Atlantis and upkeep/supply

[The Panther]

Edi said:
Sea trolls and normal trolls both cost upkeep for a very good reason: both are site recruitables from Troll Pit

Edi

That is a truly lame reason for making summoned trolls cost upkeep. The summoned ones ought to be free, and they could make the recruitable ones cost upkeep or not. I suppose this might be a tricky programming task, and that is perhaps why the developers took the easy way out on this.

Having some summons cost upkeep while most are free is not very balanced. It is a sad tribute to the weakness of water gems vs. other gem types that the best amphibious water summons are abysimally weak and even cost gold to maintain. At least there are many, many good earth summons besides trolls, and earth trolls are a Last resort summons to be used only in extremis when you need a quick army but don't have the superior earth summons researched yet.

Either ALL summons should cost or NONE should. A half-baked measure is not a good idea. Myself, I favor the idea that all summons should cost upkeep so as to make national troops a bit more attractive for use beyond the early or mid game.