I want to start of by saying I enjoy the game in general, it been the first of these type of games I really enjoyed since the famous Dungeon Keeper from bullfrog.
But I have a nagging feeling that every time I play, I am going the exact same route in Index dungeonis. While in truth I kind of want to change around use prison, monster den and other units for that matter, just often feel like there no winning factors to encourage it. Looking at it more closely for instance:
Prison 3 points: Allows to keep heroes for ransom money, while this does seem good at first glance, is it really worth given up a Champion/ratman or Forge + tier 2 weapon upgrades in comparison, when money is so easy to come by. One could claim but well money will make buying the 150gold extra unit slot easier, but if we look at it you need at least between 2-3 extra storage unit to have enough material to make treasure rooms to actually keep more than 50 gold.
Monster's den 5 points: Feel like its exactly same situation as above you give up potentially strong buffs for gold which already very easy to get by, to actually reap the bonuses I would have to spend 10 index points into it, 5 to get monster den and 5 to get a minotaur to camp it up, which I could get 2 of the tier 3 weapon upgrades for.
Looking at the two examples above just to point out this I rarely have any use of gold through the duration of the game as far as I have experience putting the 10gold to unlock first extra unit slot up and 50g for the 3rd and 150g for the final, again these are easy to get by other means except for the last, but the amount of materials needed to build treasure rooms enough to store gold for it, you would usually have the gold by other means by then. Leaving you with a prison or monster den with not other practical use.
What I am trying to get at is could it be possible to balance prices of index points a bit better accordingly to what use the item or structure is to you, and generally across the board its usefulness. When certain index point abilities so widely outshine the others I feel like I am going down same path constantly, not really thinking about the alternatives and not really get the variation out of picking differently which I suppose was part the point in the system, besides letting players stick together a setup matching their playing style.
But I have a nagging feeling that every time I play, I am going the exact same route in Index dungeonis. While in truth I kind of want to change around use prison, monster den and other units for that matter, just often feel like there no winning factors to encourage it. Looking at it more closely for instance:
Prison 3 points: Allows to keep heroes for ransom money, while this does seem good at first glance, is it really worth given up a Champion/ratman or Forge + tier 2 weapon upgrades in comparison, when money is so easy to come by. One could claim but well money will make buying the 150gold extra unit slot easier, but if we look at it you need at least between 2-3 extra storage unit to have enough material to make treasure rooms to actually keep more than 50 gold.
Monster's den 5 points: Feel like its exactly same situation as above you give up potentially strong buffs for gold which already very easy to get by, to actually reap the bonuses I would have to spend 10 index points into it, 5 to get monster den and 5 to get a minotaur to camp it up, which I could get 2 of the tier 3 weapon upgrades for.
Looking at the two examples above just to point out this I rarely have any use of gold through the duration of the game as far as I have experience putting the 10gold to unlock first extra unit slot up and 50g for the 3rd and 150g for the final, again these are easy to get by other means except for the last, but the amount of materials needed to build treasure rooms enough to store gold for it, you would usually have the gold by other means by then. Leaving you with a prison or monster den with not other practical use.
What I am trying to get at is could it be possible to balance prices of index points a bit better accordingly to what use the item or structure is to you, and generally across the board its usefulness. When certain index point abilities so widely outshine the others I feel like I am going down same path constantly, not really thinking about the alternatives and not really get the variation out of picking differently which I suppose was part the point in the system, besides letting players stick together a setup matching their playing style.