Javelin Riders cost cheaper than zamburaks, for 33% more attack, for 50% more health, and more melee bonus against cav. This approach of game being balanced around over performing units is not a healthy one and should change. If african civs need early game buff, they should get it while their all over performing units get a rework, you can check the stats below.
Around all african units are the same, this one is just for reference, it reduces competitive play of Aoe3 and makes it to be even more of a causal game. It is not possible to make cav start against african civs, and Javelins also counter musketeers.
That table also show that both zamburak and javelin have the same DPS against each other (actually the zamburak have like 0.01 more damage lel), and zamburak also train slightly faster, and is also faster, which mean they can escape bad fights while javelin cannot without being harassed anyway
the bigger issue here is probably that they can beat musketeers.
i do think the game has room for overperforming units, and has had so since at least warchiefs (take a look at bow riders super strong, but held back by lakota/sioux missing almost everything else).
IMO its better when factions try to do something unique, and preferably more than simply having a slightly stronger version of a unit and a unique eco trait.¨
it fires twice as fast and has 25% more hp, it is overpowered unit to unit but idk if the faction is.
But africa units don’t easily get cannons. Compare zumbas to dragoons, you’ll find some interesting things pop wise. This kind of unit comparison in the void isn’t how balance is supposed to be. By this logic, all units would have same stats different clothes. There’s another aoe game that does that, this doesn’t have to be a 3D copy of it.
It may well be able to beat musketeers but musketeers aren’t it’s counter and it costs a lot more when you count the gold compared to a musketeer and it’s same pop.
Also I think there’s far more concerning issues currently like inca and portugal being trash tier again, malta needs buffs and dutch and russia could also do with small buffs. The africans already struggle with countering artillery effectively due to the exorbitant cost in influence to train falcs and culvs. Both african civs also got nerfed like 5 updates straight. The javelin rider is the only way you have a hope of taking out artillery.
it’s compared to 1 pop units because if we compare to to dragoons they are almost 90% more expensive, what is the point then? Unit counter system is not working well when a ranged cav with 1 pop easily kills musketeers and have many other over performing units combined which a are balance concerns.
Musketeers are supposed to counter cav, by default. Keep in mind all africa units are this level broken, not only javelin riders, this one was just example, and when they combine together, there it not much to do against most of the time. It is clear that javelin riders need a significant health reduce such as 40-50.
Africa has many kind of units that they don’t require cannons at all, Those 10+ numbered mercenary cards which you can ship with influence are another balance concern.
They are supposed to counter hand cavalry, not dragoons. Sure in melee they can fight dragoons but I don’t think anyone thinks I’ll just make some musketeers to counter those enemy dragoons lol.
African civs really suffer at countering artillery, so a slightly above average dragoon is a fair trade. What do you do as the africans when you see a musk mass and 3 falcs heading your way? You need to spend 800 influence just to train 1 culv.
Its kind of a lesser ERK with 30% less atk and less armour but also 30% less resources
How balanced that is probably up for debate but on the strong side no doubt
Tbh i would prefer it if their amour was changed to melee to actually encourage that melee attack of theirs, that way they also take more range damage from musks and skirms
Javelin Riders are definitely strong, but they’re part of civs that are lacking a lot of other good units. They should have their range reduced slightly to make them a little less efficient when massed, but other than that I’d leave them as is.
The Africans need buffs in most other areas. For example, some buffs like this could really help Ethiopia:
Javelin riders are the only thing keeping Ethiopia viable. They are backbone units. Like musketeers are for japan or India. They are good. Sure. But not too good.
the unit should be 2 pop, but saying they beat musk easily its clealry not true,
problem with the unit is 1 pop for 180hp, should reduce a bit their hp or put them at 2 pop
I agree that’s how it is now, but overall Ethiopia needs some work to make it not so reliant on having only a few good units. A slight nerf such as to Javelin range would be warranted if Ethiopia had some of their deficiencies in other areas fixed.
