Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to all the players in the game team for their hard work and dedication, which has allowed me to encounter such a fun game. I would like to offer some suggestions and hope to consider them.
The only thing that attracts me to Italy is the da Vinci tank, and I hope it can be continuously produced instead of disposable consumables; Add cards to accelerate shipping speed, slow down religious soldiers occupying shipping, cancel the upper limit of 3000 gold coins to defeat enemies, and change it to an uncapped gain similar to Mexico.
Malta is very fragile in the treaty game and hopes to change the 2% xp bonus for each shipment to a 2% building health bonus as an alternative to modifying the soldier’s base value, changing the number of guards from 2 to 1, lowering the base value, and merging multiple sentry tower strengthening cards that occupy card slots, including Flame Soldiers and Guardian Strengthening Cards
I’m sorry to hear that the tanks is the only thing to attract you to Italy - whilst I’d argue for it not to be able to be continously produced as it is ratther a strong unit plus it’s fictional (which it just about gets away with by being a singular prototype). Maybe as a single shipment (limit of 1 in play at all times) to replace it.
I do however agree that some other changes should be made to make it a more desirable civ. I’d love it if the Basilica operated in a slightly different way, maybe as it’s own shipment line within the Home City screen (or even just making directly through the basilica itself (with it’s HC shipment time transfered to a traditional training button).
I know that some people won’t like what I am going to convey, but I don’t think that [Leonardo’s Tank] should be available to the Italians either as an age up reward or through any other means. Leonardo’s Tank should exclusively be a cheat unit that can only be spawned after typing in the respective cheat code in the chat box.
Maybe Leonardo’s Tank could be replaced with a [Papal Bombard] instead or other super weapon that was actually used by the Italians in warfare, if they had any, when choosing the Inventor.
Edit: If anyone knows if the Italians did use some special type of artillery or siege weapon during the timeline of [Age of Empires 3] please share this information.
Someone may have already pointed this out, but another unit that is also whacky in the game just like [Leonardo’s Tank] but only to a certain extent is the Tsar Cannon that the Russians can ship from the Home City. The problem with this reskinned and renamed [Great Bombard] is with the carriage itself that it is mounted on, which was solely created for decorative purposes and not for transport.
The Tsar Cannon was originally transported on a wooden carriage which burned up during the “Fire of Moscow” (1812). And it was later replaced in 1835 by the present carriage that is completely made out of cast iron and which did apparently disable the firing function of the cannon.