[Ryastar]

Sleepy, Sleepy, Sleepy.

Riding this tired old horse again, are we? No matter how many times you beat it, it will still be dead. (yay for mixed metaphors).

[QUOTE=sleepy;62962]Pointing out a bunch of other broken or cheesy things somehow makes Dryads not broken or cheesy?

That's like someone pointing at other people mugging or rioting and trying to claim that his shoplifting is okay because there are worse offenses elsewhere. /QUOTE]

No, what Taltamir is saying, is that, compared to these other tactics, Dryads aren't that unbalanced, even if they were unbalanced to begin with.

Let me just sum up all the arguments why they are NOT unbalanced:

1. You won't get them until the latter half of the game, by which time, most units you face that are actually a threat are either undead, level four+, or immune to mind spells, which removes the only truely powerful ability that dryads posses.
2. Their damage SUCKS. 1-4 damage is absolutely brutally bad for their leadership value. Even Anga's ring doesn't help much. Though their pathetic speed, even with the ring (not enough to get them across the map unless you have tactic lvl 2) means they won't be in combat much (EDIT: at least in the first round, and by the end of the game, that starts to be the only round that really matters, cause most fights only last 2-3 rounds)
3. Their other abilities aren't amazingly stellar. Sure, summon thorns is nice, but thorns are really weak, and do fairly pathetic damage, though i'll admit, their distraction value is highly useful. No retal is nice, but their damage sucks, so it doesn't really matter. They have other minor abilities as well - elven song (only 1 charge, and only useful for elves, and let's face it, if you are using dryads, you're probably using sprites and wood fairies too, and they already have tons of initiative), and some others that i can't remember (i think +1 morale to ents and thorns, which aren't highly useful units, though they have their place and also some ability that makes humanoid males sometimes miss (annoying, but survivable)).

Let me also state the "it's a single player game" argument, as i understand it.
1. Since you are playing on your own, against the computer, you have the power to decide whether or not you use any given unit. So, to pick a totally random (cough, cough) example, say you don't like dryads, and think that using them makes the game too easy, DON"T USE THEM
2. You're probably now going to say, "but what about the dryads i will be fighting? I always lose against them". The answer to that is that, firstly, they won't show up in any more than 1% (at most) of all the battles you fight in the entire game, so, really, it shouldn't matter that much. Second, if you always lose against them, then adjust your tactics. This is one of the best features of the game. There is no troop combination that you can pick up at the beginning of the game and use until the end. The different areas force you to change your tactics. Eg: you get to Ellinia for the first time, and explore around. You notice that many of the troops in the area are weak against fire. You then go to the Land of Death, and discover that the undead also have somewhat of a weakness to fire. You see Red and Black dragons for sale there, so you buy them, and clear most of both areas with their tanking awesomeness coupled with their ability to hit several stacks (useful hint: ice thorns (lina ability) + red/black dragons = heavy damage with no retaliation). Next you boldly go to Demonis, ready to do some more Dragon ownage, only to find that demons are 50% immune to fire, and laugh in the collective faces of red and black dragons. (in case you couldn't tell, "you" here is me in my first game of KB). The game forces you to change your strategy against different foes. For Dryads, don't use level 1-3 troops, except undead or mind immune ones. Or focus your spells on neutralizing them (either with direct damage or blind lvl 1, or pygmy, or teleporting a stronger stack with high init (horsemen, for example) good and close to them, and watch the carnage. Or use your own dryads, cause they are lvl 2 units, and vulnerable to their own lulaby ability.

Does that about cover everything, Sleepy? This dead horse can`t take much more beating.