Dont tell me they are top tier in 1v1 and their units dont need a buff cause everything it is about their rush capabilities, not about their units strenght:
Coyote: they need need 3 cards to be a unit you can rely to (poorly) fight skirmishers. if they are mixed with musketeers they are doomed.
Puma spearman: okish unit. Just remind here they were siege troop in TAD.
Otontin: They just are there to die. Thats all. Each time there are more and more beeffy units with manyy HP. Otontins with their huge 8 base damage (x2) do nothing. They desperately need a bigger bonus (at least a bit better) in later ages. This can be said for every bowman, specially for the skirmisher-lacking civs.
JPK: Okish. The best they can get is reverse the nerf to stealth.
ERK: they have been unfairly nerfed several times. But what they have in comparison to a goon?? they have less HP, they move slower (so cav can run easier) and their attack doesnt compensates at all vs artillery either.
AK: same case than ERK. They are countered by the units they are suppoused to counter, ridicoulous. Also by skirmishers. Makes no sense. They could get 1 AoE which would help vs mass canons at least.
SK: useless unit as any plaza one. both native civs should get an infinite card to get them. If ottomans can get sipahies, french gendarmes and japanese samurais I dont see the problem. These cards could be different than just a basic infinite unit shipment. like attached to number of nobles huts idk.
Since they dont have musketeers (ERKs worked a bit like that before getting malus vs inf tho) they dont have any effective counter to goons, they just hit and run ad infinitum, being otontis weak as hell and slow. Just gg.
In short, playing aztecs feel Extreme hard difficulty while other civs can just spam a single kill everything unit.
Do you know that YTR was still saying 4 JPK big button, water boom and stealth, these existed (or nerfed in DE already) since TWC are OP?
You should thank god if Aztec is not going to get more nerfs in future patches, or may be they awake from their mistake (although I don’t think this is possible).
Despite DE trending towards it, not every civ has access to age2 skirm and tempo.
But yes azzie and haude and inca need some love. I think the core issue is these civs by design had strong military that struggled into mass artillery and late game static fights. Over DE these civs have had their stronger military constantly whittled down via nerfs (arguably justified most the time) but given no recompense in eco or ability to handle mass.artillery. leaving their early game rushes the only thing they can do in many matchups. So they stuck now as gimmick all in civs often.
In aztecs case, they have way to much early tempo largely thanks to maya being a 2x send and WP booming after spamming unit shipments. Very overwhelming for most civs. But thats it. Thats all the civ appears to be. They need to not just nerf or buff it needs to redesign. All the native civs do imho. Weaken the rush and allow scaling to keep mass army, or give back their powerful units and keep the artillery weakness. Something has to give.
Personal opinion, buffs need to be well thought out. You don’t need to buff their units’ base stats too much (because they are good in 1v1), things can be done later.
I’d consider:
ERKs: give back +5% ranged armor.
Slinger BB: now adds a 1x vs Heavy Infantry, but comes with half of the number of units.
Coyote Support:
Instead of +20% damage, now gives Coyotes a 1.5x vs Light Infantry (loss vs cavalry, heavy infantry and artillery for more vs light infantry).
Arrow knights are a mess. Maybe add the artillery tag and remove the infantry and siege trooper tags, but I don’t know.
Mayan card can probably only be sent once.
Consider giving all Native civs a wood trickle ceremony in age 4. Inca still gets theirs early.
I think it’s about the thread title. You used the word “desperately” which is similar to the amazing satirical Ottoman buff thread made by @AssertiveWall20 which spawned a couple similar threads.
Maybe let the “Otontin Slinger Combat” card affect not only Otontin but also other Aztec ranged units. It could be renamed to Tequihua which designates archers in the Aztec army.
In addition, maybe AK could remove its heavy infantry tag but reduce the basic HP?
Changing SK to a powerful hand shock infantry with AoE melee damage could be good. They have Pumas, Jaguars and Eagles, no need the the 3rd heavy infantry and the even 4th anti-cavalry unit.
I understand Haud lacks wood, but Aztecs and Lakota cost more coins so maybe they’re fine?
The Haud have even more problems. They are buggy and broken. Once again I am convinced that the concept of shock infantry was a mistake.
There is a problem. If we create a tricle of wood, no one will ever turn on either the experience or the war ceremony.
They are weaker than the Haurakan in killing units, but are incredibly scary in killing buildings. For some idiotic reason, the fixed gun only kills them in 3-4 shots.
When the Aztecs come in endless waves, you can’t protect your buildings. They are guaranteed to destroy everything. Culverins don’t work on them.
Please clarify what you mean by gatlings and organs. No other guns pose a problem for the Aztecs.
maybe they are weak against dragoons, i haven’t checked it. But they always win against musketeers (unlike dragoons).
If you need to kill dragoons, obviously you should use skirmishers.
This is not an okish. This is a cheat unit that counters everything. That is, in this game there is no army that could fight a mix of coyotes and jaguars. literally.
And please don’t forget to write about the MONSTER farm buffs.
Your statement is very uncertain.
5 cards and an age up for a civ that rely on deck. It is the only one without upgrades at buildings.
Then, we have the superior otontin combat card in age IV, like really??
Idk what to say about the booming. In treaty, where everyone is booming, aztecs are the first ones to reach max pop, true; but they fall behind quickly when euros reach industrial age.
Also, in TAD, the fertility dance used to be stronger on villagers and WPs were affected by fencing school. (Meanwhile, riding school affects missionaries…)
Just remove maya shipment or make maya and zapotecs one time again if they are the issue cause every nerf they have done hasnt changed anything in 1v1.
The stupid issue was they buffed Maya made Aztec OP but nerfed all Aztec units after, the winrate finally drop after they nerfed Maya but without any compensation for previous crazy nerfs.
They killed this civ, don’t use it if you are still playing or unless you like to play hard mode.
I gave up this game already, balance becomes worse and worse. Good eco civ with good unit still get buffs, bad eco civ with bad unit still get nerfs.
It is obviously people who made balance decisions completely don’t understand the game.
Arrow Knights should be tagged as ranged shock infantry rather than infantry or heavy infantry. Giving them that tag would mean cannons don’t counter them any more and the hidden x0.5 vs AK tag that most artillery have could be done away with.
Aztecs also need a late game counter to massed skirms. Cuachicqueh (Shorn Ones) could fill that role as a beefier shock infantry that has some area damage and semi-lancer multipliers.
