Sentinels are, well ok. At least until late age 3+. They’re a good bit better than a regular musketeer, but at 2 pop, they quickly, and I mean very quickly fall off even with their good HP and defense boost. To put it simply, they aren’t worth their two pop when it matters. To attempt to make up for this in age 4 the Maltese have the “Flintlock rockets” card, which boosts their attack and HP and gives them a charged rocket attack (if this seems similar that’s because sentinels are just knock off soldados). While this card is good and helpful, the sentinel simply is still not worth it at two pop.
So I’m suggesting a major change: removing the Flintlock Rockets card. Now this may seem counter intuitive, but don’t worry, I’m gonna suggest a change to another card “Wall Guns”.
Now you may wonder why I want this card removed, and I have a few reasons. 1. There is really no reason to have this card Thematically. The Knights of Saint John did use rockets for signaling, but I can find little to no evidence that there was any substantial use of them for Fighting, and it seems to me the whole card is based on one or two that are kept in a Maltese museum. I also don’t understand why giving your soldiers a one-time firing rocket would boost them in other combat either. 2. There is no real reason for this to be in the game game-wise. They still aren’t worth using and they aren’t even, in my opinion, a fun unique unit. But as said earlier just knock-offs of the much better Soldado. Especially in the very late game.
So what am I suggesting? I’m suggesting that Wall Guns should become the big Age 4 card, but obviously not as is. Wall guns are basically just big powerful long-range guns that were historically used for defending fortifications. The card now somewhat represents this by making your sentinels shoot further and deal slightly more damage when near walls. But this card is never used as it is quite objectively just bad. Both in the early and later stages of the game. I think there is a better way to represent what they historically were and make it very fun game-wise, so here’s my plan…
Wall Guns (Age 4, 1000c): Equips your sentinels with powerful guns, increasing their range (+3 for a total of 16) and making them deal Siege damage. But makes them shoot slower (4 rof) and move slower (-20%). Increases cost (+20%?). Increases defense boost effect (+20-30% instead of 15%).
What this would do is make Sentinels good at what they should be good at–standing nearby fortifications and shooting. I don’t think this would be OP, (with negative multi vs cannons), as they would still be countered by what should counter them (skirm have 20 range so are still safe). But if they’re able to get in range (such as an opponent overcommitting under your base, which works thematically) they’d be able to decimate a lot of units. And due to their low speed you wouldn’t have to worry about them diving and just wrecking all your units.
These numbers could obviously be adjusted, but I think this would be a great change to this unit, making them very unique, fun, and actually useful in the later stages of the game. Let me know what you think!
