fighting worms

So here are the screenshots of the reports:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B63EjveXN5tPanJZdWlUakJBN3c/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B63EjveXN5tPVUxZY2p4c1hqaWc/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B63EjveXN5tPbG1DU3NqMWU2TWM/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B63EjveXN5tPQTJOcFdmZXNxdWM/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B63EjveXN5tPczNhaVRjUW9MYlk/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B63EjveXN5tPVEVIc0FUNXl0bG8/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B63EjveXN5tPSVdXWkdRUm9zZnM/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B63EjveXN5tPcGNOendHZ0hjdTQ/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B63EjveXN5tPNzBHdzhQdTF5dEU/view?usp=sharing

A lot of work though - I hope that I have hit exactly those reports :)

I have summarized the results seen in the pictures in the excel files I posted previously and have marked there the results that bother me in red. If you want me to link those to the screenshots I have taken at your request - the screenshots are taken in the same order that is in the tables - so these are sreenshot № 3, 4, 5 that show my losses in fighting worms 12 days ago, and screenshot № 8, 9 that show yesterday's fighting similar groups of worms with a stronger hero and stronger army. Yesterday's losses are greater. I cannot state things more clearly than that and hope that you can tell me what's the difference because obviously there are factors affecting the fights which I don't know, and cannot take into account in building my strategy.

I have been level 31 with Thor for some time now and was coping with worms quite well but recently despite having grown my army I am sustaining more losses. I take a mixed army of well over 250 units around with me nearly all that can be upgraded have been with level 3 armour and weapons including ballista and am playing leaderism so they should be at full strength. I don't know how people playing communality cope.I would not expect to lose units like I do. There seems too much of a jump up in difficulty killing from birdhouses to worms. Something must have changed either in hero power or worm strength as quite a few others have commented on the forum or private chat about the same thing.

I don't see anything unusual, that's why I am asking, maybe I am looking in the wrong place. If you want to understand fight mechanics better - take a look at "replay" - it shows fighting step by step and you can see which unit does how much damage against whom. The fighting is not as simple as summing up the HP.

12 days ago when fighting 2 groups of worms my losses were 7 and 9 units, in the last fight when my hero was a level up and my army grew in number, fighting 2 similar groups of worms (the second was even less strong than before) my losses were 17 and 14 units - more than double. This is the unusual thing for me and that's why I asked had anything changed in army strength or worms' strength. In order to make as best comparison as possible I made the effort to find for the second set of fights in all my 7 towns the same in strength groups of  worms and to fight them in the same sequence so as to exclude the influence of other factors. The result is clear - my losses are more than double than before.

My husband and myself are seeing the same thing! I was telling him last week what troops to use in order to kill the worms without killing the hero...then this week no matter what I used, my hero and multiple troops died! There is clearly a difference in the strength (or weakness) of hero and or worms. Since I cannot seem to post the reports, you will just have to take my word for it! :) 

Lucille - Spreadsheet #5 for 11/6/2014 shows battle for both dendrogs and worms. Except for this report, your findings seem to verify what I said above. As your hero increases in strength, you are fighting more larger worms and less smaller ones. I might be wrong but I think it is much easier to kill two small blue worms than one large gold one, even though the total HP may add up to be the same. This report also shows you what dies in a worm battle and what survives in one :)

Lucille - Spreadsheet #5 for 11/6/2014 shows battle for both dendrogs and worms. Except for this report, your findings seem to verify what I said above. As your hero increases in strength, you are fighting more larger worms and less smaller ones. I might be wrong but I think it is much easier to kill two small blue worms than one large gold one, even though the total HP may add up to be the same. This report also shows you what dies in a worm battle and what survives in one :)

Yes, it is so, but if you look at all the pictures and the tables, you can see that 12 days ago I had fought first muscards and birdhouses and just afterwards I fought worms successively. Since I cannot change the past battles, in the new group of battles I tried to simulate the same situation for the sake of better and more authentic comparison. So that in the new group of battles I found similar in strength muscards and birdhouses, battled them first, and afterwards there was a fight with similar groups of worms. Of course I couldn't find absolutely the same kind of worms in a group, so I tried at least to find a group with the same HP (by the way, the second worm group in the new battle was weaker than in the first case). Meanwhile I leveled up my hero and increased Army defense, army number and hero strength and  reasonably expected that my losses would be at least the same or just a little bit greater, but by no means more than double. Sorry but I don't have the time to go back through all reports  for the time 2 or 3 weeks ago and simulate new battles so as to prove my point - I thought this proof would be enough.

