(Part 2: Because apparently you can't write a post of more than 10,000 characters.)
Bird's Eye View:
- Slightly unclear on the mechanics here, which would play a major part in determining its balance. If it tells you what type of troop is most numerous, then it probably isn't too powerful. If it tells you the quantity of that troop type, it becomes noticeably more powerful (identifying city speciality, the type of defence being used on revolt, or giving an estimate of the amount of support in a siege on CQ).
- While it costs favour rather than normal resources, if gives an instant report, it seems noticeably more powerful than a spy report in some circumstances: instant information that completely bypasses any silver in the target city's cave, and presumably wouldn't trigger a report from an Oracle as it isn't strictly an espionage attempt.
Overall, hard to gauge without more detail on the mechanics. It could be generally weak, or it could be very strong in specific situations.
Ares' Rage:
- This spell seems a little powerful, but not to the same extent as the mythical units, and is heavily dependent on the attacking bonus assigned. At a 10% combat boost, it becomes a cheaper replacement for Favourable Wind.
- Anywhere between 5-10%, it's less cost-effective than Heroic Power, with the advantage being if an LS+OLU or LS+Flyer attack is going to hit combined defence (although only if naval defence is small, in the cast of LS+OLU).
Overall, dependent on the combat boost assigned. If 10%, the favour cost ought to be increased slightly, simply to stop it becoming a better version of Favourable Wind. If a lower percentage, it is probably balanced as it is. (The benefit of covering all units is countered by the lower percentage than either of the other spells, and by the game's combat system placing an emphasis on stronger individual attacks.) Given that there is a permanent token with almost this exact effect (just 1-10% stackable) which was presumably the inspiration for this spell, a different name would likely be a good idea.
Ares' Blessing:
- The cost-reduction variant is a tough call on balance. At 20%, and combined with favour-farming, it's basically free favour. (You save 98 favour on a full batch of DLU [assuming 500 favour capacity], or 85 favour on a batch of 5 harpies, so one full favour farming run would basically leave you ahead on favour.) At 10%, it would be less of a concern outside of Heracles favour-farming. The idea that you use favour to effectively get more favour with a different god is an interesting one - the developers actually blocked the previous mechanic for doing this (recruiting Divine Envoys, switching gods, then cancelling the recruitment) to stop people switching favour, so this could theoretically fall under a similar remit.
- The time-reduction variant is severely underpowered. Population Growth includes the recruitment of mythical unit, increasing the recruitment speed by 100% for only 80 favour.
The time-reduction variant is critically underpowered. The cost-reduction variant may be overpowered at 20%, but reasonable at 10%, depending on estimates of how much favour could be accumulated through favour farming in the duration of the spell.
Ares' Defence:
- Interesting concept but potentially on the powerful side (dependent on viable target units). It costs more than either Sea Storm or Zeus' Rage, but doubles the minimum impact and covers both land and naval units. (Making it particularly useful against CS packages or escorted OLU.)
- If CSs are viable, this becomes rather powerful. Covering both land and naval units, along with a higher minimum percentage means that the effect is much more likely to be over 170 population (allowing it to return the CS). If transports were included in the calculation, it raises the impact further, and presumably the algorithm would have to factor in troops that are returned if their transport is returned. The selection algorithm for land vs naval units could also impact the power. (If there was a chance of an OLU nuke's entire LS escort being wiped out, that makes it very powerful, whereas keeping it to approximately 20-30% of each of land and naval would be more balanced.)
Overall, an interesting spell, with balance heavily dependent on the viable units and the selection algorithm for which units are returned. If CSs are included, then possibly overpowered against CS packages. Weaker against pure LS, pure fliers, or overland OLU attacks.
Summary:
- The Amazon is basically overpowered. The strong attack and excessively cheap fav/pop. value of the Phoenix aren't exactly cancelled out by the undefined slow speed and the lack of a defence. The Phoenix's special ability seems hit-and-miss: a little too powerful when it works, but unlikely to work the majority of the time (particularly in the mid/late-game).
- The balance of Bird's Eye View and Ares' Defence are heavily dependent on currently-absent details about the spell mechanics. Ares' Blessing seems slightly overpowered in the former variant, and practically useless in the latter variant. Ares' Rage is the simplest of the spells, and could be balanced by a slight increase in favour cost and/or using the lower values for the attack boost, but would be a simply superior version of Favourable Wind in its current state.
It's always great to see new ideas. This might be harsh, but I thought it was worth giving a detailed analysis and comparison with existing myths/spells, as opposed to a "this good" or "this bad" post that would be unlikely to spark conversation. They key is balance, really - it sounds fun to dream up a super-unit that can outclass the majority of other units in the game, but in reality it would lead to a tactical monoculture. The Grepolis wiki has a helpful table of units with all their important values (
Grepolis Wiki - Units), which can help when trying to balance out new unit ideas.