Diplo Losses are Unreasonable!

I have lost thieves in bunches varying from 2000 to 7000. Out of multiple success missions, most were against inactive players with no diplo defense at all. I would keep an eye on my score and if there was an increase of score more than a few hundred, i would consider the last mission very lucky and not send any more missions to that town. 

That is a fair point Cuddlefuzz but the issue there is that the smaller the size u send, the bigger the advantage to the defender. Also, there is a certain amount of reality that should be reflected in the diplo attacks. If u send 100k theives to a town with 2k pop, then it is entirely reasonable to think that some of that number will get caught. The mission may even be a failure and they bring nothing back. However, it is totally unreasonable to think that all those diplos would get caught and die. Under the current game mechanic, there is a 1% chance that all 100k would die and 99% chance that all of them would get away and steal something.

I dislike theives as i feel the current mechanic allows too much room for little sniping attacks against new players and not enough scope for diplos to be a real offensive weapon in the hands of very large players. At the moment i could go around effectivly farming noobs with complete anonimity, especially since the follow the bird technique is no longer applicable. But if i build a large theif army i am guarenteed that they will get wiped out after 100 missions? that sucks.

I think that a system like what Prom is suggesting would probably lead to a much fairer system where you are more likely to get caught stealing and thus face the diplomatic repercussions. It could also make low level theiving more expensive and a much riskier proposition. But it would reward those willing to take the risks with a much bigger reward and allow theiving or sabbing to become more viable at the higher ends.

Maybe its just me but i don't like to see newer players getting robbed with no recourse but at the same time watch thousands of theives turn to dust on a suspended inactive.

Rill wrote: So you would prefer a higher risk of getting caught and lower losses each time?

Rill wrote: From a gameplay perspective, it makes sense to me that diplo missions should carry a higher risk in terms of failure because they are so much lower risk in terms of identification.  It helps make the game more balanced.

I fully concur with the thoughts of my esteemed colleague. I have lost over 3500 troops at about the same 100 to 1k ratio he cites in his post. While I also agree that those odds are OK, the enormous loss of troops seems inordinate to other areas of play here in Illy.

Why not consider an adjustment to make things a bit more equal to say military encounters. At least there one has a pretty good idea of what the troop losses might be and an all or none scenario is rare.

The game play would be much more enjoyable with some greater equity in this area. Appreciate your feedback.