Besides some technical issues that were reported I want to talk purely about the gameplay changes especially in update 36906.
First of all I think the patching frequency needs tweaking. This game has been living from its stability and constancy for 20 years. People could be inactive for long periods of time, come back and they would still find a similar game with only 1 or 2 patches to catch up to in recent times. It also heavily interferes with tournaments. Releasing a ballance patch one day before or even in between a tournament is just bad. It would be way better to have maybe two patches a year with a set release date so organizers can adapt to that.
I know that after release the game was in an unfinished state so there were more changes necessary but it would be more reasonable to focus on the new civs and on the technical problems. besides that the ballance should be adressed more cautiously. At the moment it really feels like some trial and error procedure and I think this old game doesnt deserve that treatment.
Now about the actual changes
I like the changes to melee UU because their viability has been a long standing issue. So the buffs to Leiti and Teutonic Knight get a big plus from me. I also love the change to Boyar. It just makes sense to make a unit with more armor slower.
The nerf to Persians was dearly needed. Good job on that.
Italian fishing ships now cost 64 food which is a good fix.
Production speed of Fire Galleys is nerfed. That change is on a weird middle ground where it will probably not change anything on hybrid maps because fire galleys are still so superior in low numbers. However on full water maps that mightly slightly incentivise an earlier switch to war galleys. I like how suttle this change is because it has potential to flip the water meta around.
What has to be noted tho is that this is an indirect buff to Vikings who are already the S-tier civ on water maps together with italians. Now after the italians nerf Vikings might also need some tweaking or there is the possibility that they reign supreme.
Goths get Loom for free. good idea but the wording in the patch notes is again super unclear. Its the same wording like when Chinese got block printing but that got fixed back then.
Indian Shore Fishers are being nerfed. I like that change because it destroyed the meta on some maps. Its worth thinking about removing that bonus alltogether to allow map creators to have a fast and civ-neutral food source that they implement on their maps. While it would still not change anything on standard maps like arabia.
Torsion engines gives Skorpions more aoe. before that didnt really do anything substantial anyways. Altho i am asking myself if thats really an issue since the civ is already really strong and this wont come into effect in 99% of the games. If it is actually gonna make Skorpions very strong then I wouldnt understand why Etiopians needed that buff.
I like the idea behind the change to Stirrups for Cavalier and removing Paladins. Its making their civ a lot more unique. Sadly itcrazy overpowered pretty unballanced if its actually buffing the damage output of Cavaliers by 33%. That would make their attackspeed better than a Samurai which has 1.9 base attack speed compared to 1.8 for Cavalier. Thats more dmg for a unit with more pierce armor, more speed and more HP. I will admit that the buff to bulgarian hussar went a bit under the radar for me but that must also be really strong. I really dont get what the ballancing team was thinking there because last time they touched bulgarians they actually nerfed the attack speed of Konniks to 2.4.
edit: their cavalier are indeed now the best in the game winning 1v1 against lithuanians with +4 and malians with one hit remaining. Attack speed is usualy better in a real game situation because you wont do so much overkill damage and being able finish animations faster to run to the next target.
I have grown to dislike the Tower Shields technology in general lately. The reason is that their Spearmen line is still nothing special when it comes to armor since they lack the +4 meele defense. And Skirmishers only benefit from that tech in very few situations: They are already a hard counter to ranged units so the opponent wont take a head on engagement if he can avoid it. Secondly you can only research the tech in imp in the castle so you will want to have a meatshield in front of the skirms at that point anyways making that tech kind of useless as well.
I think that change wont do anything.
The melee armor bonus for Teutons is unclear from the patch notes but it now gives +2 meele armor (staggered from castle to imp) for stable and barracks units. Thats a bit much at once. Before you only buffed the Champion and Halberdier line slightly with +1 but now you increase that, and on top also buff stable units that drasticly. Stable units are already more relevant and the pierce armor helps them more because they have more base armor as well. Just giving stable units the same bonus from last update would have been a bigger change than last time and would make a lot more sense to me.
The change to flaming camel probably doesnt mean much but I want to talk about them anyway. That unit is kind of impossible to ballance. The only way it can remain in the game would be in a very niche existance because otherwhise they would be broken in some specific situations (ie demos on hybrid terrain) involving luck and pathing issues with game deciding results. I think they should be removed.
Khmer could probably fill their own thread. But to keep it short the recent nerfs are further complicating the matter (Just look at the size of the changelog on the wiki and wou will understand what i mean). They are reshaping the identity of the civ even more when there would be the possibility to just take back some buffs from recent patches like Hussar, Faith and the farm bonus. Stability is what this game needs at the moment, especially so soon after launch.
The civ is a prime example of the devs trying too hard to make them viable. They catapulted it from a bottom tier civ on open maps to a top tier civ. Keep in mind that Khmer were already one of THE meta civs in DM and a good one on boom maps like BF.
The farm bonus was way too extreme and one dimensional making farmers without wheelbarrow like 20% faster.
