DomiNations v9.12 Update

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Greetings Leaders,
Get ready for battle this update; we have a significant balance pass coming to all of our Barracks Troops and updates to our World War Matchmaking. We have a lot to go over, so let's get straight to it.


Barracks Troops
All Barracks Troops are receiving changes to increase their effectiveness and help bring them on par with Factory Troops.



Heavy Infantry
  • Upon reaching Industrial Age, the following changes happen
    • Attack Radius: Increased slightly
    • Favorite Target: changed from “Any” -> “Buildings.”
    • Hitpoints: Increased moderately
    • Movement Speed: Increased slightly
    • Fire Rate: Increased slightly
      • The old version of this unit dealt less damage to Infantry. We are removing this negative modifier (allowing the soldier to do full damage to Infantry) and giving this unit double damage against Walls and Buildings.
Dev Comments: The Heavy Infantry currently loses a lot of its potential as more troops are introduced over later ages, especially with its reduced damage dealt to infantry. We wanted to give the Heavy Infantry a more defined role as a plentiful building destroyer.




Ranged Infantry
  • Upon reaching Industrial Age, the following changes happen
    • Attack Radius: Increased slightly
    • Hitpoints: Increased slightly
    • Damage: Increased slightly
    • Damage Bonus Amount: Increased (against Defenders)
Dev Comments: Similar to the Heavy Infantry, the Ranged Infantry had a tendency to lose value as more and more troops became introduced and ended up being one of the weakest scaling units in the game. After the rebalance, not only does the troop scale much better into late-game, but it is also able to play a little safer with its slightly increased range.





Heavy Cavalry
  • Upon reaching Industrial Age, the following changes happen (on top of the existing Tank changes)
    • Favorite Target: Defensive Buildings
    • The old version of this unit dealt reduced damage to Resource Buildings. We are removing this negative modifier and replacing it with double damage against Defensive Buildings.
Dev Comments: Once the Heavy Tank becomes a feasible alternative to the Heavy Cavalry, we found it outperformed the Heavy Cavalry in nearly every respect. This left the Heavy Cavalry without a role, and we are fixing that with a significant health increase, as well as a bonus damage against its primary target, defensive buildings. This will help solidify its role as a frontline unit that can not only take a lot of damage but also deal it right back.



Raiders
  • Upon reaching Industrial Age, the following changes happen
  • Hitpoints: Increased moderately
  • Damage Bonus: Increased moderately
  • Attack Speed: Increased slightly
Dev Comments: Ranged Cavalry have a very defined role. They have always been good at destroying economic buildings and only OK at doing anything else. We feel it is important to maintain their iconic strength and give them a little more edge to allow them to perform optimally in their role.



Supply Wagon
  • The following changes happen once the unit reaches Industrial Age:
    • Troop Space: Increased from 8 -> 10
    • Attack Radius: Decreased from 5 -> 1.5
      • Dev Comment: The radius change can look like a nerf on the surface, but the reason for this change is so the Supply Wagon benefits from its self-healing ability at a steady, predictable rate. The regular unit healing here will make this a tankier unit that can stay in the fight a bit longer.
  • Hitpoints: Increased by a considerable amount
  • Damage: Increased slightly
  • Damage Bonus: Increased slightly
Dev Comments: The Supply Vehicle performs well at earlier ages but isn’t performing as well in later stages of the game. After these changes, the Supply Wagon should not only scale better, but upon reaching the Industrial Age, it will change some of its strengths. The Supply Vehicle will lose over half of its range, but in return, it will receive a huge health boost, and its newly reduced range will allow it to be hit by its own heal throw frequently. That said, it will never target itself with its own heals, only its allies.



