Given the info we recieved during the lastest podcast the mali gets a man at arms replacement unit in feudal that counters armored units!!! Chances are this warrior will be listed as a light infantry to be fair, however… Mali has javelin throwers which are aoe4 first skirmisher type units countering range?!
This mean we have a new king of feudal or at the very least a hard counter to FRENCH, RUS and (depending on javelin thrower range) hard counter to English; 3 of the 5 feudal age lords have a TUFFFF matchup here.
Combine this with how boomy they make the civ sound and how their new stealth ambush mech works… everyone is gonna play 
!!!
English for sure (with above assumptions) basically got deleted.
The appear to be a copy of aoe3 Ethiopian civ with the griot from Hausa and stealth units/buildings from Aztec/Inca. Players that prefer those aoe3 civs should feel right at home!!!
Maybe i’m missing something but the javelin thrower takes the place of the crossbow. So a castle age unit. archers will prob. counter all melee units of Mali in feudal because they are light infantry. In case of that you have to go stable too like other civs.
I have to say, I didn’t watch the podcast right now.
They said Mali doesn’t have a standard roster of units, so like you mentioned INSTEAD of getting crossbows, they get Javelin throwers, HOWEVER, javelin throwers are NOT a crossbow type. They are a NEW type to AOE4, skirmishers! ANTI-range units! AND unlike AOE2’s version, These skirmishers (at least for now the javelin throwers) OUTRANGE the standard range unit (personally I’m guessing 5.5 to 6 range?).
In the Podcast that happened last night, they explained that in place of the standard Man-at-arms unit, the Mali will instead get a Warrior woman, that will NOT be a heavy unit type, (didn’t say affirmatively what unit type it is) BUT they said this warrior woman is a counter to HEAVY units!!! ( My guess is they’ll make this warrior woman light infantry or maybe a new unit type to AOE4, the melee shock infantry). Regardless the noticeable features are of these units is it can enter into STEALTH for a brief period of time (that can only be unveiled by towers and scouts) and basically sneak attack! The unit on the official website is said to have HIGH damage and be FAST!! My guess is something faster than the Chinese Palace Guard, with similar HP to standard MAA, but zero armor, and maybe 5 more attack than standard MAA!
I get this, sure. The musofadi replaces the Maa. I just said that the javelin thrower will replaces the crossbow, so that it will be able to get in castle age. Let’s say musofadi warrior will be light unit. In that case all units of Mali in feudal, except the horseman will be hard countered by archers. I just want u to keep that in mind. The posts above u wrote looked like Mali is the strongest civ in feudal now.
I think we get the javelin thrower in Feudal as well? I’ll double check official site.
That’s basically the same as everyone else except civs with early armor.
Civs usually have archers, spears, and horsemen in feudal.
Mali will have archers, spears (Donso), and probably Sofa horsemen. Plus they’ll have musofadi warriors.
my assumption they’d get the horseman in age 3? and the javellin in age 2; but if you’re correct; then YES they’d be basically like everyone else with the bonus of the warrior woman; and in the case you’re RIGHT, it will depend on what unit type the warrior woman is to determine what the proper counter to feudal Mali will be.
IMO it would be dangerously weak to give this unit 2 light infantry units, standard archer and standard horseman (granted this not a standard horseman? so must wait and see what difference this unit has), HOWEVER I say all this and yet realize they promise that the civ’s weakness is prolonged fights which would be the case of huge engagements in feudal with super duper archer masses and only a horseman type to deal with it?..
I think javelin thrower should be an age3 unit though, otherwise the malians will be simply umbeatable in age2 as their composition of javelin+bonzo will have no counter to it.
And even on age3, mangonels will have to be a must against this civ considering how much people like to use ranged units nowdays.
Given the fact that Mali will not have any heavy unit, I think it’s important that they at least have an answer to them.
I feel like English will have a good time against them, given the extra range and lack of armor on the Malians.
It all depends on how the stealth system works. But well finds out soon enough on the september PuP.
Considering outposts can reveal stealth and english loves to make outposts i can see english doing well against them.
But as you said, we gotta wait and see what comes out.
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It depends on how close the stealth unit has to be near a scout/tower in order to be revealed; IFFF its merely LOS= revealed?? Then yea… this mech will be easily countered at the high level with 2 or 3 scouts and a few key Towers…
Having said all that; just b/c a unit is listed as light armored unit it doesnt mean it has ZERO armor?? So they can still moderate armor on these units to combat the niche use.