I think that one of the scariest things for a new player to the game is feeling like they can never get ahead, or even have a chance to succeed when they are alone and getting bottom fed. When that happens, most will likely quit. Not all, in fact we are all the result of the tenacity required to get through being bottomfed and heavily outnumbered. Every one of us likely has stories of how they succeeded against all odds and how awesome it was.
To make this game friendlier to the players who are far worse at it, while not making it op, and while not affecting strong players, is certainly a challenge. But I do have a way that can work.
The idea is a comeback mechanic that works by making weak players stronger and able to grow faster, while not hurting top players. It would work like this:
Every kingdom at or below 10% of the top kingdom would have a production bonus. 3x faster mines, mills, farms, forges, markets, and unit training.
This would mean that right now, with the top player having 35421ks, only players at rank 76 and lower, at a ks of 3200 would get this bonus. What it would effectively do is allow those players to be able to hit players about 3x their size as if they were their size. It also means that they would be much more likely to defend against bf attacks, but that they would be even against players their size or below.
Then it would go up in tiers to a max of 40% of the ks of the top kingdom.
0-10% - x3 bonus
11-20% - x2.5 bonus
21-30% - x2 bonus
31-40% - x1.5 bonus
Currently that would mean that
3200 ks could hit into 9600 ks
3.5k -> 10.5k
7k -> 17k
10.5k -> 21k
14k -> 21k
This would prevent any 1 kingdom from running away with really high ks, and keep the top players relatively similar. It allows small player to grow quicker. The down side is that multis that don't get caught are better at feeding. Keep in mind that the numbers can be tweaked, but the mechanic is what's important.
It's a thought, but every idea needs heavy scrutiny and outside perspectives to poke holes and point out ways that it can suck.
Now lets hear you guys tear it apart haha