Lastly the fact that Fishers can now drop off on docks. I dont understand why. That change reshapes a basic game mechanic completely when there is no need for it what so ever. I explained on top why I think thats bad.
Suggestions and Necessary changes
The Mongol hunt bonus is an issue in my opinion because they arguably have the strongest late game options in the game already. There are many civs with worse lategames that dont have any kind of dark age bonus (dont forget about the scout los). It also makes them a must pick on maps with extra hunt, similar to Indians on maps with shore fish. I had the Idea of replacing it with the drop-off-behaviour of khmer farmers. So that you could take extra hunt without having to build a mill and they would have almost no advantage with standard resources. It just makes sense in my head that way 11.
Alternatively you could as well just nerf Mangudai in any way.
The El Dorado technology for Mayans needs a massive nerf. The civ has the identity of an archer civ for me so it doesnt make sense in my eyes that they also get the strongest eagles in the game. If you look at how a 66% HP increase on an alrounder unit compares to other unique techs you see how insanely cost effective it is. I would change it from 40 to 20 extra HP at first and see how it affects them.
The effect of the Aztec carry-capacity-bonus on their farm speed is a little too much I think. It is already giving them a decent boost for all other resources but because of how farming works the inpact on food collection is the most crucial. The fact that food is the most important resource needed for villagers, upgrades and many units is helping them even more.
That combined with their broad tech tree makes them an S-tier civ on pretty much all land maps in 1v1. Especially their strengh on open maps is out of the ordinary for a civ that focuses so much on infantry, siege and monks because those are usually not the strongest choices on open maps.
I am not quite sure on how I would nerf them exactly but nerfing their farm rate or taking away some late eco upgrades seems reasonable to me.
Britons seem a bit too versatile to me when they already have that insane range on their arbs and longbows which by cant be countered by onagers. Add that they can make light cav with +4, fu halbs and champions, fu Onagers and the best trebs in the game then they seem a bit overloaded for me. Especially with micromanagement being has highly developed as it is now their range is often a killing blow for civs that cant mass skirms and cavalry.
Because their ranged units are so unique and special and thus a longstanding part of the identity of the entire game I would not touch that part of their tech tree. The things I would take away from them are something like: Siege Engineers, +4 defense on cavalry or Infantry and maybe champions.
You probably noticed that my ideas focus mainly on nerfs and there is a reason for that. I think the devs have put a lot of emphasis on buffing weak civs so far but because of my experiences from other games I am allergic to power creep and to avoid that you also have to nerf strong civs even if that has a way bigger impact on the competetive meta. Another strong civ would be Chinese but I currently have no good idea on how to nerf them. Taking away Camels would kind of make sense for everything except them Qing and Yuan dynasties historically.
First of all I think the patching frequency needs tweaking. This game has been living from its stability and constancy for 20 years. People could be inactive for long periods of time, come back and they would still find a similar game with only 1 or 2 patches to catch up to in recent times. It also heavily interferes with tournaments. Releasing a ballance patch one day before or even in between a tournament is just bad. It would be way better to have maybe two patches a year with a set release date so organizers can adapt to that.
I know that after release the game was in an unfinished state so there were more changes necessary but it would be more reasonable to focus on the new civs and on the technical problems. besides that the ballance should be adressed more cautiously. At the moment it really feels like some trial and error procedure and I think this old game doesnt deserve that treatment.
Now about the actual changes
I like the changes to melee UU because their viability has been a long standing issue. So the buffs to Leiti and Teutonic Knight get a big plus from me. I also love the change to Boyar. It just makes sense to make a unit with more armor slower.
The nerf to Persians was dearly needed. Good job on that.
Italian fishing ships now cost 64 food which is a good fix.
Production speed of Fire Galleys is nerfed. That change is on a weird middle ground where it will probably not change anything on hybrid maps because fire galleys are still so superior in low numbers. However on full water maps that mightly slightly incentivise an earlier switch to war galleys. I like how suttle this change is because it has potential to flip the water meta around.
What has to be noted tho is that this is an indirect buff to Vikings who are already the S-tier civ on water maps together with italians. Now after the italians nerf Vikings might also need some tweaking or there is the possibility that they reign supreme.
Goths get Loom for free. good idea but the wording in the patch notes is again super unclear. Its the same wording like when Chinese got block printing but that got fixed back then.
Indian Shore Fishers are being nerfed. I like that change because it destroyed the meta on some maps. Its worth thinking about removing that bonus alltogether to allow map creators to have a fast and civ-neutral food source that they implement on their maps. While it would still not change anything on standard maps like arabia.
Torsion engines gives Skorpions more aoe. before that didnt really do anything substantial anyways. Altho i am asking myself if thats really an issue since the civ is already really strong and this wont come into effect in 99% of the games. If it is actually gonna make Skorpions very strong then I wouldnt understand why Etiopians needed that buff.
