A lot of the changes in today’s patch sound great. I thought I would compile a personal wish list for future balance changes and hopefully spark some discussion. For these balance suggestions I tried to keep changes small and incremental when possible while emphasizing civ uniqueness. Some civs I didn’t mention could probably use small changes too but I could not think of anything so I left them off. Hopefully these don’t make me sound as crazy as some of the balance changes posted to this discussion board 11
General Changes:
Watch Towers hit points from 700 → 870 in feudal age (still 1020 in castle)
Reason: I think the huge nerf to watch tower hit points in feudal was a mistake. Instead of nerfing walls 500 times we should try partially reverting the feudal tower nerf. Tower play in feudal enables aggressive options against wallers. Players should learn how to handle towers rather than nerfing them.
This has the added benefit of improving the viability of Incas and Koreans since they are geared towards trush strategies.
Bulgarians:
(Elite) Konnik reload time from 2.4 → 2.3
Blacksmith research speed bonus from 80% → 66%
Reason: Konnik attack rate was over-nerfed numerous patches ago. Blacksmith buff partially reverted to avoid making the civ overwhelming.
Burgundians:
Flemish Revolution effect changed to Flemish Militia can now be created at Town Centers. No longer has the Ragnarok effect to transform villagers
Flemish Revolution cost from 1200f/650g → 400f/400g
Flemish Militia build time from 14 seconds → 9 seconds
Flemish Militia speed from 0.9 → 1.0
Burgundian Vineyards cost from 400f/300g → 400f/300w
Reason: Flemish Revolution is an abomination and impossible to balance in a way that won’t create frustrating gameplay. Now all it does is enable FM to be built at town centers. In exchange its cost is slashed and FM are buffed. Burgundian Vineyards is changed because currently it takes ages to pay off since it costs 300 gold to make you slowly generate gold.
Celts:
Siege weapon attack rate from 25% → 20/25% in castle/imperial age
Elite Woad Raider has 0 → 1 melee armor
Strongholds now also increases the fire rate of town centers by 25%
Reason: Reducing the cheese power of Celts in castle age with all-in pushes but giving them a little bit of love in imperial age in return. Stronghold change doesn’t really do anything but I figure it might as well apply to TC attack rate too.
Chinese:
Technology cost reduction from 10/15/20% → 5/10/15% in feudal/castle/imperial
Reason: Chinese identity is a strong tech tree and bonus villagers at the start of the game. Nerfing the technology cost reduction seems most logical to preserve identity while making it a little more difficult for them to tech switch in the late game.
Ethiopians:
Halberdier upgrade is now 20% cheaper
Royal Heirs now makes Shotels create 50% faster and other castle units create 25% faster
Reason: Ethiopians seem to be struggling. Even though they are valued by pros their winrate is lower than might be expected. While getting free Halberdiers back would be too strong, a small reduction for the upgrade could be fair. Royal Heirs is another area that could be buffed.
Franks:
Cavalry hit point bonus from 20% → 10/20% in feudal/castle age
Reason: Franks still seem op according to the data. I think this change is best to trim their scout power in the feudal age without nerfing their knight play that they are known for.
Goths:
Gain access to the Plate Barding Armor technology
Reason: Goths are a bit one-dimensional. I think getting access to this upgrade would be a good change to give the Goths a little more variety in the imperial age beyond infantry flood.
Huns:
Atheism cost from 500f/500g to 400f/350g
Reason: Huns don’t need any significant buffs but in its current state Atheism is nearly unusable because you must pay roughly 18 minutes’ worth of relic gold to reduce the rate that your opponents’ relics produce gold. It just takes too long to have any benefit to justify.
Italians:
Advancing to the next age cost reduction from 15% → 20%
University technology cost reduction from 33% → 45%
(Dock reduction remains at 33% or could be lowered, not sure)
Fishing Ship cost reduction from 15% → 10/12.5/15% in dark/feudal/castle
Elite Genoese Crossbowmen bonus damage vs. cavalry reduced from 7 → 6
EGC base damage increased from 6 → 7
Reason: Italians are sad on land maps and dominant on water. I want to redistribute their power so they are a little less oppressive on water in exchange for greater viability on land maps.
Giving EGC +1 base damage would be a big change but I don’t agree with people in other threads who want to give them range because that would make them far too powerful compared to Arbalests. My main issue with EGC is that 1000f/800g for only +5 hp and +2 damage against cavalry does not seem justified for the high upgrade cost.
Japanese:
Elite Samurai attack reload from 1.9 → 1.8
Elite Samurai speed from 1.0 → 1.05
Reason: The latest samurai buffs for castle age are good but there is still little reason to produce Samurai in imperial age given Supplies makes Japanese Champions more efficient and Samurai require castles. I think there should be more incentive to consider Samurai over Champions. Reducing their food cost would also be acceptable to compete with Supplies but I want to be a bit more creative rather than just suggest cost reduction for every UU.
