Now that we have seen various Civs not having the last upgrade in the Blacksmith but having some kind of Civ bonus or UT to compensate that, why not make a Civs that gets an extra benefit from arrow upgrades but lose Bracer in exchange? As Britons already have the identity as the long ranged foot archer Civs they could receive this Civ bonus.
- Lose Foot Archers +1/+2 range in Castle/Imperial Age
- Gain Ranged attack upgrade effects are doubled for Foot Archers
- Lose Bracer
- Lose Arbalester
- ~ Yeomen => Foot archers have +1 range; Galley-line, Skirmishers and Towers have +2 range or
- ~ Yeomen => Foot archers and Galley-line have +1 range; Skirmishers and Towers have +2 range
- ~ Yeomen => Foot archers, Galley-line and Skirmishers have +1 range; Towers have +2 range or
- Lose Team bonus: Archery Ranges work +10% faster
- Gain Team bonus: Towers have +2 attack or
- Gain Team bonus: Towers have +1 / +2 / +3 attack in Feudal / Castle / Imperial Age
As with the first idea, Britons get Crossbowman and Arbalester effectively one age earlier. in Imperial Age several of their units have some drawbacks, though.
Crossbowmen have -5 HPs compared to FU Arbalesters, but +1 attack and the usual +3 range.
Elite Skirmishers have +0 / +1 range but -1 attack.
Galleons have +0 / +1 range but -1 attack.
Castles have -1 range and -1 attack.
Britons have some of the strongest towers by having more range and attack than generic towers, but still less range than e.g. Koreans and less attack then e.g. Japanese.
Honestly the +1 range feels like it cuts down on the identity of the longbowman. You want the longbow to be that 8 ranger archer? Give it that base range of 7 off the bat so it hits as far as it wants.
Heck give the civ thumb ring but make it specifically unable to bolster Longbows.
Its not to weaken the civ but most tourneys as Brits its more effective to go crossbows who otherwise have the same range anyway robbing castle age lbows of any real standout features.
Basically its more a does this units uniqueness stand out if you stripped away the civ behind it?
Karambits are still half pop if you remove the free armor. Shotels still are destroyers without Royal Heirs. Samurai now are more something individual without the attackspeed boost.
Mangudai still destroy siege.
Tarkans buildings.
Jaguars still have unique mechanics without some Garland Wars.
And so on and so on.
But not really the longbow until it goes elite and to a lesser extent the woad raider?
Not sure what you mean.
Longbowmen would still have +1 attack compared to Briton Castle Age Crossbowmen.
I just realized that Elite Longbowmen would end up with +1 range and +1 attack compared to now. That would make them even more powerful than before, and more powerful compared to generic Briton archers.
My point is: thats all they really have. Im not calling it a bad unit, just not one that feels “unique”
The description says “long ranged archer” but crossbows are right there and for their -1 damage you dont need to throw lots of stone away which Brits need because their bonuses demand stone for half wood TC booming, which leaves you more wood to spam archery ranges
1 Like
Oh yeah, the Longbowman is one of the most boring UU in the sense that they are simply a better and cheaper version of the Archer-line.
Ideally the Longbowman replaces the Crossbowman and Arbalester, but loses 1 attack. Then give Britons another UU.
But that’s another kind of Briton rework. This thread is more a though experiment on how to make a Civ bonus for ranged attack upgrades work.
No thank you. Stop trying to ruin the game with your useless balance changes.
Only give Longbowmen 1.7 reload time and get rid of 1 attack.