Wall Breacher
  • All Ages of Wall Miner will have a “Damage Received from Towers” buff that scales with Age.
    • Note: The amount here will scale, starting with a smaller gain at Classical to a more significant amount in Information
  • Once the unit reaches Industrial Age:
    • Troop Space: Increased from 4 -> 5
    • Increase Damage Bonus
    • Increases Splash Radius
    • The Explosion will now hit all enemy Defenders and Buildings in the Area-of-Effect range of the explosion.
      • Additional Info:
        • The Troop’s built-in Damage Bonus will not enhance the explosion damage to Buildings and Defenders.
        • All existing buffs (Museum, Library, University, etc.) that affect Damage will affect both Satchel Charge and Breaching Axe firing modes.
Dev Comments: The Wall Miner’s job is almost exclusively to find and destroy a high-priority Wall. We have found that currently, the Wall Miner seldom reaches its target due to its lack of health, and when it does reach the Wall, it frequently does not completely destroy the Wall. We are giving it a scaling damage reduction from Towers to increase their success rate for reaching the target Wall and increasing the explosion damage to generally destroy an unbuffed, same-age wall. Additionally, we wanted to reward players even more for reaching a Wall, so we gave the explosion’s blast area the ability to hit enemy Troops and Buildings.


Ranged Siege
  • Upon reaching Industrial Age, the following changes happen
    • Troop Space: Increased from 10 -> 12
    • Attack Radius: increased from 5 -> 7
    • Hitpoints: Increased slightly
    • The old version of this unit dealt a smaller amount of damage to infantry. We are removing this negative modifier and replacing it with double damage against buildings. This means it will deal its full damage to infantry.
    • Reduced Damage Received from all defensive towers that scales with Age.
      • This starts to scale from a small amount in the Industrial Age, increasing gradually per age until a player reaches Information Age.
Dev Comments: The Ranged Siege has always been good at its job, but we’re taking its strengths and increasing them exponentially. Its Attack Radius is now 7, which is the same range as the old Attack Helicopter, and changing its Damage Bonus to increase damage dealt on Buildings. Additionally, we’re adding a scaling Damage Reduction from Towers to the Ranged Siege to truly solidify its position in battle. It will remain vulnerable to enemy defenders, so it is vital to protect this unit with other allies in battle.



Mortar Troops
  • All Ages:
    • Favorite Target: Defenders
    • Damage Bonus: Defenders
    • Damage Bonus Amount: Increased greatly
  • Upon reaching Industrial:
    • Attack Radius: Increased from 4 -> 5
    • Damage: Increased slightly
  • Increased projectile speed
Dev Comments: Mortar Troops have always been an interesting unit to play. Its undefined role and ‘Any’ targeting turned this unit into a jack of all trades but master of none. With the changes moving forward, the Mortar Troops will be a master of defender destroying. Their attacks will deal an incredible amount of damage to defenders, which is balanced out by the lower health of this unit. Additionally, we found the projectile took too long to land at its target, and by the time it did land, the target had often moved from the targeted location entirely. We’ve increased the projectile speed to ensure this does not impact the Mortar Troop’s effectiveness to such an extent.


Attack Helicopter
Updated 3/16 10:03 AM:
Fixed the range listed incorrectly in the patch notes to reflect the values in-game. The intended Rocket Range is 6, and the Machine Gun range is 4. Sorry for any confusion this caused.
  • All Ages:
    • Changed primary target from Buildings to Any
    • Attack Helicopter now has two firing modes which are chosen based on which type of unit the Heli is currently attacking.
      • Rocket:
        • Used against buildings
        • Attack Range - 6
      • Machine Gun:
        • Used against defenders
        • Attack Range: 4
        • Damage bonus to defenders
        • Suppresses units hit by Machine Gun
        • Targets via cone damage which can hit multiple units
          • Note: All existing buffs (Museum, Library, University, etc.) that affect Damage will affect both Machine Gun and Rocket firing mode
Dev Comments: The Attack Helicopter will be the most versatile unit next to the Heavy Tank. Its medium-range Machine Gun will only be used when targeting Defenders, and its long-range Rocket will trigger when targeting Buildings. We're also increasing the Health significantly to increase the time it can stay on the battlefield while putting pressure on base defenses.