I like the idea behind the change to Stirrups for Cavalier and removing Paladins. Its making their civ a lot more unique. Sadly it
edit: their cavalier are indeed now the best in the game winning 1v1 against lithuanians with +4 and malians with one hit remaining. Attack speed is usualy better in a real game situation because you wont do so much overkill damage and being able finish animations faster to run to the next target.
I have grown to dislike the Tower Shields technology in general lately. The reason is that their Spearmen line is still nothing special when it comes to armor since they lack the +4 meele defense. And Skirmishers only benefit from that tech in very few situations: They are already a hard counter to ranged units so the opponent wont take a head on engagement if he can avoid it. Secondly you can only research the tech in imp in the castle so you will want to have a meatshield in front of the skirms at that point anyways making that tech kind of useless as well.
I think that change wont do anything.
The melee armor bonus for Teutons is unclear from the patch notes but it now gives +2 meele armor (staggered from castle to imp) for stable and barracks units. Thats a bit much at once. Before you only buffed the Champion and Halberdier line slightly with +1 but now you increase that, and on top also buff stable units that drasticly. Stable units are already more relevant and the pierce armor helps them more because they have more base armor as well. Just giving stable units the same bonus from last update would have been a bigger change than last time and would make a lot more sense to me.
The change to flaming camel probably doesnt mean much but I want to talk about them anyway. That unit is kind of impossible to ballance. The only way it can remain in the game would be in a very niche existance because otherwhise they would be broken in some specific situations (ie demos on hybrid terrain) involving luck and pathing issues with game deciding results. I think they should be removed.
Khmer could probably fill their own thread. But to keep it short the recent nerfs are further complicating the matter (Just look at the size of the changelog on the wiki and wou will understand what i mean). They are reshaping the identity of the civ even more when there would be the possibility to just take back some buffs from recent patches like Hussar, Faith and the farm bonus. Stability is what this game needs at the moment, especially so soon after launch.
The civ is a prime example of the devs trying too hard to make them viable. They catapulted it from a bottom tier civ on open maps to a top tier civ. Keep in mind that Khmer were already one of THE meta civs in DM and a good one on boom maps like BF.
The farm bonus was way too extreme and one dimensional making farmers without wheelbarrow like 20% faster.
Lastly the fact that Fishers can now drop off on docks. I dont understand why. That change reshapes a basic game mechanic completely when there is no need for it what so ever. I explained on top why I think thats bad.
Suggestions and Necessary changes
The Mongol hunt bonus is an issue in my opinion because they arguably have the strongest late game options in the game already. There are many civs with worse lategames that dont have any kind of dark age bonus (dont forget about the scout los). It also makes them a must pick on maps with extra hunt, similar to Indians on maps with shore fish. I had the Idea of replacing it with the drop-off-behaviour of khmer farmers. So that you could take extra hunt without having to build a mill and they would have almost no advantage with standard resources. It just makes sense in my head that way 11.
Alternatively you could as well just nerf Mangudai in any way.
The El Dorado technology for Mayans needs a massive nerf. The civ has the identity of an archer civ for me so it doesnt make sense in my eyes that they also get the strongest eagles in the game. If you look at how a 66% HP increase on an alrounder unit compares to other unique techs you see how insanely cost effective it is. I would change it from 40 to 20 extra HP at first and see how it affects them.
The effect of the Aztec carry-capacity-bonus on their farm speed is a little too much I think. It is already giving them a decent boost for all other resources but because of how farming works the inpact on food collection is the most crucial. The fact that food is the most important resource needed for villagers, upgrades and many units is helping them even more.
That combined with their broad tech tree makes them an S-tier civ on pretty much all land maps in 1v1. Especially their strengh on open maps is out of the ordinary for a civ that focuses so much on infantry, siege and monks because those are usually not the strongest choices on open maps.
I am not quite sure on how I would nerf them exactly but nerfing their farm rate or taking away some late eco upgrades seems reasonable to me.
Britons seem a bit too versatile to me when they already have that insane range on their arbs and longbows which by cant be countered by onagers. Add that they can make light cav with +4, fu halbs and champions, fu Onagers and the best trebs in the game then they seem a bit overloaded for me. Especially with micromanagement being has highly developed as it is now their range is often a killing blow for civs that cant mass skirms and cavalry.
Because their ranged units are so unique and special and thus a longstanding part of the identity of the entire game I would not touch that part of their tech tree. The things I would take away from them are something like: Siege Engineers, +4 defense on cavalry or Infantry and maybe champions.
You probably noticed that my ideas focus mainly on nerfs and there is a reason for that. I think the devs have put a lot of emphasis on buffing weak civs so far but because of my experiences from other games I am allergic to power creep and to avoid that you also have to nerf strong civs even if that has a way bigger impact on the competetive meta. Another strong civ would be Chinese but I currently have no good idea on how to nerf them. Taking away Camels would kind of make sense for everything except them Qing and Yuan dynasties historically.
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