THE PROBLEM:
In it’s current state, the HRE is by no means underpowered (at least in 1v1), but does feature some strange design choices that make playing the HRE typically rather predictable.
In particular, the major contradiction I see related to the design (not balance) of the civ is that, in theory, it’s meant to be good at turtling (strong eco, defensive bonuses, infantry based), but the HRE depletes resources at home faster than any other civ, and are extremely reliant on relics; both of these factors reward map control, rather than a defensive play style.
To exacerbate the matter, both of the HRE Castle Age landmarks have a limited window of usefulness, strongly encouraging rushing to Castle Age, and punishing an extended Feudal Age. The Regnitz without relics is nigh useless, and the Burgrave is truly just 5 barracks, making it a very specific power spike that can quickly fall off.
THE SOLUTION?
Addressing the full sweep of strange design choices is difficult, so I’ll focus on just an idea for the Burgrave Palace right now.
I’d love to see the Burgrave Palace no longer function as a barracks, but instead do two things:
- Globally increase the production speed of all HRE barracks (and archery ranges?) by 50-100%
- Produce a free batch of 3 Landsknecht every 2-3 minutes (depending on balance).
This change would make it so that the Burgrave Palace boosts existing military production infrastructure, which rewards an extended Feudal Age. Moreover, because Landsknecht are a high-cost, premium unit that functions well when sprinkled into melee comps in lower numbers, there’s really no point in the game in which adding landsknecht to your composition wouldn’t be useful.