Seeing the upcoming expansion unfold with the Saxons and their Hearth Troop (refering to the historic Hearth Guards).
They have the original Huskarl (homewarrior) that were oathbound to their lord, they were his elite warriors and guards.
The funny thing is in proto-germanic even gard means home.
This faction touches on the identity that the current Goths hold in the game. The current Goths are organised and very alike in identity to what are historically the Saxons and what will be the new civ the Saxons in the upcoming expansion.
I used to be a Goths lover, who will soon fall in love with the new Saxons. But as i just did, i would like to point out that there is an opportunity to overhaul/redo the Goths as a civilization.
Reading a bit into the Gothic military and their story. There seems to be a strong difference between the Ostrogoths (Greuthungi: Eastern Goths / Goths of the Rising Sun) and the Visigoths (Thurungi).
The Ostrogoths themselves broke in two groups. One group fled into the Balkans And one group served the Huns. The Ostrogoths were organised through Royal Saiones, they were barons that served their ostrogothic king. They are heavy cavalry that are mostly though and slow in speed, they are defensive and can endure fights.
They have a mix of infantry, excellent foot and mounted archers. But mainly a heavy focus on heavy cavalry that were inspired by the romans and thus are heavily armored.
The Royal Saiones were a continuation from the Romans their Comitatenses (the roman cavalry unique unit).
The Ostrogoths would have a roster similarly to the current Goths that are well balanced, with the Royal Saiones as unique unit from the castle. And they would have a bonus for foot archers and horse archers.
The Visigoths would be more alike to the current Goths. Which seem inspired by Alaric. Who gained a powerhold in Illyria, controlling the roman weapon and armor factories. After sacking Rome they moved into France and Spain. The Visigoths are well known for their Gardingi Cavalry. ‘Gard’ literally meaning a household and ‘ing’ meaning member or belonging to, a household member a word similar to huskarl, a housecarl. And ‘thiudangardi’ means member of the royal household. These were the retainers of the visigothic king. The Gardingi cavalry were heavy armored skirmisher cavalry with a medium attack, they are mostly feared for their mobility and armor. Together with the heavy lancers that the visigoths prefered.
The Visigoths would have a different roster compared to the current Goths, with a strong focus on cavalry and infantry. Preferably they would be the only european faction with steppe lancers and get a bonus for them. Instead their archery range would be weak. And their armory would be full.
I would love to hear other peoples opinions on this or discuss the subject that might present itself in the future.
I think i would atleast change the bonusses and unique unit. If not splitting into Visi and Ostro but still one Goths civ.
Then I would think the Royal Saiones as a cavalier replacement, and the Gardingi as a castle unit.
Then i’d change the castle age unique tech Anarchy into Alan Horse Archer Tactics: cavalry archer has more speed and +1 attack.
Replace the imperial unique tech with Scholae Palatinae: Scout cavalry-line, Steppe Lancer, Gardingi and Royal Saiones gain +1 melee armor.
Changes to the tech tree:
Remove Hussars, add Steppe Lancer. No elite Steppe Lancer.
Remove handcannoneer, add Thumb Ring and add Parthian Tactics.
Remove bombard cannon, add Siege Onager.
Add Plate barding armor.
Thus they would trade the hand cannoneer for a better cavalry archer.
Lacking proper siege, but get the siege onager instead and gain though heavy cavalry.
Adding steppe lancer for more raid momentum instead of the huskarl when entering castle age.
Instead of the huskarl, the Gardingi can deal with archers and raid because of their high mobility.
The Royal Saiones should be though but expensive. I’m afraid it’ll be too similar to the cataphract and boyar. I think it would be better to give it an anti cavalry bonus, as in the story of Valaris, it’s good at dealing with enemy commanders/heavy units. Thus then the goths can rely less on the barrack spam. Instead they get a tanky unit to deal with heavy units.
And for losing siege and heavy infantry, they gain mobility.
I think the Gardingi should cost wood and gold, and have good melee armor to have a bit more survivability when dealing with cavalry. That would make them different from the Genitour.
Besides that would leave their bonusses the same, because it does fit their story and identity. They can still produce infantry for a cheap price. The hunting bonus fits their archery fame. Loom fits their story as auxiliary and the taking over of the Western Romes weapon factories and the Ostrogoth Italian Kingdom of Odoacer.
Infantry keep that building damage bonus as a side siege unit. Since they would lose the bombard units now.
The pop bonus is their unique thing. They won’t be overwhelming you with strength. But they can still overwhelm you in term of numbers. Since their roster is flexible and not overly focused on one thing only.
Another idea would be to not have the Royal Saiones. Remove the Cavalier. And add the Elite Steppe Lancer instead. Then i think Scholae Palatinae should add +2 melee armor to the units i mentioned earlier and the knight.
I’d like a Goth rework, but I wouldn’t want a split tbh
The current Goths feel like the old devs really wanted a Saxon civ but were afraid of actually calling them that.
Their language is also incorrect, they use the same voice files as Teutons.