Assault Vehicle
  • All Ages:
    • Troop Space decreased: 12-> 10
    • Hitpoints: Increased greatly
    • Favorite Target: Defenders - before: Any
    • Damage Bonus Amount: Increased
    • Now has a small splash damage effect
    • Attack Speed increased
      • Dev Note: This unit now receives extra healing from Supply Carts and Tactical Helicopters
Dev Comments: This Troop is having its role tweaked to primarily target defenders, and will be awarded the same damage bonuses as the Heavy Tank, meaning the AFV will deal considerable bonus damage to Tanks, Buildings, Walls, and Generals. Also, by increasing its Attack Speed, its damage output rivals that of the Heavy Tank!




Barracks Troop cost update
All Barracks Troops will cost Oil to Train after their Industrial Age Upgrade is complete.
Dev Note: These troops are now near-equivalent to Factory units in damage, so the cost was updated to reflect their new power.




7 Day discount Event
To celebrate the balance changes coming in 9.12, we will be featuring a 7 Day Barracks Troops discount event. This event will cut the cost of Barracks Troops’ upgrades by 50% and will go live shortly after 9.12 is released.



World War Matchmaking
The World War Matchmaking server-side updates began rolling out shortly before the release of 9.12 and have now been deployed to all players. As stated in our previous message, our goal is to improve the quality of matchups that Alliances are seeing in World War. The first wave of these changes will lead to more competitive matches and reduce scenarios where players are paired with higher age and experience levels.


Recap of the Changes:
  • We’ve increased the timing windows for matchmaking. While this may increase the time it takes to find a match, it should lead to more competitive games in World War.
  • We’ve also made a few under-the-hood adjustments to our matchmaking values that will impact how Alliances are measured against each other. As mentioned above, our goal is to improve the competitive balance when squaring up in War, leading to more competitive battles and fewer matchups where the War might be out of reach due to either Age or Level imbalance.
We will be keeping a close eye on our data and player feedback once the changes are live, so let us know your thoughts in this thread or the DomiNations feedback forum here. We’re curious to hear how you like the changes to Troops as well as your experience with World War once you’ve had a chance to fight a few wars with your Alliance.
 
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That makes no sense whatsoever. If they're going to put helicopter TTs on sale they'll do it no matter what changes are made to the trainable ones. Increasing their troop space solves multiple problems with a simple change to one number.
 
People keep saying the Helicopters are OP. One of the most feared troops in real life is the Apache helicopter. They are seriously powerful and I am glad they are getting their due.

I personally disagree with all barracks troops requiring oil after Industrial Age. I would think that Heavy Infantry, Riflemen and mortars are still primarily people bases units and should still be food trained. Helicopters, tanks, trucks, motorcycles, assault vehicles make sense as oil troops though.

In general, I am glad for the update. I do want to echo the “please add a 3rd armory slot” rhetoric again. To many upgrades to do now. A 3rd slot would seriously help us out.
 
Ironically, the Stronghold troop tactic that is actually named Apache helicopter didn't get any stat changes with this update, only the generic "Attack helicopter" troop tactic, which probably shares some hidden identifier with the trainable one.
 
@BHG team,

How about running museum crafting events for both Main & War so we can get some benefit boosts for Barrack troops now that you want to make them relevant again?
 
Ha ha you find this good, refreshing,.... I find this making a game very borring. Just drop choppers from 1 side and use sabotage. No skill, no nothing. Every base drop in very quick time. How is this good. Play games on very easy level if you dont like a challenge, because now there is no.
 
One important thing I would like Nexon BHG to consider: In a few short days, the Huey Armament System is going to become available for 300 legendary tokens. For many (like me) this required saving tokens for months and months.

If they are going to nerf Attack Helicopters, please announce that. Otherwise, we basically all have to spend the 300 tokens to remain competitive, and if they nerf later it would really really suck.

Also, I know many folks are using crowns and speedups to upgrade their Armory, Attack Helicopters, Barracks, etc. Again, folks are spending money on this stuff right. If they are going to nerf Attack Helicopters, it is better to announce that NOW rather than later.
 