Mayans:
Archer discount from 10/20/30% → 10/15/20% in feudal/castle/imperial
Reason: Probably not too controversial of a change. Mayan archer discount is extremely high compared to all other civilization discounts. It’s possible Mayans could use another small nerf somewhere but I would rather be cautious with these suggestions rather than rush to over-nerf or over-buff every civ.
Mongols:
Nomads effect changed to lost buildings do not decrease population space (instead of just houses)
Reason: This unique tech is mostly useless. I think if it were extended to town centers and castles as well it could have the potential to perhaps be researched more than 0% of games
Portuguese:
Unit gold cost reduction from 20% → 25%
Technology research speed from 30% → 50%
Ship bonus hit points from 10% → 5/10% in feudal/castle
Feitoria cost from 250g/250s → 350g/350s and population cost from 20 → 30
Feitoria resource generation from 1.6f/1.0w/0.7g/0.3s → 2.4f/1.5w/1.05g/0.45/s
Feitoria now has a maximum build limit of 1 at a time
Elite Organ Gun hit points from 70 → 75 and attack from 20 → 22
Reason: Portuguese are similar to Italians in that they can be oppressive on water maps but totally mediocre on land. Thus, they should receive buffs for land viability in exchange for losing some strength on water.
The main issue with Portuguese on water maps is that feitorias trivialize wood limits and can win games by attrition which is not satisfying for either player. To solve this, I suggest enforcing a build limit on feitorias in exchange for making the 1 feitoria slightly more efficient. Portuguese still have their infinite resource flow but this should make it more difficult for Portuguese to just automatically win water maps like islands after throwing up 2-3+ feitorias.
Saracens:
Return the civ bonus of Cavalry Archers deal +4 damage to buildings
Madrasah changed from 33% refund on monk death → monks cost 33% less gold
(Elite) Mameluke build time from 23 seconds → 21 seconds
Reason: Saracens are pretty good so they don’t need much of anything. Madrasah desperately needs a change as it is nearly useless in a real game because it only helps if you are losing monks, which is a bad thing. This change should not be a massive buff to Saracens but perhaps can enable more imperial monk play. Likewise, the cavalry archer building damage barely counts as a buff. I just think it should be re-added to the civ because the devs removed it for the foot archer bonus but then never added it back after reverting the foot archer bonus.
Sicilians:
Serjeant cost from 60f/35g → 55f/30g
First Crusade effect changed to Serjeants can now construct military production buildings (excluding Castles)
First Crusade cost from 300f/600g → 350f/350g
Hauberk effect from +1/+2 armor → +1/+1 armor
Hauberk cost from 500f/400 g → 400f/400g
Donjon hit points from 1000/1500/2250 → 1000/1750/2500 in feudal/castle/imperial
Donjon attack from 5 to 5/6/7 in feudal/castle/imperial
Reason: The Sicilian UTs are the main issue with the civ. First Crusade is frustrating to play against. While not turbo OP anymore, I think it would be healthier for the game to change it. The cost of Serjeants is reduced in compensation and now the unique tech emphasizes the niche of Serjeants to be front-line builders.
Hauberk is problematic in 1v1 games because it makes their cavalier even better than FU paladins against Arbalests and of course paladins are difficult to obtain in 1v1 games already. I don’t think there’s a way it can stay at +2 pierce armor.
Donjons buffed to compensate for the UT nerfs. They are a little on the weak side after feudal age anyway as they cost significantly more than generic towers but have equivalent hit points
Spanish:
Villager construction bonus from 30% → 50%
Construction bonus for town centers and watch towers reduced from 30% → 20% (like Wonders)
Missionaries gain +1 range in imperial age
Inquisition also grants +1 range to Missionaries in addition to its previous effect
Reason: Spanish struggle greatly on open maps because their feudal/early castle transition is so weak with no crossbow to transition to. Increasing the construction speed seems like the easiest way to make their feudal age slightly less pitiful without introducing new civ bonuses. In exchange, their town center production speed is nerfed to help reduce their dominance on Nomad maps.
Missionaries also get a bit of love to make them less useless. With these changes Missionaries can reach 9 range in imperial like generic monks so perhaps we could them used more than 0% of the time.
Turks:
Elite Janissaries hit points from 40 → 45 and accuracy from 65% → 70%
Reason: Castle age Janissaries are beastly but in imperial age the Elite Janissary is overshadowed after the last round of Hand Cannoneer buffs. I think this change is fair to give Turks a reason to still consider upgrading and building Janissaries instead of HC in imperial.