Disclaimer first: I’m not saying they necessarily need to be stronger, just more unique in design and gameplay, though they do need some buffs.
After a few rounds of updates that make old civs more interesting, Brits actually lost a lot of its uniqueness now.
Booming: once their greatest identity. Now almost all civs are given a means of booming in different forms.
Units: they used to have a better version of musketeers and hussars. These units have been solid but never comparable to their much better unique equivalences, and now most Euro civs can buff them to a lesser degree making them stand out less.
Eco: Brits’ late game eco was average as a compensation for its fast booming, but now almost everyone can boom to some degree and have some sort of eco buffs. The current booming strengths of Brits do not outweigh the lack of eco buffs.
New stuff: there are some, and Brits got the first round of (very conservative) updates. But after everyone gets theirs, they again lag behind in the access to new natives/mercs or new mechanics.
Navy: as civs now have almost equal strength on water with cards re-assigned, their only uniqueness now is monitor combat and it’s rarely used. And they have the most unimpressive battleship card (a good one though).
To make matters worse they now have the most basic unit roster.
Comparison to some other old Euro civs:
French have fewer unique units but they have a big unique revolt and access to Bourbon units.
Spanish is another rather “vanilla” civ, but their unique units stand out very much, and they are given a booming method and a buff to musketeers which they did not have.
Other civs all have been “more unique” than Brits and now still are.
Make manor a true unique building with its own model and some additional function. Right now it does nothing unique after built. For example they can have slow healing ability and Nightingale (a very bad card) buffs it.
Some more access to Hanoverian units, especially the drummer, to make up for the average unit.
Some gimmicks to the factory (Brits is the first industrial civ and there still is not a single industrial civ), but it has to be small because this is a dangerous building to touch.
A battleship card that does something more unique.
That’s why I’m not talking about buff but uniqueness.
Most of its features are “an above average version of a common thing”.
Even the RGs have the most standard and baseline effects.
I wish the Brits got some more naval stuff - they were literally the strongest naval force mid 18th - 19th century.
Or something to reinforce the whole notion of that whilst they had a small army, they were very professional. Thin Red line does touch upon it, though it would be nice to have a special version of the Stand Ground mode to increase rate of fire or something.
Except for giving the British some new stuff related to their military, maybe they could get something else that is connected to economy for example. The Spinning Jenny comes to my mind and it could be the name for a new card for them. The Spinning Jenny, which was invented in 1764-1765 by James Hargreaves, was apparently one of the key developments in the industrialisation of textile manufacturing.
I haven’t really come up with an idea as for what this Spinning Jenny card could do but I am open for suggestions.
I agree. Like the ref - maybe Sheep tasked to Livestock pens could also generate Coin as the Spinning Jenny greatly sped up the wool/textile production industry.
I always found that the glaring fault with British in AoE3 - they literally lead the way for the Industrial Revolution, with others following, yet one of the biggest things that comes out of Britain has no real links in-game.
As someone has mentioned previously anything to do with factories could possibly tip balance greatly, however something should be available for Brits that represents this. I’d love another factory (Britain was in this period considered the factory of the world) but balance is the problem.
It sounds like a good idea. Or it could alternatively increase the production rate of the [Factory] building.
Maybe not everybody would be aboard on this idea, but it would be nice if villagers could build factories once reaching the Industrial Age or the Imperial Age. However, the respective building will take a lot resources, including requiring more time than most other structures, to be built.
I think the British could have more card diversity added in a similar way to the cards that has been added to other civilizations like the Germans, for example, just as they have the “Prince Electors” card, the British can have a card called “British Commonwealth” (something like that) that sends 1 Royal Embassy Wagon in which you can choose between some British colonies (India, Australia, Canada, etc.), as an ally that will allow you to recruit and upgrade some of their units at the Royal Embassy (such as the Indian Gurkhas).
Another idea may be that the British could send a Factory in the Fortress Age (III) like the United States does (which cannot be upgraded nor can artillery be trained until Age IV), and that they can choose between producing Rockets or Heavy Cannons in the Factory, and that they can also choose between building Monitors or Ironclads in the Dock (since these ships would share the build limit), etc.
A few new cards and politicians could add a lot of flavour:
Puritans (I)
Ships 2 Pilgrims. Manors now spawn Pilgrims instead of Settlers.
Pilgrims are 10% better than normal Settlers so this would give a slight boost to each Manor and increase your final economy by a couple vils.
Shakespearean Theatre (II)
Replaces the Theatres card. Has a similar effect, but instead of Ronin, you get a couple units from the settings of his plays (Scottish, Italian, etc). Could also come with a crate of books.
Aging up with the Industrialist sends a Steam Shovel and a coal mine. Steam Shovels would gather very quickly from trees and mines but have only 90% the yield of normal Settlers and a slow movement speed. Could also have high siege damage.
In general I think Rangers should be available by default in age 4 rather than the convoluted Longbow switch. Something unique for their navy would also be great and maybe another unique unit like Sakers instead of Falconets
I’d also like the ability to send Cornish Miners, shipping some renamed campaign Miner units, who are villagers who can only mine but do this exceptionally well. As an ability to retire which frees up their pop space and gives you a coin bounty. The Cornish were exceptional miners who mined in the UK and were sought after in the American West and south Americas.
More Tudor reference would be great as well - so much potential such as the Trained Bands (essentially militia Longbowmen, Pikemen and Arquebusiers), Sir Francis and his Seadogs (shipments with pirates?) and even Billmen as a Halberdier-type unit (not as good, mind!) as Bill & Bow was a favourite combo in the earliest age.
For the Industrial Age I’d love to see Richard Arkwright referred to who himself and his factories were an absolutely massive part of the revolution. A unique 'Arkwright factory? Able to product two things at once? Ergh, probably not, but it would be great to have something linked to the Ind. Rev.
I don’t have the patience to read the whole thread right now (sorry), but what if they gave Brits a unique ships? To ports as well. They’re both water-focused civs but don’t have a single unique ship when most other civs do.
And before you say it, yeah, I know water gameplay in this game sucks. I also know about the Battleship, but it’s not a UU anymore.
You could either have Race-Built Galleons which are smaller, weaker in health than standard Galleons, but with faster speed and slightly longer range.
Or you could have Rocket Ship which was most often a sloop with batteries of Congreve Rockets - firing a barrage of rockets instead of a salvo of cannon ball.
I’d like to see proper Ironclads and even the in-game campaign Rowboat unit available, how we this is best shared with all Euro civs.
Todos los europeos necesitan más singularidad, son los únicos que comparten unidades. Los americanos no comparten ninguna unidad, igual los asiáticos y africanos, todas sus unidades son únicas y eso no genera problema en el juego. Por ejemplo, los incas tienen el corredor chimú y los aztecas al corredor coyote, unidades que cumplen la misma función pero con nombres y skin diferentes. Entonces ¿Que problema habría en que cada civilización europea tenga un husar, escaramuzador o dragón diferente centrado en la cultura de cada país?
Sencillo, no existe tal diversidad. Tan sencillo como ver las casas reales, todos los dirigentes eran primos, hermanos, tios… Y por ejemplo, tras la revolución Francesa, todos seguían los pasos de Francia y sus reformas, teniendo ejércitos uniformes
Puritans (I)
Shakespearean Theatre (II)
