Edit: posted this originally outside on the regular forum, then in here. I then thought I saw an already existing topic for balance discussion so I deleted the post. I then realized that one was locked, so rereposting.
For the moment, I’ll keep my thoughts to the two new civs. I’ve played one game with each and I liked them a lot, though I felt like I actually figured out a build for Denmank while my Poland game didn’t feel optimal.
Denmark:
Cheaper ages is a big deal, maybe too big (-10% might be better). I like the Tax system, that was an interesting idea in a game where I felt like a lot of the good economic bonuses might have been gone.
One thing I don’t currently know that seems important is if it scales to the number of players. If not I suspect it’ll be a serious balance problem. I saw in my 2v2 vs the AI that I got to tax my ally, which means I may have been getting as much as 3x what I would in a 1v1. The simple solution (if it’s not this way already) is to give a number per shipment divided by the number of other players.
Snaplock (III) concerns me a bit. +2 range on Dragoons in age 3 seems fine, but +2 range on Skirmishers seems too good. That’s a massive deal for hit-and-run in age 3 and 4, and it will get worse in age 4 after you get +0.25 speed from the Ski Troopers upgrade. My suggestion would be to give their skirmishers a 5-10% faster RoF from Snaplock instead. This would actually be kinda contradictory with the extra speed as they’d be spending a bit less time walking. Having Dragoons and Skirms upgrade together is very nice.
I get the feeling that they might have too many eco upgrade cards for Treaty. Agrarian Reforms feels more fair for Poland so I might replace it with Food Silos for Denmark to take away +15% from mills. That or maybe just remove Fur Trade.
I’d also probably opt to reduce their vill cap to 90. Given the tax income and the fact that all their units get RG it’d seem fair.
Schumacher Rockets (IV) is a very interesting card. I misunderstood it originally and thought it was going to let me spam imperial rockets in age 4. Fortunately it doesn’t. Were they speaking Indian though?
Order of the Dannerborg (III) was pretty fun. I didn’t test the Grens yet, those concern me slightly. For musks it seemed fair enough.
I haven’t checked out the ships or pigs yet. I’ll probably need to play more games with Poland before I have as thorough of an opinion. I want more Denmark games too.
Overall all thoughts; I like it. I could see either or both civs making my top 5 civs. I’m very happy that the studio decided to reverse course!