This thread is entirely about the Franks.
So what do you think about their changes so far? Any ideas on how well they will fare in future rated games?
To bluntly put it - I really love the new Franks. Before in AoC 1.0c they were quite strong, but not strong enough for people to justify using them over the Persians, the Celts, or the Teutons, or... any other civ. Not only were they one of the slowest civs in the game, but also they didn't have anything in imperial age that really packed a punch. Paladins were only 12 HP higher than FU paladins, and ETA's were only situational in the sense that whether they really are better than champs all depends. Cheap castles, yes, but in imperial it's the BBT's that rule the field.
Now in AoFE, they probably received the most important boosts out of all the civs in the game that made them become much more usable. In imperial age, their paladins are produced out faster and their ETA's are faster, making them stronger in imperial, but still not as strong as some of the others ones like Koreans, Celts, Teutons, or Slavs. However, it is the 25% faster foraging that is the most important buff that they got. It solves pretty much all the problems that plagued the Franks in AoC: slow as molasses on open maps, rockbottom on water maps, slow boom, and pretty-good-but-still-nothing-to-write-home-about fast castle. Having those disadvantages were okay if the civ had an awesome imperial, but the Franks did not have an awesome imperial.
My prediction are these in AoFE: Franks are better on open maps than before, but still not as good as the meso civs, Mongols, Britons, Huns, Celts, Goths, or Chinese. Franks are better on water maps than before, but still not as good as the Vikings, Saracens, Japanese, Huns, Indians, or any civ with a water or wood related bonus. The reason is that even with the berry bonus, it's still the slowest way to gather food so it's still overall better for the Franks to use sheep, boar, or deer, especially when Hunting Dogs is available now.
However, in AoFE Franks will probably be a pocket player or Arena player's wet dream. Berries are usually good for only one thing: fast castles (because you save more wood). Imagine the possibilities - 15 minute castle with instant 120 HP knights, 15 minute fast castle with fire ships, 15 minute castle drop. Franks have an amazing early castle and middle castle with the new UT. And on top of that, 4 out of the 5 new civs got bloodlines and Japanese got bloodlines as well, making the +2 LoS bonus on knights probably more valuable this time in castle age.
What are your predictions?
So what do you think about their changes so far? Any ideas on how well they will fare in future rated games?
To bluntly put it - I really love the new Franks. Before in AoC 1.0c they were quite strong, but not strong enough for people to justify using them over the Persians, the Celts, or the Teutons, or... any other civ. Not only were they one of the slowest civs in the game, but also they didn't have anything in imperial age that really packed a punch. Paladins were only 12 HP higher than FU paladins, and ETA's were only situational in the sense that whether they really are better than champs all depends. Cheap castles, yes, but in imperial it's the BBT's that rule the field.
Now in AoFE, they probably received the most important boosts out of all the civs in the game that made them become much more usable. In imperial age, their paladins are produced out faster and their ETA's are faster, making them stronger in imperial, but still not as strong as some of the others ones like Koreans, Celts, Teutons, or Slavs. However, it is the 25% faster foraging that is the most important buff that they got. It solves pretty much all the problems that plagued the Franks in AoC: slow as molasses on open maps, rockbottom on water maps, slow boom, and pretty-good-but-still-nothing-to-write-home-about fast castle. Having those disadvantages were okay if the civ had an awesome imperial, but the Franks did not have an awesome imperial.
My prediction are these in AoFE: Franks are better on open maps than before, but still not as good as the meso civs, Mongols, Britons, Huns, Celts, Goths, or Chinese. Franks are better on water maps than before, but still not as good as the Vikings, Saracens, Japanese, Huns, Indians, or any civ with a water or wood related bonus. The reason is that even with the berry bonus, it's still the slowest way to gather food so it's still overall better for the Franks to use sheep, boar, or deer, especially when Hunting Dogs is available now.
However, in AoFE Franks will probably be a pocket player or Arena player's wet dream. Berries are usually good for only one thing: fast castles (because you save more wood). Imagine the possibilities - 15 minute castle with instant 120 HP knights, 15 minute fast castle with fire ships, 15 minute castle drop. Franks have an amazing early castle and middle castle with the new UT. And on top of that, 4 out of the 5 new civs got bloodlines and Japanese got bloodlines as well, making the +2 LoS bonus on knights probably more valuable this time in castle age.
What are your predictions?