That's impossible.  Transforming the current SP experience would mean making all sorts of sacrifices via a thorough "rebalancing", and in many ways you're not going to like (since you're against nerfing).  You may personally believe nothing should change, however, the gameplay mechanics have to be looked at completely differently now that every human player must each have a "fair" chance at winning. 

If this was a goofy light-hearted game like Minecraft, I'd say sure, switch this over to multiplayer and it'll be a blast.  But a delacate 4X TBS that is just now getting it right for single player?  I don't like it any more than you do (which is precisely why I'd never ask for this), but that's just the reality of it.

Chances of a stable LH multiplayer coming out in the next 1-4 months are pretty much 0.

Logically speaking, you're a -1.

-1

Would rather they make another expansion/more DLC.

I have to vote +1.

I don't have a lot of use for MP myself, but I have had three different family members and friends gush on about going at each other in those tactical battles.  In my opinion any MP version would have to be as badly imbalanced as it is now and players would just have to deal with it.  It would work out better in LAN situations where houserules might be easier to figure out and live with. 

I will leave it with a mention of a side conversation involving fireballing each other and an undue interest in impalement as a tactical strategy.  I could only reply that it gave me yet another reason not to multiplay with strangers.

Anyway, a vote on behalf of my friends.

-1.

For all the reasons stated in other posts.

This is like going into a pub and asking if alcohol should be banned. The people who like the game and avidly play it (enough to hang out at a dedicated forum) are the people who are fine with the game as it is. The people who would like multiplayer either skipped buying the game (pretty much all my Civ-playing friends except one) or lost interest quickly. Neither group will be posting in threads like this one.

Ban alcohol?!?! Out my pub, STALIN! (shakes beer mug in fury)

-1 

-1  

To much multiplayer stuff these days, good single play stuff is getting hard to find.

All the dev's time is usually taken up fixing and balancing mp and the single player suffers.

+1, and no nerfing needed. Rulesets for faction/trait usage would quickly evolve. Beastlord or no beastlord, etc.

Randomness would have to be lowered, though. As it is now the major random events, map, and drops would determine much of the outcome.

-Major random events need to be possible to tudn off.

-Map algorithm needs to be able to produce balanced maps in terms of city locations and resources.

-Drops must less determning. In my opinion it could even be used to balance the game so that the weaker the player the better the drops. This would encourage losing players stay in the game.

-Of course mechanic-breaking exploits must be fixed (pioneer queueing most of all).

-1 from me as well

OP, you're not going to get much support here, unfortunately. Most people who cared about MP abandoned the franchise a long time ago. None of my friends who bought the original WoM have even bothered installing FE or LH, let alone spend any time reading the forums. We all got it for some team-based comp-stomps like we used to do in FFH2 but the MP feature got removed in FE going forward, after never being finished in the original release.

Multiplayer would be fantastic and they could keep the focus/balance on single player, but I've long since given up hope of that happening. You're much better off patronizing companies that support the features you're looking for, like Paradox.

+4 to the OP (me + 3 of my friends who would buy this game in a snap if it had multiplayer).

To those who complain about balancing... Balances can EASILY be done by the community modders. Multiplayer cannot.

Hell, nobody said anything about PVP Multiplayer, as far as I'm concerned, Coop is in just as much in demand, and does absolutely not require any rebalancing

+1 Definitely.

The ONLY reason I'm not playing this game - is because I can't play with my friends.

I've haven't been interested in playing against the AI in a strategy game for years. Victory is certain - all it takes is a bit of practice, and you know exactly how to beat it - and the challenge is gone. It's inevitable.

Human opponents are much more unpredictable - and sharing a great game like this with friends is one of my favorite activities.

The balance issue is overblown - and it can be handled every which way.

People are just paranoid.

or experienced

I've been playing games with a passion for 30 years - and I don't think experience is the key to the resistance to MP.

Rather, I think MP can be handled well and it can be handled poorly.

Lots of grand strategy games have been fantastic - despite having multiplayer. Examples include Master of Orion 2, Age of Wonders, Heroes of Might and Magic - and so on.

It's all about how you implement it - and seeing as how Elemental was born with multiplayer - it's not exactly a gargantuan undertaking.

Don't mess around with balance too much - just let the players themselves decide what house rules to play with - and let them mod the hell out of the game.

The community can do the work - it's just the technical implementation of multiplayer we're missing.

So, no, I don't think experience is the reason for the resistance to MP.

I know lots of people don't care about MP (the majority, clearly) - but that's no reason to be so selfish and paranoid about MP and claim it will ruin everything. They could release it as an optional DLC and be done with it.

I'd pay full price for a MP FE:LH, actually - but that's just me.

+2 (I have two accounts)

-1

the core of a game for me are tactical battles, auto-resolve is not appealing to me (even if it worked), and i cannot see how you can implement tactical battles in a way that is entertaining (do others wait while you fight?)

It's already been settled with a no by the devs:

https://forums.elementalgame.com/447256/

"Multiplayer

We have a lot of requests for this.  Here’s the basic issue.  The tactical battle system in the Elemental games was not written in a way that allows for multiplayer. All the actions in it happen within its own box. The short version is that all the tactical battle stuff would have to be rewritten, from scratch, to have the tactical battles happen in multiplayer and that’s just not going to happen. That would be extremely expensive for us.  It’s not that we don’t think there should be multiplayer. It’s just a cost/benefit ratio (not just in terms of dollars but in terms of human assets that would have to be taken from other projects). It’s not something I’m happy about either."