 Of course I couldn't find absolutely the same kind of worms in a group, so I tried at least to find a group with the same HP

Of course as you increase in level, the battles will become more difficult. What more can be expected? As I said previously, adding up total HP in a battle will not give you an accurate picture of the difficulty. The trick is not always to adjust army size, (my heroes have never had to bring a large army to a worm battle) but instead to check your battle reports and use the more effective group against the tougher monsters. My thoughts are that you should not assume that tougher monsters or lost battles are an issue to report, but instead an opportunity to adjust your battle or playing style.

How about if the worms (the biggest, baddest of the homegrown baddies so far) left better droppings?  lol  A 500 point research vial or 15 resource units, isn't much of a reward for losing troops if you are a maxed out hero who doesn't need the experience points to level up.  Just a suggestion.  :-)

Since apparently I had posted too much data here and I cannot expect that everybody has time enough to spare reading many reports and looking at many pictures, now I will compare only 2 battles with worms - 16 days ago and today. In both cases I fought with ABSOLUTELY THE SAME  group of worms - 2 big, 1 medium and 1 small. To make things easier I give summary report for comparison between my army in the battle before and in today's battle

1. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B63EjveXN5tPR1JkMlZ6STlkSGM/view?usp=sharing

For those that doubt here are screenshots of the two battles

2. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B63EjveXN5tPZi1paWN1X1lEVWs/view?usp=sharing

3. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B63EjveXN5tPcndrUHlKSWJTTzg/view?usp=sharing

Comparing the 2 battles, the result is - 9 units lost in the first battle, 14 units lost in the second

There are the following  differences in army and hero strength between the 2 battles:

     HERO STRENGTH: hero lvl 27 in the first, hero lvl 28 in the second

     ARMY STRENGTH: after hero leveling up I used the skill points to increase Army defense and Hero strength for the second battle. Army was increased in number by 33 units - details in the first link 

     ARMY STUFF: The major difference in army stuff are the 5 battering rams that took part in the first battle and didn't take part in the second one. Battering rams by definition don't fight with land units, they are used against enemy fortification. Since I have tracked all detailed reports of battles where there are battering rams, and didn't see that they suffer hits or deliver hits to the monsters, I decided not to roll them back and forth and for the second battle left them behind. There is 1 monkey and 1 explorer more in the army for the first battle, but I don't think they are the forces that make the serious difference.

If I can sum up the results - after increasing army defense and number, hero level and strength my losses in the second battle are 64% more than before. If my army was absolutely the same in number and strength as in the first battle, my losses in the second battle should be much more - more than double as was shown in the previous examples.

The possible reasons for such a result, in my opinion, can be:

1. When Hero levels up, he/she or the army becomes less powerful against worms - for me this doesn't make sense at all.

2. The different types of worms - small, medium and big - have more strength than 16 days ago. If so devs should inform us, because when I click on a worm, it has the same HP as before.

3. Despite that they are siege weapons, the battering rams somehow are calculated or in fact take part in a battle with worms - if so, then the detailed battle reports are wrong. (I do not even try to discuss one monkey and one explorer as a factor.)

4. There is some unknown factor in the battles - if so, i wonder how someone can create an effective strategy at all.

From my experience until 2 weeks ago I could tell that more ballistas and archers accompanied by enough units like centurions, legionaires, braves and cavemen to defend them from worms and to serve as cannon meat is enough for a battle with not too much losses, but this is no longer true

If somebody can see a factor that influences the battle with worms which I have missed, I am open to suggestions. Or to an explanation why at present I have more lost units  than before.

Lucille, I am only going to post once more on this thread. Your hero is fighting, losing a few warriors, and surviving. This is good. SO .... why the issue?

I only took the time to look at the first battle you posted. Everything you sent against the worms is the same except that in the second battle you added many more legionnaires and centurions.... things that maybe don't survive well against worms? The additional losses are there. So... when you added more fighters that are weak against worms, what happened? They died. Why send them if your reports clearly show they are bad survivors in this battle - and then you are baffled because your losses increased?

It seems that the consensus is that ballista is the best weapon for worms.  Is the same true for hand root?