I like the new cards and think that its nice new direction for china age 2 transitioning to age 3, not to be used in a drawn age 2 fight because ironically, ckn is superior in every way the arquebusiers in age 2.
What this card effectively does at the moment is make china pay for the free vet upgrade that the skirms get in age 3 in advance. So I would propose a small but significant change to this card, it might be OP but I think its worth the experiment.
Keep the 500 food cost, but also grant the veteran upgrade for the armies as well.
Because as I noted, ckn is acutally superior to the arquebusiers in age 2. Changdao as are strange when comparing their age 2 stats to the pikes, they have more attack, armour and hp but actually deals slightly less damage to cav.
So training the army long term in age 2 is actually pretty bad.
The Chinese spearmen can effectively restrain the cavalry, but when they are fired, they are easier to destroy than ordinary spearmen. The Chinese prairie cavalry is also a problem and cannot be a unit that can withstand damage. Changdao and two cavalry can become tank protection shooting units but it is Only appeared at age 3.
,Changdao sacrificed attack ability in exchange for more ability to withstand damage
Changdaos are like rodeleros, they deal more damage to non cav units then pikes but have lesser multipliers so that they deal about the same damage to cav. This makes them pretty good in age 2 where skirms and cannons exist so they deal more damage to those units
The point is that in age 2 the xbow/pike army is actually quite better against the most likely composition which is musk huss then the skrim changdao so to make the new army card actually worth it it needs to boost the skirm changdao army
I dont think so since I am not saying that they should be trainable, its a one time transform.
If china tries to turtle up to mass, another civ can easily punish this by taking map and ff into cannons or FI into heavies which china will have a hard time countering.
Its not like chinese units are easy to mass so training will take time and also the 500 food cost means that balancing training and sending the card is not easy
This card is just bad in its current iteration. Its not worth spending a shipment for.
What China needs is a buff to Flamethrowers to make their Age 2 viable. Increase flamethrower range to 12 and give them a bit more speed. 4.5 instead of 4.25. Lower pop cost to 3, lower ressource cost to 150 wood, 150 coin.
Also add a 2 Flamethrower shipment for China because it doesn’t exist for some reason.
Also Steppe Riders need a buff. 15 attack damage against non-skirmisher is terrible. They should deal 20 damage as base damage. To compensate, you could increase their coin cost from 85 to 100.
Take out the food cost (which is ridiculous - if your goal is to improve china early game, making it spend more 500f for a debuff is stupid);
Instead of changing the army, simply give Vet.Chukonu and Vet. Qiang Pike upgrade in 2nd age (or if the cost is to be maintained, then also give units with the upgade).
If china is pressured in age II it can now use archaic upgraded units to either fight or to defend until age 3.