Hoarder and Shopkeep probably feel like the weakest units and I'd like to maybe see some buff? While they synergize well, the hoarder trades being able to get 3 free 1 tier gear for the fact that you can spend gold to get 2 gear for any tier, technically. Shopkeep makes it slightly more bearable, but by themselves, if you instead get the banker, they technically can make the difference of buying 2 food at shopkeep price while being more versatile. While I think tier 3s for shopkeep are better, tier 3s for Hoarder feel barely like an upgrade, especially Overprepped. I think the last thing against them is scalability. While having 2 tier 2s of other units, they can act independently, making you recieve the rewards of both units (ex. while going for tier 3 scholar, having 2 tier 2 scholars gives you twice the health buffs as one), while here the units don't give any additional benefit except stats when combined.
I think that this is a fun route with the units to take but too hard to execute (Maybe am just bad or trying too hard to get tier 3s) and not simply go for a hiker/banker, while I also understand that a solution like 2 Shopkeeps reducing price by 2 might get too good.
(2nd Edit) Ok well maybe scratch that as I just managed to get in a win with this with only 2 losses (albeit carried by Poisoner), still I'd like to know your thoughts on the units!
I definitely think Shop Keep and Hoarder could use a little love. They both scale really well into the late game on their own with the upgraded gear coming in later (the hoarder does duplicated the AOE effects), but I do think they need a slight nudge after looking over the units people have gravitating towards recently.
I don't think they're unplayable or anything though, just need a small adjustment of some kind to bring them back into line with the other units on terms of power level.
I love this game. The graphics are simple but charming, the style really speaks to me 10/10 for me here. The mechanics are also solid, simple and fun.
There are only minor downsides, but I'll list them here anyway:
We're looking into a longer gameplay loop in the future.
Also in a future content update (Probably in a week or two) there will be a bunch more Tier 1 units to play with and a new mechanic that keeps the game fresh, while still having a bunch of 3*s to discover!
Also thanks for the kind feedback, we appreciate it a lot and are really glad you like it!
A deadlock can happen when 2 clerics fight.
That will be fixed in our next update!
first ever playthrough won
is there better duo than this?
not really but i will say adding a shield dude would help
dont mind the fact that i have a tier 3 rogue and the fact its in the wrong side
I faced this army in the Player Armies difficulty! I guess that means that it works.
Nice also I hope you won that battle hopefully
first win
Won again
Nice
If I Haven't Lost I Would Have Gotten A Tier 4
I'm glad you lost cause they don't exist yet... shhhh don't tell anyone
This will be fixed in the next update haha, Thanks for playing enough to get here though!
ye you should fix the tier 4 there ability to crash the game if opposing army will win is too op
what do you mean by yet? hmmmmmmmm sus
A way to keep going after 10 rounds would be great. An endless mode trying to get as high as possible sounds great.
We're looking into a good way to do this going forward. There isn't a great way to create armies that go past 30 turns at the moment but we'll try to figure it out!
cool
Love seeing someone starting to build off of SAP! Love some of the twists you've brought here, definitely mining more of the genre's potential.
Thanks! I really just wanted to see if the evolving mechanic would work in the format so I'm glad you've enjoyed them!
minechamp