I still dont quite get the Henchmen. In my current game I have played a while and can easily make a group of 5 men riding on wargs using 20 attack swords. The Henchmen are nowhere near this quality. They were outperformed by my previous units with boar spear as well. I have 4 hero units and its enough.

But then I would need tons of magic to spare. My sov is a magician and I have tutelage and stuff on my heroes. I would soon run out of mana if I made Henchmen for the magic casting. 

K, so now we know how to get influence....but what in the world do you USE it for???

Yes, I know Altar needs it to build henchmen. (I think there was one other thing that you can use influence for too...ah yes...I think Kraxis can use it to 'buy' neighbouring cities).

As for the rest??? It sits there and grows? You can trade it away, to which every AI loves the stuff...but they can't use the stuff...is there any other use that I am not considering???

IDEA for Influence:

IMO, two things should be done with influence:

First, there should be a prestiege modifier based on the amount of empire influence you have. Perhaps +1prestiege/100influence. This way, if you use your influence, your prestiege drops....and if you don't, your prestiege increases. Now, currently everyone will hoard influence...but read on to point two in the next paragraph.

Heroes should COST influence instead of gold when obtaining their services! I've really thought about this one and I really think this would work very well. Afterall, influence is basically a type of 'gold'. It's a trading element that's not really attached to anything yet...so it could be attached to the purchasing of heroes. The following points can be considered in the intergration of it's design:

• Each faction should start off with 50 influence.
• Kraxis should start off with a bonus 1000 influence instead of the 1000 gold (which allows for 6 heroes...see below).
• The natural leader trait should decrease influence cost by half (instead of gold cost by full)
• The equation to Hiring a Hero = 50 + 50x influence where x=number of heroes, excluding your sovereign, that you control. (modify equation if sovereign has to be part of equation for code to work)
• A natural hero curve is now added to the game such that every time you want a hero, you must weigh the prestiege loss to your empire. This strategic decision magnifies depending on the number of heroes you have.
• An option now exists to buy the loyalty of opponents heros. Mercenaries do tend to do that sort of thing. The equation could be Bribe a Hero = 500 + 100x influence where x=number of heroes you control, excluding your sovereign. I'll admit, this equation needs balance, as Kraxis could be powerful if he stole your hero early game. In addition, a hero being bought with enemy troops in the same tile should initiate a combat where the hero has to fight his way to your side.
• Now, trading for influence can serve a twofold purpose. It's not useless anymore.
• A natural ceiling now also exists to the number of heroes that you can control. This places further emphasis on requiring troops in your empire as you may not have enough heroes to cover your turf.

As mentioned, I really think this could work. Comments? Thoughts? Show your appriciation if you like the idea, as that'll help get Stardock's attention when they consider the idea.

Thanks

Influence is something for nations with henchmen and the rest of us don't do much with it really.  

Great ideas GFireflyE!

All champions should not only cost influence, but also require it as an upkeep!!

Their wages should then increase as they level, and influence should be generated by certain city buildings!!!

Frogboy, what do you think about GFireflyE's ideas?

Interesting. I believe his point is we are speculating over things they had not meant to use influence for.

gildar for heroes and army upkeep.

metal for army production.

influence to hire henchmen, probably explained away that you lose diplomatic power as you hire more henchmen, kind of like stocking up on icbm's

mana for spells, and summons

food and production control how much gildar and construction speed you have.

still, i believe people would like to see a more complicated use of resources rather than one resource for one function.

hmm, sorry i guess i wan't clear.  You use gildar to pay for hero upgrades, which can get expensive when there are a lot of them. Helps keep henchmen in check a bit, except if you mass produce them as ranged army buffers, then they can be glass cannons.