I have to continue claiming that feudal water combat can't be balanced if there's only a single military ship type.
There is no nerf to viking navy in imperial age. See below:There is one thing to consider when nerfing the Viking ship cost bonus. They dont get Shipwright. This means, that their ships cost the same wood in Imperial as other civs with Shipwright. They cost less gold, but they are produced slower, since Shipwright reduces build time too. If their cost bonus is nerfed, they can easily end up building more expensive ships slower than a good water civ with shipwright. If it is a problem, or not, I dont know. I just wanted to point it out. Maybe it gives room for Longboats?
On the other hand, I think Vikings are kind of problematic. They rule the water in early ages. And I think they should (because of their history), but other civs should not be completely helpless against them either... It is very hard to balance. Maybe a weak Imperial Age can be a good balance for their strong Feudal and Castle? But making them weak on water as well as on land in Imperial is a horrible judgement for them.
Just a few thoughts.
Warships cost -10%/-15%/-20% in feudal/castle/imperial (instead of 20% in all ages).
While they lost the TC LOS bonus, they are given improvements to their later game to make up for it. (Fish traps can help in some maps)- Lose TC LOS bonus.
- Fish traps also cost -33%.
- Teutonic knights move 10% faster.
- Non-elite TKs have 80 HP (instead of 70), 6 armor (instead of 5).
- Get siege rams, shipwright.