When they finally got around to nerfing the Eisenhower helicopter troop tactic, the numerical reduction was not huge. The new version is still a great troop tactic, just not as far out ahead of all the others as the old version. If this is any guide, I would expect an attack helicopter nerf to be small to moderate and still leave the unit quite viable and formidable. In this event, the Huey Armament System would remain a solid buy for AH users but not a mandatory one for everybody.

This is just my guess as to how this will play out. Take it as you will.
 
Fantastic update. Finally we can start using more and different troops. Interesting to see many old hats in the comments still complaining about everything, weh weh weh. Seriously 🙄.
keep up the good updates, There’s enough in this update to keep us going for at least a year. Troop upgrades and trial with various combos. Got a lot of upgrading to do, barrack still in atomic age 🤣🤣
 
"Good Job"
Attack helicopters fly over walls - WHY are the walls and bastions in the game? Unnecessary.
Attack helicopters don't activate traps (except for S.A.M. and G.C.I.) - WHY are the traps in the game? Unnecessary.
Attack helicopters don't summon reinforcements from Town centre - WHY should we send reinforcements? Unnecessary.
Favorite target - ANY. Just drop off the helicopters and wait a minute and a half. They are like a robotic vacuum cleaner.
Two types of Damage - rockets against Buildings and machine gun against Defenders. Where is the third type? Against Deers and Rabbits?
More HP of Helicopters - the winner of the fight Helicopter vs. Tower is.............................Helicopter!!!!!!! Congratulations!!!!!!
Low troop space - you can have 21 Helicopters and 8 more reinforcements. Map full of Helicopters, nothing but helicopters.
​​​​​​​BRAVO!!!! THIS IS THE FUTURE OF THE DOMINATIONS! OR BETTER HELIDOMINATIONS!
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One important thing I would like Nexon BHG to consider: In a few short days, the Huey Armament System is going to become available for 300 legendary tokens. For many (like me) this required saving tokens for months and months.

If they are going to nerf Attack Helicopters, please announce that. Otherwise, we basically all have to spend the 300 tokens to remain competitive, and if they nerf later it would really really suck.

Also, I know many folks are using crowns and speedups to upgrade their Armory, Attack Helicopters, Barracks, etc. Again, folks are spending money on this stuff right. If they are going to nerf Attack Helicopters, it is better to announce that NOW rather than later.


Leviathan TheWise Can we have an official statement about all this? If a nerf will come and when?
 
Only one thing will help to make armies diverse - to limit the number of identical units. And to start with Eisenhowers - only one on the battlefield, any troop-cards type - only one, and no more than half of any units from the barracks / factory. But the years go by and they don't.
 
Huey Armament System will now not be on sale at Marco Polo next week. See today's announcement in this forum. Presumably they will wait until after the attack heli has been readjusted to put it back on sale.
 
Putting arbitrary number caps on units isn't the only way to make armies diverse. That's the lazy way out. The better way to do it is to make each unit have clear battlefield roles that complement each other rather than being good at everything. Then players will use diverse armies because it's optimal, not because they are forced to.
 
If u guys want players to upgrade all barrack troops at armory u need to bring 3rd and 4th slot for armory upgrades bcs armory is a huge bottleneck :(
 
If u guys want players to upgrade all barrack troops at armory u need to bring 3rd and 4th slot for armory upgrades bcs armory is a huge bottleneck :(

👆 Yes this makes total sense. 💯

I haven't even considered upgrading most of Barracks troops since Atomic Age. I'm Info now.

Ayo please relay this message to appropriate sources, we've been asking for it since 2018.
 
If u guys want players to upgrade all barrack troops at armory u need to bring 3rd and 4th slot for armory upgrades bcs armory is a huge bottleneck :(

it’s always a question where are you coming from in the game. I am upgrading field mortars and MBT at armory cause everything else is finished. Another one or two slots might be an option anyway.
 
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