its not really intuitive that peasants would choose to fight naked either. It's just absurd. Axes are also something peasants have laying around.
Then give it to attackers too.
My point (that you seem to be cleverly ignoring) is that the free gear shouldn't be 0 quality, it should be -2. And it should be the cheapest gear, not a few tiers up from the cheapest. scythes cost 32 gold each, tridents cost 2 gold each. free gear that players get should be the cheap stuff, not stuff that is 16 times more expensive.
Funny how he made this thread AFTER (faction) getting reckt in battle.
Two things, I can't even fight in strat battles (new son and all), so I really don't care one way or another. I'm a forum whore at work, and this goes with the territory (spouting opinions and arguing).
Secondly, we bought gear for an attack (we spent a pretty decent amount for this early on) thinking we were attacking an unarmed army (which we knew could easily get reinforced with gear/troops). And we lost that battle. Then we got attacked and we won that battle because we got free gear.
I'm not spouting my opinion because I'm mad, glad or sad. It has nothing to do with any battle outcomes, this is my opinion as a player that free gear is bad. But if you're going to give people free gear, then give them the cheapest gear, not gear that is 16 times more expensive than the cheapest gear. I can certainly see that you may be unable to separate your feelings from your opinions, but I am and do all the time.