As a Conqueror III team ranked player on two accounts, I’d like to share some thoughts on the current state of the Holy Roman Empire. I’m simply pointing out the current situation, not trying to criticize the design choices or giving some designing points.
- Lack of many things —— Lack of unique units, lack of strong rhythm points, lack of cavalry archers, and lack of ways to fight against cavalry archers. In terms of fast castle, there are clearly better options (Russian, Japanese, Byzantine).
- In a random match with all Conqueror II and III, no one will choose HRE, if some team has an HRE, the team is closer to failure. And HRE is most likely to be chosen by the person with the lowest rank.
- I ve previously used machine learning to analyze match data for the Holy Roman Empire, and interestingly, the Landesknecht seems to have little impact on win rates. I believe the HRE could really benefit from a stronger, more impactful unique unit.
- Only in one condition HRE is useful —— In pre-team games, coordinated premade teams often pick the Holy Roman Empire and rely on teammates playing France or Mongols to cover them, exploiting lower-ranked or uncoordinated opponents. The goal is usually to hit a fast Castle Age power spike and end the game in one decisive push. This strategy feels repetitive and unengaging — it leans heavily on asymmetry and comes across as more about farming rating than enjoying dynamic gameplay. Overall, this is the only truly viable way to play HRE in team games right now, and it’s not a very fun one.
These are just my personal observations, and this is actually my first time posting on the forum. If you have different thoughts, I’d love to hear your perspective as well.