Talk:Berbers/Strategy/@comment-27291286-20151130010025

Basic math will put you in the ballpark for balancing things, but you also specifically need a basic understanding of statistics in order to benefit from playtesting, which is the main way games are balanced. You don't need university level maths, but you do need to be objective in your interpretation of results, which even university level maths students can mess up.

I assume that since you're planning on making a game, you are sufficiently math aware, but not necessarily good with statisistics.

It's also difficult because it's a group effort, and people disagree vehemently even when they are all pretty clever.

As a starting point I'd decide:

- whether counters are hard or soft

- whether the counter system is artificial or emergent (artificial as in damage bonuses are introduced, emergent as in a unit counters another due to an interaction in mechanics)

- whether units are balanced at an individual or holistic level. If you're planning for holistic, it's okay if celtish mangonel is OP so long as the celts pay for it by having a weakness somewhere else

- how conservative you're going to be. SC:BW was very liberal with balance, making everything OP and then seeing how it worked out. SCII is more conservative, in that units aren't quite as insane. Basically it comes down to whether you're buffing to reach equilibrium, or nerfing. Conservative approaches are highly recommended for games with a large number of races.

Goodluck :)