They do have HC in castle so you might as well.
This could work nicely, especially considering that you still have a reason to go imp, which is getting Houfnice, which is super strong (also Siege Engineers).
You can nerf it by making the training time twice as long as normal training time (similar to feudal Eagles) so that it isn’t super busted, but do keep in mind that it’s an expensive unit to make in castle age anyways, at a time where players mass knight and archers.
I think it would be fair, cool and make some super interesting strats, in TGs and maybe even 1v1s.
Hmm, thing is 12 range in castle age might be really, really, problematic.
Now main counter to bombard cannons in castle age might be knights/light cavalry, and Bohemians get buffed pikes to defend.
To make them even stronger on closed maps? I mean hc is fine because xbows still counters them. But the only castle age counter to bbc is melee units and hc destroy all of these. So no that would be an incredibly bad idea.
Having the bombard train twice as long isn’t enough to nerf it. You say it’s “only good at killing buildings and siege” and that’s enough for it to be problematic. Bohemians would be able to kill castles easily while enemies can’t, one BBC would be enough to deny all form of castle age sieges, and being still in castle age while the enemy is in imp with trebs would be trivial for the civ.
Even if they were so nerfed in castle age that they were barely better than a mangonel it would still be too good as Bohemians would be able to have several BBC upon reaching imp, which is just insane.
false irony because Cumans aren’t a Siege civ, while Bohemians are mainly a gunpowder civ, also, the difference between Feudal and Castle units is much greater than the difference between Castle and Imp units.
Also, giving them bombards only, not Siege rams, Onagers and Heavy scorps.
Many civs have many advantages, and this one is a great advantage, but only if you can get to it, which isn’t easy
It counters Siege units and buildings. I’m pretty sure you can build something to defeat it.
i think you’re underestimating the double training time. First off, Chemistry = 100 seconds is required. Training time for just one Bombard would be 112 seconds, the enemy could make 7 knights (essentially one Bombard is almost 4 Knights in time). TO mass a good number would require more than 2 Siege workshops. Not to mention the costs, not to mention the fact that you cant just send them in alone ever, unlike other siege, which can potentially do some damage before getting blasted by melee units, siege that’s a whole lot cheaper btw.
And archers. And skirms. Only counter is cav units. And these get countered by hand cannon in castle age. So unless you can boom hard and get like 30 knights to jump on hc, no there is no counter to that comp in castle age. Maybe mass cav archers can. Although hc is also kinda good vs ca at that stage of the game.
Bombards don’t counter archers and skirms. Bombard has a slower projectile with a much smaller blast radius. You really cant kite a Bombard, but a mango is no problem?
Bruh, did you not notice how expensive going all in castle with Bombards would be, not to mention the time? I’m pretty sure you can do a whole lotta different tactics to counter this.
They do. Mass arb performs good with imp upgrades bit castle age xbows best they can do is dodge. In case of skirm bbc is a good counter if you have other units in front no matter the upgrades.
Mangonel has 7 range, bbc has 12. That’s why.
You basically only need one. 3 or 4 ranges hc production on one tc. How are you supposed to counter this on arena? I mean it’s like turk fast imp just as a good version. For you don’t need to invest res for imp and you can actually boom behind if you chose to. On open maps you can counterraid or so sure. But you can’t really engage the army until you have 3 tc eco rolling and have mass large army (at which point hc become a lot weaker). Every castle age comp you can engage with your castle age units (maybe except for janni mango which is insane for a similar reason but at least requires castle).
Range doesn’t matter, people dodge with formations
Imp costs as much as 20 HC and time is 190 seconds. Chemistry is 100 seconds and Bombards in castle age would train in 112 seconds. Just all the buildings for HC and Bombards (uni+4 ranges+2 workshops) would be 1200 wood, and that’s not counting the cost of cannons which is a whole lot. It’s an alternative tactic that’s only useful if you plan on staying castle, it’s similarly effective to Turks, and also essentially only useful on arena maps
I like the idea of having a Castle Age Bombard Cannon and an Imperial Age Houfnice. The upgrade timing would mirror most unique units and be similar to the Scorpion/Heavy Scorp. A unit that only becomes available in Imp and then has an upgrade in Imp feels wrong. I think that’s why there’s no Elite Condotierro upgrade.
Offensively I think it could be balanced. The defender won’t have Trebs or cannons yet, but neither of those are the go-to counter to cannons. In an open field, knights, crossbows, cav archers and light cav all kill bombard cannons easily. Even camels or infantry do well, and losing a cannon is a major setback in Castle Age with its high cost.
Defensively I think it would be too strong. A couple of cannons inside a walled base like arena could snipe enemy rams, mangonels and scorpions from a safe distance. They would be untouchable, even without the +1 range from Siege Engineers.
I also don’t think Bohemians need a buff in late Castle Age, especially on closed maps. If anything, it is their Dark Age and Feudal that are weak on open maps.
Ridiculous, would be OP on arena, Pike+BBC would have no counter. I wouldn’t be surprised if they become the best civ in the current meta with this change. They get an imp comp with buffed pikes, HC and BBC.