I've recently learned that firing multiple arrows slows down the reload rate - and this makes me wonder if one should even get the Elite Chu Ko Nu upgrade - Is it worth the cost, or does it maybe make the Chu Ko Nu actually *worse*?
Things to consider:
-The upgrade only changes three stats: Elite Chu Ko Nu get +5 HP, they get two additional arrows, and they are trained in 13 instead of 19 seconds.
-The interesting stat change is obviously the two additional arrows, but these might actually be detrimental. The reason being that the unit needs more time to fire these arrows, which slows down the reload time between volleys.
Fully upgraded, a Chu Ko nu has 14 attack. However, any extra arrows will always only do 3 pierce damage. As most units have enough pierce armor, that is actually only 1 damage per hit - and only if these arrows hit. At the sime time, the slower reload time means that actually less of the full-attack arrows are fired.
From one attack to the start of the next attack, a normal Chu Ko Nu needs roughly 3.6s, an Elite Chu Ko Nu 3.75s. These are only estimates, as it's difficult to test this.
If we assume our enemy unit has 4 pierce armor, for a normal Chu Ko Nu one extra arrow will hit, and for the Elite Chu Ko Nu 2 extra arrows will hit (so half of the extra arrows), this would mean (14-4+1)/3.6 = 3.06 dps for a normal Chu Ko Nu and (14-4+2)/3.75 = 3.2 dps
As you can see, the dps increase is only very slight. If none or only few of the extra arrows would hit, the dps of the Elite Chu Ko Nu would actually be lower. (The only situation I can think of where an Elite Chu Ko Nu would definitely outperform a normal one is against rams - Here every arrow will do 3 damage, due to the hidden 0 melee attack of chucks and -3 melee armor of rams, so the more arrows, the better.)
Obviously this is all very hypothetical and the calculation is supposed to be an example, nothing more. It's clear that we can't judge from numbers, especially with the hard-to-grasp accuracy playing a big role. I've tried testing it a bit in the scenario editor, but I haven't found a good setup, the results vary a lot. I don't have much gameplay experience, but I'd love to hear from people who have played a lot with the Chinese whether they think it's worth it.
We get a slight HP increase, maybe a slight dps increase and the train time is improved. I almost think the somwhat hidden last bonus may be the most significant one (Interestingly, the train time for normal Chu Ko Nu was lowered to 16s in the HD expansions, making this bonus even weaker). However, that upgrade costs 760F and 760G with the civ bonus applied - Is it worth the cost?
Things to consider:
-The upgrade only changes three stats: Elite Chu Ko Nu get +5 HP, they get two additional arrows, and they are trained in 13 instead of 19 seconds.
-The interesting stat change is obviously the two additional arrows, but these might actually be detrimental. The reason being that the unit needs more time to fire these arrows, which slows down the reload time between volleys.
Fully upgraded, a Chu Ko nu has 14 attack. However, any extra arrows will always only do 3 pierce damage. As most units have enough pierce armor, that is actually only 1 damage per hit - and only if these arrows hit. At the sime time, the slower reload time means that actually less of the full-attack arrows are fired.
From one attack to the start of the next attack, a normal Chu Ko Nu needs roughly 3.6s, an Elite Chu Ko Nu 3.75s. These are only estimates, as it's difficult to test this.
If we assume our enemy unit has 4 pierce armor, for a normal Chu Ko Nu one extra arrow will hit, and for the Elite Chu Ko Nu 2 extra arrows will hit (so half of the extra arrows), this would mean (14-4+1)/3.6 = 3.06 dps for a normal Chu Ko Nu and (14-4+2)/3.75 = 3.2 dps
As you can see, the dps increase is only very slight. If none or only few of the extra arrows would hit, the dps of the Elite Chu Ko Nu would actually be lower. (The only situation I can think of where an Elite Chu Ko Nu would definitely outperform a normal one is against rams - Here every arrow will do 3 damage, due to the hidden 0 melee attack of chucks and -3 melee armor of rams, so the more arrows, the better.)
Obviously this is all very hypothetical and the calculation is supposed to be an example, nothing more. It's clear that we can't judge from numbers, especially with the hard-to-grasp accuracy playing a big role. I've tried testing it a bit in the scenario editor, but I haven't found a good setup, the results vary a lot. I don't have much gameplay experience, but I'd love to hear from people who have played a lot with the Chinese whether they think it's worth it.
We get a slight HP increase, maybe a slight dps increase and the train time is improved. I almost think the somwhat hidden last bonus may be the most significant one (Interestingly, the train time for normal Chu Ko Nu was lowered to 16s in the HD expansions, making this bonus even weaker). However, that upgrade costs 760F and 760G with the civ bonus applied - Is it worth the cost?