Cuman mercenaries is one of these silly “AoE III” like tech which just spawns units. Here is an alternative.
For an increased cost (say 1000w, 650g), it should add +1 attack, +1 range to Steppe Lancers, Kipchaks and cavalry archers. Whether the existing effect should remain is debatable.
Now some people might think this is too powerful, but on top of being very expensive, it would simply: (I) make Cumans CA fully upgraded, so they would not take the Magyars top spot; (ii) make Cumans Steppe Lancers interesting in the late game, as they are very rarely seen. Cumans’ are also the weakest. (iii) The effect on Kipchaks can be debated, but the attack would only affect the first arrow. This would also be post-imp, a stage where Cumans really start struggling.
5 Likes
It is as same as Recurve Bow basically.
Why not just make each existing and future castle spawn about 8 Elite Kipchaks when built?
2 Likes
Steppe Lancer with 2 range will be very hard to predict. Maybe it will be broken. Also I don’t think Kipchak need any more late game buff. They are designed in that way. Kill your opponent with early imp upgrades or start transition to hussar spam.
I think SL and CA (not Kipchak) with +3 attack will be better. Cumans SL is probably the worst (ironic) and CA with no bracer is basically useless. Now with 2 extra attack over generic, I think that covers up the shorter range. Also Cumans get another option other than Kipchak.
Bad idea. FC and FR are very good example why instant spawned units is bad for this game. Doesn’t sound as bad as those 2, but still.
3 Likes
No. Those two may need some adjustments, but still useful.
It’s more likely that people just haven’t gotten used to them yet.
And they won’t until FC and FR gives you 10 and 20 units in total respectively.
I’m just curious why you state this? It sure needs more micro but if you hit and run with them it is the best of the three
Extra tankiness is just better
They are still okay but the bigger advantage is Steppe husbandry
I was wondering, how would it be if Cuman mercenaries change the gold cost of the SL by more food too? Let’s say something like 90 or 100 food (it has to be more than Hussar for sure)
Eh seems like too much paired up with faster creation. On itself it is already possibly OP too
1 Like
You are right, SL has to be out of Steppe Husbandry as it was on the DE release to be nerf it; not sure if that is a good change, I take it back
Based on raw strength.
I disagree. That’s only against melee and still Mongols extra HP is better. Also in imp, you usually don’t get enough time to micro your melee units. Better than Mongols in imp as Mongols SL die to archers too fast. But they are probably the best in castle. Overall Cuman SL just don’t have a situation to shine imo.
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Yeah let’s turn Kipchak into a generic CA, right? Free Bracer to anyone !
Another post that’s desperate to fill gaps in civ’s tech tree.
RIP strategy, RIP diversity, RIP inspiration
3 Likes
My main issue with the tech right now is it’s uselessness in 1 vs 1, and a silly one time use in general. It does not accomplish anything special, especially for its own civilization. If it has to spawn units for allies, then fine, but a retainable trait would be appreciated, for the sake of the Cuman player.
Additionally, Cumans have it very bad in 1 vs 1 late game, so they could use a bit of help, and I believe in making civs special. The Cuman cavalry archers and Steppe Lancers don’t have any other quality than their creation speed. I understand the idea of having “Goths on horses” in the late game, but because of the cost of these units, it can’t happen (except for Hussars).
So we could just make these units cheaper, but I would rather make them a bit more powerful. For CA, that would just be making them generic, as now they are rarely used. Steppe Lancers in late game are also rarely seen, and rightly so: too expensive to serve the role of Hussars, too weak to for that of Paladins.
As for Kipchaks, I could go either way on including them in this too. I will just say that this would be fairly expensive, post-Imp, and that both Steppe Lancers and Kipchaks still have quite a reputation from the launch of DE, which only applied to micro in Castle Age anyway. They have been nerved vastly since then, and I am talking about PostImp.
1 Like
Uh and what is the speed bonus they get?
That’s nice and all, but in late Imperial, that it is not very relevant.
Then if is nice, why you want Cumans to be soo strong in Imperial, have you checked how strong Cumans can be with the feudal boom on closed maps, the eco lead here is by far the strongest of all civs, a civ with such strong eco can’t also be strong in late game otherwise is broken, and that’s why Khmer lost Bombard Cannon.
I think that there is room for Cuman Mercenaries to be an actual tech, might be situational, but Cuman post imp is… it’s good, don’t get me wrong. Pala, fast training hussar, halb SO, even without SE is decent. But their university is atrocious, they mostly lack ranged options except kipchaks, and well, while they are strong in a lot of aspects there, they aren’t anything spectacular.
It shouldn’t be necessarily a military buff, their military is fine. Could be an infrastructure or economy one. Something to do with gold and killing stuff, or with fighting a lot, if the Mercenaries concept should be retained. No clue. I’m not too familiar with Cumans.
1 Like
I think the idea of giving other players access to Kiphacks and receiving gold every time they hire them is very cool. Cost shoudn’t be increased though because it makes it useless.
Change cost to 400F and 300G; steppe lancers and Kipchaks now cost -5 gold.
My proposal to improve SL: Steppe lancer could have 70 hp (90 for elite). The elite version could also have 1 melee armor.
main reason i dislike the tech is because is one of those tech that requires a team game to do anithing basically, which is not bad but not optimal since i would rather play with my few civs unique toys even by myself (yeah i worded it very weird on pourpose)