I believe that instead of granting the full 18% faster firing rate bonus to Ethiopian archers from the Feudal Age, it would be better to do it gradually throughout the ages.
One possible solution would be to reduce the total bonus to 15% and grant 5% in the Feudal Age, another 5% in the Castle Age, and a final 5% in the Imperial Age. This way, the bonus would gradually increase and not be as powerful at the beginning of the Feudal Age.
There is something to keep in mind: the Ethiopians already have access to the Thumb Ring technology, which significantly improves the accuracy and firing speed of their archers.
It’s important to consider that many civilizations in the game receive their bonuses gradually throughout the ages, such as the Cumans, Malians, Teutons, among others.
Therefore, it would be a good idea to apply the same approach for the Ethiopians.
What do you think of the proposal? Do you think it’s appropriate? If not, how would you improve it?
In general, this version of bonus can be a problem if granted to a strong eco civ like Vikings. But Ethiopians are dependent on the archer fire rate bonus and the extra resources to stay competitive. If that’s nerfed to an insignificant amount like 5%, there will be no reason whatsoever to play this civ.
Except Cumans other civs you have mentioned have strong long lasting economic bonuses and multiple other bonuses. Like Teutons have conversion resistance, towering bonus. Malians have faster working university. Not the case for Ethiopians.
It feels unnecessary since Ethiopians aren’t a top-tier civ on any 1v1 setting neither Arabia nor closed maps. For TG, they’re on par but not above civs like Britons, Mayans and maybe Portugese in terms of player preference. If the archer bonus is nerfed that way, they’ll become usable exclusively on maps like michi and blackforest 4v4.
The only way this nerf is justifiable is when the power spike bonus is removed and a strong long lasting eco bonus is given. But the entire rework is unnecessary.
Although you mentioned that the Ethiopians receive resources, specifically 100 food and 100 gold, these resources are very significant, as they allow them to access technologies such as ######### (+1 archers) or Double Bit Axe at no cost, which have a great impact on the Feudal Age.
Yes its quite significant and that’s what helps them do maa-archers or fast feudal into early letching. If you remove the archer bonus or make it mediocre, this resource benefit won’t lead into anything useful. Most civs have much better resource collecting/saving bonuses by mid feudal age.